I read. Like, kind of a lot. Sometimes I like to read in-depth, take notes, and really think about what's going on on the page, what the themes and references might be, and just how cool some ideas are. Personal blog at @iviarelleblr please don't post spoilers in my replies, even if I've read these things before not everyone reading them has!
Hi! I'm Ivia Relle, also known here as @iviarelleblr on my main blog. For some years now I've been rereading books I've enjoyed in the past, but examining them through a more critical lens. Taking notes on the plot, spoiler-free up to the point I'm reading (even if I've read the series before), and trying to tease apart more themes and details from what's knowable at that point. I've been sharing the notes on Discord in a couple of servers, and keeping Google Docs archives of them.
But, if all those people are interested in them, why couldn't some of the rest of the internet be?
So, I'm finally giving in and saying, alright, if other people might benefit from this being available more widely, why not join the legions of people throwing their thoughts up all over the internet like graffiti. About a chapter a day, every weekday, unless circumstances dictate otherwise.
Spoilers will be tagged appropriately by whole book, also with the summaries and discussion behind a read more cut. Any full-series spoiler observations will be in a separate post marked with the correct book for spoilers or [series name] spoilers in tags. I want to make sure the system is usable and nobody stumbles into anything they don't consent to, spoiler-wise or otherwise, if I can help it.
So, let's go on a little walk together through some stories I find particularly interesting.
Projects
The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
The Time Quintet by Madeleine L'Engle
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
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Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 10 - A Blazing Beacon
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(Aes Sedai icon) In which we wonder how much Robert Jordan knew about pregnancy.
PERSPECTIVE: Elayne has been Traveling to various villages and noble houses to recruit for Caemlyn's defence. She's starting to get hormone mood swings from her pregnancy, and she's frustrated that everyone is coddling her.(1) As a result, she has very little patience for a maid who thought she saw a ghost.
As she prepares to leave one manor, she feels an incredible amount of the Power being channeled to the west, where she last felt Rand. El wants to go see if he needs help, especially since Min's vision that her baby will be born healthy means she must survive the pregnancy,(2) but Avi has seen something in the Rhuidean rings that makes her very opposed to this.(3) They proceed to Caemlyn.
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(1) Who wouldn't be?
(2) I know there was a story in the news fairly recently about a pregnant woman kept on life support until the birth of her child, and only then allowed to die. I don't know if RJ had ideas of such a thing when he wrote this, but I can say, if you thought of the same horrifying prospect at these words, you weren't alone.
(3) And, you know, it was already written and published so he couldn't go adding anyone to the plot there.
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(Falcon icon) In which that's not how her culture works, bozo.
PERSPECTIVE: Faile reports on what she heard Sevanna say to one of the other Wise Ones. She worries that Sevanna will find out all her gai'shain are spying on her. She sees several Wise Ones standing dead still, their shawls falling off their arms, staring toward the northwest, all the ones who can channel. Faile plans to escape before Perrin can catch up because he'll be outnumbered against 70,000 Shaido,(1) but still hasn't found a way to do it yet with everyone else in tow. Bain and Chiad had helped Lacile and Arrela escape three days ago, but they will not commit to escape themselves, because of ji’e’toh.
The man who made her gai'shain, Rolan, follows Faile around and saves her from being raped, then flirts with her. He says what happens while one is gai'shain can't be held against her when she puts off the white, and maybe they should spend time together. Faile wonders how to use his crush to her advantage. In between enduring some more hardships, including the capture and return of Arrela and Lacile, Faile also meets Aravine Carnel. She appears to be of noble birth but has also been taken gai'shain, and swears fealty to Faile in hopes of also escaping. We leave off with Faile being punished for hiding a knife, and Rolan helping her.(2)
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(1) They mentioned the numbers in the last chapter, but I'm putting this here instead: how did they all find each other again so fast? It’s only been weeks, maybe a couple of months, since Sammy scattered them to the winds with his teleport box trick.
(2) At least, that's my best ability to whittle it down to a summary. He's expressed no particular inclination or unwillingness to offend Sevanna, but he's literally warming and untying her here when she's supposed to be punished. He knows that taking her gai'shain was against custom, but he did it anyway, and now he's not only flirting with her, he flirted with her immediately after she was nearly taken away and raped. How do you feel about him as a character?
Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 8 - Whirlpools of Color
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(Aes Sedai icon) In which the rescue turns from chase to planning.
PERSPECTIVE: Perrin can see that the approaching rider is Elyas, and the Aiel is Elienda, one of the Maidens. They’re returning from scouting. They found the Shaido, forty miles away, with at least ten thousand warriors. Grady makes a gateway for a small party to scout through. They meet up with Sulin, who is slightly awed at an aqueduct from a lake a few miles away. They see many more Wise Ones than normal for such a group, maybe all the Shaido Wise Ones, which means as many as four or five hundred who can channel. Annoura is shocked that one clan has more channelers than half the White Tower’s number.
Perrin is asking about some windmills on the far ridge when colours burst in his mind, and he sees an image he thinks is Rand and Nyn. The Asha'man and Wise Ones are worried because they can feel vast amounts of the One Power being channeled, but Perrin tells them it's just Rand. They all stare at him, but Perrin just asks Sulin to get him some prisoners to be questioned.
Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 7 - Blacksmith's Puzzle
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(Ravens icon) In which no, that's not a typo.
PERSPECTIVE: Perrin points out the Darkhound tracks, and investigation begins by the experts, mainly Masuri. She's studied Darkhounds, and thinks there may be tracks of 50 here, far more than the usual pack size of 10. They were intent on something, but didn’t find it and are unlikely to come back.(1) Masema approaches, and says there's a town called So Habor a day's journey away that may have full granaries, because of unexpected events. Perrin suspects a trap, and says restocking can wait until Faile is rescued. As Masema leaves in a tantrum at not getting his way, an Aiel on snowshoes and a man on horseback approach.
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(1) Truth, or lie? What could they have been looking for, if they didn't find it? Does it relate to the chapter icon?
Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 6 - The Scent of a Dream
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(Wheel icon) In which there's a little chat, but not much to say.
PERSPECTIVE: Perrin rides to meet scouts when he smells Darkhounds. He sends Aram back to warn the camp, and follows the Darkhounds’ trail in a loop around the camp, as though they might have been scouting. A group comes back out to meet him, including Berelain. Perrin is still angry Bere won't deny that they slept together the night before Faile was taken.(1) She gives him a document stolen from Masema. It's addressed from Suroth, giving the bearer the right to call on any aid desired from any Seanchan. He tells her about Annoura and Masuri meeting with Masema in secret, but he doesn’t know what to make of her alarmed reaction.
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(1) Berelain the character is too cool to be written like this. Robert Jordan has things to answer for in the afterlife. There's no good reason to have her pretending to have an affair with Perrin here. Even politically, if she wants to be seen to have some sort of protection by the Dragon and his friends, wouldn't it do better to, I dunno, not supremely piss off one of the Dragon's besties?
Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 5 - The Forging of a Hammer
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(Wolf icon) In which empath ethics are still missing but at least it's less annoying.
PERSPECTIVE: Perrin is still searching for Faile, 22 days after her capture, with the help of the Asha'man and his collective mishmash of an army. The wolves can’t help, and are unsettled by the “Last Hunt” coming. The Shaido have been zigzagging, making them harder to track, but he's caught up to within two days' travel of them. Aram is Perrin’s closest manservant of sorts but he gets jealous of anyone spending time with Perrin.
After a visit from Selande of Cha Faile, Balwer offers his insights into her updates. Balwer has taken it upon himself to be Perrin's unofficial spymaster, and thinks Masema is sending messengers to the Whitecloaks, though Perrin still thinks it might be the Seanchan. During their conversation, Balwer nudges Perrin toward a certain action. Perrin tells Balwer not to try to manipulate him into acting one way or another, just make suggestions so Perrin can yea-or-nay them, and he’ll always listen to the next. Balwer is surprised and gratified by this, and says all kinds of flowery things about how nice it is working for someone who is what he appears to be.(1)
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(1) Old habits die hard, eh, Balwer? Well, that'll serve Perrin well enough. No wonder he's still hung up on Masema working with Whitecloaks, though.
Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 4 - The Tale of a Doll
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(Helmet icon) In which we have a friendly chat with an old friend, ish.
PERSPECTIVE: Furyk Karede has been promoted to banner-general in the Deathwatch Guard he's served for most of his life. He's trying to figure out what happened to Tuon, who has disappeared twice before of her own free will,(1) when a Seeker interrupts his morning. The Seeker is nervous(2) but tells Karede how much he knows about Karede's service to Tuon since her birth (including that she gave Karede a doll as a reward for saving her life once) to prove his knowledge of the situation, then shares that he thinks a conspiracy is going down at Suroth's bidding.(3)
The Seeker describes many rumours and assumptions. A girl matching Tuon's description has been extorting merchants in Ebou Dar and mentioning the Daughter of the Nine Moons. He also thinks Thom is a spy for Aes Sedai and took part in Tuon's disappearance, and shares that Egeanin and two sul'dam connected to Suroth took two former Aes Sedai damane out of the city on the same night as the disappearance, possibly accompanied by Thom. After the Seeker leaves, Karede undertakes his own search with a small entourage of Deathwatch Guards, Ogier Gardeners,(4) and sul'dam and damane.
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(1) That goes some way to explaining why she didn't fight more, especially given her strange curiosity about Mat.
(2) It is interesting to see him interacting with someone who he genuinely fears for once.
(3) So, clearly the same Seeker who was harassing Egeanin, but here he's talking to an authority, of a sort, someone he doesn't suspect of nearly as much, so he opens up more about the theory. Which is silly but just correct enough on points to make it seem more plausible.
(4) Also, what's with these Ogier Gardeners? The Ogier we know from this continent never journey far from their stedding lest they be stricken by the Longing. How can these Ogier cross an ocean comfortably? Or serve an empire?
Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 3 - A Fan of Colors
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(A'dam icon) In which she's up to something, of course, but what?
PERSPECTIVE: Annoyed by the dice rolling in his head, Mat taunts Egeanin and gets lightly told off by Domon.
He had been careful not to repeat what Domon called “wild talk,” but the truth of it was, he was going to marry Tuon. The thought made him sigh. He knew it as sure as prophecy, which it was, in a way. He could not imagine how such a marriage could come about; it seemed impossible, on the face of it, and he would not weep if that proved to be so. But he knew it would not. Why did he always find himself bloody lumbered with bloody women who pulled knives on him or tried to kick his head off? It was not fair.(1)
Then, Mat goes to see Tuon, who is being stowed like cargo in a windowless carriage with Selucia and Setalle Anan. Tuon is furious that Mat is going to let her be known as a servant, even if he promises she won't have to do any servant's chores. He promises nobody there will hurt her, and he'll send her back safely as soon as he can. She keeps calling him "Toy" because his nickname in Ebou Dar was Tylin's Toy.(2) Mat asks how old she is, and Tuon says twenty in five months, though she looks very small and young.
Suddenly, Tuon asks if Mat remembers Artur Hawkwing's face, and his smile freezes on his face as one of his gifted memories overtakes him for a second. He lies and says no, careful to speak his normal tongue and not the Old Tongue, and asks why she'd ask such a silly question. She says it just popped into her head, same as his question about her age. Then she agrees to play his charade, and not betray him, escape, or cause dissent in his followers as long as he keeps his promises.(3) They shake hands to confirm, and Tuon reads the Old Tongue inscription on his spear, ‘Thus is our treaty written; thus is agreement made.’ and asks what it means. He almost whimpers because as soon as their hands touched, the dice stopped again.
Before he can come up with a response, Thom knocks at the door and enters, bringing news. Mat quickly puts away the knife he drew by instinct at the disruption, hoping nobody noticed him “capering”. There aren't any rumours of Tuon disappearing, but Tylin is dead, killed in her bedroom in a way that indicates the gholam did it. Mat has complicated feelings but he liked her, and is upset. He mentions the gholam, and when the creature is explained, Tuon calls it a superstition.
Then, Mat is summoned to see Joline.
“Who is Joline?” Tuon demanded.
Mat ignored her. “Tell Joline I’ll see her once we’re on the road, Blaeric.” The last thing he wanted was to be forced to listen to more of the Aes Sedai’s grievances now.
“She wants you now, Cauthon.”
With a sigh, Mat got to his feet and gathered his cap from the floor. [...]
“Who is Joline, Toy?” If he had not known better, he would have said Tuon sounded jealous.(4)
“A bloody Aes Sedai,” he grumbled, tugging the cap on, and got one small pleasure for the day. Tuon’s jaw dropped in shock. He shut the door behind him on the way out before she could find a word to say. A very small pleasure.
Joline insists the show should go to Illian instead of Lugard. The channelers all feel an immense working to the north, and they want to stay as far from it as possible. Mat sees a flash of colours like a man and a woman sitting near each other, and is sure the man is Rand.(5)
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(1) Possibly because you'd balk at any woman too cooperative. Oh he might have fun for a night or two, but he'd never be happy long-term with anyone who didn't challenge him in some way.
(2) As much as Tuon's becoming more of a real character in this chapter, this is also… terrible.
(3) What did that question mean to her? Did she or Selucia notice his hesitation, his careful choice of words? Why would the answer make her agree so readily to stay with him?
(4) Why shouldn't she be? Mat's already said he's going to be her husband, and every Seanchan in earshot at the time was horrified for some reason. And, she's just agreed to stay near him as if she wants to get to know him much more than hand him in for kidnapping. Something is up with that young lady. Of course, she’d never beg in song form…
(5) There we go, the end of last book has been reached. Where to next?
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(Elephant icon) In which we spend a lot of pages saying it's time to get moving.
PERSPECTIVE: Mat returns to Valan Luca's circus, where Seanchan soldiers are trying to claim governmental ownership of the show's horses. When they leave, Luca says he'll blame Mat if the horses get taken, but Mat says if they'd left immediately they'd have looked way too suspicious. Now, as soon as Thom comes back, they can get underway and head somewhere else. Luca is over the moon at the news, and starts getting everyone prepped. Mat goes to tell Juilin they're going to leave, and as he watches Olver fold up his Snakes and Foxes game, the dice start rolling in his head.(1)
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(1) But not sooner? Not when he made the decision. Not when he told anyone it was time to leave. Only when he sees Olver and the game, and things start really moving to get moving.
Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 1 - Time to Be Gone
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(Dice icon) In which someone's still not quite escaped.
PERSPECTIVE: Mat is a few miles from Ebou Dar. Noal tells him they should head back, because he's cold, and winter gets cold even in places that make Ebou Dar feel like Shienar.(1) It's been six days since the escape, and Mat's been waiting to leave so the suspicion dies down. Nobody’s left his party to journey on alone, and he has no way to know how many Sea Folk got away. During the escape, the dice were rolling in his head and he thinks they almost got caught, until the Sea Folk’s escape distracted the guards. He's unnerved that nobody is seeking Tuon after her disappearance, but Egeanin (who is using a false name, Leilwin, and pretending to be Mat's lover, to hide that she's Seanchan) says it would be a great shame to the Return to admit she's gone. Noal sees someone "as dark as a Sharan" with blue eyes, and tries to remember where else he's seen that combination before. He almost makes to ask the man, but Mat says they need to get back to the circus. And then, Mat thinks, it’s time they get out of Ebou Dar.
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(1) Noal seems to know an awful lot about an awful lot of places and peoples. And what's his connection to the Jain Charin/Jain Farstrider who's quoted at the beginning of the book. Also, does it strike anyone else as a little odd that Jain Farstrider is a popular book character, we've seen a bunch of our main characters reading his book in-universe, but supposedly he only disappeared twenty years ago. Like, when was the book published? How did it come to be everywhere? HMM. Questions.
Crossroads of Twilight, Prologue - Glimmers of the Pattern (Part 4)
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(Wheel icon) In which this alone should've been a chapter, why is this still in the prologue?
PERSPECTIVE: Samitsu(11) watches the rebuilding of the palace in Cairhien, thankful that things are peaceful under Dobraine's stewardship. She argues with Sashalle Anderly about whether Ailil Riatin should be allowed to take control of House Riatin. Samitsu wonders why thirty-one Aes Sedai, and five of them Red Ajah, have sworn oaths to Rand, as the explanation of "but ta'veren" doesn't fly for her.(12) Only eighteen of them remain in Cairhien, the rest having left with Cadsuane or with Alanna to join Cads somewhere. Someone brings word an Ogier has arrived under suspicious circumstances, so they both go to see what's up.
Loial is the Ogier, though he’s traveling with a human and they’re both using false names. He's trying to find out what Rand is doing, but all he's getting from the kitchen staff are rumours. When Samitsu and Sashalle arrive, Loial tries to flee, but his companion, Karldin, doesn't want to leave without knowing what's happened to the Asha'man posted with Rand.
Suddenly, a servant enters with word that Dobraine's been murdered. The whole group rushes to his rooms, and despite being resentful that Sashalle commands her to do so, Samitsu finds enough life left in him that she can Heal him, though the other two in the room remain corpses. Loial appears to know something about the attack, but before he tells anyone what it is, another Aes Sedai enters with word that a group of Aes Sedai and Asha'man have entered the city with Logain in the lead.
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(11) That's the Yellow Aes Sedai who wanted to learn how Damer Flinn isolated the evils in Rand's side.
(12) Maybe because we've also had strong hints that it's not natural and it's not just ta'veren influence. Samitsu doesn't play politics much but she's not dumb.
Crossroads of Twilight, Prologue - Glimmers of the Pattern (Part 3)
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(Wheel icon) In which the prologue drags on.
PERSPECTIVE: Gawyn regrets returning to the Tower instead of going to Caemlyn to wait for his sister, and he’s upset that he still doesn’t know where Elayne or Egwene are. The rebel army now stands between him and the Tower. Two Aes Sedai, Katerine Alruddin and Tarna Feir, are in a camp with him and the Younglings, since they're also stuck outside Tar Valon. A new Aes Sedai has come to visit, Narenwin Sedai, and Gawyn interrupts her meeting with Katerine and Tarna. From Narenwin, he learns that Elayne is with the rebels, but she will face no punishment, as Accepted, once the rebels are defeated. Since he can’t rescue Elayne, he promises to obey orders from Elaida, which Narenwin implies she has.(9)
PERSPECTIVE: Davram Bashere observes the army laying siege to Caemlyn from beyond the city. He discusses it with Bael, then with a Saldaean lieutenant. They appear to be forces from some of the lower Andoran noble houses, and they're sloppy in assembling for their siege. He returns to his tents to find Deira being given stitches, after she confronted some foreigners who were ransacking the tent, looking for something. The men who attacked her are found dead just outside the camp, and Bashere sets up a meeting with a man who he spoke to the day before.(10)
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(9) Not much to say about this section, it's mostly things we knew already and setting people in their proper places. But, what orders might Elaida have for the Younglings?
(10) Who's this man? What is Davram agreeing to?
Crossroads of Twilight, Prologue - Glimmers of the Pattern (Part 2)
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(Wheel icon) In which some mysteries deepen.
PERSPECTIVE: Gabrelle is riding with Toveine and Logain. She's still trying to get used to being on the other end of a Warder bond, but as a Brown she tries to learn as much as she can from it. She dances around the thought that she actually enjoys Logain’s company in private. Another Asha'man, Atal Mishraile, brings word that the M'Hael has given Logain permission to go recruiting. He also makes some off-colour comments and suggests Logain could attain glory if he allied with Taim and took his special classes. Logain descends into cold fury over the mere idea, followed by a strange concern when he looks at Gabrelle and Toveine again. Once he’s gone, Toveine tells Gabrelle to make sure they go with Logain. Gabrelle wonders if Toveine ever actually stops and thinks about what the bond tells them about his feelings, because she feels like Logain is riding to war.(6)
PERSPECTIVE: Yukiri(7) is worried about the confused reports reaching the Tower, many of which contradict each other. None of it matters. All the Ajahs have stopped communicating with each other, even casually, and the Black Ajah is still at large. They've identified a few members, but most aren't in the Tower right now, with only about two hundred full Aes Sedai in residence. Yukiri has been talking to Meidani Eschedi, and encourages her to take up a friendship Elaida dropped thirty years ago. Seaine finds them walking the halls, and has a new observation. After dismissing Meidani and her Warder and Bernaile to keep an eye on the other ends of the hallway, Seaine weaves a protection against eavesdropping, and spills. She’s figured out that the new sitters, after each Ajah lost a sitter or two to the rebels, aren't typical choices. Instead of their usual nomination processes, it seems the Ajah heads all hand-picked their new Sitters, and all but one have some unusual circumstance, like having been a Sitter before, that would normally disqualify them. The only one that doesn’t is a Brown Sitter, which is extra curious since the Brown was the only Ajah that had to replace more than one.(8)
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(6) A war within the Black Tower, parallel to the schism in the White Tower? What do you mean men and women are often mirrors to each other, like Rand as the Dragon and Egwene as the Amyrlin? That's silly talk, isn't it?
(7) Just gonna drop this here since there's not a better place: none of the Aes Sedai in this section have mentioned the mega channeling, so while we can't place Ituralde and Valda's bits in the timeline, Gabrelle and Yukiri's POVs definitely occur before the climax of Winter's Heart.
(8) What could that mean?
Crossroads of Twilight, Prologue - Glimmers of the Pattern (Part 1)
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(Wheel icon) In which that's a very convoluted setup.
And it shall come to pass, in the days when the Dark Hunt rides, when the right hand falters and the left hand strays, that mankind shall come to the Crossroads of Twilight and all that is, all that was, and all that will be shall balance on the point of a sword, while the winds of the Shadow grow.
—From The Prophecies of the Dragon,
translation believed done by Jain
Charin,(1) known as Jain Farstrider,
shortly before his disappearance
PERSPECTIVE: Rodel Ituralde(2) is waiting with a carefully selected group of soldiers. He has previously been given conflicting orders by the King, which have led him into battle with other Domani forces and Dragonsworn. New orders have renewed his hope of reuniting Arad Doman.(3) He negotiates with the other Domani factions, as well as with Taraboners, to fight against the Seanchan, though it will take months to come together.
PERSPECTIVE: Eamon Valda thinks back on the disastrous defeat of the Whitecloaks by the Seanchan, and his flight from the conflict. He meets with Asunawa, who suggests they move to Murandy to find an Andoran army rumored to be there.(4) At the mention of Andor Valda thinks furiously about losing Morgase, and how Galad’s become useless as a lever for power, and too popular among the other soldiers besides. Good officers don’t become popular, because they’re too strict.(5) At any rate, he declines Asunawa’s suggestion, and they go together to meet the Council of the Anointed for some purpose.
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(1) Jain Charin, huh? We’ve seen a name like that recently. And, we've seen this particular name a long time ago. Seems fair to say it now: Agelmar named Jain Charin/Farstrider in book 1, when talking about Lan's past. Jain Farstrider was Malkieri, and was around when Malkier fell to the Blight, after Lan was born. Per the glossary in book 1, he disappeared in 981 NE, a few years after the Aiel War ended. Rumor was that he made it all the way to Shayol Ghul and back. Then, poof. Nobody's heard from him in, oh, that makes it about 19 years.
(2) A general from Arad Doman. We've never met him, but we've seen Graendal mention a letter she sent him, which may indicate more manipulation and scheming on her part.
(3) Which orders came from the king, and which from Graendal? Does Alsalam occasionally get some will of his own and give the contradictory orders, or was there a cutoff before and after Graendal took control of him? Is the new order the only one from her? Is someone else interfering with Graendal's orders, hence the conflicts?
(4) An Andoran army? We know that Egwene's army passed through Murandy, but they don't seem to seriously think it's the "witches" here. So, must be the Band under Talmanes.
(5) Too much strictness and discipline and you'll find your people deserting, Valda. But you have plenty of time to find that out, I'm sure.
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In which we knew she was there anyway, right?
The next leg of the journey is 27 hours of not terribly eventful. Two extra kids means infinitely more bathroom breaks, and there's no single transit method to get them to their final port. At one point, they have to rent a vehicle to cross two unaffiliated zones because there's no mass transit at all. There is a particularly funny incident with a guard at a border crossing getting intimidated by the group.(1) Another zone might make a good fallback, if they can't make it in time and the shuttle has to leave without them, since Farai and Naja can probably set up hydroponic units to make an area like the maintenance tunnels habitable.
At least the ground vehicle is big enough for everyone who's not driving to lay down and sleep. Murderbot keeps some Sanctuary Moon running on mute, but with audio in a stream for anyone who wants to listen in.(2) Some hours into the drive, MB thinks it's alone in being awake to drive, so it's watching a new show. It's about to change to a rewatch, but Janity gets a drink and crouches on the floor next to its seat.
Janity asks if MB knew her mother better than Farai, and MB allows that's true. Then, she asks if MB knows why the others were after her mother. MB almost leaves it as a no, but adds that the last time it saw Leonide, there was a dispute and some of them blamed her for the mission failing. Janity says she was so smart, they must have felt threatened by her. MB has been monitoring Janity since the rescue, but even with the feed interface, she hasn't reached out to anyone, so it risks a bit of truth.
I said, “She was so smart, that’s why I wonder how they found both the safehouses.”
Janity took a sharp breath, and then started to cry. Not the sobs from before, but silently, with the tears streaming down her face.
Farai, who had been awake for most of this conversation, sat up and turned to look at her. She said, “You don’t have to tell us.”
Janity nodded, swallowed hard, and retreated to the back of the vehicle. She curled up in a seat with a window, still looking out.
MB asks privately if Farai knows anything. Farai says she doesn't, but she's had a feeling about Janity since they met. Leonide had been surprised that Farai brought Sofi, and mentioned that she kept her children sheltered, but the older children didn't like moving here two years ago. MB makes the leap that someone played Janity for intel. Farai came to the same assumption.
Farai asks if MB wants her to drive, but all MB really needs is to reboot itself, and it doesn't want to be down for even the five minutes it'll take if it goes well, so it says it's fine.
Her brow furrowed but she didn’t argue with me. Which was nice. (Sometimes when humans argue with me, they’re right. (Statistically, they would have to be right sometimes, no matter how unlikely that seems.) But this was my job and I knew what I was doing.)
(Emotion check: Did I know what I was doing? Thanks, emotion check, like I need anything else to worry about right now.)
One hour and seventeen minutes after that, we were attacked by raiders, but I had the projectile weapon, energy weapons in my arms, and a lot of issues to work out, so it was fine.
Finally, they reach the port zone they need. It's another unthemed one, disappointing Sofi, but they deposit the rental vehicle without problems. They meet some people who are waiting for a full trip on the next leg: the pipe transport won't stop here if there are fewer than ten people with tickets. A couple have only been waiting "two trains", but one has been waiting for five.
Fortunately, MB's crew make ten, and MB wouldn't let the train not-stop here anyway. While it's at it, it rewrites the passenger limit code, and tries not to take its anger out on the poor system when it's the human who made the decision that deserves it.
Still, the wait's made somewhat unpleasant by the lack of functional rest area. The next transit station has some, thankfully.
We were relatively close to the entrance to the public docks, about a twenty-minute walk at Naja’s pace, but we needed to get to the private docks, which were much farther away, in fact way the hell down at the opposite end of the port. There was no pipe extension or tram for passengers to reach them because why the fuck would there—
(Emotion check: I’m done, I’m so done. I would rather fight a CombatBot than spend another hour on this fucking torus.)(3)
A rendezvous window has just opened, and MB would really rather not wait "two station cycles"(4) for the next one. That would give B-E far too much time to find them. It really wishes it had about 40 extra hours to backtrack and lay a false trail, then come back.
Possibly my face or body language (and possibly Farai and Naja’s faces and body language) conveyed some dismay as we stared at the feed’s port map, because Sofi indicated a nearby icon and said, “There’s a hotel tram stop close to here. It says it’s for registered guests only but—” She made circular motions with her hands. “You could do the thing?”
The hotel that the tram serviced was near the entrance to the private docks. I said, “Yes. That’s a good idea.”
(Emotion check: I really need a restart.)
Farai squeezed Sofi’s shoulder and Naja said, “So smart, this kid.” Even Janity nodded to her in relief and approval. Tula just scrubbed at her eyes and yawned.
The tram isn't hard to hack, and it brings them to the hotel foyer. MB feels a familiar feed, and recognizes the shuttle, waiting for them. MB still has al the fake IDs it confiscated from Wilken and Gerth's personal effects, and has been using one of those IDs for itself. It has some for Farai, Naja, and Sofi, in case they couldn't use their Preservation IDs for some reason. It can probably fudge the details on a scan of Janity and Tula to get them through, as it's been doing at every crossing so far.
Between the hotel and the private docks, there's a sort of tunnel of arches, and MB's threat assessment pings when it realizes there's no camera view under them.
I caught a delivery drone and used its camera for an alternate view.
Uh-oh.
To one side of the largest arch, a group of four humans in heavy armor waited, clearly watching the ID scan portal several meters ahead of their position. They weren’t port security; they had no zone affiliations or logos on their armor.
I didn’t stop, I kept moving, changing direction to a seating area under a raised platform with food kiosks. The humans followed me, not realizing anything was wrong yet. (They couldn’t see the docks entrance through the crowd.) My borrowed drone saw that the hostiles hadn’t reacted to my sudden change in direction, which meant they didn’t have us on visual, and if they had access to the port cameras, they hadn’t recognized us. Yet.
Farai notices that MB's face is Doing A Thing, and asks if it's okay. MB just asks her to give it a minute, so Naja makes a fuss of being sooo tired, and everyone sits at a table. It takes MB a while to work it through, but it figures out that B-E probably stationed guards at many port entrances, trying to spread a wide net.
It can't kill them, not without getting more humans involved. It also can't grab their comm traffic, and they're possibly using a jammer, especially if they figured out that it jammed them at the boat station.
In a stroke of luck, MB picks up Three's signal. It approaches them awkwardly, and explains that it sent the shuttle a message that it would rendezvous with MB and crew here, instead of back there. MB is extremely unamused.
It reached us and stood beside me, then reconsidered, turned to my humans, and did the most awkward handwave I had ever seen, and I’m including some I had done during moments I’d tried to delete from my archive. Sofi and Tula waved back.
Farai, Naja, and Janity were having a moment, a who-the-hell-is-this moment, but before it could get any worse, I said, “This is our friend. That we were waiting for, here. Its name is Three.”
Naja glared, eyes narrowed. Farai managed to smile and say, “Oh, it’s good to meet—see you again, uh, Three.”
Three smiled back and it looked stiff but not too unnatural. “Thank you.”
You can wait a human out, but it’s really fucking hard to wait a SecUnit out, even for another SecUnit. On our private connection, I asked Three, Why didn’t you follow the plan?
At first Three lies and says it wanted to see the unusual architecture of the place. MB presses it further, knowing the lie to hear it, and Three admits it met another SecUnit. MB realizes Three definitely gave that unit the governor module code, and Three adds that that unit freed some others. MB wishes it had held off on some of the thinking-for-itself lessons with Three.
Three points out that the exit plan is compromised, and MB doesn't hold back on the cussing in response. Still, Three opens up some options. MB decides they need a distraction. Three says they'll be expecting a distraction. MB says that's why they need two distractions.(5)
MB comes up with a plan, and has Three double check it, just in case the need for a reboot is really slowing its works. Three dubs it good, so they all get ready to go. MB tells them all to go with Three if anything happens in the dock entrance.
I could tell from Farai’s expression she wanted to ask questions, but she knew it was a bad time to do it. Three added, I hope you will be satisfied with my service—
Don’t, I interrupted. You don’t have to say that.
Oh, Three sent. Okay. It told the humans, I apologize, it’s in the buffer, sometimes it just comes out.
Perfectly all right, Farai sent back, though I doubted she had any idea what that phrase meant or why I had stopped Three from saying it. Please don’t apologize.
Sofi sent Three a dozen sparkly hug sigils.(6)
The first distraction goes off without a hitch: a false alarm on the public docks. Nobody here reacts except the B-E group. Three notices some more hostiles, and flags them for MB. Five more with armour, and a smaller group behind them, looking like Barish-Estranza executives. And, they're going to walk right past our group.
MB starts the second distraction just as Three is suggesting they pull it early. It wouldn't work if B-E used their own people here, but MB assumed they would hire local security for better access from the port authority. So, it swapped Janity and Tula's IDs with two IDs from a group that had just passed through.
A little jog later and they're safely through to the private docks. MB is so relieved its skin tingles. MB tells them which lock to go to, but a few meters out from it, someone calls out for Janity.
I didn’t scream, though I considered it for .02 of a second. On the team feed, I sent, Keep going.
But Janity stopped and turned around. So I did, too.
It was three humans in Barish-Estranza livery, the one in front wearing the high-end version, clearly a supervisor.
I considered grabbing her and running. But I couldn’t grab all of them, even with Three’s help, and on their own they couldn’t run fast enough to get away.
The executive is Supervisor Tillweather in his feed ID, and Janity clearly recognizes him, personally. Farai stops with MB, but Naja, Three, Sofi, and Tula keep going. MB tells Farai to go, but Farai can't leave Janity now.(7)
Janity admits that Tillweather is her second father. MB is gratified to see Farai is as visibly confused as it feels. A bit of conversation later, it's clear this is the man who organized the murders of Leonide and her other family members. Someone Janity trusted had killed her whole family other than himself.
(It pissed me off and I’m not even a human. It was a good thing Naja wasn’t here, and that we hadn’t let her have a gun.)
He tries to get Janity to come back with him, but Janity refuses. He let them take Tula away, maybe because Tula's not his genetic daughter. She looks to MB for support, and MB suggests they go now. Janity is relieved, like she expected to be left behind, and asks Farai to go. Farai takes her hand and they start toward the ramp.
I waited to see what Tillweather would do.
The two B-E employees were watching him, too. He looked briefly frustrated. There were too many other humans going past us to the ramps for him to start anything, and the confrontation was starting to attract the security drones. He could still call the hostiles from outside the docks. Then he turned and walked away.
I followed my humans.
MB catches up with them on the ramp. Janity's crying, Farai is comforting her, but everyone else is already aboard the shuttle, except Three waiting outside in case it's needed.
As Farai and Janity board, Three says the ART-drone is angry at it for not following the plan. MB says that's Three's problem to solve. Three asks if it could "be a we problem" but MB refuses.(8)
Onboard, there's a loud and tearful reunion between Mensah and her family members.
Mensah came up for air briefly and sent me an emotionally garbled feed message, which I acknowledged.
Tears on her face, Farai said accusingly, “You told me Ayda wasn’t here.”
I said, “I told you she wasn’t with me. She wasn’t, she was here in the shuttle.” I guess I had said that, it wasn’t in my active memory buffer and I wasn’t going to bother looking it up in my archive. Whatever, my intention had been to lie about it because if any of us had been captured I hadn’t wanted the humans to know anything, anything that they could be forced to reveal, about who was waiting for us here.
Mensah just looked at me and said, “SecUnit.” In that voice. The voice that’s the only reason I’m still here and alive and surrounded by … friends.
(Emotion check: Good, actually. Really good.)
(Emotion check: It is still hard to say the friends part.)
Three gives MB a thumbs-up, and MB promptly needs to escape the perception of other humanoids. It goes to the cockpit, with ART-drone.
It had clamped itself in the pilot’s seat like a large metal spider with a superior attitude. It said, It took you long enough.
I dropped into the copilot’s seat. “Get us the fuck out of here.”
As ART-drone disengaged from the torus, it dropped a new file into our shared processing space, a new show it had been saving for me. Then it got us the fuck out of there.(9)
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(1) I don't dare try to summarize it longer than that, and I'm not just gonna paste the entire scene. You've read it.
(2) Sanctuary Moon is Murderbot's comfort show, and it's so cute how it keeps thinking it will be everyone else's too.
(3) When the end of your journey's in sight and it's like, okay, home or bust.
(4) I think we've previously established station cycles as something approximating days before. Still, two days is a long ass time to wait in a place like this even without an anxious SecUnit.
(5) We know the plan ends up working out, but did anyone else have a moment of "maybe you need that reboot sooner than later"?
(6) I have established that I'm not a kid person but I still want to give Sofi a hug, or to make sure she's sufficiently hugged, you know?
(7) She's been responsible for her for a day and a half and she'll protect her as much as she'd protect her own daughter. What a mom. What a woman.
(8) Three is only sort of MB's monkey, but not enough for it to claim the circus. (Okay I stretched that metaphor a little too thin.)
(9) So, the way I'm describing this story as a whole is "not likely loadbearing on the overall plot". I don't have any insider information on what the next (and possibly last) book will focus on, but this book feels more like a setup for something like a SecUnit revolution, than it does a super consequential piece of the story, to me. Which isn't to say it's bad. Sometimes "filler" episodes are great character explorations, or quietly introduce pieces of the story that are loadbearing later even if they don't look it yet when they're new. I'm not mad that this felt more like a side story, like book 2 or 3, than it does like a main sequence Murderbot book. I'm just entering a holding pattern until we learn what the next one will do.
