hunters_forest | Coldfire re-read: Black Sun Rising

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bsr group reading

Coldfire re-read: Black Sun Rising - chapters 31 and 32

Today we get a glimpse of rakh life, Damien contributes to our ongoing discussion about hunger, Tarrant grows feathers, and Ciani is her own inimitable self.

Plot Summary

Chapter 31
The Master of Lema gets an update on the situation from Calesta, and finally exhibits some signs of proper villainy by ordering Tarrant and Ciani to be taken alive.

Chapter 32
Meanwhile, back in an icy river, Damien and Tarrant are still held at spearpoint by the rakh, which irritates Tarrant to no end. They are taken back to the rakh encampment, but before they can get very far, Tarrant breaks free and proceeds to demonstrate just how hard it is to keep him captive. Damien, despite not wanting to do so, cheers him on (though he'd explain it away with being freezing cold and exhausted if he had to). They reach the rakh camp, where Ciani stumps her companions by getting them all declared honourary rakh. They are questioned, and coincidence has it that Ciani has been with these rakh before, and still has their respect. Tarrant once more shows his displeasure with the situation by making mincemeat out of a rakh, which leaves a lasting impression. After he is gone, Damien, Ciani and Senzei are taken to see a rakh who has had his memories stolen as well. It is enough to convince the rakh that maybe those pesky humans can actually be useful.

Quotes

The look in Tarrant’s eyes was murderous. What must it be like, Damien wondered, to have a soul that could command the ages, trapped in a body that could be made so vulnerable?

Damien wondered if an adept could Work the fae without seeing it . . . and then realized what the answer had to be. The woman had seen him in Morgot, and knew his power. She had bound him well.

Half of him was jubilant to see a member of his party freed - and the other half of him shuddered at the thought of the slaughter that might take place if Tarrant’s fury was fully unleashed. Was there any way to stop that from happening? Did he have any right to stop it from happening?

Shape-changing wasn’t supposed to be possible, at least not for the flesh-born - but he had seen it done, and the memory chilled his blood more than weather and river-water combined. Against his will, he recalled it: a budden burst of coldfire brilliance, so frigid that it blinded, human flesh dissolving as if in an acid bath, features running together like water in a whirlpool - and then, in that last instant, white wings rising up out of the conflagration, bearing the Hunter’s new body into a moonlit sky. But it wasn’t the transformation itself that made Damien’s blood turn to ice in his veins, or even the memory of human flesh dissolving before his eyes. It was the look on Tarrant’s face, in that last moment before he entrusted his life to the earth-fae. Utter discipline, total submission - and an echo of pain and fear so intense that Damien, remembering the man’s expression, still shivered before the force of it.

Never thought I’d be this glad to have you around, you son of a bitch.

Quite a woman, he thought, and his words resonated with admiration. She’s put us all to shame, for not having thought of it before.
It surprises me that the Hunter can still experience shame, Damien thought back.
Very rarely, he admitted. It’s not my favorite emotion.

. But then he glanced at Tarrant - at the clean, delicate profile, the perfect skin, the eyes brimming with vanity - and thought. No big surprise. The man’s got his priorities straight. Appearance tops the list. And he smiled to note that the adept’s hair, though still wet, had been Worked back into a smooth, gleaming mass; the holes that the rakh had poked in his finely woven garments had been cleaned of blood and repaired, with similar finesse. He looked like a refugee from a garden party.

"Our ancestors foresaw a time when we might need such fluency, perhaps to bargain for our lives - and so they captured women of your tribes, and sometimes men, and forced them to interact with our young. Until your English took root here, and our few khrast families were established.” With a short, sharp gesture he indicated his companions. “Each one of us has spent time in the human lands, among your kind, absorbing the vernacular. Some have passed as demons, some as visions, some - occasionally - as humans. We’ve traveled in your world; we know your ways. We seven can interpret your words so that our people will under¬stand what you have to say."

“We’ll pass on what you’ve told us and let the others decide. But you should know this: We’re not a forgiving people, and our hatred of your kind runs very deep. The punishment for humans who trespass in our lands has always been death. In all my years, I’ve only known of one exception to that rule. One human who managed to bridge the gap between our species, and earn the respect of a southern tribe, so that they permitted her to live. One.”

Something that was coming to life in her, here . . . as it must have come to life the first time, so many years ago. They had sensed it in her, and it had saved her.
Hunger. A thirst for knowledge, as powerful as Senzei’s yearning for power - or Tarrant's hunger for life. Or my - my what?
What did he hunger for? If his life were to be rendered down to one ultimate statement of purpose, if the energy that kept him fighting were to be attributed to one driv¬ing force, what would it be?
To know, when I died, that my descendants would inherit Earth’s dream. To know that my children’s children would possess the stars. To believe that I’ve changed the world that much. Then: Nice thought, he reflected dryly. You need to stay in one place long enough to have children, if you want all that.

Thoughts

Damien's taking another step away from his initial perception of Tarrant here, when he wonders not so much whether he can keep the Hunter from killing the rakh, but whether he actually should do it. And he keeps cheering him on, then bites his tongue for doing so. I hadn't realized just how torn he already is this early in the story. It certainly hasn't taken him long to move away from his "must only use him as a weapon, then kill immediately" approach.

Finally the shapechanging. It's something that's always made me wonder whether Tarrant has any limits to what he's willing to try. That particular experiment could, according to what Damien holds as common knowledge, have killed him. And yet he went through with it at some point. Is there any limit to his curiosity?

Tarrant, swooping in and changing shape just to catch Damien and keep him from crumpling to the ground? The inner fangirl in me had an absolute "awwwww" moment at that.

I find it very kind of Damien to sit down and summarize the hunger theme for us. Isn't it ironic that what he hungers for now is what Tarrant dreamed of back when he was still human?

I wonder, what are the results of Tarrant killing that leading male rakh? Hierarchical instinct is mentioned - should that be read as that he's gained himself a place in the hierarchy?

The rakh are never really interesting to me. There is more development of their social structure here than 90% of all alien species (or should that be aboriginal species) in fiction get, but I've never managed to shake off the stereotypes some of the descriptions bring up. How about you?

On Monday it's chapter 33, when our heroes will once more be on the move and we'll get to know Hesseth a bit better.

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I've never managed to shake off the stereotypes some of the descriptions bring up. How about you?

I agree that the rakh depictions do sound stereotypical at first, but I love how Friedman's world allows the stereotypes to be understood ironically. The rakh became these creatures because this is what humans imagined they would become.

The fact that they were evolved by human fears and imaginings also makes the certainty and animal-like interaction with the fae understandable--I really enjoy later in the series when Hesseth and Damien have their conversation about how and why humans and rakh affect the fae so differently--human's different levels of consciousness and ability to hold multiple thoughts vs. the rakh's more united mind.

The rakh became these creatures because this is what humans imagined they would become.

Yes! That's one reason I think even the stereotypes are cool in this case, because they're there for a reason.

The rakh became these creatures because this is what humans imagined they would become.

Hm. I hadn't seen it like that before, but it does make sense.

What I wonder about is how much human imagination affected the rakh after they erected the canopy. Does that block not only the fae currents, but also whatever influences the fae currents? Then we'd have a few centuries of un-influenced evolution there.

Tarrant catches Damien before he faints, yee! Gawd, I'm so pathetic, but...I never stop loving that bit. And then he wanders around holding him up, and does the telepathy thing, and I wonder, "Friedman, if this isn't some kind of slashy UST thing, then what else could you possibly be trying to achieve?" XD

When I manage to tear my attention away from that, I love this entire sequence, from last chapter through the next couple, for Ciani kicking butt. It's her enterprise that gets them through this; she may not have her speshul powarz or all her loremastery information, but we get to see the kind of person she is underneath that.

Gotta say I'm confused about the khrast, though. Hesseth says they hold no special rank or sway aside from being interpreters, and yet they all seem to step lively when she tells them what to do, don't they? Is that just because Hesseth's a lady you don't want to cross?

Damien hanging on to Gerald's arm like the figurative damsel in distress is something of a giveaway, that's for sure. And all those thoughts about how comforting his presence is, even if he's a bit chilly... People really can't blame us for seeing slash!

What I like about Ciani is that she manages to be a strong character even though she's been stripped of her superpower throughout. This is a woman who's been weakened, enough to make her companions cringe every time they look at her. And yet she's the one who manages to find simple but effective solutions they couldn't have thought of. It would have been so easy to make her a simpering girl in need of propping up at every turn, but out of our foursome, she very often seems the most stable to me. It's like losing her adeptitude has just made her resort to common sense and it doesn't even make that much of a difference.

Maybe Hesseth is obeyed because this is her area of expertise? Dealing with smelly, weird humans isn't something any of the rakh seem comfortable with, so the others may defer to her because it means they won't have to bother?

The focus on Gerald's looks and attire and the feel of his skin (okay, mostly "it's freaking freezing!" which, y'know, not so romantic but still) when they get close doesn't exactly speak against the idea either. And the constant rescuing of one another.

Regarding Ciani: exactly! In fact, the first time I read these books, I kind of worried about her becoming a Mary Sue if she hung around after she got her adeptitude back. Of course, I didn't know Friedman's work then, and I'd just waded through a pile of Dragonriders and assorted fantasy with cookie-cutter love interests... I was so glad she ended up doing her own thing. I was like, "Take that, Mary Sues! Books don't need your banal token presence!" and "Go, Woman with Independent Interests Unrelated To Those Of The Male Characters!" at the same time.

Maybe Hesseth is obeyed because this is her area of expertise?

Could be. It would make sense to listen to the khrast because they know what's going on. And refreshingly, even the "fighting males" don't seem entirely instinctual and animalistic (you know, like those "primitive warriors" so often are in stories :P). They've got the brains to stand back and learn what's going on before they go cutting anybody down.

The constant rescuing, and the way Damien keeps on going after Gerald whenever he heads off to brood somewhere. BFF, at the very least.

I remember reading BSR quite quickly on the first round, and I didn't catch some of the smaller details on Ciani there. I liked her a lot more on the re-reads, when I became more aware that this isn't the typical simpering woman, but a woman who could, if she wanted to, solve her problem by herself. I really have no doubts that she'd have hiked off into the rakhlands once she'd known what had happened to her.

Regarding the rakh: it would have been interesting to get more than one chapter on them. Hesseth by herself is hard to interpret because of her khrast background, so we actually get to see surprisingly little.

Hesseth says they hold no special rank or sway aside from being interpreters

"... beyond what we hold as individuals", she continues that. (Sorry if that isn't entirely accurate, I'm quoting from memory.)

So I take that to mean that being khrast doesn't give you any authority in and of itself, but a khrast can certainly hold authority in the "normal" way, whatever that is with the rakh.

So Hesseth could have simply been high-ranking enough to make the rest jump when she told them to.

I wonder, who decides who becomes khrast? Do teenage rakh wake up one day and think they want to go explore humans? Or is it an assigned position?

The way they talks about "khrast families", it seems it's inherited. Which would make sense - exposing the kids to the language right from the start.

So it's something of a caste system? You're born a khrast, and you don't get much of a choice about it because you're spoon-fed human knowledge when you can't yet object?

Yes, that's how I understood it. The description seemed pretty clear to me:

Our ancestors foresaw a time when we might need such fluency, perhaps to bargain for our lives - and so they captured women of your tribes, and sometimes men, and forced them to interact with our young. Until your English took root here, and our few khrast families were established.

So the khrast would all come from a few families, and I presume those would stay among themselves to some extent, which then recreates the system in the next generation.

Still - Hesseth says there are seven khrast among this tribe, if I'm not mistaken? That seems a little low for "several families", especially since these khrast all seem to be in comfortable adult age. Do they choose the talented kids at some point and stop the education of the others? I assume there must be checks and balances in place to make sure nobody unsuitable ends up in the human lands and wreaks havoc.

There are seven adult khrast in this one place at this one time; this doesn't say much about how many there are in general. Remember, Hesseth herself has just come back from the human lands; she's in all likelihood not from this particular place.

I would understand the statement to say that the several families are among all the rakh, in the various regions, or at least among a larger community, not just in this one place. But yeah, there's probably some weeding out going on as well.

But if Hesseth isn't from this place, then how does she hold what looks like a relatively high rank, if khrast status alone isn't anything special? The rakh look fairly tribal to me, so wouldn't it give her a low status in a group not her own?

(Yes, I'm just preparing the next discussion post, and that bit just came up...)

Good question. Plot hole? *g*

A very detail-focused and tiny one, but it could be a plothole.

Have we found any others so far?

Plenty of unresolved questions and possible internal contradictions, but none that couldn't be explained away, I don't think. Except for the one where Gerald, in the state he's in at the end of the book, nonetheless manages to cross the Canopy unscathed.

(But I think you said you'd written something about that once? I looked, but couldn't find it.)

For that end, you could just assume that he made the rakh take down the canopy for a day. You know he could do it. ;-)

Balance (http://www.surreality.at/fics/coldfire/balance.php) is probably what I meant. Not among my best ones - some of the dialogue makes me cringe when I re-read it now - but it's an attempted explanation.

LOL. There's not much that's beyond him, but I'm not sure I'm willing to go to such lengths to explain that! I like your explanation better - thanks for the link, btw. Not sure how I missed that in my search!

Gah, I only just now managed to reread these chapters. And #32 is one of my favourites! But here I finally am. *g*

What I find interesting, in a creepy way, is the theme of the Master's sexualised hunger in #31. It continues here, and I keep being unnerved by it. Is that just me?

As for #32: There is that strange bit where Damien thinks about Senzei's untested inner courage. I really do wonder what to make of that. Are we supposed to take that at face value, or are we supposed to think him mistaken, considering what happens later?

And also, Damien envying the friendship between Ciani and Senzei, and wondering if he could ever have anything like it, "years in the making", when he never manages to sit still long enough. (Hint: you don't have to look far. *g*)

Damien's taking another step away from his initial perception of Tarrant here, when he wonders not so much whether he can keep the Hunter from killing the rakh, but whether he actually should do it.

That's fascinating, isn't it? How he keeps having to stop himself from taking the Hunter's side. How he keeps having to talk himself into disapproving.

Tarrant, swooping in and changing shape just to catch Damien and keep him from crumpling to the ground? The inner fangirl in me had an absolute "awwwww" moment at that.

Everyone's inner fangirl, I believe. :D

Isn't it ironic that what he hungers for now is what Tarrant dreamed of back when he was still human?

They're more alike than they like to admit, even though they're also very different in temperament. It's one reason they understand each other so well, despite their differences. I like that kind of thing. :-)

The rakh are never really interesting to me. There is more development of their social structure here than 90% of all alien species (or should that be aboriginal species) in fiction get, but I've never managed to shake off the stereotypes some of the descriptions bring up. How about you?

I find the rakh fascinating - they're such a strange creation, half human fantasy, half real alien. It's their origin that makes them interesting to me, not so much their actual description which, as you say, could be any clichéd species anywhere. But here, the clichés make sense for once, because the rakh were made from clichés. I hurt my brain a little just thinking about that. *g*

What I find interesting, in a creepy way, is the theme of the Master's sexualised hunger in #31.

I've never actually consciously registered it. It's such villain behaviour, it simply seemed par for the course. Especially when it's all about "bring me the girl".

And also, Damien envying the friendship between Ciani and Senzei, and wondering if he could ever have anything like it,

I'm sure he didn't quite expect that outcome, though!

There is that strange bit where Damien thinks about Senzei's untested inner courage.

I read that as Senzei having the potential to show his mettle, only he never gets to fully live up to it because at first he never needs to, and then that energy is focused on ambition instead.

That's fascinating, isn't it? How he keeps having to stop himself from taking the Hunter's side.

"Memo to me. I don't like him, I really don't. He's evil and eats people. No matter if he's good-looking and smart and an adept."

They're more alike than they like to admit, even though they're also very different in temperament. It's one reason they understand each other so well, despite their differences. I like that kind of thing. :-)

Whenever this comes up, I yearn for more Damien background so we can see how similar exactly they are. Who knows, if Damien had had an equally difficult time growing up as Gerald, with a constant need to try and be stronger, what turn things might have taken...

But here, the clichés make sense for once, because the rakh were made from clichés. I hurt my brain a little just thinking about that. *g*

But are clichés any less cliché just because they're created from clichés in the first place?

But are clichés any less cliché just because they're created from clichés in the first place?

It's an ironical take on clichés. Instead of being unimaginative, it's very imaginative to come up with this kind of set-up.

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Coldfire re-read: Black Sun Rising - chapters 31 and 32

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