Coldfire Reread 2021: Black Sun Rising - Chapter 21

[alice_montrose]

Our travellers arrive in Morgot, where there's blood on the menu (literally, of course) and shit is about to go down.

Plot Summary
Our intrepid heroes cross over to Morgot. On the ship, Damien and Tarrant get a small glimpse of the tidal fae. In Morgot, they find an inn with ... interesting things on the menu. Tarrant goes out to take a look at the fae, and detects the sign of an unknown watcher. Damien joins him, the others are lured out by sorcery - and their enemies attack. Tarrant and Damien fight, our female stranger interferes - she's using the tidal fae. When the creatures flee, Damien finds Tarrant, under the influence of the female, has attacked Ciani. He tries to attack Tarrant with the Fire, but Tarrant knocks him out with the earth fae.


Quotes

• Tarrant's ties to the Hunter should have been enough to make Ciani keep her distance - except that she was Ciani, and even before the accident she had loved knowledge for its own sake, without the "taint" of moral judgment. With a sinking feeling Damien realized just how drawn she would be to the Hunter, and to the mystery that he represented. It would mean little to her that he tortured human women as a pastime, save as one more fact for her to devour. For the first time it occurred to him just what a loremaster's neutrality meant, and it made his stomach turn. He had never considered it in quite that way before.


• Faeborn creatures usually avoided crossing bodies of water for that reason; shallow waters might rob them of their special powers, and deep enough waters might cost them their life.
  He wondered if the creature called the Hunter could survive such a crossing. Was that why he sent out his minions, his constructs, but never left the Forest himself? Or was his form simply so unhuman that the men who plied the straits for a living would respond poorly to his overtures - unlike their response to the elegant, courteous Gerald Tarrant?


• "I think you forget the God I serve," he told Tarrant. "Those of my calling neither fear death, nor doubt their own immortality."
  For a brief moment, there was something in the other man's expression that was strangely human. Strangely vulnerable. And then the moment was gone and the cold, mocking mask was back in place. "Touché," he muttered, with a slight bow. "I should know better than to fence rhetoric with your kind. My apologies."


• "Not bad, eh? Best beer in the eastlands, to bet. It's out of Jahanna."
  "Jahanna?"
  "The Forest," Senzei explained. He and Ciani had come up to join them at the bow, to watch the sea of scarlet stars part before their hull.
  "The Forest makes beer?"
  The captain grinned. "Can you think of something that place'd need more, besides a good drink?"


• The efficacy of sacrifice, the Prophet had written, is in direct proportion to the value of that which is destroyed.


• "Is there anything you haven't prearranged?” Damien said sharply.
  He seemed amused. "You mean, do I ever leave anything to chance?" He smiled. "Not by choice, priest."


• “You make assumptions.” It was Gerald Tarrant’s voice, disconcertingly close behind him. “Where there is commerce, there will be men. And the Forest holds its own in trade.”
  But in what sort of goods! Damien thought darkly.


• “There’s blood on the menu,” she whispered.
  “It’s a rough place,” Damien observed. He dropped his sword harness over the back of a chair.
  Tarrant smiled coldly. “I don’t believe that’s what the lady meant.”
  He looked at her. She nodded slowly. And said, “There’s blood listed on the menu.”
  It took him a second to find his voice. “Animal or human?”
  “Several varieties. I believe...” She looked at the menu again. “The human is more expensive.”
  “Tastes differ,” Tarrant said quietly. “Morgot prides itself on being hospitable to all travelers.”


• He hesitated. “Hard to say. A trace, perhaps. Hard to focus on. Nearly every signal is drowned out by the volcano’s outpouring... very little is comprehensible. The image of someone watching stands out - not our quarry, I might add - and a taint at the harbor’s mouth which might have been left by the ones we seek. But as for when they left here, or exactly where they went... the interference is simply too great.”
  “Like trying to search for a candle flame in front of the sun,” Damien said quietly.
  Tarrant glanced at him. “It’s been a long time since I stared at the sun,” he said dryly.


• “You did what they did,” he said. Seeing the flow of power between them, sensing the new emptiness inside her. “You took her memories. Deny it!”
  Tarrant shut his eyes for an instant, as if struggling with something inside himself. Damien gauged the distance between them, Ciani’s position, his own fading strength - and then the moment was gone, and the black gaze was fixed on him again. Shadowed, as if in pain.
  “I became what she feared the most,” the man whispered. “Because that’s what I am.”


• Tarrant's voice was hoarse. "I vowed once that I would never hurt this woman. But when that woman's Working hit, with the full force of the tidal fae behind it ... it awakened a hunger too intense. I feed on vulnerability, priest - and she was too close. Too helpless. I lost control."
  "So much for your precious vow," Damien growled.
  Something flickered in those lightless eyes that was not rage or hatred. Pain? "The true cost of that is beyond your comprehension," he whispered.

Bonus quote for rekishi:
“Can you pick up a trail?” he asked him.
“Unlikely,” Tarrant answered. “Not here, at any rate. A live volcano exudes its own fae, in quantity; that, and the strength of the northbound current, will muddy the trail considerably.” He looked up toward the crest of the cone, at the lights that marked the crater’s upper edge. “Perhaps up there it can be managed. Perhaps. There should be an inn, at any rate, and the three of you will want refreshment.” He began to lead them toward the narrow shoreline, but Damien stopped him.
“A live volcano?” he asked. “I thought Morgot was extinct. You’re telling me this thing could go off beneath our feet?”
“The verb you’re looking for is vulk. And as for this being an extinct volcano, there’s no such thing. Not in a collision zone. All we know about Morgot is that it hasn’t erupted while man has been present on Erna - a mere twelve hundred years. That’s nothing, geologically speaking. Volcanoes can have a period considerably longer than that. Ten thousand years - one hundred thousand - perhaps even longer.” He smiled. “Or twelve hundred and one, for that matter. So I would say that if you want to eat and get some kind of a fix on things we should start moving now. Who knows what the next hour may bring?”
“All the sorcerors in the Forest,” Damien muttered to Ciani, “and we have to get a smartass.”


Thoughts

• A lot of Damien introspection in this chapter, ranging from Church belief in immortality to his current perception on the Hunter. The banter and philosophical discussions with Gerald also progress apace. And then of course there's the fact he is jealous of Gerald's interaction with Ciani. :)


• More Forest info, too: it makes beer, it has its own trade (not mentioned what, a bit more in a later chapter), it has smartass "servant" running around often enough that port authorities recognize them and who apparently pay well for services provided.


• We get an extra little bit on the colonists and their journey from Earth, as well as additional information about the fae - a bit on tidal fae, and plenty on earth fae. Including the fact that Gerald tried working near a volcano in his "youth". (I wonder if that was pre or post vivisecting his family. Post, if he survived?)


• Morgot's inn is very hospitable...


• Aaaaaaand then it all goes boom! The creatures lie in wait, and they take advantage to lure Ciani out. Damien fights them. Senzei tries to. Gerald pulls out the badass coldfire sword! But Hesseth steps in and controls the tidal fae, levelling the field (also literally).


• It becomes clear that there is more at stake for Gerald for breaking his word than suggested. Also, more on how his dark powers work. And that the Fire might scorch, but it won't stop him. Now off he goes into the darkness with Ciani. Oh noes!

Link to the previous discussion post (imported from LiveJournal).

On Tuesday, Damien and Senzei will start their trek towards the Forest. Hopefully by then I'll catch up with the comments from the last 2 weeks, so I can accompany them.

Comments

[lunabee34]

Do we ever learn what Senzei sees/feels during the attack? He doesn't reveal it here, and I can't remember if he ever does. If he doesn't, what does everybody else think it is?

[prettyarbitrary]

"I think you forget the God I serve," he told Tarrant. "Those of my calling neither fear death, nor doubt their own immortality."
For a brief moment, there was something in the other man's expression that was strangely human. Strangely vulnerable. And then the moment was gone and the cold, mocking mask was back in place. "Touché," he muttered, with a slight bow. "I should know better than to fence rhetoric with your kind. My apologies."

I think this is the sickest burn Damien ever delivers to Tarrant, and he doesn't even know enough to appreciate it yet.

[rekishi]

It's tragic, isn't it?

[prettyarbitrary]

I am continually fascinated with the dueling moral paradigms at play between Damien and Ciani. Both of them are highly ethical people! But their priorities and perspectives are so different that their ideas of "highest good" are simply wildly different. It's kind of captivating to think what that means for human society on Erna in general. You have communities of people with such deep differences living side by side. The culture clash must be ferocious.

Not that this is unique to Erna. We've had places and periods of this right here on Earth. It's just so volatile and results in so many unique and unpredictable social currents. Much like the fae!

I love that neither is framed as right or wrong, though. In fact it's pretty clear that both are right. Damien's Church and the moral imperatives it imposes on its people are absolutely meant to work for the ultimate good of humanity (and furthermore of course we'll see that it isn't proof against corruption without living people of strong character willing to ask themselves hard questions). But Ciani's perspective is just as important, if knowledge on Erna is to be preserved and shared.

And Tarrant in between them, who is also interesting because in so many ways I think he naturally leans toward the loremaster perspective, but he didn't just choose sides. He created one side and even now, centuries later, he still chooses to orient himself within its paradigm. Even as a force of evil, he can act as an example of what not to do and why, and a unifying enemy. And honestly I have little doubt that he does so on purpose, even if he doesn't have to put much thought into it these days.

[rekishi]

Awwww, you thought of me!

I love that the verb is "vulk", considering that's also Damien's favourite expletive.

Gerald is so smooth here so....butter wouldn't melt in that mouth with the way he explains it, all academic lotus petal and all. I love him.

Jahanna has not only beer (Gerald strikes me more as the wine type), it has currency too. What do you imagine it looks like? It will hardly have the Hunter's visage on it.

This glimpse of Gerald's....humanity that Damien notices is interesting, isn't it? We'll see Gerald in a lot of states in the future, but it's always interesting when Damien mentions his humanity for the simple reason of how close it must bring Gerald to the edge of his contract. There are so many wrapping and trappings...

For some minutes more he remained by the mechanism, following each motion with his eye, reaffirming the patterns of how it worked in his own mind. That was necessary to counteract any doubts his passengers might have had about it, as well as the formless fears of the horses. The deep water beneath them meant that such fears couldn’t manifest too easily, but it never hurt to make sure. One good jinxer on board and the whole mechanism could blow sky high.

Steam engines are very simple. But the laws of nature are REACTIVE. Imagine all the little things we never think about consciously but that we still fear. That rush in the morning when the worst thing that would happen is the car doesn't start (on Erna it wouldn't start ever).

What makes me wonder is: What would happen if all kids were taught in school how machinery, even simple machinery, works? A whole planet of engineers or believers in science. Would that work? Is the Church the experiment for that? Would Gerald try that?


The efficacy of sacrifice, the Prophet had written, is in direct proportion to the value of that which is destroyed.

I said to trobadora today that we need to talk about this in WTNF, I have thoughts about this and what it means and what it doesn't. And whether there really was no alternative.