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iviarellereads · 7 months ago

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The Great Hunt, Chapter 40 - Damane

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(A’dam icon) In which I hate every single second of it.

PERSPECTIVE: Egwene. Armored men await, more than fifty, in insect helmets, and one with his helmet on his hip, his only distinguishing feature a hooked nose.(2) There are some women as well, two in plain grey dresses with wide silver collars, and two next to the collared ones, with two more set apart a bit with divided skirts, and one more woman on a palanquin, most of her head shaved, and her nails long and lacquered.

Egg asks if Liandrin knows who they are, and Liandrin addresses High Lady Suroth directly, saying these are the two she told Suroth about, and another is the Daughter-Heir of Andor. The two with divided skirts approach, and Egwene asks if these people are here to help Rand too.

The hook-nosed man suddenly seized Min and Elayne by the scruffs of their necks, and in the next instant everything seemed to happen at once. The man yelled a curse, and a woman screamed, or perhaps more than one woman; Egwene could not be sure. Abruptly the breeze was a gale that whipped away Liandrin’s angry shout in clouds of dirt and leaves and made the trees bend and groan. Horses reared and whinnied shrilly. And one of the women reached out and fastened something around Egwene’s neck.

Egwene tugs at the collar, but can't find a catch. The coils are now trailing behind her, a leash connecting to a bracelet on one woman's wrist. Egwene punches the woman in the face, and then reels, feeling as if someone's just punched her quite a bit harder than she'd managed. When she can see straight again, Min is kneeling, her knife just out of her reach but red with the hook-nosed man's blood. Nynaeve and Elayne are nowhere to be seen.

The woman holding Egg's leash says it's her first lesson, and she won't punish her further this time, because she should have been on her guard. She tells Egwene to know this: she is a damane, a Leashed One, and she is a sul'dam, a Holder of the Leash. When damane and sul'dam are joined, the damane feels twice what the sul'dam feels, even to death. So, best to protect the sul'dam even more than herself.(3) Her name is Renna, and she asks what Egg is called. Egg says she’s not whatever that was, and asks Liandrin why she’s allowing this to happen. Renna says she must learn to do exactly as she's told, without delay, and suddenly Egg feels her skin burning and prickling all over.

“Many sul’dam,” Renna went on in that almost friendly tone, “do not believe damane should be allowed names, or at least only names they are given. But I am the one who took you, so I will be in charge of your training, and I will allow you to keep your own name. If you do not displease me too far. I am mildly upset with you now. Do you really wish to keep on until I am angry?” Quivering, Egwene gritted her teeth. Her nails dug into her palms with the effort of not scratching wildly. Idiot! It’s only your name. “Egwene,” she managed to get out. “I am Egwene al’Vere.” Instantly the burning itch was gone. She let out a long, unsteady breath. “Egwene,” Renna said. “That is a good name.” And to Egwene’s horror, Renna patted her on the head as she would a dog. That, she realized, was what she had detected in the woman’s voice—a certain good will for a dog in training, not quite the friendliness one might have toward another human being.

Egwene gets angry but Renna feels it, and tells her to be careful how she reacts, she'll feel it twice as hard. And she will never channel without Renna's express command. Egg ignores Renna as much as she can, and calls out to ask Min if she's alright. Then lightning strikes out of a clear sky, striking the trees some distance off. Nynaeve and Elayne are safely away, then. Egg takes heart, because if anyone can rescue her, it's them. Though, there's a reckoning coming for Liandrin.

Suroth says there were only supposed to be two, and now she has only one, with two loose, one of them very powerful indeed. Liandrin says if Suroth can’t hold three, perhaps she’s not worth their master’s effort. Suroth says she could take Liandrin in as the second, but Liandrin seizes saidar, and Renna calls out to warn Suroth.(4) The soldiers stir to attention, but Suroth says Liandrin won’t act against her, they’re at a stalemate out of mutual fear of their master. Liandrin reminds Suroth that both Egg and Nyn must be on the ships when she leaves.(5) Suroth assures Liandrin that neither of the escapees will remain free for long, and Liandrin will be collared someday. But for now, she lets Liandrin go back through the Ways.

The hook-nosed man asks Suroth if he can kill Min, but Egg shouts NO! Renna starts punishing her immediately, but Suroth waves her off. She asks if Egg will listen and work hard to become a good damane, if she lets Min stay and visit her from time to time? Egg promises she will. Suroth says that if the damane proves a disappointment, perhaps the man can have Min's head then.(6)

As they ride to Falme, Renna says that Egwene was honoured to have the High Lady speak to her. Another time, she could wear a ribbon to mark the honour, but since it was Egwene's lack of control that brought it on... Egg feels lashes across her back, her arms, her legs, from every direction. Egwene can't help but throw her arms out to block the blows coming from inside her own mind. Min asks Renna to stop, but Renna says this is a lesson for both of them.

Eventually Renna lets the punishment stop, and Egg says it's not Min's fault, and she soothes Bela, saying it's not hers, either. Renna says condescendingly that it's Egwene's fault. When a damane is punished, it's always her fault, even if she doesn't know why.

Egwene bit her lip until she tasted blood. This is a nightmare. It can’t be real. Why did Liandrin do this? Why is this happening? “May . . . may I ask a question?” “Of me, you may.” Renna smiled. “Many sul’dam will wear your bracelet over the years—there are always many more sul’dam than damane—and some would have your hide in strips if you took your eyes off the floor or opened your mouth without permission, but I see no reason not to let you speak, so long as you are careful in what you say.”(7) One of the other sul’dam snorted loudly; she was linked to a pretty, dark-haired woman in her middle years who kept her eyes on her hands.

Egg asks who the master Liandrin and Suroth spoke of was, and what he wants with her and her companions. Renna says the affairs of the Blood are not for her to take notice of, and certainly not for a damane. Anything she hears, it must be as if she never heard it at all. Otherwise, she could end up without a tongue or hands. Damane don't need those things to be of value.

Egg says it's horrible, how can you do this to another person? Renna says that men who would be marath'damane must be killed, but women don't go mad. Damane can be dangerous if left free. And the one who made the first a'dam was an Aes Sedai, helping Luthair Paendrag Mondwin, son of Artur Hawkwing, to tame the power of her sisters, until eventually they leashed her too. It's said that her screams shook the Towers of Midnight.(8) Renna pivots the conversation slightly to say that if Egwene is found to be able to make a'dam, she'll be pampered.

Egg asks if she should look forward to a lifetime of being chained to men and women who think she's little more than a dog? Renna says never a man. For most men, the bracelet does nothing. Another sul'dam chimes in to say that sometimes, though, both man and damane die screaming. The Empress plays with the Lords sometimes, by linking them to damane. It makes them sweat, and entertains the Court of the Nine Moons.(9)

Renna says to the other sul'dam, naming her Alwhin, that she has no plans to train this one only to be wasted. Alwhin says there's not much training going on yet that she can see. Renna studies Egwene and asks if she can channel at a distance yet. Egg isn't sure, so Renna points at a tree and asks her to visualize the sap in the tree, and make it so hot it all turns to steam at once. Egg feels a compulsion to try, but says she cannot, it's too far and she's never done anything like that before. Renna says that sometimes if you're sul'dam long enough you can tell many things about a damane without the bracelet, but wearing the bracelet, you can always tell if a damane has tried to channel, and Egg must never lie to a sul'dam.

The switches are back, striking Egg everywhere. She tries to hold saidar, but just as quick as thought her entire body feels like burning on top of the invisible lashes. When she lets go of saidar the burning stops, but the lashing continues, longer than Egwene can keep track of. Renna says it's good that Egwene has spirit. The best damane are the ones who have spirit to be shaped and molded, and Egwene will be one of the best. She strokes Egwene's hair, a mistress soothing her dog.

PERSPECTIVE: Nynaeve, hiding. She thinks about having used the Power as a weapon, going against what Aes Sedai are supposed to stand for. There's a rustling nearby, but it's just Elayne, having found her. They confirm that they're no longer being followed, and Nyn asks if El has seen Egg or Min, but she hasn't, either.

El feels ashamed that she ran so quickly when faced with danger, saying her mother had better marry Gareth Bryne quickly and have another daughter, because she's not fit for the throne. Nyn tells her not to be a goose, she couldn't have fought off dozens of men and other Aes Sedai.(10)

Now, says Nynaeve, get on your feet, dust off your dress, and brush your hair. They're going to Falme, where Suroth said she had business. They may be detected by those damane, Aes Sedai can tell a woman who can channel just by being near her. Elayne wonders if Rand is alright, and Nynaeve says he's probably all the way back in Fal Dara. Elayne takes some comfort in this, and they ride on toward Falme. Nynaeve hopes that by the time they get there, she can stop being afraid and start being angry.

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(1) What is this feeling? Dread, oh definitely dread. (2) We could've done without using that as the descriptor but sure. (3) Oh, no. If I didn't have a nausea response to just the sight of the collar icon, this'd do it. (4) Curious. How can she see someone holding the One Power? So far, only someone who could channel could see that aura, and only after learning how to channel themselves… but I don't think the Seanchan are leashing only some channelers and leaving others loose, with their whole bias going on, do you? And besides that, how did Suroth know that Nynaeve was so powerful? (5) So, who is their mutual master, and why would he want Egwene and Nynaeve out of the picture? Is it too soon to give it away, or had you already guessed that Liandrin served the Dark, which is why she was so suspicious up to here. Who else would want these two, the most powerful channelers found in hundreds of years, out of the way? Only the Dark One, or one of his generals pretending to his identity, wanting to be sure these young women wouldn't be in any position to interfere. (6) Nothing like a hostage to guarantee good behaviour. (7) Renna is so practiced in the art of breaking people, you could wonder if she was brought specifically for her skill in this area and obedience, if she's not a Darkfriend her own self. The kindness in between the punishments is so… affecting. (8) That's funny, that's the name of one of the later books… (9) So much information about Seanchan culture in this chapter, and yet it's interspersed with such horror as to make it hard to remember. Bookmark it for later if you think they might be an important part of the story. (10) See, Nyn knows a few correct things about people and appropriate responses.

#wheel of time #wot #the wheel of time #twot #tgh #the great hunt #wot a'dam icon #egwene al'vere #elayne trakand #nynaeve al'meara #min farshaw #liandrin guirale #high lady suroth #renna emain #zaired elbar #alwhin (wot)

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