#jorin din jubai white wing

[iviarellereads]

The Shadow Rising, Chapter 39 - A Cup of Wine

(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.)

(Harp icon) In which it still only counts as one!

PERSPECTIVE: Elayne disembarking from the Wavedancer. She expects more rebellion from Thom and Juilin: they've already had to threaten to transfer the men to another Sea Folk ship headed the other way once this voyage, when they decided the young women weren't competent to seek out the Black Ajah.

As they walk the dock, Bayle Domon recognizes and greets them excitedly, apologizing for leaving at Falme without them. He feels he owes them, so he'll bring them to an inn where his word might help them get rooms: Tanchico is full to bursting and beds are hard to come by. Only, what happened in Falme isn’t going to happen here, is it? Nyn hesitates, but El reassures him. As Thom comes up behind them, El almost thinks Domon recognizes him.(1)

Domon does, in fact, help them get the last two rooms at the inn in question, the Three Plum Court, and joins them for supper. Nyn asks if anyone here helps the poor, and the innkeeper, Rendra, mentions that Domon uses a good portion of his profits to give soup and bread to them.

When Rendra has left, Nyn says it's good he helps people, because they might need his help too. He asks how, and she says she doesn't know exactly but he clearly employs a lot of people, and they need to find the Black Ajah if they're in Tanchico. Domon gapes incredulously until Thom and Juilin nod, then pushes his plate aside and sets his head down on his arms on the table. It do be happening again, Falme all over, he says. Maybe he should take all his ships and go back to Illian. Nyn says he might not like Illian, with Sammael ruling, and Domon's eyes almost pop out of his head. Nyn says there are no safe places any longer.(2)

Thom (and Juilin via Thom, because of the Tairen-Illianer hatred) question Domon about all sorts of useful things. Where the thieves and cutpurses tend to gather, who the nobles are and what factions they belong to, etc. Eventually they get all the info they can. Nyn gives Domon descriptions of the Black Ajah they suspect are here, and he promises to pass them along to trusted subordinates to keep an eye out.

Juilin goes out to friendly up with the rabble, Nyn goes to lay down, and Thom goes to perform in the common room, so El follows him and sits in a corner, drinking wine. At one point, she swears she can remember hearing him recite some of The Great Hunt before, but in High Chant, not the Plain he uses here.

At the end of the night, she doesn't know how much wine she drank, because one of the serving men kept her glass full.(3) Climbing the stairs, she follows Thom to his and Juilin's room, not her own. She confronts him, saying she remembers sitting on his knee, pulling his mustache, and her mother leaning over Thom's shoulder to laugh at her. Thom tells her she should go to her own room and sleep it off. El demands to know why her mother would sit on Thom's knee when he's a simple gleeman.

Thom sighs and admits he was Caemlyn's Court-bard, for a time. For Queen Morgase. El says she knew about Gareth Bryne, and Lord Gaebril from Mat, and now Morgase has been with Thom too... what makes her any better than Berelain, taking every man who catches her eye to bed? Thom slaps her, and says if she ever says anything like that about Morgase again, he'll put her over his knee. El realizes she's crying and asks why her mother would-- she can't finish the sentence, but Thom says it's lonely being a queen, and most men see only power, not a woman. Everyone wants someone in their life who cares for them.(4)

She makes her way back to her own room without help, and Nyn knows something's up. She tells El to come over and kneel down so she can look at something, and dunks El's whole head in a bucket of water. Twice, for longer than El thinks she can stand it. Then El pukes into a basin, and Nyn washes her face.

Nyn asks if El can stay awake, because she wants to try to find Egg in TAR, but she's nervous to go in without someone to wake her. El agrees, sure she can stay awake, and Nyn falls asleep with the stone ring.

PERSPECTIVE: Nynaeve searches the Heart of the Stone for Egg, to no avail. She feels eyes on her from the darkness. She thinks how Egg must be in the Waste, and ends up in the Waste herself, watching a man in a blue coat test the limits of the fog at the edges of Rhuidean. Then Birgitte Silverbow shows up and tells her she should leave this place before "he" sees.(5) Nyn flees, ending up at Emond's Field. Birgitte seems to have followed her there, launching an arrow at an unknown assailant.

Nyn chases her, demanding to know who that was. When she turns a corner instead of Birgitte she sees a man, and she almost thinks it's Lan for a minute, but his face is just a little wrong. He raises his bow and shoots at her, and she wakes screaming.(6)

PERSPECTIVE: Elayne asks what happened, and Nyn says “He looked like Lan. He looked like Lan, and he tried to kill me.” Her arm is cut, and she says if she hadn't jumped, he'd have hit her heart. Nyn tells her everything, including Birgitte, and they both worry over Egg, but decide they both need some sleep.

In the morning, she wishes she were dead. The hangover is horrific.

Juilin returns at breakfast with good news, for a certain value of "good": at least one thief he spoke to last night had a credible story of a woman matching a description. They very well may be here.

The women arrange with Rendra for new clothes and for their hair to be done up in the local style, to blend in better. Nobody mentions the problem that still remains before them: if the Black Ajah are here, then so is the item that endangers Rand, something able to bind him with his own Power.(7) El finds her appetite gone at the thought.

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(1) I'm just drawing attention here to remind us all that the narration is deeply unreliable. RJ got something right about this: we can know only what is in our experience. But sometimes, he got it too right, and he made it easy to forget that the narration is not omniscient. (2) Well, she's not wrong. Can you think of a single place in this world that's actually safe for anyone right now? Seanchan's a fascist state, the Aiel Waste is the sort of inhospitable desert that gives rise to warrior cultures at least in fiction, the whole of Randland's main continent is under siege on all sides from Forsaken, Trollocs, and Seanchan. Even the Two Rivers is being occupied by Whitecloaks. Goddamn, nobody can catch a break and there are ten books left! (3) Another eternal joke in the fandom, the one (endless) cup of wine. (4) A moment everyone needs to have as you grow up: seeing your parents for the humans they are. It's too bad she's drunk for the whole thing, but it's sweet that Thom defends Morgase without casting any aspersions on Elayne for having perfectly normal feelings. (5) Who might that man in the blue coat be? Well, that gleeman was just asking questions about Rhuidean, but surely he couldn't be in TAR testing it? How could that be? Why would he be worth fearing so strongly? (6) This one, we know. That's Slayer, and somehow, he can use either of his constituent faces. (7) Well, last chapter seemed to confirm that they're here on legit orders to find something to bind him with. Only, they're not very competent at it. That's what you get, I suppose, for organizing only with the self-interested. But, what sort of relic could bind him, and why would it be found here? Have we seen anything that might hint toward such an item? What did Egwene see in the museum in her TAR visit at the beginning of the book, what might be relevant that's already been set up?

[dreaminghour]

Out to Sea (956 words) by dreaminghour

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Fandom: Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan

No Archive Warnings Apply, Jorin din Jubai White Wing/Elayne Trakand, Book 04: The Shadow Rising (Wheel of Time), Flirting, Ficlet, Podfic Welcome, Author Is Sleep Deprived

Elayne found the Sailmistress and her sister already speaking when she and Nyneave came above deck in the morning. Today, as on other days, Jorin extends her invitation to Elayne once more…

Thank you for reading ♡ fic log → @dreaminghour-archive

[iviarellereads]

The Shadow Rising, Chapter 20 - Winds Rising

(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.)

(Waves icon) In which these two clowns are, regrettably, with us.

PERSPECTIVE: Elayne. The ship has lurched, and Nyn and El rush up to the deck right behind Jorin and Coine. They know somehow that Rand caused the wave, and Nyn says no doubt El's second letter touched a nerve. In the middle of her speech about this, she does a double take and asks what THEY'RE doing here. Two men stand among the Sea Folk on the deck: Thom and Juilin.

Coine says they request passage, and she cannot refuse them, but... she would do so, if the wondergirls asked it. Reluctance to break custom is clear as day in her manner. She does say that Juilin is a good man, and a gleeman can lighten tired hours aboard ship. Nyn asks if she knows Juilin, and Coine says yes, he's found those who pilfered from them, quickly too. Nyn suggests they find out why the men are here before denying them anything. El asks to do the talking, so that Nyn can watch to see if they're hiding anything. Nyn sees through the ruse, but agrees.(1)

El finds something familiar about Thom, though she can't quite place it. Her mother certainly never had gleemen in Caemlyn. She asks Juilin first, why they're here. After some hemming and hawing, he says that a fellow named Lan roused him, gave him a great pile of gold, and asked him to accompany them on behalf of a... mutual friend, a shepherd. Both Lan and the shepherd were emphatic that if the young women fail to return from this journey, Juilin would do better to drown than return to Tear. But he does have many useful skills, in combat and tracking.

Nyn pipes up to ask Thom the same question, and he says that a lady of their mutual acquaintance asked him to go with them. He also has some useful skills besides juggling, and he's familiar with the city. El is struck by some deep, buried memory and reaches up while Thom's talking to tug on one of his mustaches. She embarrasses herself further trying to explain why.

Nyn demands that both men agree to do as they're told, and both eventually give in. She sends them off to find quarters, and El says she's being a bit harsh. Nyn says she's just starting off as she means to continue: Thom certainly knows they're not fully raised Aes Sedai, and Juilin's sure to find out. They might think they're a match for an Accepted, and she won't give them any weakness to start trying to tell her or El what to do.

They cast off, and there's a bunch of scenery and such. And more fuss about the women going topless at sea. Late in the evening, El is following dolphins up the length of the ship when she realizes Thom's right in front of her, looking at the dolphins sadly. He says they're free, they have no decisions to make, no prices to pay, nothing to worry about. They go on to talk about the end of an age and how it's marked, and prophecies. Even if he composes an epic about Rand's life, it will only be a seed. Two dozen generations of retelling, and Elayne may be the hero, or Mat, or Lan. Maybe even Thom. This goes on for a while, about how history changes as it's written, rewritten, and retold to new generations. "Did Mosk and Merk really fight with spears of fire, and were they even giants?"(2) Were Anla and Elsbet even sisters?

Eventually they come to the question of 'what animal ivory comes from, or what plant makes silk', and when El says you could ask the Sea Folk, Thom says they don't know either. He's asked around for years, and neither the Sea Folk, nor the Cairhienin when they had their Silk Road travel through the Waste, ever saw more than high-walled trade cities, and any ship that docked elsewhere, or anyone who wandered further into the land beyond the Waste was never seen again. El says the ship was meant for Shara, Thom might learn a little more than he expected here. He's never heard of Shara, so perhaps he does have a little more to learn.(3)

They keep talking and laughing a little. She has the oddest feeling she can trust him, and wants to pull his mustaches again. She excuses herself quickly, though, when she realizes what's going on on the other end of the ship. Jorin is embracing saidar, weaving flows of air and water intricately, delicately. El stops well back to watch Jorin, and when she's done, climbs the ladder quietly. She asks if this is why they deny Aes Sedai passage, and Jorin says the White Tower would interfere, try to reach onto the ships, tie itself to them. They send a few girls to Tar Valon so the Aes Sedai won't come looking, but now she's given up the game.(4)

El promises by the honour of House Trakand that she'll do her best to keep the secret, and if she must reveal it, to protect her people from interference. Jorin seems unconvinced. El says there was a damane on the Seanchan ship after all, wasn't there? Jorin says she sees much for one so young. She has daughters older than El.(5) She didn't know the damane was captive, and wishes she could have freed her.

El finally asks why the Atha'an Miere call all ships "he", and Jorin says a ship is alive, with a man's heart. Care for him properly, and he'll fight for you against the worst sea. Neglect him, ignore the small warnings he gives, and he will drown you himself. El hopes Rand isn't that fickle.

El asks how long to Tanchico, thinking of how she wants to help Thom with whatever puzzle he's puzzling on. Jorin says ten days, if she can weave the winds well enough. Maybe as few as seven or eight. El thinks it's impossible, but Jorin points out El said herself a Sea Folk raker is the fastest ship in the world. Most ships take at least twice as long.

“Jorin, would you teach me to do what you were just doing?” The Windfinder stared, her dark eyes wide and shining in the fading light. “Teach you? But you are Aes Sedai.” “Jorin, I have never woven a flow half as thick as those you were handling. And the scope of it! I am astounded, Jorin.” The Windfinder stared a moment more, no longer in amazement, but as if trying to fix Elayne’s face in her mind. Finally she kissed the fingers of her right hand and pressed them to Elayne’s lips. “If it pleases the Light, we both shall learn.”(6)

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(1) She really can't argue that she wouldn't lose her cool at them. Nynaeve's self-awareness doesn't show itself very often but, withered as it may be, it does exist. (I'm allowed to say this, she's my very favourite character in the series and it's not close.) (2) WELL, they certainly fought a cold war about it. Spears of fire as a comparison for nukes is something, though. (3) Huh. So all silk and all ivory only come from one place: the mysterious Shara, on the other side of the Aiel Waste, which not even Thom's heard of. (4) Hard to keep it a secret when another can feel the channeling from a distance and you're the primary means of navigation, hence almost always refusing Aes Sedai passage. Fascinating that they throw a few of their weakest to the Aes Sedai to pretend that stronger channelers don't exist, though. Do you think the Aes Sedai suspect that it's a ruse? There have been notes that overall, until the Wondergirls and with a few exceptions, channelers have been getting weaker on average every generation. How much more don't they know, that they would never admit to not knowing? (Also, can you now perhaps guess what she might have in common with Aviendha, and why Avi has been summoned back by the Wise Ones?) (5) And THIS point raises a hint about Nynaeve. Remember that Jorin looks so much younger than her sister that El was a bit perplexed at the familial tie. Jorin says she has daughters older than El. What's one of Nynaeve's biggest pet peeves? Not being taken seriously because she looks so young. (6) What a reputation they must have the world over for being stuck up jerks, to get this reaction out of Jorin. Thankfully, Elayne hasn't had enough time in the Tower to really internalize the bullshit of the party line, and Jorin is willing to believe in her honesty and earnestness. Love to see an intergenerational friendship.

[iviarellereads]

The Shadow Rising, Chapter 19 - The Wavedancer

(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.)

(Gulls icon) In which we meet a whole new group of people!

PERSPECTIVE: Elayne and Nynaeve exit their carriage at the wharf, and almost none of the workers so much as spare them a glance. El thinks how the Tairen nobles must have mishandled their people, for them to be so downtrodden.(1)

They find the Sea Folk ship with no problems, and El tells Nyn to be a little more tactful than she usually is. She thinks about how the Atha'an Miere are quite a secretive people, almost as mysterious as the Aiel. Mysteriously, the ship seems to have no tiller to turn the rudder.

Two of the women stand apart from the rest of the crew, and they're waiting for the young women as they step up to the ship. The older-looking one introduces herself as Coine din Jubai Wild Winds, the Sailmistress of the Wavedancer, and says the younger-looking one is her sister Jorin din Jubai White Wing, the Windfinder of the ship. Something about Jorin reminds El of Aviendha, though there's no physical resemblance between them at all.(2)

Coine invites them to her cabin to talk about passage. El thinks about how passage is considered a gift among the Atha'an Miere, though it can be exchanged for a gift of comparable value. In the cabin, El is surprised to find a Seanchan helmet. Coine says they encountered one Seanchan ship, which tried to take them, but Wavedancer overcame, and the Seanchan ship sank in the end. Nyn tells them how they're lucky, the Seanchan take women who can channel captive, they'd be regretting ever encountering the one ship if it had had a damane aboard. Coine suggests they speak of passage instead of such things.

A girl brings them tea, and El is shocked again to find that she's naked to the waist. Coine reprimands her and assigns her to cleaning bilges "where garments are a hindrance", and apologizes to El, who says there was no offence, there are different customs among different people.

They finally get down to business, and Nyn says they wish to sail for Tanchico, and offers a gift of a letter-to-rights, allowing the bearer to draw up to three thousand gold crowns from certain bankers and moneylenders. Coine is surprised at the sum, even considering they'd be altering their course. They rarely carry Aes Sedai on Sea Folk ships, only Aes Sedai may be refused, and almost always are. Nyn asks if they mean to refuse them passage, then, and why bring them down into the cabin if they did?

Coine rises to look out a window at the Stone, and talks of Rand and some Prophecies of the Dragon. Or, that's what Nyn and El think, until she says no, they're also the signs of the Jendai Prophecy, the Prophecy of the Coramoor, the one the Sea Folk seek to herald a new Age. The Atha'an Miere are bound to the sea, must wander it until the Coramoor returns, and then serve him at his coming.(3)

Nyn asks what this has to do with their passage. Coine asks why they wish to sail to Tanchico. Nyn says she's offered enough to buy two villages, does Coine want more? Coine asks again, why? They'd planned to keep some secrets, but it seems all will out. El says they're hunting the Black Ajah, and believe some are in Tanchico. They must find them, or else they might harm the Dragon Reborn, the Coramoor.

Jorin speaks up for the first time and says they must take them. Then the door opens and an older man enters, ruffling through a sheaf of papers, wearing glasses, which El has never seen before. He says some fool is willing to trade him five hundred snowfox pelts for three small barrels of Two Rivers tabac, he can have them there by midday. Coine calls him husband as she says by midday they'll be falling downriver, and by nightfall they'll be at sea, headed for Tanchico. He says he's the cargomaster and he's been trading with Shara in mind (the land beyond the Aiel wastes), not Tarabon. Coine says she is Sailmistress, and Wavedancer sails where she says. He gives in, though frustrated, and gives her a salute that makes Coine cringe a little as he leaves.

El says they regret being a cause of trouble, and having witnessed that disagreement, and if they've caused any embarrassment, please accept their apologies. Embarrassment? Coine is startled. She's Sailmistress, she doubts their presence embarrassed Toram, and she wouldn't apologize to him if it did. She must make it up to him, though, and all the more because she must keep the reason secret. The crew consider Aes Sedai bad luck, and if they knew that they not only carried Aes Sedai, they do so toward a port where other Aes Sedai may serve the Father of Storms... She asks them to stay below deck as much as possible, and not to wear their rings publicly on board. El says they've offered a gift of passage, and if it doesn't please her, what would? Coine looks at the letter-of-rights again, and pushes it back to Nyn. They will carry them, for the Coramoor's sake alone. Jorin makes a strangled sound and asks if a Cargomaster has ever mutinied against his Sailmistress. Coine says she’ll pay the gift of passage herself, and threatens to put Jorin in the bilges with the other girl if her husband finds out, and they both laugh.

Coine addresses El and Nyn regretfully, saying properly, since they serve the Coramoor, she should honour them as she would the Sailmistress and Windfinder of another ship, but she must make ready to sail. The sentence isn’t quite all the way out when the boat starts to rock, and the women go into damage control mode.

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(1) I just love her. The only kind of ruler that can be justified in existing. The phrasing frames it oddly, in a way that's easy to bristle at, but most of all she wants the people to be happy and safe and to know that they are a valued part of their country and their world. (2) Any guesses why? (3) So, every culture has their own prophecies, and their own hero, but they all seem to be about the same figure. Which is always really fun to think about in the context of being a reader of the series, because, we know Rand isn't the only chosen one. If nothing else, the number of his friends who get major point-of-view positions in the story should tell us, it isn't just about him and his presence. There are many parts to play yet.