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101flavoursofweird · 1 year ago

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Emerald Trio Week: Day 2 - Inspiration

Spoilers: Minor spoilers for Watching and Dreaming regarding Hunter’s new…talent.

Set: After Watching and Dreaming. Hunter is attending Hexside with the others.

Warnings: A reference to the Titanic movie is made… Gus doubts his artistic skills… Contains more Huntlow and Gustholomule— glad I can tag them now!

Note: Again, thanks to @loosescrewslefty for the prompts.

Resting on his stomach above his bedroom rug, Gus squinted at the sketchpad in front him. He gnawed on the end of his pencil like a hungry echo mouse.

Legend had it that human pencils used to contain lead , which was poisonous for humans—

Stop getting distracted!

Gus shook his head and returned to the issue at hand: Matt’s birthday— tomorrow.

Gus could have (should have) gone out and purchased Matt a gift, but, never one to pass up a challenge, Gus had decided to create something instead.

Illusions were too easy. Matt had received plenty of illusions from Gus, and by this point, Matt was proficient at casting his own illusions.

Matt would be expecting something better from Gus. Something Gus had worked hard on. A challenge!

So, Gus had decided to take a page of out of Matt’s book. Gus was going to draw him a picture…

It sounded childish when Gus put it like that. No— he was going to produce a portrait. Paint the canvas. Compose an artistic masterpiece!

…As soon as he could figure out what to draw.

Think, Augustus, think…

No thoughts manifested. His brain was completely empty.

“Uuuuuugh!” Gus groaned and dropped his pencil. “Guys, what should I draw for Matt?”

So engrossed was he in his art that he’d almost forgotten Willow and Hunter were there with him.

They had come over an hour ago to start work on a project for History class, which only Hunter was still invested in now.

“Not sure…” Hunter replied without looking up from his books on Gus’s desk.

Willow made an ‘ I dunno’ noise from Gus’s bed, where she was watching a professional flyer derby match on her scroll.

“Thanks, you two!” Gus said flatly. “Such helpful, reliable friends I have—“ Willow tossed a pillow in his direction.

Gus gasped and moved his sketchpad aside. “Willow! You’re gonna wreck my canvas!” He chucked the pillow right back at her.

“Ha!” Willow caught the pillow. She placed the pillow at the end of his bed and planted her elbows on it.

“You can draw me!” she suggested with a smirk. She held her chin in her hand. “Draw me like one of your French girls!”

That made Hunter’s head turn. Willow pursed her lips at him.

“Ew! No!” Gus protested, poking his tongue out. (Why had he insisted on watching Titanic with them in the Human Realm? He’d thought it was a documentary…! ) “You two can just leave if you’re going to be all lovey-dovey!”

“Very well…” Willow sniffed loudly. She rolled to the left side of the bed and slowly slipped off. “But I promise I will… never… let go—“

Hunter snorted. When Willow’s hand sank weakly out of view, Gus wheezed with laughter too. Hunter joined him, clutching his sides as he rocked back in Gus’s chair. Willow popped up from behind the bed, chortling.

“This really… isn’t funny!” Gus gasped, after a minute. “The Titanic sinking was a real disaster in human history—“

“Kind of like our History project?” Hunter hummed.

“—and so is this!” Gus thrust a hand at his blank sketchbook. “How am I going to impress Matt? How?!”

“Why don’t you draw a beach?” Willow supplied, actually being helpful this time.

“Not a beach in the Boiling Isles… ” Hunter mumbled. Gus glanced at him. Hunter glanced away, rubbing his lip.

Willow said, “Maybe a beach from the Human Realm would be better?”

“Yeah…” Gus agreed. “ Yeah— that could work!”

One sunny day during their stay in the Human Realm, Camila had driven them all to a beach, where the sand was soft and the sea didn’t boil. They could actually swim in the water, without fear of burning…

Witches still had to wear sunblock. (Amity, especially…) But it was definitely worth it for that beautiful sunset.

Gus pictured it in his mind— the sand, the sea, the sunset— and he projected it as an illusion the size of a crystal ball.

“It was great,” Hunter said, smiling at the memory.

“Who needs photos,” Willow quipped, “when we’ve got Gus’ power?”

Gus grinned, grabbed his pencil and his sketchpad, and started to draw the scene. It was much easier when he had the memory in front of him.

The beach had been bustling and bright with colour: The sapphire waves, the golden sand, the pink and purple sky…

Gus had the outlines of the beach, but it was bland and grey with pencil.

Gus frowned. Should he try shading? He gently rubbed a pencil mark with his fingertip and winced at the mess he made. “I need colours— right now!”

“Paints or crayons?” Willow asked, shooting to her feet

Paints would be too messy… “Crayons!”

“You’re a witch,” Hunter reminded Gus. “Why don’t you just—? ”

“‘’S’cuse me!” Willow shoved past Hunter to reach the desk. She pulled a pack of colouring crayons out of a blue pencil pot, and passed them to Gus. “Here you go!”

“Thanks…”

Gus coloured in the lines he’d drawn, but when he was finished, it still looked… wrong. The crayons were too waxy, too artificial, and they didn’t blend together.

A baby could have done better than this!

“I’ve ruined it!” Gus moaned. His illusion-bubble popped. He threw his sketchbook away and flopped facedown on the rug.

“No, you haven’t!” Willow went to pick up his sketchbook

Still on the rug, Gus turned his head to Willow as she crouched beside him. She held the picture up to him, hoping he would see it in a different light.

“See? It’s fine, way better than my doodles—“

“Fine isn’t good enough,” Gus huffed.

Hunter said, “Why not?”

Rubbing his wrist, Gus sat up. “Because… Matt’s a really, really good artist. I just wanted to draw him something— something I put a lot of effort into…!”

“You did put a lot of effort in, Gus,” Willow assured him. “Of course Matt will see that, but if anyone doesn’t, who cares?”

“You can’t please everyone,” Hunter muttered, sympathetically. Willow offered him a reassuring smile.

Gus looked between the two of them. He took the sketchbook back from Willow, staring at his picture .

“But,” Hunter added, with surprising optimism, “do you know what would jazz it up even more…?” He stood up and pulled a small carving knife out of his apron pocket.

“A… palisman?” Gus guessed. “But Matt already has…”

Gus trailed off as Willow made a rectangle with her thumbs and index fingers. Closing one eye, Willow moved the rectangle over to Gus, as if she was snapping a photo of him.

“Oh!” Gus gasped.

Matt ripped the wrapping paper off the box. “You got me… a hunk of wood?”

“No !” Gus sighed. Carefully, Gus removed the hand-carved panel of wood and flipped it over, revealing his picture inside the frame.

Matt’s eyes widened. “Wait— you made this?”

Gus wasn’t sure if Matt was referring to the picture of the beach or the frame or both, but he nodded shyly.

Matt snatched the gift off him. For a horrible second, Gus thought Matt was going to throw the framed picture away, but then, Matt held it up for all of his party guests to see.

“Everyone— look at this! Look at THIS! The first of many masterpieces from Augustus Porter! And it’s all MINE…!”

Gus blushed and beamed at Matt’s adulation.

He glanced back at Willow and Hunter, who were both watching behind him. Willow gave him a thumbs-up. Though Hunter looked a little tired, he was smiling.

Gus mouthed, “Thank you—“ but he was cut off as Matt caught him in a one-armed hug.

Hunter smiled at Gus and Mattholomule.

He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night— between woodcarving and their history project— but it was worth it to see Gus and his friend/rival/crush(?) so happy together.

Rubbing his eyes, Hunter wondered how much longer he would have to stay at the party…

Mattholomule wouldn’t mind if Hunter left, would he? He and Hunter weren’t really close (Hunter was more familiar with Matt’s brother, Steve), and Hunter didn’t have a present with him…

An arm wrapped around Hunter’s shoulder. Willow pulled him down so her mouth was level with his burning ear.

“You can take credit for the frame,” she whispered. “Gus won’t mind…”

“Nah…” Hunter chuckled. “I’ll let him have this one—“

“That’s sweet of you…” Willow hummed hopefully. “Could you make me a photo frame— when it’s my birthday?”

“S-sure…”

To make sure it was absolutely perfect he’d have to start preparations immediately— finding the right wood, marking the measurements…

Willow pecked him on the cheek, interrupting Hunter’s plans.

“Thanks, Hunter.”

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butterflydm · 2 years ago

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wot reread: the gathering storm (chap 38-42)

spoilers through the gathering storm

Siuan and Egwene talk in TAR. Or, well, Siuan basically begs Egwene to please let them rescue her.

2. Yeah, tbh, I feel like Egwene is falling prey to the idea that bending at all is the same as breaking. Disappearing from captivity after you've stunningly made your point to everyone is actually extremely impressive! I don't think it would undermine her the way that she believes -- it would show everyone at the White Tower that she was there by CHOICE, that she could have left at ANY TIME but chose to stay with them as long as she could be helpful. But Egwene says that Siuan doesn't have permission to rescue her unless Elaida literally schedules her for execution. Siuan points out that Elaida might not put much time between the scheduling and the action, and Egwene says that such a rush to kill her would make her death a victory too. EGWENE! You are more helpful alive, bb. I do think it makes sense that Egwene wants to keep trying to press on with the strategy that has gotten her success so far, but that her Two Rivers stubbornness might be getting in the way of admitting that she already made her point. The rebel camp has been without their leader for a long time now!

3. I haven't gotten there yet but I almost wonder if Siuan is deliberately NOT reassuring Gawyn because she's hoping that he WILL do something rash so that Egwene can be saved without Siuan needing to disobey her.

4. Interestingly, right after I think about Gawyn, Siuan mentions to Egwene that he's shown up in the rebel camp! Ah, it sounds like Siuan is actually really out of the loop on the Gawyn situation and doesn't know where his head is at -- this does make a lot of sense, when I think about it. Siuan is Egwene's secret advisor and she doesn't have much power or influence when Egwene isn't around. Egwene notes that it seems bad that Romanda and Lelaine are gaining so much influence and Siuan begins to point out that this is possible because of Egwene's absence but stops herself part-way through (she's right though).

5. Egwene (who has learned about Rand's kidnapping by the White Tower Aes Sedai) is able to directly compare her current situation to what Rand must have gone through, noting that his would have been worse -- because he was even more closely confined and didn't have the option that Egwene does of knowing that he could call for a rescue at any moment.

6. Egwene briefly considers the idea of tapping against Elayne's dreams to ask for a meeting but decides against it. Alone, studying the rebel camp and noting how the tents are beginning to show the division that Siuan mentions, clumping together to one side or the other, she considers the idea that Siuan may be right. It may be time for her to come back to the rebel camp to heal the rifts that are developing there. But she worries that this would mean choosing to actively have TWO White Towers operating at the same time, sowing confusion among the women they would want to bring into the fold.

7. She uses need to direct herself in TAR and finds herself in a Tuatha'an camp. She wonders what the Tuatha'an are doing, in this time of war. Sadly, we know from KoD that they are throwing their lot in with the Seanchan, and with slavery. Or at least some of them are. But Egwene doesn't know this, and thinks back to the time she spent among the Tuatha'an -- with Aram, Raen, and Ila. Dancing with Aram while Perrin scowled disapprovingly. Though Aram is dead (which she doesn't know, of course) the memory of spending time in this camp, and with him, reminds Egwene of the importance of actually enjoying her life and not only burying herself in duty, which brings her thoughts to Gawyn (where we kinda do come back to the idea of choosing Green Ajah because it means you are 'allowed' to marry your Warder -- not being Green didn't stop Nynaeve, Egwene!).

8. "Those desires of her heart were less important than the fate of the world, true, but they were still important." So she was able to get some perspective by coming to the Tuatha'an camp. This stance in general is definitely the one that I would say is the most emotionally healthy (as opposed to Rand believing that he needs to be alone to be strong, or Perrin believing that letting the world burn is okay as long as he gets to kiss Faile while they both die together).

9. Egwene wakes up, and her condition in the real world is ROUGH. She's still wearing the bloody novice dress that she was wearing the night of Elaida's dinner (literally bloody, not the swear word, lol), she aches from her beatings (they no longer heal her in between), and she probably smells pretty bad at this point, since they don't even allow her enough water not to feel parched, let alone to bathe.

10. Egwene is pulled out of her cell and told that Silviana is going to be punished for her misbehavior now, since as the Mistress of Novices, she should have been able to keep Egwene from ~acting out~ and that Katerine (who is one of the Reds who was with the embassy to Rand that kidnapped him and who then escaped from the battle of Dumai's Wells) is the new Mistress of Novices and it's now her job to ~teach Egwene her place~ aka break her. But for Egwene, this change makes her feel pretty great (relatively speaking) because it makes her feel like she won this round against Elaida.

11. Ah, we find out that this was not truly Elaida's decision: Silviana stood up against Elaida's new punishments against Egwene in front of the Hall, demanding her release. Elaida declared that she was stripped of being Aes Sedai and to put on a novice dress, and Silviana refused, so now Elaida is ordering her stilled and executed (sounds like it hasn't happened yet). The woman telling Egwene is, Saerin of the Brown Ajah, mentions that Elaida is overstepping so much that she wouldn't be surprised if all this ends with the Red Ajah being dissolved, which Egwene protests against strenuously, saying that all Ajahs and all Aes Sedai are going to be needed.

12. Egwene suggests dosing her with forkroot tea so that shielding her isn't needed and the Red Sisters can go investigate this situation, and the Sisters eventually agree. And then we see that Verin has come to the Tower (I'm assuming she Traveled from Caemlyn & Mat's plotline that we'll see next book) and wants to have a private conversation with Egwene. We get such a great line here where Verin casually lies about the color of Egwene's dress, revealing that she is not under the Oaths.

13. Egwene tries to fumble for other potential explanations for why Verin might not have taken the Oaths, but Verin calmly tells her that she's Black Ajah. (this is a very good scene and, side note, also one of the scenes that are confirmed to have been pre-written by Jordan -- the Egwene plotline was one of the few things that was good about CoT/KoD, so I'm not surprised that this is a good scene). We get some great revelations here -- that Verin is Black Ajah, but that she had to swear the Oaths to the Dark One because her curiosity led her to uncover the Black Ajah and it was swear or die, so she's spent her life compiling information that points out as many Black Ajah members of the White Tower as she has been able to figure out over the decades. Also, that she can tell Egwene all this now because she's taken poisoned tea (on purpose) and is going to die within the hour, which gives her a loophole around the Oath that she swore to the Dark One. I like the parallel between Verin taking poisoned tea to accomplish her goals and Egwene volunteering to take forkroot tea so that she can be alone to work on her own goals as well. And I love Verin working that loophole in her Oaths here, like we've seen so many Aes Sedai work loopholes around the 'honesty' Oath.

14. Awww, Verin's little moment of worrying over ~fiery~ "young al'Thor". She was sympathetic and concerned about him during her conversation with Mat too. She's genuinely been such a behind-the-scene ally for Rand the entire book series too, always doing her best to poke things into place so that they would work out for him. Sometimes I imagine the world where Jordan had decided to make VERIN Rand's late-game Aes Sedai mentor instead of trying to shoehorn Cadsuane into the role. They're both from Far Madding! They're both Aes Sedai with secrets and agendas of their own. But Verin is so much more interesting than Cadsuane and it would have been really neat to see her occupy a semi-advisor role with Rand (like we got a preview of in TGH). I much prefer a sneak over a bully, lol.

15. Verin has also figured out that the key elements that the Forsaken/Chosen and most Darkfriends have in common is SELFISHNESS (it really is a shame that the Dark One didn't try to turn Perrin during his Nothing But Faile Matters arc, though buddying up with slavers would have been enough of a moral equivalent IF Jordan hadn't decided to focus so strongly on allying with the slavers in both Rand & Mat's plots as well). "It's easy to determine what they want: power over the other children. Proof that they are the most important."

16. "A tool that you can depend upon to act as expected is far more valuable than one you cannot understand." My brain continues to make so many comparisons between TDO and the Seanchan but... this is where little miss slaver empress fails with Mat (and I expect Jordan WAS planning to explore this in the outriggers? because otherwise what on earth would the plot even have been?).

Mat is NOT a dependable tool and is NOT predictable (because he is, generally, despite his protests, NOT selfish). The empress previously known as Tuon has underestimated him several times in the series so far and does not have a reliable read on him, because she keeps trying to define him (and everyone else she meets) only by the terms of her own society. She doesn't understand him. This has been made clear several times in the series so far. This is really why it feels like it would be so easy to have a long-con Mat situation, or a "Mat betrays his current wife after she pushes him too far" situation, because by the rules of Seanchan society there is NOTHING that the Empress can do that is "too far", so she won't see it coming if she crosses the line and switches Mat from thinking about her as "prophecy wife who I must protect and defend" to "aggressor who I need to defend and protect others from" (especially if he does some creative thinking about how she isn't the ~Daughter of the Nine Moons~ anymore and thus is no longer his fated wife). She can order any humiliation, punishment, or degradation on someone and expects it to be enacted immediately. And that was not the sort of thing that EotW-WH!Mat found acceptable.

And Westlanders are already having an influence on Seanchan who are getting the chance to see that you ARE allowed to have personal boundaries. That you don't have to just accept humiliation with a smile because it was done by someone higher than you in the hierarchy. In CoT/KoD, this was pretty much entirely confined to the secondary characters' storyline (Leilwin nee Egeanin & the sul'dam) because Jordan had decided to hold off on it for Tuon, but... that house of cards is wobbling. And Mat is an agent of chaos, even if Jordan inexplicably decided to ignore that for two books (any post-canon theories that don't hinge on Mat being an agent of chaos are nonsense, imo). Anyway, that's kinda where my vibe is so far, but we'll see where ~the artist formerly known as Tuon~ goes in the last two books, in terms of potential character growth.

17. Tomas really is our only example (after Ingtar dies) of a Darkfriend who turns things around and claws their way back out (since Verin was never a true Darkfriend). It really did feel like we didn't get enough examples of that tbh. Especially since we don't spend much time with Tomas himself and really only hear about him through Verin. He dies off-screen here, btw.

18. What Verin says here about the goal of Brown Sisters, essentially to create a lasting legacy, really reminds me of Rand's goals to try to keep something intact after the Last Battle and preserve knowledge, preventing another Breaking of the World. Rand as Brown Ajah. I think it could fit pretty well, actually. "The other Ajahs worry about making today better; we yearn to make tomorrow better." That's SO Rand. Verin's own legacy is taking the cloak of secrecy off the Black Ajah and revealing them to Egwene, who will have the power to do something about it. A very good legacy. <3

19. Also, this bookmark ter'angreal that hides books (page 840 in my version) is pretty awesome. But then Verin dies, which is so sad. What a great character!

20. Egwene learns that Elaida skated through her own trial with a three-month censure but is still Amyrlin. During all this, Verin is lying dead in Egwene's bed, so that's a thing. Oh and the text sort of sideways has Egwene think of Nicola as the one who betrayed her to the Tower? Which was kinda my assumption. Egwene doesn't hold it against her though. Verin's body does finally get removed here, by Meidani through a Gateway, so Egwene does get to... um. Sleep in the bed that a dead body was in for several hours. She doesn't really want to think about that too deeply. Can't blame her.

21. Egwene thinks about Sheriam being Black Ajah and what that implies about her tenure of Mistress of Novices, wondering if she'd used her position to "bully" other sisters. I stare off into the middle distance, thinking of how beating is a commonplace ~punishment~ to the point of several instruments of beating being hung up in the Mistress of Novice's office, but how that's not related at all to being Black Ajah because Jordan appears to have believed that violence was a natural part of the teacher-student dynamic, just as he seems to have believed domestic violence was an inevitable part of the majority of romantic relationships.

22. While Egwene begins to talk to Siuan of how she plans to deal with the Black Ajah, the totally not antagonist attack from the not villainous Seanchan has arrived, to engage in the very peaceful and not aggressive choice of invading Tar Valon in order to enslave and murder the residents, as ordered by the definitely-not-a-villain fanatical leader of the slavery-based empire that has invaded the continent with plans to subdue, enslave, and dominate it.

23. Once she realizes that the Seanchan have invaded, Siuan resolves that it's time to rescue Egwene, despite the promise that she'd made. Bryne refuses to help her so Siuan goes to seek out Gawyn, who will.

24. Egwene realizes that this isn't a full-scale attack but a raid to kidnap women to enslave, which flips her "fuck no" button and she dives into a full-hearted defense of the Tower. Once again, we get an INTENSE look here at how damaging the damane system is for the women who get enslaved, with Egwene thinking how part of her, even now, feels a disgusted guilt over failing to serve her owner.

No seriously: "Egwene shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. The cool, seamless metal. The nausea, the degradation, the panic, despair, and - shamefully - guilt at not serving her mistress to the best of her abilities. She remembered the haunted look of an Aes Sedai as she was broken. Most of all, she remembered her own terror. The terror of realizing that she would be like the others, eventually. Just another slave, happy to serve."

25. I do NOT understand how anyone can find Jordan's character assassination of Mat in CoT & KoD to be forgivable. I don't get it! It's genuinely one of the biggest (unintentional) tragedies of the entire damn series to me. The characterization change from WH to CoT is so glaring (one of the first things we learn about pod!Mat in CoT is that he is forcing the former slaves to share a wagon with the former slavers who had been torturing them less than a week ago, and that's BEFORE we get into any Tuon-related issues; and that really sets the tone for who Mat is as a character in CoT & KoD). Jordan turns Mat into the sort of person who brushes off the idea of prophecy wife doing exactly what she's doing right now, despite Mat having friends, allies, and family among the people that his wife would happily destroy.

I am just... so baffled that Jordan didn't realize how badly he was wrecking Mat when he decided that Tuon didn't need any character growth in order for Mat to decide that he was chill with being married to her and then sending her back to Ebou Dar to allow her to continue her invasion. The deaths and enslavements that happen in this book's climax ARE partly on CoT/KoD!Mat's head, because he knew what kind of person Tuon was (she told him!), but he protected her, defended her, and then sent her back to her people to let her commit more atrocities. He is complicit.

I think back to what Siuan said about Mat in book 3, comparing him to her uncle who went back into the fire to save children; what Nestelle said in book 9, calling him a "great and good man" for risking himself to free her and... yeah. I really hate that Jordan threw that guy away and gave us pod!Mat in his place for books 10 & 11. Sanderson's Mat is... something of a melding of pod!Mat and EotW-WH!Mat, with less and less of pod!Mat as this particular book has gone on, but there's still too much spineless pod!Mat in there for my own personal comfort.

And the thing is... I don't mind this kind of weaselly characterization when it's who the character is. I like quite a lot of characters who don't have strong moral backbones. Even just in this book series, I have a deep affection for Asmodean and Moghedien, who, uh, yeah, definitely don't have much in the way of a moral backbone. But this is NOT who Mat was in Winter's Heart or any of the previous books, and that's why the Mat in CoT & KoD bothers me so much. I may have mentioned this before but it's essentially the same thing that Birgitte talks about when she complains about the way Nynaeve is acting around her during their early circus days -- if Nynaeve WERE milk-hearted (or however she put it) then she would just accept that as who Nynaeve is, but that is NOT who Nynaeve is, so her acting that way pissed Birgitte off. That's how I feel about CoT/KoD!Mat. Many of the various other issues that I have with Jordan's writing tend to be things where he let his personal beliefs about the world get treated as universal truths, and it's easier for me to understand why he didn't see where that was happening. Most authors have their issues there (I'm sure that I do as well). But... but this is a writing issue and a characterization issue, so I feel like he (or Team Jordan, or Harriet) should have noticed it. And cared. I wish that he'd cared.

It just sucks to love a character so much and then have what essentially feels like an empty shell of them being puppeted lifelessly around on the page. And that's what I felt like I got in CoT & KoD -- an empty shell of Mat, with all the parts of him that I loved hollowed out and missing.

26. I do love this scene where Egwene gets to face her fears and protect her people, though. Shame she didn't get to crush the assault force entirely, but what we do get is powerful. What the Dark One and the Forsaken are to Rand -- the architects of his misery and destiny -- the Seanchan have been to Egwene since the ending of TGH. For Egwene, it's the SEANCHAN who have been the lurking doom that's been hunting her, seeking to turn her into a servant of their cause rather than a person with free will. So I'm glad that she does get to actually fight them here, and protect who she can protect. We get to witness her saving one of the Aes Sedai from being taken by the Seanchan. Again, we are seeing first-hand the cruelty of their invasion! This whole scene is very intense and really displays the horror of the Seanchan... and yet we're supposed to be fine with Mat being married to the current creator of these horrors? Baffling. Egwene's heroism here is such a stark contrast against what a coward Mat was in every conversation he had with Tuon in CoT & KoD.

27. "The grounds were littered with the dead and the wounded." Gawyn notices, as he sneaked into Tar Valon with Siuan, Bryne, and a bunch of soldiers, on their way to save Egwene. Honestly, I'm trying to figured out why the fandom narrative on Gawyn is that Egwene's ~rescue~ here was in any way his fault (or, honestly, a bad thing at all)? He actually waited until he got word from Siuan that Egwene was in immediate danger, and he is far from being alone in going in after her. I feel like I must have breezed over this section in my original read of the books, because this all seems pretty legit and aboveboard. It honestly would have been pretty ridiculous for all the rebel Aes Sedai to just sit and watch while this assault happened, so I'm glad that Siuan IS doing something. And Gawyn following Siuan's lead and trusting her to help him find Egwene feels like a neat closed loop from their rupture in TSR, where he only barely lets her go after the coup and doesn't trust her. Siuan is much more the mastermind of Egwene's rescue than Gawyn is!

28. I don't know if we ever get the butcher's bill on the Seanchan side of things for this raid, but I sincerely hope that they lost many more sul'dam and (more regrettably) damane than they gained in kidnap victims. We know that Egwene is able to down many of their raken and to'raken. Part of the issue is that Jordan never really made it clear exactly HOW massive the Seanchan invasion force was, just that it was indescribably massive. But many of those are supposed to be settlers and not soldiers. idk, it kinda feels like the Shaido problem all over again, where the non-Shadow enemy is just so much more numerous than the people standing against them, even when it feels like that doesn't... make all that much sense. Why are the Shaido larger than most of the other Aiel clans put together? Why are the Seanchan so numerous that they can field this massive invasion force without leaving their main continent completely hollowed out? How many ships did they have that were ENTIRELY filled with food, in order to survive the journey across the sea? Goes under the category of 'just bugs me', I guess. But I love this energy that Egwene has, where she wants this raid to cost the Seanchan so badly in terms of lost resources that they will flinch at the idea of trying another assault.

29. Aw, Siuan name-dropped Moiraine. Just in passing but it made me have feelings. They also find out about the assassins that Tuon personally sent to stay in the Tower to murder as many Aes Sedai as they could manage, when Bryne uses his newfound Warder senses and reflexes to kill one of them. Just. You know. To remind you about the dedicated assassins that were personally blessed by ~the empress~ to carry out their slaughter of as many women as they could get their hands on -- the Bloodknives, I think they were called. But, you know, per Mat, she's ~not one of the bad nobles~, lol. She sends assassins against innocent people, engages in slavery, enjoys torture (damane training is torturing people until their mind/spirit breaks, we were just reminded about that in these chapters, and Tuon enjoys training damane), and treats most people like trash/property but... NOT one of the bad nobles. lol, got it.

30. Egwene is exhausted in the aftermath of the battle and is depressed when she thinks about how more to'raken escaped than were killed. Damn, that does suck. But she's relieved to hear Gawyn's voice, even as she thinks about how no one should be here to rescue her. Anyway, apparently Gawyn is guilty of the crime of not being able to read Egwene's mind while she's half-delirious from exhaustion! Because of the super-strong sa'angreal that Egwene has been using, Siuan is able to bamf them all back to the rebel camp. Honestly, don't see how this rescue in any possible way harms Egwene's standing as the true Amrylin? Even if Elaida HADN'T been abducted by the Seanchan, so many Sisters and novices, etc. saw how strongly Egwene was fighting on their behalf.

31. Speaking of Elaida... yeah, she deserved better. There is not a single person who deserves to be enslaved by the Seanchan, and we know that the slave-breaking used for the damane is particularly horrific (and were just reminded of that, in Egwene's flashbacks & ptsd reactions). I hope that she's freed someday, post-canon, as I wish for all the slaves under Seanchan rule. Ugh, poor Elaida.

32. Rand is fighting a whole war with Lews Therin in his head and Min picks up on... none of it through the bond? She just accepts it when he says that he's fine? Honestly, I kinda feel like Jordan shot his wad way too soon with the triple-bonding, because it really hasn't mattered much at all. Alanna's bonding of Rand has been far more relevant than the actual love-related bonding. Rand's relationships with the three women post-WH would make MORE sense if he weren't bonded to them yet -- in this book alone, Min's insecurities would make more sense, Aviendha not running to Rand's room when he was attacked by Semirhage would make more sense, Nynaeve not thinking of going to Elayne in the aftermath of the balefire incident would make so more sense if she hadn't seen the love confessions. The confessions/triple-bonding really shouldn't have happened until the narrative was willing to let it actually affect Rand's storyline and close the gap between Rand's storyline and Elayne's storyline. As it is, the bonding really hasn't mattered at all, except that Min gets to be Cadsuane's mood-ring/tracking device for Rand instead of it being Alanna (despite Alanna making a lot more sense as the person who tells Cadsuane everything because of how the Aes Sedai hierarchy works and since Min keeps claiming she loves Rand so much). Like, I love the bonding scene... but it happened too early in the story. After the bonding, everyone involved just slots right back into the dynamic that was at play pre-bonding, with Aviendha and Elayne separated from Rand and Min. It should have marked a change.

(and I'm kinda feeling the same way about Nynaeve going over to Rand's plotline in WH tbh - I think Jordan shouldn't have done that until he was actually at the point of plotline mergers, because it's led to this weird situation where Nynaeve is withholding so much vital information from Rand and yet the narrative is trying to tell us that HE'S the paranoid one for not fully trusting her)

33. Rand is incredibly disheartened by his failure in Arad Doman. Though Graendal is dead, the nation is tattered enough that it seems inevitable that it will be crushed between the Seanchan to the south and the Trollocs to the north, because Rand was unable to force a peace to happen between himself and ~the tiny Seanchan empress~. So he's already depressed as fuck, and then he finds out that ALL the saved up food for the refugees has spoiled. He leaves for Tear anyway, doing his best not to think about the devastation and pain that will soon occur in Arad Doman once the city realizes that there's nothing to eat. Going from the starving people of Arad Doman to the cheering crowds of Tear strikes a deeply sour note in Rand's heart, knowing how little he deserves that praise at the moment.

34. Rand does feel, rather despairingly, that he has abandoned several nations to being swallowed up by the Seanchan, perhaps as far north as Andor itself, because the Last Battle is coming and he MUST prioritize that, even if it means allowing the Seanchan to attack the cities to the south. Heartbreaking. Wow, it sure would be nice if he... could have some advice... from a fellow ruler. Maybe even from one who is incredibly invested in keeping the Seanchan at bay because she herself is a channeler who is at risk if they invade northward. Just a thought! But, yeah, Rand has been so relatable in this book, for the most part? I know he's ~on a dark path~ but he's so full of pain over how much he desperately wants to help all these people, and even though his ta'verenness is all darkness and lashing out, his kind heart is actually extremely visible.

35. ...why did we make Darlin a King again? I know that Min had a viewing about it and all but... why on earth did Tear need a King instead of going back to a council? It rubs me wrong the same way that the Two Rivers getting a Lord rubs me wrong, I guess. And it happens the same way too, where a group of people there demand that they really really want one person to be ruling over them. Just another reoccurring Jordan theme that kinda makes me go ??? Obviously, not a fan of going back to the High Lord & High Lady oligarchy either but... I feel like having a KING isn't exactly moving things forward, lol.

36. You know, changing authors has meant that I'm not constantly being reminded of how big various women's bosoms are. (I realized this because Rand notices how pretty a woman is in passing but he doesn't think about her breasts at all). The women are no longer breasting boobily everywhere. I feel like it does still get mentioned sometimes, but that the rate is much less. Actually. Let me check. brb.

37. Okay, here are the numbers:

So Jordan was REALLY popping off in KoD. No wonder it stood out to me so much in my memory, since that was the most recent of his full-length books that I've done in my reread. There was a LOT of bosom in KoD, comparatively-speaking. Sanderson, otoh, is running about where Jordan was during EotW/TGH era, or a little bit higher.

Of course, the books do vary in length, so here's another chart, taking that into account:

So we can see that, when taking book length into account, New Spring has around the same amount that Jordan was writing on average. And here Winter's Heart is the... winner? which didn't show up before because it's nearly 300 pages shorter than Knife of Dreams.

38. Rand announces to his people here in Tear that it's time to start booking it for Shayol Ghul, because there's nothing he can do for Arad Doman. Also, he feels Alanna's sorrow through their bond, even as he doesn't look at her.

Ah, I feel like this post has gotten long enough that I'm going to wrap it up now. I did charts and everything, lol. So I will do chapters 43-epilogue next time.

#wot #wheel of time #wot reread #wot book spoilers #the gathering storm #wot spoilers #egwene al'vere #rand al'thor #verin mathwin #seanchan warning #extremely minor spoiler for a reduction of a couple of word choices in the last books #mat cauthon #yes i manage to talk about mat despite him not appearing in this section #lol

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