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# System prepended metadata

title: DoD Week 2

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# DoD Week 2

### Chapter 1

Book 1 is called "The sea does not dream of you", the epigraph poem reinforces the same meaning but adds on the theme of the lost wanderings we have seen so far.

Chapter 1 epigraph is tonal about-face with a funny quip from King Tehol the Only.

One thing you might want to note is that certain portions of the text are italicised. If you have theories about the same, we would love to hear them. 

___

At the dead Azath grounds, a swarm of lizards show up. A number of two-headed beetles play dead but are still eaten by the lizards. Now this turns into a cautionary tale; we are told that 'not all prey are as helpless as it might initially seem'. Late at night a dumb owl watches as the lizards writhe and die while the beetles emerged from their mouths. 

___

This includes a number of mini scenes, which all culminate in the capture of Sergeant Fiddler on Adjunct Tavore's command. Smiles and Throatslitter wait under a bridge in Letheras while Bottle has tracked their quarry within a tavern. Stormy storms the front door; Fiddler uses a smoker and gets past Stormy after breaking his nose. Outside, Fiddler takes down Gesler and Koryk, is almost stabbed by a battle addled Balm, and runs away only to be ambushed by Smiles and Throatslitter who capture him and take him back to the barracks. Balm wants to know why and is told that the Adjunct wants Fiddler to do a reading, no big deal.

___

Sinn and Grub explore the dead Azath house. They find a huge wasp nest just outside the door. The children are trying to hide away because of the imminent reading. The door yields to their touch and they both enter the Azath. 

Pores has been following them as ordered by Kindly. He is shocked to see that Sinn is not mute. He tries to follow them but runs into the wasp nest. He hurries back as his throat starts closing up. 

Inside, Sinn and Grub hear the commotion. None of the wasps have entered the Azath. Sinn lights the fireplace and Grub doesn't even feel a warren. She had previously told Grub that he is Mockra. They see an old tapestry showing an Edur vs Andii battle with flying dragons and burning floating mountains. Sinn has the flame follow them as they explore the tower. They find the desiccated body of a Forkrul Assail with really detailed description. Grub says the Azath didn't die, it just *left*. Sinn and Grub have a lot of weird dialogue exchanges like the kind we see here. One thing we learn in this chapter is Sinn, for all her super powers, seems to be intimidated by Grub.

___

We knew this was coming since the epigraph. Tehol notices that Bugg has mangled a bronze pot while talking about mundane things like Janath's embroidery. Bugg is worried about Fiddler's Deck of Dragons reading.  He is also worried that Errant might object to the reading. They decide that Brys must be sent to warn the Malazans. 

In the throne room, Rucket from the Rat Catcher's guild petitions Tehol to sleep with her (don't ask) and Brys asks for more money to train the army in the Malazan style. Brys is sent to meet the Adjunct.

___

Lt Pores is treated by Mulven Dreader, a healer. Kindly decides to report Pores for "Criminal stupidity unbecoming to an officer", then follows it with "recover quickly, so I can thrash your hide". Mulven decides to make fun of Kindly's baldness and is sent to screen all the men for testicular blood blisters. 

Mulven tells Nep Furrow to stop cursing Kindly with blood blisters. I hope you guys take a minute to try and decode Nep's dialogue. Most of them make sense, but lets try our hand in the comments. We can start here: "Doan deedat! Pig! Nathii frup pahl! Voo booth voo booth!"

___

A squad of Malazan marines (Badan Gruk, Ruffle, Reliko, Vastly Blank) go to rescue their fellow soldiers from a Letherii prisoner complex. The Preda in charge, Norlo, wants to follow the letter of the law. Skulldeath shows up with his twin falchions and they decide to quickly release the prisoners. It is Sinter and Kisswhere who were presumed dead in RG and were mourned by Badan (and confused at least one re-reader who knew these two were characters in DoD). They seem to have been badly neglected and starved. Two of the marines shoot crossbows at the Preda. They ride back to their garrison.

___

One of Curdle's articulated skeletal legs has fallen off. Telorast pleads with Banaschar to help them. He is lost in his own thoughts about the meaning of life and faith. "Pitiful wretch of pointless pedantry". He talks about how people would gladly donate coins to the temple in exchange for blood. Finally, Telorast offers power in exchange for his help and he declares their pact is sealed and he will hold them to it. Only after this long sequence do we find that the Errant has been waiting to talk to Banaschar. 

___

Lostara Yil obsessively cleans her knife. Over and over. Her fingers have cracked because of this but she can't stop since she can still see the stains. Faradan Sort finds her with summons from the Adjunct. Tavore's chamber is also the command centre. She has a list of names who have to attend the reading that night and sends Lostara and Faradan to bring them all. "Refusals not permitted."

Brys passes them and meets Tavore. He conveys the message of caution that Mael has sent her, about the Master of the Tiles, the Errant. Tavore wants to talk to 'this Turudal', but is told his persona has not been lately. Bugg is going to take refuge this night so he might not be able to offer protection. Tavore is firm that she will proceed with the reading regardless. Brys offers to provide his protection during the reading. Tavore accepts his offer and offers wine. Brys has given up wine and is happy with ale now. 

___

Quick Ben and Hedge discuss the latter's return from death. They don't know if he was sent back or it was just his will power. Lostara and Faradan find them and send them to the reading. 

___

Kindly gives orders to Bent, the cattle-dog. Roach has been observing for a while and decides to suddenly attack him. He punches the little dog which falls stunned behind Bent. He starts drawing his sword but Sinn and Grub come back. Apparently their plan to hide in the Azath didn't quite work out. He marches them both to the Adjunct. 

___

A pregnant Seren is visited by Bugg. He tells her that her baby needs protection and he is here to arrange the same. In the 9th book we get a half-hearted explanation of how Houses and their titles work. Trull was the Knight of Shadow and though he is dead, the title lives on, probably in his unborn baby. Seren wants him to summon the King of Shadow so she can ask him how dare he claim her child. Bugg says that he is enough, against the Errant. He casually does a gender reveal of the baby, then offers to summon ancient, benign powers to protect her and her baby. 

___

Fiddler asks Bottle what he senses. He says this reading is as bad as voicing a curse in Oponn's name while sitting in Hood's lap. Turns our Fiddler has a cusser with him. He wants Tavore to at least make sure the number of people at the table are eleven as promised. Because 13 would be a bad number. 

___

At Seren's house, two drunk ancient gods appear - Ursto Hoobutt and Pinosel - the Lord and Lady of Wine and Beer. They were the consequence of agriculture but now with sordid and careless use of their gifts, they have become befouled. Only then does Seren learn that Bugg is Elder God Mael.

___

At the reading chamber, Fiddler notices Brys and counts twelve. He is then told that Banaschar is coming and the number will go up to thirteen.

Banaschar notices the moon and he sees some faint green slashes of light that has risen from the south and getting bigger and closer. 

"Swords in the sky, do you seek an earthly throat?"

Banaschar notices that the Errant is suddenly anxious and sends him on. Banaschar wants him to assure him that he would not be allowed to spill innocent blood, definitely not his comrades. Errastas snaps at him to keep them out of his way. He has noticed the thirteenth player and waits for him with murder in his heart. 

___

### Chapter 2

Fisher's epigraph manages to use the word "hove", which is a victory in and of itself.  More generally, it captures a certain inevitability that comes off as vaguely ominous.

___

In the Refugium, Udinaas and Onrack^([1]) observe Silchas Ruin from a distance.  We get some clarification as to what Udinaas knew leading up to the climax in Reaper's Gale: most everything.  We could have guessed anyhow, but there's a rare moment of confirmation.

Udinaas approaches the White Crow and they sit down for a hard conversation.  Silchas wants to take Rud Elalle, Udinaas's soletaken Eleint son.  He is concerned that the boy might succumb too much to his draconic nature.  Well, that among other things.  We don't get to by privy to the full extent of Silchas's foresight here.  Udinaas reluctantly agrees to send Rud with Silchas.

As Silchas and Udinaas return, we get an extended view into Onrack's head as his emlava cubs -- well, juveniles now -- sneak off to hunt.^([2])  Onrack is reveling in the life he has found among his people.  He really does feel too much sometimes, and it gets highlighted here.  He loves Kilava, who is about to give birth to a (much younger) sibling for Ulshun Pral.

Onrack thinks back to a visit with Seren Pedac: the moment he heard of Trull's death.  He wept in Kilava's arms and wondered at Seren's ability not to do so.  He blames himself for not being present to guard Trull's back.

In the time since, he has become close to Udinaas and _finally_ someone sees the best in the former slave:

> True, a man far more inclined to edged commentary than Trull had been, prone to irony and sarcasm, since these were the only weapons Udinaas could wield with skill. Yet Onrack had come to appreciate his wry wit, and more than that, the man had displayed unexpected virtues in his newfound role as father—ones that Onrack noted and resolved to emulate when his time arrived.

When he sees Udinaas return, Onrack once again wants to weep.

___

The Perish Grey Helms are moored off the coast of Bolkando far to the south and east of Letheras.  Shield Anvil Tanakalian, the youngest of the Perish's triumvirate of faith^([3]), is trying to find a way to make it ashore to meet a delegation from the Bolkando kingdom so the Perish can make their way to meet the Bonehunters.  The coast isn't favorable for a landing.

Tanakalian is... struggling... in his role, and I'm just going to quote at length here:

> The Mortal Sword Krughava remained in her cabin. Since his return from visiting the Adjunct, Destriant Run’Thurvian had elected to begin an extended period of secluded meditation, and was also below decks. The presence of either one would have imposed a degree of formality that Tanakalian found increasingly chafing. He understood the necessity for propriety, and the burden of tradition that ensured meaning to all that they did—and all that they were—but he had spent time on the command ship of the Adjunct, in the company of Malazans. They displayed an ease in shared hardship that had at first shocked the Shield Anvil, until he comprehended the value of such behaviour. There could be no challenging the discipline of the Bonehunters when battle was summoned. But the force that truly held them together was found in the camaraderie they displayed during those interminably long periods of inactivity, such as all armies were forced to endure. Indeed, Tanakalian had come to delight in their brash lack of decorum, their open irreverence and their strange penchant for revelling in the absurd.
> 
> Perhaps an ill influence, as Run’Thurvian’s faintly disapproving frowns implied, whenever Tanakalian attempted his own ironic commentary. Of course, the Destriant possessed no shortage in his list of disappointments regarding the Order’s new Shield Anvil. Too young, woefully inexperienced, and dismayingly inclined to rash judgement—this last flaw simply unacceptable in one bearing the title of Shield Anvil.
> 
> _‘Your mind is too active, sir,’ the Destriant had said once. ‘It is not for the Shield Anvil to make judgement. Not for you to decide who is worthy of your embrace. No, sir, but you have never disguised your predilections. I give you that.’_
> 
> Generous of the man, all things considered.

So trouble in paradise.  It's unclear how much the Perish as a whole know about the tension in their leadership given the Grey Helms' relentless propriety, but tension there is.

Tanakalian opts to go below to solicit Run'Thurvian's sorcerous aid with the landing.  The Destriant has occupied two spacious cabins as a combination residence and temple.  Tanakalian enters, but something is wrong with Run'Thurvian: he is melting.  He has a last warning for his Shield Anvil before dying:

> ‘I travelled far,’ Run’Thurvian said. ‘Doubts . . . a growing unease. Listen! She is not as we believed. There will be . . . betrayal. Tell Krughava! The vow—_we have made a mistake_!’

The Destriant refuses the embrace of his Shield Anvil, declaring Tanakalian "insufficient" and "another one of Krughava's errors... in judgement" before finally dying.  Tanakalian is taken aback, but he adjusts rather too quickly.  He is glad the Destriant refused his embrace; he plans to be _selective_ in who deserves that blessing.^([4])

___

Yedan Derryg gets his first PoV, and it's pretty damn good.  We've seen him before -- Twilight's half-brother, Shake, former Letheri army -- but we never really got to know him.  That changes in a hurry, and I'd argue (and [have argued](https://www.reddit.com/r/Malazan/comments/127mbzg/what_makes_you_like_this_character/), spoilers MBotF) this is one of Erikson's best character intros in the entire series.  As tempted as I am to rehash it line by line, I'll move on, but _damn_.  This one is solid.

Yedan, it turns out after 12 paragraphs, has just killed all but two witches and warlocks of the Shake and is busy washing his hands of the blood at the shore.  He offers a prayer just before Yan Tovis approaches:

> This to the sea\
> This from the shore\
> This I give freely\
> Until the waters run clear

Twilight is absolutely stunned at what he's done, and his defense is simply "I am the Watch".  He's certain he did no more or less -- well, slightly less; he wants to kill the last two -- than was necessary.  The witches were trying to constrain Twilight with a King, undermining her rule.

Yedan says he will accept drowning if his sister disapproves but she insists on banishing him instead.  There are layers to the culture here -- "Then we will be blind to the night", etc. -- that start to mark the Shake as quite distinct culturally from anything we've seen so far and I quite appreciate it.

As the Watch leaves, he thinks back on his murders:

> It was his responsibility, after all. Perhaps his sister had forgotten the oldest vows that bound the Watch. But he had not. And so he had done what was necessary.
> 
> There was no pleasure in the act. Satisfaction, yes, as would be felt by any wise, intelligent person who succeeds in sweeping aside a multitude of shortsighted sharks, thus clearing the water. But no pleasure.

Even the clipped sentences tell a story here.  "Yedan Derryg was not a loquacious man."

___

The two surviving witches -- Pully and Skwish and good luck telling them apart -- are wrapping up some sort of divination ritual involving... snake sex.  The Shake are tribal in a way we've only really seen from Nep Furrow.

They got what they wanted in the form of some sort of divination to discredit Twilight:

> ‘It’s bad an’ it’s bad, Pully. Cold blood t’the east no sun could warm. I seen solid black clouds rollin down, an’ iron rain an gashes in th’geround. I see the stars go away an’ nothing but green glows, an’ them green glows they is cold, too, cold as th’east blooding. All stems but one branch, y’see. One branch.’
> 
> ‘So’s we guessed right, an’ next time Twilight goes an’ seal barks on ’bout a marchin’ the Shake away from the shore, you can talk up an’ cut er down and down. An’ then we vote and get er gone. Er and the Watch, too.’

So if you were wondering why Yedan was so insistent... well, he had reasons.

___

Udinaas is fully aware of the _potential_ within his son:

> No doubt every father felt that flash of blinding, burning truth—the moment when he sensed his son’s imminent domination, be it physical or something less overtly violent in its promise. Or perhaps such a thing was in fact rare, conjured from the specific. After all, not every father’s son could veer into the shape of a dragon. Not every father’s son held the dawn’s golden immanence in his eyes.

He's still not happy about letting Rud Elalle go with Silchas,  but he understand the argument -- which boils down to "fighting draconic blood is hard".^([5])  The case is compelling, and Udinaas knows what he has to do.  He just doesn't like it.  We get some classic Udinaasing from the whole thing:

> ‘And I knew slaves in the Hiroth village—ones who’d been soldiers once, and they withered with the anguish of knowing that there were places of battle—places of their first blooding—that they would never again see. They longed to return, to walk those old killing grounds, to stand before the barrows filled with the bones of fallen friends, comrades. To remember, and to weep.’ Udinaas shook his head. ‘We are not much different from the beasts sharing our world, Onrack. The only thing that truly sets us apart is our talent for rejecting the truth—and we’re damned good at that. The salmon does not question its need. The tenag and the bhederin do not doubt what compels them.’

I haven't had the opportunity lately to point out how fond I am of Udinaas.  He's pretty great.

Onrack is still grappling with how Udinaas can let his son go, but the decision is now in Rud's hands; he's talking with Silchas now.  Besides, the choice is best for the Refugium and its people.  Should the realm die, the Imass run the risk of returning to undeath.  Udinaas knows that Rud will do what is right for his adopted kin.  He also knows he can't be entirely honest about it:

> It was not pride that made them what they were. It was compassion. The tragic kind of compassion, the kind that sacrifices itself and sees that sacrifice as the only choice and thus no choice at all, one that must be accepted without hesitation.

Rud and Silchas emerge from their hut and it's clear the choice has been made.  It's time to say goodbye.  The two depart, one white dragon and one gilt with fire.  The emlava celebrate a kill in the distant woods.

___

Krughava and Tanakalian make it to shore to meet with the Bolkanda delegation.  The Mortal Sword has taken the news of her Destriant's death stoically -- perhaps because Tanakalian neglected to mention the warning of betrayal.  Instead, the Shield Anvil had reinforced Krughava's steel and kept contemplation for himself.

The Bolkando have set up a huge, lavish pavilion for the meeting.  Their guards are adorned in fine chain -- too fine to stop a real weapon.  The two Bolkando representatives introduce themselves as Chancellor Rava and Conquestor Avalt.  The latter is clearly a military man, the former political.  There's a whole ritual of greeting that Rava puts on, pretending several drinks are particularly morbid concoctions (blood of the 14^(th) daughter, a tree fed on stillbirths).  We later learn this is all dissembling, but the Perish don't know that and react as little as possible.

The meeting concludes late in the day and the Perish return to their ships.  The Bolkando are fairly certain they've pulled one over on the foreign barbarians.  They plan to extract maximum value from their unwelcome guests before selling survivors of the journey into slavery.  The Khundryl are already in the kingdom in designated trader camps ripe for the picking.

Bolkando servants have their tongues cut out and are killed after witnessing important meetings to ensure secrecy.  Naturally, they have a way to get the word out, employing a blink code to report back to their employers elsewhere in the Kingdom's hierarchy.  Bolkando is just an awful place.  The servants pass word on.

___

Twilight has to deal with Pully and Skwish as they learn what her brother did to the rest of the witches.  They are less than pleased and want to hunt him down and kill him.  Yan Tovis calmly declares him banished and tries to shift the conversation to more important matters: the fate of the Shake.

The witches recount several Shake prophecies and demand that their queen find a king.  She flatly refuses.  Instead, she will gather the remaining inhabitants -- Shake and otherwise -- of the Maiden Isles and set forth away from the Shore.  Somehow, Twilight has to keep her people together without the help of her brother.

___

### Notes

^([1]): Onrack has acquired a new name: T'emlava.  This raises all sorts of questions about the Imass language and culture.  We're told in MoI (by Tool) that "T'oolan" means "flawed flint", with the "T" in particular meaning "broken" but that "there are layers of meaning".  Later, Itkovian observes to Cafal that the first glottal stop in "T'isten'ur" (Barghast for Tiste Edur, rather obviously) implies past tense, just as in "T'lan" (again, obviously shortened "Tellann").  But here, "T'emlava" at least _seems_ to act as a sort of "of the" akin to a patronymic.  The question then is whether the emlava referred to in his name is the mother he killed or the cubs he is now raising, and I haven't a clue.  But it's interesting to speculate; the mother is certainly in the past tense, but then the entire Refugium is outside of time so... ???

^([2]): First we get owls as "among the least clever of birds" and now we get emlava as "stupid".  Erikson is all about knocking animals to open DoD -- for no apparent reason.

^([3]): Since it's been a hot minute, the Shield Anvil is supposed to take on the suffering of those around him, the Destriant is a sort of liturgical equivalent to High Mage, and the Mortal Sword is the military commander of the order (and since we're talking about holy warriors, the Mortal Sword is also the general leader).

^([4]): The contrast here with Itkovian is obvious.  The Redeemer's final insight was that even the Dying God must be embraced, whereas Tanakalian won't even act for his high priest.

^([5]): He also lets slip that there's a Soletaken Eleint Jaghut out there somewhere, which is... something.