With the Dispiser's guidance, she's found hurtloam, and it has restored her in innumerable ways. Her health-sense has been returned to her, her weariness has been erased, and the Land is once again shining for her.
Anele is before her, as distinctly as if he had been etched in sunfire. And, as Linden applies her sight, many things become clear. She confirms that he is indeed full of Earthpower. And she sees why the hurtloam failed to restore him: Anele himself opposed it.Hurtloam has given her back the beauty of the Land.
Perhaps no mundane person of the Land could resist the Land's medicament, but Anele has power, power which hurtloam must respect. If he chooses to remain mad, no hurtloam will gainsay his decision. What grief, what loss, could leave Anele so bereft as to choose madness over health? We have no answers yet.But his inherent energies had become part of his madness, and had opposed his restoration.
But we learn other things.
So it is Anele himself who allows others to enter into him and possess him. Foul has found this out and takes advantage. But, again, answers lead to more questions. Was it an accident of his madness, or is this flaw something that was chosen consciously by Anele?She saw clearly that the Despiser did not control the phases of Anele's condition; could not grasp posession of Anele at will. Instead he merely took advantage of a flaw in the defenses which the old man had erected to protect his deepest pain. And that flaw shifted and changed with the unexplained modulations of Anele's mental state.
When it is clear that Anele is safe, Linden turns her attention to Liand. The Stowndowner has arrived with a horse, some supplies, a will, and a desire.
There are things about Liand that Linden must know. But first, she must feed her need for speed. Quickly, Anele is hoisted up behind Liand on his pinto ...
And Foul is gone like a burst soap bubble.
- - - - - - -
Linden is treated to the beauty of the Land, and the wonder of her restoration, as she follows Liand further into the Mithil valley. For the first time since her summons, she can truly appreciate the Earthpowerful bounty of the countryside. The natural wonders of the valley are luxuriant, and her joy is buoyed by the eficacy of the hurtloam. As readers, we are treated as well: we have not seen the Land in its glory since Hile Troy ascended Kevin's Watch, and Covenant followed Elena into the Westron mountains (excepting of course the extra special exception of Andelain under the Sunbane).
But Linden is not on vacation.
After the unexpected ambiguity of the Masters, Linden needs to clarify Liand's position. And her moral sense requires her to test Liand's resolve. She needed to understand him.
But before she can put her questions to the Stonedowner, Kevin's Dirt snags her attention.
Some more subtle substance - Kevin's Dirt blocks something, some essence of the Land. It would seem that lacking this ethereal nutrient causes the loss of the health-sense. (Perhaps health-sense arises from something akin to midi-chlorians?)she could feel Kevin's Dirt more clearly. It seed to clog her lungs, depriving her not of oxygen but of some more subtle substance. Already it had begun to erode her health sense
But Donaldson has told us to be careful of Linden's analyses. For at the beginning of this very chapter, we have seen Linden misdiagnose Anele's resistance to hurtloam: at first she thought it was a form of Earthpower overload, but came to an altogether different conclusion upon further reflection. Why tell us about Linden's mistake, unless to remind us that Linden can make mistakes?
The realities of her situation persue Linden, however, and she gives some thought to their course. This provides an opportunity to converse with Liand, to guage his willingness to help her elude the Masters.
The decide upon a course that leads past Mithil's Plunge, and westward up and into the Southron Range.
But then the conversation changed direction.
And so it all comes out: Liand explains his curiosity, his urge to be of service to Linden. His need to confront the doom he senses approaching the Land."But before we go any further, you have some explaining to do."
"Where do you get this 'we' stuff, Liand?"
The young man swallowed uncomfortably.
It'd be easy to dismiss Liand as a Linden's handy native guide, who serves no other purpose than to make Linden's flight into the mountains conceivable. Or to consider him the Land's simple witness to the events of the Final Chronicles. But I do not believe that Donaldson's integrity would allow such a character. Consider these words:
Do you remember the people that Covenant met in the First Chronicles? Loyal, brave, dedicated defenders of the Land? Farmers and shepherds who defended their Stonedown from havoc and ill? Who studied, who marched, who swore Oaths, who fought? Do you remember the people who caused Covenant such anguish because he felt he did not deserve them?"I am as I appear to be, merely a young man among my people. But I have seen that the Land is lovely. I wish to defend it. And if I am too small for so great a task, still I will not be content until I have learned the name of our doom."
This is who Liand is. A throwback to the Land's past, an icon of its best days.
In meeting Liand, Linden is indeed, in the best sense, returned to the Land.
So if Liand seems hapless, then consider him a wasted potential, brought low by the Masters and Kevin's Dirt. Wasted, but perhaps not lost. He might one day come into his own ...
Linden accepts Liand's aid. Not entirely because she needs it. But because he needs it just as much. And so she is candid with him.
As Liand, Linden, Anele, and Somo wend their way into the wilderness, we are left with the thought: there are too many men that Linden might have been speaking about, but it doesn't really matter which one, because they all made her who she is now. And as as distinctly as if he had been etched in sunfire, we can see that Liand will be made by Linden in much the same way."I've been where you are. I met a man who needed help. I wanted to help him," needed to help him. "And I could never have imagined what I was getting into. If I'd known how bad it was going to be, I don't think I could have done it.
"But I wouldn't be who I am now if I hadn't refused to abandon him."
As she spoke, the young man's indignation eased. "I hear you, Linden Avery," he replied firmly. "I am content to aid you."
"Good."