Runes Part 2 Chapter 1 - Spent Emnity

[SoulBiter]

Enmity - Deep-seated, often mutual hatred or a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will; animosity; antagonism.

This chapter has so much going on that I really didnt even come close to bringing all the things out I saw..its just so much. But that gives us plenty to discuss.

It starts with Stave near death. The beating Esmer gave him would have killed most beings.. certainly it would have killed Linden or any of the Ramen, but the Haruchai (as the Giants have said before) are a hardy people. But even that wont save him from death if Linden cant help. This is the first time since she has been back to the land to really be tested as a healer.

He had begun to hemorage around his broken ribs and punctured lung

Because she was afraid, Linden considered simply borrowing a knife and cutting him open

To even consider trying to open him up shows the depth of her fear. But why is she afraid? I was thinking as I read this that she was afraid of using the ring, but I dont think thats the case at all. She is afraid of failure. It appears that even after all she had been through with Covenent in the land before, she still has some old demons that haunt her.

Even as she is wrestling with this Stave speaks to Linden asking her to not heal him. She of course tells him to Shut up and continues on with preparing for what she is going to have to do.

"Chosen," he said at last, thinly; a blood-spattered trickly of sound between his lips. "Do not."

(snip)

Chosen heed me. There are tales of your healing. Do not heal me. I have failed. I am Haruchai. Do not shame me with my own life.

Im not surprised. This is typical Haruchai after a failure. These people dont know how to forgive failure.... especially their own. What does suprise me is that Linden gives Stave something that he will need for her to save him. A reason to live.... a reason to accept his failure. First she makes the cords turn away so they dont see the Haruchai begging or perhaps see her fail to save him. Then she confronts him.

"Dont talk like that. " she said like an act of violence. "Dont tell me not to heal you." Not to at least make an attempt. 'You failed long before we came here, but you havent used that as an excuse to give up."
The Master swallowed blood. "How have I failed?"
"Well what would you call it? Anele is just a crazy old man." Whatever else he might be. " Until I came along, the Ramen were the only friends he had, and he didnt see them very often. " God, she needed to be angry. "But he's been haunting the mountains above Mithil Stonedown for decades.
"Your the Haruchai. As you keep saying. But you couldnt catch him. Wasnt that a failure?"
Staves mien gave her no hint of his reaction. He might have felt perplexed or scornful behind his anguish. "He was aided."

Here is where she really hammers it home.. she led him right into this

"By ur-viles, you mean?" she countered. "The ur-viles you didnt even know existed? Thats another failure. You've made yourselves the Masters of the land. The caretakers--- But Ive only been her for three days and Ive already encountered half a dozen things you didnt know."
(snip)
"Listen to me", she told him grimly. "You didnt fail to capture Anele because he was aided. You failed because there arent enough of you for the job. You're spread too thin. "

She goes on to tell him that the Masters have to be able to deal with the land as the Masters and handle every thing or just be the lands friends. But they cant do both.. and obviously they are failing at being Masters. But as she is doing all this she is preparing herself to be able to do what needs to be done. She continues to keep him talking by asking him about the Ramen and why they (the Ramen) have this grievance even as she melds herself.. her healthsense into Stave to start working on his injuries.

Then talk about some old demons. She still considers the fact that she can still just let him die.

Instead of attempting to heal him, she could just spare him the pain while he died. With her health-sense she could intervene between his consciousness and wounds---- possess him after a fashion----so that he felt no discomfort as he slipped away. If she lacked the courage to do more---and if she were willing to violate his right to bear his own distress--
For her own sake as much as his, she rejected the idea. Now more than ever, she needed to be able to exceed herself.

But after looking at what needs to be done she again runs into this wall that keeps her from the wild magic. The more I read the more Im agreeing that this wall is one that she has erected within herself. She doesnt think the wild magic is hers.

Ramified - spread out into branches or branchlike parts

Somewhere amoung the ramified chambers of herself lay a room full of potential fire, crowded with implications of Covenants ring.

Notice she said Covenants ring and as you see below she truly thinks it not her own to use.

yet it eluded her. When she had time to think, when she went looking for that room concisously, she could not be sure of its location. Her doubting mind had too many qualms. Covenants ring did not belong to her; she did not deserve its white flame. If she tried to become the wildwielder. as the Elohim had said that she must, she might lose every aspect of herself.

She finally finds an answer that lets her find the ability to use the power but its not because she thinks she deserves it. Its simple necessity. She finally finds the power. But during all of the time leading up to this she is being told of why the Ramen distrust the Haruchai.
What I got from it was they didnt like them because they rode the Ranyhyn to their deaths. However the Haruchai seem to be drama queens. They think its because of the failure of the bloodguard and the tainting of them by the illearth stone.

What touched me at the time when she is finally grabbing the white gold and has started Staves healing is this statement.

The Ramen cannot know how the Bloodguard loved the Giants. They cannot grasp how the hearts of the Bloodguard were rent by what had transpired.

If that doesnt touch you then you dont have a heart.

But even after baring his heart to her he gives her a warning

"The judgement of the Haruchai is not so lightly set aside. There will come a reckoning between us"

Between her and the Masters or between the Haruchai and the Ramen....or perhaps both.

Then she used wildfire to mend his wounds and he passes out.

Here is where things get interesting.. All of a sudden Esmer wants in to talk to her. But the Cords have been told not to let anyone in. But he seems a very confused being.. Much like Anele he seems to not always have control of himself. But he explains that he has a limited window in which to help Linden.

"you see what I am in part, but you do not know the cost of my nature" (snip) 'The way is open for me now. But the time when I may speak to the wildweilder for her benefit is not long. It will end soon

So he wants to help but for some reason has a limited timeframe in which to help. I also notice that he calls her Wildweilder. I wonder if he beat the Haruchai as he did not just because of his nature but perhaps to force her to use the wild magic. To become the wildwielder.

She asceeds and lets him in. The first thing he does is notice that Stave is healed and is astonished.. Of course he didnt say that but its kind of something Anele would seem to take to heart.

You surpass me. Small wonder that you are named 'Chosen' and 'Wildwielder'. To work such healing with wild magic---"
He risked a glance at her face, then turned his head aside. Under his breath he quoted: "This power is a paradox, because power doesn not exist without law, and wild magic had no law"

Esmer tries to tell her his nature... he talks of Cail and true service as well as betrayal of the merewives. He also tells her that he is the son of Cail and the merewives and that because of that he is eternally divided against himself. As he talks she is thinking of what he is saying and she misses something important

Nevertheless his mere proximity nausiated her

Then he drives to the point and tells her that he is allowed to answer a few questions while he can.

Question: Can you tell me where to find my son.
Answer: No the despiser is hidden from me.

(So he knows that her son has been captured by the Despiser)

Question:Why are you torturing Anele
Answer: Its in my nature.

Question:What are the falls
Answer: They are flaws in time, caused and fed by wild magic. Within them the law of time is severed.

AHA!!! Now that explains alot.. but I wont go into that because it wont get put together until later.

Question: Am I doing it
Answer: No there is another white gold ring in the land. A ring in the possession of a madwomen

We all know who that is.. Obviously Joan is in the land and has been there for some time AND she is still mad. NOt only that he confirms that she does not act of her own volition.

"There is no willingness in her. She is merely haunted and broken and used. She cannot choose freely to abdicate her soul. Thus is her power restrained from utter havoc"

Question: Anele is here because he stumbled into a Caesure
Answer: yes

Question: So did the ur-viles
Answer: NO they came willingly to escape the Despiser and find a time when they would be able to help against him.

And we find that they are here to help Linden specifically

Wildwielder, they have found you. It is their intent to serve you"

Question: Anele is really the son of Sunder and Hollian? He lost the staff of Law because he left it in a cave?
Answer: Yes and Yes

Question: Could he find it again if he went back to the past?
Answer: Yes if his madness permits

Question: How do I do it? how do I go back into the past?
(He answers the question but he also warns her agianst altering the past, which would damage the arch of time)

Answer:

" For you all things are possible, you are the Wildwielder"

But she also realizes she doesnt know how to navigate time and that is another thing he answers with.

"I will only say this. Look to the Ranyhyn"

What a way to end a chapter and what a chapter it was. In this chapter alone we have dealt with Haruchai and failure. The Masters and their failures. Linden and her ability and lack thereof to find the wild magic. Esmer and the merewives... Cail and the merewives, and the biggie.. The arch of time, the loss of the staff and a lifeline on how to get the staff back.

[dlbpharmd]

Excellent dissection, Soulbiter!

This is the first time since she has been back to the land to really be tested as a healer.

Don't forget Sahah.

Then she confronts him.

This really bothers me. As a physician Linden should respect the right of the patient to refuse care, yet she violates Stave's wishes and heals him. I see reflections of Hile Troy in this.

Quote:
The Ramen cannot know how the Bloodguard loved the Giants. They cannot grasp how the hearts of the Bloodguard were rent by what had transpired.

If that doesnt touch you then you dont have a heart.

Well said.

[Relayer]

Great job Soulbiter! There are again a lot of hints hidden in the conversations w/ Stave and Esmer...

Notice she said Covenants ring and as you see below she truly thinks it not her own to use.

yet it eluded her. When she had time to think, when she went looking for that room concisously, she could not be sure of its location. Her doubting mind had too many qualms. Covenants ring did not belong to her; she did not deserve its white flame. If she tried to become the wildwielder. as the Elohim had said that she must, she might lose every aspect of herself.

Yes, what's the deal with this? I know it's been discussed before, but it bears keeping in mind. At the end of WGW, it specifically mentions "her wedding ring" ... yet in the 10 years since, she's convinced herself that it isn't hers and she doesn't know how to use it. Or doesn't "deserve" to use it??!? Why does she keep putting herself down compared to the "valor and glory of people like Covenant, Sunder and Hollian, Giants, etc."

You are the Sun-Sage.

[dlbpharmd]

Good points, Relayer. I've said plenty of times, Linden used wild magic as easily as faling off of a log in WGW yet now she has all of these issues. And you're right to point out that the ring was clearly Linden's at the end of WGW (will SRD ever explain to us how she came to have the ring in her hand at all?)

[SoulBiter]

Even back when she didnt have the ring she mentions many times that she could go into Covenant (up until the point where he walks into the banefire) and take the control of the ring from him. There were times when she would think things like "I could heal him/her/it, if only I had the ring".
At the end of WGW she repelled the Elohim with white fire without even being in physical contact with the ring....just being in proximity was enough.

I wonder if its because of her contact with Covenant through her dreams and through Anele. Now that he has said 'find me' , it could be that because she now believes that he is alive, that she now thinks the ring doesnt belong to her anymore. Perhaps that in conjunction with her inability to call it up at will as convinced her its not hers to use.

Spoiler

As we find later in the book, his proximity keeps her from being able to find the 'right door' to open to get to the power of the ring. Maybe he has been close every time she couldnt access the power.

[Avatar]

Nice dissection SoulBiter.

An interesting chapter indeed, with many revelations and even more half-revealed possibilities.

Paired with not respecting Stave's right to refuse treatment is Linden's apparent willingness to make choices for other people, a habit which may have unforeseeable consequences.

Plenty of interest from Esmer as well, not least the dual nature of his...nature, and the questions he answers.

We learn finally that Anele is who he seemed to be, that the despiser is hidden from Esmer, and that that is why he can't say where Jeremiah is...?...(what, does he have a cloaking effect for some radius or something? Is Jeremiah himself the despiser? Or possessed by him or his minions?)

And of course, one of my favoute points of contention...how can the Ranyhyn navigate time?

--A

[Tulizar]

Yeah, Linden's inability to wield magic is a little bothersome. I assumed it had a lot to do with her time removed from the Land. Maybe she's still finding her Land-groove or, as mentioned above, needs Covenant to make things flow properly.

I enjoyed Esmer's conversation with Linden. He confirms what Linden assumed--Joan is responsible for the Caesures. He explained that she is tormented by a Raver (is this the same as possessed? I'm not sure).

I never really felt one way or another about Joan, but after reading Esmer's assessment of her current state, I'm starting to feel bad for her. Esmer says

She is merely haunted and broken and used.

That is damn sad. She can't seem to catch a break. She's been devoured by nightmares and madness for years outside the Land, then when she enters the Land--a world with the potential to heal her mental distress--her nightmares make things worse by literally wreaking havoc in the form of Caesures.

Esmer points out that The Arch of Time is still intact despite Joan's outbursts

That the harm is not greater--that the Law of Time has already not been shattered--is due only to the form of her madness

This should give Linden hope. As long as the Arch is intact there's still hope to retrieve the Staff and ultimately find her son.

[wayfriend]

This chapter has so much going on that I really didnt even come close to bringing all the things out I saw

We will help you, SB. Never fear.

I LOVE how you arranged the information as a Q&A! A great idea, and it helps us to understand better.

First, let me ask: What is "the only form of innocence", which is the title of this book, about? Let me remind everyone.

He peered at the triangle and the writing, muttered, "Jesus saves," under his breath, then sighed. "Occupational hazard. I've been going to church faithfully in this town for forty years. But since I'm a trained professional who earns a decent living, some of our good people -" He grimaced wryly, "- are always trying to convert me. Ignorance is the only form of innocence they understand." He shrugged, returned the note to her. "This area has been depressed for a long time. After a while, depressed people do strange things. They try to turn depression into a virtue - they need something to make themselves feel less helpless. What they usually do around here is become evangelical. I'm afraid you're just going to have to put up with people who worry about your soul. Nobody gets much privacy in a small town."

What's the message here? Is it about Ignorance?

But why is she afraid? I was thinking as I read this that she was afraid of using the ring, but I dont think thats the case at all. She is afraid of failure. It appears that even after all she had been through with Covenent in the land before, she still has some old demons that haunt her.

I think the fear here is like the fear that the old woman felt who healed Covenant. Linden knows she will have to use her percipience to enter Stave, and that she will feel his pain - the pain which she already knows is intense.

Im not surprised. This is typical Haruchai after a failure.

Not ENTIRELY typical. Haruchai are not opposed to being healed. For example, Ceer. I think that this attitute comes about when they feel that they have been tested. Esmer is half Haruchai. And Haruchai measure each other with blows. In this fashion, we test each other and resolve doubt. Stave lost the test. And so he wishes to claim the full course of his failure.

She finally finds an answer that lets her find the ability to use the power but its not because she thinks she deserves it. Its simple necessity. She finally finds the power.

Earlier, when Esmer came, she tried to find the power of her ring. She failed. Here she tries again (with considerably more time to spend on it) and succeeds. Why?

I have not been disproven yet that it is about passion. And Jeremiah always seems to be her source of passion. Here it is again.

In the end, her choice was a simple one. She was a physician. Any one of the Haruchai would have given his life for her. And Lord Foul had Jeremiah.

How else could she earn her own redemption?

When she had become sure, her hand closed on the handle of the door she sought.

It's about passion. I found these lines that explains it all.

At first he could not focus the ring on it, and it drove him staggering backward. But then he found his error. He had tried to use the wild magic like a tool or weapon, something which could be wielded. But High Lord Mhoram had told him, You are the white gold. It was not a thing to be commanded, employed well or ill as skill or awkwardness allowed. Now that it was awake, it was a part of him, an expression of himself. He did not need to focus it, aim it; bone and blood, it arose from his passion.

When Linden tries to use the ring as a tool, she fails. But when she uses it from passion, she can "find the door".

The Ramen cannot know how the Bloodguard loved the Giants. They cannot grasp how the hearts of the Bloodguard were rent by what had transpired.

... and that is why the Ramen cannot forgive them, because they don't know how the Bloodguard were so heartbroken that they chose to deliver blows to Lord Foul, in person, with a vengeance.

Did anyone suspect that the Bloodguard were so affected in this way? I didn't. It explains some things that are otherwise missing. (Eh, iquestor?)

This is the first time since she has been back to the land to really be tested as a healer.

Don't forget Sahah.

Ah, but she did not have full access to her percipience then.

And by the way, Linden seems to have overcome the personal demon of posession. She measures what's at stake, decides it's justified, and possesses Stave. No good angel/bad angel discussions in her head.

As a physician Linden should respect the right of the patient to refuse care, yet she violates Stave's wishes and heals him.

Yes, but it is in character for Linden to reject Stave's line of reasoning. And a doctor should not accept a refusal for care if they do not think the person is in their right mind. I think that's what came into play here. But she did judge.

And of course, one of my favoute points of contention...how can the Ranyhyn navigate time?

Well, that one just seemed so RIGHT to me that I accepted it immediately. Because obviously the Ranyhyn have some sort of power over time if they can pre-hear someone's call. They are timeloose, as AA Attanasio would say. Some of their perceptions span outside of their immediate frame of time.

And if you can see, you can navigate.

Esmer points out that The Arch of Time is still intact despite Joan's outbursts

That the harm is not greater--that the Law of Time has already not been shattered--is due only to the form of her madness

As I mentioned above regarding Linden, the same applies to Joan. Joan IS a tool. And the wild magic cannot be approached as a tool.

Fortunately, this means that Joan's ring is not enough.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Okay, I want to pick up my thread about Esmer from the last chapter.

What does the name "Esmer" say to us? We know how Donaldson picks names. They sound like things. Sometimes what they sound like is not obvious ("Grimmand Honninscrave") but when you find out what it is, it unlocks a piece of the puzzle.

Here is what I think - Esmer's name reflects his heritage.

Esmer
Es Mer
Essen Mere
Kastenessen Merewives

His name indicates that he owes something to Kastenessen, and something to the Merewives.

But no Haruchai is present. Why? Because it is not about whose genes he has, it is about who he serves. He serves Kastenessen and the Merewives.

He silenced Anele for the merewives, he as much as said so. He attacked Stave to express the loathing of the merewives. The merewives rule him as much as Kastenessen does.

Which goes a long way to explaining his nature. Kastenessen and the merewives DO NOT GET ALONG. They must be pulling on Esmer from both directions. And with his power, this creates endless havoc for the world. He is a slave to two insane powers who are diametrically opposed to each other. He's like a nuclear weapon with one button in Israel and another button in Palestine. Ow!

So a lot of things make sense now. Except one thing.

When Esmer enters Linden's tent in this chapter, he says "The way is open for me now. But the time when I may speak to the Wildwielder for her benefit is not long. It will soon end." And he then says, "With blows I have expended my loathing, for a little time. Until its strength is renewed, I am able to set it aside."

If the loathing is caused by the merewives - and there is little doubt of this - then does this mean that Kastenessen is trying to help her? Wow. Didn't Kastenessen try to fry her face a minute ago?!?!

Or is this a moment when he is free of both Kastenessen and the merewives, which means that left to his own devices he would be Linden's friend?

That sounds better.

I am made to be what I am. Every moment of my existence is conflict and pain.

Indeed.

[oops, forgot to say] BTW, "Hints" we can now see refers to a number of hints that there is an Esmer. Anele's silence. The Ramen's knowledge. Stave's attention. Linden's unwanted exfoliation. All pointing to Esmer.

[Relayer]

This is the first time since she has been back to the land to really be tested as a healer.

Don't forget Sahah.

Ah, but she did not have full access to her percipience then.

And I don't think she tried to use wild magic. Just some good old hot water and amanhibhavam, and wishing for antibiotics and sutures...

What does the name "Esmer" say to us? We know how Donaldson picks names. They sound like things. Sometimes what they sound like is not obvious ("Grimmand Honninscrave") but when you find out what it is, it unlocks a piece of the puzzle.

Here is what I think - Esmer's name reflects his heritage.

Esmer
Es Mer
Essen Mere
Kastenessen Merewives

His name indicates that he owes something to Kastenessen, and something to the Merewives.

But no Haruchai is present. Why? Because it is not about whose genes he has, it is about who he serves. He serves Kastenessen and the Merewives.

Nice detective work!! It always makes me thing of Esmerelda, who I think was a gypsy in an old children's tale or something? I have no idea what the relevance would be, except that Esmer is somewhat of a nomad...

He silenced Anele for the merewives, he as much as said so.

Which goes a long way to explaining his nature. Kastenessen and the merewives DO NOT GET ALONG. They must be pulling on Esmer from both directions. And with his power, this creates endless havoc for the world. He is a slave to two insane powers who are diametrically opposed to each other. He's like a nuclear weapon with one button in Israel and another button in Palestine. Ow!

And there's the Haruchai, who probably don't really get along w/ either of them, and whose influence pull him in another direction too. Esmer says something like "but the merewives longing was not love, it was the desire for destruction." I wonder if there was a moment when Cail realized the truth of his delusion.

[dlbpharmd]

I wonder if there was a moment when Cail realized the truth of his delusion.

And thought, "Oh shit!"

[Usivius]

As a physician Linden should respect the right of the patient to refuse care,

&

Paired with not respecting Stave's right to refuse treatment is Linden's apparent willingness to make choices for other people, a habit which may have unforeseeable consequences.

These are two ideas which I don't beleive are entirely accurate. Firstly, perhaps it is different in other parts of the world, but I beleive in North America, doesn't a doctor have to prevent someone from dying? If a gunshot wound victim comes in to a hospital, is about to die, but says, "no thanks, doc, just let me die." I don't believe that are "allowed" to!


And the notion of Linden "making choices for others" sounds all too negative (it smacks of THOOLAH).
Firstly, she is a doctor. She is somewhat use to giving instructions when she sees the need. And, really, there is no one else here who has anything better to say. Most are just looking at her for guidance anyway, and then you have Stave, who has such a pickle up his butt that any idea of his eventually boils down to, "stop using Earthpower" and let's go home and behave...

as a spoiler (because it has not been disected yet) I will quote Ch.8 in Part 2

Spoiler

And she had neither the wisdom nor arrogance to make his decisions for him.

sheesh! C'mon! Linden is doing what she thinks is right, using compassion and healing as her guides.

Will she make mistakes? Oh, there are 3 more books... I thnk she has to make a few ... just like TC did ...

[wayfriend]

A lot of comments like those you mention feel to me like twisting events to fit a preconceived hypothesis. Doctor's save people, often in spite of objections, that's what they do; in another situation in another book, with another character, it would be called heroism. Heck, it happens on every third episode of House, and he's cool.

[Relayer]

While Linden takes this approach of trying to save people who are injured or needy (Anele), she clearly doesn't try to make choices for Liand. Heck, she keeps warning him "are you sure you want to do this? You don't know what you're getting into. Lord Foul isn't someone you want to invite over for aliantha and mirkfruit pie."

Spoiler

And she pretty much does the same for the Ramen later, I think regarding Mahrtiir's help, and entering the caesure.

[dlbpharmd]

As a physician Linden should respect the right of the patient to refuse care,

&

Paired with not respecting Stave's right to refuse treatment is Linden's apparent willingness to make choices for other people, a habit which may have unforeseeable consequences.

These are two ideas which I don't beleive are entirely accurate. Firstly, perhaps it is different in other parts of the world, but I beleive in North America, doesn't a doctor have to prevent someone from dying? If a gunshot wound victim comes in to a hospital, is about to die, but says, "no thanks, doc, just let me die." I don't believe that are "allowed" to!

Your example is extreme, but IF a patient came in with a gun shot wound, and IF they were of sound mind and could make informed decisions for themselves (ie., not drunk or high,) then it seems to me that they have the right to refuse care, and the doctor must respect that.

[wayfriend]

"Don't tell me not to heal you," she repeated. "You're wasting your breath. And you still have work to do. Somebody has to tell your people what's been going on, and I'm sure as hell not going to do it."

Riding the thrust of that affirmation, she sent her senses into him like an appeal for understanding.

Something in her words must have reached him. Instead of clenching his will against her, Stave asked in a growing froth of blood, "What then is your intention? If you will not forewarn the Land-?"

Something in her words must have reached him. If Linden successfully talked Stave out of refusing to be healed, would that be okay?

[dlbpharmd]

Sure it would, but I don't think that's what happened, because later Stave said:

"The judgement of the Haruchai is not so lightly set aside. There will come a reckoning between us"

[wayfriend]

I don't see how "the judgement of the Haruchai" can refer to the healing; Stave did not do anything resembling judging in that part. And "the Haruchai" sounds plural; he may be referring to himself alone, but I don't think so.

If anything, this judgement and reckoning refers to the Haruchai's judgement that Linden should not be doing what she is doing - freeing Anele from prison, informing Stonedowners of their history, fleeing Mithil Stonedown, and generally admitting a desire to thwart the Masters designs on supressing Earthpower.

Spoiler

When the moment of that reckoning comes, Stave lists his accusations, and the only one that pertains to anything Linden did up until this point is the matter of taking Anele out of the hands of the Haruchai. He never says, "And then she dared to heal me, the witch!" or anything like that.

[Avatar]

And of course, one of my favoute points of contention...how can the Ranyhyn navigate time?

Well, that one just seemed so RIGHT to me that I accepted it immediately. Because obviously the Ranyhyn have some sort of power over time if they can pre-hear someone's call. They are timeloose, as AA Attanasio would say. Some of their perceptions span outside of their immediate frame of time.

And if you can see, you can navigate.

Well said WayFriend. Actually, I misstated the "contention." I knew there had been argument about time-senses, and that the Ranyhyn had featured. But what the debate was really about was the sandgorgons. Nothing to do with this at all, sorry.

--A

[iQuestor]

It has always bothered me to read about the timeloose abilities of them, because the rahyhyn are like ShadowFax, King of the horses in LOTR, in this sense.

The rider (Gandalf in LOTR, or the Haruchai or chosen riders in TC) can call, and the being (I dare not say horse) hears/has heard the call in enough time so that they can leave anywhere in the realm to arrive at the time of calling.


This opens up another question: If ranyhyn can navigate time, how could they be killed by a conventional enemy? There must be some Law that says they cant do it with a rider mounted, or they could just timeslip (heh) around the enemy or something.

[Avatar]

I think that the "timesense" as it were applies only to the call. *shrug*

--A