After the tumult of the conflict on the Tor, the party needs healing. Where better to heal than Andelain!
They hurried in an effort to reach that place, protected as it was now by the reawakened might of the krill. In Salva Gildenbourne were still Kastenessen and the skurj, and they would still try to act before the party could get out of reach.
And there was still Longwrath’s madness to consider. Initally, they carried him, unconscious, with them. Longwrath escaped from the party, but realizing that he did not have his sword, left to return to the Tor to retrieve it. His anxiousness to get it back, greater than his desire to do harm to Linden.
Initially, the thicket of Salva Glidenbourne impeded progress. But, gradually, by degrees, the the constricted forest began to lighten. Crossing the boundary into Andelain was, like always in the Chronicles, a joyful experience:
And the others:As one, the Giants slowed their steps. As if in reverence, they set aside their haste, assumed a more condign gravitas. When they left the last fringes of Salva Gildenbourne and crossed into Andelain, they did so as if they were entering a place of worship. Here was the Land’s untrammeled bounty, as essential as blood, and as profound as orogeny. And they were Giants: instinctively they reveled in largesse.
But Linden also thought of Anele, and that what Andelain was also home to would be a cause for fear for him. When she came to him, he spoke, but in the voice of his long dead mother, Hollian, giving words of doubt, but also reassurance. In asking Linden to take care of Anele, Hollian says through him, in the centerpiece quote of the chapter:Joyfully, Bhapa and Pahni threw themselves prostrate on the lush grass, doing homage to Andelain and escape. Mahrtiir knelt with his head bowed to the earth as if he were praying. Liand flung his arms wide and spun in circles, crowing with delight. “Andelain?” he cired. “Oh, Linden! This is Andelain? I could not have believed - !”
With that, Anele turned and went off into the hills....”His vision of his parents are too lofty. He torments himself for faults which are not his. When your (Linden’s) deeds have come to doom, as they must, remember that he is the hope of the Land.”
“This also, the Despiser and all who serve him cannot imagine.”
The Giants also wished to have a caamora, to grieve for their fallen. As they began the preparations, Linden took to healing the party, cleansing infection from the Giants and the burns from other members of the party.
During the caamora, while the Giants assuaged their hurt with stories of the fallen and with the cleansing pain of fire; Longwrath returned, on his mission of rage against Linden. However, he was stopped at the border of Andelain. By the Wraiths:
Greater his wrath became, but the Wraiths would not allow him to pass. They had formed an effective barrier against Longwrath. Then one a lit directly on the scar that disfigured his face. This caused him to shriek, pounding at his face. When he realized he could not pass, he broke into sobs, and retreated into the forest of Salva Gildenbourne.Exqusite candle flames pranced over the hillside, more and more of them, until at least a score had become manifest….
As soon as Longwrath’s foot touched the palpable demarcation between Salva Gildenbourne and Andelain, the Wraiths arrayed themselves in front of him. Together, they gyred and flared as though they meant to ensorcel his madness.
After the caamora, and a night of sleep, Linden felt the need for greater speed to reach the krill. Greater than what the Giants could give her. She wished to make it to the Soulsease river in one day. The Giants had said it would take two. The Ranyhyn were summoned. They came at Stave’s whistle, but they looked as though they had been through an ordeal. However, for them, Andelain was a salve, they soaked up the abundant Earthpower of the place and rapidly recovered from their weariness. Swiftly they went, though the Ranyhyn could go swifter, they kept a pace that the Giants could match. At the end of the day, they reached the Soulsease, and the end of the chapter:
As the company halted, Linden recognized the satisfied pride of the Giants, the calm confidence of the Ranyhyn. She tasted Liand’s pleasure and that of the Cords. Indeed, Pahni’s and Bhapa’s gladness was dimmed only by their Manethrall’s clenched contained sorrow. Linden sensed the depth of Anele’s dreamless slumber, the solidity of Stave’s presence, the ungiving impassivity of the Humbled. But now she shared none of their reactions. Her attention had already gone past the Soulsease
On the far side of the Soulsease, she saw the Harrow.
His relaxed poise as he sat his destrier made it obvious that he was waiting for her.
Linden is prompted to remember the vision she had when first coming to the Land.
