Kevin's Watch

‘Don’t touch Me’ is the first chapter written from Covenants point of view, since he has had his Silence placed upon him. It starts off by telling us about the actual silence that the Elohim placed upon Covenant.

‘Thomas Covenant saw everything. He heard everything. From the moment when the Elohim had opened the gift of Caer-Caverel, the location of the One Tree, all his functions had functioned normally. Yet he remained as blank as a stone tablet from which every commandment had been effaced .In him, the link between action and impact, perception and interpretation, had been severed or blocked….
…..Occasionally, an uneasiness as vague as mist rose up in him, but when he uttered his refrain, it went away.
These three words were all that remained of his soul.’

The last chapter ended in the Majesty where the company and Rire Grist were the only ones that were left in the Majesty. Now, the First, Honniscrave, Seadreamer, Linden, Covenant, the Haruchai, Vain and Findail followed Rire Grist to their rooms.
When Rire Grist is gone, and the Hustin have been dismissed, the company discuss what has happened. They are all uneasy, but have to give the dromond as much time as possible to get supplied and repaired.
The Haruchai are getting steadily more hostile towards Linden:

‘….the Master asked Brinn how the Haruchai had withstood Kasreyns geas. Brinn discounted that power in a flat tone. ‘He spoke to me with his gaze. I heard, but did not choose to listen.’ For a moment, he gave Linden a look as straight as an accusation.’

That night, the company are invited to a banquet with the Chateliane.

‘The plain attire of the questers contrasted with the self-conscious display around them; but the Chatelaine reacted as though the company were thereby made more sapid and attractive – or as though the gaddhis court feared to behave otherwise.
Men surrounded Linden with opportunities for dalliance, blind to the possible hysteria in her mien. Women plied the impassive Haruchai determinedly. The Giants were treated to brittle roulades of wit.’

LOL, I can just imagine the Haruchai walking around, dragging all these women with them.
Eventually, the company can’t take anymore and they return to their rooms.

‘Brinn drew Covenant into the next chamber and put him to bed, leaving Hergrom on guard in the hall with Vain and Findail. When Brinn doused the light, Covenant reflexively closed his eyes.’

Covenant is next awakened by the Lady Alif entering the room. She puts Brinn out with some sort of sleeping powder and then leads Covenant out of the room. Hergrom lay on the floor like Brinn; Vain faced Linden’s room, oblivious as usual, but Findail
‘watched the Lady Alif and covenant with an assaying look.’

One of the Haruchai, (Ceer or Cail) came in pursuit. But…

‘beyond the last door, the stone walls altered, became mirrors. In an instant, their images were exactly reflected form both sides. Image and image and flesh met, fused. Before the Haruchai could catch them, Covenant and his guide were translated to an altogether different part of the Sandhold.’

This part had me confused for a while, I had to read it a few times before I could understand what happened. But imagine what the Haruchai must have felt!! What the…!?
Anyway, Covenant and the Lady Alif are now in a lavishly decorated, large round chamber, with a
‘spiraling ironwork stairway that rose from the center of the chamber.’

It is here that the Lady Alif tries to ‘seduce’ Covenant. However, no matter what she does,

‘she could not pierce his Elohim-wrought emptiness. He was impervious as if their purpose had been to defend rather than harm him.’

Had they been trying to defend him? Or was it just a lucky coincidence.
Anyhow, the Kemper comes down the stairs, sends the Lady Alif back to the gaddhi and gets one of the Hustin to bring Covenant up to Kempers Pitch.
This where the Kemper performs his ‘Arts.’ He explains to Covenant
‘….my arts are pure, as a circle is pure, and in a flawed world purity cannot endure.’

So, in his work, he must place a flaw – which is that he will eventually die. His life leaks from him ‘drop by drop.’ But since white-gold is an imperfect metal, he could use that as his flaw, and therefore live forever (I hope that is right).
But Covenant has to choose to give the Kemper his White Gold, and the only way that will happen is if his veil of silence is pierced, which the Kemper now tries to do.
He straps Covenant into a chair, and uses his gold ocular and various lenses to torture Covenant – First a torture of knives, and then, fire. But neither work. Then, the Kemper drives Covenant into himself. All the things that Covenant feels guilty of are thrown at him: the destruction of the Staff of Law, countless deaths, his friends in danger, leprosy. It was then that the veil may have been pierced…but then….

‘He heard a series of thuds. The sounds of combat: blows exchanged, gasp and grunt of impact. Two powerful figures were fighting nearby.
Automatically, reflexively, he turned his head to see what was happening.’

When Covenant turns his head, he breaks the Kempers hold. He is back again in Kempers Pitch, everything is untouched, unchanged, except………

‘…..the guard lay on the floor, coughing up the last of its life. Over the husta stood Hergrom. He was poised to spring. Flatly, he said, ‘Kemper, if you have harmed him, you will answer for it with blood.’
Covenant saw everything, he heard everything.
Emptily, he said ‘Don’t touch me.’

Great job, Haruchai!!

You know, this "silence" Covenant was in is one of the reasons The One Tree was so hard for me to get thru. Especially the first time I read it. I was incensed by Linden taking over as the "main character". I no longer feel that way, but 20 years ago, having my hero silenced and reduced to a mindless shell uttering that one phrase over and over again just really infuriated me!!

I agree Furlsy - still to this day, I dislike TOT for that reason. LA gets on my last nerve during the "silence" chapters.

I don't have time right this second to read what looks like a great Dissection. But I just want to say that Hergrom be da man!!!! Kind of a background character all along, and suddenly I'm thinking, "I love this guy!!!"

Well That was a good synopsis . These chapters irritated me as well, since LA took over. For the longest time I could not get into her character at all, iI thought her a whining little _ _ _ _ _. As someone said above having Covenant silenced, was well hard for me to take. He is the perfect antihero, so well written you just hate to love him, but do.
Cail

Fist and Faith wrote:I don't have time right this second to read what looks like a great Dissection. But I just want to say that Hergrom be da man!!!! Kind of a background character all along, and suddenly I'm thinking, "I love this guy!!!"

I agree!! go Hergrom, go Hergrom!!

Linden annoyed me a fair bit too.

dlbpharmd wrote:

Spoiler

Hergrom is like the red-shirt wearing security guys on Star Trek. You love to see him but know he's gonna buy the farm sooner or later.

Yes. Some comedian said, "Captain Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Ensign Liebowitz beam down to a planet. Which one isn't coming back?"

Fist and Faith wrote: Yes. Some comedian said, "Captain Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Ensign Liebowitz beam down to a planet. Which one isn't coming back?"

uhh geez that's a tough one...
I loved Galaxy Quest's Guy who being the actor in a "for-real" situation realizes that he's always played the expendable one and panics no matter where's he's at. That was a playful jab at the red-shirts on STOS.

Remember this (black/afro-amer) comedian's take on Star Trek? :

Man you gotta dig that Spock dude... always plays it so cool... (bends down to pick up a non-existent object...pauses to look at it... then) "The nigger is a cube captian." You HAD to be a Trekkie to know which episode he was talking about... which made it that much funnier!

(direct quote from the comedian not intended as a errr ... Off color remark)...

Also sorry for straying WAY OFF TOPIC...

Good job, Haruchai.

Haruchai wrote:

‘she could not pierce his Elohim-wrought emptiness. He was impervious as if their purpose had been to defend rather than harm him.’

Had they been trying to defend him? Or was it just a lucky coincidence.

This was one of those moments for me: "as if their purpose had been to defend rather than harm him." OH!! And the whole Silence thing fell into place. He had prepared the ground nicely for it beforehand.

SRD often does that with similies. He describes: "as if" something that is an exact description of what really is. Sometimes we already know it, sometimes it's a revelation. He especially does it in GAP.

Haruchai wrote:LOL, I can just imagine the Haruchai walking around, dragging all these women with them.

Yeah, we once discussed the effect the Haruchai must have had on the women of the Land. But they only knew the sworn-to-celibacy Bloodguard!

Haruchai wrote:One of the Haruchai, (Ceer or Cail) came in pursuit. But…

‘beyond the last door, the stone walls altered, became mirrors. In an instant, their images were exactly reflected form both sides. Image and image and flesh met, fused. Before the Haruchai could catch them, Covenant and his guide were translated to an altogether different part of the Sandhold.’

This part had me confused for a while, I had to read it a few times before I could understand what happened. But imagine what the Haruchai must have felt!! What the…!?

Yeah, interesting! As Ceer explains it in the next chapter (don't worry, nothing spoiled here)

"At a certain place beyond the doors," - he searched momentarily for a word - "an acuteness came upon them. Then they were before me no longer. The means of their vanishment I could not discover."

Cool phrase: an acuteness came upon them.

Very good dissection, Haruchai! Your enthusiasm is infectious!

Haruchai wrote:Covenant has to choose to give the Kemper his White Gold, and the only way that will happen is if his veil of silence is pierced, which the Kemper now tries to do.

How does Kasreyn know that the white gold is "valueless" to him unless Covenant chooses to give it to him? Does Kasreyn sense the deep and binding connection between Covenant and his ring? I thought Kasreyn's arts only suggested the existence of white gold. Did they provide him a white gold instruction manual as well?

Does the whole thing with the mirrors remind anyone else of Mordant? Even the term translation is the same.

Could Kas really be some sort of Master Imager?

My guess was that this scene, with translation by mirrors, was the seed that grew into the whole system of Imagery in Mordant--and perhaps, who knows, the genesis of the Mordant series itself.

Joy wrote:This was one of those moments for me: "as if their purpose had been to defend rather than harm him." OH!! And the whole Silence thing fell into place. He had prepared the ground nicely for it beforehand.

What did the Elohim know (and how explicitly?) of what was to befall Covenant, and when did they know it?