Love! That is what this chapter is about. Nothing but love! and it is my favourite. Danlo has once again gone against common sense and allowed me to dissect it.
heh. So! I'll dissect, time to cut into this chapter, hmmmm, and here we start.
I think I better start off with the end off the previous chapter, just for the sake of continuity. I have copied and pasted this quote from the previous chapter dissection, hope you don't mind Furls!
awwww! Isn't this the loveliest thing?!"No." Covenant had been trying to stop her. "Linden. Don't. Don't blame yourself like this," He was gaunt with dismay. Every line of his form was an appeal to her across the stone of the deck. "You were just a kid. You didn't know what else to do. You're not the only one. We all have Lord Foul inside us." He radiated a leper's yearning for the wounded and the bereft. "And you saved me. You saved us all."
She shook her head. "I possessed you. You saved yourself." He had let the Elohim bereave him of mind and will until all that remained was the abject and unsupportable litany of his illness. He had accepted even that burden in the name of his commitment to the Land, his determination to battle the Despiser. And she had surrendered herself entirely, braved the worst horrors of her past, to bring him back. But she saw no virtue in that. She had done as much as anyone to drive him into his plight. And she had helped create the conditions which had forced her to violate him. "All my life" -- her hands flinched -- "I've had the darkness under control. One way or another. But I had to give that up, so I could get far enough inside you. I didn't have any left for Ceer." Severely, she concluded, "You should've let Brinn punish me."
"No." His contradiction was a hot whisper that seemed to jump the gap between them like a burst of power. Her head jerked back. She saw him clearly, facing her as if her honesty meant more to him than any act of bloodshed. From the depths of his own familiarity with self-judgment, he averred, "I don't care about your mother. I don't care if you possessed me. You had good reason. And it isn't the whole story. You saved the quest. You're the only woman I know who isn't afraid of me." His arms made a wincing movement like an embrace maimed from its inception by need and shame. "Don't you understand that I love you?"
Love? Her mouth tried to shape the word and could not. With that avowal, he changed everything. In an instant, her world seemed to become different than it was, Stumbling forward, she confronted him. He was pallid with exhaustion, damaged by the pressure of his doom. The old knife-cut marked the center of his stained shirt like the stroke of fatality. But his passion resonated against the added dimension of her hearing; and she was suddenly alive and trembling. He had not intended to refuse her. The efforts he made to withhold himself were not directed at her. It was himself that he struggled to reject. He was rife with venom and leprosy; but she recognized those things, accepted them. Before he could retreat, she caught her left arm around him, raised her right as high as she could to hold him.
For a moment longer, he strove against himself, stood rigid and unyielding in her clasp. But then he surrendered. His arms closed around her, and his mouth came down on hers as if he were falling.
Sooo...We start off in Lindens cabin, and the previous night, they have made love.
Linden is the happiest, it seems, that she's been the whole two books.
I loved this passage, for several reasons. The first reason is, I really like Linden's character, and it's good to see her happy for once. Secondly, because it shows how much of her has been healed by love: how much of her old self has evaporated just through one night of lovemaking. Think about it though, how much she has truly been healed, there is no reference to her "Black Moods" in the future books. Thus I deduce that she has been healed of them.Late the next morning, after the long night of the full moon, she awakened in her hammock. She felt deeply comfortable, assuaged by sleep. Her right arm was warm and drowsy to the tips of her fingers, like a revenant of her former self, the child unacquainted with death; aneled with numbness as if her blood had become chrism. She was reluctant to open her eyes. Though the cabin beyond her eyelids was refulgent with sunshine, she did not want the day to begin, did not want the night to end.
Hmmm onward, or I'll be boring you with my ramblings and loser talks on how lovely I think this chapter is, if I am not already,
Awww! She starts to protest just cause she thinks he's gone. Isn't that sweet?Yet the whole length of her body, freshly scrubbed the night before and alert to caresses,remembered the pressure of Covenant's presence, knew that he was gone. Somehow, he had contrived to leave the hammock without rousing her. She started to murmur a sleepy protest.
Sorry for annoying you all, anyways, I also assume she's bathed with Thomas Covenant by this quote: Freshly scrubbed the night before. I have one question about the quote above though: alert to caresses... er... Thomas Covenant is a leper...and has not feeling in his fingertips...
But, Linden soon learns that Thomas has in fact not left her. And that he is in the cabin with her. Shaving his beard. And again, he is doing it with Wild Magic.
Well well well! I never thought I'd live to see the day where a woman would find Thomas Covenant attractive, lols. I also thought this was sweet in a way. Stephen Donaldson writes women beautifully in my opinion, and that shines through in the above quote, as it does this entire chapter.But then the nerves of her cheek felt a faint tingle of wild magic He was still in the cabin with her. She smiled softly to herself as she raised her head, looked over the edge of the hammock towards him.
He stood barefoot and vivid in the sunlight on the floor below her. His clothes and hers, hung on chair backs, where they had been left to dry after being washed by the Haruchai, a task which Brinn and Cail had undertaken the precious afternoon at the behest to their particular sense of duty. But he made no move to get dressed. His hands covered his face like an unconscious mimicry of sorrow. With the small flame of his ring, he was cleaning the beard from his cheeks and neck.
In silence so that she would not interrupt his concentration, she watched him intently, striving to memorize him before he became aware of her scrutiny, became self-conscious. He was lean to the point of gauntness, all excess burned away by his incessant hear. But the specific efficiency of his form pleased her.
Thomas Covenant finishes burning his beard off and turns to Linden. And it is clear that he is not as content as Linden herself, and feels a need to talk. .
Covenant tells her that many things are troubling him, and still he does not decide to tell Linden about the knife in his chest, though he touches the subject,But his tone made her aware of the complexity in his gaze. He was looking at her with more than just his memories of the past night. He was disturbed about something. She did not want to give up her rare and tender easement; but she did not hesitate. Gently, she asked, 'what's the matter?'
hmmm...I don't like this... I think he should be honest with her and tell the truth. Though I understand him not telling the truth now, it would completely ruin everything.'...maybe I'm not even going to live through it. His mouth was a grimace of difficult honesty. Maybe we're not going to get back in time for you to do anything about that knife in my chest.'
Anyways, they talk about what Findail meant when he said, 'Did we not preserve your soul?' the previous chapter. And the conversation takes an unexpected turn when Linden asks him to tell her about the necessity of freedom. Which I think is very important throughout all the second chronicles, so I'd just thought I'd mention it. In this conversation, Linden goes on to tell Thomas about the vision she had of him, when she tried to possess him.
I really like this part. It shows in a way how great Linden is. Most women would be content with the night they just had. And leave it at that, but she is determined to be honest, not to let problems slide. And Thomas'She closed her eyes. Shutting out the way he looked at her. 'But I only got in so far.' Dark and hungry for power, she had tried to take mastery of him. And now the virulence of the result came back to her. She began rocking unconsciously against the faint sway of the hammock, seeking to comfort herself, persuade her memories into language. 'Then I was thrown out. Or I threw myself out. To escape what I saw.' Aching, she described her vision of him as a Sunbane-victim, as monstrous and abominable as Marid.
At once, she sought his face as if it were an image to dispel dismay. He watched her sharply, ire and dread conflicted his gaze. With a harshness she did not intend and could not suppress, she rasped, 'Can you really tell me you aren't already sold? You aren't already a tool of the Despiser?'
reaction is great as well, because Linden's question could have taken the wrong way completely:
Thomas tells Linden he's not going to surrender while he has any hopes left. Linden herself being one of them. Another hope he mentions (I wouldn't have mentioned this... But he mentions Mhoram, so I could hardly refuse,) is:'Maybe I'm not.' The lines of his face became implacable, as if she had driven him beyond reach, compelled him to retreat to the granite foundation of his pain and isolation. His voice sounded as cold as leprosy. 'Maybe the Elohim just think I am. Maybe what you saw is just their image of me.' Then his features clenched. He shook his head in self-coercion. 'No. That's just one more cheap answer. Slowly, his grimace softened like a chosen vulnerability, exposing himself to her.
Hmmm... there's got to be a better way to get quotes than by typing them out.. heh. That was just too long. Anyways, I don't entirely see what hope he's got there, maybe one of you people with brains can tell me...'And there's one more. One more hope.' His tone was softer now, almost tender; suffused with sorrow and recognition. 'I told you I've been the Land three times before. In a way, it was four, not three. The first three times, I didn't have any choice. I was summoned whether I wanted to go or not. After the first time, I didn't want to.
But the third was the worst. I was in the woods behind the farm, and there was this little girl who was about to get bitten by a timber rattler. I went to try to save her. But I fell. The next thing I knew, I was halfway into Revelstone, and Mhoram was doing his damnedest to finish summoning me.
I refused. That girl was part of the real world, and the snake was going to kill her. That was more important to me than anything else, no matter what happened to the Land
When I told Mhoram about her...', his voice was a clench of loss '...he let me go.' The tension of his arms and shoulders seems to echo, Mhoram
Yet he forced himself to continue. 'I got back too late to stop the snake. But the girl was still there. I managed to suck out some of the venom, and then somehow I got her back to her parents. By that time, the forth summoning had already started. And I accepted it. I went by choice. There wasn't anything else I wanted except one last chance to fight Foul.'
He was gazing up at Linden squarely now, letting her see his unresolved contradictions, his difficult and ambiguous answers. 'Did I sell myself to Foul by refusing Mhoram? Or to the Creator by accepting the last summons? I don't know. But I think that no human being can be made into a tool involuntarily. Manipulated into destruction, maybe. Misled or broken. But if I do what Foul wants, it'll be because I failed somehow, misunderstood something, surrendered to my own inner despiser, lost courage, fell in love with power or destruction, something.' He articulated each word like an affirmation. 'Not because I'm anybody's tool.'
And In response to this, Linden decides to give him her last secret.
Hugglessssss!'I haven't told you everything that old man said to me. On Haven Farm. He told me Be True. But that wasn't all.' After the passage of so much time, she still knew the word as if they had been incused on her brain. 'He said, "Ah my daughter, do not fear. You will not fail, however he may assail you..."' Meeting Covenant's gaze, she tried to give her eyes the clarity her voice lacked. '"...there is also love in the world."'
Anyways... The rest of that part goes like this,
I think this is really sweet; the chapter up still now, it shows how much they've grow since the beginning of The Wounded Land. Where Thomas was, really, scared that Linden might begin to care about him, so much, that he told Linden his worst crime. Or Linden, well, we all know how terrified she was of intimacy, and now, look! They're the perfect couple!For a moment, he remained motionless, absorbing the revelation. Then he lifted his halfhand towards her. His flesh gleamed in the sunshine which angled into the cabin from the open port. The wry corners of his mouth counterpoised the dark heat of his orbs as he said, 'Can you believe it? I used to be impotent. Back when I thought leprosy was the whole story.'
In reply, she rolled over the edge of the hammock, dropped her feet to the stepladder. Then she took his hand, and he drew her down into the light.
And, ahhhh! My favourite part,
My favourite part in the whole book, there's humour from Thomas, something rarely known within these stories. And Linden, bless her, blushing like a little schoolgirl! And the Giants knowing what has happened... Lovely heh, forgive me for being either annoying or wuss like in the dissection of this chapter. Blame DanloThen for a time Linden felt she was blushing like a girl. She strove to remain detached; but she could not stifle the blood which betrayed her face. Every Giant they meet seemed to look at her and Covenant with knowledge, laughter, and open approval. Pitchwife grinned so hugely that his pleasure dominated the disformation of his features. Honninscrave's eyes shone from under his fortified brows and his beard bristled with appreciation. Sevinhand Anchormaster's habitual melancholy lifted into a smile which was both rue trammelled and genuine, the smile of a man who had lost his own love so long ago that envy no longer hindered his empathy. Even Galewrath's stolid face crinkled at what she saw, And a rare softness entered the First's demeanour, giving a glimpse of her Giantish capacity for glee.
Finally their attentions became so explicit that Linden wanted to turn away. Embarrassment might have made her sound angry if she had spoken. But Covenant faced them all with his arms cocked mock-seriously on his hips and growled, 'Does everybody on this bloody rock know what we do with our privacy?'
Linden and Thomas walk around the Giantship for most of the day. Both feeling quite comfortable. And we also find out that both Brinn and Cail unsettled:
And:Brinn and Cail held themselves constantly available, but at a distance, as if they did not wish to intrude, or were uncomfortable in Linden's proximity.
Interesting, I found myself wondering if they were vexed by Linden's relationship with Thomas. If they were thinking "Get your hands off our Ur-Lord, b***h!" No, seriously though, do you think they were bothered by it? Did they think less of Covenant by getting involved with Linden?She seemed to feel something unresolved in them. Covenant had demanded and won their forbearance. Apparently, their trust or mistrust was not so readily swayed.
Also, in this chapter, we note that Seadreamer spends his time in his own cabin. I wonder how he would have felt about Linden and Covenant? (Sorry for asking so many questions, but this is a dissection)
During the night, the Giants gather round the foremast to tell stories. Thomas tells the Giants and Linden the story of Berek Halfhand; which Giants enjoyed. Then, once he finishes, Findail comes to the foremast, and desires to tell a story.
He sings first of the Appointed (I've had enough of quotes, get your own ) He goes on to speak about his people; (Okok, I'll give you quotes! Quit badgering me! Jeez!) hehe.
Findail goes on to talk about how an Appointed one gave her life to give the forest a defence against hatred, and a chance to prevent itself from being destroyed. They did this by binding her to, what is know as, The Colossus of the Fall. And this is how the Forestals were created.'The Elohim are unlike the other peoples of the Earth,' he said into the lantern light and the dark. 'We are of the Earth, and the Earth is of us, more quintessentially and absolutely than any other manifestation of life. We are its Wurd. There is no other opposite or defining name for us. And therefore have we become a solitary people, withholding ourselves from the outer world, exercising care in encroachments we permit the outer world to have upon us. How should we do otherwise?'
But Findail's tale is not about the Colossus, it is about Kastenessen; An Elohim who fell in love with a mortal woman. (It is not actually said what kind of creature though) Because of this act, (which by the Elohim was deemed wrong) he was elected to be the Appointed. He was Appointed to halt a great fire in the north. However, Kastenessen tried to deny the burden; and fled. However Findail and several other Elohim gave chase. And fought with him. And Kastenessen had to be forced and bound to halt the fire.
I found this part of the story interesting also, The Elohim are the one people I don't quite understand. Why do they act the way they did? Why did they blank Thomas out? Why didn't they speak of what was going to happen at the one tree it they didn't want it to happen? Hmmm...
Findail ends his story with:
Interesting. Is it not? Food for thought.'Had we held any other means to combat the fire, we would not have Appointed Kastenessen as we did. He was not chosen in punishment or malice, but in extremity.' His yellow eyes appeared to collect the lantern-light, shining out of the dark with a preternatural brightness. 'The price of sight is risk and dare. I desire to be understood.'
So three days go by on our beloved Giantship. And there is a large storm. Thomas mentions something that occurred in the First Chronicles. when he broke the storm of Drool Rockworm, with Atiaran. And mentions this to the First. When asked if he is going to attempt such an act again; he says no, on the grounds he would probably blow another hole in the ship.
The next day, the storms still did not lessen, Thomas and Linden are on deck talking together, and then alarm starts to spread; and the First and Pitchwife comes over to the Unbeliever and the Chosen. Pitchwife positions himself directly behind the Ur-Lord. Then Seadreamer turns up. The Sunsage begins to feel a powerful force coming towards the Giantship. And when she asks what is coming their way, the First says '"Merewives"; Also know as "the Dancers of the Sea"'. Linden then asks what they are; Pitchwife responds:
The merewives' power surrounds the ship. And Pitchwife tells Linden that if they are not answered, they will pass. Linden looks towards Covenant,'Some say,' Pitchwife went on, 'that they are the female soul of the Sea, seeking forever among the oceans for some male heart hardy enough to consummate them. Others say that they are the lost mates of a race which once lived within the deeps, and their search is for their husbands, who have been slain or mazed or concealed. The truth I know not. But all tales agree that they are perilous. Their song is one which no man may gainsay or deny. Chosen, do you hear their song?' Linden did not speak. He took her response for granted. 'I also do not hear it. Perhaps the merewives have no desire for Giants, as they have none for women. Our people have never suffered scathe from these folk.' His voice sharpened involuntarily as the first spouts wet the sides of the Giantship. 'Yet for other men...'.
Oh the drama! You gotta love this chapter... you just have to. If you don't, then we are enemies...He was bucking and twisting against Pitchwife's rigid grasp on his shoulders,
heh. I've asked quite a few questions... do your best to answer them, even though they make no sense.. 
& 
Yes, they most likely bathed together, one of a hundred good ways for a man and woman to become fully (physically) intimate with one another. Though they were already fully intimate down in the dungeon of the Kasryen. 
does pretty much what he wants to (just kidding dude)) that he send you the same via e-mail. 
