Vivenna Returns to a Ransacked Home

I’m a little annoyed at myself that it took so long to introduce Jewels. Here we are in chapter seventeen and she still hasn’t shown up. She barely gets a mention here. Unfortunately, I knew that her arrival would present problems for Vivenna, so I felt the need to put it off until Viv was attached enough to the mercenaries that she’d be able to overlook a certain “pet” that Tonk Fah talked about earlier.

Vivenna Reads Her Father’s Letters to Lemex

So, is what Dedelin did wrong? I don’t know. Again, I’m not here to give answers. He did what he felt he needed to do. Getting Lemex into the Court of Gods was an extremely important task. Without access to the assembly sessions, he had to rely upon paying people who could get in to take notes. Much better to get your spy in there himself. Unfortunately, the easiest, best, and least obtrusive way to do this was to get Lemex a pile of Breaths.

Now, I don’t expect any readers to be shocked by what he did. The tone of the book presents Awakening as being far less inherently evil than Vivenna sees it. I’m afraid this is a bias I can’t stamp out, since I myself see the power as being something other than evil. Neutral, as are most of my magic systems.

But I do think it’s important to hold to your own personal code. Vivenna is rightly shocked about what her father did. But, then, perhaps this is a sign that she wouldn’t have made as good a queen as she and her father assume she would have. While she’s perfectly willing to sacrifice herself for Idris, she doesn’t seem willing to live for Idris—meaning to stay behind and lead her people. She ran off. Beyond that, she would never have been able to make the decision her father did, buying Lemex Breaths.

Go to the book.