Po and Katsa keep traveling, and as they do they keep practicing on how to use Po’s magic to communicate.  Apparently this involves Katsa “opening” her every thought and feeling to Po and trusting him to traipse through her brain and snatch up half-formed emotions that she barely understands herself.

Hey, remember when Katsa had issues with mindreaders that involved just exactly this right here and how she didn’t want that to happen?  Remember how that was ‘solved’ by simply guilting her and telling her how hard Po’s life is?  Katsa never actually comes to terms with her own feelings on the matter, she just puts up with it for the sake of her boytoy’s feelings, and now they’re delving into exactly the thing that scared her so much before…and she has no thoughts about this.  It’s reported to us in exactly the same tone as we hear about the scenery. 

I want to make some comment about Katsa’s emotions being subsumed to a man’s, but honestly I think this is just 100% crappy writing for once.  Knowing this book’s track record, it wouldn’t have been able to keep up with Katsa’s development even if it tried.

Slowly, the tightness of her mind loosened.

…Nope, no idea what this means.

Then we get several pages all about how Po’s many rings have special meaning; he wears one for each family member.  A nice little detail, though still just a detail.  All it really tells us in the end is that they put stock in family bonds and bloodlines…which usually isn’t a good thing on an island.  Six sons, ironmetal-clad inheritance laws, and a limited amount of space don’t mix together into a pretty picture.

Of course, that’s all just supposition, because this book never met a worldbuilding facet that it couldn’t replace with decoration instead.

Well, and that was a novel idea. She hadn’t known that anyone honored the Graced.

You know, except for that part where in your country all the graced are raised in privilege and comfort by the king at his palace and given prestigious jobs according to their abilities.

They continue traveling and talking about Leck’s magic, pointing out the obvious for us again in case we missed it, and then they talk about how their own magic is so super-duper-super-special.

Po points out that Katsa can do a hell of a lot more than killing stuff, like how she doesn’t get tired or sick like other people, and also she can do absolutely everything under the sun ever, because apparently no one fucking noticed this before. 

Anyway, long story short, they decide that her grace is really ‘survival’ instead of ‘killing.’

So many problems, so little time.

First of all, it’s been obvious since the start that her grace isn’t killing.  When she went around not killing people, that should have pointed out that her grace isn’t killing.

Second, it’s not like Katsa is the first magic person in this land.  There should be a system in place for testing and deciding someone’s magic.  She’s not even the first combat magic person around, because it’s been said that Randa has some magic swordfighters, I believe.  The only way this plot works out at all is if there’s absolutely no prior system in place and everyone in this kingdom just looks at six-year-olds saying “eh, it’s probably X.  Sorta.  Whatever.  Here’s a sword.”  There is no sense of history, context, or a world larger than Katsa going on here, because no one outside of our main (noble) characters are even treated as being real people.  Katsa is always special, instead of being part of a system, because the book didn’t bother to make a system.

Third, I agree with Farla who said that her grace is more ‘soldiering’ than ‘survival.’  Everything listed (able to handle pain, doesn’t get injured, doesn’t get lost, doesn’t get tired) is more geared towards militaristic lifestyle than to actual survival.  ‘Survival’ is actually a pretty slap-dash concept that doesn’t take into account being able to complete a mission as well.  Plus, she’s only surviving if you assume that only camping in the woods is important.  What about surviving in court?  Do social skills in a situation like that not count as surviving?  (On the other hand, maybe that explains why she had so many high-powered friends despite us repeatedly hearing that she’s surly as a badger.) 

You know what would have been cool?  Seeing her face a threat that wasn’t holding a sword.  What happens if her ‘survival’ grace runs up against poisoned food?

Fourth, we have yet again a woman who’s story is all about finding her proper womanly place.  She’s not learning that her magic doesn’t define her as a person and she can still be whole, can still be feminine if she wants to, or as feminine as she wants to.  Nope, the story here is “it’s okay, she’s not really a killer, her magic actually fits in with her gender role after all.”

What was wrong with her having a fighting grace and coming to terms with that?  Or even a ‘soldier’ grace, and coming to terms with that?

Fifth, there is no terms-coming-to.  This entire subplot is being ‘fixed’ by saying “lol, whoops, nope, actually everything is different after all, haha.”  Katsa doesn’t deal with anything, she just gets a problem yanked away and replaced with something palatable, and that’s not character growth.  That’s not anything. 

And then that’s all we get for the chapter.  Some plot point must be coming up, since we’re busy running around tying up loose ends like this.

The trees gave way suddenly, and the mountains came upon them all at once

…dafuq?

They make it to the mountains and sell their horses at an inn before the road gets too steep for them.  I’m just wondering how this place had enough money to buy their horses, since we’ve been told that trade mostly goes through the sea route.

But [my brothers are] all made of ambition, Katsa, every one of them, constantly playing off each other to gain favor with my father.

And you live on an island with limited land and resources.

How can you not see what a bad idea this is?  In any just world, the sequel to this book would be all about the civil war in Leinid. 

But if they knew the truth of my Grace they’d try to use me. They wouldn’t be able to help themselves.“

See, this would have been a better thing to bring up earlier, when they first started talking about his grace.  The idea that his family would want him to, you know, actually do shit was pretty selfish.  But throw in the fact that six brothers are competing with each other in a very small island nation where only one can get the throne, and then things get a little more dicey.  Maybe they wouldn’t use him to defend/run the nation because that should be his job, maybe he’s worried that he’d be manipulated in all the family infighting going on, and it would upset the balance of power and cause some shit to go down. 

Maybe.  It’s still phrased pretty blandly, and there’s the conflict that the princes each get their own castle and seem to get along, so maybe this family feud isn’t actually violent or dangerous.  We just don’t know, because this book doesn’t care.  I’m pretty sure the book doesn’t even realize there’s something here to care about.

“But you wouldn’t let them.”

“No, but then they’d resent me

Plus, there’s this.  Po’s biggest worry isn’t that he’d be used to a bad purpose, but rather than he’d have to actually do work and if he didn’t people wouldn’t like him. 

Oh, truly he is the most woeful tax-money-sucking-up layabout ever.

“Above all, she feared my father learning of it.” He lowered his flask into the water. “He’s not an unkind father. But it’s hard to be king. Men will trick power away from a king, however they can. I would’ve been too useful to him. He couldn’t have resisted using me – he simply couldn’t. And that was the greatest thing my mother feared.”

What Po is talking about here is called a ‘coup.’

They usually come with a side effect of ‘bloody fighting and lots of dead bodies.’

But, oh, the king might try and use Po to help prevent that!  How terrible.

But it was my mind that my mother feared him using. She wanted my mind to be my own, and not his.“

You know, sort of how Katsa wanted her thoughts to be her own and not share them unwillingly with a mindreader…but apparently only Po gets to hang on to that particular concern.

They surmise that Leck might be hurting his daughter, and that’s why the queen was able to resist his mind control powers.

“Let’s move faster,” Katsa said, “just in case I’m right.”

They set off almost at a run. They followed the path upward, through the mountains that separated them from Monsea and whatever truth it contained.

…yeah, because that’s going to get you there so much faster, instead of make Po tired and/or injured and force you to stop somewhere and rest.

They agree that Katsa should only do what Po says once they arrive, because she’s susceptible to all the magic going around.  I’m still bothered by the fact that they have no proof that Po is immune.

This book sure likes to talk about them traveling in the blandest way possible.  “They walk.  There is weather, which exists.  Inane small talk is made.  There is more walking, and Katsa is awesome at it.”  There’s not even any cleverness to the traveling.  I happen to like travel/survival stories, but primarily because I like reading about people doing clever things in the wilderness, and all the tricks that can be applied in such a situation.  “Walking in a straight line” is not clever.

The only bit of interesting travel we get is when Po randomly gets even more magic added to his superspecial magic, as now he can sense plants and find berries for them.  Also he keeps repeating their promise that she’ll do only what he says, and he brings it up over and over.  So, you know, I’m sure that plan will go off without a hitch.