The next morning, Daja and Rizu have to go to see Sandry to find out what happened, because they’ve been so wrapped up in each other that they’re still clueless.  Sandry gets in quite a tiff because Daja wasn’t “available” when she called and then levels some pretty nasty, pointed comments at Rizu.  Which…well, of course she’s being unreasonable, she’s upset.  She even knows she’s not being fair, but that doesn’t make everything easier to handle.

She does calm down enough to tell Daja that if she decides to stay, they’ll still be friends.  Daja says she and Rizu will come back to Emelan.  Except she jumped the gun a bit on the “and Rizu” comment, because when she goes to talk to Rizu, Rizu doesn’t want to leave.  They’re in love, yes, but Rizu has a position and a purpose in the court, she’s part of something that gives her life meaning by being part of the court and the good works done there (of which there are many), and if she left she’d just be “Daja’s lover” and not mistress of her own affairs.  (And, if I haven’t mentioned before, she does have an official position and her own lands.)  She wants Daja to stay, but Daja won’t stay because of her ideological beliefs, on top of not wanting to be separated from her family.

Which just GUH, I LOVE IT SO MUCH.  I mean, it’s terrible, because they’re such a sweet couple, and of course it hurts to see them broken up.  But it’s a breath of fresh air to have concerns like this aired out in a romance.  To have a book say “yes, love is awesome, but that doesn’t mean it’s everything.”  Because there are other considerations to be had in a relationship, and those things are important and need to be factored in.  You can be in the loviest love to ever exist and still end up depressed if you feel like you have no purpose.  These sorts of things are important.  And the two of them are even gracious about accepting it, because there’s no “OMG I WILL NEVER LOVE AGAIN” kind of angst.  They know they’ll be okay, even if it hurts for a while.

BUT I’m not entirely happy that it’s the one openly gay couple getting this treatment.  Sorta.  I get why it came out this way, because Daja and Briar are really the only two in a position to have the whole “falling in love at the wrong time” plotline, and Briar had other subplots.  So I don’t think this is milder version of “kill off your gays” so much as it is she just wanted this kind of plot and Daja happened to be available for it.  In isolation, it’s fine, it’s beautiful even.  But in the context of the greater body of works out there, it’s one more in a long line of books where homosexuals don’t get happy endings, and we really need to be stepping back from that trope, not writing stories that justify it.  (It really is hard to talk about this example, though, because it’s one that really does flow naturally and would work if it weren’t for…everything else out there.  There’s so many things that aren’t bad until they’re in isolation, until they all come together to form a cultural narrative that says “this is your only option,” and other stories fall out of consideration.)

(On the other hand, it seems disingenuous to say “you failed, because you told a good story but you didn’t buck this trend.”  Really, I’m not sure what there is to do except talk about issues like this when they come up so that people will aware of them, and hopefully we’ll have more variety going forward.)

Back and Landreg house, everyone’s in a furor over the plans to leave.  Ambros makes a last ditch effort to convince Sandry to stay and take care of her people, and Briar has to point out to him (and to us) that she’s actually pretty important in Emelan.  (Would have been nice to SEE that, because without Briar’s comments, it really does seem like she’s running from responsibility and back to leisure.  She’s got good reason to want to, of course, but it still stands that we’re only told how important she is to her uncle and never get any real sense of it ourselves.)

Also, Daja’s in such a snit over breaking up with Rizu that she yells at Zhegorz, which never goes well since he’s insane enough to not be able to handle it.  That prompts Daja and Tris to have a fight, which…makes them magically better again.

She told you something about yourself that you really ought to know: that you’re beautiful and worth loving.  Even for just a summer.

Yes, thank you Tris.  Because that’s another point: fleeting love isn’t pointless or worthless just because it’s not forever.  Happiness is always worth something, no matter how short, and it doesn’t have to be perfect in order to be real and meaningful.

Later Fin-Jak- which one of them?  Jak.  Jak comes by to apologize and swear that he had nothing to do with the kidnapping plan and he would never try something like that.  Jak and Ambros both try and pull the “all men aren’t like that” line, to which Ealaga calls him shortsighted.

What else is she supposed to do, when any unmarried woman of the western Namorn must live her life and judge all men by those few who have successfully stolen women away?  Each time a man succeeds, we place our daughters unter new restrictions.  We give them new signs that a man in whose company they find themselves might plan to kidnap them.  Don’t we teach our women to view all men according to the actions of a few?”

Damn straight, Ealaga.  You tell him.  It’s true that all men aren’t horrible rapists, even most men aren’t.  But until we develop mind-reading powers to be able to separate out the bad from the good, that doesn’t matter.  Until we live in a culture where we can be reasonably sure of our safety, and of the support of the law and the community in the event an attack, then every man is a gamble.  Because maybe he’s not, but maybe he is, and guessing wrong means a lot of pain, so the risk isn’t always worth it.

Ambros at least is enough of a man to be abashed by that comment, and the scene settles down enough that people start cracking witty jokes again.

“Oh good […] I was afraid that pinecone you’ve been sitting on so righteously was dig in permanently.”

…Jak, you just got done saying that she was perfectly right to be upset, and also SHE GOT KIDNAPPED LIKE A WEEK AGO, WHAT?  The book even carries on as if Jak was oh so clever for telling Sandry to stop being upset over that trifling kidnap thing.  I mean, she’s alright now, why continue to carry on about it, yes?  

Just…all that good, and then…that.

After dinner, Tris heads up to bed, but she falls on the stairs.  It’s an unnatural fall, because she bounces down and can’t stop, hitting something new on every step.  Dun dun dun.