The Priory of the Orange Tree

The action in the East continues to center around Tané’s trials and Niclays’s imprisonment. The description of the trials both builds the world of the East and provides insights into Tané’s character. For example, when the “Sea General” notes that the water trials must continue in the rain because “rain is water and so are we” (136), he shows that Seiiki has a culture of water-worship (also explaining the veneration of water dragons). Tané’s performance in the trials shows her to be ambitious and driven by her will to succeed, but her drive often cuts her off from others, such as when she refuses to take a break with her peers. However, the descriptions of Turosa’s bullying put Tané’s punishing work ethic in perspective. Turosa often taunts Tané for being a “peasant” and claims that “dragonriders are born, not made” (137). As an orphaned child from the countryside, Tané cannot afford the privilege of leisure. Turosa’s bullying of Tané emphasizes the hierarchical nature of the novel’s world, though the very fact that Tané has qualified for the dragonrider trials indicates that Seiiki may not be as obsessed with titles and noble blood as Inys.

With his irate nature and colorful expressions—he refers to Sulyard as a “witless cabbage” (150)—Niclays injects some humor into the text. However, events around him are anything but funny. To save himself, Niclays lies that Susa threatened to kill him if he didn’t take in Sulyard, reinforcing the characterization of Niclays as self-centered. However, Niclays’s continually conflicted inner monologue shows that he is torn about his moral choices. It becomes clear that his deceased lover Jannart was the voice of his conscience. Without him, Niclays feels rudderless. Niclays’s love for Jannart extends the textual themes of attraction between members of the same sex as well as the redemptive power of love and friendship. Meanwhile, the violence meted out to Susa and Sulyard again indicates that the narrative will not hold back on depicting the darker side of life and human nature; unlike the violence that the wyrms perpetrate, this violence is realistic and therefore more immediate. The violence of people against people forms an important motif in the novel, suggesting that the threat the characters face is not just the Nameless One, but the evil within themselves and others.

This section also explores new narrative elements such the “Tablet of Rumelabar” and the relationship between Ead and her foster father, Chassar uq-Ispad. The Tablet of Rumelabar is an important motif, holding crucial bits of information about vanquishing the Nameless One. That the tablet speaks of balance foreshadows the importance of balance in the universe of the text, both in a metaphysical sense and in more literal relationships between countries, cultures, or individuals. With the Tablet of Rumelabar, the narrative also again draws on real-world history and literature. For example, the text often refers to the discipline of alchemy—a kind of proto-chemistry that involved the creation of new substances (such as the immortality elixir), the transformation of substances, and the balance of elements. Likewise, when Loth enters Yscalin he notes that the region is rife with creatures straight out of a “bestiary”; in the ancient and medieval periods, a bestiary was a book describing the beasts of the world, both real and fantastical.

Another important relic is the lost sword of Ascalon. As the narrative proceeds, the importance of relics and magical objects will grow clearer. By mentioning these items before revealing their importance, the author exercises the narrative technique of plotting, piquing curiosity and prepping the reader for a payoff. The narrative uses some conventions of the mystery genre, planting many unsolved puzzles to keep the reader guessing, such as the motive and identity of Sabran’s attackers. Ead suspects the attacks may be a ruse to get the queen to marry. Alternatively, Combe could be behind the attacks for reasons unknown. Ead’s suspicions, which could be false leads or red herrings, deepen the mystery around the attacks, setting readers up for a surprise.

Ead’s relationship with Chassar is warm and loving, with Chassar almost a maternal figure for his foster child—another inversion of stereotypes about gender and gender roles. The conversation between Ead and Chassar also introduces important information about Ead and the Priory. It becomes clear that Ead draws her magic from the orange tree in the Priory. Separation from the tree is making her magic weaker, but the fact that it remains at all suggests that there may be more to Ead’s powers than she believes. Further, even the knowledge system of the Priory may be limited when it comes to Cleolind herself. Chassar speaks of “the Mother’s lost years” (167), a period during which Cleolind’s mission and whereabouts were unknown. Though Ead does not acknowledge it yet, there is a suggestion that this knowledge may somehow be linked with the beliefs of Truyde and Sulyard. At this point in the narrative, the puzzle pieces are still being laid out.