Saga - OT Saga - Legends The Book of Gand, Part the Fourth: The Findsman’s Secret (Zuckuss, Gand OCs)

Magnificent! Transcendent!



This is indeed a personal and culture-wide pivotal moment for Zuckuss and Telfien. Their individual and joined abilities will indeed be of cosmic importance.



I can only imagine that Part 5 will be even more fascinating.

 

My goodness, I didn't realise that it had been so long since I last reviewed this story, and I can only apologise profusely. I was reading along as you posted and I was waiting for the next update with bated breath, but I neglected to post here. Gand is most, most sorry! But I'm here at long last, and while I can't afford to go chapter-by-chapter if I want to finish this review in a reasonable amount of time, I'll do my best to do this AMAZING story justice.

First things first: Otila needs to get a divorce. I mean, seriously. What is this wonderful woman doing being married to such a creep?

Other than that, I'm putting the rest of my review under a spoiler tag, because I know that a lot of people are still catching up with this story and I don't want to spoil all the reveals for them.

Spoiler

I remember you saying at some point that this story meant to be an origin story for both Telfien and Zuckuss, and here we have it: in this part, we learned Telfien's true parentage, but we also saw the prophecy of the Uncanny One come true. I don't have words to describe how momentous this is, and because I know from your other stories that Telfien and Zuckuss will part ways at some point in the future, I'm very impatient for part V.

I am awed by many aspects of your writing in this part, but the one that really stands out to me is the way you handled Telfien's visions of the past. When I began to read these passages that appear to be written in a 2nd-person POV, I expected that you would put your own twist on it, because I know that you don't resort to this kind of literary artifice for no particular reason – but when I realised that it wasn't a 2nd-person POV but 1st-person, and that "you" was there because Trynfor is actually addressing Telfien... MY MIND WAS BLOWN. And you introduced Trynfor in the 1st person in a tiny, throwaway line at the end of a chapter "I shall watch over my own", it was just SO ARTISTICALLY DONE.

I expected from the chapters I had already reviewed that Telfien would be somehow related to Trynfor, and again, I didn't expect that you'd dump a hidden lineage on us so I was wondering how you'd pull it off. The moment when Telfien jumps in the pool and calls for her father and mother should have been a clue that she's very, very directly related to him, but I didn't pick up on it until later. That was a really cool, well-handled reveal. Brava, Madam, brava!

The second aspect that just blew me away was how you repeated the scene of the Tórganswani massacre again, and again, and again, with "interference" from Fengor, with encouragement from Zuckuss, until we got to see it unfold to the end. Every time it began, I was re-reading it carefully, checking for differences with previous versions, and waiting with bated breath again to see the end, and it really kept me hooked until the final chapter of the story. It was also a nice metaphor for how Telfien is growing up through this process – physically with Trynfor's Waters, of course, but also mentally and emotionally; and in parallel, we got to see Zuckuss come into his own. The entire passage where they are exchanging messages was absolutely endearing; it all felt very teenage love (which it is) but these two teenagers are discussing Very Serious and Important Topics, and they slowly take their first steps into a wider universe.

Speaking of Zuckuss, he had some great moments throughout the story, not only for coming to terms with his feelings but also coming to terms with himself. It was a neat touch to have him struggle with the idea of being the Uncanny One and try to tone down his ego – and quite frankly, if Fengor was my father, I'd be very averse to overblown egos myself. And he takes some very brave decisions and stands up for himself at various moments in the story, like when he confronts Fengor in the Guardian's Chambers, or throws his piloting test to the winds in order to do what he knows he must. (Two minor side notes here: the scene where the librarian Kayzen is fangirling over him was a welcome moment of levity; and I enjoyed the irony that he first initiates Sneaking Mist to figure out what Fengor is doing, then actually sneaks into the Guardian's Chambers.)

Now that I mentioned Fengor, I feel contractually obligated to say CREEP CREEP CREEP but yes, he's really that. He seems to think that being the Guardian of Trynfor's Treasure means that it actually belongs to him, which, ahem, he probably needs to open a dictionary here. The two scenes where he and Zuckuss come to blows were quite something. Zuckuss is only trying to stop him from causing harm, but Fengor's reaction is to actually want to hurt him. And when he decides to go into Isthien's crypt where the Mists are churning and claims that “The Mists dare not push the Guardian back!” – well, he clearly doesn't understand his place, nor does he understand what is truly at stake in that moment. He's really just a creep with an overinflated ego.

Otila, on the other hand, comes across as a wonderful person, and I wasn't joking when I said that she needs to get a divorce. It was nice seeing her in an expanded role in this part of the story. In parts I-III, the focus in Zuckuss's family was very much on Fengor, since it was a lot about how Zuckuss got out from under his father's thumb and shadow, but here Otila got her well-deserved moment in the spotlight. Two points that I found interesting were that she recognises her son as the Uncanny One, even if he doesn't, and that she chose Isthien's crypt to keep Telfien safe from Fengor. It made me wonder if there was a misty premonition at work there, or if she actually had an inkling as to what was about to be revealed.

Word Counter tells me that my review is already a wall of text, so I'm going to close it with a few bits and pieces and details that I very much enjoyed. First of all, Volokoss! I said in my earlier review that I liked his devious machinations, but, like Otila, he got a bigger role as the story went on, and he's such a good mentor to Zuckuss. He clearly realises that Zuckuss and Telfien are in love before they realise it themselves, and he mentors Zuckuss through those Complicated Emotions as well as his studies. Okkfel, meanwhile, is as grumpy as ever. I also enjoyed reading about Zuckuss's studies and new skills (as usual, your world-building was stupendous), and I particularly liked the piloting scene above the Great Temple when the two masters' voices are in his mind; that was a neat parallel to Telfien sensing Fengor and Zuckuss in her own. Another tiny detail that made me squee was the moment when Telfien is watching Luyen play the harp. Now we know where she learned!

And of course, THE KISS and the Mists turning warm and golden. I never knew that I could turn into a puddle of mush over two insectoids kissing, but here we are.

Reading and re-reading this has been such a fantastic journey! Thank you so, so much for writing this story, and know that I'll be here to read part V whenever you're ready to post it.

 

"And at long last, the truth has been revealed..."

Even though I made haste to read this update as soon as I saw it was posted, it has taken me this long to finally compose a reply. (For the second time, as Rachel the Bandit of the Keyboard erased the first one from existence with one pawstep.)

Spoiler

And yes, I was right. As to how I figured out that Telfien was herself the Treasure, it all pretty much came together in my head for me when Trynfor first stepped forward to reveal himself as the first person narrator. I had known, from "In Your Vault, in Your Mists, in Your Song," that he had to extract the treasure from Isthien's body, and that it was a traumatic experience for him, but I couldn't figure out what its exact nature could possibly be. But as Trynfor tells and shows her the story that is his and hers both, I suddenly knew--and when I did, it felt obvious. She has her father's eyes, and her mother's sacred healing talent.

It will be interesting to see how Telfien deals with this information--that she is the daughter of such luminaries, born centuries after she was first conceived--in the future, both in this story and elsewhere. At this point, it must be still rather overwhelming. We can see, through Zuckuss's perspective, how Trynfor must have first appeared to her--and I had already gotten the distinct impression from "In Your Vault, in Your Mists, in Your Song" that he came across as rather intense, particularly for a Gand, in life--and death has not muted him in the slightest. But if he is a storm of a man/Gand, he is a gentle one.

Nothing at all like Fengor, the much deserved Best Villain in the recent Favorites of Fanfiction Festival. Who is presently nowhere to be seen, whether by his own choice or whether he was dealt with legally--and he did just physically abuse his son in front of witnesses--I can't tell. But regardless, I'm sure he isn't out of the story for good.

(As an aside, I had wondered why it was that Telfien didn't receive Trynfor's Waters when she entered the Sacred Trade as Zuckuss had, given her youth--but shrugged it off. I would suppose that perhaps, since she is officially a sub-apprentice, it wasn't considered as necessary, and it's also possible she is at least a little older than he was. But now the truth is out, I can only think that it's a good thing they didn't do that, as I can but wonder how the artificial waters would have affected her natural dormant ones.)

Meantime, well--I will just say that I was not a bit surprised that the Mists allowed Zuckuss to enter the crypt, even if they didn't precisely make things easy for him. And after so much turmoil, he and Telfien are finally reunited in the flesh and the chitin--and they stumble almost by accident (at first, at least) into their first kiss in a way that is just simply so Gand, and so them as individuals. There is also a bittersweet shadow to it all, because as I know from your other stories, someday, Telfien and Zuckuss both will be out travelling the galaxy--and they will not be doing so together.

But they're together for now, and together, they see the vision/memory through to its conclusion. What struck me, amongst the whole ghastly scenario where Trynfor had to perform a c-section on his dying wife, was how pragmatic she was--how she used the last of her breath to give him directions. Very Gand. I also noted that right before she died, she named their unborn child, but the name itself is not revealed. I don't know how those Gand distinguished enough to receive given names get those names, or who chooses them. It doesn't seem likely they are usually named such at birth considering that so many Gand never have that honor--neither of Telfien's parents did. [ETA: I went back and re-read the part where Zuckuss receives his first name, which was "designated for him by his Parents and Elders." It's unclear from the wording when exactly this took place.] So if Telfien goes by the given name Isthien chose, how would anyone living know to give it to her?

Thus ends the spoiler section. And whenever you get to posting Part the Fifth, I will be there to read to see what happens next.