Canticle - Chapter Three
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i_read_whatSo last time, we saw what the villains are up to. Interesting enough, but I'm more interested in the heroes right now.
Fortunately this chapter is titled "Danica", which is a good sign.
This chapter starts out with a fight. Or rather a sparring match between Danica and a cleric of Oghma. The cleric of Oghma is described as obese, by the way, though pretty strong. Danica's winning. The guy blusters a bit, and Danica decides not to humiliate him by calling him out.
We see what Danica looks like:
Danica looked like a wisp of a thing, barely five feet tall, with a floppy mop of curly strawberry-blond hair hanging just below her shoulders and a smile to steal a paladin’s heart. Those who looked more closely found much more than “girlish” dressing, though. Years of meditation and training had honed Danica’s reflexes and muscles to a fine fighting edge, as the clerics of Oghma, fancying themselves great wrestlers in the image of their god, were painfully discovering one after another.
Between Danica and Catti-brie, I think Salvatore has a thing for redheads.
Anyway, Danica's got an interesting relationship with the scholars of the library. Apparently, whenever she needs something, they offer it to her...in exchange for a wrestling match. Danica generally wins, from the sound of it.
And indeed, she wins again, and the cleric gives her the location of whatever she's looking for.
Interestingly, while Danica appears to be a monk, she's not unarmed. Or at least, she quickly re-arms herself after the fight with two daggers. They're fancy: one with a gold tiger-head hilt, the other with a silver dragon-head hilt. Both blades are crystal and enchanted. Apparently they were gifts from her master, Turkel, who'd been her family since her parents died.
Turkel seems to be still alive, at least, as Danica vows that she'll visit him when she finishes her studies.
We tangent a bit into Danica's backstory. Her last name is Maupoissant, and she's from Westgate. I don't know much about Westgate, except that it's the location for a premium module for Neverwinter Nights 2. It's five hundred miles to the northeast of the Library, and sits on the neck between the Lake of Dragons and Sea of Fallen Stars.
Anyway, her dad had been a craftsman. We're not told what her mother did. But they'd been murdered by assassins while she was studying with Master Turkel. Turkel, by the way, is from the "far-off eastern land of Tabot", which was the home of some of Danica's mother's ancestors. He's really old, but pretty badass, in the way of D&D monks.
Eventually, Danica learned more about her parents death. Apparently there were other wagonmakers who'd been jealous of Danica's dad. They threatened him, to try to force him to share his backlog of orders. That seems like bad business really, but what do I know. He said no, and someone hired "Night Masks" to kill him. She hasn't asked who specifically hired the assassins, trusting that Turkel will tell her when he thinks she's ready to either take revenge or let it go.
I rather like how neutrally the choice is presented. It's up to Danica to decide which option she takes.
Anyway, Turkel apparently decided that she'd advanced behind him, so he sent her to the Library in order to learn from the records of "Grandmaster Penpahg D'Ahn." She's been there for about a year now, and has grown a lot.
Anyway, the backstory finishes just in time for Danica to meet Cadderly. We switch viewpoints here, to a Cadderly, who is clearly smitten.
He knew she had come from Westgate, several hundred standards, and there were so many other things about her that piqued his imagination. Although Danica’s features and mannerisms were mostly Western and not so different from the norm in the central Realms, the shape of her eyes revealed some ancestry in the far and exotic east.
Cadderly often wondered if that was what had initially attracted him to Danica. Those almond eyes had promised adventure, and he was a man sorely in need of adventure.
I'm not sure I approve of the exoticism here.
Cadderly, we're told, is a bit sheltered. He'd almost never left the Library and the only adventure and monsters he's encountered are in books.
They have a bit of banter, that leads to...
Danica stopped suddenly, pulled Cadderly’s face down to her own, and kissed him eagerly. She moved back from him just a few inches, her almond eyes, striking and exotic, boring into his.
Cadderly silently thanked Deneir that neither he nor Danica were of a celibate order, but as always when they kissed, the contact made both of them nervous. “Fighting excites you,” Cadderly remarked, stealing the romance and relieving the tension. “Now I am concerned.”
...okay, maybe no love triangle after all. They seem like they know what they want. And I appreciate the note about neither of them being celibate.
Cadderly's kind of a weird guy. He likes bragging about how well he knows the library (Danica doesn't seem to mind), and also cops a feel on his girlfriend, specifically so that she'll use "Withering Touch" on him.
She won't teach it to him, on account of it being a monk discipline thing, but he apparently likes to observe the effect. Danica's pissed off, but not for the obvious reasons:
“You are such a …” Danica stammered, “a … a boy!”
At first, Cadderly thought her anger just the expected reaction to his bold advance, then Danica stunned him completely.
“Can you never forget your studies?”
“She knows!” a horrified Cadderly muttered to himself as Danica stormed away.
Fortunately, it looks like Danica's not THAT mad. And that lets Cadderly wax a bit eloquently about what he likes about her:
Cadderly didn’t doubt that for a moment, and he surely didn’t want Danica to prove her words. It always amazed him that Danica, barely half his weight, could so easily take him down. He looked upon her with sincere admiration, even envy, for Cadderly dearly wished that he possessed Danica’s direction and dedication, her passion for her studies. While Cadderly went through his life busy but distracted, Danica’s vision of the world remained narrowly focused, based in a rigid and philosophical religion little-known in Faerûn. That passion, too, enhanced the enchantment Danica had cast over Cadderly. He wanted to open her mind and her heart and look into both, knowing that only there would he find answers to fill the missing elements of his own life.
Danica embodied his dreams and his hopes. He didn’t even try to remember how sorely empty his life had been before he met her. He backed away slowly, lifting his palms and holding them open and out wide to show that he wanted no part of any further displays.
He also seems to like that she's bossy. She commands him to stand and asks if he's got nothing to say. Fortunately, "I love you" seems to have been the right decision.
Sadly, they don't bang in the library, as Cadderly runs off to sketch the Withering Touch while it's fresh in his mind. Danica laughs at him and the chapter ends.
Okay, they're pretty cute. I'll grant that. We'll see how this develops.
Fortunately this chapter is titled "Danica", which is a good sign.
This chapter starts out with a fight. Or rather a sparring match between Danica and a cleric of Oghma. The cleric of Oghma is described as obese, by the way, though pretty strong. Danica's winning. The guy blusters a bit, and Danica decides not to humiliate him by calling him out.
We see what Danica looks like:
Danica looked like a wisp of a thing, barely five feet tall, with a floppy mop of curly strawberry-blond hair hanging just below her shoulders and a smile to steal a paladin’s heart. Those who looked more closely found much more than “girlish” dressing, though. Years of meditation and training had honed Danica’s reflexes and muscles to a fine fighting edge, as the clerics of Oghma, fancying themselves great wrestlers in the image of their god, were painfully discovering one after another.
Between Danica and Catti-brie, I think Salvatore has a thing for redheads.
Anyway, Danica's got an interesting relationship with the scholars of the library. Apparently, whenever she needs something, they offer it to her...in exchange for a wrestling match. Danica generally wins, from the sound of it.
And indeed, she wins again, and the cleric gives her the location of whatever she's looking for.
Interestingly, while Danica appears to be a monk, she's not unarmed. Or at least, she quickly re-arms herself after the fight with two daggers. They're fancy: one with a gold tiger-head hilt, the other with a silver dragon-head hilt. Both blades are crystal and enchanted. Apparently they were gifts from her master, Turkel, who'd been her family since her parents died.
Turkel seems to be still alive, at least, as Danica vows that she'll visit him when she finishes her studies.
We tangent a bit into Danica's backstory. Her last name is Maupoissant, and she's from Westgate. I don't know much about Westgate, except that it's the location for a premium module for Neverwinter Nights 2. It's five hundred miles to the northeast of the Library, and sits on the neck between the Lake of Dragons and Sea of Fallen Stars.
Anyway, her dad had been a craftsman. We're not told what her mother did. But they'd been murdered by assassins while she was studying with Master Turkel. Turkel, by the way, is from the "far-off eastern land of Tabot", which was the home of some of Danica's mother's ancestors. He's really old, but pretty badass, in the way of D&D monks.
Eventually, Danica learned more about her parents death. Apparently there were other wagonmakers who'd been jealous of Danica's dad. They threatened him, to try to force him to share his backlog of orders. That seems like bad business really, but what do I know. He said no, and someone hired "Night Masks" to kill him. She hasn't asked who specifically hired the assassins, trusting that Turkel will tell her when he thinks she's ready to either take revenge or let it go.
I rather like how neutrally the choice is presented. It's up to Danica to decide which option she takes.
Anyway, Turkel apparently decided that she'd advanced behind him, so he sent her to the Library in order to learn from the records of "Grandmaster Penpahg D'Ahn." She's been there for about a year now, and has grown a lot.
Anyway, the backstory finishes just in time for Danica to meet Cadderly. We switch viewpoints here, to a Cadderly, who is clearly smitten.
He knew she had come from Westgate, several hundred standards, and there were so many other things about her that piqued his imagination. Although Danica’s features and mannerisms were mostly Western and not so different from the norm in the central Realms, the shape of her eyes revealed some ancestry in the far and exotic east.
Cadderly often wondered if that was what had initially attracted him to Danica. Those almond eyes had promised adventure, and he was a man sorely in need of adventure.
I'm not sure I approve of the exoticism here.
Cadderly, we're told, is a bit sheltered. He'd almost never left the Library and the only adventure and monsters he's encountered are in books.
They have a bit of banter, that leads to...
Danica stopped suddenly, pulled Cadderly’s face down to her own, and kissed him eagerly. She moved back from him just a few inches, her almond eyes, striking and exotic, boring into his.
Cadderly silently thanked Deneir that neither he nor Danica were of a celibate order, but as always when they kissed, the contact made both of them nervous. “Fighting excites you,” Cadderly remarked, stealing the romance and relieving the tension. “Now I am concerned.”
...okay, maybe no love triangle after all. They seem like they know what they want. And I appreciate the note about neither of them being celibate.
Cadderly's kind of a weird guy. He likes bragging about how well he knows the library (Danica doesn't seem to mind), and also cops a feel on his girlfriend, specifically so that she'll use "Withering Touch" on him.
She won't teach it to him, on account of it being a monk discipline thing, but he apparently likes to observe the effect. Danica's pissed off, but not for the obvious reasons:
“You are such a …” Danica stammered, “a … a boy!”
At first, Cadderly thought her anger just the expected reaction to his bold advance, then Danica stunned him completely.
“Can you never forget your studies?”
“She knows!” a horrified Cadderly muttered to himself as Danica stormed away.
Fortunately, it looks like Danica's not THAT mad. And that lets Cadderly wax a bit eloquently about what he likes about her:
Cadderly didn’t doubt that for a moment, and he surely didn’t want Danica to prove her words. It always amazed him that Danica, barely half his weight, could so easily take him down. He looked upon her with sincere admiration, even envy, for Cadderly dearly wished that he possessed Danica’s direction and dedication, her passion for her studies. While Cadderly went through his life busy but distracted, Danica’s vision of the world remained narrowly focused, based in a rigid and philosophical religion little-known in Faerûn. That passion, too, enhanced the enchantment Danica had cast over Cadderly. He wanted to open her mind and her heart and look into both, knowing that only there would he find answers to fill the missing elements of his own life.
Danica embodied his dreams and his hopes. He didn’t even try to remember how sorely empty his life had been before he met her. He backed away slowly, lifting his palms and holding them open and out wide to show that he wanted no part of any further displays.
He also seems to like that she's bossy. She commands him to stand and asks if he's got nothing to say. Fortunately, "I love you" seems to have been the right decision.
Sadly, they don't bang in the library, as Cadderly runs off to sketch the Withering Touch while it's fresh in his mind. Danica laughs at him and the chapter ends.
Okay, they're pretty cute. I'll grant that. We'll see how this develops.