All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come
To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curl'd clouds, to thy strong bidding task
Ariel and all his quality.
~~ Ariel, from Shakespear's "The Tempest"
This is part of Warrens series and directly follows Lyes and Lies. I fear we are reaching the end of our journey, and yet so much is still unclear. Out nature betrays us, it shifts and changes and so the past can seem like a maelstrom rather then a stone. What was clear in the night seems absurd in the day. And yet, fear is no light to follow or rope to climb. So we must fall further and call not in vain nor vanity, to trust that the will wind will save us if we're worth saving.
Words are leaves, branching off from their predecessors, and their history forms a tree that is greater then the sum of it's parts. Our lungs create the wind that sets it's branches swaying, but don't be enamored by the motion. Follow their twisting path to the trunk, it's core. Harder to grasp, but also to change and at it's base we see that the truth reflected, as above so below. It builds a bridge from the "Earth to the Sky". And echos the journey down a long road that the broken one took to mend their heart by trapping its desire, an act that started a war.
The Great Stone Road cuts the land like it was drawn in the dirt by some giant forgotten god, one end climbs into the mountains and beyond. The other is blocked by a standing stone, a pillar of knowledge, the Archives. Upon it's doors are chiseled the words Vorfelan Rhinata Morie**.
Wil says it's close to meaning “The desire for knowledge shapes a man.” But close is nothing to the Lethani, there is and there is not. And knowing is the difference between falling and redemption when you walk the mountain pass. We must stop fighting the tide and take the offer the waves make, to ride the currents to the deep dark below. We will pull meaning from around the four corners and hope the shifting depths will give it meaning.
Vorefelan,-Lan is used in ruhlan, delan and vorelan, palan. The last I suspect mean roughly Cealdish, the suffix -Lan implying people of the with the prefix specifying of what. In this case, the fe or fea, which means felan another way of saying faen.
The skindancer implies Avoi means want, look or possible watch. vor is used in Felurians song in the verse "tu nia vor ruhlan". And we now know ruhlan to mean "people of the Ruha" (Edema Ruh). But in this case she is likely referring the more generic root term travelers. I think it's safe to say that Felurian did desire wanders from time to time.
But ruh might stem from ruach and branch into reh which is for seeking. Some of the Ruach did become watchers/amyr. Finally, Arliden said Kvothe's name means "to know" and given many words end in -the : aethe, gilthe, el'the, skethe, etc. it's possible we can pull the word apart and kvo shares an ancestry with knowledge. And Bast tells us that the fae are creatures of desire. So both Vore & felan might be knowledge or desire.
Rhinata is the fulcrum upon which all else rests. The Rhin-na was a flower and cure all. Rhin-ta is a bad thing, the Chandrian. Nearly the same word the skindancer directs towards Kote: "Te Rhintae?"
Glammourie is the faen magic of changing how things physically are. Grammarie is changing how you feel about them. I suggest Glammorie is performing both together, a form of Shaping.
Knowledge & desire
man & faen
Panacea & Poison
body & mind
We trace and theorize... to what end? We have been lead up and down the garden path, and the tapestry of meaning is frayed, fraught, and frustrating. What good is finding anyway? It's the question that drives us, and it's the question that will set us free. If we find the answer, if we walk through the door, will be trapped, cut away. But we are not the stone or sea, we move with the wind and sun, and in their endless dance we find beauty all our own.
The tale continues Fairy Light.
watch carefully daughter hare, hold quiet father foxWarrens widdershins ways and woesThe body fades, the memory stays
See her bear from place to place.
Mantled in darkness.
Tending to the proper way
For she knows the cruel games names play
And so often finds a gentler way.
Yet, for him, these rules she would betray.
See her bare feet upon stones.
Broken mirror-glass and clean fire.
Bending to the breaking way.
Set a laurel a light
so too this Ash will burn,
then to flesh all things return.
See her bear the flame.
A wick, a widdershins, and an awakening.
A command, a beckon and a whisper.Her desire shapes his way.
