[Discussion 1/2] Bonus Book || Planet of Exile by Ursula K. LeGuin - Ch. 1-8
Welcome!
Welcome to the fourth book in our series on the Hainish Cycle books by Ursula K. Le Guin! My name is Manjusri and I was happy to pitch in yet again! The second book in the publishing order, here we already get an expansion of themes and a solidification in style that features prominently in works of the so-called Hainish Cycle, so this easy read is a great starting point even if you haven't been keeping up with the book club (and as always there's the older threads for the other books. And feel free to comment in those, I'm still around!).
Please note that this is the fourth book chronologically (not by publishing order), and tentatively we are covering them by this order (more information, including about supplemental material, in the Marginalia):
- Please only comment about things in the story up to that point! If you've read ahead or read the other prospective books that take place after, please skip the discussion questions, etc.
- Example discussion questions will go in their own comments, but please feel free to add your own and/or your own reading impressions!
Chapter Summary
Chapter 1 - A Handful of Darkness
Rolery enters a city of aliens (Landin), which her species/race call the farborns, in a place very unlike the nearby temporary Winter City of the Askatevar she calls home. On the way she encounters a runner with news, but ignores this. She only knows of the farborns through rumor, particularly the rumor of witchcraft, and unlike her people, which the farborns call the Tevar, they have a habit of staring into eyes instead of averting their gaze. This place is beyond her expectations, and she runs across a friendly farborn who points her in the direction of the nearby black towered island she wishes to go to, though she gets bewildered on a giant bridge and deviates to an astonishing seashelled beach area to the side upon where she feels childlike joy. Traveling to the island she suddenly has a feeling as if under witchcraft, and a dark figure seems to be entering her mind, warning her that she is in deadly peril. She rushes to the main of this place (shortly after called the Stack) and the figure points out that the roaring tide that would have surely killed her has come in, explaining that this was built so as to entrap invading armies in the days of old when this city wasn't in decay. The figure shows Rolery around, and explains that her people were nearby during the Spring and should have known about the tide, and furthermore that he only mind-spoke with her because he thought she was one of his kind (in fact he says she might have deserved to drown). She is frightened of him but instead asks if she is also free to come back, and this impudence softens him. The figure asks of her clan and in particular becomes interested when he hears about her father, Wold. He tells Rolery to give Wold greeting from himself, Jakob Agat Alterra, and that he will go to the Winter city tomorrow to speak to him, and instinctually she responds to his handshake/salute of equals. She returns to the Winter city, unnerved by the foreignness of these kind who stare so fixedly at faces, embracing the atmosphere of home, though the touch of his palm ("a handful of darkness") lingers in her mind.
Chapter 2 - In the Red Tent
Wold is the highest Elder of Askatevar, he is old and has trouble (or more likely doesn't care to) distinguish between his Kin and currently he is ruminating about his youngest wife, Shakatany, long gone. He and Rolery have an odd relationship: Rolery informs him on the farborn figure and what happened, Wold mocks her about the severe consequences of a woman being in contact with a farborn man (if she was from another tribe), until she throws it back in his face, that he himself had a wife that was a farborn. We learn the farborn are monogamous and there's some sort of issue if they try and conceive with the Tevar. We also get information about the Tevaran, their social structures are tied to the extremely long seasons, Rolery being born out of the normal Fallow (her being a Summer Fallow) means that at best she'd be a third or fourth wife to an old man. We learn that the wife he was just ruminating about was Rolery's mother. We learn more about the figure, that with some confusion that he is named Jakob Agat, and that he is related to the farborn wife Wold had had (thereby being his nephew and Rolery's cousin). The runner from the earlier chapter is mentioned and Rolery asks if it related to something called the Southing. He excuses her and has a trip down memory lane, the most important part being that there is another largely nomadic race on this planet called the Gaal that migrate their way during the planet's extremely long harsh winters, pillaging and destroying along the way, which Wold long ago (sixty moonphases) had seen first-hand. The runner had brought the unusual news that the Gaal had sacked the city of Tlokna, which would be unheard of since they did not attack walled cities. Later Agat arrives and although they meet as equals via tradition this is not quite so (we've seen the Tevaran side but we also get the farborn's side who see them as arrogant and below them), but this is again a synthesis of opposites, as Wold might be the Tevaran with the most faith in the farborn as allies. Agat has also received news of the near instantaneous fall of Tlokna, which via experience Wold says is not possible. Agat says that the Gaal have a new leader (Kubban or Kobban) who has united their tribes, furthermore that they are not just ransacking cities but are leaving forces in them to inhabit the settlements permanently on the way back from the long Southing. Wold takes offense when Agat suggests it would happen to their Summerlands and says it might happen to Landin but not them, we find out that the farborn are in decline (despite not having illness "'[i]t's hard to survive on a world you were not made for'") and Landin (the original settlement) is the only settlement left. Wold wants to focus only on the overwintering but Agat is stressing the danger which will happen in about thirty days, until Wold is overcome with visions of the slaughter of the Tevaran (it's implied and confirmed later Agat accidentally sends this vision, being good at the ability but prone to letting it happen accidentally when his emotions run wild). Wold takes it more seriously but before he can excuse him Agat has a plan of his own, to ally with the them, the Allakskat, and the Pernmek and turn the Gaal when they get to a northern range (the Gaal not seeming to have much more of a plan besides their numbers and surprise). Wold is still set on focusing on the overwintering. Wold ceremoniously ends the meeting, interestingly asking if Agat's father who he knew was also called Agat, and adds to ask if Agat had met one of his worthless daughters the other day. Poetically drawing comparison to what Agat told Rolery when she almost died he answers, "'Yes, so we met. On the sands between tides.'"
Chapter 3 - The True Name of the Sun
We get more direct info about the solar system: The moonphase akes four hundred days to complete, and a solar year takes twenty-four thousand days ("a lifetime"), the sun's (one of many Agat knows about) name was Eltanin (Gamma Draconis). On the way back Agat hears childrens' laughter and is reminded of the mocking of the children and the poor reception from Wold. At the fork in the forest he encounters Rolery and although it's somewhat hostile there's weirdly a type of positive connection (Rolery mentioning their related kin and Agat finds strength in being obstinately like the Tevaran). Agat arrives in Landin and enters the towering building called by an old name: the Hall of the League. It had been build five Years ago and built into the first floor of the meeting hall are designs which tell of its age: it shows one solar system on the east wall with nine planet (Earth's solar system) and another with seven on the west in a much longer ellipses (Gamma Draconis), both third planets doubled, and a dial-face which says that today "was the 391st day of the 45th moonphase of the Tenth Local Year of the Colony on Gamma Draconis III. They also told that it was the two hundred and second day of Year 1405 of the League of All Worlds; and that it was the twelfth of August at home," further cementing this in the Hainish series. Most doubted whether there was a League at all anymore, and some even doubted there ever was one, but here and elsewhere these clocks were proof. We get a lot more info about the farborn, now properly called the Alterrans. His friend Huru Pilotson asks about his "sending", and we get an anecdote about their race's over-communication which highlights this ability and its consequences. Poignantly we get references to hilfs (high intelligent life forms, mentions in the series before), in this case used by the Alterrans largely as a pejorative. Dermat mentions Wold should be more open-minded since he married a human, Arilia, though Alla Pasfal who was old enough to be there in answer spits out "female zoo" and "courtship" with such bitter sarcasm it destroys Dermat. Jonkendy Li youngly asks about Agat's reception to the plan to anticipate the Gaal in battle, and it oddly becomes apparent that the Alterrans were hoping for a war: "It beat being starved to death or burned alive." Seiko Emit, last of a great family, seems to only have eyes for Agat when they meet, and asks about his reception, to which Agat says he was met as an equal. Alla Pasfal actually says Wold had more sense then the rest of their males, but Seiko is quick to dig up Agat's humiliation, and we get an interesting description about their relationship: all of them are too close, Alla being a lover and perhaps overbearing in her sympathy and compassion, and how Agat's recent solitude on his journey awakened a craving in him of solitude, and we get another description about how the Alterrans are always watching, always meeting eyes, and how Rolery was the opposite with their kind's habit of averting the gaze. Some talk of the "sending" which we covered, though it comes about that the Tevaran view of them as capable of withcraft happened because of their "sending" in the first Years. That they had any information about the Gaal was due to Agat, who was considered the leader despite not being the eldest and being put on the Counsel the same time as the others, and his proactiveness. Agat ruminates on the decline of the Alterrans on an alien, hostile world, a terror he's felt as a child. They had been kept strong by the League laws but that knowledge was slowly being replaced by more useful knowledge about trying to survive, and if they were rescued would their rescuers even resemble them? But it's more likely they'll perish before then. After his rumination he notices Seiko watching him and turns from her... in his mind, instead, a sign of Rolery reaching out to him (from the tide, a remembrance).
Chapter 4 - The Tall Young Men
The men of the Winter City of Askatevar perform a Stone-Pounding, a ritualistic meeting of elders, to determine what to do. It doesn't go well for Wold (in part his relation with his Alterran wife is brought up), but there is some success at his son's, Umaksuman, proposal to send runners to Allakskat and Pernmek to inform and prepare them in case Agat's plan is adopted in any manner. Agat arrives to the tent, a commotion set up by Wold who likes to poke the bear (likely why he associates with the farborn in the first place), he understands that the Tevaran are set in their ways and live in the past, interestingly Agat says perhaps the Gaal have learned from the Tevaran and are adopting their overwintering skills and using it against them. He is challenged by Ukwet, one of Wold's grandsons (older than Umaksuman) but Agat just stares right through him. Umaksuman has a sharper idea of what the Gaal are doing and a better memory of what they've done in the past. Ukwet, sensing a victory, jeers and brings up the farborns' purported witchcraft. For the first time Wold uses a phrase which is the opposite of the often said "have heard" phrase and its variations used by the Tevaran, he is mad at Ukwet's insolence at their guest and feels annoyed at having to argue both sides now. He will instead now send runners and warriors behind to the Southing, commanded by Umaksuman and most of the men (those between Mid-Spring and the Summer Fallow), and turn the Gaal east or if not to return to Tevar. Agat chimes in that he can send 350 men and Wold ignores his handshake despising having to take any action. While he could force this decision it was likely his last one: if Umaksuman was successful he would be the new strongest leader with his victory in the war. Wort tells them to call another Stone-Pounding for tomorrow and to have the shaman get a good hann for the ritual.
Chapter 5 - Twilight in the Woods
Rolery catches some of Agat's words on the wind and has a compulsion to follow him (remembering the imagery in her mind), they have a slightly tense meeting in the woods where there is the first signs of winter. When Agat takes hold of her to lead her away he ends up just awkwardly holding her, and she tells of her compulsions since their meeting, that she has had aftereffects since then. A lot of detail follows, Agat talks about the mind-speech (including how it's forbidden, though the Tevaran have the capacity for it), how the Alterrans weren't the creators of it (this directly names and ties into Rocannon's World), and the League, it's enemy, and other worlds (they were stuck here accidentally or on purpose when the enemy arrived and races were recalled to fight them ten Years ago). Nothing more is known about that war, though the far race has plans to eventually leave and find out, if they can survive and build that far. He talks about their strengths and fragility (the sterility and miscarriages), and she wonders about how they are able to have children any time, out of season. He laughs it off but she takes particular interest in this, being one of the rare born out of season too: when Winter is over she will be too old to have a Spring son, and therefore will only be a fifth wife to an old man. He grins off the differences that the Alterrans are monogamous and it could be causing problems, after a bit more about their mores he tells her it's something about the sperm that is effected and not just because of their way, that perhaps the different sun causes a mutation. She asks what their home is like and he mentions there are songs, though she doesn't know what that is, and he talks about the so very much shorter year, and she makes a joke about how that's not even long enough to light a fire. She fears the Winter, and not knowing one he asks about how awful it will be. She was solitary her whole life and this person broke it, as she first felt fear and met him. There's a moment of connection and secrets (a meeting of eyes, almost) and she asks about them being together (his people wouldn't care but she would have to keep secrets), and he brings up his return in two nights. With the same fear of Winter she responds to this, then: "As he spoke she felt the beating of his heart and the beating of her own. 'I want to stay with you,' she said, and he was saying, 'I want to stay with you.'" He wonders where they can go to be together, that they'll miss her in Tevar, and she whispers that no, they won't.
Chapter 6 - Snow
The first snowflakes. The scouting party had left, only vaguely kept together by Wold's authority, Ukwet even boasting that he'd kill the "witches" too (though Wold knew that defeat or victory would assuage this). Umaksuman and Agat part as friends to their likely battle at Long Valley under Cragtop that is upcoming. In the forest Agat passes the hunter's shelter he spent with Rolery that night before and thinks of it (or tries and fails to talk himself into, more accurately) as mainly a silly passing, a folly, yet already he is thinking of their next meeting. Suddenly, he is attacked, and before the confusion engulfs him he hears Umaksuman's voice. He does nothing but crawl, and hopelessly sends out mindspeech, and then nothing. The Alterrans at their place have various reactions but at best it is an impression and worst (Seiko) cringes away likely because of their past. Rolery had returned to the hunting cabin anticipating their next meeting, when her mind suddenly goes dark, awakening her from her reveries or sleep. She wanders the forest, only calling his name once, when she finds him on the path and he is dead, is what she think until he whimpers on her knees. This snaps her out of it, and she searches for something off the path and sets to work.
Agat awakens some time later and is instantly mentally scolded by Alla Pasfal (he was dragged there by Rolery in a kind of sled). She asks how he could do this and flinches when he says he loves Rolery. She chides him that they are depending on him and he's being foolish with a romance, he repeats what he said mentally and she says that he can't marry her and he'll have to do without her. He responds negatively to this, and she says it doesn't matter, the plans have fallen apart with his attack: Pilotson was more eager to get revenge on the Tevaran and Wold's faction was discredited when it was learned that his daughter was running around with a farborn. She finds a bit of incredulity that he doesn't realize the plan has failed until she told him, regardless all are just waiting for the Gaal to arrive. His pride is damaged and he feels he betrayed his people. Eventually she tells him his plan was foolish anyway, they couldn't work together and six hundred home-years here should have made that obvious, that they were lucky they weren't already enemies in fact and that they are on their own on this hostile planet. He feels the despair and cloisters into himself, until with a shock he finally wonders what happened to Rolery.
Rolery is right there doing some work and Alla Pasfal is gone (who knows how much time has passed since his realization). Rolery in turn is cross at Alla Pasfal and believes all the Alterrans are overly reliant on Agat. He almost immediately asks to marry her. She is quiet and he doesn't know quite what it means (it is different from her usual motive self) and he thinks of how fast everything has been.... Her quietness "enter[s] into him" and with it he feels his strength begin return.
Chapter 7 - The Southing
The winter star is here. Wold pays little attention to the Stone-Pounding that has come with the runners' return of nothing but rumor now that he has no political power. He has a newfound perspective of the squabbling and lack of direction the Tevaran have. Umaksuman speaks about the invading force but it's instantly turned into a mocking joke about Rolery by Ukwet. Wold is shamed in a way as never before, all three mentioned there being his direct descendants. Ukmet is the one that attacked Agat and sought to castrate him. Umaksuman stopped him to prevent a war with the farborns (a war on two fronts), and feels it's Rolery's choice on top of it. Ukwet calls him a liar and traitor and then weapons are drawn, and Wold stands not to stop it but to awkwardly leave to the house of his Kin. He retreats to his firepit and responded oddly (as he has already given up) when they bring in the body of Ukwet, slayed by his "'brother'".
Snow again, on Ukwet's face before he is buried, and Wold thinks perhaps he was better off than Umaksuman, outlawed (banished?) in the hills. Time passes indeterminately for him, and suddenly there is a call of the arrival of the Gaal. Nobody came for him, he was with the women and babies, but his pride eventually bothers him and with the help of his eldest mourning wife (the same one from the first chapter) he girds himself and goes to the smoke-hole of the House of Absence with the other men. There they see an astonishing sight, a Southing unlike any other, and these are only the women, children, and the baggage-train, their numbers being so overwhelming the warriors can afford to arrive afterward. The City will be a trap as the enemy will need their stores and herds, and although Wold mentions they should put out the call to flee to their women and children there's no movement to do so. In particular the elder Anweld says that while that plan was discussed there is no central leader and they have been driven to inaction, so Wold tries to rally some men to do so (just for the chance a few of the Tevar might survive) but the younger men just want to battle. He finds a place near a buttress and watches the Southing for hours (insert a metaphor about the scrappy winter grasses). Eventually a log is used as a battering ram on a nearby slide-gate. The Gaal must be using this along with ladders, unheard of in the old days... he attacks a nearby Gaal as the gate behind him shatters, and stumble-runs through a city on fire toward the House of his Kin.
Chapter 8 - In the Alien City
Rolery is studying an intricate painting in Landin (it should be apparent now, similar to the naming of the Stack, that the word likely comes from Landing) and she asks Seiko more about the technologically advanced world it depicts (many of these technologies being forgotten in the 600 home-years since). We learn about the Laws of the League and that they follow something called the Cultural Embargo which prevents them from influencing much (technologically, philosophically, etc., including "paraverbal" speech) of a non-League incorporated world even at risk of their own survival. Seiko reacts badly to Rolery's suggestion that this has done neither of the races good, and as they leave to do work Rolery glances back at the painting that invokes a similar feeling in her as Agat does. The men of Landin are gone performing guerrilla attacks to try and repel the Gaal to easier targets while the women here herd the sheep-like haan, which Rolery finds impressive in their skill and song. The opposite of before, Rolery largely pitches in as she is needed, and she's found some odd normalcy here as a wife. But she has enemies, Alla Pasfal in particular is cruel to her and feels jealously oppressive. Rolery overhears something but doesn't quite understand, Dermat is surprised she didn't know that Tevar has been lost. Some of them (along with the Alterrans) were able to scatter into the hills when the Alterrans attacked a civilian camp. She quite literally sees blood on her hands, and attributes it to "Pasfal the witch", but the "illusion" is shattered when she feels a light in the darkness (similar to when and how she found him that one night when everything changed) and announces that Agat is coming. Alla Pasfal responds strongly to this, but Huru Pilotson says Agat is probably not bespeaking, instead they have a rapport, which Pasfal thinks is nonsense. Pilotson doubts this, it's likely he "sent" himself hard to her on the beach and she was a Natural, as things had been been known to happen between human (this dual word again) couples. Pasfal denies this possibility, a vast rarity in humans let alone especially for (more or less) "just" a hilf. Rolery goes to the door and after a beat a man appears far away on the dark path, half a jog. Missing teeth and bandaged Agat arrives fresh from the hills, asking for her to fetch water as the others gather around him. The unusual device (faucet) is slightly confusing and she collects water from it in her own tunic for Agat to drink. He does and although Alla Pasfal tries to chide her that there are cups in the cupboard Pasfal is witch no more and her malice falls impotently.
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