Sailing to Sarantium

“Time passing did complex things, to deepen a wound or to heal it. Even, sometimes, to overlay it with another that had felt as if it would kill.” 

Crispin considers that he cannot remember his father’s face because he died when Crispin was a boy. This description of how the pain of loss changes highlights the motivation of grief and the concept of moving on in spite of it, which is a prevalent theme in the book.

“The world was a place of grief, Kasia had understood, beyond tears, after the first two nights journeying south with shackles on her wrists. Man was born to sorrow, and women knew more of it.” 

Kasia’s reflection on her first nights of enslavement are a reflection on the general turmoil of a difficult life and the effects of gender-based violence. This reflection shows how Kasia’s rape changes her worldview.

“We worship them as the powers that speak to our souls, if it seems they do. We do so knowing there is more to the world, and the half-world, and perhaps world beyond than we can grasp. We always knew that. We can’t even stop children from dying, how would we presume to understand the truth of things? Behind things? Does the presence of one power deny another?”

Crispin comforts Vargos during his crisis of faith when presented with evidence of a god other than the one he worships. Crispin’s statement reflects the limitations of human understanding, challenges the idea of an exclusionary system for supernatural beings, and validates the comfort that comes from familiar worship and ritual.

“Linon had been with him for so little time—abrasive, unyielding—but no one else, not even Ilandra, had ever been within him in that way. My dear, she had said, at the end. Remember me.” 

Crispin mourns Linon after her sacrifice, remembering how even despite the relatively short duration of their time together and the volatile combination of her taciturn, critical personality and his own choleric temper, they had come to share an intimate understanding of one another and a deep friendship. They had a shared affection in the end, and he mourns her loss. Remembering her is a way to honor her important place in his life and journey.

“But knowing and seeing were so far from the same thing it was as if…as if one was the world and the other the half-world of hidden powers.” 

Crispin is unprepared for his emotional response to the weary depiction of Jad. He considers the inherent, powerful difference between cognitive understanding and the emotional impact of that understanding. This is relevant to the difference between his “knowing” that he should not blame himself for his family’s death and the ability to stop doing so.

“Life was an ambush, wounds waiting for you.” 

When Crispin wakes up from a nightmare, Kasia wants to comfort him, but says that she is afraid. He assures her that there is nothing to fear and that she is safe from the events of the day. Internally, he considers that it is a lie and that no one was safe until death, continuing with this statement, which reflects his pessimistic outlook on life’s unavoidable injustices and suffering.

“The first deaths are always the hardest for a mob. After that, they are in a different country, they have crossed a threshold, and things become truly dangerous. More blood will follow, and fire. Both had, for a day and a brutal night already, and this was the second day.” 

Plautus Bonosus’ explains the dangers of mob mentality, which had nearly ended the reign of Valerius II during the Victory Riot. This is an observation about group psychological dynamics and a commentary on the necessity of keeping the people appeased.

“I would sooner die clothed in porphyry in this palace than of old age in any place of exile on earth. All Jad’s children are born to die. The vestments of the Empire are seemly for a shroud, my lord. Are they not?” 

While Emperor Valerius II is considering fleeing his empire to save his own life, his beloved wife, Empress Alixana, inspires him to courageously take back his throne by stating that it is better to die a young Emperor than an elderly exile.

“Men could forget hunger, taxes, age, ungrateful children, scorned love, in the drama of the chariots.” 

Plautus Bonosus observes the importance of the chariot races which are used as a diversion to maintain the status quo, which he considers necessary to prevent violent mobs, such as those during the Victory Riot.

“In a way it was perverse, but the all-powerful, godlike Emperors of Sarantium were enslaved by the Hippodrome tradition and the almost mythic force residing within it.” 

Plautus Bonosus observes that, for all his power, the Emperor is still bound by social conventions which pacify the people, such as attending the most important chariot races.

“Could one forget how to be free?” 

Kasia’s question reflects the concern of all trauma survivors: whether they will ever have a healthy, happy life again without their trauma haunting their daily life. Now that she is no longer actively being abused, she is unsure of how she will adjust to her newfound freedom.

“It was appallingly true, what he’d conjectured earlier: he’d arrived here with allegiances and enemies before he’d even opened his mouth—or lifted his head from the floor. I could be killed here, he thought suddenly.” 

Crispin suddenly realizes that he is ignorant of the political system in which he has inserted himself. He is ignorant of intrigues, alliances, and schemes which predate his arrival, and one false step could mean death in the imperial court.

“Honesty at court was a dangerous thing, for others, for oneself.” 

Due to Crispin’s tactless, blunt statement of his opinions, the Imperial Mosaicist is dismissed from his job. As a result, he has made an enemy of the mosaicist and his sponsor, Styliane Daleina. Crispin realizes that he will have to think before he speaks in the future to avoid making more accidental enemies.

“I will be dead one day and lying in my tomb, and I would have it said of Valerius II that he did two things in his days beneath Jad’s sun. Brought peace and splendor to the warring schisms and sanctuaries of the god’s faith, and restored Rhodias to the Empire and to glory. I will lie easy with Jad if these two things are so.”

Emperor Valerius II’s direct statement of his life’s goal means that he intends to retake Batiara, through invasion if necessary. 

“I do not think in terms of otherwise. You know that, love. I never have.” 

Emperor Valerius II’s describes his mindset as one which does not allow for the possibility of failure. His wife challenges this, stating that if he wants to reach his life’s ambition, he may have to set her aside and marry Gisel. Instead, he applies this principal to his current situation, stating that he is married to Alixana and has no intention of thinking “otherwise,” no matter the cost to his goals.

“True enough, but then, you aren’t an Emperor. The pieces change when you rule. Be grateful your craft spares you some decisions.” 

Crispin criticizes the Emperor, insisting that while their minds are similar, he refuses to treat human lives like pieces of a puzzle. Valerius does not challenge that assertion but points out that Emperors must think on a larger scale by virtue of the nature of their responsibilities. This disconcerts Crispin as he interprets it as a dismissal of his concern for the Emperor’s nonchalant view of the human lives it will take to achieve his goals.

“Crispin understood that here was the place where he might achieve his heart’s desire, and that this was why he had come to Sarantium.” 

Crispin is inspired by the Great Sanctuary and certain that his destiny is to create a mosaic for it, which will be so impressive that it will be his legacy.

“A man moves on from his losses, eventually.” 

Leontes informs Crispin that he should be satisfied that he has defended his own life. In his words, Crispin takes offense to the inference that a man should defend himself and his loved ones against everything, even the plague. After cursing him out, the two have a discussion as to what is more important, art or the military. At the end of the conversation, Leontes expresses his sympathy if Crispin lost loved ones to the plague but ends with this statement, saying that Crispin must eventually let go of his grief.

“Everything, everyone who might be a tool needed to be made a tool, if she could manage it.” 

Gisel considers that she must take control of any and every resource at her disposal to survive. This statement is a testament to her intelligence, practicality, and even ruthlessness in a moment of crisis.

“The long darkness was not always to be feared, he thought. Living on was not an absolute good. There were balances, harmonies to be sought. Things had their season. The same journey in a different cloak, he thought.” 

Zoticus muses on the nature of life and death and considers that his upcoming death is not actually a negative thing but merely the natural counterpoint to birth and the expected end of his season.

“Whatever it was that was in the forest had laid claim to the souls, after all. They were not for the having.” 

Zoticus regrets binding the souls of the sacrificed women, acknowledging that he had no right to do so.

“There were powers greater than royalty in the world.” 

Zoticus repeats this statement multiple times, referring to the supernatural powers of the half-world and the gods. In the last instance of the sentence, it refers to the zubir which will claim his life.

“You moved through time and things were left behind and yet stayed with you. The nature of how men lived. He had thought to avoid that, to hide from it, after they’d died. It could not be done.” 

Crispin understands that the zubir, Ilandra, and his daughters would always be a part of his life and journey. He considers that it is the unavoidable nature of life to continue forward and accepts that he cannot hide from it. He can carry his family with him in some way, even if it is not the way he wanted to.