Daughter of No Worlds

Max ruefully admits to himself that, despite his protests to the contrary, he can’t walk away from Tisaanah knowing the ordeal that she is facing. He also admits that while his life in the garden cottage was peaceful, it was unchallenging. As the only person who understands what Tisaanah is going through, he vows to make her experience as Host better than his was.

When Max returns to the Towers, he brings some potions to help Tisaanah subdue Reshaye. One of them can render her unconscious so that the entity can’t control her body. Tisaanah realizes that she must find a way to contain Reshaye in a separate compartment of her mind to block it from gaining complete access. Nura explains that Reshaye “is essentially raw magic—raw magic that draws from a deeper level than that harnessed by human Wielders, deeper even than that drawn upon by the Syrizen, or the Fey” (314).

Later that day, Max goes to Sammerin’s medical office. They discuss their years of combat. Sammerin was once tasked with repairing the damage that Reshaye did to Max’s body: “His particular abilities, control of human flesh, made him the perfect failsafe. He could force my body down, force my lungs to shrivel or limbs to lock. Terrible. Humiliating. Painful. But effective” (320). The Healer is now being asked to do the same for Tisaanah.

Afterward, Max visits Via’s shop to collect the weapon she made for him years earlier. It is a combination of pike and sword, with the magical ability to shoot flames. She has also crafted a sword for Tisaanah named Il’Sahaj: “It means, ‘blade of no worlds’ or ‘blade of all worlds’” (325). Max returns and shows Tisaanah her new weapon. Before she tries it out, he insists that they fight with quarterstaffs so that she can learn the basics of combat. They battle for hours until Tisaanah finally gets the better of Max. Much to her surprise and horror, she feels Reshaye’s energy dominate her mind.

With Max pinned to the floor, Tisaanah is powerless to control her own muscles. Reshaye uses Tisaanah’s voice to rail at its previous Host: “Do you know what they did to me? Locked me up in a broken mind and a broken body. Nothing but white for so many days, so many days. […] You had no one left but me, and you still threw me away” (335). Tisaanah tries to reason with Reshaye to get it to relinquish its hold, but it uses her to grip Max’s shoulder and hurt him with magic: “My fingers burned, sizzled over his skin. And a terrible smell coated my nostrils. Max’s jaw strained, fighting back a wince” (335).

Reshaye tries to summon Tisaanah’s blade in an effort to slit Max’s throat, but he snaps Tisaanah’s wrist. Tisaanah regains mental control: “I crawled up the threads of my mind, inhaling them back into myself. I followed the paths that were dipped into darkness. Reshaye” (336). She finds a way to seal the entity away, at least temporarily. At that moment, Nura and Zeryth appear to announce that the outskirts of the Capital are under attack. They must leave the next morning for Threll for the two weeks stipulated in Tisaanah’s blood oath contract. Then, they will return and deal with the rebels.

Sammerin heals Tisaanah’s broken wrist. He is worried by Reshaye’s unpredictability and its desire to harm Max, but Max shrugs off the advice to be careful. On the eve of their departure, Tisaanah tells Reshaye about the mission to Threll. The entity is eager to shed blood and understands Tisaanah’s thirst for vengeance: “{Perhaps we will make each other whole, Tisaanah, Daughter of No Worlds.}” (347).

Nura, Zeryth, Max, Tisaanah, Sammerin, and two Syrizen board the boat that will carry them to Threll. Tisaanah is unnerved by the eyeless female warriors, but they are friendly. They explain that they see quite well by accessing a deeper level of magic powers, which they can access because they have sacrificed their eyes. That night, on the deck, Max tells Tisaanah that hosting Reshaye was six months of hell, warning, “‘It’s unpredictable. Possessive. Vindictive. And it’s willing to crush whatever defies it.’ Possess or destroy” (357).

Three days into their journey, Max notices that his bruised shoulder smells putrid. Sammerin concludes that the tissue is rotting away. Apparently, thanks to Reshaye, Tisaanah can now rot living flesh—her Valtain magic works differently with the entity than that of a Solarie like Max. Sammerin has to dig the dead tissue out before he can heal Max.

Meanwhile, Tisaanah and Nura discuss Zeryth’s need to control and exploit everyone to demonstrate his power. Nura tells Tisaanah, “Men want power because it makes them feel good. Women want power because it lets us do things. And imagine, Tisaanah, the things we could do with you” (378).

Because of the travel time, Tisaanah will only have four days to find Serel before they must return to fight the rebels attacking the Capital. Stratagrams will get them to the Mikov estate. After that, Zeryth intends to observe Tisaanah’s new powers in combat. The night before making landfall, Tisaanah wakes up Reshaye and asks for its help to kill her enemies. Reshaye agrees because it can empathize with Tisaanah’s desire for vengeance: “{You were betrayed by someone that you thought loved you}” (382).

Using several Stratagrams to leapfrog across the country, they end up at an enslavers’ transport hub. Tisaanah decides to save the people they have captured before going in search of Serel, recognizing one of the enslavers as the man who took her from her village so many years ago. Tisaanah gives the word, and her party attacks. She uses some of Reshaye’s power to defeat the 50 men: “I relinquished just a few threads of my mind to Reshaye. Just enough that I felt its power cackle through me, rising the hairs of my arms, twining with the intoxicating, overwhelming emotion that I sucked through every breath” (389). She chases down the man who abducted her and gives full vent to her rage. Crimson butterflies stream from her skin, landing and rotting the man’s flesh.