Raybearer

The next morning, Tarisai receives Thaddace’s summons to the library. He has gathered resources for her to study in preparation for her ruling over The Lady’s fate. Meanwhile, Thaddace has been called to drill with the Imperial Guard, as they are preparing for more riots and resistance due to the citizen’s dislike of the Unity Edict. Instead of studying for her mother’s case, Tarisai uses the library to find information about Empress Aiyetoro, the original female Raybearer, in hopes of locating her missing mask. Kirah eventually joins Tarisai. While the two are reconnecting, Kirah admits that she and Woo In became very close and even kissed while traveling together. He also shared a great deal about his time in the Underworld as a child. Kirah continues to meet Tarisai in the library every day to help with her research, but they have little luck in finding information about Aiyetoro.

Time is running out, and the date of Tarisai’s first ruling is drawing closer. She and Kirah have still not found any answers about Aiyetoro and her mask. One day, while meditating outside, Kirah suggests that Tarisai try to play Aiyetoro’s drum. Tarisai hesitantly begins to tap on it, but no matter which rhythm she tries, the drum will only play the same notes and tones. Tarisai realizes that the drum may be trying to communicate, just as it did when she was crossing the Bush. She interprets the notes to be saying something like “I was here. I was inside” (295). While they are mulling over what this could mean, the Imperial Guard begins their drills on the stage below them in the garden. Dayo joins them, and Tarisai feels her desire to murder him grow stronger, but she uses the token of the sunstone to quell her compulsion, following the hermit Mongwe’s advice that the sunstone can strengthen her will. Dayo has been sending notes to Tarisai’s room nearly every night, but she has ignored them.

Several evenings later, Tarisai visits her mother in the prison tower again. In an attempt to bring some levity to the visit, Tarisai gossips with The Lady about Mbali and Thaddace’s relationship. Later, when she returns to her room, Tarisai gives her attendant a letter to be sent as soon as possible. It is addressed to Keeya, the merchant’s wife from Swana.

The night before Tarisai’s first ruling, Dayo comes to visit her. She speaks to him from behind the closed door of her room to keep him safe. Dayo admits that he knew a great deal about Tarisai’s curse due to the memories that she inadvertently shared while they were sleeping. He tried to keep her from remembering her past and her duty by minimizing her time with Mbali, who was also from Swana. Dayo also knows who Tarisai really is and is aware of her quest to find the empress and princess masks; Kirah has told him these things. He now urges Tarisai to do whatever it takes to stay in Oluwan, telling her that they can rule together as a team.

On the day of the ruling, Tarisai is reunited with her other counselor members, who are in the courtroom to support her. A huge crowd has gathered to hear Tarisai preside over her first case. Thaddace escorts her to the dais, and the Emperor steps forward to issue his complaint against The Lady. Causing shock to everyone present, Tarisai refuses to hear this case today, as it is her prerogative to choose. She asks for another case to be brought forward, and Keeya, the merchant’s wife, emerges from the crowd, carrying her newborn son. She has a case to bring against the Imperial Council, that of causing “marital strife.” Due to the Unity Edict, she and her husband cannot agree on a name for their son, as he wishes to use an Arit name in accordance with the Edict, while she prefers to give the baby a Swanaian name. For this reason, their son is still nameless. Tarisai rules in Keeya’s favor, and in a grand gesture, she also revokes the Unity Edict entirely, declaring that it only heightens division and prevents unity. The Emperor and Thaddace are outraged, but the entire crowd erupts in cheers of support for Tarisai’s verdict.

Sanjeet and Tarisai rejoice in the aftermath of Tarisai’s verdict. Suddenly, Tarisai realizes where the empress and princess masks might be. She cuts open the head of Aiyetoro’s drum, and both masks fall out. However, her excitement is short-lived, as Kirah interrupts them to say that the Emperor has sentenced The Lady to death. Tarisai rushes to the prison tower and finds the emperor preparing to kill The Lady with a poisoned blade. He doesn’t realize that she is immune to poison due to the power of the Ray and thus cannot be killed in this manner. Thaddace and Mbali are also present; they try to dissuade the Emperor from executing The Lady, especially in such a public manner in the wake of Tarisai’s ruling. The Lady asks Mbali to provide her with last rites before she dies, and Mbali regretfully approaches her. At that moment, The Lady grabs Mbali and dangles her over the edge of the tower. She ostensibly offers the Emperor a choice, but in fact, her choice is directed at Thaddace. (Thanks to the gossip that Tarisai has shared, the Lady knows about Thaddace’s love for Mbali.) In anguish, Thaddace pushes the Emperor off the edge of the tower. The Lady accidentally drops Mbali as well, but only the Emperor falls to the ground below because Woo In has returned and uses his flight-based Hallow to catch Mbali and bring her back safely to the top of the tower. The Lady is pleased to see Woo In, but he takes the Emperor’s dropped knife and slashes her in anger for lying to him. He does not realize that there is poison on the blade and that he has therefore killed her.

To escape the chaos in Oluwan, Woo In flies away with Tarisai and travels with her toward Songland. However, it is difficult to pass into his home realm, because when outsiders try to cross the border, powerful snowstorms ensue. Woo In brings Tarisai to a small house filled with children. This is where Redemptor babies are abandoned after they are born. Tarisai reunites with Ye Eun, the Redemptor girl that she met on the day of the abiku attack. Ye Eun has survived her ordeal in the Underworld and now cares for the other Redemptor children. Ye Eun refers to Woo In as the “traitor prince,” because he has chosen to align with The Lady rather than with his people. Woo In knows that because of Tarisai’s bloodline, she may be able to reinterpret the nature of the Redemptor curse. He plans to take her to a cave some distance from the village. He is unable to understand the markings on the walls inside the cave, but he knows that Tarisai may be able to do so, so he asks for her help.

Deep in the heart of the cave, Tarisai enters a trance and communes with the markings and veins on the walls of the cave. She witnesses the story of the original treaty with the Underworld, which she heard many times during her time in the Children’s Palace. This time, the voice of the cave reveals that the nature of the treaty is unbalanced. In its original form, the treaty weighed all realms equally when selecting where the Redemptor children would be born. This egalitarian approach was because the ruler of each realm had to agree to the treaty with a drop of their blood. However, the first Emperor Kunleo wanted to placate his people, who hated sacrificing their children to the Underworld when the Emperor never had to give up his own. He therefore used the power of the Ray to create the Council of Eleven and become united by blood with all other realms except Songland. From that point, whenever the treaty was renewed, the strength of the emperor’s blood strengthened the realms with which he was united. As the weakest contributor, Songland’s children become the only ones subject to the Redemptor curse.

Tarisai awakens from her trance and relates this information to Woo In. He realizes that The Lady also knew the truth of the curse since she met him near this cave many years ago. At that time, he also asked The Lady to interpret its message. On that same day, she anointed him as part of her council. (This explains why Woo In was able to kill The Lady with a poison that she would otherwise have been immune to.)

Now that Tarisai has the masks and understands the nature of the Redemptor curse, she resolves to return to Oluwan as quickly as possible to stop the treaty renewal. Woo In provides Tarisai with his great cat beast, Hyung, which he brought back from the Underworld. Tarisai must ride Hyung across the lands, jumping from lodestone to lodestone. She knows that traveling via this many lodestones is to risk her life, but there is no other way to return in time. At each stage of her journey, her body becomes weaker, until finally, her corporeal form begins to fade away entirely. Just as she believes that she is about to die, she awakens outside the gates of Oluwan. Melu has rescued her and brought her to her destination. He is no longer an ehru and is freed from The Lady’s will. Tarisai has discovered her true purpose and has set them both free.

Tarisai rushes to the palace and barges into the treaty renewal ceremony just in time. Dayo, the newly crowned emperor, has already begun the ritual. All the rulers of the realms have gathered, including Hye Sun, Woo In’s mother, and his sister Min Ja. Abiku representatives from the Underworld are also present. Tarisai explains what she has learned about the terms of the treaty and reveals that the current terms are unfairly weighted against the people of Songland. She also reveals that she has Aiyetoro’s mask and is therefore the rightful empress of Aritsar. As the empress, she offers the abiku a new treaty with new terms. Tarisai will enter the Underworld instead, and in exchange, no more Redemptor children will be born. The abiku agree but stipulate that Tarisai must anoint her own imperial council first—and that it must be made up of the rulers of the 12 realms. She has two years to complete this task and enter the Underworld.

After the renewal ceremony, Tarisai returns to the Children’s Palace. Her council brothers and sisters all offer their support to their new empress. Tarisai begins to plan her next steps. She tells Kirah to go to Songland to learn more about the people’s ways and to hopefully broker an alliance with them. That evening, Tarisai leaves her sleeping pallet in search of something to eat and encounters a strangely familiar imperial guard. She realizes that it is Kathleen in disguise, and they meet in the banquet chamber. Kathleen has come to ask Tarisai to burn an offering to summon The Lady’s shade. Tarisai begrudgingly agrees, and The Lady’s ghostly form appears. The Lady explains that she wanted to say goodbye to Tarisai, who is surprised and moved by this admission. Before The Lady departs for the afterlife, she refers to Tarisai by her full name for the first time.