Raybearer

“My mother was the devil, and I, her puppet demon.”

This bitter realization comes from Tarisai after Melu tells her the truth about her mother and her parentage. Through a stolen memory, she witnesses the depths of her mother’s manipulation, for The Lady once trapped Melu as an ehru (a djinn) and forced him to procreate with her specifically so that she could birth a child who would be compelled to do her bidding. Upon realizing that she is part ehru herself, Tarisai views herself as even more of a monster than before. Moreover, she recognizes that she is a “puppet” that belongs to her mother and exists solely to suit her needs.

“That is the power of the Ray, child. That power filled my father before me, and fills my son now. Only a Raybearer’s Council of Eleven may kill him. Such is the divine protection of heaven. And none shall thwart it.”

In this passage, Emperor Olugbade explains the nature of the Ray when Tarisai meets him in the capital. Tarisai has been purposely raised in ignorance of her heritage and therefore has no knowledge of the Ray and its powers. Olugbade chooses to explain the Ray to her, making special note that only a member of the council can kill the emperor. His explanation of the dynamics between the emperor and his council also explains why Tarisai’s mother wants her to become a member of Day’s council before killing Dayo. The scene also serves as foreshadowing for the eventual downfall of the emperor himself.

“‘You’re going to be another one, aren’t you,’ the prince murmured. ‘A person I like. A person they take away.’”

Dayo makes this comment to Tarisai not long after meeting her for the first time in the Children’s Palace. By revealing that the people that he likes tend to be “taken away,” Dayo draws attention to the inherent danger of being connected to him. Thus, from their very first meeting, Tarisai and Dayo’s relationship is weighted with deeper purpose and the lingering hint of doom.

“People leave stories everywhere. It’s easier to take them from living things. Trees, soil. Objects and dead things don’t have very clear memories.”

Tarisai’s explanation of her gift or Hallow in this passage demonstrates the magnitude of her ability. She is not only able to gather the memories and stories from actual people; she is also able to discern them from the traces left on the spaces and places they encounter. This implies that, even if people would prefer to forget their experiences and their actions, they will live on in the landscape of their lives. This quote also foreshadows Tarisai’s later encounter with Aiyetoro’s drum and her struggle to draw long-dead memories from this object.

“Inhaling deeply, I dug my fingers into my temples and laid waste to my own memories. I was an invader, kicking down the doors of my mind’s palace, and setting flame to every room.”

Tarisai knows that to become a member of Dayo’s council, she must distance herself from her past and from her mother’s command. This passage demonstrates the lengths to which she is willing to go to renounce The Lady’s murderous mission. Tarisai violently eradicates her memories, destroying every trace of the Tarisai that came before. Her description of this erasure is intense, suggesting that as she “lays waste” to her own mind, there will be ash and traces left behind, as with every fire.

“The freedom to speak into my friends’ minds—to share pictures, even feelings if we wished—was an intimacy unlike any I had ever felt.”

As a member of Dayo’s council, Tarisai can use the power of the Ray to communicate with her council brothers and sisters on an almost psychic level. She can connect directly to their minds, experiencing a new form of closeness. After spending so much of her life alone, Tarisai can now peer into her friend’s minds, and they into hers. Overjoyed at the end of her isolation, Tarisai describes this newfound ability as a “freedom,” likening it to a choice about relationships and intimacy.

“There are those who would preserve history, instead of choosing to forget it.”

This quote is spoken by Woo In after he gives Aiyetoro’s drum to Tarisai. His statement sets an ominous tone and foreshadows the action to come. By telling Tarisai that some people are “preserving” history, while others are actively forgetting it, Woo In casts suspicion on the people in Tarisai’s life and on the very notion of truth. If the most prominent histories of the Arit empire do not tell the complete story, then there is no way for Tarisai to safely trust such accounts. Moreover, the gift of Aiyetoro’s drum implies that Tarisai may have a connection to this empress.

“‘There’s no such thing as heroes, is there?’ The girl spoke tonelessly to herself. She watched the teeming battleground, all at once, looking four times her years: innocence lost in the space of a breath. ‘Outcasts only have ourselves.’”

This quote comes from Ye Eun, the young Redemptor girl who visits Tarisai with Woo In and Kathleen. She says this to Tarisai just before throwing herself into the Breech, the opening to the Underworld. Ye Eun understands that the abiku have attacked Arit’s citizens because she has yet to commit herself to the Underworld, but unlike Tarisai, she accepts her cruel fate unflinchingly, demonstrating a heightened level of maturity and self-awareness despite her young age. She also refers to herself as an “outcast,” calling attention to the fact that Redemptors and their home region of Songland have been cast aside and forgotten by the rest of the empire.

“‘Maybe. But do you know what I think?’ My chest throbbed. ‘I think deep down, we’re afraid that things could get better. Afraid to find out that all the evil—all the suffering we ignore—could have been prevented. If only we had cared enough to try.’”

Tarisai is reflecting on the events of the abiku attack and thinking of ways to change the treaty with the Underworld. As with so many rules and ideas that Tarisai encounters, she is acutely aware of their inequity and wishes to change them for the better. Frustrated by the common belief that the treaty is impossible to change, she asserts that the people of the empire are afraid to make difficult changes because they also fear that such change might be successful. (The success of a change in practice or policy would require the empire to admit that it had previously been wrong.)

“It took me many many years to learn this, Tarisai. But justice is not about being fair. It is about keeping order.”

Thaddace, the current High Lord Judge of Aritsar, shares this cynical advice with Tarisai as she prepares to select her first case. He actively accepts The Consequences of Sacrificing Justice to Maintain Order and believes that his more pragmatic purpose is to keep citizens under control. In his mind, justice is merely a tool to prevent chaos. By contrast, Tarisai is determined to remain true to her own sense of right and wrong rather than his jaded definition of justice. While her actions do eventually prove that interpreting laws and edicts through the lens of fairness runs the risk of creating instability, she embraces momentary chaos in the interests of creating a more genuine sense of unity for her people: one based upon true justice.

“With respect, Anointed Honor, that’s how ladies prefer it in the capital. Not like those unruly edges they sport in the countryside! Think of your title. Oluwan ladies rein every strand into place. Complete control.”

In this scene, Tarisai is having her hair braided before the Nu’ina Eve festival and complains about the tightness of the braids. The neatness of the braids takes on a symbolic meaning that represents the order and the classist mentality of Oluwan. By contrasting Oluwan with the “unruly” countryside, the woman braiding Tarisai’s hair emphasizes the importance of “complete control” among the higher echelons of society. However, the scene also implies that Tarisai will eventually regain her freedom from such external attempts to control her.

“I held up the sunstone. ‘I will bear fruit for Aritsar,’ I said sharply, ‘with my imperial scepter. As your High Lady Judge, equality and justice will be my children.’”

Tarisai receives a sunstone as a token at Nu’Ina Eve and is informed that it represents the dominance of the Emperor. However, Tarisai rejects the idea that she will manifest this token of dominance by having the emperor’s children and thereby relinquishing her power to others. Instead, Tarisai acts upon her own free will and announces her intention to bear the “fruit” of just laws and decisions. Importantly, these are the only “children” that she references, and her statement highlights her lack of maternal inclinations. As this and other scenes imply, Tarisai’s rise in society will be anything but conventional.

“‘No. I think you’re Aritsar’s best hope. I think there are people in power who see what I see, and they are scared witless. And I think I have loved you,’ he said, ‘since that night you pulled a shackle off my arm.’”

Sanjeet makes this declaration to Tarisai on the night of Nu’ina Eve, just before their first kiss. In this moment, he is the first person to frame Tarisai’s nature and power in a positive light, and he simultaneously honors Tarisai’s status as a leader and council member and declares his personal feelings for her. In this declaration, he also uses imagery that indicates her role in setting him free even as she works to embrace her own version of freedom.

“They were all true. All of them. How could I pick which one to believe? I was a monster, yes—but I could not let that be all that I was. Not now.”

After Tarisai stabs Dayo in a compulsion-induced attempt to murder him, Sanjeet calls her a “monster,” leading her to reflect on all the identities, good and bad, that she has held throughout her life. In this moment, although she knows that she has certainly committed a monstrous act, she is also committed to protecting her friends and doing the right thing despite the imposition of her mother’s will.

“‘Too bad.’ Kirah gave a tired smile. ‘Because none of us will give you up without a fight.’”

In this quote, Kirah is replying to Tarisai’s attempts to push her friends away. Tarisai believes that she is not worthy of their love and support and that they should therefore shun her. With her earnest and reflexive response to the contrary, Kirah shows Tarisai the depths of her devotion, as well as that of Tarisai’s other friends, even the begrudging Sanjeet.

“Lies will never set us free, Jeet.”

Sanjeet and Tarisai become separated when traveling through the Bush, and Sanjeet gets lost in a phantom landscape and believes that he has reunited with his long-lost brother, Sendhil. While Tarisai utters this statement to shatter the illusion and prove to Sanjeet that he has not truly encountered Sendhil, her words hold a greater significance for the broader narrative. Tarisai will go on to shatter the collective illusions that the empire has perpetuated about the nature of the Treaty with the abiku, embracing truth and justice to facilitate genuine freedom for those around her.

“‘They aren’t attacking me,’ I yelled.

‘No,’ Sanjeet yelled back, laughing incredulously. ‘They’re choosing you.’”

In this quote, Tarisai and Sanjeet have asked the tutsu sprites of the Swana grasslands for help in locating Melu’s pool. They initially ignore Tarisai’s request, but after she makes an impassioned statement to them, they eagerly flock to her, even lifting her up in the air. They have not been commanded but are instead actively choosing to follow Tarisai’s will. In choosing her, they are validating her own choices and showing that they will support her on the path forward.

“Melu considered. ‘Only one thing is more powerful than a wish, and that is a purpose.’”

Melu shares this insight with Tarisai to provide her with a way to circumvent her mother’s deadly wish and influence. He emphasizes that Tarisai must determine her own “purpose” or reason for being to counteract the will of The Lady. Only when she can identify her own unique purpose will she be free.

“‘I don’t know what I am,’ I said. ‘But believing in me could be dangerous, Jeet. And I’m tired of hurting you. I’m tired of hurting everyone.’”

Tarisai makes this statement to Sanjeet after learning the true nature of her parentage and her status as a Raybearer. Sanjeet is already committed to serving Tarisai, as he would any Raybearer, but Tarisai is reluctant to embrace her new role because she understands that being a female Raybearer and future empress is very controversial. She would rather suffer the abandonment of her friends than be responsible for causing them pain.

“‘High Priestess Mbali says that people have many gifts,’ Kirah continued. ‘But our greatest good is the one we can’t contain: compassion, loyalty, softness, fierceness. The ability to win hearts, or recognize beauty, or weather a great storm…Our gift could be anything, really. And when we use our greatest good for something beyond ourselves, that’s our best desire. Our purpose.’”

Kirah shares her reflections on Tarisai’s purpose and the nature of human gifts in general. She lets Tarisai know that her purpose cannot be “contained,” because it is an essential part of her identity and one that she cannot hide. She also explains that for Tarisai’s purpose to truly be a gift, it must be used unselfishly.

“He had not killed me because doing so admitted the possibility that I was a Raybearer. Killing me admitted that The Lady had been right all along.”

In this passage, Tarisai is curious about why she is still allowed to remain on Dayo’s council, even after she tried to kill him. She realizes that if he were to call for her arrest and execution, it would only sow further discord among the realm’s representatives. When she understands that no charges are being brought because no one wants to admit that she is a Raybearer, it also becomes clear that the current leadership of the empire perpetuates lies and obfuscations for their own benefit.

“But I knew, deep down, that love had never fixed anyone. It had only given them the strength to try over, and over, and over again.”

In this moment, Sanjeet has just expressed his love for Tarisai for the second time. Tarisai admits that she wants desperately to return his affection, but she also takes a very pragmatic approach in the realization that love is not enough to “fix” someone. Her reflections on this point reveal her growing maturity and her willingness to forge ahead even amid uncertainty and imperfection.

“Uniformity is not unity. Silence is not peace.”

Tarisai utters these words in all the languages of Aritsar during her first ruling. She is speaking directly about the Unity Edict, which has sown discord rather than resulting in the level of order that Thaddace was hoping for. From her perspective, Tarisai notes that even if all the realms are treated equally, this approach will not necessarily ensure universal goodwill. She sees her duty to stand up for those who do not have the voice or the power to effect needed changes, and for this reason, she chooses to challenge the political powers who would rather move forward as if all is well in the empire.