Hobb-A-Long Read-A-Long discussion

The keepers finally get to meet their dragons, and Thymara ambitiously gravitates toward the largest and most beautiful of the scarce females, Sintara, who won't even dignify Thymara's offer to help groom and feed her (things she can't do by herself right now), by sharing her true name to her, leaving Thymara to give an alias of convenience to her, "Skymaw". She soon starts to regret her choice of dragon because of Sintara's arrogant and obnoxious behavior, and starts to seek another dragon to serve; but the pickings are slim among the atrophied and sickly dragons, and Sintara is not shy about using a little dragon glamour on Thymara if she seems to feel too alienated from her. Thymara has also become used to few rewards and little respect for what she labors to contribute to her family and community because of her markings and claws, so Sintara's haughtiness and condescension are something she could put up with better than most; I also think that though Thymara is indignant at the way Sintara treats her, she also actually sort of admires the implacably high self-regard Sintara and in fact all the dragons seem to have about themselves; in stark contrast to their situation and the sorry state of their physical development. Finally, Thymara begins to see the dragons as fellow outcasts, like the discarded Rain Wild teenagers that serve as their keepers.

Sintara callously plays Alise off with Thymara using her glamour; partly for amusement, but also to see who proves to be more useful to her; this is reminiscent to Alise of the humiliation Hest often makes her feel, and it makes Alise to start to regret becoming the dragon's advocate for the expedition, and not for the last time. I want to get behind her character and root for her, but she often collapses into too frequent ruminations of self-pity, and wants to give up too soon. It's no wonder Sedric doesn't take her impulsive decision to undertake this lengthy and dangerous journey seriously.

On the humorous side, she also exhibits an obtuse lack of gaydar here and again later: thinking at one point that maybe Sedric is helping with a sick dragon because he is attracted to Thymara; wondering why he smells of the same perfumed oils as her husband; and telling Sedric she feels sure Hest has a woman stashed away someplace. But she's not the only one with gaydar incompetency issues: Sedric thinks back to the first time he met Hest: at a wedding where the groom was Sedric's secret crush, and Hest ( who has gaydar in plenty) picks up on it, and seeks out Sedric for an assignation later; though Sedric is initially bewildered by Hest's bold insinuations, and is in denial he has these same-sex feelings for Hest himself. This is going to be a running gag in the series for both Alise and Sedric.

And we find out that Sedric's plan for this dragon merchandise smuggling scheme is all about his becoming so independently wealthy that the relationship dynamic between Hest and himself, which currently favors Hest, and makes of Sedric a subordinate lackey; will achieve balance, so that Hest will begin to respect Sedric as his equal; then, Sedric hopes, he will be able to persuade Hest to abandon his life under his father's thumb in respectable Bingtown society, and move to a less restrictive community like Jamaillia, where they don't have to hide their relationship. But what Sedric has never realized is, that for Hest, it's all about power, and the delight he takes in manipulating others; that's his driving motivation in everything he does. Even if Sedric made a billion dollars selling dragon parts, it wouldn't persuade Hest to like him any more than he does now( and in fact, it would probably make him resentful of him, should he become so wealthy that Hest could no longer playfully control him like a puppet: Sedric would lose his appeal).