Departures

The thirteenth episode of Tremontaine.

## Synopsis

Diane and Kaab make their agreement, and Kaab reflects that it must be nice for Diane to be able to have her achievements openly admired. She resists both her attraction to Diane and Diane's offer of chocolate. Diane cautions Kaab that she has no influence over what goes on within the University itself, but agrees that any attempts to utilize knowledge that would allow navigation to Kaab's home will be discredited outside them. She burns the forged letter, which does not disturb Kaab, who can have Tess create a duplicate. Also, Diane does not realize that Kaab knows that she has been drugging her husband.

In Riverside, Tess anxiously awaits Kaab's safe return as Vincent writes to his sister Clem, pretending that he runs a draper's shop. Tess offers to forge receipts for him.

Tell tells Vincent that she knows that Kaab will go to her own family after her meeting with Diane, and asks Vincent to describe Tremontaine House, which he does, until she falls asleep.

Kaab leaves Tremontaine House and sees the Dragon Chancellor being refused entry.

William sees the Dragon Chancellor as a dragon and tries to warn Diane (remembering, at least temporarily, that she is his wife), as he believes, correctly that the dragon desires her, and, possibly correctly, that she cannot save herself. The servants don't let him out, but he sees the dragon retreat and hears his wife crying, and he believes he has saved her.

Kaab sends a serving boy to tell Tess she's safe, giving him a Tullan hair spike as proof and claiming to be a whore working hard on the Hill. She returns home, causing a minor stir due to her disheveled clothing, as she celebrated her success by climbing over the back wall at Tremontaine House.

Rafe tries unsuccessfully to get into Tremontaine House, despite offering spices, money, and a blow job to the guards on duty. He watches a nobleman's carriage, perhaps the Dragon Chancellor's, a woman in a sedan chair, and a knife-grinder being turned away.

That night, Rafe is home alone. Kaab is with Tess at Tess's home. Vincent arrives the next morning, with food.

Micah tells Doctor Goodell "everything" about the calculations she's been doing for Rafe, and concludes that she doesn't want to change the world because she likes it the way it is. Doctor Goodell, who knows she is a girl, but doesn't seem to mind, says that he usually likes it that way, too, and offers to show her a card trick with his Constellation deck.

Diane forgets to give William his medicine the day of Kaab's visit, so he is restless, but the servants are under orders not to disturb him without permission from the Diane, and for this day, under orders not to disturb Diane. Duchamp finally looks in on William, perhaps during the night.

The following morning, when Kaab and Tess are still in bed, Diane comes to William. They make love, and she
thinks all is well. But, he reveals that he knows what really happened, because a black crow told him. Interestingly, he doesn't seem to be angry with her, and he may not even think she is the reason the real Diane is dead.

Diane assumes that the crow is Rafe, who, she believes, correctly, does not know the truth, but who, she believes, has done all he could to turn William against her. She seems to have forgotten that she saw a crow recently, as well as at the time of Rupert Hawke's attack on the carriage, and she seems to ignore the fact that William is talking about exactly what happened seventeen years ago.

Diane returns to her plan of poisoning William and accelerates her plan to move him to Highcombe, or at least decides it's too dangerous to allow anyone not in her control to see him.

Rafe tries to get Micah's "charts" for winning at cards so he can get money to bribe the guards at Tremontaine, but only succeeds in frightening Micah. Joshua calms her, saying that he is "possibly even sorrier" about Rafe having frightened and agitated Micah than Rafe is. However, Micah is then distressed anew by someone knocking at the door. Rafe gets a note asking him to come to Tremontaine House, and immediately leaves for there.

The duchess receives Rafe. She looks like his mother when his mother cared for her sick children, an effect Diane probably cultivated. She gives him chocolate with Kinwiinik spice, though far less than she takes. It's unclear whether there's anything else in it, like shadowroot, but no indication that there is, either.

Diane brings Rafe to William. When Rafe kisses him, William tastes the chocolate his wife prepared the way she drinks it and thinks that Rafe has betrayed him as he was warned by the "rat child", who might or might not have been a possum and might or might not have been Citlali. He says that everything he loved was meant to kill him with happiness and that "she", presumably Diane, "murders with the eyes of a crow". He attacks Rafe and is restrained by the servants.

Diane and Rafe leave the room, and Rafe almost kisses Diane. It is not clear if she was trying to get him to kiss her. Diane asks Rafe to come again in two days time, intending him to help as an undersecretary, and intending him to misunderstand her, as he does. She also says that Tremontaine has a "reputation", and that William's father and daughter were both odd.

Rafe agrees to come, and Diane says that he will be paid and at least implies that he will be allowed to stay in Tremontaine House.

Some time later, Rafe is at the Ink Pot, drinking with Kaab, Tess, Joshua, Thaddeus, and Larry. Micah is at a nearby table with a mathematician trying to figure out her methods. Rafe has apologized to Micah who has threatened to sic Reuben on him if he yells at her again. Rafe promises to recite square roots instead.

Rafe has told Kaab and the others what happened. Kaab warns him not to trust Diane, and to tell them whatever he learns. Tess realizes that Kaab didn't tell anyone she was from Riverside
 and leaves. Kaab goes with her and brings her to a Kinwiinik ship at
the docks. They spend the night on the ship.

William is sent to Highcombe with Wickfield, whom he
sees as a bear god of the woods. Diane tells Warwick that William must have his medicine no less
 often than every third day.

William sees Diane as False Diane trying to
be whole when she is clearly broken, but the crow tells him she must do
this. Diane's chosen nurse is a deaf woman named Thea. Diane says that Thea cannot speak, but William hears Thea singing.

Rafe packs, but leaves his bags, and agrees that Micah can have
his room. Micah gives him a package of papers as a goodbye present,
telling him not to open them until he's in his new room. The package is
not opened this episode.

Kaab returns home after breakfast aboard the ship with Tess. Her
father sent a letter. Apparently, the Tullan Empire is now friends with the Kinwiinik. We aren't told why, although the letter tells Kaab.
Her father and his mother agree she can come home. The Wasp is in port.
But, Kaab decides to stay, and explore the potential Riverside market for chocolate.

Rafe arrives at Tremontaine House and spends the morning working with
 Diane. Sandwiches come at noon, and Rafe asks if he may see William. Diane reveals that she has sent
William to the country. She refuses to tell him where and has him throw out when he loses his temper.

Rafe goes to his father's merchant offices, to the man's
surprise, and offers to join him, as he needs money and "an unassailable position". So, presumably Micah gets to keep the room?

The last episode ends as the first began, with Diane looking out over her City. She intends to pay off the final loan money the next day. She wants to find a spy inside the Balaam compound to keep an eye on Kaab. She also wants to find Rafe's University confederates, which would include Micah. She thinks she can get Rafe back under her thumb, and wishes he hadn't lost his temper, despite having pretty much ensured that he would.

She also wants "someone new" to represent her in the Council of Lords, and to petition the Inner Council to give her control over Tremontaine's income.

## Timeline

It's been three months since Episode 1 and Kaab's arrival in the City. It's been 4 days since the end of Episode 11, when Kaab and Rafe snuck into Tremontaine House while Diane was at a party.

This episode begins immediately after the last one ended. Diane and Kaab make their agreement. Vincent writes to his sister.

Kaab sees the Dragon Chancellor being refused entry. Rafe may see this as well. He himself is refused entry twice. William sees it and interprets it as his having successfully protected his wife from a dragon. He hears Diane crying.

Kaab returns home after sending a serving boy to tell Tess she's safe.

Diane forgets to give William his medicine, which results in him being restless. Duchamps looks in on him. It is unclear whether this is late in the day or during the night.

At some point during, Micah tells Doctor Goodell "everything".

That night, Rafe is home alone. Kaab is with Tess in Riverside.

The next morning, Diane and William have sex, but she finds that he is convinced that she is an imposter. She accelerates her plans to move him and decides to take revenge on Rafe, whom she blames for the current situation.

Vincent comes to Tess's home in the afternoon, with food.

Rafe upsets Micah and is asked to come to Tremontaine House. He sees William's madness. Diane tricks him into making William think he betrayed William, and she may also have tried to seduce him. She convinces him to return in two days.

It's not clear how much time passes before Rafe brings his friends up to date in the Ink Pot. Kaab leaves the Ink Pot with Tess, and they spend the night on a Kinwiinik ship. I am guessing that this is all the night before Rafe is supposed to revisit Tremontaine House.

Preparations are made to send William to Highcombe. It seems to be before dawn, as candles are still lit.

Rafe packs before dawn, planning to visit a barber. Micah walks with him part of the way.

As dawn breaks, William, Wickfield, and Thea leave in a carriage for Highcombe.

It is full daylight by the time Kaab returns home to find the letter from her father.

Rafe arrives at Tremontaine House and spends some hours before noon working with Diane. He is thrown out shortly thereafter, and he goes to his father's offices.

Sometime after that, Diane is looking out over her City.

## Arc / Plot Points

Diane and Kaab come to an agreement: The Balam will keep silent about Diane's true identity, and Diane will use her influence to discredit any information about navigating to Kinwiinik lands.

Diane says that she has no influence inside the University, but at the end of the episode, she is planning to investigate it to find out who Rafe worked with.

Diane does not know that Kaab knows that she is poisoning William.

Kaab is attracted to Diane and recognizes that it is tiresome for Diane to have to make sure that no one realizes how capable she is. That said, a lot of people do seem to realize that Diane is capable, and more capable than her husband.

Diane burns the forged letter. If she thinks it is not merely genuine, but also the original, she will be in for an unpleasant surprise if Kaab has cause to have Tess forge a new one.

Vincent's sister does not know what he does for a living, and Tess is now helping Vincent keep up the charade.

William is starting to get used to "knowing things". He perceives the Dragon Chancellor's carriage as a dragon who desires Diane. He is essentially correct. He believes that he has frightened the dragon away and protected her. He also sees Kaab as a yellow bee.

Diane weeps, despite her belief that she should only do so as part of a strategy. She is agitated enough to forget to give William his medicine.

The guards at Tremontaine House are cautious enough not to disobey orders for the kind of bribes Rafe can presently offer, but they are tempted.

Diane wants things to go back to what she considers normal, to hold William's affections. She is almost convinced that it has before William tells her that she isn't really his wife.

William has learned Diane's secret from a crow, possibly one only he could see.

Even though Diane knows William is hallucinating, even though she has seen a crow recently and imagined it as the same one that saw her kill the real Diane, she believes that the crow William heard must be Rafe and that Rafe has been poisoning him against her. She gets her revenge by letting Rafe kiss William after drinking chocolate she has prepared with Kinwiinik spices, causing William to think that Rafe has betrayed him.

Diane is frighteningly good at mentally revising the history of the past weeks and convincing herself of her veracity.

Rafe agitates Micah by yelling at her, and Joshua isn't able to calm her before knocking and shouting from other people sends her off balance again.

Joshua claims to be "possibly even sorrier" than Rafe about Micah's state of mind. He is also the one who introduced her to Doctor Goodell.

Diane calls Rafe to Tremontaine House. She tricks Rafe into making William think Rafe has betrayed him. After that, she may or may not have tried to seduce him. William's muffled cry may be what prevents Rafe from kissing her.

It isn't clear whether Diane added shadowroot to the chocolate she gave Rafe, but probably, she didn't.

Diane arranges for Rafe to come back to work as a secretary, allowing him to believe that he will be able to see William. However, she sends William to Highcombe at dawn on the day that Rafe returns.

Despite Kaab's position, she warns Rafe against trusting Diane.

William sees Wickfield as a bear god. He hears Thea singing, even though she is apparently unable to talk.

Rafe agrees that Micah can have his room. Presumably she gets to keep it?

Micah gives Rafe a package of papers. Rafe does not open them during the episode.

William sees his wife as False Diane and doesn't understand why she tries to appear whole. To him now, she is obviously broken. The crow tells him that she tries to appear whole because she must.

The Tullan Empire is now again dearest friends with the Kinwiinik. Of course, it takes three months for a ship to arrive in the City from Kinwiinik lands, so this news might be outdated.

Kaab is no longer in disgrace and might return home. But, she chooses to stay in the City.

Kaab may well develop a market for chocolate among Riversiders.

Rafe learns how devious Diane is. Rather than try to play her game and figure out where William is that way, he offers to work for his father, hoping that this will give him the resources he needs.

Diane will pay off the last of the mortgage the day after the end of the episode and the first season of Tremontaine.

Diane makes plans for the future, including finding someone who can spy on the Balam for her from inside their compound, investigating the University, finding someone to represent her in the Council of Lords, and gaining control of Tremontaine's income.

## Cultural and World Information

The Feast of Xamanek apparently involves freeing a bird that has been kept in darkness for weeks.

Ekcuah's title of "the Diver" has an erotic connotation, as well as the obvious literal one.

"titechtlatia" is Kinwiinik for "you burn us up", "death", and, by implication, "I am dead without you, bringer of life". It is from a poem that Kaab translates as "Oh, giver of life, you are laughing at us. / Even jade breaks, even quetzal feathers rot. / You know us, / You burn us up. / You make us disappear from this earth.”

Kinwiinik sailors keep awake on their watches by playing music. Flute and drum are among the instruments they play.

Kaab's great-mother won a jaguar-skin cloak, but even traders as powerful as the Balam aren't allowed to wear jaguar in public. This does not stop Kaab's great-mother from wearing it in private, especially when it is cold.

Diane and Kaab make their promise by swearing on their own gods.

Kaab has filed away the phrase "used me hard", used by Riverside whores.

Doctor Goodell does card tricks with Constellation cards.

Rafe wonders if William has been "Painting himself like an Uruk".

Most of the city looks down on Riverside. Riversiders look down on the Docks. As Tess explains, the Docks are where folks go when they're kicked out of Riverside.