Chapter 17: If I Could Trace With Bloodless Fingers

Image Description: A drawing of a woman sitting in the midst of a prairie with flowers, looking pensively into the distance. The woman may be sitting on a tree stump, or perhaps its a grave stone. The caption reads, “I honestly don't know if I have it in me to start again.” - Carpenter

## Credits

### Featured Voices

* Sarah Griffin as Shrue
* Méabh de Brún as Carpenter
* Sarah Golding as Acantha
* Daphne Nitsuga as Mercer
* JV Hampton Van-Sant as Gage

## Meta Data

### Content Warnings

This episode features descriptions of physical decay, acts of drowning/poisoning, and physical assault.

## Episode Guide

Carpenter wakes in a garden of the dead - and reflects on the possibility of life beyond the Trawler-man.

## Description

### Shrue's Press Conference

The sound of camera shutters informs us that we begin with a press conference. Adjudicator Shrue is asked if there will be a war between the Linger Straits and the Peninsula, and she answers that although the investigations continue there is no suggestion that the events at Bellwethers were orchestrated by the Linger Straits. She says those claiming the CLS were involved are simply trying to stir up trouble. It is made clear that she is the most outraged by the events, but that the claims being made are preposterous, and that she is spending more time searching for the Parish.

### The Garden of The Dead

Carpenter apologises to Acantha, who is busy digging and tells her not to worry about it. It’s snowing at the lych-house. They are situated between the ocean and moorland. Acantha is digging a grave for a corpse near them, and treats it tenderly. It appears she is conducting a ritual. The way she acts surprises Carpenter, who continues to watch. A cat appears, who Acantha introduces as Odds and we learn of her brother called Ends. Acantha asks Carpenter how she’s feeling, and calls her out on her continued scepticism of Acantha’s intentions. Carpenter spoke in her sleep, allowing Acantha to know the abbreviated version of her circumstances. Acantha reveals that she serves the Cairn Maiden. Carpenter reveals she’s seen the Cairn Maiden. Acantha tells her that death with the Cairn Maiden is peaceful, and that Carpenter doesn’t need to fear it coming soon. When asked if she heard the god say anything we clearly hear the Cairn Maiden:
“...the floating willow beside the twisting water…”
But Carpenter lies and says she heard nothing. Acantha knows where she’s going to die and easily reveals it to Carpenter. It doesn’t frighten her to die there. She asks Carpenter to use her time healing to stay there at the lych-house.

Acantha and Carpenter argue over trying to rescue a corpse from the waves of the ocean. It appears that this is how she can earn her stay here. Carpenter questions where all the corpses come from and Acantha tells her it's from all the new, experimental gods being tested on the coast. Acantha reveals there’s been more of them this year, talking about another war that the corpses have told her about. They begin carrying the corpse back up the cliff.

According to Carpenter time passes like this, they bury the dead. Acantha whispers the prayer over them, Carpenter once mouthed it with her when she’s not looking. She recovers, and builds a crane to help move the dead. She almost feels at peace. Until a screaming dead man interrupts that.

Carpenter and Acantha dig the man out of his grave, in the dead of night. The dead man screams and begs to go home, and that he bears a warning. Carpenter immediately assumes she’s been duped and that Acantha is raising Saints, which is a notion Acantha immediately dispels. Carpenter identifies him as a member of the Parish of Tide and Flesh.

Acantha pours Carpenter coffee, The Homesick Corpse continues screaming. Acantha asks if Carpenter could be happy here, to do the work alone one day. Carpenter believes she could, but isn’t certain about having a new beginning after her time with the Parish. Acantha tells her it's ridiculous, that the Cairn Maiden has a task for her in the form of returning the dead to its proper burial place and that Carpenter and him aren’t so different in that sense. A “final pilgrimage” that serves both the Trawler-man and the Cairn Maiden. That she can return if she wishes, or not.

The next morning, Acantha checks Carpenter is fully kitted out. Carpenter asks if Acantha will be here when she returns, and Acantha tells her that if she has passed then Carpenter knows what to do.

### The Schoolhouse

A schoolteacher begs Gage and Mercer to listen to him, that he only teaches the ways of the legal gods at his school. They don’t believe him, showing him the contraband from the Parish of Tide and Flesh that they discovered. They force their victim to swallow bleach before they toss him into the river. The episode ends with the sounds of the burning schoolhouse.

## References

1. ↑ Episode Release Announcement on Tumblr
2. ↑ Official episode synopsis at https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/5fec690f8211cf453a1b89e2