Gunnerkrigg Court/Recap/Volume 03/Chapter 026: The Old Dog's Tricks

Chapter 26 opens with a misshapen version of the Court's winged-bismuth sky-symbol hovering lopsidedly in the night sky. Sir James Eglamore and an embarrassed Antimony Carver stand outside Gillitie Wood, staring at and briefly commenting on the sky-symbol, which apparently was projected by Antimony.

Someone prances out of the Wood claiming to be "Jolly Elfsberry", sent by Coyote to greet "Acrimony Barber". "Elfsberry" grabs Antimony's arm and repeatedly kisses it until Eglamore puts a sword between them, whereupon "Elfsberry" clings to Antimony's shoulders instead. Eglamore pulls them apart, but "Elfsberry" zips back over to Antimony, to whom he covertly reveals that he's Coyote, shapeshifted. Antimony, now thinking this is funny, grins, takes "Elfsberry" by the arm, and walks off into the forest with him, leaving Eglamore staring after them in annoyance.

Safely away from Eglamore, Coyote laughs about the look on the knight's face and moves to kiss Antimony again while asking whether she found him "very handsome"; she brushes him off literally as well as by asking where Ysengrin is, to which Coyote responds by showing her Ysengrin through a gap in some foliage.

Ysengrin stands by a pond, watching and/or listening for fish swimming beneath its surface; when he notices one, he grows one of his arms out with a barbed tip, spears the fish, and drops it on the shore. He disrobes, then bends over in his humanoid tree-body, out of which he then slides what is revealed to be his natural body, which is in a sorry state: The majority of his body customarily being encased within his mighty suit of magically-animated wood, his muscles are weak and his fur is mostly gone. He shivers as he stands shakily on his own legs and walks, short of breath, over to the fish. As he flops to the ground next to the fish and eats of it, steam seems to rise from his back and mouth. Coyote calls him "quite pathetic"; Antimony says "that's not a nice thing to say" and opines that she shouldn't be watching Ysengrin like this. Coyote advises her to "stand [her] ground", then shoves her through the foliage from behind which they had been watching, startling Ysengrin.

Ysengrin exclaims "You!" and struggles to his feet; Antimony reaches out to help or comfort him, which the author's page note calls the "Dumbest thing Carver has ever tried to do (so far)"; Ysengrin snaps at her and climbs back into his tree-suit. Accusing her of "trespassing in [his] forest" and "spying on [him]", Ysengrin looms over Antimony, but she, though scared, stands her ground. Coyote appears, pretending not to have known Antimony was visiting, chiding Ysengrin for not telling him she was there, and laughing about Antimony's having projected "such a horrible sky symbol". At his master's arrival, the wrathful Ysengrin immediately calms down and becomes submissive. Coyote invites Antimony to ride on his back, and off they dash, with Ysengrin following close behind; while they travel, Antimony tells Coyote she's "very upset" with him, but he insistently pretends she's upset over his criticism of her sky-symbol.

They arrive at a large tree at the base of which Renard's original body, preserved by Coyote's will, sleeps amid flowers, light, and unusually soft and cheerful colors for Gillitie Wood. As Coyote pointedly notes that he has made Renard's body "forever young and healthy", Ysengrin looks pained and Antimony looks sorry for him. Coyote suggests that Antimony inform Renard that his body is there waiting for him, then tells her to summon her blinker stone and try to "peer into the ether" in the novel environment of the Wood. Antimony summons the stone, and, before Coyote finishes adding "Now wait a minute, don't just—", she looks through it; faced with the overwhelming etheric presences of Coyote, Ysengrin, and the surrounding forest, her un-acclimatised etheric sight perceives only a blinding blaze of light and she falls to the ground.

Coyote, grinning and laughing, coaches her through looking into the ether more carefully. In the ether, Coyote appears as a "magnificent... and terrifying" swirl of stars and galaxies, toothy maws, and tentacles covered in intricate rectilinear patterns and studded with glowing eyes. The tree under which sleeps Renard's body looks covered in the same patterns, which, along with more swirly ones, adorn less comprehensively the etheric visage of Ysengrin, who appears in the "beautiful", flowing, and only slightly abstract shape of a wolf — a healthy wolf, with his fur a richer, warmer shade of brown than in the physical realm; his eyes a more brilliant green; and his right ear intact (and, notably, covered in the patterns, which his left ear lacks). Coyote directs Antimony's attention to Renard's old body, which appears "grey and lifeless", like Antimony's Court-issued uniform, and says— "Coyote: Yes! Lifeless! This is nothing more than a sleeping fox. The real Renard is trapped in the Court. How cold and lifeless it must seem there for someone like him... and someone like you."

Without seeming to wonder what Coyote might be implying about her, Antimony gently defends the Court, saying "it's not that bad", but when he asks why she came to the Wood, she sadly admits that she "needed to get away", though without divulging the previous chapter's dark secrets. Coyote laughs at the thought that "that place" is "wearing on [her]", and asks about the etheric cut on her cheek she had received from Jeanne in, which he says "looks like it was caused by something very powerful". Antimony, being unable to see her own cheek and at the time apparently having assumed that Jeanne's sword left no mark since Kat saw none, thinks Coyote simply is playing a trick on her. Coyote changes the subject and offers to teach Antimony "a trick of [her] own": manipulating physical objects from within the ether. With some training, Antimony is able to pick a flower with such, so to speak, telekinesis, but only manages to move it far enough to drop it accidentally on her physical body's head. Coyote says that "soon [she] will be able to lift [her] own body with the slightest thought" and ends the lesson, noting that she's tired — "Kind of" as tired, notes the author, as if she had been "on a roller coaster for a few days".

As Antimony moves to remount him, Coyote says that, no, Ysengrin is to carry her. Bidding them not to fall behind, Coyote saunters off into the undergrowth. Ysengrin gently lifts the wary Antimony into his arms and speeds off through the trees. Along the way, Antimony takes the opportunity to tell Ysengrin she's sorry for seeing him without his armor on, but he declines her apology: "Ysengrin: Hrmf. Never apologise for what is not your fault. When Coyote appeared, I realised he had deceived you into that situation."

Antimony looks at him wordlessly — "What more can be said?", the author comments — and sinks her face into Ysengrin's remaining fur. Soon, Coyote reappears to escort Antimony the rest of the way back out of the forest. Alone with him, Antimony maintains that she still is upset with Coyote, to which he rejoins that he "showed [her] many important things"— "Coyote: You saw three Ysengrins tonight: the way others see him, the way he sees himself, and the way he truly is. I want you to keep in mind the real Ysengrin! Antimony: But which—"

Coyote interrupts her by giving her a gift as an apology: One of his teeth, which turns into "the keenest blade [she] will ever find" in a sheath that shares Coyote's color scheme, but is less sleek than he, with pieces of metal and strings attached to it. (How symbolic is its having strings attached? That remains to be seen.) Coyote warns Antimony to "be careful with it, because it could cut the very Earth", and replaces his tooth by sticking a pebble into his mouth and turning it into a new tooth.

Antimony walks out of the forest back to Eglamore, with "Elfsberry" on her arm, who bids her farewell with more Eglamore-annoying kisses. As Eglamore escorts Antimony back across the bridge to the Court, she asks— "Antimony: So, when do you start teaching students how to use a sword?"


 * Call Back: Coyote gives one of his teeth to Antimony as a magic short sword, then replaces it by turning a pebble into a new tooth. In, he said that "the rocks and stones" are "powerful teeth" of his.
 * Chekhov's Skill: Moving physical objects from the ether (telekinesis, so to speak), in which Coyote gives Antimony an introductory lesson.
 * Foreshadowing: "How cold and lifeless it must seem there for someone like him... and someone like you."
 * The Tag: "Fox Call": Antimony asks Reynardine whether he can howl; he rejoins that "foxes have the finest call in nature", which he demonstrates at Antimony's request. It's rather startling.