The author commentary for The Gifts of Kali continues! This time I’ll be discussing Mentor’s role in the book, including the secret “second” gift at the end of the novel, so SPOILER WARNING is in effect!
Mentor and his role
There are two main aspects to Mentor’s role in the book: there is the Greystone bearer side of his behavior and then there is his vision of the future. I want to break this down as both came about very late in the game for this book.
Hammer and Anvil showed Mentor to have a very adversarial relationship with Soriya. She’s a teenager, after all, so there should be little surprise that there would be some tension on that front.
I wanted to move beyond that. It was a motivator for Soriya in the first book, but I wanted to leave it behind and show why she’s stuck with him for so long, why their relationship is so important for the series. Mentor needed to have her back, he needed to be on her side and look out for her with every fiber of his being.
More than that, in this particular moment in time, Mentor is still the Greystone. This is his city to protect. So why not show that? The reader has never seen him in action to any significant degree, so why not build his arc around stopping Shiva?
The narration in Chapter 33 and 34 drives this home. Mentor takes on Shiva head to head, and Soriya can only sit back in awe at the man’s power. Despite the injury from the Minotaur, despite his age, Mentor shows he’s still got what it takes to put up a fight for the good of all.
I thought this was important to showcase, especially when the two fight together. It was a crucial statement on their relationship and why it worked.
Mentor’s vision
Mentor the teacher and fighter came first in this book. Those were the moments that I knew had to be there. What I didn’t realize was the emotional motivator behind Mentor’s work in this book: his vision in the Bypass.
Recalling where this specific thought came from has brought up a big ol’ nothing from the black hole that was once my brain. Motivation is always something I am trying to find, some justification for why certain actions are taken, for why we do anything in life.
I needed one for Mentor.
Seeing his death in the Bypass was that motivator for Mentor. He doesn’t fight it like Kali. He doesn’t try to work his way around it. Mentor merely accepts it as truth, knowing that he has to do everything he can with the time he has left.
I thought it was a nice play on the theme of fate and Kali’s own reaction. Soriya is, of course, torn down the middle which always adds tension to the drama.
Having this in the background was important for Mentor’s growth. It also provides a nice touchstone to Signs of Portents where Mentor meets his end. The fact that he knew what was coming and still met the threat is now always hidden in the background of that scene. It gives his death more weight, in my eyes at least.
The vision also provided the driving force for something else…
Kali’s Second Gift
I’ve received the question a number of times. What is the second gift Mentor asks for at the end?
There is a reason the book is called The GIFTS of Kali. I was very intentional about it. The second gift is something only Kali could provide, but what was it exactly?
I can’t tell you. I’d LOVE to tell you, but I can’t. It means everything for where Greystone is heading. It is so freaking important to the rest of the story, that telling you would be a disservice. I would hate to destroy the reveal.
What I can say is, what do you think Mentor would ask for? Consider what he’s been shown in this last moment. Kali tells him what is coming, not only for himself but for Soriya in the end. What could Mentor need from Kali knowing what he now knows?
It isn’t a stretch to figure out, but what it means for Soriya and Greystone in general?
Keep reading.
