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50 pages 1 hour read

Elizabeth Lim

Six Crimson Cranes

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2021

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Chapters 33-40Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 33 Summary

Shiori gets dressed for the Winter Festival, and Zairena suggests Shiori borrow her beautiful silk purse rather than her satchel. Wanting to keep the starstroke net near, Shiori does not accept Zairena’s offer. In Iro, Shiori watches Megari and Takkan’s musical performance that tells the story of Imurinya’s ascension to the moon (which led to her becoming the moon goddess). Shiori and Takkan stroll through the festival together afterward, enjoying the beautiful sights of the evening. Takkan admits that he has been smitten with her since they met at the Sparrow Inn; they are about to kiss when Shiori runs away, for fear of never being able to leave Iro. Back at the castle, Kiki frantically informs Shiori that Zairena’s spun threads turned her wings gold and then black, confirming that Zairena was the assassin with Four Breaths all along.

Chapter 34 Summary

Shiori runs into Hasege, who offers to take her back to the castle, claiming Takkan is waiting for her. When Shiori arrives at her room, her satchel is magically replaced with Zairena’s golden purse, which Shiori realizes must have been enchanted. Hasege, Zairena, and Lady Bushian confront Shiori in her room, and to prove that Shiori is a demon, Zairena opens Shiori’s satchel and conjures terrifying shadow beasts using her own magic. Shiori is able to send Kiki away to communicate with her brothers, before Hasege brings her to the dungeon.

While Shiori is incapacitated in her cell, Zairena visits and confirms that she has always known Shiori’s true identity; Zairena also recently confirmed her magic when she discovered the starstroke left on her spinning wheel. Zairena admits that she killed Oriyu, and that she has been intermittently poisoning Megari whenever she asks too many questions. She goes on to explain that she is a priestess of the Holy Mountains, tasked with keeping the demons contained there. However, rare Kiatans like Shiori are Kiata’s bloodsake, whose magic is powerful enough to free the demons. The priestesses see it as their obligation to kill the bloodsake to keep Kiata safe.

Zairena has been working with Lord Yuji and the Wolf, who disguised himself as the seer Master Tsring (mentioned in Chapter 14); he tricked Shiori’s brothers into completing the starstroke net so he could eventually have Raikama’s dragon pearl for himself. Zairena confirms that Raikama’s curse was to keep the Wolf from finding the royal children. In an act of frustration, Shiori splashes water on Zairena’s face, which dissolves her illusion and reveals that she is Guiya, Shiori’s maid. Guiya explains that the real Zairena died with her parents in an assassin attack and promises Shiori that tomorrow, she will be burned at the stake.

Chapter 35 Summary

The sentinels deliver Shiori to a pyre in the forest before sunrise. The guard Pao gives Shiori a string of seven cranes from Megari before Hasege ties her to the stake. Kiki arrives with Shiori’s crane-brothers, who fight the sentinels while Shiori frees herself. Guiya lights the pyre with demonfire and traps Shiori’s dragon pearl fragment with the starstroke net, before riding off. Shiori begins to make peace with dying, but when Takkan arrives and Guiya aims an arrow at his heart, she yells out to warn him before losing consciousness—despite her curse.

Chapter 36 Summary

Shiori wakes, realizing that the walnut bowl covering her face has broken, and her brothers are alive despite her speaking. Takkan is uninjured, and Shiori is able to speak to him for the first time. Hasege makes one last attempt to kill Shiori, but the cloak she wears magically shields her from his dagger. Takkan exiles Hasege from Iro before joining Shiori in her search for Guiya in the Zhensa forest.

When Shiori and Takkan stop to rest, Takkan reveals that he knows she is Shiori, his betrothed. She demonstrates her magic and explains she is Kiata’s bloodsake (someone with the power to unleash the demons trapped in the Holy Mountains). Despite the potential consequences, Takkan remains certain of his commitment to Shiori. They are about to kiss when Guiya interrupts, crushing Kiki and ready to use her magic to kill the pair. Hidden assailants kill Guiya first, then reveal themselves to be Lord Yuji’s soldiers, who have captured Shiori’s crane-brothers.

Chapter 37 Summary

Lord Yuji taunts Shiori, and her magic attacks are useless against him because he is protected by his enchanter, the Wolf, who takes the starstroke net from her. Enchanters typically have no power in Kiata, but with Shiori’s dragon pearl fragment, the Wolf can now do magic freely. Instead of killing Shiori, the Wolf kills Lord Yuji, fully prepared to transform into a demon for killing his master.

As the sun sets, the cranes start to transform as does the Wolf; the dragon pearl fragment starts to merge with his amulet, the only thing keeping him from being taken in by the Holy Mountains. The demon’s dark power starts to take over the forest, but Takkan rescues the pearl. As the siblings and Takkan ride away from the forest, the Wolf snatches Shiori, who leaves the pearl with Takkan. She lets go of Takkan to sacrifice herself as the magic of the Holy Mountains transports her and the Wolf away from the forest.

Chapter 38 Summary

As Shiori and the Wolf fly and struggle on the way to the Holy Mountains, the Wolf explains that he has been waiting for Shiori because his plan has been to kill the bloodsake (someone with the power to unleash the demons trapped in the Holy Mountains) and become the ruler of demons after releasing them from the mountains. Suddenly, Raikama summons Megari’s seven paper cranes (from Chapter 35) to tie a red thread around Shiori’s wrist. Shiori lands in Raikama’s garden, but quickly realizes it is an illusion inside the Holy Mountains. She sees demons bound by chains, and Raikama’s voice instructs her to follow the red thread to safety. The illusion leads her through a maze of the imperial castle’s rooms, where demons impersonate different people and memories of her life. In the last room, Shiori finds the Wolf, who scrapes her leg as he tries to keep her from escaping through a crack in the mountain. With her magic, Shiori causes a landslide of rocks to trap the demons, and Raikama pulls her out. Together, they seal the fissure to keep the demons from escaping. This powerful act of magic weakens Raikama, and Shiori comforts her while they reminisce about Raikama’s arrival to Kiata before she asks Shiori to lead them home.

Chapter 39 Summary

Shiori and Raikama follow the red thread to the imperial castle, during which Raikama apologizes for her past actions. When they arrive at her garden, Raikama explains that she put the capital of Gindara to sleep to avoid a needless war (as Lord Yuji’s forces were on their way to attack). She explains that her dragon pearl is a burden because it does not always obey her commands; her curse was intended to protect the royal children but produced unforeseen consequences (the threat against Shiori’s brothers’ lives) due to the dragon pearl’s unruly nature. Shiori uses the starstroke net to remove the dragon pearl from Raikama’s body, and Raikama returns to her true serpent form.

Raikama explains that Vanna (her supposed true name) was her sister, who was originally born with the dragon pearl. When Vanna died, the dragon pearl embedded itself into Raikama’s heart, which turned her appearance into her sister’s. Raikama finally reveals that the few memories that Shiori has of her birth mother are actually memories of her (that were enchanted), and Shiori has known her true name all along—Channari, the name of the girl they sang about during Shiori’s childhood. Shiori speaks Channari’s name to the dragon pearl, ending her brothers’ curse. Channari’s last request is for Shiori to return the dragon pearl to its rightful owner, presumably the Dragon King, and Shiori agrees to do so and pass on her last messages to the rest of the family. Mother and daughter sing the song of Channari for the last time as Channari dies.

Chapter 40 Summary

Shiori and her brothers give their stepmother a private ceremony after they reunite, and Shiori uses her magic to send a memorial box through the water to Tambu, so Channari can be reunited with her sister Vanna. She finally reads Takkan’s years’ worth of letters and stories, which she had kept hidden in a box. Exhausted, Shiori sleeps for three days and wakes up ready to begin her next quest—returning Channari’s dragon pearl.

Shiori bids farewell to her brothers and Takkan, the latter of whom sends her off with his sketchbook. She enters the Taijin sea with Seryu, who will accompany her to the Dragon Kingdom. Meanwhile, in the Holy Mountains, the Wolf (whose true name is Bandur) uses a bit of Shiori’s blood to form cracks in the sealed rock, eager to release the imprisoned demons and himself.

Chapters 33-40 Analysis

The concluding section of the novel juxtaposes Shiori’s delightful experience at the Winter Festival with the abrupt climax of her imprisonment. The effect is jarring and made even more suspenseful with other background factors like Lord Yuji’s forces invading the capital. Elizabeth Lim builds a sense of urgency that only dissipates in the final chapter after Raikama’s death.

Lim utilizes an embedded narrative once more—the legend of Imurinya, the reincarnation of Emuri’en, the goddess of fate. Like other legends in the novel, the legend of Imurinya is inspired by a Chinese tale, that of Chang’e, goddess of the moon. Shiori sympathizes with the story, as someone who is also “cursed, unable to go home” (362), and thinks of Raikama, her radiant beauty, the contest for her hand in marriage. The symbolism of this comparison becomes more dramatic when Raikama reveals that her true name (Channari) means “moon-faced girl.” In the world of Six Crimson Cranes, legends serve the same purpose as they do in the real world—allowing humans to relate to one another and reflect on the way the world functions.

In the last chapters of the novel, Shiori finally receives the remaining answers she has been seeking on The Quest for Truth and Self-Acceptance. The novel’s foreshadowing and Shiori’s intuition about Zairena being an impostor culminate in the dungeon scene, when Zairena reveals her true identity as Guiya, a priestess of the Holy Mountains. Shiori sees her for what she truly is—a master of manipulation, using both cunning and magic to beguile everyone around her. The plot twists continue, with Raikama’s actions and intentions proving a direct contrast: While Guiya deceived others into thinking her malicious intentions were for their safety, Raikama tricked family and friends into hating her to protect them. In making Raikama a secret ally to the royal family, Lim subverts the image of Raikama as an evil stepmother and creates a more nuanced character.

Shiori herself learns that Raikama sacrificed a loving relationship with her stepchildren in order to protect them. Raikama went as far as to enchant Shiori’s memories. Shiori has spent years yearning for her birth mother, only to discover that “the only mother [she] had known” (443) was there all along, doing everything she could to protect her from a world hostile to magic. The tragedy of this realization is that it comes at the end of Raikama’s life, which subverts the typical happy ending of fairy tales.

Even Shiori’s relationship with Takkan is not a typical happy ending, though it continues to develop positively. With her reclaimed voice, Shiori can finally explain everything, and more importantly, finally apologize for the pain and embarrassment she caused Takkan with her past actions. This ability to accept responsibility for her actions demonstrates growth and willingness to work on their relationship going forward (as they are still betrothed). Takkan remains supportive and is unphased by her status as Kiata’s bloodsake (someone with the power to unleash the demons trapped in the Holy Mountains). His confidence in her, and magic in general, helps Shiori accept this part of herself. By the end of her cursed winter, Shiori recognizes that she has undoubtedly changed. Her unchanged bedroom juxtaposes with her lived experience, with the room symbolizing her childhood, something she has left behind now that she understands her place in the larger world. Shiori carries her newfound knowledge and sense of responsibility with her as she seeks to return Raikama’s dragon pearl.

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