Keeper of the Lost Cities Forgotten Secret #6 Kenric and Oralie in Elysian

This post contains MAJOR SPOILERS from late in the set.  Do not read this post unless you've read ALL of the books that have been published.  You've been warned.

I have included all of my past comments on this Forgotten Secret.  I will indicate any additional thoughts by adding comments in brackets.

From Keeper of the Lost Cities #9 The Forgotten Secrets:

Page 260   "But I remember the jerkin Kenric's wearing.  Look at those stripes—have you ever seen anything so hideous?"

Page 260   Kenric told her, "I can't tell you that."  "That's absurd," Oralie's projection snapped.  "If you can bring me here, then surely—"  "Honestly?" Kenric interrupted.  "I'm not even supposed to be here.  No one is.  According to every map and record I've checked, this place doesn't exist.  It doesn't even have a name."

Page 262   Kenric nodded.  "That was one of the details that helped me find this place.  Something had mentioned 'whispering rapids,' so when I found this river, I followed it here."

Page 264   "I've heard stories," she told Kenric as turned to scan the meadow, "that there are certain rare forms of energy that can mess with our senses.  Perhaps one of them is here and that's what we're both picking up."

I find it interesting that on page 487 of this book Forkle says, "But I've lost far too many years searching for rivers that do not exist."  Odd, since Kenric seems to have been the one chasing after rivers.

From Keeper of the Lost Cities #9 More on the Forgotten Secrets:

Page 262:   Kenric nodded.  "That was one of the details that helped me find this place.  Something had mentioned 'whispering rapids,' so when I found this river, I followed it here."  "And I'm assuming you won't tell me where you uncovered this information," Oralie's projection said.  "It's classified," Kenric agreed.

On this reading, my thought is that the "something" mentioned by Kenric is what he found when he probed Fintan's memory in Forgotten Secret #4.  There's also this:

Page 263:   "But see how they have red on their faces?  I found a mention about that, too—'butterflies kissed with red.' "  Dex chuckled  "Whoever wrote these descriptions was trying way too hard to sound deep and poetic."  Sophie nodded, wishing she had any idea who that could've been.

I think it could have been Fintan.  In Book 2, Sophie finds this in Prentice's memories:

Book 2, Page 239:   Glowing eyes peeked through bushes covered in blue ears, and butterflies with bright red lips whispered sounds like mush.

It's not quite the same description, but Fintan has been to Elysian, so he's a candidate for being Kenric's source.  

[Note from June 2024: Upon reading Book 2 again, I reflected on the memory from Book 2, Page 239 being from Prentice's mind.  Kenric could still have gotten the memory from Fintan as I stated above and then saved it in Prentice's mind, since Prentice was his Keeper.  It's also possible that Kenric saved his own memory of Elysian in Prentice's mind.]

Page 266:   "Why can't we see who it is?"  "I think they're wearing an addler," Dex told her.  The real Oralie groaned.  "You're probably right.  Which means it must be the Washer Kenric called to make sure I wouldn't remember any of this.  They often wear addlers to protect their identities."

I believe that the Washer is Kenric's twin.  He probably showed up as Astin or Leto, but he had to wear an addler so that Oralie wouldn't figure anything out.

All of my past Keeper posts are linked from this page:

Keeper of the Lost Cities Summaries, Reviews, and Theories