Interestingly enough though, Brothers of the Wind: A Novel of Osten Ard doesn't put Ineluki, or even his brother, Hakatri, in the driver's seat. Instead, this novel is told from the perspective of Hakatri's armiger, a Tinukeda’ya named Pamon Kes, the first person of his race to be granted such a privileged title. While Kes does seem to be placed above his fellow Changelings, he is still far below the ranks of his masters, the Zida'ya, but since Kes was essentially raised in his master's household in the great city of Asu'a, he finds he understands his long-lived masters' views and beliefs a lot better than those of his own race. Though, at the start of Brothers of the Wind, he hardly realizes just how little he knows his own heritage and his people's history. It isn't until he follows Hakatri and Ineluki on their ill-fated quest to slay a great dragon that he begins to learn just how out of touch he is with his fellow Changelings.
When mortal men come to Asu'a to beg for help from the ruling family, Hakatri's and Ineluki's parents question the need for aid. While the humans claim that a great dragon is terrorizing their lands, those who remember the battles with the serpents insist that there is no way any such beast still lives, much less the fabled (and feared) Hidohebhi. But, Ineluki's famed hot-headedness flares up and he swears to all that he will hunt the beast and not return to beloved Asu'a until it is slain. Fearing for his younger brother's rash vows, Hakatri follows Ineluki in the hopes of talking sense into the brash immortal, and if not, then at least helping him in the hunt, in case the beast is actually the famed ancient dragon. And, of course, at Hakatri's side is his faithful servant, Pamon Kes.
The events that are only hinted at in Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn are of a hunt that, while successful, left Hakatri badly wounded, and tainted Ineluki's opinion of mankind forever. While both brothers survived the fight, both were also changed for all time. One would spend his days hoping to find a cure from the dragon's blood that burned his skin, while the other would seethe in hatred for mortals and eventually become the threat known as the Storm King. None of these details are more than was learned in the original series, but Brothers of the Wind details that hunt and its aftermath and fills in a lot of the pieces lost to history. It is worth mentioning though, that, because of Kes' own perspective, Ineluki's descent into the threat he will become is more of a background story happening alongside Hakatri's own quest. What results is a rather unique view of one of the major events that shaped Osten Ard and from an unlikely point of view.
The lore that Williams wove into his original epic was both wide and deep, and one aspect I really enjoyed about Brothers of the Wind is the fact that even in this story, set some 1,000 years before The Dragonbone Chair, there are hints of older myths and stories that show an even richer history to Osten Ard. During Kes' journey, he hears about why mortal men were given lands previously cared for by the immortals. He gets snippets of tales about fights with dragons and giants. Kes even starts to realize he is missing major aspects of his own people's history, mythology and culture. To make matters more interesting, given this character's race and the title of the upcoming Last King of Osten Ard novel, The Navigator's Children, I would not be surprised if Kes' story is some much needed groundwork for the rest of Williams' latest dive into his epic fantasy world.
If you read Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn and want to learn more about the history of Osten Ard, then Brothers of the Wind is just what you are looking for. It is a great expansion of a piece of Osten Ard history, much like when Christopher Tolkien would take one of the bits of Middle Earth history J.R.R. Tolkien referenced in The Lord of the Rings and expand it into a full story. With Brothers of the Wind, you get to read one of these turning points in Osten Ard history, and it is a fun journey.
