The Gate to Women's Country: pg. 299 to End

Michael and Morgot come face to face for the first time in the entire book. Morgot had given the maps to the men, and they came to the exact place in order to be ambushed. 

The history of Women's country was revealed. The reason for the name of Marthastown came from the fact that Martha Evesdaughter was the woman to found the town 300 year ago. After the devastation caused by the men, Martha made the plan to breed out violence. 

The idea of women warriors was introduced in the reading. They started in order to act as men in the garrison, however apparently there are certain tricks and weapons, such as ninja star-like projectiles that the current women have access to. It was already revealed that all girls are taught self-defense, but some people along with the special servitors learned the new special way of fighting. 

The women seem to know a lot about the garrison, such as the murder of the previous commander and his cronies, which Michael had orchestrated.

A different side of Joshua came out, when he felt such jealousy, that he was satisfied by being the one to kill Michael, who believed the children of Morgot were his offspring.

Chernon does not seem like as bad of a person when the book is from his point of view. He seems to be very sure of himself in making these poor choices, however he had doubts about why the faces of women are never talked about in the sagas. 

The war orchestrated by the council seems to explain all the past wars. It had said that past wars were caused by ambiguous caused, which were probably methods of either population control, as part of the large trap was for, or for calming down the ideas of rebellion. The women always outnumber the men, in order to keep the women in power. The fact that a group of women could manipulate 1,200 men into marching off to their deaths seems extraordinary, however it seems to occur every decade. Such as with the war in which Barten died against Susantown. Perhaps the meeting between Morgot and the two women was not actually about food, but also included information on a planned war between the two garrisons.

The Gate to Women's Country: Chapter 34- pg. 299

The big secret of why only servitors father children is revealed. Much like the Laplanders and the breeding of the docile reindeer, the women are working to breed out the men who are more warlike. Many of the men who come through the wall are respected, as they often are much calmer and less violent.
It was interesting how Septemius was able to see through the misdirection in order to see what was truly occurring in Women's Country. He puts the clues together, what with more men returning  many books on selective breeding.
The question of the ethicalness of the situation, what with men basically wasting their lives and never being told the truth seems like it would be an issue. Also, apparently some women are sterilized, in order to prevent them from having offspring if they are not ideal for having offspring in Women's Country. While men have a choice to return through the wall, the women who do not know about the plan have no choice in the matter of having children by a warrior.
Morgot's strange companionship with Joshua is truly explained. He is the father of four of her children, and acts almost as a husband except without the domination of the relationship as there is in the Holylands. Myra's differences from Stavia seems to be due to having a poor sire, who also fathered Chernon. This helps support the claim against Myra and Barten from being half-siblings, as Stavia was worried about if Michael had been the father.
Finally, Stavia seems to be entering into a stable romantic relationship not based purely off of selfishness, guilt and domination by Chernon. Corrig cares for Stavia, thinks about what she wants, and is very caring. Due to his long-feel, Corrig predicts their future, which includes saving the women from the Holylands.
After Chernon saw how terribly Stavia was hurt, and the flaws in the society of the Holylands, it seems incredible that he has the stupidity to spread ideas of enslaving women. While his views sometimes matched up with that of the men in the Holylands, the fact that he wished for it to spread to Women's Country made the reader lose their last shred of respect for him.
The women seem to face a lot of rebellions, which are always dealt with. Morgot seems to have a plan, as Michael received maps to go to a location in order to meet with other commanders, however it seems to be a ploy in order to make the "swelling go down".

The Gate to Women's Country: Chapters 31 -33

Stavia had been hit with a shovel in the last reading, and apparently she is in a very poor condition. She seems to be hallucinating or dreaming about her situation, however with reindeer instead of people. Stavia saved the females from the male stag, which mislead these females and wanted them just for show. It seems to have a lot of parallels between Stavia and Chernon's relationship, and also the way women are treated in the Holylands. The men just want to have a woman who they can mislead, own and dominate, despite not caring much about the women.
I found it interesting how Susannah was chastising her son, but her husband reprimanded her for being disrespectful. It shows just how little respect the women receive, that they are even lower than their own sons.
Susannah hanged herself, which may have truly been brought on by seeing how after only a short amount of time, Stavia was resembling the other wives. Wives were abused, hit, hungry, and shaved. Susannah finally snapped and was sick of being pregnant and beaten, and she did all she could do to take care of Chastity by putting in the implant. She had no reason to continue to live.
The servitors along with the help of Septemius Bird show their true power. Using Stavia's pain, they were able to track her down. To save her, they had an genius plan, based off of Septemius' ideas on magic and trickery. They dressed as demons, associating Chernon with the devil. Also, they found a way to make it look like an angel had saved Stavia. Not only did this terrify the Holylanders, but also prevented them from attacking Women's Country.
Morgot revealed a huge scandal at the end of the reading. None of the warriors actually father any children. Things have started to fall into place. Such as when Myra was getting ready for the summer carnival one time, and Morgot saw the implant in Myra and commented on the importance and usefulness of the implants. As the implant kept Myra from getting pregnant from Barten.

The Gate to Womens Country: Chapter 28- 30

Stavia decided to head back, when Chernon lit a fire despite Stavia's order not to. The extremely desperate men from the Holylands ended up finding the pair. Further information about some of the eduaction of Womens Country was revealed when Stavia said that all girls learned to fight. This small tidbit seemed interesting when the warriors view the women as extremely helpless.
The Holylands and there customs and the reason for some of these customs is explained. The men view a woman who is not covered constantly in clothing as indecent. The only time women undress is during bathing. Stavia looked at the customs of the land, and was able to tell that female infanticide had taken place based on the low female to male ratio. Stavia pointed out that polyandry, or the practice of a woman taking on multiple husbands. Stavia was angry at how women were basically objects, which could be owned by "whoever impregnates me, owns me".
Marriage customs are revealed. First, the woman's head was shaved. The Holylanders viewed it as a way to make a woman less desireable, however Stavia saw it as a method in which the men controlled the women. The women were violated and felt shame about their lack of hair. The wife is also brutally beaten before marriage, in order to remind the woman to do well in duty. This is yet another way in which the woman is dominated by the male elder, even after  the years of brainwashing.
Chernon goes from possesive to a violent, controlling animal within this reading. I more or less enjoyed the long romance between the two, however Chernon took a turn for the worse. Chernon manipulates the brothers into letting Chernon remove the implant. Perhaps for his own selfish reason, of obtaining a son.
Not only does this make Stavia pregnant, as it seems when she is the only woman not to have her period for weeks, but also offers an advantage on the sid eof Chastity. Susannah begged Stavia to put it into Chastity, as Chastity would soon be going into marriage and having a couple of years to grow up before having a child would make a large difference. It seems like the only people who actually enjoy the set up of the society are the elders, who prey on large numbers of young women. The girls sre forced to spend their lives bearing children, and the younger men are unmarried for long periods of time without enough women for all of them.
For a second time, long feel is coming of use. Corrig and Joshua were able to detect that Stavia was hurt in the Holylands, and gathered other special servitors in order to retrieve her.
One thing I found interesting, was how the Council already seems to know about the impending rebellion.

The Gate to Women's Country: Chapter 23- Chapter 27

Capable, Dutiful and Reliable are three new characters. They are the son's of Susannah, and are the people spying on Stavia and the camp. The beliefs of these three men is that while the devil exists in everyone, women especially have the devil. Servitors are viewed as captives, who would have to be killed, unlike the women, who could be tamed. It is odd that since women are so objectified in the Holylands, that being sexually appealing is seen as a bad idea. In order to be a decent woman, a woman would cover themselves and shave their head.
Stavia felt the eyes of the three men, and asks Septemius to give a report on the presence of other people to the south along with the sheep dogs. Stavia chooses not to go south with her exploration, as it would be unsafe without warriors.
Septemius decides it is time to settle in Women's country. Stavia gave him advice on how to become a resident, by staying in the itinerant's quarter for a couple years, and then applying for a residence along with Kostia and Tonia.
The short snippet of the play was a good preface to the chapter following it. Achilles tried to exert his power over Polyxena however as she is dead, Polyxena cannot be controlled by him.
Stavia met up with Chernon, who basically raped her. Despite that encounter, Stavia still seems to forgive him. The relationship between the pair had changed alot, with "a large part of their emotion toward one another was hostility." Stavia only truly gave up her dream of being with the boy Chernon, not the man Chernon, after an argument about pregnancy. Chernon asked for a son, however Stavia pointed  out that she got an implant in order to prevent pregnancy. Of course, Chernon gets angry, thinking that it was meant for Stavia's servitor partner, however Stavia points out that women were often raped by bandits. Chernon points out that one of the reasons he agreed to come was to have a son, who was definitely his. Stavia is a strong, knowledgeable woman and points out the flaw in his logic.  At this point, Stavia emotionally left Chernon.
Once this happened, Chernon had very little control over Stavia without his emotional hold over her.

The Gate to Women's Country: Chapter 20- 22

The Holylands (as referred to by those within them) or the badlands (as referred to by those from Women's country) are introduced. The Holylands have what seems to be even stranger customs than Women's country.
Women are very objectified in the culture of the Holylands. They are pieces which can be traded away for other. At the age of 14, the woman is often given to a man in marriage. Often the man is much older than her, and if the woman is widowed and childless, she is given to a younger man. However if she is widowed and had a child, then the woman lives out her life on her own. Apparently the old men do not enjoy being married to someone "after another had had her." In Women's Country, there is no mention on what happens during women's periods. However, menstruating in the Holyland merits being called unclean, and the hanging of a red kerchief. Once married, women's hair is shaved off, which makes no sense. The women's sole purpose is to produce more sons. Susannah was pregnant 11 times in 15 years.
Female infanticide seems to be extremely common in the Holyland. However, the result of such actions is beginning to cause problems when there are not enough wives for the bachelors. Girls were often left for the coyotes, and the occasional weak boy too.
The Holylands are regulated by a set of laws called the Scriptures. While the women in Women's country pray to the Lady, the only god figure in the Holylands is All Father. It gets to the point that Susannah wishes for a female deity to pray to.

Chernon and Septemius interact. Septemius tries to point out the flaws in Chernon's logic about how the Council is secret, by pointing out how in the garrison many of the same practices are exercised  yet Chernon accepts them.

Stavia seems to be close to interacting with the people of the Holylands. Dogs from the Holylands had joined the flocks of sheep, protecting the sheep from the coyotes. After the sons in the Holylands suggested breaking a woman's legs after taking her from Women's country, I am extremely concerned for what will occur in the future. Someone is going to die, however it will not be Stavia as 1) the twins specified so 2)Stavia is still alive at the age of 37. Chernon seems like a likely person, however Septemius and the twins, or perhaps if Stavia befriends Susannah, Susannah may be killed.

The Gate to Women's Country: pg. 182- end of Chapter 19

The garrisons of the cities seem to be planning rebellion. Michael has become commander, and ensured that all the other garrisons would either follow suit with their own cities, or will not attack the Marthatown garrison. In the current year, there was a larger harvest. Both of Michael's conditions for rebellion have taken place, and he decided to wait until after the harvest and trade. The only part which could possibly mess up their plan is the weapon, which the men still know nothing about.
Exploration teams are being gathered. The last set of teams brought back bugs and a type of tea plant. The different jobs of the different teams are set up.

• South- 2 people (one servitor, one woman) The south team will find botanical specimens and see how far north the strangers have come. 
• North-  The group is to see the limits of the ice.
• East- The group is to investigate into the desolations, and whether or not they have shrunk.
• West- They will take a boat  and explore the shore.

Some workings of exploratio teams seem to be that young people without children, and with training in a useful field tend to be sent. Medical training and a knowledge in gardening make Stavia a perfect choice. It seems like finding people for these teams would be difficult, after Kostia and Tonia point out the irregularity that someone of Stavia's age would not have had a child yet. 

While Kostia and Tonia's abilities were already shown by their having some sort of long-feel, they chose a different way of presenting the information than Corrig. They used cards in order to tell Stavia her future, while Corrig uses his power of long-feel to suggest that Stavia does not go on the expedition.

Chernon seems to be a very complex character, who simultaneously loves Stavia yet also uses her in order to fulfill his duties to Michael. He convinces her to bring him on her expedition, instead of a servitor.