Son of A Witch - Places and Objects

Places and Objects

The Jackal Moon: A lunar event which appears roughly every generation. It occurs when "a smear of celestial flotsam converged behind the crescent moon of early autumn. The impact was creepy, a look of a brow and snout. As the moon rounded out over a period of weeks, the starveling would turn into a successful hunter, its cheeks bulging." Liir is found by Oatsie Manglehand during the Jackal Moon and he and Candle leave the Cloister at its waning. Assorted superstitions are associated with the season of the Jackal: while generally considered dangerous in Oz, the Yunamata believe that a child born in this season is lucky. When he appears to be dying, Candle bleeds Liir and throws the blood out the window as an offering to the Jackal Moon.

The Cloister of Saint Glinda: A unionist mauntery in the Shale Shallows. The Cloister also functions as a hostelry for travelers between the Emerald City and the Vinkus. It is a fortified house (with a moat and drawbridge) on a slight wooded rise. Some parts of the Cloister are hundreds of years old.

Southstairs (also Southstairs Academy): An underground city and high-security prison. Two access points are mentioned: via a secret staircase within the Palace, and via a cage lowered down into a geological shaft open to the sky in the middle of Southstairs, which is surrounded by battlements. Southstairs incarcerates common criminals and political prisoners, including a large number of Animals. It is Southstairs that provides the human flesh are fed to the dragons.

Apple Press Farm: An abandoned farmstead where Candle and Liir live after leaving the Cloister. There is an apple press and a printing press on the premises. The printing press has been attacked and damaged, and has been used to print tracts critical of the (Emperor) Apostle. Because the maunts at the Cloister know about the farm, they may have had a role in the printing of these tracts.

Bengda: A small village southwest of Qhoyre on the Waterslip River. Most of the village resides on a bridge that spans the river, and its chief income is derived from charging a toll on the water traffic that passes through. A Seventh Spear team led by Liir burns it down.

Elphaba's Broomstick and Cloak: Liir takes these items with him when he travels with Dorothy to the Emerald City. The Scarecrow returns the broom to Liir, after Dorothy presented it to the Wizard. The dragons take the broom and cloak when they attack Liir, and Liir recovers them after he and Trism poison the dragons. The broom apparently cannot be consumed by fire (although it can be charred by it). It is also still alive, as some new growth on it testifies. Mother Yackle reminds the other maunts that she gave the broom to Elphaba when she left the Cloister.

The Grimmerie: The book of magic that was in Elphaba's possession. Before he leaves Kiamo Ko, Liir looks for it in the Witch's room, but cannot find it. When resting on his trek back to Kiamo Ko after deserting the Seventh Spear, Liir, in a "waking dream" similar to an out-of-body experience, sees "a man in a cloak of purple-rose velveteen, holding a staff and a book of some sort. He was emerging in the air as one seen coming through a fog. He seemed to be off balance at first, and tested the ground with his staff until he found his feet. Setting his funny hat straight on his brow, he pulled at his eyebrows as if they bothered him...” Upon waking, Liir realizes that the book the man had was Elphaba's Grimmerie. Trism tells Liir that the Emperor Apostle showed him a page torn out of a book that was indecipherable, but that had been translated by the Wizard: "On the Administration of Dragons." This is the page that Elphaba had torn from the Grimmerie to show the Wizard in Wicked.

Dragons: These animals are considered rare and docile according to conventional Ozian wisdom, which considers the belief that they are menacing a myth. A dragon is roughly the size of a horse and its wingspan is the length of a bed sheet. It is unclear where the stock used by the Emperor Apostle came from. Ansonby tells Liir their training program started a few years before the Qhoyre operation. They are housed in the basement of a basilica on the Home Guard's training grounds in the Emerald City, which is blown up when Liir and Trism poison the dragons, dragons being combustible.