“You are young and I am old. This journey has taken much from me. I have few summers left. There is nothing.” “My time has a different speed. Don’t covet my life.” “You are Covenant Ringthane. You have power. How should I not covet?” He ducked away from her gaze; and after a short pause she added, “The Ranyhyn still await your command. Nothing is ended. They served you at Mount Thunder, and will serve you again—until you release them.”
There are two points here.
1. Covenant knows full well that time passes in the Land far faster than it does in his original reality. (approx 1 year per day). The obvious conclusion is that he could spend a year in the Land without dying of Leprosy back in his original reality - his dilemma feeding his unbelief is a false dilemma.
2. The Manethrall Rue, leader of the Ramen is demonstrating that despite (pun intended) her people's professed and actualised lives of service to the fabulous Ranyhyn, she and her ilk are devoted to worshipping Covenant's power and by extension, Covenant himself. The intelligent, free-spirited, forces of nature - the Ranyhyn, who are terrified of Covenant - get thrown under the bus as soon as Covenant displayed his power over them...
Ramen is a slave to power weilded through terror.
And this is held up as good and right?
It would have been far more believable if the Ramen were implacably opposed to Covenant.
