In which Bell the painter and Cyra the jeweler rise together from the wreckage.
This story is set in Standard Year 1293, a bit over a century since “Sweet Waters”, and nearing two centuries since Trade Secret. Things have moved on since Jethri’s time to the point that there are now Terrans living, and even legally owning property, on Liad, in Solcintra itself, though only in the Low Port and not with any entree into polite society. (And interacting with Liadens in ways other than owning property, by the evidence of the half-Terran Debbie.)
It is also far enough on that we’re beginning to approach the next clump of novels. This story introduces a character we will see again in a novel, as does each of remaining the stories between now and when we hit the beginning of Local Custom.
I’m not entirely sure what to make of Cyra’s Delm and his idea of appropriate punishment. It’s difficult to be certain when there’s only one viewpoint available; there may be mitigating circumstances available. Cyra does say that the clan is not rich, but that may be an attempt to give the benefit of the doubt, since she also comes about as close as a polite young lady might to outright accusing her Delm of being a penny-pincher. And while he clearly has concern about ensuring the continuance of the clan into a new generation of clanmembers, that’s not enough in itself to explain his treatment of Cyra; a clan that needs every child does not, if it’s being rational, wilfully deprive itself of one of the children it already has.
(And here is the kind of thing a person can find himself thinking about when contemplating information that appears in other stories than this: in another century, Liaden medical technology will include a method to easily erase facial scarring. I wonder if that technology already exists at the time of this story, which would offer the possibility that the delm intended Cyra’s disfigurement to last only as long as her exile. But if that was the delm’s thinking, does that actually make it any better?)
Interesting questions, Paul. Ones we’re not likely to get answers for!
My question is about the loss of the child: Have Liadens never had the tragedy of a SIDS death? Is this a malady that neither Liadens not Terrans of this time experience? Since Cyra says she had changed him once, it suggests he could have been young enough, and yet she is cut and cast off for something that no one could have prevented? This makes her delm’s treatment entirely inexcusable…could he be so much of a spendthrift that this was a way to save on having to pay out her quartershares? No, I guess not, if the money is going into a special account. But nowhere is it confirmed who will actually have access to this account.
A sad story. But nice to see kindness, and dea’Cort.
There are a number of Liaden short stories of exploitation, despair, unkindness. At times, I feel Korval should have done something. In Degrees of Separation, people from Low Port couldn’t see the Healers. That didn’t sound right to me…a breach of character for Healers and for Korval.
Another short story that depicted how tough it is to get ahead on Liad, if you’re a Terran, is Certain Symmetry. The casino is owned by a Terran family that’s lived in Solcintra for decades, but they have no one to represent their needs to the governing body — the Council of Clans. So they had to make nice with a Liaden clan just to do legitimate business. When that fell through….. They lost a lot. Moreover, a Liaden could then accuse them, sell them into slavery, whatever…and no recourse, because a clan member will always be believed — or just heard — over a nobody.
Like the Romans…to be a Roman citizen was everything.
As I recall. Been a while…
Reading this story for the third time now. it seems I was also struck by little indications that Cyra had always been a least favorite and possibly was just the family’s scapegoat—possibly similar to Aelliana.
This is a known problem with dysfunctional families, not all, but many tines one person somehow becomes the focus of blame for every family misfortune. In Cyra’s case, the blame cast on her for the death of her sister’s child, but before then, she remembers apparently her one experience with a Festival. Like Cinderella being given leave to use all the cast-offs in her attic to make a dress for the ball, Cyra is given the dubious privilege of choosing one of her aunt’s undesirable cast-offs as her mask.
You are right, Ed8r, Cyra is a scapegoat even before the misfortune of her niece’s death. Her delm invests in a husband for her without regard if the two fit (which seems fairly common on Liad) and then blames her for not producing an heir. He could have invested that money into her studies so that she could earn money for the clan and then, when she was a known resourse with a steady income have her produce an heir. But instead – as a clan with money problems – Cyra’s delm and uncle properly saw her beauty and assumed fertility as a more profitable and dependable source of income. This assumes also that her art talent made her the odd one in her family and none took the time to reasurch how valubal it might be.
This contrast nicely to Clan Obrelt and their way of dealing with chlidren that don’t fit the family or clan business of shopkeeper.