In which Val Con scores a victory over a field of skimmers and an aunt.
Speaking of families of consequence, here is Korval again. Anne and Er Thom have died since we saw them last, and Shan is now First Speaker, holding the clan in trust for when Val Con becomes Delm — though Val Con seems no more eager to do that thing and to give up the Scouts than his father was. (One suspects he’s going to find it harder to put off once the “your father was Delm at your age” card enters play, but he has a few years up his sleeve yet before he reaches that age.) For that matter, Shan is not keen on being First Speaker, and looks forward to being able to hand it off to Nova and head out on the Dutiful Passage. (Presumably there’s an age restriction of some kind, else Nova would be First Speaker already; she’s clearly better suited for it temperamentally.) And in the mean time, Shan races skimmers, and Val Con spends time with bartenders…
This is a case where the right ordering of a story is unclear, not because it’s not certain when it takes place, but because it’s certainly taking place at the same time as another story. I chose to put “Shadow Partner” first, since most of that story takes place before this one begins (and this ends after that does, if only by a paragraph or two), but they would not do badly the other way round.
Tomorrow: “Certain Symmetry”
For whatever reason, the impression I have was that the First Speaker’s duty rotates, not that there was an age restriction.
Also, I think two things worth mentioning from this story–Kareen can be played, and still be sensible about it (as she shows by her bow at the end) and Pat Rin, who, regardless of his feelings for his mother, is protective of her when it looks as if things might blow up.
All in all, I am amazed that Val Con had the luxury of time to just sit at the bar and wait till end of shift. I’d love to find the backstory to how the replacement bartender was available to help out – surely there is a tale worth telling in that.
Chapter Sixteen of Agent of Change clarifies the situation with regard to First Speaker: not an age restriction, as such, but a matter of preparedness. It went to Shan automatically, as the eldest, but he couldn’t be both First Speaker and Trader so he did the job only until Nova had received enough training to take over.
This story says Daav left his young son in Kareem’s care, but given his decision to take Kareem’s son young PatRin from her abusive care, and give him to bel’Tarda for fostering, I find that nearly impossible to credit. Daav and Er Thom were like brothers. He would have left ValCon with him.
Does the end of Mouse and Dragon explicitly state who he left his son to?
The end of Mouse and Dragon is clear, as you would expect, that Daav left Val Con in the care of Er Thom and Anne.
I’ve just skimmed through A Day at the Races (not having time at the moment for more) and not found where it says Daav left Val Con in Kareen’s care, but instead several repetitions of the fact that Kareen chose not to take on Val Con’s care when Daav left. Where is the bit you’re thinking of, do you remember?
The way I remember it Daav had played his sister so that she would decline the offer to take care of Val Con and his forstering with Er Tom would be undisputable, as well as Er Tom’s position of Speaker in Trust.
Wether it was on purpose or acidently that Val Con overheard his Aunt Kareen’s declining to take him on, at this age he only understood that he was not wanted and therefor a seed of mistrust and resistance toward his Aunt was planted.
Val Con and Nova are talking after Kareen leaves the house in a huff:
““It is fantastic, is it not,” said Val Con, “that my aunt holds such opinions? After all, she was offered the Trusteeship when my father abdicated—and refused it, even as she refused to care for his son, leaving all to yos’Galan.”
And on race day, before the race, Shan recalls the past:
Shan opened his mouth—closed it, as memory rose: The boy, Shan, entering the house by a side door and almost falling over his small cousin, Val Con, unexpectedly sitting on the cool stone floor, clutching a martyred orange cat in his arms. Shan sat on the floor next to the child; extended a hand and ruffled the dark hair. “Hello, denubia. What’re you doing here?”
A long pause during which Val Con studied him out of solemn green eyes. Then, with the terrible succinctness of the very young: “Aunt Kareen doesn’t want me.”
And just before the race (granted it never says Daav left Val Con to Kareen’s care, but these three extracts imply that he did not leave him to Er Thom). It’s just odd.
Lady Kareen stated formally, “I forbid you to race—this evening, tomorrow, or at any time in the future. Do I make myself plain, sir?”
A pause, very brief. Then, in the highest possible dialect, that used to address strangers or those barely acknowledged as kin: “You long ago declined the right to so command.”
Ps. Despite this confusion, I liked this story very much!
I do feel we need a story or a chapter that explains how when why Kareen decided to become kinder and more likable to certain family members (Shan, Daav, etc). Maybe she changed when she was attacked by supposedly worthy council people, and had to flee. Or maybe it’s realizing her code-based talents now truly could make a difference to the well being of Surebleak (as opposed to Liad, where he focus on the code was not a matter of national peace, prosperity, and security)
Besides the comments you mentioned there was something written in the Delm’s diary (I’m not sure in which book that is). Aunt Kareen trying to forbid Val Con to race seems to tie into Lord of the Dance (which later was declared non canon) and Aunt Kareen’s there explained minor dramliz talent.
It also fits her character – trying to ascertain herself with force and testing Val Con. Being than bested by Val Con has the benefit of proving to her satisfaction his strength and fitness to be Delm as well as him being sharp enough to get Korval through any disaster she sees coming from him losing the race. That he and Shan finally win it only proves her point. In most of her animosity Lady Kareen gives a fair warning of her intentions or the social disasters she sees coming, so that the rest of Korval may prepare for it and find another way to do things. In a way Lady Kareen plays the ever croaking pessimist – wishing to be proved wrong – again.
I see three or maybe four turning points for her.
1. She has to shoot her longtime friend when he offers to kill her relatives so she or her son can be Delm. She than realizes how naive her view was that Korval could solve everything by ‘right behavior’ and that Liad finally reached peaceful times.
(Also she has gotten older and realized how many of the people she grew up with are no longer around. Loneliness [of not only having lost friends but also people she considered enemies before – and realizing that those weren’t as bad as some of her best friends proved to be] forced her to rethink quite a few things.)
2. At the Rock she has had to review her opinion of Luken.
3. Having nothing better to do on Surebleak she takes care of Theo’s mother – maybe still with Theo’s comment in the ear: ‘an Aunt, now an Aunt is a treasure.’ And it works out! Additionally Miri finds a use for her – something she is good in – something no one else can do – something she loves to do! That is more than Korval ever did for her before.
4. She had ample chance to see how Daav and then Er Tom suffered under the loss of their livemates – how it destroyed Er Tom and nearly destroyed Daav.
Back to Er Tom fostering Val Con. In A Day at the Races we get Shan’s point of view and Val Con’s point of view. Oh yes and Kareen was offered Trusteeship when she wanted to be Delm herself. A set up for Kareen as I said, I doubt Daav and Er Tom would have explained their strategy to the kids.
Othin, your analysis of Kareen is interesting and — in my view — it collectively holds enough weight to account for the noticeable change in her personality.
I just do not see why Daav would risk his tender young son to Kareen, if the ruse didn’t work. Why not merely give him directly to Er Thom?
He might have been obligated to make the offer, what with Kareen being the only other yos’Phelium left.
Or maybe… as Othin said, this story really only gives us the children’s experience of the event. Maybe Daav never actually made the offer, but Val Con assumed he would because Aunt Kareen was his closest relative (and he wouldn’t have known about her history with Pat Rin), and took it as a personal rejection when he found out she wasn’t going to be taking him.
It was a little confusing to find “Shadow Partner” covered first when I had used the suggested reading order to read these stories for the first time. I do think it works better to read this one first then Shadow Partner, because the new suggested order allows the ending of “Day at the Races” to remain in suspense (i.e., the strangeness of the idea to those who “know” Val Con to hear of his courting a barmaid). If one reads “Shadow Partner” next, all is gradually revealed.
Yes, I think that might have been one of the considerations that led me to recommending that “A Day at the Races” be read first. The recommended order doesn’t always match the order I covered the stories in the re-read, because it’s the result of the re-read and sometimes I had only a vague or mistaken idea of where a story fit before I re-read it. (If you’re doing all the short stories in the suggested order, you’ll have already reached the patch of Moonhawk and Lute stories where I realised as I was reading them that I’d put them in the wrong order.)
Paul: yes, I did see that, unfortunately not until I’d already followed the order in the list…or somehow or other gotten them out of order. Oh, well. Enjoying these reread posts and the other comments/commenters immensely. (my only wish would be some mechanism to allow us to edit our own comments *sigh*)
And by the time I did my second read, the ability to immediately edit posts had been granted!
More than Val Con’s inventiveness, I mostly enjoyed seeing Kareen’s reaction when Val Con stood up for himself and his decision to race.
I had to chuckle at my comments from 3 March 2018 after this third read-through.
I was reading the order as given in your suggested order list, which now shows “Shadow Partner” after “Day at the Races.” I came here to make the comment that I wish I had read “Shadow Partner” first! Oh, well, I suppose it all depends on one’s mood at the moment.