Osabei Tower
Landomist
In which Kel Var tay’Palin proves a point.
It’s very tempting to speculate about what might have happened had Prime tay’Palin survived a bit longer. (Tempting, too, to assume that it would have made things easier, if only because why else would the authors have killed him off?)
I’ve been trying to remember why Scholar dea’San’s surname sounded familiar. I thought at first that it was the same as the crime boss with the assumed airs, but he was dea’Sord, not dea’San. I’ve got it now, though: Vertu dea’San, Clan Wylan, is the protagonist of the novella “Skyblaze”, which is currently scheduled at the very end of the re-read.
I had also been wondering why Scholar tay’Nordif had decided to take a liking to the cat, but I think this chapter answers that question. Clearly she had been feeling a lack of somebody to talk to who would appreciate the excellence of her thought. (Either that, or she had been feeling a lack of somebody to steal her chair and lie on her keyboard while she was trying to work.)
Since Prime tay’Palin was about to give away Jela’s true nature, it was hard to see his end as anything other than fortuitous for Jela’s mission, except that Prime tay’Palin seemed the most competent and least ridiculous of the scholars.
As for the cat, perhaps Scholar tay’Nordif felt that the provided scholar’s gown was too plain and required furry embellishment? The cat, of course, has very strong luck, so perhaps Scholar tay’Nordif’s attraction to the cat is a result of the cat’s unconscious manipulation of reality.
What is the spark that Lute saw? How is Rool “twice a slave”? I like that he is “old in treachery” and “more than a bit mad” in Lute’s estimation.
Er Thom is a historical name in the family, it appears. I don’t remember the little details like that between readings.
How did the scholars get the planet shield? And what is a planet shield (how does it work)?
I understood “twice a slave” thus: First, in the way that all the zaliata held captive by the Iloheen are, and second, because he let himself be bound into a body to be part of a dramliza.
(Lute himself is apparently another of the zaliata whom Rool Tiazan has persuaded to follow his lead. Is the same true of all the rogue dramliz? If so, it would appear that Rool Tiazan has been busy – or it’s been a while since the prologue. Lute actually says it’s been a long time, “even as they counted” – how long is that?)
Er Thom isn’t the only one; we’ve also had mention of a Syl Vor and a Sae Zar. (And a Cor Win, who I mention not because I remember that name recurring in Korval but because I wonder if it’s a shout-out to Roger Zelazny.)
There must be a cat. Every book has a cat.
Talking to the cat may also be a way to inform Jela of what happened to her in his absence and what is going on at the political level. It’s a perfectly innocent way of passing on information without the scholar having to be aware of it. As a bonus, the cat requires food, which might also be eaten by Jela.
Of course no character could be on the “good” side if it ever let come any harm to a cat in this series.
Ah, I see I was being unnecessarily elliptical. When I said that this chapter answered the question of why Scholar tay’Nordif decided to keep the cat, the fact that talking to the cat would serve as a way of informing Jela was what I was referring to.
(It’s been so long since I read Crystal Dragon that I don’t now recall whose food Jela ate. Food that was good for a cat wouldn’t necessarily be good for a Jela, but I suppose Scholar tay’Nordif would make an appropriate selection if that was the way it went.)
The Scholar ordered food for herself and Jela when she got her quarters.
And she ordered rations for the cat later on, and ordered Jela to feed him. Which Jela did not much appreciate. Pretty sure Jela at that time was not a cat lover.
During her time as the scholar, Cantra does not eat Tree pods, does she? Yet in this chapter, the Tree feeds FIVE seed pods to Jela! That’s 5 pods all in one night! Besides the needed nourishment, we can guess that Tree is working to extend Jela’s life as best it can. What else might those pods (or actually their fruit/kernals) be providing for him do you think?
RE: Linda Shoun’s comment from 3/16/16 . . . Where does the scholar order food for herself and Jela? I cannot find this reference. It was my impression that during this time his only nourishment came from pods from the Tree, leading to…it is Rool’s comment later?…that he seems to have lost weight and his response is that he’d been forced to subsist on reduced rations?
I assumed that he was losing weight because of approaching decommision, but he blamed it on reduced rations to avoid questions.
Also, getting ahead by killing the chairman in a duel would have made my grad school days a LOT more interesting!