On Port
Gimlins
In which a second opinion is sought and given.
I found this chapter quite affecting, but I’m not good at talking about emotional stuff, so I’m going to fall back on plot details as usual.
I had forgotten that detail about the origin of the M Series. (You hadn’t, though; I remember it coming up in a comment. See, that’s one of the reasons I wanted other people around for this.)
And here we have the introduction proper of Rool Tiazan and his lady, of whom history records that they will have many diminutive red-headed descendants, who will be among the closest allies of Clan Korval. (As this is a prequel, the question of their survival is of course not “if” but “how”.)
I had forgotten the name of the two dramliz and that they were red heads. Tsk.
Maybe we should have read the prologue to the next book before we read about these two dramliz. (I had thought that the story of their origins was a short story in a chapbook, and wasted some time trying to find it.)
Maybe. The pre-planning conversation, though, tended to the view that the chapters of the novels are in the order they’re in for a reason, and we ought not to mess with them without good cause, and I’ve mostly tried to stick with that in planning the schedule.
Also, to be honest, I have a feeling I’d forgotten, when I was setting the schedule, that the prologue is a chronological backstep. 🙂
So much in this chapter. Rool is described here as a pretty little man, golden-skinned, looking high-caste and high-house.
Here we see the “luck” theme cropping up again. Rool says the luck swirls like gravity around Jela, and especially around Cantra.
Here we also see the “choice” theme (Rool says even though he is Shereikas-made, and has done terrible things when serving them, choice exists, and he has decided to no longer serve the Iloheen, aka the Shereikas). I see the choice theme in Val Con’s mental fight to free himself of the DoI, and in Rhys, another DoI agent who fought to free his soul, with help from some friends. In fact, in some ways, the DoI is like a reincarnation of the Shereikas.
Moving scene when Rool and his Gray Lady meet Tree. Sad, too.
And here we see the origins of Cantra’s frequently repeated quote about how to recognize an ally:
“Ask yourself, ‘Can they shoot, and will they aim at my enemies?’ “
According to what Rool tells Jela and Cantra in the cab, it is a question of degree of “will” present in a star system, that determines whether the dramliz can destroy it or not. This tells us, or rather confirms for us, exactly how strong this one single Tree is. I can only imagine that it was requiring an incredible display of power from the Iloheen to bring the Tree’s star system to the point of destruction…and look how many years must have been involved (although the period of time is probably not perceived in the same way for non-humans)!
From one who has known loss, I was struck by Jela’s brief but accurate description: Had his arm been caught in a man-trap, he might have hacked it off and kept on fighting; had his ship been breached, he might have rushed the enemy and with his last breath made the pain meaningful. But this—there was no getting at the wound, no assessing the level of function disturbed . . .
Whoa…so the Tree actually provides some kind of DNA edit even for dramliz? Not only did it welcome them…and presumably their children…as allies for what will be clan Korval, but apparently it sensed their choice to become less sheriekas or at least less dramliz and more human? (see next chapter)
Jelala Alone said: Rool says the luck swirls like gravity around Jela, and especially around Cantra.
In NEOGENESIS, the Uncle’s sister told Daav, Aelliana, Val Con, Miri, and Uncle that she thinks the luck is gravitationally drawn to Surebleak, to Korval. Or words similar…
And we can say . . . well, no wonder, when Surebleak is home to so many descendants of Korval!