Spiral Dance
Gimlins
In which Jela receives new orders.
So ssussdriad is the name the dramliz give to the trees, and the answer to my question of a few chapters back is presumably that at some point the Uncle got to talking with a dramliza. Which is an interesting thing to contemplate.
Also interesting to contemplate is the description of how the dramliz are interconnected. For one thing, the language geek in me is intrigued by the implication that Rool Tiazan and his lady are not two dramliz but instead collectively constitute a single dramliza. (And also amused that, in the glossary in the appendices, the collective noun for wizards is “an enchantment”.)
(Speaking of the appendices, I note with interest that the character list in the appendices includes a name that I’m certain isn’t given in the text. Commandant Harrib is presumably the ser with the interesting chair.)
(…now here’s a thing. I ran a search in the e-book to make sure I hadn’t overlooked Commandant Harrib any place, and his name does come up once in that chapter — but only in the e-book. In the trade paperback, he’s just “the commandant” throughout that chapter, including that one sentence. I wonder which way it goes in the Baen editions?)
I really wasn’t expecting Lute’s name to pop up, the first time I read this.
Tomorrow: Crystal Dragon.
What a great place to end a book. I want more!
(I don’t have a Baen edition to answer your question with. I’ve got a Meisha Merlin edition.)
Did you notice the dedication at the front? I had to search for it, of course.
I did see the dedication, but I didn’t make anything of it, not recognising the name. Am I missing something important?
You are not missing anything. It is just a minor note of interest, which you can see at liaden_spoilers.
You are not missing anything important. Just a nod to another author’s work, which you can find out about at http://liaden-spoilers.livejournal.com/18524.html. (I tried linking in a previous attempt at a comment, but the comment disappeared, so I will try without the HTML tags.)
Thanks for pointing that out.
(Your first attempt wound up in the spam trap, presumably because the AI decided the link was somehow suspicious. That’s the first time it’s overreached itself so far.)
Good to know, about how Uncle knew the Tree’s species.
Yes, great ending place.
So, just when all hope seemed lost, Rool Tiazan and his Lady present Cantra, Jela and the Tree with options. There are not one, but three plans, and Jela is recruited to Landomist to free Liad dea’Syl from durance vile. A neat bit of logic-looping, that – the deus ex machina disguised as the Luck, drawing in an unexpected salvation.
I was struck by Rool’s choice of words: We will diminish. In LOTR, this is the same word chosen by Galadriel, when she has chosen to resist the temptation to keep the One Ring for herself. She says: I pass the test…I will diminish, and go into the West.
I have returned to this chapter, after doing a search to locate a point that had left me somewhat confused when I read it. After Rool tells Jela and Cantra (and the Tree) that there are those among the free dramliz who believe the sheriekas can be defeated, Canta asks “Can they?” and then continues in her own thoughts, arriving at: But the notion of—decrystallizing…the known galaxy in the hopes of creating one better, out of will and cussedness alone—
My point of confusion arose from her reference to “galaxy” as opposed to “universe.” Somehow I did not notice that it was the character who did not understand how much more than “the known galaxy” was in danger and who did not understand that the “bubble universe” that would be formed was so much bigger than her “known galaxy.” Thus I was confused by the sudden reduction of the vast space of a universe down to the relatively tiny space of one galaxy.
Rethinking it, I see that perhaps the authors were trying to tell the readers something about Cantra, rather than suddenly confusing the scope of their story.
The issue of “galaxy” versus “universe” has continued to confuse me. It *seems* as if the authors at times confuse these terms, but then I haven’t done a thorough study of all these books to try to identify a pattern that I could apply.
@Paul in the OP: Rool Tiazan and his lady are not two dramliz but instead collectively constitute a single dramliza.
So are we saying that…because Rool and his lady together form one…that throughout the rest of the series they breed as one, that is, their ability as a dramliza (plural) means that this combination/mixture/meld of dominant and submissive is bred into the next generation and that is why in the present (within the series) the word dramliza is used for a single person?
Personally, I think it’s ideological: The lady and her sisters are taught by the sheriekas to believe that they are incomplete until they’ve gone through all the training/indoctrination and passed all the tests and secured a submissive, because if one of them decided she was a complete person in herself and didn’t need the indoctrination or the submissive she could cause a lot of trouble for the sheriekas. And then in later generations there’s a rebellion against that way of thinking, or else it just gets forgotten about once the sheriekas aren’t around to keep reinforcing it, so that by the present time any individual with dramliz abilities is considered to be a dramliza, whether they form a wizard’s match or not.
Good point Paul. Thanks.