Day 135
Standard Year 1118
Elthoria
In which Jethri discovers a foster-granmam.
The narrative seems determined to show me a liar in the matter of Jethri’s lucky fractin. If I were the paranoid type, I might wonder if the amount of time it was absent was carefully calculated so that it would reappear just as one was sure it was gone for good.
Vil Tor and Gaenor don’t entirely succeed in unlocking the approaching situation for Jethri; he still has an unpleasant surprise waiting. This is not their fault; being, as Jethri notes, Grounders, they’re not aware of all the Spacer assumptions Jethri is bringing to bear on his understanding of what he’s been told.
It seems to be significant that both Vil Tor and Gaenor touch Jethri on the shoulder as they say their farewells, since the narrator makes a point of mentioning it, and I’m aware that Liadens generally don’t go in for casual physical contact. I’m not sure what it’s significant of, though, unless just how close their friendship has become.
Incidentally, I’m intrigued by Vil Tor, whose family name is never mentioned; even in the cast list he is only “Vil Tor” and nothing else.
Short chapter, mid book. From his two friends, Jethri learns about his upcoming trip to Irokwae, which narrator Keven T. Collins pronounces like the tribe, Iroquois. Jethri leans also that he will now have a foster grandmother.
His wry yet wary acceptance of his newly exalted clan status and his expanding new family is chuckle worthy.
I believe the sporadically mentioned fractin is used to keep us mindful that there is another plot thread still to be resolved (partially), lest we forget.
For myself, I’m hoping we hear more about Jethri’s lucky fractin and his built-in sensitivity to fractins and other Old Tech, about a year from now.