Monthly Archives: October 2013

Balance of Trade – Chapter 20

Day 116
Standard Year 1118

Elthoria

In which Jethri opens his crate from home.

The dent in the B-crate has all kinds of interesting potential stories behind it, depending on just when it happened. If it happened on the way from Khat to Jethri, that’s one thing. If Khat just added her own few items to the crate Iza was already storing Jethri’s stuff in, and Iza put the dent in it herself at some point since Arin’s death, that’s another thing. If Iza was making use of one of Arin’s old crates, and it was already dented when he got it, that’s another thing again (and at this point a small voice in my head is muttering, speculatively, “Wildetoad Wildetoad Wildetoad…”). But no, it says some of the fastenings jammed when the crate was deformed, so it most likely happened since Khat packed it up.

There’s a paragraph in this chapter that speaks to some of the conversation that’s been going on in the comment threads: “Say what you would about Iza Gobelyn’s temper, and no question she was cold. Say it all – and when it was said, the fact remained that she was a canny and resourceful captain, who held the best good of the ship in her heart.” Gotta admit, though, we haven’t actually seen much of that side of her so far.

Jethri interprets the monogram on the signet ring box as “Arin Jethri Gobelyn”. If he’s correct to do so, does that mean that Arin was already a Gobelyn when he was still a commissioner, before he married Iza?

Another little puzzle: at the bottom of the fractin collection, a rack made of an unfamiliar metal; with Crystal Dragon fresh in memory, I wonder if it’s a data-case to go with the data-tiles. (Or perhaps just an attempt at re-creating a data-case, the way Nelirikk’s shibjela is not a real shib.)

All the focus on the fractin collection leads me to realise that Jethri’s lucky fractin hasn’t been making many appearances lately, and his old habit of playing with it when he was nervous has completely disappeared since he started protocol lessons.

Balance of Trade – Chapter 19

Day 108
Standard Year 1118

Tilene Docks

In which Jethri tries his hand at cargo.

We are reminded that Jethri is most comfortable on board ship, or failing that somewhere with a solid roof over his head, a fact which is going to become salient in another chapter or two.

I had completely forgotten the detailed description of Tilene’s city, possibly because it doesn’t end up being relevant to anything later on (unless I’ve forgotten that, too). Nice bit of worldbuilding, though.

This was one of my least favourite chapters on my first reading of this novel; I have a tendency to feel it very strongly when a sympathetic character makes a mistake. I had forgotten, or it hadn’t sunk in, that his teachers judge him to have done well, all things considered. And surely this is the best kind of mistake: one that can be learned from and will not be repeated on some future occasion where the consequences of a mistake might be much worse.

Balance of Trade – Chapter 18

Day 107
Standard Year 1118

Elthoria and Tilene

In which Jethri attends an intimate dinner for two hundred of Master ven’Deelin’s closest friends.

Have I mentioned that I like Master tel’Ondor? I like Master tel’Ondor.

Balance of Trade – Chapter 17

Day 107
Standard Year 1118

Elthoria and Tilene

In which Jethri’s new status occasions some changes of schedule.

Norn ven’Deelin says, in word and in deed, that she trusts Jethri to behave honorably and do well, and not to make her regret claiming him as kin. I wonder how she’d have handled the situation if she didn’t trust him so well. (She wouldn’t have let the chel’Gaibins take him while he was under her protection, and perhaps she might have claimed him as kin anyway, seeing no other option – because I don’t think she’d have done that, even trusting Jethri as she does, if she’d seen another option – but perhaps she’d have arranged his schedule differently, kept him more out of the public eye, and let it be more in name than in fact.) On the other hand, perhaps this is a pointless question: if she didn’t already think well of him, he wouldn’t have been trading under her on Tilene and the situation would never have arisen.

The Master Trader’s concern over the unnamed practice lately surfaced on Tilene is ominous, especially once one starts wondering if it’s of a piece with the “climate changes” observed by her friend the Scout Captain on Kailipso.

Tan Sim’s family are seriously unpleasant people. Not that we hadn’t already been getting that impression, of course.

Balance of Trade – Chapter 16

Day 106
Standard Year 1118

Elthoria

In which Jethri receives a history lesson.

I had forgotten that Rinork’s grudge against Ixin was against Norn ven’Deelin in particular. It’s an interesting life she must have led (and led well, to have survived some parts of it).

I notice that when Master ven’Deelin was speculating about reasons Infreya chel’Gaibin might have adopted Tan Sim, they were all about how chel’Gaibin and Rinork might have benefitted; she doesn’t apparently consider it likely that it was done for Tan Sim’s own sake. It seems that Tan Sim, like Jethri, has a mother who doesn’t want him. (Come to think of it, the two mothers were explicitly compared last chapter, and it didn’t do Iza any favours.)

It’s amusing to have Master ven’Deelin’s opinion of the wizard’s match as a misfortune; it provides a different angle from the one from which the series usually approaches that subject.

New short story

A new Liaden Universe short story, “Out of True”, is now up on the front page of the Baen web site. It’s described in the blurb as “set within the world of Trade Secret“, whatever that means. I figure I’ll put up a post for it once Balance of Trade is over; presumably it’s safe to read “Out of True” before Trade Secret, otherwise they wouldn’t have published it first.

Speaking of, the announcement of the short story on Sharon Lee’s blog hinted that the ebook of Trade Secret may be available as soon as this week. Not that that’s going to affect the schedule here; no matter when it’s released now, we’ve still got the same amount of Balance of Trade to get through first.

Balance of Trade – Chapter 15

Day 106
Standard Year 1118

Tilene Trade Theater

In which Jethri has unexpected news of kin.

So much happens in this chapter, I’m not sure where to begin.

Why is it that things always go wrong just after somebody’s thought something like “I got through the day without doing something irrevocably stupid”? Though to be fair, Jethri didn’t do anything stupid, unless it’s stupid to do that thing he does of trusting people to be straight with him. Irrevocable, on the other hand, it certainly was. And it says a great deal for how highly Norn ven’Deelin regards Jethri that she was willing to take the irrevocable step she took to get him out of trouble.

I was amused to notice that Jethri gets to use the bow acknowledging a debt truly owed for real in this chapter, the more so since the narrator just says he bowed, “very precise indeed”, and leaves it to the reader to realise from context which bow he must have used.

I like Tan Sim pen’Akla, and I’m glad we’ll be seeing more of him. (One of the things I’m hoping for from the sequel is an improvement in his situation.)

Balance of Trade – Chapter 14

Day 81
Standard Year 1118

Kinaveral

In which the crew has a Word with the captain.

And things actually go reasonably smoothly, as far as the purpose of the meeting goes. Iza’s not inclined to be gracious, but she knows what she needs to do.

Where things get tense is when she decides to poke Grig about the things they both know (and Paitor knows some of, but perhaps not the rest of the family) about Arin and Jethri. We get what sounds like confirmation that the stuff of Arin’s that disappeared when he died wasn’t disposed of, but instead is the same stuff Paitor was nudging her in the first chapter about bundling away and never doing anything with. (And what does it say that she did bundle it away instead of just throwing it out? Or that she has decided now to get rid of it?) We also get an escalation of Iza’s insistence on regarding Jethri as Arin’s son and none of her own, though it stops short of anything that might be regarded as a clear explanation.

Balance of Trade – Chapter 13

Day 80
Standard Year 1118

Kinaveral

In which Iza Gobelyn goes off the dial.

Bailing out a pilot isn’t all that much different on Kinaveral than it was on Solcintra. I was going to say that at least the desk cop didn’t require a bribe, but on second thought maybe it’s just that the bribe is included under the heading of “taxes and duties”, which is arguably worse. And I don’t recall anybody on Solcintra saying anything ominous about what might happen if one crossed the port police a second time, but that might just mean that they didn’t believe in giving advance warning.

Iza’s put her kin in a tough position. Making allowances for family is one thing, but they can’t let her keep on the way she’s been going if it means the ship’s endangered. The crew meeting isn’t going to be fun for anybody involved.