Tradedesk, Gallery 770
In which it is always good to have news of kin.
The red bar, it appears, indicates a person who’s been invited to the traders’ after-dinner. That number includes, apart from Jethri and Grandma Ricky, Samay pin’Aker and Infreya chel’Gaibin, but not Bar Jan chel’Gaibin. With Infreya chel’Gaibin, instead of her son, is a pilot Jethri doesn’t recognise – perhaps Former Scout yos’Belin – wearing her red badge tag “slightly askew”, which may be an indication that she’s been adjusting the number and colour of tags from those to which she is properly entitled.
Jethri gets to learn some more of the things about his father that people assume he knows already. In this case, it’s about Uncle and Dulsey, and the fact that Arin looked as much like Uncle as Jethri looks like Arin. Which, as Jethri himself notes, is interesting.
Do we ever find out the significance of the inscription Cobol 426…or perhaps I should ask…have we yet?
Not as far as I recall, and my notes say that the inscription is mentioned only in the chapter where Jethri buys the ring and the chapter in which he sells it, neither of which explain the significance.
It commemorates the 426th iteration of uncle. Lol. Joke.
Responding to Skip way too late: Since it’s been fewer than a thousand years since the migration at this point, that does seem a bit excessive for sense. But we never have heard anything more about it.
“the 426th iteration of uncle”
assuming that the ring was made shortly after arriving in the Liaden Universe – when firegems still was something new and noteworthy – and also assuming that the average iteration lasted about 50 years and assuming as well that the Uncle was present at the first war against the Iloheen (and we still aren’t sure how much time passed between the 1. and the 2. war) … that may make the uncle a contemporary of the Iloheen rise (maybe about the time the sherikas destroyed their planet and started their way to perfection).
But that are a lot of assumptions. So … what could that inscription mean?
Ah it may refer to the number of his brothers – those he lost in the old universe?
Apart from the significance of the number, there’s also the question of the word “Cobol”.
I thought I remembered there being a star called Cobol, but it turns out I was probably thinking of the planet Kobol from Battlestar Galactica. There’s also a historically significant computer programming language called COBOL (“COmmon Business Oriented Language”).
And, what with there already being Trollians and Gobelyns in this story, it might be (out-of-story) derived from “kobold”, a goblin creature from German mythology.
Paul: derived from “kobold”
Jela impersonated (not very well) a “kobold” for the purposes of infiltrating Osabei Tower. So kobold—or constructs known as kobolds—existed in the Old Universe.
Oh, yes, good point. So it could well be related to kobolds in-universe as well, considering that in-universe kobolds are constructed humans and constructed humans were something the Uncle took a keen interest in in the old universe.