Vashtara
First Class Dining Room

In which Theo and Kamele meet Cho sig’Radia and Win Ton yo’Vala.

One of the pleasures of reading the series in chronological order is the return of old friends, or at least of familiar names. We have met a scout of Line sig’Radia before, in “Phoenix”; that was a century ago, however, so I don’t suppose this is the same scout, though there are some similarities between the two. Senior Scout Cho sig’Radia is established as a person of intelligence and keen observation, but will nevertheless prove subsequently to have had at least one significant failure of insight in this chapter.

It appears that the research expedition has gained some members; in addition to Kamele, Theo, and the two professors emeritus from the forensic team, Chair Hafley has somehow ended up coming along, and a couple of people have brought their onagratas. Hafley’s is named Clyburn Tang — I think. The first time he’s mentioned is with a reference to “Clyburn’s onagrata“, which confused me considerably because up to now the word has only been used of a woman’s partner, but if one accepts that the word can be used in either direction the sentence falls into place and is consistent with various other indications that Clyburn is Hafley’s onagrata (and she, presumably, is Clyburn’s onagrata). Certainly, there doesn’t seem to be any other reason for the expedition including a man with no academic position whose main ability seems to be talking at length about clothes.