In which Miri makes use of the enemy of her enemy.
I have a feeling Grandmother Cantra would have approved of Miri’s solution to the trouble she and Val Con find themselves in under the hyatts. Her advice in times of yore was that a useful ally is defined by the answers to the questions “Can he shoot?” and “Will he aim at my enemy?” No mention, I realise now, of any requirement that their choice of target be motivated by goodwill towards oneself…
Taking the approximate age given for Edger when he entered the story, and making the simplifying assumption that shells are attained at regular intervals, produces the estimate that young Sheather is about five and half centuries old. That estimate may well be out by a considerable amount in either direction, but it underlines the point I made a few chapters ago about twelve years being unlikely to be a significant portion of his life.
This is, as far as I can remember, the only mention in the series of an Yxtrang ambassador. (Multiple ambassadors, is implied by Val Con feeling the need to specify that he’s referring to the one assigned to this sector.) Interstellar diplomacy doesn’t really seem characteristic of the Yxtrang as I remember them, particularly if it might mean agreeing not to attack somebody they want to attack. Maybe it’s just an excuse for getting a close look at the defenses of places they intend to attack regardless.
By the time I read The Gathering Edge I had forgotten all about the idea of an Yxtrang Ambassador, especially after Val Con and Miri’s experience with Yxtrang at the end of this book. The ambassodor thread is one of those we are still anticipating for the final book of the “Five Book Dash.”
On this reread, I was surprised by the Yxtrang Ambassador, not because I had forgotten that he exists, but because I had forgotten that the concept began here in this book. I guess it should have surprised me during my first read that a race that, in later glimpses, seems so belligerent by nature would actually include any individuals with a proclivity for the kind of negotiations usually undertaken by an ambassador—or the kind of governments that would send out such representatives.