Vandar
Gylles

In which Val Con and Miri make some new friends.

Hakan may be physically short-sighted, but he sees better than some: he’s one of very few people in this novel or the last not to mistake Miri’s lack of stature for a lack of years. (He also gets her name right, even though he’s presumably grown up with the same phonemes as Zhena Trelu, which may be a testament to a musician’s ear and understanding of the importance that can be attached to almost-inaudible differences.)

This chapter includes some descriptions of what Terran sounds like to speakers of Benish, “a weird, chopping language” that “jarred on the ears”. Which implies something about what Benish itself sounds like. (I wonder what Hakan and Kem would make of Liaden, which is generally described as being smoother and more flowing.)