Vandar
Hellin’s Surcease

In which Porlint is not much like Surebleak.

Miri’s comment to Hakan and Kem, that when they are together long enough they will know when something is not right with the other, has got me trying to remember how much has been established at this point in the series about the nature of the link she shares with Val Con, and whether it is something that she might expect Hakan and Kem to share too. Already this re-read we’ve had a lot of detailed backstory about the wizard’s match and nature of the connection, but I think all of that was published later, and when this novel was first published Miri and Val Con’s link was the first of its kind in the series and as yet lacking in a wider context.

Even given the context later established, it’s not impossible that Miri might suppose the link to be more common than it is, since her upbringing wouldn’t have included any relevant information and she, knowing her education has many gaps in it, might assume that the thing she has with Val Con is a common thing that nobody bothers to mention. (Val Con, having a more complete education, might not have made the same remark.)

This is not related to anything in this chapter, but it’s just occurred to me that the gossipy Athna Brigsbee’s name is an irony: the Earth name it most closely resembles is “Athena”, a name associated with wisdom and justice. I can’t think of a similar association for Estra Trelu, unless “Astra”, which means “star”.