In which Kezzi listens, and Syl Vor listens.
I like the bit where Val Con tells Syl Vor about Swan Lake, translating the concepts into their nearest Liaden equivalents as he goes.
(I also like the preceding bit with the music, but not in a way I can find specific words for.)
Kezzi summons Malda by snapping her fingers, which is not the way dogs are generally summoned where I live. It might just be a cultural difference without specific significance. On the other hand, remembering that we’ve already been told the Bedel summoning bell was designed to be difficult to hear beyond their walls, it occurs to me that a snap – compared to, say, a whistle or a voice call – would be less likely to carry to unfriendly ears, and less likely to impress itself on such ears as a sound of definitely human origin.
I enjoyed that the music this time was not Val Con’s usual Bach Organ Toccata and Fugue. After the description of what Syl Vor was hearing in the music, I was almost amused to read that it was from the ballet Swan Lake, because I recognized that most likely the authors were thinking of the finale, which does indeed put its audience through an emotional wringer.
Ah, but these authors have cats. Maybe they don’t know how dogs are usually beckoned. Lol.