In which things are changing on Surebleak.
Even granting that a public gathering of all the Bosses seems like a good opportunity to make a statement, it strikes me as particularly lacking in foresight for the disgruntled pack to try and start something at, of all things, a shooting competition. That’s right up there with the legendary criminal who tried to knock over the local precinct’s favourite coffee shop during the cops’ lunch break.
The old argument about the new consolidated school suggests this is set shortly after Necessity’s Child, though how much after would depend on the balance between the newness of the school and the oldness of the argument. Actually, it might even be during the late stages of Necessity’s Child, if the argument is “what to do when the new school opens” rather than “what to do now the new school has opened”.
(It might turn out that I’d have had more to say about this story if I’d read it after Dragon in Exile, the way Trade Secret turned out to contain details that clarified the situation in “Out of True”, but I had important pragmatic reasons for putting Dragon in Exile last in the schedule, namely that that meant I could schedule everything without needing to know exactly how many chapters there are in Dragon in Exile.)
I enjoyed the attempted pronunciation, which later was recognized by the same person as incorrect. I was a bit struck by the inconsistency of Kez Rel being angry about it (surely, he’d run into ‘Bleakers who didn’t catch the pronunciation correctly?) and then accepting it as a nickname, but maybe it was just getting used to the idea?
Maybe it was less outright anger than automatic annoyance at yet another person getting his name wrong again. I can relate.
Actually, later he told Darby that he liked having a “nickname” even though at first he gave off a mixed feeling of “humor and aggravation”
Yes, I enjoyed the agreement to use a nickname too.
And, having a less common spelling of a last name, I’ve had my own share of aggravation when people look for mail, packages, prescriptions, etc., under the wrong spelling and insist there is nothing there for me. It’s as if once people *think* they understand, they can no longer “hear” what you’re really telling them.
Oh, I hear you. I once stood in line for ever because the guard at the gate couldn’t spell, and wouldn’t listen.
Rereading this story again (after <Accepting the Lance) I was struck by the frequency, at least in proportion, of Liaden names that recall birds. We have Val Con = falcon; Kez Rel = kestrel; and Kor Vid = corvid. Of course for Val Con and Kor Vid, a bird name for someone who flies as a pilot is merely an appropriate association. The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest bird on the planet. The corvids are not even in the top 15 for speed, but are known for their cleverness. The kestral is also a falcon, one as small as a Mourning Dove. It is Kez Rel who is the outlier—not a pilot, but a doctor—but then his “bird name” is only a nickname.
(Curiously, #15 is the tiny—in comparison to the other fastest fliers—Anna’s Hummingbird. Perhaps too many syllables to be represented in a Liaden name?)