Surebleak Port
In which Hazenthull and Tolly do their rounds.
It is perhaps a testament to how vividly Tolly is written that I was convinced until I checked my notes that he’d appeared at least once before. Apparently not, though.
One character who probably has appeared before is Port Security Chief Lizardi, who is most likely the same Liz Lizardi whom Miri’s Lizzie is named for. And if so, that’s interesting, because the last time we saw her she was solidly retired. No, I tell a lie: the last time we saw her she was with Hazenthull, and Diglon, helping Korval get themselves kicked off the homeworld. Perhaps, between that and helping organise the Lytaxin cavalry, she discovered she wasn’t as retired as she thought.
One of the advantages of reading a new book is I get to try and predict things. (And then, if my record on Trade Secret is any guide, you-all who have read it already get to laugh at how wrong I am.) So, for what it’s worth, I predict that the loudmouth’s “slip o’ the tongue” is connected in some way to the fellow Tolly wasn’t interested in meeting at the Emerald.
Did you read the short story “Wise Child” with Tolly?
I have now, but it didn’t exist yet when I wrote this entry; it was published in June 2016, and the post in August 2015.
On this re-read, some thoughts about Hazenthull’s thoughts about Tolly: I think she’s right that he’s a Generalist by nature, and became a Specialist because the people in charge of his education were wanting a Specialist.
I don’t know if we can say for sure about the Lyre Institute, without seeing more of them in action, but the agents of the old Tanjalyre Institute were probably all designed to be Generalists by nature, because they needed to be ready to face a wide variety of situations over the course of their career.