Vivulonj Prosperu
In Transit

In which the Uncle is informed of Daav and Aelliana’s decision.

In light of the earlier interlude, I don’t think the Uncle’s attribution of the decision to Daav is quite accurate, though it makes sense that he would think of Daav as the primary decision-maker when Daav is the most visible half of the partnership. It’s more a case of Aelliana, once again, acting to protect the vulnerable and preserve the clan’s resources.

More re-establishing of the situation from previous novels, with a nice seasoning of new details. We’re getting answers here to questions about the Uncle that have been lurking in the background of the series for a long time.

The reference to the Uncle having “guided captured intelligences, long accustomed to the bodiless state, into warm and waiting flesh” is intriguing. We haven’t seen anybody do that since the Enemy’s pet dramliz, way back in Crystal Dragon. (And then, it was generally bad news for the intelligence in question.) It raises so many questions: When did the Uncle do this? With which intelligences? With what aim in mind? (And is the mention of it now just adding richness to the backstory, or is it setting up a future plot development?)

Vivulonj Prosperu is presumably the name of the Uncle’s ship, which hasn’t been named up to now. It looks like it might be derived by some indirect method from the phrase “live long and prosper”, which is entirely appropriate, since that’s pretty much the Uncle’s goal.