In which a family reunion or two occurs.
More bows and modes in this chapter than we’ve had in a while, including a couple of new ones. Well, it’s been a while since we’ve had a conversation, in other than everyday circumstances, between two parties familiar with the forms.
Unique understanding or not, I remain certain that Aelliana knew exactly what the Uncle was up to, and so this is like Padi with the rug merchant in Alliance of Equals, offering an alternative explanation not because she believes it but because it offers him an honourable way to back out of the corner he’s put himself in.
Seignur Veeoni’s conversation with her brother at least tells us what she meant by “inside the field”, but raises more questions than it answers about his connection with the Bedel.
I like Aelliana’s comment on the circumstances that have prevented her from publishing the latest fruits of her research.
Val Con and Miri are very happy to welcome Val Con’s parents home, but that doesn’t mean Delm Korval is going to let them stay. The delm has to consider the potential risks to the whole clan.
I’m honestly not sure what decision I think the delm is likely to make, left to themselves. I specify “left to themselves” because I don’t think they’re going to be: Theo’s about to arrive, which is going to change the balance of the decision, and I wouldn’t put it past Kareen to take a leaf out of Dulsey’s book and decide Kamele ought to know Daav is presently back even though his future remains in doubt, which would surely result in Kamele demanding a voice in the decision-making process.
(By the way, good on Dulsey. I sometimes wonder if the Uncle would have lasted this long without Dulsey watching his back.)
I don’t think, even if they do get told to leave and never return, that the delm will leave them without resources. Kamele might invite them back to Delgado, although I don’t know if they’d fit there any more (nor Kamele, for that matter). I don’t think Theo’s likely to offer them a place on Bechimo, nor would it be likely to suit them.
It occurs to me that if Korval gets to hear about the Tinsori Light situation, the delm might adopt Disian’s solution and instruct them to prove themselves by going and sorting it out.
It’s a bit tangential to the action, but I have to say that I don’t understand why Aelliana hasn’t published the proof. Any time since Daav rejoined the clan she could have got Val Con to submit it to an appropriate journal, under her name, with a covering letter saying that he’d recently found the proof in his deceased mother’s papers.
The interactions in the Yellow Salon made for a fun little farce. I enjoyed it. Had to chuckle at Uncle’s reaction to Tassi’s grand assurance that “All of Surebleak is the Dragon’s Lair!”
Alas, I never guessed who Tassi was, when we met her earlier. Call me slow top.
The Uncle is kin to the Bedel? I do not understand their relationship. Silain the Bedel’s Luthia calls Tassi “sister” yet Uncle asks Tassi, “Who is Silain?” Tassi tells Uncle “My first plan was to take shelter with your people. There is a kompani here.” (as though he didn’t know it?) Uncle is outraged that Tassi contacted the Bedel. “I set them in motion!” he snapped. (What does that mean?)
I was taken aback by this news, since the Bedel have been apparently stranded on Surebleak for a very long time, awaiting a ship. Surely if they were kin to Uncle, they’d have access to a ship. Also, their behavior, customs, and history never gave any inkling (to me) that they were Uncle’s kin, perhaps even clones like him. I feel a little disgruntled at the lack of any real details or explanation regarding Uncle and the Bedel.
Another topic:
If Korval’s Damn Luck is captured by Surebleak’s gravitational field, wouldn’t the same have occurred on Liad? Maybe Tree has a role to play in the Luck, and the Luck’s capture. Tree can effect the environment, to some extent, so maybe it can also effect gravity. Maybe Tree never liked Liad/Liadans, and, foreseeing they would eventually settle on Surebleak, waited until now to draw in the gravitational Luck net, and to drop a huge branch with three green shoots to plant on the same planet — perhaps ensuring more Luck.
What is this research Aelli has been pursuing, on pseudorandom tridimensional subspace? Is that how Bechimo translates?
While this was a fun chapter with the comedic farce, it was also a little deflating for me. After waiting 7 years (in my time), since Ghost Ship was published and Daav went into Uncle’s care, the reunion fell a bit flat. There was not enough shocked surprise and exceeding joy to 1) see two people, both Daav and Aelliana, and 2) see them 50-years younger. Even Kareen took it all in her stride. I realize this subdued reunion is caused by uncertainty as to their true identities and the difficulties of explaining their presence. But still, this was not how I pictured their reunion scene.
James Lynn: A possibility that occurs to me is that perhaps the proof depends on a mathematical technique or principle that was only discovered after Aelliana “died”, so that claiming the proof as a posthumous work would entail falsely claiming that Aelliana made the discovery first and stealing the credit that rightly goes to the actual discoverer. Or maybe finding things in your deceased mother’s papers just isn’t a thing that happens in Liaden culture.
Skip: There could be a kinship between the Uncle and the Bedel as a whole without the Uncle being personally acquainted with the members and the situation of this particular group of Bedel. That said, I actually think it goes further than that: the impression I get is that there was a connection between the Uncle and the Bedel in the past that doesn’t, as far as he’s concerned, exist now; like, he set them in motion (whatever that means), but then their motion took them on a separate path and they haven’t kept in touch. I also have a feeling that whatever role he played in setting them in motion, it was a very long time ago (you may recall, if you’ve been following this blog long enough, that I believe the Bedel date back to around the time of the Great Migration, if not earlier), and their behaviour and customs now are as much their own creation as anything he gave them.
And it’s no dishonour to you, that you didn’t figure out who Tassi was ahead of time; I’m pretty sure that’s what the authors were intending.
That’s a solid possibility, given Uncle’s long years, yet it’s odd that his sister Tassi would know “kin” that he doesn’t readily remember. Maybe she researched them when she knew she needed a hiding place. That would make sense.
I will see what else you’ve written about the Bedel, elsewhere.
Ps…Maybe Aelliana needed to study Bechimo’s data (Ghost Ship) before she could finish her paper.
@ Bedel
The Uncle’s sister Seignur Veeoni aka “Tassi” seems to remember the things of the old universe much more clearly than the Uncle himself, thanks to those smart strands. –> So she claims “Why should I not think of it (refering to contacting the Bedel)? Did I not set them im motion?” and beeing corrected than that it was the Uncle who set the Bedel in motion. Setting in motion is not making. Could this refer to the Bedel purpose and their travel? When and how they choose to leave one planet and go to another? I wounder about the Bedel view on this ‘setting in motion’.
I believe this to indicate that the Bedel’s origion must lay in old Universe. It may also indicate that the Uncle leaves the Bedel mostly to themselves and seeks contact only with very good reason and after proper precautions. Maybe so as not to draw attention to them or their purpose (which remains a mystery to us). Or might the Uncle contacting or influencing the Bedel nowadays be dangerous? For himself or the continuing of Bedel purpose?
There has to be a protocol for the Uncle and his kin to check a planet for Bedel presence or find the nearest Bedel presence. The Bedel on the other hand definitly remember the Uncle and have a way to identify him and his near kin – or maybe only those wearing smart strands – if they are near enough. It also is possible that the Luthia or one of the Kompany has dreamt about Tassi.
What I find most interesting in this is Tassi’s remark: “Even I know what one does when a grandmother expresses her wisdom.” –> A grandmother involving herself in non Bedel affairs must be a serious thing indeed.
@ Luck
Since the luck fixed itself to Korval at the founding of the clan (which included the tree) it seems possible that the tree and the luck relate to oneanother.
One also must keep in mind that the tree was bored on Liad and the Clan wished to relocate for quite some time. Also Rool Tiazen prophecised (Liad dea’Syl’s death prophecy) that the tree would grow on Liad to its full hight. The Tree’s full hight probably equals his full power, maybe his full potential. But the other parts of this prophecy – like rich land and bountyfull … stabel and gracious … prosper, do well, be happy – don’t exaclty sound soldierly.
Having said this I’m not suprised if the Tree as well as the Luck find Surebleak much more interresting than Liad. And the luck attaches to or allows itself to get cought by purity of purpose. Doesn’t Korvals purpose on Surebleak seem much purer that its purpose on Liad?
Good thoughts, Othin! I hadn’t realized some of the things you write of, including that the Luck fixed itself to Korval when the clan was founded. But I re-read that chapter in Crystal Dragon and I see you are correct.
From another latecomer here:
In reference to Dulsey, Paul posted: “I sometimes wonder if the Uncle would have lasted this long without Dulsey watching his back.”
In addition, one must wonder whether it has been Dulsey…and not just in the overt actions in this book…who, holding respect and perhaps gratitude towards her original rescuers, has managed to temper some of Uncle’s behavior toward them over the past thousand years.
@ Skip: We’ve been told previously; I think in Saltation, when Theo learns about the revision of the ven’Tura tables in history of piloting; that Aellinana after revising the tables went on to do more esoteric work attempting to prove the existance of pseudorandom subspaces, so it seems unlikely that they have anything to do with how Bechimo jumps.
I like your suggestion that the proof relies on someone else’s work.
Incidentally, I wonder whether what Admiral Bunter did, jumping into Nostrilia without using the jump points (which used some piloting maths that Tolly was unfamiliar with) is related to what Bechimo does. The Admiral was, after all, intended as a possible alternate personality for Bechimo, so may have been taught the same piloting maths. Though he seems to have escaped Bechimo’s issues with allowed and disallowed lists and so on.
That’s a good thought about Admiral Bunter maybe knowing Bechimo’s piloting maths.
We’ve seen that Bechimo’s internal workings include the core personality and a bunch of add-on modules that handle features like Ethics and Tactics and so on. If memory serves, all the business about disallowed lists and so on is handled by one of the modules; presumably Admiral Bunter didn’t get that module included in his download, since he wasn’t being downloaded into the ship that those rules applied to.
Very interesting discussion. James, thanks for clarifying the study of pseudorandom subspace. I like your idea about Admiral Bunter knowing how to translate through space like Bechimo does.
The Luck: I looked up the section in Crystal Dragon where The Luck was first drawn to Clan Korval (ch 32):
The Luck was drawn to Korval’s “gaudy display of energy” at the founding ceremony for the new clan, in the presence of pilot Cantra yos’Phelium, young Tor An yos’Galan and small Tree. The Luck suddenly pulled Rool Tiazan to Quick Passage:
“I was borne on the wings of such a maelstrom of luck and possibility…the luck swirls not merely about the environs of this star system or more nearly this planet but here, on this ship. I suspect that what has been bound into that book which you hold is the cause of these unexpected alterations. May I see and hold the book, pilot?”
So, maybe now The Luck swirls about Daellan system and planet Surebleak, and –of course — Jelaza Kazone.
And maybe the planet Liad is feeling a lack of luck.
@ lack of luck
that would put Liad and all those clans remaining there not an a far more predictable and therefore more easily manipulated by DOI course than just the explanation that those remaining are the more and most traditional Liadens anyhow. Not a nice thought. There must be several Low Lianden Clans that can’t affort to leave.