In which the luck moves roughly around Mar Tyn eys’Ornstahl.
We have seen one of the gambling Hells of Solcintra Low Port, and a luck-for-hire, before, in “The Beggar King”.
The detail about the Luck being provided with “as much cold tea as you can stomach” is specific enough that it has to mean something. I presume that the idea is camoflage; unless closely inspected, a glass of cold tea would look much like the glasses everyone else is carrying, while being less likely to impair the drinker’s wits at a time when he needs them to stay sharp.
It’s interesting that Mar Tyn suggests that nobody would pretend to be a Luck, because the Luck who Daav met in “The Beggar King” was almost certainly not the genuine article. (If she did have a genuine gift, it must have had a very broad view of what was good for her, even more so than Mar Tyn’s gift which gets his arm broken for him.)
(Then again, it’s never been said that a Luck’s gift is working for the good of the Luck…)
I suspect Ahteya’s stolen child will play a part in the narrative before it’s over. (That’s partly the law of conservation of detail, and partly because the person on the front cover clearly isn’t Mar Tyn.)
Another thing I expect is that at some point we’ll hear the rest of Mar Tyn’s interrupted train of thought regarding the fact that he had a better use for his money than handing it over to the thug in the stolen jacket.
I had carefully refrained from developing any expectations about who this story would be about, so the appearance of some familiar faces toward the end of the chapter was a pleasant surprise.
Hi Paul,
I was also pleasantly surprised to discover the backer again.
I am always so slow to recognize our RW names in the configurations that Steve and Sharon use. I am distracted, I guess, by the configuration, and mentally pronounce it with a different emphasis . . . and “hearing” that different intonation is all it takes for me to perceive it as a completely different name.
Have we seen the “prefix” (whatever that part of the name is called) have we seen eys before? It doesn’t register as familiar.
Also, why do I feel as if I recognize the name Ornstahl? Has it been used for another character? (Sorry, memory is going faster and faster, and I’m too lazy to open all the books and do a search.)
Paul, thanks for that observation about the tea. It makes sense, and having a personal ancient history as a prop master, I should have recognized that illusion.
Glad we are connected to some folks we’ve already met. It’s always helpful and usually comfortable to see where a new character fits into the Liaden Universe.
According to my notes, Mar Tyn is the first character with the eys’ prefix, and the first Ornstahl with or without the prefix.
Weird. I have this nagging déjà vu feeling I’ve seen Ornstahl before…as a very minor pilot character maybe?
I wonder if you might have been thinking of Orn Ald yos’Senchul, who was one of Theo’s teachers at Anlingdin.