Jelaza Kazone
In which Theo has breakfast.
I wonder if we can read anything into the order that names come to Theo’s mind when she’s thinking of who she’d miss if she severed ties with Korval. Probably not much that we didn’t already know. Her father was obviously always going to be first, and she spent a lot of time hanging out with Luken last time she stayed at Jelaza Kazone, so it’s not surprising that he’s second.
Love the whole bit about the awful tea!
I wonder about the tea. Is this a kind of test?
I just assumed that when they received the new tin of tea Val Con was like, “Okay, we’ll give it a try at breakfast tomorrow”, and this was the first time he’d tasted it too.
Oh, I don’t think it was his first time. It definitely reads to me as if he had used this opportunity to drive home a message for Theo.
You loose me, E8gar, which message? And do your think Theo got it?
I’m using “message” in the abstract sense here. I think Val Con already knows what took place between Theo and the Portmaster, and agrees with the Portmaster; thus leading him to discuss with Theo the choice she and Bechimo made and the price they would have to pay (not the fine). She is having to face the bitter truth of the consequences of her actions, and what it means to be associated with Korval. This is the “message,” I referred to.
I have several objections to this theory, of which probably the most salient is that Val Con isn’t trying to tell Theo any such thing. On the contrary, if there’s a message he’s trying to impart in that conversation it’s that she isn’t any worse off being associated with Korval than she would be without that connection. It’s Theo who suggests that she’s being treated more harshly because she’s linked to Korval, and Val Con immediately sets out to show her it’s not true.
Also, I find it hard to believe that Val Con cunningly concealed a message in a cup of tea he didn’t know was being brought.
He did not know that Mr. pel’Kana had already offered to bring Theo breakfast, no. But Val Con *had* already asked Mr. pel’Kana to bring Theo to him when she arrived back from the port, and when do we ever see Liadens hosting someone, even for a short meeting together, without offering tea? Certainly he might have made prior arrangements for that kind to be used?