Monthly Archives: February 2020

Accepting the Lance – Chapter 84

Jelaza Kazone

In which Rys returns.

There have been three described cats in these scenes of the Bedel in the Tree Court, and I’ve been trying to match them against Korval cats we already know.
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Accepting the Lance – Chapter 83

The Bedel

In which the ship welcomes the kompani.

There’s a scene in Necessity’s Child where Alosha and Silain are talking about the ship being late and Alosha says specifically that one of the reasons he doesn’t think it’s going to come for them now is that Surebleak Port has started doing its job properly again and he doesn’t believe the ship will be able to come and go without being noticed. Perhaps that was just the discouragement talking, because now that the ship is actually coming nobody has any doubts on that score.
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Accepting the Lance – Chapter 82

Jelaza Kazone

In which all cats are Bedel.

The part I like about this chapter is the character interactions: Yulie’s way of showing concern, and Memit’s hunt, and Droi pondering her place in the kompani.

Accepting the Lance – Chapter 80

The Bedel

In which the kompani prepares for departure.

Udari defers to Droi as the luthia, which suggests she’s been accepted as the one who will serve that role for the kompani staying on Surebleak. It doesn’t appear that Udari has been chosen as the headman for the kompani; Droi tells him that a decision is the headman’s, not his. The way she says it suggests that the headman is somebody who has not yet had a chance to think and speak on the issue — which I rather think means that it’s Rys.

Accepting the Lance – Chapter 79

Jelaza Kazone

In which Miri has a bad dream.

This is obviously foreshadowing something, but how literally remains to be seen.

For a moment, before the nature of the dream became apparent, I thought we might be about to find out more about what arrangements Val Con has made to keep Miri and Lizzie safe.

I wonder if we’re going to be treated to a proof of Val Con’s statement that Miri holds his soul safe just as Droi holds Rys’s.

Accepting the Lance – Chapter 78

Jelaza Kazone

In which Rys’s brothers plan how best to aid him.

Here we start to see the pay-off of both the “my own lady holds my soul” conversation and the observation that Rys has connections to his brothers and sisters similar to a Healer’s connections to her patients.

Something tells me there’s soon going to be another landing in Korval’s back field to annoy the survey team.

Accepting the Lance – Chapter 77

Jelaza Kazone

In which Rys is on his way home.

The scare quotes in the sentence about Emissary Twelve and Scout yo’Bingim each taking a packet of cookies to share with their comrades suggests that the narrator expects them to account for their own packet without any assistance. If that’s the case, I assume it was Scout yo’Bingim who came up with the story about comrades; bending the truth in such a way seems more in character for a Scout than for a Clutch Turtle, and she at least can point to comrades on-world, which Emissary Twelve can’t (unless one counts the Bedel, I suppose).

Scout Commander Val Con yos’Phelium thinks that the consequences of the election are likely to be fascinating. And I still recall what Miri said a few chapters ago about what it means when Val Con judges something to be fascinating.

Accepting the Lance – Chapter 76

The Bedel

In which the ship is on its way.

Udari said earlier that he thought Pulka would choose to go when it came to it, but given his frame of mind at the beginning of this chapter the question may be still open.

We know it’s not going to happen this time, since some have already committed to leaving, but I wonder what would happen if all the kompani, aside from the two who have no choice, chose to stay.

Accepting the Lance – Chapter 75

Jelaza Kazone

In which Emissary Twelve has thoughts about change.

There’s a lot of thinking about the future in this chapter: about what they will do if Boss Surebleak wins, and, perhaps more importantly, what kind of future they will shape if Boss Surebleak doesn’t win.

That makes, I believe two appointments the portmaster has tomorrow, beginning two hours apart. I wonder if they will collide in some fashion.