Accepting the Lance – Chapter 56

Jelaza Kazone
The Tree Court

In which Emissary Twelve is making rapid progress.

The authors are playing with the timeline a bit in order to spread characters’ scenes out, I think. It’s unlikely that Miri’s last scene (showing the beginning of a long afternoon at the office) took place after Val Con’s last scene, which ended with him getting the message to come to the Tree Court — unless he took a very relaxed stroll from the outer garden to the Tree. Or perhaps I’m underestimating how long the conversation at the Tree takes; after all, a Turtle is capable of some impressive pauses for thought.

3 thoughts on “Accepting the Lance – Chapter 56

  1. Ed8r

    PA: a Turtle is capable of some impressive pauses for thought

    While that is most certainly true, one of those pauses is described as “a very Clutch-like artifact.” Then—after Val Con has explained local custom in the matter of land ownership—the narrator comments on Val Con’s behalf regarding how much faster the Tree is already communicating: but that phase passed quickly—rather too quickly, supporting his theory that the Tree was speeding her up. Both of these instances certainly point towards shorter pauses than would be usual for the Clutch that Val Con (and we) have been introduced to previously. In addition, we’ve already been told how much faster she responds than Edger, for instance.

    There are two comments regarding the relative ages of the Tree and the Clutch that I found interesting. First Emissary Twelve states that Val Con and his kin “have been eating gifts from the Elder Tree for nearly as long as the youngest of the current table of Elders has been alive.” [emphasis mine] So then, the age of the Clutch Elders would extend back before Jela first ate a fruit from the Tree in the Old Universe (shown in chapter 3 of Crystal Soldier). But later she states: “I rest secure in the wisdom and judgment of a being far older than any other being currently alive in this universe.” [emphasis mine] Taking these two together, wouldn’t we have to say that the little Tree Jela found was, at that point in its life, already much, much older than it looked by its size? I remember postulating that its roots “deep into the bowels of the planet” indicated it had put its strength of growth into its roots rather than its trunk, branches, and leaves. But also some other poster on this site had discussed the idea that genetically a plant can be identical to its very first iteration, thus it could conceivably be called the “same” plant. Could this be what she meant? That this Tree biologically is the same Laar that we met in “Dragon Tide”?

    At the end of the chapter, I was left curious about who Val Con’s second pod was intended for. I had thought it would be for Miri when he tucked it into a pocket. But then when Miri arrives, the Tree itself drops a pod to her. So whose pod is in Val Con’s pocket?

  2. Ed8r

    Incorrect: how much faster the Tree is already communicating
    Correct: how much faster Emissary Twelve already is communicating

  3. Paul A. Post author

    But also some other poster on this site had discussed the idea that genetically a plant can be identical to its very first iteration, thus it could conceivably be called the “same” plant. Could this be what she meant? That this Tree biologically is the same Laar that we met in “Dragon Tide”?

    That’s an interesting idea. But I think there’s also a point somewhere in the novel where Emissary Twelve speaks of Yulie’s tree as a separate (person) from its parent, Jela’s Tree, which would imply that she would also consider Jela’s Tree to be a separate (person) from its ancestors.

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