Comes a stranger from the storm
Enter Boss Gotta
In which Vertu’s cab reaches the scene of the accident.
From context, Boss Gotta (“Boss Gotta, a metaphor”, according to the dramatis personae) is a Surebleak version of the philosophy Vertu embraced in “Skyblaze”: if you find yourself saying “somebody’s gotta do something about this”, and there’s nobody around with a clear claim to the problem, that means you’re somebody.
This time, when Anna speaks soothingly to her dog in the language that slips by Vertu’s ears, the narration does report one of the words she uses, which we know the meaning of though Vertu doesn’t.
Paul: philosophy Vertu embraced in “Skyblaze” Of course! I really should have done a refresher on “Skyblaze,” even though I last read it almost exactly a year ago.
Paul: the narration does report one of the words she uses… It is the narration that reports Vertu actually “hears” it this time. Is further exposure giving her an “ear,” perhaps?
Interesting that Vertu (a name that might evoke not only “virtue” but also “verdant”) is now receiving green undertones to her thinking, and then a green glow when she closes her eyes. The Elder Tree is named simply as the Old One. How old is it now, approximately?
No one knows Tree’s age but using excerpts from the text, Liaden fandom wiki puts Tree at roughly 1300 years old and “in the prime of life”
https://liaden.fandom.com/wiki/The_Tree
@Tree age – that is an at least 1300 years old. We assumed the tree was quite young when it met Jela, because it was quite small then. But form the Cluch comments – small may have been no kind of indicator for age.
I like the philosophy and name of Boss Gotta. To me it also indicates chance and coincidence putting one in place to do something. Like first person on the scene – is the one to do it till better qualified personal arrives and there is time to do an orderly transfer.