Tag Archives: Aelysia

Naratha’s Shadow

In which Naratha’s Discord is brought into balance.

There’s a recognizable similarity between the Voice of Naratha and the song-women Jela recalls seeing in action in chapter 2 of Crystal Soldier. The Voice’s account of Naratha’s victory over the Enemy, though, seems to be a different and more dramatic action than the one Jela witnessed. (The obvious temptation is to assume that the Enemy she speaks of is the same one as Jela fought, which would suggest that her story is an account of Naratha’s part in the Moment of the Question at the end of Crystal Dragon. It is not obvious, however, how the two accounts fit together.)

We never hear much, in these stories, about the Liaden religion, except that in times of emotional stress they speak of “gods”, plural, as the Master Healer does here. (I’m moved to note this by the observation that, by contrast, Montet sig’Norba speaks in terms of a single God when she’s talking to Naratha’s people near the end, presumably because that’s how the figures of speech run in the language she’s speaking at the time.)

Though the story itself does not carry a date, The Updated But Partial Liaden Universe Timeline sets it in SY 1123, a few years after Balance of Trade.