Bechimo
In which Theo has questions for Bechimo.
Yes, Theo, all of the above. Good luck with that.
Theo’s dubious, but we know from the prequels that it is possible in this setting for ships to travel from another universe into this – though not easy, which may explain why Bechimo‘s discoveries are always in pieces. Or, since Bechimo‘s also correct about the catastrophic event, it could be that they were in pieces already when they left their original universe.
Number Twelve Leafydale Place
Greensward-by-Efraim
Delgado
In which Kamele starts asking questions.
It’s difficult to talk about a chapter that’s all “where might this lead” when it’s a re-read and one already knows where it’s leading.
One thing that’s already apparent, though, is that Daav might be right in thinking Kamele is best left out of Korval’s tangle, but he’s underestimating her if he thinks she’ll just meekly stay where she was left when she knows there’s something she’s being left out of.
Mozart’s Modicum
Starport Gondola
In which Theo picks up an antiquity and a tail.
Theo, as is perhaps only to be expected from someone raised on a Safe World, isn’t really up to speed on what might be involved in a situation like this. As the operative tailing her notes, she doesn’t realise she might need to take precautions against people like him, and although it’s good that she does notice she’s being followed, it’s not so good that she thinks confronting the tail directly is a good idea, and she’s too ready to take his explanation at face value and assume the problem is dealt with. It’s there in the meeting at the teahouse, too; it’s good that she started to leave when her contact didn’t give the right recognition signal, but if she really understood why elaborate recognition signals might be necessary in the first place, she’d have kept going no matter what her contact said next.
It’s enough to make one wonder what the Uncle was thinking, sending her out so unprepared. Did he underestimate the influence of her upbringing, and assume that a pilot with her reputation would know these things? Or does he want her to get into trouble?
The tea Theo orders, Joyful Sunrise, is the same high-grade blend Daav gives Master dea’Cort as a joke in Scout’s Progress.
Arin’s Toss
Solcintra Port
Liad
In which Theo’s father tells her the truth.
Theo’s conversation with her father is one of those things that’s obviously significant but I don’t know how to talk about. (I do wonder if it helps Theo to learn that Val Con’s mother was a respected scholar. It seems like it might make the whole preposterous situation feel slightly more familiar.)
Either Theo’s taxi ride from the Port or her nap, or both, must have consumed a considerable amount of time, since it is now the day set for Korval’s departure and Theo left the Port at dawn the previous day. (Local calendar, explicitly stated, so it’s not one of those things where the Standard Day changes halfway through the local day.) No, excuse me: Theo went to call a taxi at dawn; maybe the city’s in such a commotion at the moment that it took most of the day to turn up.
The detail about Trealla Fantrol is interesting; they couldn’t take it with them, but they weren’t going to let it fall into anyone else’s hands. In which light, I wonder what it says that they didn’t mind letting Liad keep the formal gardens.
Tomorrow: “Moon on the Hills”, then back to Chapter 6.
Jelaza Kazone
Liad
In which Delm Korval considers Theo’s problem.
Not sure what to make of Theo thinking that Val Con looks familiar for some reason other than resembling their father. She hasn’t met any of the other relatives yet, and I’m pretty sure she’s never seen his mother — or has she? They talked about the Caylon at the Academy, but I don’t remember if it was ever mentioned them having pictures of her. (And of course if that’s it Theo wouldn’t be able to place the resemblance, because nobody’s mentioned to her who Val Con’s mother is.)
As for her assessment of Val Con as biddable and lacking in spark, it’s a choice between politely suppressed laughter and a wide-eyed Bugs Bunny “She don’t know him very well, do she?”
Until Val Con mentioned it, I don’t think I’d thought about the fact that Korval doesn’t just have its house and Tree to get off-planet, but all of the many ships it’s collected over the years (those that aren’t elsewhere already). I suppose it will have to allow its several shipyards to be seized – unless they’ve already been sold off or otherwise passed into other hands – but Korval never leaves a ship behind.
Jelaza Kazone
Liad
In which Theo is introduced to her father’s family, and vice versa.
It is a tricky situation that Daav’s got himself in, regarding explaining himself to Kamele. The basic principle that he had kin in need of assistance is straightforward enough, but necessarily leads to questions like “Who are these kin?” and “Why have you never mentioned them before?” and, sooner or later, “But if your name is actually Daav yos’Phelium…”
Also, while I think Kamele would take the news that her onagrata had been married before at least as clear-headedly as Theo, things might get very awkward if she asked how the marriage had ended and where Aelliana is now and Daav felt obliged to answer honestly.
It’s interesting to compare Theo’s situation to Shan’s when the clan first became aware of him. Shan was rapidly enfolded in the clan, but that was because his mother had already declared him to be part of the clan by naming him yos’Galan; everything that followed was just sorting out the details. Theo is a Waitley, born under an arrangement that’s comparable in the relevant areas to a Liaden contract marriage with the offspring going to the mother’s clan, and her father has been making a point of not claiming any connection to Korval for himself let alone for her. It’s possible she could join Clan Korval at some future point, if it seemed like a good idea for all concerned (a collection of people including not only herself, her father and Delm Korval, but also her mother – which would entail the aftorementioned tricky explanations), but it’s not going to happen automatically just because her father has returned to his clan.
I like the detail that Merlin, who is usually referred to with male pronouns by those who know him best, gets female pronouns in the scene told from Theo’s viewpoint, because Theo’s from Delgado where female is the default gender.
Arin’s Toss
Volmer
In which Theo is off to Liad sooner than expected.
It’s tempting to speculate, given the coincidence of the deadline, that the Uncle’s rush job has something to do with Korval’s departure from Liad. The trouble is, why would it be a rush job in that case? The Council gave Korval 144 days notice, which is tight for an established clan to gather up all its belongings but plenty of time for a nimble operator to line up a single courier.
Unless, perhaps, Volmer is so far from Liad that by the time news arrives of Korval’s expulsion, hot on the heels of the news of Solcintra being attacked, the 144 days are half over and there’s only just enough time for a courier to hotfot it back to Liad if they leave immediately.
The trouble with that is… well, there’s two problems:
One is that, if you break it down, that means it takes about 70 days for the news to travel from Liad to Volmer, and another 70 days for Theo to travel from Volmer to Liad. (The exact amounts are arguable – for one thing, the news probably travelled somewhat less urgently than Theo, so perhaps the split is more like 85-55 – but not enough to affect the point.) The point is, that means Theo’s dash from Volmer to Liad would last weeks without stopping for food or fuel. And since it’s specified that it consists of five Jumps, that means each Jump would be at least a week in itself. And that just doesn’t seem right.
The second problem is that we already know how far Volmer is from Liad, more or less, and it isn’t that far. We’re told in Agent of Change that Lufkit to Volmer is two days at a reasonable speed, and in Carpe Diem we learn that a suitably motivated pilot can go from Lufkit to Liad in another two days. Even at a comfortable amble – no, put it this way: even if the news travelled from Liad to Volmer by Clutch ship, and then Theo travelled from Volmer to Liad by Clutch ship, the entire round trip would take up only half of the 144 days.
Even if one throws up one’s hands and decides the Uncle’s rush job is just a coincidence, there’s still an issue, because Theo arrived on Volmer within twelve hours of the news that Liad had been attacked; are we to assume that Theo made the trip from Volmer to Liad in a few days in response to news that took months to travel the other direction? Well, perhaps we are; Shan does say in Conflict of Honors that news can take months to travel if it’s left to whoever happens to be going in the right direction instead of sent directly. And, after all, is there anyone on Liad who has any reason to send the news directly to Volmer? (Well, I expect the Uncle has someone keeping an eye on things there. But he could well have received the news quickly and decided to keep it to himself, leaving everyone else on Volmer to find out when the news arrived by a slower and more public channel.)
Tomorrow: Chapter 42 and I Dare Chapter 58. The order in which to read them is thereby left to pilot’s choice.
Primadonna
Out from Alanzia
In which Mayko Ikari explains her presence.
So, now we have some idea of when this is in relation to the rest of what’s going on: it’s after the Yxtrang invasion of Lytaxin was defeated. The question now: how much after? Not a great deal, perhaps, if the effects are only just becoming apparent — and Mayko’s remark that nobody is quite sure what Korval is up to suggests that it’s before Korval’s very public standoff with the Department.
It’s interesting, getting a bit of a look at how all that stuff appears from the outside; a reminder that the universe is wide enough to contain people to whom all that life-and-death struggle is a distant event that carries opportunity in its wake.
Primadonna
Alanzia Port
In which an expected package comes in an unexpected shape.
It’s been two years since Theo left Eylot to start working with Rig Tranza, and in that time she’s visited nineteen planets, which might mean that they’re averaging one-and-a-quarter months between planets, or more likely that they’ve got a regular patch of space and have visited some of those planets more than once. Or else the wording “set foot on” is significant, and they’ve visited additional planets that Theo’s foot didn’t get to meet.
Two years is significant, too, because Eylot said that after two years they might possibly consider letting her back into Anlingdin Academy if she grovelled enough. She doesn’t seem to be in any particular hurry to go and find out if that was true.
In which Kara ven’Arith takes a very long tenday tour.
I take note of the way Kara’s mother and Kara’s delm are always mentioned in this story in the same breath, and the way those mentions are worded, and in addition consider the similar mention of Kara’s mother early in Saltation, and the conclusion I draw is that this is one of those Liaden melant’i situations where “mother” and “delm” are two hats worn by a single person but spoken of separately because the same person might be required to consider a situation differently depending on which set of eyes she’s regarding it with.
The Station Master is another addition to the list of characters for whom the authors of have chosen not to provide gendered pronouns. I might not have found it worth mentioning, but that there’s a sentence near the end of the story which attracted attention by going somewhat out of its way to avoid a pronoun.
Tomorrow: Agent of Change