Tag Archives: bachelor earring

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 20

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In which Aelliana is having a much better day than Ran Eld.

Ran Eld is not just personally unpleasant, he’s taking advantage of his status to embezzle money from the clan to fund his lifestyle. When he’s not funding his lifestyle by borrowing money at ruinously high rates of interest, with the result that he now owes to one creditor more money than Aelliana earns in a year. Not only is he a crook, he’s not a very smart crook. (I suppose he might not have needed to be, as long as his mother’s regard tended to shield him from the consequences his actions might otherwise have had.)

Meanwhile, Daav is introducing Aelliana to a Terran dish called ”pecha” (sounds vaguely familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on why…) and telling her stories about his days in the Scouts. Here we get the story of the planet where he gained his earring, which sounds a lot like the planet Tol Ven yo’Endoth visited in “Sweet Waters”, though the Mun are not one of the tribes he encountered and their traditions are not exactly like the traditions of the Sanilithe.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 19

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In which Ride the Luck and her crew test their capabilities.

Aelliana continues to develop. Daav is pushing her in ways he wouldn’t have when they first met because she wouldn’t have been able to handle them, and she is handling them.

One consequence of this which gives superficial pleasure to the reader, on top of the deeper pleasure at her progress, is that she’s now able to participate in the banter instead of just watching in dismay as it whizzes past.

For my favourite moment in this chapter, I’m torn between “Clonak — Clonak calls you Captain,” she told him, as if this might have someway escaped his notice. and “Thank you, but I — don’t believe I am hungry.” “Yes,” he said placidly, “I know.”

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 12

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In which Aelliana lifts as planned.

Another of Cantra’s log entries that doesn’t entirely accord with her history as revealed in the prequels. In particular, her claim to be “a sport, child of a long line of random elements”, considered from an in-universe perspective, can not be anything other than a deliberate lie.

Yardkeeper Gat’s declaration — “I don’t care what her name is or how good she can add” — is interesting. Even as he declares that Aelliana’s reputation cuts no ice in the present context (which is very likely true) he’s taking the time to show that he recognises the name and the reputation. Daav didn’t tell him she was a mathematician.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 11

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In which Daav and Aelliana meet for the first time.

Daav has part of his wish now: someone who knows him only as himself, without any idea of his rank and status.

Which is probably the only way they could have made a connection; if Aelliana had known he was Delm Korval, it would likely have been a disaster, though for the opposite reason from most of the women he’s had to deal with. She’s not the type to play up to him because of his wealth or rank, but she’d have been even more terrified of him than Syntebra el’Kemin was of Er Thom. And as Delm Korval speaking with one not of his clan, he would have limits on his conversation options that would prevent him from soothing her the way he is able to as just-Daav in the place where everyone speaks Comrade.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 6

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In which Daav and Aelliana each turn their steps toward Binjali Repair Shop.

The game of pikit or piket was mentioned in Balance of Trade, where the twins taught Jethri to play it. I said then that the name was reminiscent of the Regency game of piquet, but what little we were told of the gameplay wasn’t. We see more of the gameplay here, and it reminds me rather of poker. (Though it must be said that my experience of card games is not broad, so many games remind me of poker.)

Var Mon denies having set Aelliana on Vin Sin chel’Mara, and it’s true that she chose to challenge the chel’Mara on her own initiative; but it’s also true that the opportunity and the impulse wouldn’t have arisen had not Var Mon invited her to tour the casino in search of practical applications of her mathematics, so Rema’s accusation may be basically correct.

Master dea’Cort was mentioned in “Pilot of Korval” as one of Daav’s instructors at the Scout Academy. There’s also a Scout named Jon dea’Cort back in “Phoenix”; if this Jon is the same man, he must be well into a hale old age by now — that was nearly seventy years ago, and he was already a full Scout then.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 2

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In which Anne seeks the delm’s instruction.

And this chapter re-introduces some of the familiar faces from Local Custom, along with two new complications:

First, Daav is going to be married, an event he’s been putting off for years and would have continued to put off if he had his preference. (I wonder if it makes sense to say that the delm has put his foot down, when it’s Daav’s foot. One thing I’ve noticed about Daav: the flipside of him preferring not to invoke the Delm when some other way to handle the situation exists is that when the Delm does put in an appearance he tends to be extremely strict, and perhaps even more so with Daav than with anyone else.)

Second, Anne discovers what has been hinted a few times but not explicitly stated until now: that Korval considers itself still bound by the contract that made Cantra and her heirs responsible for the safety of the passengers they brought to Liad. I don’t think anything much comes of it in this novel, apart from it further underlining the gap between a certain impoverished scholar and the man who might loosely be described as “the king of the world”, but it will be important later.

Along with Anne’s discovery, this chapter gives us another vague estimate of how long it’s been since Liad was settled. Anne, this time with a more solid knowledge of Korval’s history under her belt, calls it a thousand years, which Daav says is “near enough”.

Local Custom – Chapter 30

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In which Anne plans for the future.

This is such a painful chapter. Anne in distress, and Er Thom innocently making everything worse — and all the times when they’re so close to clearing everything up.

Local Custom – Chapter 27

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In which Daav offers Er Thom a wager.

There are times when Daav, as he has often said, does not enjoy being Delm Korval. Alas for him, that that is not one of the necessary conditions of the post.

And he’s put his finger on the big problem that’s still to be resolved: when Er Thom and Anne discussed the question of bringing Shan to be Seen by the delm, neither of them considered that there was any question about what would happen to him afterward.

Local Custom – Chapter 23

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In which a new day begins with mixed omens.

This chapter really illustrates the relationship between Daav and Kareen. (And, even is his absence, between each of them and young Pat Rin.)

Another subtle bit of Liaden culture here, tying in with what we’ve already had: that Daav, however careless he may be of getting dirt on the rest of him, takes great care to keep his face clean.

It appears to be my fate that whenever I say here that I don’t remember any other instances of a thing, another will present itself within the next few chapters.

Local Custom – Chapter 17

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In which Korval Sees Shan yos’Galan.

Hah. I wonder how much difference it would have made if Anne had been less careful of decorum and had kissed Er Thom like a lifemate in front of his kinsman and Delm. (Perhaps not so much, though; after all, Daav knows if anyone does that the significance of such gestures may be less depending on local custom. He and his current bedfriend are not careful of the face taboo, and only see how that will turn out.)

This chapter gives our first solid indication of how long it’s been since the great migration, though I could wish for it to be solider. Anne says that if the Tree is the same tree Jela had, it must be, she guesses, nine hundred years old. Older, says Er Thom, but it’s not clear whether that means Anne’s lowballed the distance from Jela’s time, or just that he’s acknowledging that the Tree had some years on it before ever it met Jela.