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Dragon in Exile – Chapter 10

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Jelaza Kazone
Surebleak

In which Kareen and Kamele have an informative conversation.

I was a bit glib and a lot unfair when I suggested that Kareen might view Kamele as a performing dog. A better way to characterise the situation might be that Kamele has a genuine interest in and enthusiasm for learning the intricacies of the Liaden language, which makes it easier for one to forgive any stumbles since she’s clearly doing her best and it’s not her fault she’s not fully fluent yet. One might be less forgiving of a Terran who seemed to have made only the effort required to get by, for instance.

Also, they seem to actually like each other, a fact of which I took some convincing if only because Kareen has generally not made friends easily and it seemed unlikely that she would find it any easier with a non-Liaden.

(It’s interesting that, after Kamele was worried she might miss nuances if the conversation about the portrait was in Liaden, Kareen makes what must have been a deliberate choice to step out of Liaden into Terran to tell her about it, perhaps specifically to spare her that worry.)

Kareen’s description of the circumstances of Er Thom’s birth didn’t quite make sense to me at first: I wasn’t sure why it would be necessary for yos’Galan to produce a back-up delm of certain piloting ability when there was already Sae Zar. I think, though, that the problem with Sae Zar as a back-up delm is that he didn’t have the training for it; we know that training for a delm’s heir begins when he or she is very young, as happened for Daav (and Er Thom, as the designated back-up heir, got the same training). Also, Sae Zar was already designated as the heir to yos’Galan’s Master Trader, and to add Delm’s Heir to his pile would have been a disservice to yos’Galan, to be avoided unless no other solution was available.

Of the delms Kareen mentions in passing, we have heard of Jeni yos’Phelium, who helped establish the Scout Academy, and Theonna yos’Phelium, who was responsible for the Tactical Defense Pods. Edil yos’Phelium and Var Ond ter’Asten are new names. (ter’Asten is itself also a new name, unless it’s an alternate transliteration of “ter’Astin” – Jethri’s friend the scout was named Jan Rek ter’Astin.)

The implication of Kamele’s remark about Aelliana also being delm is, as I understand it, that her death wasn’t as simple as Daav failing his duty as delm to protect the vulnerable and husband the clan’s resources; Aelliana was also acting as delm, with a different assessment of who was most vulnerable and which resources the clan could least afford to lose, and no time for the two halves of the delm to reach a consensus.

Dragon Ship – Chapter 29

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Jump

In which Theo seeks a relief of tension.

This is one of those chapters where I’d probably have something to say if I were reading it for the first time, but because I’m re-reading I’m just nodding along going “Yes, I remember that bit” and nothing’s jumping out at me as remarkable.

I do kind of wonder if Hevelin’s intense interest in Theo’s mental picture of Daav was all on Daav’s account, or if some of it was due to her including the Tree in the picture.

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 33

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In which Daav decides to go into a possibly-hostile port without accepting backup.

Had this book been other than it is, the previous chapter might easily have been the last, perhaps with an epilogue in which Daav finally gets to hold his son in his arms. It is, after all, what the main plot line was building up to for the last two volumes.

But this is a prequel, which knows if any form of literature does that Peter Beagle was right about endings, and getting married isn’t the end of the story; it just means that Daav and Aelliana now have attention to spare for what else is going on in their lives.

I see a parallel between Daav’s decision to go to the Low Port alone, declining backup, and Aelliana’s decision last novel to go to the house of Mizel alone, declining backup, though in this case I’m not sure the decision is wrong; Daav does have a point about the advantages of working alone and under the radar. Still, one can wish he could have gone better protected. (Perhaps another Scout might have worked, if there were another Scout he could trust with this business. It’s a pity that Clonak is not available to be suggested as a possibility.)

Daav’s deliberately exaggerated worst-case hypothesis of “ghosts who lure the unsuspecting into the mists and steal their self-will” is not, after all, so far from the truth as one might prefer.

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 1

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In which dead women do not need new clothes.

And the sequel starts, straight out of the gate, by picking holes in the happy ending of the previous book. Which is unexpected, perhaps, only in how quickly it gets down to it, since if there were no holes in the happy ending it would not be necessary to have a sequel.

(I do wonder whether the authors were aware all along of the issues Daav and Er Thom lay out here, and glossed over them for the sake of a tidy ending, or if they only realised them after further thought, during the time between publishing Scout’s Progress and beginning to write Mouse and Dragon. I do not mean this as a slight, to suggest that it may have taken them a while to realise what Daav realises almost immediately; after all, they are authors, not Delms, and have not spent thirty years learning to think like a Delm the way Daav has.)

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 26

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In which Samiv tel’Izak is introduced to the Tree.

The Tree disapproves of Samiv tel’Izak, and is not shy of making its disapproval known. What the basis of its disapproval might be is less easy to see. It’s unlikely to be merely that marrying her would make Daav unhappy; the happiness of its fellow creatures has not always been the Tree’s primary concern, and Daav was making some progress toward a comfortable union before the Tree itself stomped on his efforts.

One suspects that it disapproves of Pilot tel’Izak because she is not Aelliana Caylon and the Tree has realised, as Daav has not yet, that Aelliana Caylon is an available possibility. Presumably it’s aware of Aelliana second-hand, through Daav — though one does wonder what other sources of information it might have, remembering that it was a suggestion from the Tree which put Daav in Pilot Caylon’s path in the first place…

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 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 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.

Local Custom – Chapter 21

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In which Daav has some conversation before dinner.

Petrella has got herself into a position that’s likely to cause trouble and is going to be difficult to get out of even if she decides she wants to: she’s stopped considering the details of the situation and started defining success entirely in terms of whether she gets her own way. She says it’s for the good of the clan, and presents to the delm that it’s in his interests for Er Thom to be obedient, but one may take leave to doubt that version of the story, particularly since the delm himself appears to have no qualms about Er Thom’s obedience.

The epigraph of this chapter suggests a thing which I don’t think is suggested so strongly anywhere else in the series: that there is, or has been within the recorded history of Terran-Liaden relations, an actual planet called Terra. I don’t recall anywhere else in the series where Terra is spoken of except as a used-to-be place.

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.