In Vertu’s taxicab
Enter Yulie, Mary, Anna, Rascal
In which everyone is going to the same place.
Apparently the hill at the end of the Port Road is now named Undertree Hill — or perhaps that’s just what the Bedel call it and Yulie has picked it up from them.
Continue reading
In which yo’Lanna achieves a crush and Surebleak achieves a coup.
After Val Con commenting at the first inspection that the decor in the entrance hall was unsubtle but mendable, I was looking forward to seeing what had been done with it, but the narration skips past it and straight to the ballroom. Then again, perhaps Lady yo’Lanna hasn’t had time to do anything interesting with it yet.
Continue reading
Jelaza Kazone
Tree Court
In which Miri has had a long rest.
I wonder about the yellow, orange and red flowers with the peppery smell. The description reminds me of the nasturtium flowers my mother used to grow and use the edible parts in salads. As I recall, they had a peppery taste, but I don’t remember what their smell was like.
Continue reading
Jelaza Kazone
In which Rys returns.
There have been three described cats in these scenes of the Bedel in the Tree Court, and I’ve been trying to match them against Korval cats we already know.
Continue reading
The Bedel
In which the ship welcomes the kompani.
There’s a scene in Necessity’s Child where Alosha and Silain are talking about the ship being late and Alosha says specifically that one of the reasons he doesn’t think it’s going to come for them now is that Surebleak Port has started doing its job properly again and he doesn’t believe the ship will be able to come and go without being noticed. Perhaps that was just the discouragement talking, because now that the ship is actually coming nobody has any doubts on that score.
Continue reading
Jelaza Kazone
In which all cats are Bedel.
The part I like about this chapter is the character interactions: Yulie’s way of showing concern, and Memit’s hunt, and Droi pondering her place in the kompani.
The Bedel
In which the kompani prepares for departure.
Udari defers to Droi as the luthia, which suggests she’s been accepted as the one who will serve that role for the kompani staying on Surebleak. It doesn’t appear that Udari has been chosen as the headman for the kompani; Droi tells him that a decision is the headman’s, not his. The way she says it suggests that the headman is somebody who has not yet had a chance to think and speak on the issue — which I rather think means that it’s Rys.
Jelaza Kazone
In which Rys’s brothers plan how best to aid him.
Here we start to see the pay-off of both the “my own lady holds my soul” conversation and the observation that Rys has connections to his brothers and sisters similar to a Healer’s connections to her patients.
Something tells me there’s soon going to be another landing in Korval’s back field to annoy the survey team.
The Bedel
In which the ship is on its way.
Udari said earlier that he thought Pulka would choose to go when it came to it, but given his frame of mind at the beginning of this chapter the question may be still open.
We know it’s not going to happen this time, since some have already committed to leaving, but I wonder what would happen if all the kompani, aside from the two who have no choice, chose to stay.
Surebleak
The Bedel
In which Rys’s family receive news of his doings.
Here’s an entirely frivolous question: Does the placement of this scene, so many pages after the event Droi Sees, indicate that the authors have monkeyed with the chapter arrangement for dramatic effect, or does it take time for a Seeing to travel over interstellar distances?