Tag Archives: Calypso

Carpe Diem – Chapter 17

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Dutiful Passage
Liad Orbit

In which Priscilla seeks that which is lost.

The obvious implication of having this chapter here is that it happens not long after Miri and Val Con go to sleep, but I’m not sure I believe that. Priscilla reports that Val Con is “protected within deep meditation”, when we’ve just finished hearing that Val Con no longer believes himself to have access to the protection offered by the deepest level of the Rainbow, and that he is perhaps engrossed in playing music, which he hasn’t been doing any of lately either. So I think perhaps this scene takes place somewhat in advance of the main plot strand, and foreshadows an event we’ve yet to see from Val Con’s side.

Conflict of Honors – Chapter 21

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Shipyear 65
Tripday 144
First Shift
1.30 hours

In which the long arm of the law reaches toward Dutiful Passage.

The nature of the accusations against Shan’s ship offer food for speculation. The one about “illicit pharmaceuticals” might be a sign that Sav Rid Olanek has somehow got wind of Lina and Rusty’s thwarted venture with that remarkable perfume, or it may just be the old trick of accusing one’s adversary of one’s own sins. We don’t get any elaboration on the “proscribed animals”, but I’m inclined to look toward the norbears in the pet library; we know from Mouse and Dragon that they are proscribed on some worlds, though presumably Lina or somebody would have checked what the rule is for Arsdred and filed whatever paperwork was necessary to let them sit in orbit for the duration of the Passage‘s visit.

Trellen’s World has previously been mentioned, during Er Thom’s visit to the Passage in Local Custom, in a context that links it with Arsdred but doesn’t shed any light on why Budoc finds the thought of it so impressive here.

It would appear from Shan’s complaints of him that Val Con has inherited his father’s reluctance to settle for a temporary marriage to secure an heir. (Or perhaps he’s just too busy not-being the Delm-in-waiting.) Shan, on the other hand, apparently has no such troubles; this chapter also contains the series’ first mention of his daughter Padi.