Tag Archives: Clonak ter’Meulen

A Visit to the Galaxy Ballroom

In which Lina yo’Bingim does not wish to be part of the problem.

I’m fairly sure the merc who says “Efning” to Lina is attempting to wish her a good evening, but in the first moment I always think he’s offering his name.
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Accepting the Lance – Chapter 63

Six of Us
Daglyte Seam

In which Korval’s Luck leads to unexpected meetings.

I almost didn’t include the final paragraph of my last post, you know, but then I thought about how clever I’d feel if it turned out to be true. I wasn’t expecting it to be settled quite so quickly.

Accepting the Lance – Chapter 13

Surebleak Port
Scout Headquarters

In which Daaneka tey’Doshi and Kor Vid yos’Phelium receive their test results.

I wonder if there’s ever going to be a point where the narration switches to referring to the two pilots as “Daaneka” and “Kor Vid”.
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Accepting the Lance – Chapter 12

Jelaza Kazone

In which Val Con receives a letter from an old family friend.

Timeline sorting: The last two Surebleak chapters of Neogenesis each focus, as this chapter does, on half the delm starting the morning’s work. This one appears to fit between those two; it’s the morning after the first of them, in which Val Con receives the news from Tinsori Light. The second, in which Miri receives an unexpected visitor, appears to yet be in the future.
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Accepting the Lance – Chapter 10

Surebleak Port
Scout Headquarters

In which Clonak ter’Meulen sees a ghost.

Looks like the separately-published Neogenesis outtake describing part of Daav and Aelliana’s visit with Kamele remains in continuity; it fits neatly into the space left between their last scene in Neogenesis and their first scene here.
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Prodigal Son

In which Scout Commander yos’Phelium returns to the scene of the crime.

I haven’t read this story since a while before the first time I read Ghost Ship, and there’s quite a bit more to it than I remembered. I remembered the mirrored scenes with Miri at the beginning and end, and I remembered everything that happened at the Explorers Club, but the entire middle section I’d completely forgotten about. It’s a much better story with the middle in.

(I recognised the bits with Nelirikk that were included in Ghost Ship, of course, because I’ve just finished reading that, but I remember thinking both times I read Ghost Ship that those must have been new additions to the course of events.)

Speaking of the mirrored sections at the beginning and end, I noticed on this re-read that the opening scene is also reflected in the middle, with Hakan and Kem taking the places of Val Con and Miri, and the place of the rocking chair being taken by a different rocking chair.

Ghost Ship – Chapter 41

Starrigger’s Cafe
Mayflowerport

In which Daav consults an expert.

The Uncle doesn’t come right out and say it, of course, but that does appear to be an admission that he deliberately put Theo in harm’s way so that Bechimo would be obliged to come and rescue her.

His reminiscence about meeting Theonna yos’Phelium confirms the hints about him having survived in a series of bodies. It also suggests that each individual body has a longer than usual lifespan, since the body in which he met her was older than hers and yet lasted “long years” after she died. (On the other hand, maybe that says something instead about the lifespan of a delm of Korval.)

The mention that Theonna had “known his relationship to the shipyards of the independents” might be taken as another hint toward Bechimo‘s origins being tied into some of the background details of Trade Secret (Theonna would have been alive during the events of Trade Secret, if not yet delm), but we still have that definite statement at the beginning of this novel that Bechimo has been waiting far longer than that.

Ghost Ship – Chapter 40

Jelaza Kazone
Surebleak

In which various preparations are made.

And while Val Con is off dealing with his metaphorical bombshell, Miri is stuck with another one – which is going to become rather less metaphorical if it’s not dealt with promptly.

This is one of Korval’s weak points at the moment: there aren’t very many members of the clan, all things considered, and there is such a lot to do. And if it should happen that something comes up when everybody who could do it is already elsewhere, there’s going to be serious trouble. (Come to think of it, this situation was somewhat foreshadowed earlier, with the difficulty they had lining up a suitable group to go and retrieve the children from their hiding place.) Now I’m maybe a bit surprised that the Department hasn’t tried to do anything with that, but then again maybe they don’t have any good ideas about what trouble they could cause that would require a specific clanmember to deal with; they only stumbled on this one by accident.

Ghost Ship – Chapter 39

Jelaza Kazone
Surebleak

In which there is good news and bad news.

Win Ton also knows who Clarence was, which is perhaps not surprising, since Win Ton is a Scout and the Scouts might be expected to have known who was doing what in their home port. What might be surprising is that, knowing who Clarence was, he’s so quick to trust him; part of that is probably that Theo trusts him, but it might also speak to a detailed knowledge of Clarence’s past: merely knowing Clarence’s old job description would probably be a count against him, but there have been better people and worse people to hold that job, and someone familiar with Clarence’s track record would know which side of the scale he was on.

Meanwhile, back on Surebleak, that quiet haven Theo was thinking fondly of while her crew were trying not to get blown up, Val Con has a metaphorical bombshell of his own to deal with…

Saltation – Chapter 42 & I Dare – Chapter 58

Day 201
Standard Year 1393
Solcintra
Liad

In which Theo brings her business to the Delm of Korval.

The fact that it’s Clonak on the gate leads me to wonder whether he recognised a family resemblance in Theo, and that formed part of his decision to let her in. He did, after all, know her father well and for many years.

Speaking of family resemblances, Theo’s first words on being reunited with her father are exactly the same as Val Con’s.

There’s apparently been some disagreement among readers about the way I Dare ends, so for the record I personally found it a perfect and delightful note on which to end the Agent of Change series, and would have thought myself entirely satisfied if that had been the last we ever heard of Liadens. (Though I am, of course, glad now that it wasn’t.) To me, it didn’t come across as a loose end, but as a reminder that even with the Department defeated, the wide universe still contains new discoveries and new adventures, and the children of Korval are not the kind to live quietly ever after.


Tomorrow: New adventure.