Dutiful Passage
In which Padi makes connections and Shan receives news from home.
The looper families Shan mentions are among those who have appeared or been mentioned in the Jethri-era stories: the Smiths were the first family to have norbears travelling with them, the Tragers were friendly with Jethri’s family, and the Wildes did that ill-fated bit of experimenting with Old Tech.
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In the house of the taxi driver
Enter Vertu and Cheever
In which Vertu Dysan greets the new day.
The story is subtitled “A Minor Melant’i Play for Snow Season”, which offers a hint at what it’s likely to be about. Melant’i plays involve dramatic consquences revolving around points of correct behaviour; the examples we’ve had described seem to generally end with dead bodies, and sometimes with buildings burning to the ground.
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Mercantile Building
In which the Boss Vote is concluded.
And that, more or less, is that. There’s still the outcome of the TerraTrade survey to be announced, but that’s looking more predictable now than it did a few chapters ago. And Lady yo’Lanna’s housewarming party. And, maybe, a progress report on Memit’s rabbit hunt.
Surebleak Port
Office of the Road Boss
In which Miri’s day suddenly gets more interesting.
So, Pat Rin did send the alert to both Val Con and Miri, regardless, which makes perfect sense and is what I would have assumed in the first place if the narrative hadn’t implied otherwise.
It annoys me that this is what I’m thinking about when there’s a dramatic climax going on.
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Surebleak Port
In which Boss Surebleak’s plan is revealed.
So, no shocking twist regarding Boss Surebleak’s identity. Different shocking twist instead.
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Surebleak Port
Portmaster’s Office
In which Boss Surebleak makes the next move.
I have reservations about this, but Portmaster Liu and Survey Leader Kasveini have already said them for me.
I still want to know, if nobody knows who Boss Surebleak is, how were the requests for comment for the Voting Editions addressed?
FlourPower Bakery
In which the snow removal team has more than snow on their minds.
We haven’t had a scene set in FlourPower since back when it featured in “Skyblaze”.
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Jelaza Kazone
In which Korval catches up on the morning news.
There seems to me to be a lot of book left for where we’re at.
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Surebleak Port
Office of the Road Boss
In which people want to talk about voting.
I wonder if the editor of the newspaper is the same printer on Conrad’s turf who started up the first newssheet after his arrival. If so, she seems to have taken to it pretty well.
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Council Meeting Room
Mercantile Building
In which a meeting proceeds without the invited guest.
A small detail I noticed: one of the other services contained within the Mercantile Building is a bank. Remember when ‘bleakers’ response to Conrad mentioning a bank was “What’s one of them?” and “I can’t see that working here”?
Another reminder of how things have improved since Conrad arrived.