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.
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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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Jelaza Kazone
In which Rys is on his way home.
The scare quotes in the sentence about Emissary Twelve and Scout yo’Bingim each taking a packet of cookies to share with their comrades suggests that the narrator expects them to account for their own packet without any assistance. If that’s the case, I assume it was Scout yo’Bingim who came up with the story about comrades; bending the truth in such a way seems more in character for a Scout than for a Clutch Turtle, and she at least can point to comrades on-world, which Emissary Twelve can’t (unless one counts the Bedel, I suppose).
Scout Commander Val Con yos’Phelium thinks that the consequences of the election are likely to be fascinating. And I still recall what Miri said a few chapters ago about what it means when Val Con judges something to be fascinating.
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
The Tree Court
In which Emissary Twelve is making rapid progress.
The authors are playing with the timeline a bit in order to spread characters’ scenes out, I think. It’s unlikely that Miri’s last scene (showing the beginning of a long afternoon at the office) took place after Val Con’s last scene, which ended with him getting the message to come to the Tree Court — unless he took a very relaxed stroll from the outer garden to the Tree. Or perhaps I’m underestimating how long the conversation at the Tree takes; after all, a Turtle is capable of some impressive pauses for thought.
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.
Blair Road
Boss Conrad’s House
In which Mrs kaz’Ineo has an idea.
The mention of the Gilmour Agency’s human resources manual as a recent acquisition places this chapter not long after the opening scene of “Block Party”, in which Luzeal had just made the discovery, although perhaps not after the entire story, which covers a period of several weeks.
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Blair Road
Boss Conrad’s House
In which Boss Conrad has breakfast.
Pat Rin’s conversation with Cheever reminds me of the old days when they were still getting used to each other. Apparently Pat Rin is still capable of surprising him.
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Surebleak Port
Portmaster’s Office
In which Team Leader Kasveini has her limits.
The idea that social change on Surebleak works from the bottom up, by improving the lives of the people at the bottom of the heap, was a major theme of Dragon in Exile. Part of it was that, as seen again in the Road Boss’s meeting here, it’s harder for the Old Ways to come back if everyone knows they’re better off under the new ways.
Dragon in Exile also saw the origin of Kareen and Kamele’s project collating the historical documents of Surebleak.