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Conflict of Honors – Chapter 43

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Precinct House
Crown City, Theopholis
Hour of Demons

In which the legal system of Theopholis does not show itself in the best of lights.

This is another chapter where I would probably have had more to say about it on first reading, but on re-reading my main reaction is “Yes, that’s about how I remember it”.

I’m curious about how the hours are named on Theopholis. I thought at first, with the Kings and the Knaves, the theme might be card-related, but then there was the Viscount, so I thought it might be rulers. And in this chapter, there’s a mention of the Regent’s Hour, which would fit, except that there’s also the Hour of Demons, which doesn’t. (And I wonder whether it’s significant that there are multiple Kings and Knaves and Demons, but only one each of the Viscount and the Regent.)

Conflict of Honors – Chapter 28

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Shipyear 65
Tripday 155
Third Shift
12.00 hours

In which Gordy becomes a tree.

A little domestic interlude before the crew meeting, which is no doubt going to have Consequences.

I like the part where Lina is watching Priscilla at work. It adds to the ongoing thing of Priscilla’s friends learning about her, and it’s also a nice example of the technique of having a character compare an unfamiliar thing with a thing that’s familiar to the character but not so much to the reader, and thereby show the reader more about both things.

Conflict of Honors – Chapter 16

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Shipyear 65
Tripday 143
Second Shift
6.00 hours

In which Priscilla receives an apology.

It would appear that Shan did, in fact, have business with the famous Herr Sasoni; I’d been half-inclined to suspect him of throwing that in to achieve an effect on the magistrate, for all that we’ve been assured that it’s not like him to lie. Even so, I still suspect that the nature of the transaction was not what he allowed the magistrate to assume.

(Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I hope it wasn’t, given the implied nature of the assumed transaction and the fact that, like Rusty, I read an obvious implication in the quality of Shan’s apology to Priscilla.)

Conflict of Honors – Chapter 14

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Arsdred Port Magistrate’s Chamber
Local Year 728
Evening Bazaar

In which Priscilla sees the legal system of Arsdred from the inside.

One of the ways in which Shan is a better trader than Sav Rid Olanek, as demonstrated here, is his ability to find the smooth path leading to a conclusion satisfactory to himself and to the person he’s dealing with. Trader Olanek seems to be of the opinion that getting his own way is all that matters, without even the awareness that he might get his own way more easily if he paid some attention to what others wanted.

I like the slight hesitation before Trader Olanek says he’s willing to speak for Dagmar Collier. That’s a nice detail.

Another nice detail is that we have a Liaden expressing dislike of the fact that Shan is willing to acknowledge Gordy as kin, just a chapter after Gordy mentioned a Terran expressing dislike of the fact that Gordy is willing to acknowledge Shan as kin. (And Gordy’s explanation to Priscilla last chapter served a useful setting-up purpose, such that we now know what Trader Olanek is talking about without having to hold up the action here for an explanation.)

I also like the bit about the insult that can’t be understood by a person who merely knows what the words mean. A feature common to many of my favourite science fiction stories is cultures that have been sufficiently developed as to have figures of speech that don’t translate cleanly. (Two other examples that come to mind are Janet Kagan’s Hellspark and Cherry Wilder’s Torin series. You can tell a culture has some depth to it when it has its own puns.)

Conflict of Honors – Chapter 6

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Shipyear 65
Tripday 130
Fourth Shift
18.00 hours

In which Priscilla meets Shan yos’Galan.

Contrary to what I said last week, this must be where I first learned about Liadens and faces. It must be. Conflict of Honors was the first Liaden story I ever read, and certainly Gordy’s recital is the most detailed and explicit statement of the case to be found anywhere in the series. I don’t remember it, though. There is a difference, perhaps, between being told about a thing in the abstract and coming to comprehend it through being shown examples of it in action.

The dateline on this chapter is not consistent with a 28-hour day divided into four 7-hour shifts, in which 18.00 hours would be deep in Third Shift. It would, on the other hand, fit a 24-hour day divided into four shifts.