Vashtara
Gallaria Level
Passenger Lounge
In which Cho has words with Win Ton.
I have occasionally wondered, since I first read this, whether Cho sig’Radia knew in this chapter who Jen Sar Kiladi is, especially since Mouse and Dragon told us that there’s one person we haven’t met, unidentified but probably a Scout, who knows his secret. But no, she says plainly that she doesn’t think she’s met him — so I think that instead her interest is because she knows where he borrowed the name of Kiladi from, and thus knows who he isn’t. She says that the name caught her ear, and that it’s “quite an old name”, which Theo takes to mean that it’s a name with a long history, but which I suspect means that it’s a name whose history has come to an end, and that there is nobody now who can rightly lay claim to it. That she goes on to mention that some Liadens find the regard of their Clan a burden might indicate that she suspects Jen Sar of having attempted to put aside that burden and his right name along with it. (If so, it’s an attempt that one might expect a Scout to have some sympathy with, and I notice she chooses not to pursue the matter.)