Tag Archives: Dmitri

Necessity’s Child – Chapter 31

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In which Dmitri is remembered, and Rys remembers.

Kezzi’s kiss on the cheek is one of those moments that has extra resonance if one knows things from other parts of the series; it’s a gesture that has a particular significance in Liaden culture, which Kezzi probably isn’t aware of. I don’t think it was ill-done, since it’s not inappropriate for a sister to kiss a brother thus, but by that token it underlines, in a way Kezzi perhaps didn’t consciously intend, that Rys and Kezzi are inhabiting the melant’i of brother and sister.

This is the first time Rys has put a name to the great winged shadow which brought down fire and destruction in his memory of the death of his clan. The first time he remembered it, it went nameless, and seemed to fit in with his dread of dragons; that he now recalls its true nature fits in with his progress in coming to understand what’s happened to him and what he truly has to fear.

Necessity’s Child – Chapter 30

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In which a packed day draws to a close.

Silain has a good point, which I hadn’t considered when I was reading this novel for the first time and expecting Rys to wind up being accepted into the kompani. He fits in well enough now, but as he himself said earlier they can’t make a definite decision until they know how he might be changed by regaining his lost memories.

Another thing I hadn’t properly considered when I was reading this novel for the first time is that when Kezzi asked if it might be possible to find a ship that had been lost, I thought she was thinking of the ship that the headman and the luthia were discussing a while ago, the overdue ship that was to have come for the kompani at the end of their chafurma. Of course it isn’t; even if the headman and the luthia hadn’t decided on a wait-and-see course about that, I don’t think any child of the Bedel would tell gadje about their ship, let alone invite gadje to track it down. (In fairness to my younger self, I don’t think we’ve actually been shown Kezzi learning about the ship that she is asking about, which may have thrown me off.)

I think giving Peter and Luce another chance to find their place at school is the right decision. Maybe they’ll take it, and everybody will be happy, and if they don’t at least they’ll be somewhere someone’s got an eye on them. Between those two possibilities, isn’t that pretty much the point of the child-off-the-street policy?

Necessity’s Child – Chapter 27

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In which several characters give thought to the future.

One of the things I remember thinking the first time I read this chapter was, “Well, if that’s how they’re going to make up the numbers, I guess this means Rys isn’t going to be staying with the kompani permanently.”

The child Droi sets out to get on behalf of the kompani is one possible candidate for the title character, although not the only one. The title might not even be referring to a character at all; after all there is an old saying which holds that Invention is Necessity’s child, and we’ve already seen several characters being inventive in response to various necessities.

The scene with Nova and Mike at the beginning of the chapter is another of the ones that makes me wonder what I’d see if I owned a pair of shipping goggles.

Necessity’s Child – Chapter 25

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In which Syl Vor introduces his sister to a game.

The information-trading game is interesting, because it’s never been mentioned before in a Liaden story, but it’s very similar to a game featured in one of Lee and Miller’s non-Liaden works.

Master Walk was published in a chapbook about a decade ago (the ebook edition is still available), and also appears in the print anthology Double Vision. I get the impression it was hoping to be the first of a new series – it’s got that feeling about it, like how you can often tell if a telemovie started life as a pilot episode – but so far there have been no sequels.

It’s science fiction again, set in a galaxy that is like and unlike that of the Liadens in various respects. The trading of information is a big thing both in the setting in general and the plot of Master Walk in particular, and the traders of information play the token-swapping game to keep score during a transaction. (It is considered that a transaction has not been completed with honor unless each participant gives and receives equal value.) The full game, at least in that version, uses tokens of several denominations, allowing a considerable amount of precision when indicating how much value is placed on a piece of information received.

There’s a moment that’s stayed with me, where a trader asks a question, receives the answer, and hands over a token indicating how valuable they found the answer to be – and the person they’re dealing with immediately also hands over a token, indicating that they’ve received valuable information from the size of the token the answer elicited.

Necessity’s Child – Chapter 23

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In which Rys’s brothers give him a hand.

We continue to get to know Syl Vor’s classmates as he does. Kaleb’s family seem to know a thing or two about medicine, though whether it’s professional interest or just practical experience isn’t clear yet. Several of them have grandmothers, which is reassuring considering some of the stories we’ve heard about life expectancy on Surebleak, or cats, or both. I like the way Syl Vor disarms Rudy’s attack.

Rys is worrying again about the missing part of his memory, and how the person he is without it might differ from the person he would be with it. He may be right to do so, considering that even when he thinks he’s got all his memories of yesterday back he’s still missing any memory of his conversation with the lady who recognised him. (And is that his memory sequestering the conversation because it relates to other stuff he’s not ready to face, or did she do it somehow?)

Necessity’s Child – Chapter 22

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In which thought is given to the future.

Apparently we are not to discover just yet what has become of Rys.

Ms ker’Eklis seems to be in a bad mood; perhaps she resents her dinner being put back. As a Liaden, she ought to know about necessity, but perhaps she thinks a boy’s necessity is not as necessary as an adult math tutor’s. Or perhaps, to be fair, it’s only that she doubts this particular boy, since about half the mentions of Syl Vor’s tutors in the book so far have been because he’s running late for his lessons for one reason or another.