In which Sinit safeguards the clan’s treasures.
I’m always pleased to have another opportunity to spend time with Sinit, who’s one of my favourite characters in the series.
It’s also (speaking now as the presumptuous author of a suggested chronological reading order) something of a relief after the last few stories to have one that says up-front exactly where it fits chronologically.
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Volmer
In which yos’Galan and Carresens begin an exchange.
The other thought I’d had about the people on the cover — in fact, the first thought I had on seeing it, and the only possibility I’d seriously entertained before Mar Tyn and Dyoli showed up — was that it was Padi accompanied by a new character we hadn’t met yet. I’d been becoming less confident about that possibility recently, as we got so far into the book without encountering any new character who fit the bill. I believe we have him now.
(I’ve commented before that I seem to have a tendency to ask questions and make guesses one chapter before the answer shows up. I consider that this says good things about how well paced the books are.)
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In which Daav plans his Balance against the enemy which took Aelliana.
I’m interested by the implication that the thoughtfulness of Daav’s Balance here owes something to his previous experience of loss and Balance, which taught him the limitations of the method of direct reprisal.
Using that Diary entry as the chapter heading also provides another more subtle bookend: the last time it was used was on the chapter in which Daav and Aelliana first met.
It’s a bit difficult to know how much to talk about what else happens in this chapter when it hasn’t been explicitly called out yet, even though as a re-reader I know — and, since this is a prequel, even on the first read I knew — what’s going on. I think I’ll save that for next time.
In which the worst of coming home is dealing with one’s mail.
The quote at the head of this chapter seems, at first glance, not to have much to do with what follows. There isn’t obviously anybody doing something dangerous in the name of necessity.
Unless it’s the Tree.
I am deeply suspicious of the Tree’s purposes in giving out this set of sweet cedar-smelling seed-pods — the more so since, on this re-read, I’ve noticed the other place in the chapter where the smell of sweet cedar recurs.
In which Delm Korval goes visiting again.
This seems like a good time to mention a thing I like about this novel: Aelliana rescues herself.
She has had help along the way, and wouldn’t have done as well without it, but her achievements are her own, seized with her own hands. This isn’t a story about how she needed someone to save her. It was her own idea and decision to seek an escape, her own skill that won her her ship and her license. And, in these later chapters, she escaped from the house by herself, after rescuing herself from the worst effects of the Learning Module.
I love the bit where Daav is politely but firmly establishing his intention to stand in Mizel’s hallway as long as necessary.
(And speaking of Daav, it’s interesting to note at which points in the chapter Daav is “Korval” and at which points “Daav” comes to the fore.)