Tag Archives: Estra Trelu

Carpe Diem – Chapter 43

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Springbreeze Farm

In which Miri and Val Con are reunited.

Ah, you can tell Val Con’s recovered: they’re bantering again. I love the banter in this series.

And after all this time we get an answer to the question of who gets which coloured napkin, though no indication of whether it’s a definite or a contingent answer. Is the blue napkin always for Val Con, or only under some circumstances, or does anybody get whichever colour they want?

This is a fairly significant chapter for the series, in that it contains the first-published detailed description of the lifemate’s bond or wizard’s match. (Which I still think is a consequence rather than a cause of people getting together, even though Val Con here recalls hearing stories about intended lifemates finding each other through their bond. Stories may be made up or distorted, especially so in a context that encourages a romantic spin on the material.)

Carpe Diem – Chapter 40

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Hellin’s Surcease

In which Porlint is not much like Surebleak.

Miri’s comment to Hakan and Kem, that when they are together long enough they will know when something is not right with the other, has got me trying to remember how much has been established at this point in the series about the nature of the link she shares with Val Con, and whether it is something that she might expect Hakan and Kem to share too. Already this re-read we’ve had a lot of detailed backstory about the wizard’s match and nature of the connection, but I think all of that was published later, and when this novel was first published Miri and Val Con’s link was the first of its kind in the series and as yet lacking in a wider context.

Even given the context later established, it’s not impossible that Miri might suppose the link to be more common than it is, since her upbringing wouldn’t have included any relevant information and she, knowing her education has many gaps in it, might assume that the thing she has with Val Con is a common thing that nobody bothers to mention. (Val Con, having a more complete education, might not have made the same remark.)

This is not related to anything in this chapter, but it’s just occurred to me that the gossipy Athna Brigsbee’s name is an irony: the Earth name it most closely resembles is “Athena”, a name associated with wisdom and justice. I can’t think of a similar association for Estra Trelu, unless “Astra”, which means “star”.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 39

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Hellin’s Surcease

In which Val Con is not the only one who can sense danger and come to the rescue.

It’s not just the Loop, then, or if it is, it’s using Val Con’s own insecurities against him. The mission he let the genie out of the bottle for is to ensure Miri’s safety, and on some level he still believes that she’ll never be safe as long as she’s around him. Though Miri’s working on that, and has made significant progress by the end of the chapter.

Val Con’s hope that Miri would not be able to hear him the way he hears her is, it seems, to be disappointed, except in the narrow sense that she, being more visually-oriented, doesn’t hear music but sees a pattern. Which may be why he missed it when she alluded to the fact; he doesn’t have the right metaphor in place to immediately catch what she was talking about. Or it may well just have been that he had other things on his mind at that precise moment.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 37

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Hellin’s Surcease

In which Val Con and Hakan discuss heroism.

Zhena Trelu, Zhena Brigsbee and Miri stuck in a house together for three days? One shudders to think what the outcome might be. If Zhena Brigsbee has taken Zhena Trelu and Miri in while the farm’s being sorted out, does that mean that they are actually friends, despite all the complaining Zhena Trelu does, or was there some other motivation involved?

Val Con’s having trouble: he’s stuck in the agent of change headspace, and his attempts to get out of it are running up against the same emergency response, the “if you continue on this path you’re doomed” message from the Loop, that hit him when he first got out of it back on Edger’s ship. Miri’s presence helped then, but he seems to be avoiding Miri — is that the Loop’s doing too, because it’s learned that she could help him?

I wonder who Hellin was.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 35

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Springbreeze Farm

In which there is war in Bentrill.

This is a chapter where I would probably have had plenty to say on a first reading, but on the re-read it’s mostly “Yes, that’s how I remember it going.”

Val Con’s reached back into his Agent of Change conditioning to gain an advantage in the battle (to ensure Miri’s safety, where he would not have taken such a risk on his own account), and there are already signs that there are going to be consequences.

I wonder when Val Con learned to recognise the Gyrfalks’ battle cry; as far as I recall, nobody had occasion to use it during the very brief period he and Miri were travelling with the Gyrfalks. Maybe Miri’s been using it while they’ve been sparring.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 33

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Springbreeze Farm

In which there is danger and Miri is home alone.

Things are heating up, with two hazardous situations developing in parallel. Although I don’t think they’re actually occurring simultaneously; I have a feeling the Edger subplot might be getting stretched out through the book instead of occurring at a consistent pace.

The radio news report Miri doesn’t listen to is presumably connected to the Bassilan rebels that were mentioned in passing the first time Zhena Trelu took Val Con and Miri in to Gylles.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 27

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Springbreeze Farm

In which Val Con paints portraits in piano music.

Miri is right: Val Con is trying to hide parts of himself from her. We have that not only in this chapter, when he declines to attempt more than the most cursory musical sketch of himself, but in the previous chapter, when his joy at being able to hear her life-song was mixed with hope that she would not be able to hear his. Given the life he was leading before he met Miri, it’s understandable that he might be reluctant to expose her to the details, but it strikes me that lack of communication is not wise in a long-term committed relationship. Even if he doesn’t want to reveal details, it might help to be honest about the fact that he is keeping something hidden, and about why. It may even be that, having been acquainted with the problem, Miri may be able to help him with it, the way he helped her when she was afraid of how he might react to knowing the real her. It’s a thing partners and lifemates do.

When I first read the Liaden novels, I had to stop in the middle of this chapter for several weeks, because my copy of Partners in Necessity had a binding error and contained a repeat of pages 609-656 where pages 657-704 should have been. (When I reported the error to Meisha Merlin, they very kindly sent me a new copy without charge, for which I’m still grateful.) If you happen to know of anyone who owns the copy with the inverse problem, get in touch — maybe we’ll be able to find an eccentric collector who’ll buy the pair of them as a matched set…

Carpe Diem – Chapter 26

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Springbreeze Farm

In which Jerry’s piano returns to life.

Time’s moving strangely again. There’s mention of a tune Hakan was playing on his guitar “three days ago”, which might be on the day Val Con and Miri met him and he persuaded Zhena Trelu to let Val Con use the piano; three days seems a reasonable period for them to find time to line their schedules up so he can come and tune the piano. But Zhena Trelu says it’s been “three weeks” since Miri and Val Con showed up, and the day before they met Hakan Miri said it was “barely a week”. That would suggest that it’s been over a week since they met Hakan, and while that’s possible and it’s also possible that the occasion three days ago was not the first time they heard Hakan playing his guitar, it seems less likely that Hakan would let a whole week go by before seeing to the piano.

In other, less ambiguous, time-related news, it’s three years since Zhena Trelu’s zamir died, which makes this local year 1478. Whatever that might mean in comparison to the Standard Calendar.

The conversation between Miri and Zhena Trelu outside the locked door is another of my favourite moments in this novel.

Carpe Diem – Chapter 22

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Gylles

In which Val Con and Miri make some new friends.

Hakan may be physically short-sighted, but he sees better than some: he’s one of very few people in this novel or the last not to mistake Miri’s lack of stature for a lack of years. (He also gets her name right, even though he’s presumably grown up with the same phonemes as Zhena Trelu, which may be a testament to a musician’s ear and understanding of the importance that can be attached to almost-inaudible differences.)

This chapter includes some descriptions of what Terran sounds like to speakers of Benish, “a weird, chopping language” that “jarred on the ears”. Which implies something about what Benish itself sounds like. (I wonder what Hakan and Kem would make of Liaden, which is generally described as being smoother and more flowing.)

Carpe Diem – Chapter 21

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Gylles

In which Cory and Meri get some new clothes.

I notice that Zhena Trelu neglects to mention to Salissa the shop assistant that Miri is married, and I wonder if that’s a factor in Salissa’s insistence on “looking pretty” as the primary factor in her clothing choices. On the other hand, Zhena Trelu does quite clearly specify “proper work clothes” and “warm”, without any measurable effect, so maybe she’d have taken the same tack anyway.

It hadn’t occurred to me before this re-read, but Zhena Trelu’s inclusion of the library on the day’s itinerary is presumably a response to Val Con’s request for books to help Miri with the language.