Tag Archives: Fil Tor Kinrae

Local Custom – Chapter 40

5 Replies

In which the last pieces fall into place.

I think, if memory serves, this is the first place (in publication order) that the lives and times of Cantra and Tor An were described in any detail. And the details given here, I can’t help noticing, differ in some significant respects from how the story was eventually told in the Crystal books. (One could suggest that the differences are due to the details here coming from Cantra’s logbook, which Crystal Dragon tells us she didn’t actually start keeping until after the War, when she would have been depending on a perhaps-fallible memory. Or perhaps she remembered fine, but chose to present things somewhat differently from how they actually happened; I note that one of the differences of detail is that the logbook entry quoted here presents itself as having been written during the War, before Jela’s death.)

A little detail that might easily be missed (in fact, I don’t recall having consciously noted it on any of my previous reads): Anne is now wearing the ring Er Thom gave her, the “never goodbye” present.

Tomorrow: Scout’s Progress

Local Custom – Chapter 38

1 Reply

In which the pattern of the future becomes clear.

It is sometimes easy to forget just how rich and influential Clan Korval is. The authors generally do a good job of putting them up against problems that can’t be solved by throwing money and influence at them. And then there are moments like this, when Daav casually prevents a cruise liner from leaving port without fear of the consequences. (Though I’m not entirely sure I admire the way he shrugs off the problems he’s creating for the port master.)

Master Healer Kestra is an interesting viewpoint character, able to see under the surface of things and report details that might not have been visible from any other view.

I love each and every one of Shan’s interjections in this chapter.

Local Custom – Chapter 37

2 Replies

In which Anne’s troubles are eased, but Er Thom’s may be just beginning.

I don’t recall what I thought the first time I read this and Daav showed up at the end of the chapter. Probably I had a fairly good idea of what the outcome would be, if not how it would be achieved, if only because this is a prequel. One thing I’m pretty sure of is that despite the suggestion offered in the epigraph, I never suspected Daav for a moment of planning to require a balance-price from Anne for depriving the clan of its son Er Thom. (If nothing else, that would be thoroughly unjust, since it was Er Thom’s own decision, with perhaps some assistance from his mother; Anne, as Daav knows full well, never asked or expected any such thing.)

Local Custom – Chapter 36

1 Reply

In which Er Thom hears Anne calling.

The chapter epigraph lays out, bluntly, how much of a leap into the dark Er Thom is making in choosing to go with Anne: if he leaves the clan to follow her, he leaves everything.

There’s an intriguing bit of worldbuilding in one of the incidental details in this chapter: what kind of place is the Academy of Music on Terra, that it has marksmanship as a required course of study?

Local Custom – Chapter 35

1 Reply

In which several people have urgent business at the Port this morning.

And Er Thom finds himself capable of setting out, without hesitation, on a course of action that would have been literally unthinkable a twelveday ago.

I notice that, just as when Er Thom took Shan, on the day Anne came home and found them gone, the authors are deliberately casting shadow on just what Er Thom intends to when he finds Anne — a last play of the shadow-Er Thom constructed on the model of Shan el’Thrassin. I think I understand why, but I wonder if there was ever a reader who knew Er Thom so poorly by this point as to be taken in by the deception.

Local Custom – Chapter 32

Leave a Reply

In which preparations are made for the gather, and for afterward.

I had wondered, on this re-read, at noticing that Er Thom’s first visit to Master Jeweler Moonel was before he knew Anne would need a party dress and jewels. But here is the answer: two pieces of jewelry, from two visits.

I’m not sure I’m quite clear on how many personages were involved in the drama of Eba yos’Phelium and her thodelm: is Daav yos’Phelium, Sixth Delm Korval, an extra player, or is he himself the thodelm in question? I mean, Petrella spoke of them as different people, but I would have expected that Delm Korval is also Thodelm yos’Phelium (has that ever been explicitly established?). And if they were both the same person, but he was acting in one melant’i at one time and in another melant’i at another time, perhaps a Liaden would refer to them as if they were separate people. (Look at how often, with our current Daav, Delm Korval and Er Thom’s cha’leket are treated as different people.)

Local Custom – Chapter 31

Leave a Reply

In which Er Thom and Anne go shopping.

Things continue to be tense and unhappy.

After a nice bit of happenstance-tweaking by the authors, Er Thom now knows of Fil Tor Kinrae, at least by name, and Anne now knows of Jyl ven’Apon, at least by sight.

Local Custom – Chapter 29

2 Replies

In which Anne has two unpleasant conversations.

It’s vitally important that Anne and Er Thom have an opportunity for a clear and sensible conversation, so of course they’re prevented from having one.

I think Fil Tor Kinrae is lying when he says he didn’t realise who Anne was. Of course he knew; who else would she be? I reckon he just has such a low opinion of Terrans that, even faced with a scholar, and one who has a particular interest in the Liaden language, he assumes she can’t speak Liaden.