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Fledgling – Chapter 12

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Cultural Genetics Program
Bjornson-Bellevale College of Arts and Sciences
University of Delgado

In which Theo has dinner with her father.

So, like I was saying, after that brief moment of peace and domestic harmony, comes… more peace and domestic harmony? Whatever storm this is the calm before must be really awful.

With Kartor getting a surname this chapter, all of Four Team Three are now equipped with names both fore- and sur-.

The uncharacteristic clumsiness of Theo’s father is definitely suggestive to a reader familiar with the wider Liaden universe; we saw his old teacher pull the same trick back in Scout’s Progress.

It also brings on an observation which I’m sure is influenced by me remembering things that haven’t happened yet, but I’m going to pass it on anyway: Theo was able to catch both the objects Professor Kiladi dropped without any difficulty. Conversely, every incident of her supposed clumsiness we’ve seen has involved colliding or tangling with a person — a trend reinforced by her self-description in chapter nine. This doesn’t mean that Theo isn’t the problem, since she’s still the common thread among the incidents, but it does suggest that the problem isn’t so much a lack of control of her own movements as a flaw in her understanding of the movements of others. Put her in the middle of a crowd of people and trouble is bound to follow, but give her an inanimate object moving according to the basic laws of physics, and she’s fine.

Fledgling – Chapter 11

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University of Delgado
Faculty Residence Wall
Quadrant Eight, Building Two

In which Theo gains a rug and a respite.

I like this patch of peace and domestic harmony. It probably just means things are about to get even worse, though.

It’s only just occurred to me to wonder how it’s possible for Quadrant Eight to exist, since any given area consists of no more nor less than four quadrants, by definition. Maybe the university is divided into two (or more) areas, and rather than add another layer to the addresses they just continued on the numbering of the quadrants from where the first set ended. This would especially make sense if the second area is a later addition to the original layout of the university, which would explain why the address space didn’t account for the possibility. (It would also make a nice echo of Theo learning this chapter that the founders of the university didn’t think of everything.)

I was going to say something last chapter about the Safety’s apparent determination to assume that the incident on the scavage court was Theo’s fault, but I decided not to when I started considering the limitations of seeing things from Theo’s point of view. In the light of the Safety’s official report, though, there does seem to be something there — but rather than the “predisposed to expect Theo at the centre of the trouble” kind of something I was thinking of before, it seems to be more of a “determined not to let any responsibility settle on Roni” kind of something. (And that reminds me of the thing I did say about what kind of fall-out there might or might not be for Roni.)