In the Hall of the Mountain King
In which Korval prepares to receive guests.
We have not previously encountered Finifter’s Shave, the ship that brought Toragin and Chelada to Surebleak, but the planet Finifter has been mentioned a couple of times. It’s one of the stops on Tan Sim’s trade route in Trade Secret, and one of the planets discussed in Culture Club in Saltation.
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A Rescue
In which the number of Vertu’s passengers increases.
Toragin’s remonstration at, presumably, the Tree gives us the outline of her cause: Chelada was promised that she could have her kittens under the Tree, which must have seemed an easy thing to promise when Jelaza Kazone was just down the road from Lazmeln’s clanhouse, and then when the distance suddenly became much greater, the promise still existed but was much harder to claim, and the Tree apparently didn’t find it necessary to ease the way at all.
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In which Lina yo’Bingim does not wish to be part of the problem.
I’m fairly sure the merc who says “Efning” to Lina is attempting to wish her a good evening, but in the first moment I always think he’s offering his name.
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On the Road
In which Emissary Twelve appreciates flowers.
Even while Boss Surebleak stirs up trouble, life goes on. Somebody said, earlier in the book: that’s the only way to do it. You have to keeping planning for life After.
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Bechimo
In which there is a free and frank exchange of views.
In all the excitement, I don’t think anyone got around to reading the emergency pinbeam message. It should be okay, though; most likely it was just a heads-up about the thing that happens at the end of the chapter, which went okay anyhow.
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Six of Us
Daiellen System
In which Sye Mon and Bon Vit are brought up to speed.
The Daiellen Sector is Surebleak’s neighbourhood, so these two haven’t travelled all that far — or else they headed back once they discovered where the war machines had been sent. Either way, it means it wouldn’t take too long for them to join in with the convocation at Benoo Three if for some reason their presence was required in person.
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Bechimo
In which the Pathfinders join the conversation.
Chernak and Stost are welcomed back with some of Clarence’s baking — more maize buttons?
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Six of Us
Jenarian Station
In which a ship is in need of repairs.
I remember saying, back at the end of Dragon in Exile, that I expected the adventures of Rys’s team would take up a significant portion of a whole book. It appears I was wrong about that.
It’s not clear just yet quite how much trouble Rys and Claidyne are in. The man with the pellet gun may have got suspicious on his own initiative, but there are other possibilities: for instance, perhaps the recognition code was out of date, and the station let them aboard only in order to find out who they really are.
Jelaza Kazone
In which Yulie Shaper is visited by a young lady.
Yulie knows what’s important in a person. What they look like doesn’t matter nearly as much as will they do right by the cats.
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Surebleak Orbital Influence Zone
In which Bechimo’s crew prepare to report.
The Theo/Bechimo part of the series isn’t as close to my heart as the Miri/Val Con part, and part of why is scenes like this, where the characters are talking over technical problems that mean something to them but don’t mean much to me. Miri and Val Con spend a fair amount of talking about problems that need solving, too, but their problems are usually about people, which I find inherently more interesting.