In which Ren Zel dea’Judan has unfinished business on Casia.

The thing I find really satisfying about this story is how things turn out for Cyrbet Meriandra, the last child of Clan Jabun. I’m pleased for her sake her fate turns out not to be the desperate thing it sounded when it was foretold at the end of Changeling; she did no more to earn a part in the doom brought on her by Delm Jabun than Ren Zel did. And during the confrontation at the end of this story, it was her I was worried about more than Ren Zel; he’s a dramliza, he can take care of himself even if Anthora isn’t there to take care of him.

(I am of course also pleased that Ren Zel found a way to reconnect with his family, but it wasn’t such a subject of suspense; as soon as Anthora persuaded him to make the attempt it seemed obvious the attempt would succeed and it was only a matter of waiting to learn the details.)

There is something funny going on with Cyrbet, though. It seems to be implied that she’s too young to remember the death of her mother, and was raised from childhood with tales of Ren Zel the ogre, which would seem to fit with the mention in Changeling of a toddler identified as Elsu’s daughter. However, we have our choice of several not-entirely-consistent indications of how long it’s been since Ren Zel left on Dutiful Passage… not one of which is long enough for a toddler to grow into a young woman employed as an adult and contemplating marriage. The timeline published in the second Liaden Unibus has it that Changeling took place in Standard Year 1390, which would mean he’s been away a mere three years. Even if we ignore that, Changeling itself states clearly that Shan is the captain of Dutiful Passage, which places it absolutely no earlier than 1383, ten years ago (and probably no earlier than 1385, since Shan was nominally captain for a couple of years before he was actually free to assume the role). Finally, there’s a line in this story which can be read as indicating that it’s been twelve years (actually, it’s “a dozen Standards”, which, since it’s Liadens, might be an approximation the way a Terran would say “a decade”) and even that is not enough for a toddler to attain Bethy’s apparent age. Perhaps Elsu had two daughters, and Cyrbet was the elder by enough years to fix the maths, but then what happened to the other one?

Another oddity, but one which I think is more likely to be deliberate and meaningful than an oversight, is the Balance pronounced by Delm Jabun on Ren Zel. It’s stated clearly in Conflict of Honors that Liadens consider it inappropriate to Balance a transgression by seeking the death of the transgressor, except in really extreme cases where there’s truly nothing else that will do. So does this mean that Ren Zel’s alleged wrongs against Clan Jabun would, if real, constitute such an extreme case? Or is it a sign of Delm Jabun’s corruption, that he called for Ren Zel’s death, regardless of its appropriateness, simply because it was the outcome he desired?

There’s a lot of good parallelling going on in this story, especially on the subject of delms: so many different delms, each with their own approach to the delm’s duty of caring for their clans’ resources, allowing comparisons that cast light on what it means to be a good (or a bad) delm, and to be a good and obedient clanmember. There are also parallels between Ren Zel and his nemesis that are interesting, and instructive: we don’t get an explicit account from Bethy of why she makes the decision she does at the end, but perhaps part of it is similar to the reasoning behind Ren Zel’s account at prime of his Balance with Aunt Chane.

Tomorrow: “Code of Honor”