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Necessity’s Child – Chapter 16

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In which Syl Vor and his mother discuss his first day at school.

It’s probably one of those things where, once you start noticing them, they’re all over the place: Pounce the house medic shares his name with a member of the Trealla Fantrol crew back on Liad. Definitely not the same person, though, because in addition to being male he isn’t a cat.

Back on the Rock, Syl Vor was held to a very high level of responsibility (higher than would be normal for a boy his age), because it was just a small group of them in a tight circumstance, and everybody’s actions counted. It wouldn’t be appropriate to hold him to the same standard on Surebleak, where there’s more people to spread the responsibility around and where he’s not familiar with the territory and can’t always know what effect any given action will have, and it’s clear that his mother isn’t holding him to that standard – but also that he’s holding himself to it still.

On the Rock, he was also held to a very high standard of behaviour, but that was just because the standard was being set by Kareen, who’s used to the company of well-trained adults and probably doesn’t know how to make allowances for children who are still learning (the more so since she got past that phase so quickly herself). It’s good to see that Nova is establishing a more forgiving standard in this area too.

Necessity’s Child – Chapter 14

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In which Syl Vor goes to school.

Personally, I always thought Syl Vor’s objection to the bracelet was worthy of consideration, and his question about whether the other students would be wearing similar was on point, though not perhaps in the way he meant it. He’s already going to stand out from the rest of the group as it is, just by who he is, without making things more difficult by adding another obvious point of difference.

And isn’t it interesting that when trouble does happen, it comes from amiable Pete, and not – say – the more overtly antagonistic Rudy? (Rudy, incidentally, does come from one of the turfs that initially resisted the opening of the Road, though it’s suggested in I Dare that the people there came around once they understood what they stood to gain.)

I don’t remember if the novel goes into this later, but Pete’s reading trouble is a well-recognised dyslexic symptom, and there are some fairly straightforward things that can be done to mitigate it that would be within the reach even of someone living on Surebleak – the trick, of course, being finding someone on Surebleak who might recognise the symptoms and know about the remedies.