In which Anne and Er Thom each separately look forward to life becoming more simple.
We’ve encountered Shan el’Thrassin before, briefly; Jethri reads about him in Balance of Trade.
There’s a nice bit of multiple-purpose exposition in this chapter, when Anne is reflecting on her childhood. It serves its overt purpose of elucidating how Anne handles her own child, but it also casually slips in the fact that she comes of a family that produces pilots, which will be important later.
In which Er Thom has urgent business elsewhere.
This chapter is one that becomes richer through being able to bring in context from other stories. There are things that slide by as unexplained background details that are expanded on elsewhere in the series.
For instance, the reason why Er Thom, “an experienced and considerate lover”, was “unexpectedly awkward” when it came to kissing, is never explained, that I recall, anywhere – in this novel. But the necessary cultural background is available elsewhere.
Likewise, knowing about the Liaden prohibition on permanently-installed ear decorations adds strength to Petrella’s description of Daav’s ear decoration as “barbaric”, and on the other hand adds emotional weight to Daav’s decision to continue wearing it.