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.
Surebleak Orbital Influence Zone
In which Bechimo discovers a new taste sensation.
Because of the name, and the fact that they’re first introduced as a breakfast food, I’d been picturing maize buttons as a kind of breakfast cereal, small and eaten in clusters. It appears from the description here that they’re more in the line of a pastry, large enough to be enjoyed individually (but small enough to be snatched up in a handful).
Anlingdin Piloting Academy
Eylot
In which Theo goes for a walk.
It’s approaching the long break, and the prospect of working at Hugglelans again, so it’s a whole year since chapter 20. A school year, that is, which is not a great deal of help for fixing the timeline without an idea of how the Anlingdin year lines up to the Standard Year.
I’m not convinced Theo’s solution to the problem of next year would have answered the case: moving out of the main quad into the DCCT dorm would have removed her from the immediate vicinity of the parochial and suspicious, but it would have only made things worse in the long run by making her seem to align herself with Them against Us. I suppose, had things been otherwise, it might have served to delay matters enough for her to finish her schooling. Might have. And the attack on DCCT makes it pretty clear that things are not that kind of otherwise.
Healer el’Kemin’s little exposition on the uses of vya expands our knowledge of it somewhat. We had known that it was used to stimulate passion, but previously we had only seen it used to stimulate passions of one particular kind. (And, come to think of it, the information that it has more varied applications offers a new angle on Aito-who-always-wears-too-much-vya.)
Codrescu Station
Eylot Nearspace
In which Theo becomes a Guild member in good standing.
The bit about Hevelin being more directly inquisitive and seeming to understand more than the norbears in Vashtara‘s pet library accords with what I remember from their respective previous appearances. It’s also interesting, although there isn’t enough information to be sure what it means, if anything. Is it because Hevelin is older than the pet library norbears? Or because they’re “hothouse norbears”, raised in a comfortable environment (by people who think they’re just clever animals) while Hevelin’s been making his own way in the universe? Or perhaps the line of causality runs the other way, and Hevelin’s intellect and personality led him as a young norbear to choose a wandering life instead of settling for a cushy spot somewhere.
Diverse Cultures Celebration Team
Anlingdin Piloting Academy
In which Theo meets friends new and old.
It hadn’t occurred to me that yos’Senchul referring to Korval and Ixin by their nicknames might be a test of Theo’s knowledge of Liaden clans — at least partly, of course, because my own knowledge of such is at least solid enough that those two nicknames are transparent to me.
I wonder if Theo would have thought to look up Line Kiladi in the Book of Clans if Kara hadn’t interrupted — and what she would have found if she had.
Win Ton’s courier ship, Torvin, built in a Korval-affiliated ship-yard, has a name with history behind it: Clan Torvin was the clan of pilots that Cantra yos’Phelium was the last survivor of before she founded Clan Korval.
The bit about Liadens and Terrans disagreeing over which side of the ship things like entrance hatches go on is just a colorful detail here, but it will be significant later.
Vashtara
Dining Hall Lobby
In which offers are made at mealtimes.
I’m amused by Jen Sar’s private observations of the care Roni has taken with her appearance. But I wonder about his discourse on the subject of the first-pair: it doesn’t seem in character for him, but on the other hand it doesn’t seem in character that he would simply be saying whatever he thinks Lystra wants to hear; like many Liadens, he’s disinclined to use an outright lie when a misleadingly-stated truth will serve. (As witness his statement about Lystra standing guardian over that which interests him nearly.) One aspect that comes to mind is that, while he says that he believes in the advantages of a first-pair partner being superior in age and experience, he doesn’t say how much, and leaves Roni’s mother to assume that he considers the gap between Roni and himself appropriate, where perhaps his true belief is only that things are likely to go smoother with a partner who’s a little bit older and not a complete novice.
Aelliana’s assertion that she knew no questionable people before she met him is… maybe true, from a certain point of view; it depends on what questions one is inclined to ask. She certainly had friends among the scouts, who many cultured Liadens including members of her own family would be inclined to consider questionable people. And, for that matter, there were members of her own family who were somewhat questionable themselves, though she might not have thought to say so before she met him.
There are several observations a person might make about the conversation with Hafley and her onagrata, but I’ll content myself with noting that the mention of Clyburn’s pull with Administration provides an additional suggestion, if one were needed, that Hafley’s advice to Kamele about cultivating a young man for the benefit of one’s career was drawn from personal experience.