Vandar
Springbreeze Farm

In which Jerry’s piano returns to life.

Time’s moving strangely again. There’s mention of a tune Hakan was playing on his guitar “three days ago”, which might be on the day Val Con and Miri met him and he persuaded Zhena Trelu to let Val Con use the piano; three days seems a reasonable period for them to find time to line their schedules up so he can come and tune the piano. But Zhena Trelu says it’s been “three weeks” since Miri and Val Con showed up, and the day before they met Hakan Miri said it was “barely a week”. That would suggest that it’s been over a week since they met Hakan, and while that’s possible and it’s also possible that the occasion three days ago was not the first time they heard Hakan playing his guitar, it seems less likely that Hakan would let a whole week go by before seeing to the piano.

In other, less ambiguous, time-related news, it’s three years since Zhena Trelu’s zamir died, which makes this local year 1478. Whatever that might mean in comparison to the Standard Calendar.

The conversation between Miri and Zhena Trelu outside the locked door is another of my favourite moments in this novel.