Dutiful Passage
Colemeno Orbit
In which the visitors prepare to be received.
I wonder if the cats had anything interesting to say in their nameday greetings, or if Jeeves just translated their message into human-polite.
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Dutiful Passage
In which Padi makes connections and Shan receives news from home.
The looper families Shan mentions are among those who have appeared or been mentioned in the Jethri-era stories: the Smiths were the first family to have norbears travelling with them, the Tragers were friendly with Jethri’s family, and the Wildes did that ill-fated bit of experimenting with Old Tech.
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Dutiful Passage
In which Shan and Priscilla regroup and reflect.
“I didn’t know it wasn’t possible, so I did it” is a glib enough explanation, but given some of the things we’re told elsewhere, I have a suspicion that Shan’s achievements are a sign that there’s more to him than he knows — and particularly, that it’s being brought out of him by his association with Priscilla, which would explain why it wasn’t spotted when he was young.
That’s an interesting detail, about direct mindspeech being so uncommon that Priscilla doesn’t know of anyone with the capability. Now I’m trying to think if there have been any other people doing it in the series so far.
This is another chapter which gains in richness from all the work the authors did in Conflict of Honors.
Shipyear 65
Tripday 148
Fourth Shift
20.00 hours
In which even a Mendoza of Sintia must deal with graceless people at parties.
Though Priscilla welcomes the intercession of Mr dea’Gauss and Judge Zahre as divine intervention, she might reasonably be inclined to doubt that that was what it was after it results in Ambassador Grittle’s outburst. And yet, I wonder; we know from the Moonhawk stories that the Goddess is not averse to steering her children through uncomfortable moments on the path to good outcomes, so it’s possible that there was a divine intervention and that the outburst was as much an intended part of it as the intercession. (Indeed, there are times when I suspect that the entire course of Priscilla’s life from that day in Diablo’s has been part of divine plan that we have yet to see the end of. It’s a hard road she’s been walking, but certain people seem to have spent the last few centuries building roadblocks over all the easy ones.)
Speaking of roadblocks, I take it that Shan’s shadowed expression in the last scene of the chapter is due to the reminder that, for all that they’re able to be comfortable and joke together, Priscilla still thinks of him first of all as Captain yos’Galan, with all the limits that implies on how they might interact. If she’d understood that she had the option of replying to her friend Shan instead of to her captain, and if she’d chosen to exercise that option, the conversation might have proceeded very differently.
Shipyear 65
Tripday 143
Third Shift
16.00 hours
In which Shan has some explanations.
This is a significant turning point for Shan and Priscilla, with Shan finally explaining what’s going on and the two of them agreeing on a future course of action.
We get another mention of that elusive person, Anne’s brother Richard, and perhaps the most extensive account of him, in Shan’s description of his conflation of Liadens with elves. Shan doesn’t say why Richard picked on Val Con for the role of “king of Elfland”, but presumably it’s because he had heard some account of the Contract which once prompted Anne to accuse Val Con’s father of being King of Liad. In which case, I’m pretty sure this is the first intimation, in published order, of the existence of the Contract.
Shipyear 65
Tripday 139
Third Shift
16.00 hours
In which Kayzin Ne’Zame’s suspicion of Priscilla comes to a head.
They’re nearly at Arsdred, and Priscilla hasn’t yet decided whether she intends to remain with the Passage after that. She was being swayed toward staying before she got the sharp reminder that the first mate doesn’t welcome her, and she doesn’t know yet that the captain has required the first mate to mend her ways.
I like the wrinkliness of Kayzin Ne’Zame’s relationship with Shan. She questions his decisions, but it’s because she feels it’s her duty and responsibility to make sure he’s thought them through properly, and when he puts her in her place, she’s mortified for herself but also proud of him for the demonstration of the quality of his melant’i.
It’s a good thing I wasn’t very attached to the hypothesis of 5-hour shifts, because this chapter’s dateline breaks it, too. I think the model of 6-hour shifts best fits the data so far, with the previously-mentioned fudge for the tenth chapter. On that model, Third Shift would run from Twelfth Hour to Eighteenth Hour, with Priscilla’s dinner date at Seventeenth Hour being accommodated by the policy Shan mentions of allowing an hour off to eat.
Shipyear 65
Tripday 136
Third Shift
11.30 hours
In which the pet librarian works everywhere but the pet library.
Priscilla continues to make friends, and Kayzin Ne’Zame continues to not be one of them. Shan clearly hasn’t been telling his first mate what he’s up to, or she wouldn’t have been surprised to find Priscilla in the comms tower, but I don’t know that I blame him; it’s not strictly something that a captain is obliged to tell his first mate about, and it wouldn’t be a problem except that she’s inclined to be suspicious of Priscilla, which is her problem and not his. It’s uncomfortable for Priscilla, though.
The norbears in the pet library have a mix of names; Delm Briat has a very Liaden name, Master Frodo a very Terran one, and Lady Selph and Tiny could go either way. (Most importantly, though: norbears!)
Tonee sig’Ella is, I notice, one of those characters who occasionally appear in this series for whom the authors have not found it necessary to resort to gender-specific pronouns.
This chapter’s dateline doesn’t fit 7-hour shifts or 6-hour shifts, unless it’s anticipating the beginning of Third Shift at 12.00 hours. Alternatively, it does fit 5-hour shifts, and so does every other dateline we’ve had since Priscilla boarded the Passage.
Shipyear 65
Tripday 135
Second Shift
9.30 hours
In which a game of ping pong results in several discoveries.
Another chapter where I’m pretty sure I’d have more to say if I was reading for the first time, instead of (a) re-reading and (b) familiar with what the authors have had to say about the sexual orientations of their characters.
Although, having said that, I can’t remember now whether I was particularly surprised when I did read this chapter for the first time. If I wasn’t, it probably owed something to how matter-of-factly the sequence of events is told; there’s no attempt to make a big deal about where it goes, and I for one appreciate that.