In which Dmitri is remembered, and Rys remembers.

Kezzi’s kiss on the cheek is one of those moments that has extra resonance if one knows things from other parts of the series; it’s a gesture that has a particular significance in Liaden culture, which Kezzi probably isn’t aware of. I don’t think it was ill-done, since it’s not inappropriate for a sister to kiss a brother thus, but by that token it underlines, in a way Kezzi perhaps didn’t consciously intend, that Rys and Kezzi are inhabiting the melant’i of brother and sister.

This is the first time Rys has put a name to the great winged shadow which brought down fire and destruction in his memory of the death of his clan. The first time he remembered it, it went nameless, and seemed to fit in with his dread of dragons; that he now recalls its true nature fits in with his progress in coming to understand what’s happened to him and what he truly has to fear.