Tag Archives: menfri’at

Fledgling – Chapter 33

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Melchiza
City of Treasures

In which the first full day on Melchiza brings some surprises.

What with their native guide suddenly called away, and all the difficulties attendant on studying things at the House of Treasures, and this offer that they all go and have a holiday somewhere nice while the House’s own staff look things up for them, one might almost get the impression that somebody doesn’t want the research team getting near the Beltaire Collection…

Even if one wasn’t getting that impression, though, Kamele’s response is the only correct one. The whole point of coming was to see for themselves; if they left the job to others now, be they never so trustworthy, they might as well not have come.

I don’t think Hafley was specifically targetting Crowley with the comment about muddling the files; I think that was a general remark that Crowley deliberately chose to take personally as a rhetorical trick to put her off-balance. (But the kind of personal he chose to take it as is another reminder of how gender roles are seen on Delgado.)

Fledgling – Chapter 24

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Vashtara
Gallaria Level
Passenger Lounge

In which Cho has words with Win Ton.

I have occasionally wondered, since I first read this, whether Cho sig’Radia knew in this chapter who Jen Sar Kiladi is, especially since Mouse and Dragon told us that there’s one person we haven’t met, unidentified but probably a Scout, who knows his secret. But no, she says plainly that she doesn’t think she’s met him — so I think that instead her interest is because she knows where he borrowed the name of Kiladi from, and thus knows who he isn’t. She says that the name caught her ear, and that it’s “quite an old name”, which Theo takes to mean that it’s a name with a long history, but which I suspect means that it’s a name whose history has come to an end, and that there is nobody now who can rightly lay claim to it. That she goes on to mention that some Liadens find the regard of their Clan a burden might indicate that she suspects Jen Sar of having attempted to put aside that burden and his right name along with it. (If so, it’s an attempt that one might expect a Scout to have some sympathy with, and I notice she chooses not to pursue the matter.)

Fledgling – Chapter 22

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Vashtara
EdRec Level
Library

In which Theo is introduced to menfri’at and bowli ball.

Theo is picking up the pilot’s way of moving from Win Ton, and along with it the mental toolkit needed to avoid the kind of maladapted interactions with other people that got her labelled clumsy back on Delgado.

The bit where Theo gets mistaken for a Liaden is a fairly strong indication that Jen Sar is her father in fact and not just by courtesy and by virtue of having a hand in her upbringing. Whether you find this interesting might depend on whether you were already, notwithstanding the indications that it’s not usual practice on Delgado, taking Theo’s parentage as read.

It would appear that Win Ton hasn’t read Tan Sim’s Ugly Day.

With the benefit of hindsight, at least one of the things Chair Hafley says in this chapter is very, very ironic.

Guaranteed Delivery

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In which Dollance-Marie Chimra finds something with a price above rubies.

I didn’t like this story much the first time I read it. I found the plot utterly predictable, and none of the new characters particularly engaging. In the intersection of those two things, I didn’t care at all for Dollance-Marie Chimra, whose troubles are at the centre of the plot, since her troubles were by and large of her own making and I had less sympathy for her than for the various people whom she was putting to unnecessary trouble.

I enjoyed it more on this re-read. The plot wasn’t such a liability, because knowing what will happen next is what one expects on re-reading a story. And I find that I have more sympathy for Dollance-Marie on second acquaintance; this time through I got a better grasp of how her upbringing has produced the blind spots that result in the poor decisions she makes, and also I noticed more the indications that she does care about the people she’s caused trouble for — even if she doesn’t always understand the nature or extent of the trouble, when it comes to people outside the societal structure she’s grown up in.

That societal structure, where the intrusive-media side of celebrity has become a formal part of the life of the upper classes, was something I found some entertainment in even the first time I read the story. There’s aspects of modern social media, with trend-setters’ worth being judged by the number of their Followers, and echoes of the more old-fashioned paparazzi. And I noticed on this re-read that some of the names have a particularly English cast to them, which makes me think of the way the British Royal Family is arguably more important nowadays for giving the media something to pay attention to than for anything involving actually ruling the nation.

(The other thing some of the names remind me of is the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, but I haven’t visited that charming place in so long that I’m not sure if I’m just imagining things.)

Tomorrow, Mouse and Dragon chapter 37. Which brings to mind the thought that another thing this story has to offer, in the confrontation outside the Port, is a certain amount of foreshadowing.

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 15

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In which Aelliana and Daav go to inspect their ship and make discoveries of several kinds.

Several important developments occur in this chapter, but they’re the kind of things I’m not good at stringing words together about.

I’m much better at the trivial observations, like noting that there are a few details in this chapter that have extra resonance for readers familiar with other books in the series, like Clonak’s choice of occupation, or the way Trilla apologises before wiping her face.

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 4

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In which Aelliana has breakfast and messages.

The chapter heading quote is particularly pointed today. In theory, Aelliana is not without kin, and Daav is overreaching himself by offering her aid. In fact, though, none of Aelliana’s kin are willing and able to give her the care she ought to be able to expect from them (Sinit is willing, but not able), and if Daav had not offered his assistance she would have gone without. It ought not to have been only Daav who made sure she was clothed and fed, nor only Daav who came to see how she was doing. Even if other business prevented a visit, they might have sent a message; it says something that the messages from her colleagues outnumber those from her kin threefold, and that one of her students, a person who is not even so close to her as to be permitted the Low Tongue, sent a message when her own mother still has not. It says something that the one message from her kin is more than Aelliana expected.

It says something, too, that Aelliana herself compares the Mizel clanhouse, which ought to be her home and refuge, to a hostile port where she would be unwise to set foot without backup — and presents this as an obvious truth which she counts herself foolish not to have seen sooner.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 33

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In which two women return to face that which they fear.

My reaction to the middle section of this chapter is rather like my reaction to Chapter 27 of Trade Secret (which, if you don’t recall it, consisted largely of the single word “Yes!“). Aelliana has come a very long way since the beginning of the novel.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 30

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In which there is dinner, dancing, distinction, and a difficult decision.

Aelliana’s speculation about Daav’s ringless finger reminds me that this is a parallel to Local Custom, where Er Thom also spent a significant portion going about without his ring of rank. Or perhaps not so much a parallel as a reflection, because in a way the situation here is a reverse: Er Thom’s lack of ring was a punishment, but Daav’s is more in the way of a much-needed vacation.

And when Aelliana asks him what he has around his neck, and he replies, “A chain”, it’s an obvious dodge into literal-mindedness — but it also works as an honest (perhaps more honest than he intended?) description of how he regards the delm’s ring.

I think I was a bit uncharitable toward Olwen sel’Iprith back in Local Custom. If Frad is any indication, all the members of Daav’s former team are very close, just not the kind of close that, say, Er Thom and Anne are. (Or, as we can confidently say after the happenings of this chapter, Daav and Aelliana.)

And here’s a fun thing I noticed for the first time on this re-read: the authors are ingeniously uninformative as regards the genders of Trilla’s and Frad’s chosen table partners. We learn that Frad’s companion is a redheaded Scout, and Trilla’s companions are both described as dancers, but do we get a single gendered pronoun between the three of them? We do not.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 28

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In which Aelliana dances.

Daav doesn’t appear too put out that Aelliana has realised he tipped off Zan Der pel’Kermin, even though he asked that worthy person not mention his intervention. I surmise that he wouldn’t have minded Aelliana being told about Daav’s involvement, but wished to avoid any mention of that inconvenient person Delm Korval.

Things are going well for Aelliana and Daav at this point, but last chapter and this contain reminders that they both have troubles lurking in the background which, when they strike, are only going to strike the harder for having been successfully dodged thus far.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 27

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In which several people ask, reluctantly, “Now what?”

I’ve said this before, in the comments under Chapter 39 of Local Custom, but I might as well say it again so it appears in a post: I don’t believe that lifemating works on the basis of there being a pair of people predestined to join together. (Which is a relief, because it’s a pretty horrifying idea, as Daav suggests here: what if something happens to one half of the match before they meet, and the other is left forever incomplete?) Every time we see a lifemate bond form in this series, it’s a consequence, not a cause, something that happens to a pair of people who have already joined together in other ways. It makes sense that some people can’t form a lifemate bond at all, and that those can can’t do it with just anybody, but I don’t believe it’s as reductive as each person having one and only one possible partner.

Here’s an interesting sentence: “Jelaza Kazone had not spoken and he wished, with everything in him, to be at Binjali’s.” Is it that the Tree did manage to suggest an idea to Daav without him realising, or is it that the Tree didn’t speak because it knew that he was already, on his own initiative and by his own desire, going to do what it would have told him to do?