In which Er Thom sets his sights on an improbable goal.
There is an interesting demonstration of Daav’s melant’i in this chapter, in the way he sends Er Thom two separate messages, one formal one from Er Thom’s delm, and the other, less formal, from Er Thom’s cha’leket. And, later, how Er Thom plans to discuss strategy with Daav before taking his case to Delm Korval.
I am amused by Er Thom’s description of Solcintra society. “Prudent, if not particularly intelligent.”
In which Er Thom has a proposal to make.
But of course nothing’s going to come of it yet; there are far too many chapters left in the book.
It’s interesting to watch Daav working his way around toward understanding where Er Thom is coming from.
In which Er Thom and Kareen each take thought for the good of the clan.
As Er Thom works on persuading Anne to come to Liad and meet his family, we start getting an idea of the politics at work. One gets the impression they’re not going to be as delighted to see her as he’s making out.
And speaking of seeing her, there’s another miscommunication in this chapter that’s going to significantly affect Anne’s understanding of the evolving situation. The distinction between being seen by the Delm and being Seen by the Delm is not nearly as clear in spoken Terran as it presumably is in Liaden.
In which Er Thom has urgent business elsewhere.
This chapter is one that becomes richer through being able to bring in context from other stories. There are things that slide by as unexplained background details that are expanded on elsewhere in the series.
For instance, the reason why Er Thom, “an experienced and considerate lover”, was “unexpectedly awkward” when it came to kissing, is never explained, that I recall, anywhere – in this novel. But the necessary cultural background is available elsewhere.
Likewise, knowing about the Liaden prohibition on permanently-installed ear decorations adds strength to Petrella’s description of Daav’s ear decoration as “barbaric”, and on the other hand adds emotional weight to Daav’s decision to continue wearing it.
Tradedesk, Gallery 770
In which Jethri receives some good advice.
The story is really picking up now. It’s getting harder to put the book down for a day at the end of the chapter.
I wonder if Tan Sim has a specific reason to be interested in the Uncle, or if it’s just that anybody who can throw around money as seemingly-casually as he just did is a person a trader might find interesting.
I like the moment when Jethri and Tan Sim are “a riot of emotions for Liaden eyes, and the picture of restraint to Terran”. Moments of comparison like that are some of the things I love this series for. (It also reminds me of one of my favourite non-Liaden novels, Janet Kagan’s Hellspark, which is written in a similar mode and has many cross-culture moments like this. In the arena of idly wondering what protagonists of your favourite stories would make of each other, Clan Korval and the crew of the Margaret, Lord Lynn are pretty high on my list.)
Tradedesk, Gallery 770
In which honor is done to the memory of Emdy Sternako
Plenty happened in this chapter, and it’s entertaining enough, but I’m getting sidetracked by one of the minor details: is this the first time “Trollians” have been mentioned?
Tradedesk, Gallery 770
In which it is always good to have news of kin.
The red bar, it appears, indicates a person who’s been invited to the traders’ after-dinner. That number includes, apart from Jethri and Grandma Ricky, Samay pin’Aker and Infreya chel’Gaibin, but not Bar Jan chel’Gaibin. With Infreya chel’Gaibin, instead of her son, is a pilot Jethri doesn’t recognise – perhaps Former Scout yos’Belin – wearing her red badge tag “slightly askew”, which may be an indication that she’s been adjusting the number and colour of tags from those to which she is properly entitled.
Jethri gets to learn some more of the things about his father that people assume he knows already. In this case, it’s about Uncle and Dulsey, and the fact that Arin looked as much like Uncle as Jethri looks like Arin. Which, as Jethri himself notes, is interesting.