Port Chavvy
In which Bar Jan chel’Gaibin gets what he traded for.
What little eloquence I normally have deserts me, and I have just one thing to say: Yes!
I like Jethri’s response when chel’Gaibin doubts that he is covered by the Code.
“All I ask is an honest advantage” has a polished sound to it, but if it’s a quote from somewhere else I’m not familiar with it.
Port Chavvy
In which there are many secrets.
This is another chapter that calls for the reminder that I do appreciate the emotional parts of the Liaden stories, but I’m not very good at talking about them.
Some of the things Freza tells Jethri about the intent of Arin’s Envidaria remind me again of the conversation Theo has with the Carresens of her time. (Though that doesn’t help as much as it might, because I don’t quite recall what the Carresens actually said.)
When the dateline said “Port Chavvy”, I said to myself, “That sounds familiar, has someone mentioned it earlier this book?” – and then there was Dulcimer, and Klay Patel Smith sitting by the equipment rack. So apparently I was wrong when I guessed “Out of True” was set earlier than the Jethri books, having underestimated how unfamiliar a sight Liadens are in parts of Terran space. In fact, there are several things about “Out of True” I understand better having read (this much of) Trade Secret, and I think I would recommend to a new reader that they read Trade Secret first and then “Out of True”.
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.
Keravath, on Port, Balfour
In which Jethri meets an old friend and a lawyer.
Jethri and ter’Astin have come to Balfour to meet some people. The Scout is to meet with some “specialists” (in which specialism, he does not specify), and Jethri is to meet with a lawyer, a trade law specialist who has had previous business with Elthoria, to explore the question of what can be done about his logbook being stolen.
Jay Rivenkid Dorster, Esquire, professional trade law specialist and free-lance stress-tester of furniture, is a real character. I may have said before that one of the things I like about this series is that many of the characters who only stick around on the page for a chapter or two have enough personality to stick around in the memory for much longer.
This is the first time Jethri’s been among Terrans since he shipped out with Elthoria, and he’s having some difficulty shifting smoothly back into dealing with Terran faces and Terran ways. I hope that doesn’t get him into any trouble.
The old friend he meets is Freza DeNobli, the young woman he might once have had a thing with if the scheduling had worked out. It seems like they’re both hoping the scheduling will work out a bit better this time. For now, though, the schedule only has room for a brief session of essential catching-up talk.
(It appears that there really is some kind of document bearing some resemblance to the thing yos’Belin was talking about last chapter – and to the information-share Paitor was telling Khat about a few chapters before. But I still think that the reason there’s no mention of it in the Commission’s records is that the Commission isn’t interested.)
I am not happy about the pair of workers Jethri sees moving around closer to the ship than they ought to be. That kind of thing too often means trouble one way or another.
Keravath‘s Second Cabin, in Jump
In which Jethri watches.
My working hypothesis about the indicator that shows a band of color for the Scout and just a sliver of pink for Jethri is that it has something to do with dramliz abilities. We know from last novel that the Scout has some capabilities in that area, while Jethri hasn’t shown any signs, unless it’s in his knack for salvage lots.
Seeing as it’s turning out there was something more to young Jethri’s make-believe trade route, and remembering that the Scout has spent time studying the logbook he planned it out in, I don’t think it’s just coincidence that all the Jump targets the Scout has set Jethri to practice with are stops on the route.
Also, it sounded from last chapter like Paitor was wanting the Market to try the route out. If they’re both going to be hitting the same set of destinations, chances are they’ll cross paths somewhere along the way.
Clan Ixin’s Tradeship Elthoria, Boltston Arrival
In which Jethri’s life once again takes a major turn.
It appears that Scout Captain ter’Astin did not after all manage to return Jethri’s logbook to him before he left Irikwae (come to think of it, there was something to that effect in chapter two, though I didn’t pay it much mind at the time) and now it has been appropriated by “an internal agency allied with the Scouts”.
And doesn’t that sound familiar, to someone who’s read the whole series?
Jethri challenges the Scout: Are you going to let them get away with that? And the Scout responds: No, we are not going to let them get away with that.
And so, it seems, it is after all Jethri who is to leave the ship in pursuit of Balance. Looking back, I think it’s not that Master ven’Deelin wasn’t aware of that possibility, only that the other loomed larger in the narrative because it required more time and effort to prepare against. (And, at that, who can say that the events of the last few chapters haven’t been part of preparing against the possibility of Jethri having to leave the ship?)
A small prediction: I reckon this chapter includes another instance of the authors’ trick of reminding the audience of something that will become important in a chapter or two; in this case, I suspect we are at last approaching a pay-off for “There are secrets in all families”.
Clan Ixin’s Tradeship Elthoria, in Jump
In which Jethri is invited to a party.
The ship is to hold a Festival of its own, sponsored by Ixin, since its schedule won’t take it near any planet-bound Festivals this year. This will be, I think, Jethri’s first experience of an actual Festival; he hadn’t encountered one before he went to Irikwae, and if he’s encountered one since it’s not been mentioned. And as a member of the sponsoring clan, it’s not going to be sufficient for him merely to partake and observe; he’s going to be expected to make a contribution or two of his own to the running of the party. Nothing like being thrown in the deep end.
One of the things that was stated early on about Jethri and Gaenor is that, on top of all the other pleasures of their friendship, he enjoys looking at her, though he’s always been careful to take his pleasure unobtrusively and not presume anything in that direction. With Festival coming on, it’s probably inevitable that there’s going to be development of that side of their relationship – especially if Gaenor keeps practicing sultry looks on him. (I can’t help wondering what response she was hoping for from him.)
Day 180
Standard Year 1118
Irikwae
In which the cargo pod is opened, and many things are revealed.
This is the chapter in which Jethri gets his family background – and someone does indeed mention him and the word “clone” in conjunction, though the details are skipped over for the present moment.
I like how casually the matter of Grig’s true age is dropped in, near the beginning of the chapter.
It is also established that “duplicating unit” is what Grig’s family call the type of device Cantra called a “first aid kit” – which raises a few questions about what they used them for before they figured out the first aid kit function.
Well, all right, one thing they apparently used them for was duplicating people, what Raisy calls “reproducing the pure stock”. Pure what, she doesn’t say. Anyhow, that brings us back around to Jethri being a clone.
Day 107
Standard Year 1118
Elthoria and Tilene
In which Jethri’s new status occasions some changes of schedule.
Norn ven’Deelin says, in word and in deed, that she trusts Jethri to behave honorably and do well, and not to make her regret claiming him as kin. I wonder how she’d have handled the situation if she didn’t trust him so well. (She wouldn’t have let the chel’Gaibins take him while he was under her protection, and perhaps she might have claimed him as kin anyway, seeing no other option – because I don’t think she’d have done that, even trusting Jethri as she does, if she’d seen another option – but perhaps she’d have arranged his schedule differently, kept him more out of the public eye, and let it be more in name than in fact.) On the other hand, perhaps this is a pointless question: if she didn’t already think well of him, he wouldn’t have been trading under her on Tilene and the situation would never have arisen.
The Master Trader’s concern over the unnamed practice lately surfaced on Tilene is ominous, especially once one starts wondering if it’s of a piece with the “climate changes” observed by her friend the Scout Captain on Kailipso.
Tan Sim’s family are seriously unpleasant people. Not that we hadn’t already been getting that impression, of course.
Day 80
Standard Year 1118
Kinaveral
In which Iza Gobelyn goes off the dial.
Bailing out a pilot isn’t all that much different on Kinaveral than it was on Solcintra. I was going to say that at least the desk cop didn’t require a bribe, but on second thought maybe it’s just that the bribe is included under the heading of “taxes and duties”, which is arguably worse. And I don’t recall anybody on Solcintra saying anything ominous about what might happen if one crossed the port police a second time, but that might just mean that they didn’t believe in giving advance warning.
Iza’s put her kin in a tough position. Making allowances for family is one thing, but they can’t let her keep on the way she’s been going if it means the ship’s endangered. The crew meeting isn’t going to be fun for anybody involved.