In the Hall of the Mountain King
In which Vertu Dysan greets the new day.
With Toragin’s solution, the authors are doing a thing they’ve done a few times before: establishing the outline of the solution, but leaving the details to be filled in later in case a later story should suggest a particular detail.
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In the Hall of the Mountain King
Enter Joey
In which the guests are settled for the night.
Joey, despite being in the stage directions, is not listed in the dramatis personae. But then again, neither are any of the other cats, except Chelada.
Vertu started out the story thinking of the unregulated cab drivers as something that might need to be addressed at some point. Now, having seen how much trouble an untrained driver can get himself and his passengers into, it’s become pressing business for Boss Gotta. Or, no, not quite for Boss Gotta, if we take Boss Gotta as being the person who’s gotta do it because they happen to be present when there’s nobody around whose job it is; as Vertu says to Jemie, in this situation they are the people whose job it is.
The Gate
Enter Nelirikk and Jarome
In which Vertu and her passengers make it within the gate.
Jarome, it turns out, is another character who is in the cast list twice, once for his first appearance in person and once for when he becomes someone known by name to the viewpoint characters.
I don’t know if it’s because she’s in the middle of a conversation between Liadens when it happens, or if she’s still Liaden enough in her head that it would have happened anyway, but I note that when Vertu’s viewpoint refers to Miri it names her as “Miri Tiazan” and not “Miri Robertson”.
In the Hall of the Mountain King
Enter Dragons
In which there is a dance of dragons.
There have been several occasions in recent stories where Val Con, or someone else, has raised the question of how the Tree actually regards the creatures that live under its branches. Part of what this story is about, and particularly this chapter, is giving an answer to that question.
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The Way Between
In which Miri and Val Con are not going to die here.
I’m not hanging around to think of something to say. I want to know what happens next.
Surebleak Port
Office of the Road Boss
In which Miri’s day suddenly gets more interesting.
So, Pat Rin did send the alert to both Val Con and Miri, regardless, which makes perfect sense and is what I would have assumed in the first place if the narrative hadn’t implied otherwise.
It annoys me that this is what I’m thinking about when there’s a dramatic climax going on.
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Surebleak Port
Office of the Road Boss
In which Miri’s having a quiet day at the office.
Wait, I remember now: it’s Val Con’s day to be Road Boss, only they swapped so he could look after Emissary Twelve. Presumably whatever official rosters there are still say it’s Val Con’s day, which would be why Pat Rin sent the alert to Val Con and not to Miri.
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Jelaza Kazone
In which Miri has a bad dream.
This is obviously foreshadowing something, but how literally remains to be seen.
For a moment, before the nature of the dream became apparent, I thought we might be about to find out more about what arrangements Val Con has made to keep Miri and Lizzie safe.
I wonder if we’re going to be treated to a proof of Val Con’s statement that Miri holds his soul safe just as Droi holds Rys’s.
FlourPower Bakery
In which the snow removal team has more than snow on their minds.
We haven’t had a scene set in FlourPower since back when it featured in “Skyblaze”.
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Jelaza Kazone
In which Korval catches up on the morning news.
There seems to me to be a lot of book left for where we’re at.
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