In which Lina yo’Bingim does not wish to be part of the problem.
I’m fairly sure the merc who says “Efning” to Lina is attempting to wish her a good evening, but in the first moment I always think he’s offering his name.
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Surebleak
In which it’s a new day.
It looks like we’re done with dramatic confrontations for now, and are into the part of the book where things are wound down and tied off. There were a couple more dramatic confrontations I was expecting, but maybe they’re being saved for next time.
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In which Val Con and Miri gather information about their visitors.
This is the first mention I can recall of there now being two separate branches of the Scouts, but it doesn’t surprise me. I presume the schism is a consequence of the events surrounding Korval’s big play and subsequent exile, and the subsequent removal of a chunk of Liaden society to Surebleak. Liaden society as a whole was divided over how to view Korval’s actions, and although many Scouts had a sympathy for Korval it is not to be supposed that they were unanimous in their approval.
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Boss Conrad’s House
Blair Road
In which the Juntavas make Korval an offer he can refuse.
I’m not sure I understand the motivation behind the Juntavas’ offer to bring Korval into the family. If even an ordinary alliance would be risky, why go so much further? The only thing I can think of is that someone hopes to be able to envelop and gain control of Korval, in which case it’s only polite of Val Con to have given warning. Korval doesn’t really do “enveloped and controlled”.
I’m impressed by the Juntavas’ information-gathering if they’ve learned that Aelliana is still around. Maybe it’s explained by the fact that they’ve obtained detailed information about Daav’s visit to Nev’lorn, since Daav did mention to a few people then that Aelliana was with him. Perhaps more impressive is that the High Judge seems pretty casual about it, Aelliana being still around so long after she was declared to be really most sincerely dead. Could be that this time it’s a case of not having learned everything; if he doesn’t know how definitely dead Aelliana was, he might fall back on assuming reports of her death had been exaggerated, which I expect is something a High Judge of the Juntavas would be familiar with.
Boss Vine’s Turf
Surebleak
In which Theo is offered a trade route and a seed pod.
One advantage of re-reading is that when you know where the story’s going, it can be easier to make out what the foreshadowing is trying to tell you. For instance: Here is Clarence, who’s made himself unpopular enough that somebody came to shoot at him, and probably hasn’t helped his case much by being so unobliging as to shoot the person who came to shoot him. Might be he’ll soon be in a situation where a job that takes him offworld for a longish while will be just the thing he needs.
And Clarence’s visitor is interesting: Seems to have known him from when he was working on Liad, and got on the wrong side of him then. An independent operator, not a fellow Juntava, is my impression. It’s not just Korval’s friends who are making the trip to try their luck in the new land of opportunity.
Surebleak Port
Surebleak
In which Theo has luncheon with the Reform Boss of Surebleak.
Theo makes a good point well when she asks if Bechimo is really a starship. A certain amount of caution is understandable given Bechimo‘s history, but a pilot’s life is never exactly going to be safe. There are always risks, and you need to engage with them sensibly, but above all if you want to get anywhere you need to engage with them. It’s a big part of what pilots are saying when they say “the usual rules apply”. (For all the rules the Builders gave Bechimo, he doesn’t seem to have gotten that one. Maybe that was something he was expected to pick up from his captain and crew.)
Another data point for the question of whether Pat Rin looks like Val Con, supporting the idea that the resemblance is most striking if one is not expecting it.
Bechimo
In which Theo has a few things to say about Bechimo‘s priorities.
Interesting that Uncle is on Bechimo‘s Disallowed List, when he told Theo he saw the ship when it was under construction. Did he start out working with the Builders, and do something that caused a falling-out? Or maybe the Builders already didn’t like him, and he only got to see the under-construction Bechimo briefly and had to sneak in to do it. (Either way, it might be support for the idea that Uncle’s shipyard in Trade Secret isn’t the yard that produced Bechimo, but a later attempt by Uncle to replicate the achievement.)
Because I need to imagine it looking like something, and because it seems appropriately science-fictional, I always picture Bechimo‘s discovery looking like the Utah teapot.
Bechimo
In which Theo has questions for Bechimo.
Yes, Theo, all of the above. Good luck with that.
Theo’s dubious, but we know from the prequels that it is possible in this setting for ships to travel from another universe into this – though not easy, which may explain why Bechimo‘s discoveries are always in pieces. Or, since Bechimo‘s also correct about the catastrophic event, it could be that they were in pieces already when they left their original universe.
Jelaza Kazone
Surebleak
In which Clarence has a warning for Daav.
The comment that “the Department is a larger enterprise than even its operatives had guessed” is intriguing. I believe it, especially with the recent reminder that its operatives work in their own little boxes, not knowing or caring about the details of what everyone else in the organisation is doing. But does this mean there’s even more to the Department’s Plan than we’ve been told? (Conversely, if we’ve been told everything, what have the operatives been told?) And if the Department’s own operatives don’t have the whole picture, who does?
I take it that Daav’s anecdote about Andy Mack repurposing old company equipment is meant to convey that the Colonel is not only a practical man, but possesses the kind of practicality Clarence is in need of, that will not pay too much attention to credentials if they’re inconvenient. One suspects that not all, if any, of the equipment he’s been repurposing was, speaking strictly according to the paperwork, his to repurpose.
Jelaza Kazone
Surebleak
In which Clan Korval looks to the future.
Jelaza Kazone is currently housing all the members of the Clan, excepting the children and the two adults who are with them, and they are ten in number. That would be Daav, Val Con, Miri, Pat Rin, Natesa, Shan, Priscilla, Nova, Anthora, and Ren Zel: ten. Doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t know already, but does confirm that there aren’t any extra members of the Clan everybody’s forgotten to mention.
And just when they’re beginning to feel they’ve got their feet under them, in walks Clarence O’Berin, whose presence surely portends something, though whether good or bad remains to be seen.