In which there is a death in the family.
I do really appreciate the glimpses we get in this novel of Birin Caylon, the human being behind Delm Mizel. Possibly the more so because there are so few of them.
In which Delm Korval goes visiting again.
This seems like a good time to mention a thing I like about this novel: Aelliana rescues herself.
She has had help along the way, and wouldn’t have done as well without it, but her achievements are her own, seized with her own hands. This isn’t a story about how she needed someone to save her. It was her own idea and decision to seek an escape, her own skill that won her her ship and her license. And, in these later chapters, she escaped from the house by herself, after rescuing herself from the worst effects of the Learning Module.
I love the bit where Daav is politely but firmly establishing his intention to stand in Mizel’s hallway as long as necessary.
(And speaking of Daav, it’s interesting to note at which points in the chapter Daav is “Korval” and at which points “Daav” comes to the fore.)