Tag Archives: pikit

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 7

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In which Aelliana takes possession of her ship.

I’ve noticed several people referring to Aelliana’s late opponent as “the chel’Mara”. In some places such a distinction might indicate that he was the head of his family Line, but I don’t think I recall any such usage ever being explicitly noted among Liadens, and it seems unlikely in the case of Vin Sin chel’Mara. More likely it is simply an indication that he’s achieved notoriety in a field where no other chel’Mara is to be found.

Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure there’s at least one point in this novel where Aelliana is referred to as “the Caylon”, and that’s definitely in tribute to her distinction as a mathematician and definitely not because of any exalted position in Line Caylon.

Speaking of Aelliana’s distinction as a mathematician, there’s probably something insightful to be said about that, and about Aelliana’s unease at being accorded distinction of any kind, but apparently I’m not the person to say it. (At least not at this time of night and with this head cold.)

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 6

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In which Daav and Aelliana each turn their steps toward Binjali Repair Shop.

The game of pikit or piket was mentioned in Balance of Trade, where the twins taught Jethri to play it. I said then that the name was reminiscent of the Regency game of piquet, but what little we were told of the gameplay wasn’t. We see more of the gameplay here, and it reminds me rather of poker. (Though it must be said that my experience of card games is not broad, so many games remind me of poker.)

Var Mon denies having set Aelliana on Vin Sin chel’Mara, and it’s true that she chose to challenge the chel’Mara on her own initiative; but it’s also true that the opportunity and the impulse wouldn’t have arisen had not Var Mon invited her to tour the casino in search of practical applications of her mathematics, so Rema’s accusation may be basically correct.

Master dea’Cort was mentioned in “Pilot of Korval” as one of Daav’s instructors at the Scout Academy. There’s also a Scout named Jon dea’Cort back in “Phoenix”; if this Jon is the same man, he must be well into a hale old age by now — that was nearly seventy years ago, and he was already a full Scout then.

Pilot of Korval

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Dutiful Passage en route to Venture
Standard Year 1339

In which Er Thom yos’Galan shows his mettle.

Another jump forward of nearly 50 years, and a significant shift in the focus of the series: we are back with Korval, and there, with only occasional diversions, we shall henceforth remain.

So here is a story that shows us Er Thom and Daav as youngsters, part-formed, but already showing familiar traits. It’s also, if memory serves, the only story with an extensive depiction of Er Thom’s mother in her prime.

I’m never quite sure I’ve correctly untangled the interplay about Er Thom’s status in the family. He’s described as his mother’s heir both by his mother herself and by the narrator, and here he is on her ship, learning her trade; the implication is that when he tells the Juntavas boss that he is of no significance because he has a brother who’s the heir, he’s being flexible with the truth. And yet in Local Custom we hear that he does in fact have an elder brother who’s ahead of him in the line of inheritance.

(One could resolve the puzzle, of course, by guessing that after this story was written the authors found it necessary to discover an elder brother to make the plot of Local Custom work; one might even take a confident guess at which part of the plot was otherwise at risk. But one does prefer, where possible, to believe that the Liaden Universe possesses internal consistency.)

If the Master dea’Cort who is Daav’s instructor at the Academy is the same Scout who came to Bell’s aid in “Phoenix”, he must be getting on in years. (Although not, perhaps, as far on as a Terran of the same age; it’s mentioned in “Sweet Waters” that a Liaden in her fifties would be considered to be in her prime, with many productive years ahead of her.)

Trade Secret – Chapter 29

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Arrival on Hatalan

In which Jethri Gobelyn regains his birthright.

Hah. I did wonder if they were just going to let the ex-Scout walk off with the Envidaria, but of course Captain ter’Astin had a plan.

Interesting that Jethri’s lucky fractin ended up in the deal. I wonder whose idea that was: just yos’Belin’s, to sweeten the pot? or did ter’Astin suggest it, knowing that Jethri would get to keep all, as a roundabout way of making a start at apologizing for bringing him all this trouble?

I like the bits where the Scout is describing the world they’re visiting: more of those bits of background detail that aren’t absolutely necessary but add to the richness of the story. (And then you get further on in the chapter and realise that there was, after all, a plot-relevant detail hidden in there.)

I’m not sure I grasp all the details of the extract from the Envidaria, but one thing I get is that it’s talking about shifts that cause Jump points to change, with some routes to become safer and others more dangerous, which sounds like the foundation of the explanation for why, a few centuries from now, it will be necessary to revise the official Jump tables. (And that the example of “more dangerous” is a Jump point moving hazardously close in to a star reminds me of the tale, near the end of Mouse and Dragon, of a certain pilot coming to grief through using the unrevised tables.)

Another thing I get is that he’s saying that in a particular area of space the result will be that the big Combine-backed cargo ships won’t be able to pass through, so trade there will be left to smaller ships, like the Market and Balrog. And this will continue for four or five hundred years, so it’ll still be the case in Val Con’s time and for some time after. (Say, I wonder where Bechimo rates on the scale of “small enough” to “too large”…)

And now, they’re for Ynsolt’i, which gives the idea of a nice tidy ending of the story at the place where it began. I was wrong when I predicted a geographical appropriateness for Jethri and Freza (although come to think of it, I was right that Jethri would have better luck on that visit, just not about who with); I wonder if I’ll be wrong again if I predict now that Jethri’s first return to Ynsolt’i since he left the Market will coincide with the Market‘s first return to Ynsolt’i since Jethri left.

Balance of Trade – Chapter 30

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Day 158
Standard Year 1118

Irikwae

In which the twins enquire into the sustenance of Jethri’s kin group.

This is a useful trick for an SF writer to know: when a character compares her culture’s customs to those of another culture unfamiliar to her, both cultures are illuminated for the reader.

What’s also illuminated for the reader in this case is some of the lingering questions regarding Jethri’s cousins, like why some of them don’t seem to be attached to any particular parent. (For that matter, it answers the same question regarding the twins.)

If I’m getting this right, Jethri’s two siblings are both children of his mother, but neither of them are children of his father; he’s the only Gobelyn who is Arin’s son. (Which, apart from anything else, answers another lingering question I had, regarding Seeli and Grig.)

The game of piket is interesting. I’m pretty sure it was first mentioned (in publication order) in one of the two prequels that are most often compared to Regency romances, and the name is reminscent of the game piquet which is often played in your actual Regency romance. (It can’t be precisely the same game, though, if all three of them propose to play at once; piquet is set up for only two players at a time.)

And then we get the tale about using Old Tech to remain youthful, which apart from the purpose it serves in this chapter is another instance of the trick of slipping an idea into the reader’s head a while before it becomes important.