Tag Archives: Ran Eld Caylon

Mouse and Dragon – Chapter 1

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In which dead women do not need new clothes.

And the sequel starts, straight out of the gate, by picking holes in the happy ending of the previous book. Which is unexpected, perhaps, only in how quickly it gets down to it, since if there were no holes in the happy ending it would not be necessary to have a sequel.

(I do wonder whether the authors were aware all along of the issues Daav and Er Thom lay out here, and glossed over them for the sake of a tidy ending, or if they only realised them after further thought, during the time between publishing Scout’s Progress and beginning to write Mouse and Dragon. I do not mean this as a slight, to suggest that it may have taken them a while to realise what Daav realises almost immediately; after all, they are authors, not Delms, and have not spent thirty years learning to think like a Delm the way Daav has.)

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 37

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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.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 36

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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.)

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 35

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In which the first duty of the co-pilot is the well-being of the pilot.

This chapter is another with a quote that later got expanded into a story of its own with more to it than the quote implies. Like the Tinsori Light quote from a few chapters back, it seems to be being used here only for its obvious meaning (in this case, a reminder of the nature of co-pilot’s duty).

I like that Sinit knows about what Aelliana’s been up to, and understands its significance, simply because unlike her other siblings she pays attention to the world outside — and the detail that, thanks to the extra context from the news reports, she knows at least one thing about Aelliana that Aelliana herself doesn’t know.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 34

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In which Aelliana invents a solar system.

There’s a parallel going on here between the situations of Aelliana and Samiv. Neither of them is getting the care they ought to be able to expect from their own clans. Both of them have an opportunity to appeal to Daav for assistance, and impediments to grasping the opportunity. (It’s a sign probably of Samiv’s desperation as much as anything that she has actually taken that step — especially after her delm expressly forbade her to.)

I wonder… if Aelliana had also decided to turn to Daav, would she have ended up waiting in the same room as Samiv? What would they have talked about? Probably not, though; I expect when you have a house as big as Korval does, the standard routine is for the butler to leave each visitor waiting in a different room, and probably not even let them know there are other visitors unless instructed otherwise. (And anyway, if Aelliana had decided to turn to Daav, she’d have phoned instead of turning up on his doorstep, the location of which is still unknown to her.)

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 33

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In which two women return to face that which they fear.

My reaction to the middle section of this chapter is rather like my reaction to Chapter 27 of Trade Secret (which, if you don’t recall it, consisted largely of the single word “Yes!“). Aelliana has come a very long way since the beginning of the novel.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 32

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In which Nadelm Mizel demands to see Master Binjali.

I had not noticed on earlier readings how much Ran Eld was bothered by Clonak’s facial hair. (Nor, consequently, that when Clonak strokes his mustache he’s probably deliberately playing up to see how much more bothered he can make him.)

Frad’s remark that Ran Eld doesn’t appear to appreciate Aelliana’s flight points out another aspect of Ran Eld’s blinkered view that I hadn’t considered previously. It’s not so much that he doesn’t know how impressive the piloting was, since I can see where a non-pilot might not grasp that — but there’s no indication, in the last chapter or this, that Ran Eld has even noticed that Aelliana helped save somebody’s life. As far as Ran Eld is concerned, this is apparently an entirely irrelevant detail.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 31

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In which everybody is having a bad day.

Has it really been a relumma since Aelliana won her freedom? It doesn’t seem like that long.

Ran Eld’s view of the world is not only self-centred, it’s short-sighted too. “Enough time to notice what’s happening around me when I’m what’s happening” is not the attitude of someone ever likely to be the happening thing. It’s kind of amusing, though, that he’s so blinkered he thinks Anne’s book is boring.

The Tree is definitely against Samiv tel’Izak marrying Daav, and is making its feelings felt quite strongly. (It’s weird how the description of her nightmare doesn’t say it’s her until it’s nearly over; the first few times I read it, I had to do a mental gear-change because I’d started out assuming it was Aelliana.)

On the other hand, the Tree doesn’t seem keen on Aelliana either. I suspect it’s because the Tree is waiting for Daav to commit to action, which he hasn’t yet: he wants Aelliana, but he’s still planning to bow to duty and marry tel’Izak.

(But I do wonder what answer was carried in that seed-pod he threw away.)

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 28

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In which Aelliana dances.

Daav doesn’t appear too put out that Aelliana has realised he tipped off Zan Der pel’Kermin, even though he asked that worthy person not mention his intervention. I surmise that he wouldn’t have minded Aelliana being told about Daav’s involvement, but wished to avoid any mention of that inconvenient person Delm Korval.

Things are going well for Aelliana and Daav at this point, but last chapter and this contain reminders that they both have troubles lurking in the background which, when they strike, are only going to strike the harder for having been successfully dodged thus far.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 27

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In which several people ask, reluctantly, “Now what?”

I’ve said this before, in the comments under Chapter 39 of Local Custom, but I might as well say it again so it appears in a post: I don’t believe that lifemating works on the basis of there being a pair of people predestined to join together. (Which is a relief, because it’s a pretty horrifying idea, as Daav suggests here: what if something happens to one half of the match before they meet, and the other is left forever incomplete?) Every time we see a lifemate bond form in this series, it’s a consequence, not a cause, something that happens to a pair of people who have already joined together in other ways. It makes sense that some people can’t form a lifemate bond at all, and that those can can’t do it with just anybody, but I don’t believe it’s as reductive as each person having one and only one possible partner.

Here’s an interesting sentence: “Jelaza Kazone had not spoken and he wished, with everything in him, to be at Binjali’s.” Is it that the Tree did manage to suggest an idea to Daav without him realising, or is it that the Tree didn’t speak because it knew that he was already, on his own initiative and by his own desire, going to do what it would have told him to do?