Tag Archives: Rantel pin’Aker

Trade Secret – Epilogue

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Elthoria

In which the young gentleman returns home.

And so Jethri’s story comes to an end, for now. And hasn’t he come a long way from the young fellow we met at the beginning of Balance of Trade?

I’m much happier with Balance of Trade and Trade Secret, taken as a two-part whole, than I was with Balance of Trade by itself. All the major questions raised have been given answers, and we got a suitably dramatic climax. There are still openings for further stories about Jethri, his kin, and his friends, and I’ll be happy to read them if they happen, but if this is all we get of Jethri’s story, I’ll be content.

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And with the end of Trade Secret, we reach the end of Phase 1. Phase 2 begins tomorrow, with one of Captain ter’Astin’s colleagues and a reminder of why the Scouts don’t like Old Tech at large, in “Naratha’s Shadow”.

Trade Secret – Chapter 23

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Tradedesk

In which the Scout has located Jethri’s logbook.

Given that the Scout has made his discovery after being seen speaking to the chel’Gaibin’s pilot, I feel confident in predicting that Wynhael‘s abrupt departure has some connection with the business which now brings on the departure of Jethri and the Scout. That thought doesn’t seem to have occurred to Jethri yet, though it has doubtless occurred to the Scout.

I’ve been wondering since Master Trader pin’Aker asked to speak to Tan Sim whether that was going to result in him offering to buy out Tan Sim’s contract. I’m currently entertaining a vision of Jethri and Samay getting hooked up in a contract marriage, simultaneously as a genuine strenghthening of bonds between Ixin and Midys and as an excuse for Samay’s uncle to give Tan Sim to Jethri as a wedding present. That’s just for my own amusement, though; it’s a bit too tidy to be plausible as an actual resolution.

Trade Secret – Chapter 20

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Tradedesk, Gallery 770

In which Jethri receives some good advice.

The story is really picking up now. It’s getting harder to put the book down for a day at the end of the chapter.

I wonder if Tan Sim has a specific reason to be interested in the Uncle, or if it’s just that anybody who can throw around money as seemingly-casually as he just did is a person a trader might find interesting.

I like the moment when Jethri and Tan Sim are “a riot of emotions for Liaden eyes, and the picture of restraint to Terran”. Moments of comparison like that are some of the things I love this series for. (It also reminds me of one of my favourite non-Liaden novels, Janet Kagan’s Hellspark, which is written in a similar mode and has many cross-culture moments like this. In the arena of idly wondering what protagonists of your favourite stories would make of each other, Clan Korval and the crew of the Margaret, Lord Lynn are pretty high on my list.)

Trade Secret – Chapter 19

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Tradedesk, Gallery 770

In which honor is done to the memory of Emdy Sternako

Plenty happened in this chapter, and it’s entertaining enough, but I’m getting sidetracked by one of the minor details: is this the first time “Trollians” have been mentioned?

Trade Secret – Chapter 18

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Tradedesk, Gallery 770

In which it is always good to have news of kin.

The red bar, it appears, indicates a person who’s been invited to the traders’ after-dinner. That number includes, apart from Jethri and Grandma Ricky, Samay pin’Aker and Infreya chel’Gaibin, but not Bar Jan chel’Gaibin. With Infreya chel’Gaibin, instead of her son, is a pilot Jethri doesn’t recognise – perhaps Former Scout yos’Belin – wearing her red badge tag “slightly askew”, which may be an indication that she’s been adjusting the number and colour of tags from those to which she is properly entitled.

Jethri gets to learn some more of the things about his father that people assume he knows already. In this case, it’s about Uncle and Dulsey, and the fact that Arin looked as much like Uncle as Jethri looks like Arin. Which, as Jethri himself notes, is interesting.