Shipyear 65
Tripday 144
First Shift
1.30 hours

In which the long arm of the law reaches toward Dutiful Passage.

The nature of the accusations against Shan’s ship offer food for speculation. The one about “illicit pharmaceuticals” might be a sign that Sav Rid Olanek has somehow got wind of Lina and Rusty’s thwarted venture with that remarkable perfume, or it may just be the old trick of accusing one’s adversary of one’s own sins. We don’t get any elaboration on the “proscribed animals”, but I’m inclined to look toward the norbears in the pet library; we know from Mouse and Dragon that they are proscribed on some worlds, though presumably Lina or somebody would have checked what the rule is for Arsdred and filed whatever paperwork was necessary to let them sit in orbit for the duration of the Passage‘s visit.

Trellen’s World has previously been mentioned, during Er Thom’s visit to the Passage in Local Custom, in a context that links it with Arsdred but doesn’t shed any light on why Budoc finds the thought of it so impressive here.

It would appear from Shan’s complaints of him that Val Con has inherited his father’s reluctance to settle for a temporary marriage to secure an heir. (Or perhaps he’s just too busy not-being the Delm-in-waiting.) Shan, on the other hand, apparently has no such troubles; this chapter also contains the series’ first mention of his daughter Padi.