Shaltren
Juntavas Headquarters
In which Edger and Sheather decide to search elsewhere.
Edger and Sheather have apparently been sitting around on Shaltren for the last few months, waiting for any response to the Juntavas danger-tree broadcast. Maybe that doesn’t seem like such a long time to a Turtle, though it’s long enough that even they are getting a bit impatient. I bet it seemed much longer to the Juntavas.
Vandar
Springbreeze Farm
In which Meri and Corvill stay for the night.
Sometimes it seems like every time I choose to make a general observation not specifically inspired by the particular chapter at hand, it turns out I’d have done better to wait until the next chapter, either because it invalidates the observation or because it turns out to be an even better occasion to have made it.
(In other words, no eloquence will be forthcoming regarding the emotional and character aspects of this chapter either.)
And now it’s time for another general observation that hopefully I won’t regret when I get to the next chapter:
Because this is a re-read, I know already that it will eventually be established that the so-called Department of the Interior is a rogue organization with friends in high places but no official standing. So it’s been interesting, re-reading Agent of Change and now Carpe Diem, that so far there’s been no indication that the Department is not an office of the Liaden government, carrying out that government’s policies. (The one hint in that direction, perhaps, is Shan mentioning that he’s never heard of the Department — but then, to be unheard of is only what one might expect from a covert organization.) Val Con’s recollection here, in particular, definitely gives the impression that the Department was an authority that could require obedience — or at least that it had succeeded in convincing Val Con that that was what it was.
Codrescu Station
Eylot Nearspace
In which Theo becomes a Guild member in good standing.
The bit about Hevelin being more directly inquisitive and seeming to understand more than the norbears in Vashtara‘s pet library accords with what I remember from their respective previous appearances. It’s also interesting, although there isn’t enough information to be sure what it means, if anything. Is it because Hevelin is older than the pet library norbears? Or because they’re “hothouse norbears”, raised in a comfortable environment (by people who think they’re just clever animals) while Hevelin’s been making his own way in the universe? Or perhaps the line of causality runs the other way, and Hevelin’s intellect and personality led him as a young norbear to choose a wandering life instead of settling for a cushy spot somewhere.
Conglomeration of Portcalay
Eylot
In which one may have anything at Hugglelans as long as one eats it under red sauce.
Theo’s advisors probably do want to hear her answers to their questions about her future hopes, but I think she’s right that there are other questions behind the questions, and I think that by asking about her future they’re also hoping to learn more about her past. Especially after the question about whether her father aimed her anywhere in particular, I suspect they’d like to know where he’s coming from. If Wilsmyth has discovered that Jen Sar Kiladi has no current flight time, surely Theo’s advisors have done the same.
Theo’s answer brings to mind the fact that the med tech a few chapters ago was confident that the life of a courier pilot lay in Theo’s future without having to ask, and, it now appears, before Theo knew herself. It might just be that as a med tech in a piloting academy he’s seen enough courier pilots in training to recognise the signs (especially if one of the signs is “shows up in the dispensary after getting in a fight”!) but I’m inclined to take it as more evidence that he’s a soul-weaver.
Erkes Dormitory
Suite 302
Anlingdin Piloting Academy
In which Theo gets to know her roommates better.
Asu is the scion of a family that owns a fleet of trading ships — famously and prosperously, to judge by her sense of entitlement, her expectation that Theo would recognise her name (and the fact that Chelly does), and her discourse last chapter on the risks of people always trying to find out what one’s family is doing. (I infer that her homeworld’s media have an attitude towards the lives of the famous more like, say, Feinick than like, say, Liad, though without Feinick’s transactional approach.)
Chelly, despite his poor showing earlier, remains impressively reasonable in the face of a mix of deliberate and inadvertant provocation from Asu and Theo. I wonder if his not-exactly-apologetic comment about Wilsmyth being not at his best when he’s not working is also a description of himself.
University of Delgado
Faculty Residence Wall
Quadrant Eight, Building Two
In which Kamele has unexpected news for Theo.
Back when Kamele messaged Theo to stay in the apartment and not open the door to anyone, and didn’t explain why, Theo complained about Kamele not sharing important information. I think she had a point, and I think she’d also have a point if she made the same complaint now. The announcement of the impending journey is a shock, and very sudden, but I’m not convinced it needed to be; Kamele could have laid groundwork about it being a possibility even if she wasn’t sure yet exactly when it would be. And while it’s possible that she’s playing her cards close to her chest because of the genuine need to keep the details of her investigation under wraps, what worries me is the possibility that she’s doing it because on some level she’s still thinking of Theo as a child to be arbitrarily ordered around, rather than a nearly-adult who will work better if she’s given an explanation of why the order is necessary. Technically, yes, Theo is still officially a child, but people don’t magically become responsible adults when they reach society’s official milestone; if Kamele wants Theo to behave like a mature adult, at some point she’s going to have to start treating her like one.
The Serpent of Knowledge icon on the research application is an interesting thing in that it’s a meaningful symbol both to the characters and to the reader, but means different things to each. Whatever legend they have on Delgado about Serpents and Knowledge, it doesn’t seem from Theo’s reaction that it implies anything negative; to a reader who shares the authors’ cultural background, though, the obvious reference is to the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, offering people knowledge they’re not entitled to and might be better off without, giving the situation sinister undertones that are not visible to or intended by the characters.
History of Education Department
Oriel College of Humanities
University of Delgado
In which a late evening is unexpectedly extended.
Sinister hooded figures and a threat to the integrity of the entire University? That’s more like it!
And, speaking of things that are suggestive to the reader familiar with the wider Liaden universe: Jen Sar Kiladi’s alertness behind the wheel of his rally car. We know, though Theo doesn’t, that he used to be a pilot, and he’s been grounded for over a decade; racing the car is likely the closest he’s been able to get to flying in all that time. And, of course, the reviving of the pilot he used to be is accompanied by the reviving of other parts of himself that haven’t seen much use in the last few years.
I can see how the Simples fit in as an extreme form of Delgado’s emphasis on teamwork and consensus. That doesn’t make them less sinister, though.
(And a passing thought, brought on by Jen Sar’s Bjornson-Bellevale College and Kamele’s Oriel College: I wonder if those two colleges are named after women, and if the reason Theo’s school gets the full “Stephen M. Richardson” is because otherwise people would assume it too was named after a woman?)
Cultural Genetics Program
Bjornson-Bellevale College of Arts and Sciences
University of Delgado
In which Theo has dinner with her father.
So, like I was saying, after that brief moment of peace and domestic harmony, comes… more peace and domestic harmony? Whatever storm this is the calm before must be really awful.
With Kartor getting a surname this chapter, all of Four Team Three are now equipped with names both fore- and sur-.
The uncharacteristic clumsiness of Theo’s father is definitely suggestive to a reader familiar with the wider Liaden universe; we saw his old teacher pull the same trick back in Scout’s Progress.
It also brings on an observation which I’m sure is influenced by me remembering things that haven’t happened yet, but I’m going to pass it on anyway: Theo was able to catch both the objects Professor Kiladi dropped without any difficulty. Conversely, every incident of her supposed clumsiness we’ve seen has involved colliding or tangling with a person — a trend reinforced by her self-description in chapter nine. This doesn’t mean that Theo isn’t the problem, since she’s still the common thread among the incidents, but it does suggest that the problem isn’t so much a lack of control of her own movements as a flaw in her understanding of the movements of others. Put her in the middle of a crowd of people and trouble is bound to follow, but give her an inanimate object moving according to the basic laws of physics, and she’s fine.
University of Delgado
Faculty Residence Wall
Quadrant Eight, Building Two
In which Theo gains a rug and a respite.
I like this patch of peace and domestic harmony. It probably just means things are about to get even worse, though.
It’s only just occurred to me to wonder how it’s possible for Quadrant Eight to exist, since any given area consists of no more nor less than four quadrants, by definition. Maybe the university is divided into two (or more) areas, and rather than add another layer to the addresses they just continued on the numbering of the quadrants from where the first set ended. This would especially make sense if the second area is a later addition to the original layout of the university, which would explain why the address space didn’t account for the possibility. (It would also make a nice echo of Theo learning this chapter that the founders of the university didn’t think of everything.)
I was going to say something last chapter about the Safety’s apparent determination to assume that the incident on the scavage court was Theo’s fault, but I decided not to when I started considering the limitations of seeing things from Theo’s point of view. In the light of the Safety’s official report, though, there does seem to be something there — but rather than the “predisposed to expect Theo at the centre of the trouble” kind of something I was thinking of before, it seems to be more of a “determined not to let any responsibility settle on Roni” kind of something. (And that reminds me of the thing I did say about what kind of fall-out there might or might not be for Roni.)
University of Delgado
Faculty Residence Wall
Quadrant Eight, Building Two
In which Theo gets home late.
In the last couple of chapters we’ve started to get a clearer picture of what Kamele’s like when she isn’t (a) under a lot of stress and (b) viewed through the eyes of her also-stressed teenager.
Jen Sar may have pitched the case for Coyster in terms of the good it would do Theo to have him around, but it’s clear he’ll also do some good for Kamele, whether she’s prepared to admit it or not. (And I really hope that remark about Theo not having any strangeness to deal with was the stress talking, because it’s un-advertant to a degree that’s worrying to find in a scholar of Kamele’s standing.)