Osabei Tower
Landomist

In which Maelyn tay’Nordif is welcomed home, a pleasure that continues to elude Tor An yos’Galan.

Jela’s party succeeds in winning entry to the Tower, with a thesis calculated to draw attention and give Scholar tay’Nordif reason to ask nosey questions about Liad dea’Syl.

It’s interesting, considering what I recall about what happens later, that Scholar tay’Welford is the designated viewpoint for the admission scene. Although that, of course, may simply be because he’s the admissions board’s designated expert in Scholar tay’Nordif’s specialism. (On the gripping hand, that’s not an unrelated coincidence.)

Tor An, meanwhile, is having trouble drawing anybody’s attention to his problem. Apparently people really aren’t all that interested in other star systems going missing. Though if everybody who insists on being interested winds up getting shot, perhaps that’s not as surprising as it first appears.

His polite sarcasm when he’s talking to the X Strain captain reminds me strongly of certain of his descendants.