Tag Archives: Sirge Milton

Trade Secret – Chapter 29

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Arrival on Hatalan

In which Jethri Gobelyn regains his birthright.

Hah. I did wonder if they were just going to let the ex-Scout walk off with the Envidaria, but of course Captain ter’Astin had a plan.

Interesting that Jethri’s lucky fractin ended up in the deal. I wonder whose idea that was: just yos’Belin’s, to sweeten the pot? or did ter’Astin suggest it, knowing that Jethri would get to keep all, as a roundabout way of making a start at apologizing for bringing him all this trouble?

I like the bits where the Scout is describing the world they’re visiting: more of those bits of background detail that aren’t absolutely necessary but add to the richness of the story. (And then you get further on in the chapter and realise that there was, after all, a plot-relevant detail hidden in there.)

I’m not sure I grasp all the details of the extract from the Envidaria, but one thing I get is that it’s talking about shifts that cause Jump points to change, with some routes to become safer and others more dangerous, which sounds like the foundation of the explanation for why, a few centuries from now, it will be necessary to revise the official Jump tables. (And that the example of “more dangerous” is a Jump point moving hazardously close in to a star reminds me of the tale, near the end of Mouse and Dragon, of a certain pilot coming to grief through using the unrevised tables.)

Another thing I get is that he’s saying that in a particular area of space the result will be that the big Combine-backed cargo ships won’t be able to pass through, so trade there will be left to smaller ships, like the Market and Balrog. And this will continue for four or five hundred years, so it’ll still be the case in Val Con’s time and for some time after. (Say, I wonder where Bechimo rates on the scale of “small enough” to “too large”…)

And now, they’re for Ynsolt’i, which gives the idea of a nice tidy ending of the story at the place where it began. I was wrong when I predicted a geographical appropriateness for Jethri and Freza (although come to think of it, I was right that Jethri would have better luck on that visit, just not about who with); I wonder if I’ll be wrong again if I predict now that Jethri’s first return to Ynsolt’i since he left the Market will coincide with the Market‘s first return to Ynsolt’i since Jethri left.

Trade Secret – Chapter 9

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Flight Deck, Gobelyn’s Market, Raising Serconia Three

In which the First Mate and the Senior Trader talk about the future and the past.

So Iza’s always known Jethri wasn’t hers – Arin showed up with the infant Jethri one day, at the end of a long trip away, and talked Iza into accepting him as a Gobelyn. (That’s a clarification I’m right glad to have, considering where my train of thought was ending up on the back of the information we’d previously had.) So then she had to work with the apparent implication of Arin acquiring a son somewhere without her involvement, and then the less apparent but more unsettling creeping realisation that Jethri was all Arin’s, all the more unsettling set aside the growing realisation that she knew much less about Arin than she’d thought she did.

Paitor mentions that they found out Arin had had other children before he met Iza. I wonder if we’re going to meet any of them this trip – and I wonder if any of them have the same “family resemblance” as Jethri.

Speaking of family resemblances, Paitor says that there was a family resemblance between Arin and the Uncle, though he stops short of “twin”, which is what he says about Arin and Jethri, so I don’t know if he’s implying that he thinks that the Uncle is to Arin what Arin is to Jethri.

(I’ve actually been thinking that might be the case myself for a few weeks now, since the “Arin’s youngest brother” chapter of Balance of Trade, because it reminded me of the scene in Crystal Dragon where Cantra earns a sharp look from the Uncle by suggesting that Arin looks enough like him to be his brother. And it’s prompted me to finally get around to comparing the physical descriptions of Arin and his Uncle, which I hadn’t done before because they’re in separate books of the duology; I suspect now that that was deliberate, to avoid making it too obvious that Arin and his Uncle are both tall, lean, dark-haired and grey-eyed.)

(But here’s an odd thing: Grig’s Uncle Yuri is tall and lean, but contrariwise is grey-haired and dark-eyed.)

(And while we’re at it: Jethri’s father Arin, in the photocube from Balance of Trade, has hair described similarly to the earlier Arin’s but his eyes, like Jethri’s, are brown.)

In Paitor’s stories about the doing of the Tomas family, I see the seeds of several things that crop up in the novels featuring Theo. (And given the bit about the Uncle’s secret shipyard, I’m wondering if Bechimo is one of them.)

Balance of Trade – Chapter 25

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Day 140
Standard Year 1118

Tarnia’s Clanhouse
Irikwae

In which Lady Maarilex gets to know Jethri Gobelyn.

Jethri’s account confirms that Arin changed his name to Gobelyn when he married (from Tomas, which means Grig was a relative on top of being a trusted colleague). This sets me wondering again about the monogrammed box; if it’s his monogram, it must have been done after he married, but a velvet-lined jewel box doesn’t seem like the sort of thing a crewman on a ship like Gobelyn’s Market would go in for. Maybe it was a wedding present.

We see, again, that Jethri’s upbringing has taught him not to expect others to exert themselves on his account.

I am not, myself, surprised that Lady Maarilex wanted to hear Jethri’s account of how he met Master ven’Deelin. Certainly she has had Master ven’Deelin’s account, but Jethri’s telling is sure to differ in details, in what is emphasized, included, or left out, and from the differences she can learn more not only about the event but about the teller.

Balance of Trade – Chapter 5

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Day 35
Standard Year 1118

Gobelyn’s Market
Dockside

In which Jethri finds his ship.

I can never decide whether Jethri’s tendency to assume a person is being straight with him until proven otherwise is a testament to his own honor or just a sign of naivety. I’m not saying it’s wrong to give people the benefit of the doubt, but to never even consider the possibility of a deception seems like a weak point in a trader.

You probably know that “Balance of Trade” was originally a short story that ended up as chapters 2 through 5 of the novel. This being chapter 5, it seems like the right moment to cast an eye over the differences. There is some tweaking of wording and punctuation, unsurprisingly, and it’s expanded a bit with extra details that will be relevant after the point where the story ended: most of the mentions of Jethri’s family apart from his mother and uncle, and all mentions of fractins and of Combine trade keys. So far as those go, they might be regarded as storyteller’s choice of what to include or leave out, but there are also parts of the story that are flat-out different. The details of Arin’s death, what few there are, are different (and fewer) in the novel, and most of the fine details involved in the trades, of who bought how much of what for which price are changed. The numbers being thrown around during the negotiation over the cellosilk are an entire order of magnitude lower.

Balance of Trade – Chapter 4

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Day 34
Standard Year 1118

Ynsolt’i Port
Zeroground Pub

In which Norn ven’Deelin is not what Jethri expected.

My heart was pounding during Jethri’s visit to the Master Trader. Physical danger in stories generally doesn’t bother me much, but a character on a course to, as Jethri puts it, learn the depths of his own folly, that’ll get me every time. (One has more respect for the dangers with which one has had personal acquaintance.)

We meet our first Master Trader, wearing our first Master Trader’s amethyst ring. Which, so soon after Crystal Dragon, prompts a thought I’ve not had before: I wonder if the amethyst was chosen as the mark of Master Traders in honor of Tor An yos’Galan’s remarkable eyes.

Balance of Trade – Chapter 3

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Day 33
Standard Year 1118

Ynsolt’i Port
Textile Hall

In which Jethri passes his first day of unsupervised trade.

Jethri makes three bargains this chapter, some to better effect than others.

I have read enough about the art of the con that I think the conversation with Sirge Milton would be setting off alarm bells even if I didn’t already know how it turns out. (Also, I reckon the flattering bartender is either a carefully selected prop or a confederate; she has a knack for saying just the right thing to keep the wheel turning.)

I do wonder a bit that an apprentice trader hasn’t been taught more about how to tell when somebody’s trying to fleece you, but perhaps that’s one of the things that’s slipped through the cracks with him being the youngest that people don’t always bother telling things to.