In which the Master Trader negotiates with the thodelm.

It’s interesting that Petrella is so dismissive of Terrans, when she was a Trader and presumably had to deal with them on their own turf. But perhaps dealing with them in the line of business is one thing and having one show up on one’s own doorstep is another.

And, to be fair to her, I think she’d have taken it better before the disaster. That, I judge, has affected her thinking both personally, in that coping with her illness has left her with fewer reserves to spare for being well-disposed to others, and in her melant’i as the head of the line, being less free to tolerate eccentric behaviour from Er Thom when the entire future of the line depends on him.