In which Rys goes for a mug.
There are several things to be suspicious of in this chapter, but I don’t know if I’m suspicious of them only because I know where the story’s going; I can’t remember what I thought of them the first time I read the novel.
Droi’s anger, “anger that was more than half vey“, is interesting, both for the half that is vey (that is, inspired by the gift by which she sees things that others don’t see), and for the half that isn’t.
In which Syl Vor introduces his sister to a game.
The information-trading game is interesting, because it’s never been mentioned before in a Liaden story, but it’s very similar to a game featured in one of Lee and Miller’s non-Liaden works.
Master Walk was published in a chapbook about a decade ago (the ebook edition is still available), and also appears in the print anthology Double Vision. I get the impression it was hoping to be the first of a new series – it’s got that feeling about it, like how you can often tell if a telemovie started life as a pilot episode – but so far there have been no sequels.
It’s science fiction again, set in a galaxy that is like and unlike that of the Liadens in various respects. The trading of information is a big thing both in the setting in general and the plot of Master Walk in particular, and the traders of information play the token-swapping game to keep score during a transaction. (It is considered that a transaction has not been completed with honor unless each participant gives and receives equal value.) The full game, at least in that version, uses tokens of several denominations, allowing a considerable amount of precision when indicating how much value is placed on a piece of information received.
There’s a moment that’s stayed with me, where a trader asks a question, receives the answer, and hands over a token indicating how valuable they found the answer to be – and the person they’re dealing with immediately also hands over a token, indicating that they’ve received valuable information from the size of the token the answer elicited.
In which Rys’s brothers give him a hand.
We continue to get to know Syl Vor’s classmates as he does. Kaleb’s family seem to know a thing or two about medicine, though whether it’s professional interest or just practical experience isn’t clear yet. Several of them have grandmothers, which is reassuring considering some of the stories we’ve heard about life expectancy on Surebleak, or cats, or both. I like the way Syl Vor disarms Rudy’s attack.
Rys is worrying again about the missing part of his memory, and how the person he is without it might differ from the person he would be with it. He may be right to do so, considering that even when he thinks he’s got all his memories of yesterday back he’s still missing any memory of his conversation with the lady who recognised him. (And is that his memory sequestering the conversation because it relates to other stuff he’s not ready to face, or did she do it somehow?)
In which Kezzi sees Syl Vor’s mother.
Despite their differences, there are some points of similarity between the Bedel way and the Liaden way. “No Balance nor keeping of debts between kin” is one of them.
It’s been said that most of Korval’s children, if they’re not full Healers or wizards, have some small gift, a touch of telepathy or a persuasiveness that goes just a bit beyond force of personality. I’m trying to remember if Nova’s been said to have anything in that line, because it would explain why Kezzi actually answers when Nova asks for her real name.
No, it came back to me as I was typing: Nova’s gift is Remembering. But then again, it wasn’t her who instructed Kezzi to answer truthfully – maybe it’s Syl Vor‘s gift.
In which Syl Vor and his mother discuss his first day at school.
It’s probably one of those things where, once you start noticing them, they’re all over the place: Pounce the house medic shares his name with a member of the Trealla Fantrol crew back on Liad. Definitely not the same person, though, because in addition to being male he isn’t a cat.
Back on the Rock, Syl Vor was held to a very high level of responsibility (higher than would be normal for a boy his age), because it was just a small group of them in a tight circumstance, and everybody’s actions counted. It wouldn’t be appropriate to hold him to the same standard on Surebleak, where there’s more people to spread the responsibility around and where he’s not familiar with the territory and can’t always know what effect any given action will have, and it’s clear that his mother isn’t holding him to that standard – but also that he’s holding himself to it still.
On the Rock, he was also held to a very high standard of behaviour, but that was just because the standard was being set by Kareen, who’s used to the company of well-trained adults and probably doesn’t know how to make allowances for children who are still learning (the more so since she got past that phase so quickly herself). It’s good to see that Nova is establishing a more forgiving standard in this area too.
In which Nova has visitors.
I find myself wondering how much of Boss Schroeder’s apparent concern for the safety of his turf’s children is politically motivated, which is perhaps unjust. Presumably he has some level of genuine concern for his people, or he wouldn’t be in on the school project to begin with.
Continuing the theme of there only being so many names to go around, Nova’s assistant Veeno has a very similar name to Veena, who was one of Boss Moran’s ‘hands back before Boss Conrad took over. It’s definitely not the same woman, though, since Veena, like Boss Moran, was one of those who didn’t survive the initial free and frank exchange of views.
I am amused that Nova and Syl Vor are seen to be making the same assessment of Nova’s role at more or less the same moment.