Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series here.

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The penultimate chapter, “Bingtown,” begins with Ronica and Keffria making ready to receive Serilla, Keffria fretting about the state of their home and the differences of that state from what it had been. Reactions to recent news are noted, and Keffria notes the promises of rebirth and regrowth inherent in the spring emerging around her. Serilla delivers the news she has been given; her formal position with the Satrap is rescinded, harshly, something acknowledged as scapegoating but inevitable. She also dickers with the Vestrit women for a place in their household, offering to assume the formal oversight duties on behalf of the family; Keffria accepts.

I’m struck by the brevity of the chapter; it is one of the shortest in the series, if not the shortest (though I’m not looking back over the series to check, admittedly), and it wraps up the narrative arcs of three major characters. It seems it should be longer–unless there is some comment to be made that the women involved in the chapter–Serilla, Ronica, and Keffria–are being put aside as no longer important. And that may have some justification; Ronica is certainly elderly, and neither Serilla nor Keffria are young, while the promise of future stories does belong to the younger participants in the narrative. So perhaps that is what is at work, here–although I do still tend to feel there’s something of being rushed about this…

Spare a dime? More?