Remote, Then Close

In The People Of The Wind, Terra is remote. Most of the novel is set inside the Domain of Ythri which is at war with the Terran Empire. A few scenes are set on the Imperial planet, Esperance, from where the Terran attack is launched. The Imperial Governor of Sector Pacis, which includes Esperance and its sun, Pax, hopes to be recalled to Terra and to become a Lord Advisor. Chapter One of Ensign Flandry, set centuries later, plunges us into the midst of the Emperor's birthday celebrations on Terra where we meet several Lord Advisors.

Lord Markus Hauksberg, Viscount of Ny Kalmar, Second Minister of Extra-Imperial Affairs - though not yet a Lord Advisor - reflects that he and Lady Alicia Hauksberg are not Pelleas and Melisande. This is the first time that I have googled that reference.

When Hauksberg tells Crown Prince Josip that he is going out-system to deal with the Starkad affair, Josip comments:

"'How dreadfully serious and constructive.'"
-Poul Anderson, Ensign Flandry IN Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 1-192 AT Chapter One, p. 9.

Is this another cultural reference? There was a strand of sercon, "serious and constructive," fandom within sf fandom.

Hauksberg slips away from festivities in the Coral Palace to meet with seven Lord Advisors while Flandry is still an Ensign on Starkad. Decades later, Flandry will slip away from a celebration at the Coral Palace to meet with Emperor Hans.