Chill And Bitter

Mirkheim.

David and Coya Falkayn's second child, Nicholas, has just been born. Recently, David left to go to Babur. Then he went to Hermes. Now he goes to wage war against the Seven in Space. After that he promises never to leave again. However, Coya says that they will not stay on Earth. He responds:

"'Hermes -' He was mute for a while. 'Maybe. We'll see. It's a big universe.'" (XIX, p. 262)

Since Mirkheim was published in 1977 whereas The People Of The Wind had been published in 1973, fans who read Poul Anderson's works in the order of publication already knew that the Falkayns would lead the colonization of Avalon. If you read the Polesotechnic League Tetralogy followed by the two Avalonian volumes, then Mirkheim is Volume IV of the Tetralogy and The People Of The Wind is the first Avalonian volume. If instead you read The Technic Civilization Saga, then you find that Volume III, Rise Of The Terran Empire, collects:

Mirkheim;
"Wingless";
"Rescue on Avalon";
"The Star Plunderer";
"Sagrasso of Lost Starships";
The People Of The Wind.

This, finally, places these works in chronological order of fictitious events.

In Rise Of The Terran Empire, "'It's a big universe.'" is printed at the bottom of p. 262 and the next chapter, XX, begins on p. 264. P. 263 has just two sentences printed in two lines:

"The wind whistled cold. Chill also, and bitter, was spindrift cast off the booming waters."

In Anderson's works, the weather in general and the wind in particular comments on the action and dialogue. The Falkayns face a war and an Earth that they want to leave. Nothing could be more appropriate than cold wind, chill and bitter spindrift or booming waters. We turn the page to read of war.