"Long passages brought him to the suite, as capacious as a small hotel, assigned the Terran delegation. Its common room was empty, like most of the rest. A feast was going on elsewhere. Flandry mixed himself a stiff drink and settled down."
-Poul Anderson, "Honorable Enemies" IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 277-302 AT p. 278.
His spirits are lifted when he is joined by Aline Chang-Lei, the Lady Marr of Syrtis, tall, slender, raven-haired, oblique-eyed, delicately featured, ivory complexioned, blue-gowned and a top Solar field agent. (Have I left anything out?)
From a balcony of the suite, Flandry:
sees both moons, faint stars and gardens blending into forest;
feels a warm breeze;
smells Alzarian flowers;
hears strangely scaled local musical instruments.
However, he has just lost a fight with Aycharaych whose name he makes sound more Scottish than Chereionite because his vocal organs are differently shaped and not as versatile. (Try saying "Aycharaych" in a Scottish accent: the mundane projected onto the unearthly.)
Aline calls Flandry:
"'Dominic Flandry, the single-handed conqueror of Scothania...'" (p. 280)
For a while, each Captain Flandry installment refers back to its immediate predecessor.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Analogous to my recent mention of Trillia, it's a pity we never see Lady Aline again in the Flandry stories. She was the true hero of "Honorable Enemies." after all. It was Aline who figured out how to outwit Aycharaych and thwart Merseia in that story.
Ad astra and Happy New Year! Sean
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