Atdtda34: Not a goal but an absence, 975

[Paul Nightingale]

In the previous section Reef has been absent since his failure to understand
cricket (top of 973), at which point we find the Compassionate '[taking]
steps to re-establish contact with Yashmeen'. If indeed the Compassionate
are the Chums, they have previously been identified in a passage (969-970)
devoted to Reef when separated from his 'family'. On 973, the reappearance
of the Compassionate, then, signals the disappearance of Reef, now 'found
... in a taverna' (975). The narrative uses Ljubica ('suggest[ing] this was
nothing new') to indicate that the scene is described from the pov of
Halfcourt and/or Umeki. However, Yashmeen's 'private hand-signal' emphasises
their relationship and puts Halfcourt/Umeki at a distance.

The section, and the chapter, ends with Halfcourt ('[taking] Yashmeen
aside') referring to Shambhala. He suggests Yashmeen is about to mention it;
she denies any such intent. Again, the personal ('your world-line crossed
with that of Miss Tsurigane') out-weighs the public/political, even though
they have just been dining from 'an ancient Venetian recipe from back in the
centuries when the island had belonged to Venice'. Cf: 'the old Venetian
fort' on 973.