The Novels of the Jaran
Read The Novels of the Jaran Online
Authors: Kate Elliott
Tags: #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Fantasy, #Epic, #Science Fiction, #Adventure
PRAISE FOR KATE ELLIOTT’S JARAN SERIES
“Elliott’s sure-handed and seductive blend of exotic locales, complex interstellar politics, intriguing cultures, realistic romance, and wonderfully realized characters is addictive. I want my next fix!” —Jennifer Robertson, author of the Novels of Tiger and Del
“Sweeps the reader along like a wild wind across the steppes. Tell Kate to write faster—I want to read the whole saga NOW!” —Melanie Rawn, author of the Dragon Prince Trilogy
“[Kate Elliott] spins a splendid web of a tale to trap the unwary and hold them in thrall until the tale is done. Here is another one . . . take care, for if you open these pages you’ll be up past dawn.” —Dennis McKiernan, author of
Voyage of the Fox Rider
“A new author of considerable talent . . . a rich tapestry of a vibrant society on the brink of epic change.” —
Rave Reviews
“A wonderful, sweeping setting . . . reminds me of C. J. Cherryh.” —Judith Tarr
“Well-written and gripping. After all, with a solidly drawn alien race, galactic-scale politics, intrigue, warfare, even a crackling love story, all set in a fascinating world that opens out onto a vast view of interstellar history, how could anyone resist?” —Katharine Kerr
The Novels of the Jaran
Jaran
An Earthly Crown
His Conquering Sword
The Law of Becoming
Kate Elliott
Contents
Jaran
A Novel of the Jaran
Kate Elliott
For my parents,
who made it all possible,
and for Carol Wolf
who, against all my protests,
made me do it right.
Contents
Author’s Note
J
ARAN NAMES HAVE BEEN
transliterated into their Earth equivalencies. For instance,
U’rhyinhias
(pronounced You-rye-EEN-yas) has been simplified into
Yurinya
(pronounced You-RHEEN-ya or YOU-rhee). This has proved easier on the eye for those inexperienced in Xenolinguistics, as well as lending a certain flavor to the jaran culture because of this superficial similarity to a well-known archaic Earth language.
“Bodies attract each other with a force that varies directly as the product of their masses and inversely as the square of the distance between them.”
—Isaac Newton
Earth, Nairobi Port
A.L.C. 261 month 5 day 3
Terese Soerensen to Charles Soerensen
Dear Charles,
Please don’t think I’m running away. I really did mean, when I decided to go to Dao Cee system, to visit you on Odys—but I need to be by myself right now, without you trying to give me well-meant advice or telling me that being your heir is just a technicality and that it doesn’t mean that much. Because it’s not true.
Charles, I didn’t tell you that I got engaged six months ago. He insisted that we keep it a secret, and now I know why. Obviously he figured you would see through his “love” for me to his real motives. I made the mistake of telling him that under Chapaliian law a sister loses all right to her brother’s [INSERT: or her father’s] goods and titles upon marriage—that she assumes, totally, her husband’s position. That was one month ago.
One month ago I was still engaged, and I didn’t know that humiliation could help a person do six month’s work in five weeks. I feel sick. I hate myself for being so stupid. And I can’t even tell you his name, because he’s studying Xenodiplomacy at the Sorbonne, and I’m afraid he’ll think I sabotaged his career. He’s one of those men who think women have no honor. Can
you
understand how I fell in love with him? Because I can’t.
I thought that I had the courage to tell you to your face that I don’t want to be your heir, that I’m sick and tired of people implying that my success at Univerzita Karlova is due to your position and not to my talent, that I’m never seen as myself but only as an extension of you. Can’t I just abdicate being your sister and let you adopt? Or is it only death or marriage that will remove me from your title? Not, of course, that I’m likely to find either situation appealing. God, Charles, I feel like I have no direction, that I can’t trust my own judgment, that I’ve been abandoned in the middle of nowhere. And I hate being melodramatic.
[ERASE DOCUMENT]
Earth, Nairobi Port
A.L.C. 261 .5.3
Terese Soerensen to Charles Soerensen
Dear Charles,
I finished my thesis early (with honors, by the way) and Univerzita Karlova agreed to give me a leave of absence. I’ve let out my flat in Prague and I’m going to visit Dr. Hierakis at the palace in Jeds. I know I don’t have an official clearance for Rhui, but I do have a copy of the preserve regulations, and you know how well I speak Rhuian. I’m going to appropriate a place on the Rhuian cargo shuttle of the next ship headed to the Dao Cee system. I’m thinking of doing my dissertation on one of the Rhuian languages, so I’ll be researching as well. I’m not sure how soon I’ll get to Odys.