Chanur's Heir
Oct. 6th, 2019 06:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowI'm nearing the end of _Chanur's Legacy_, and have realized a couple of things.
1. Thanks to a video pointed out by the redoubtable filkferengi, I see that I have been mispronouncing "Chanur" for lo these many years: the "ch" is a French "ch", not an English one, and the stress is on the second syllable. (Also, the hani "r" is strongly trilled.)
2. I have wondered about the future of the Compact. Pyanfar Chanur's remarkable domination - mekt-hakkikt, Personage of Personages, President, Director, and who knows what the methane breathers call her - can't last forever. What happens when she dies? I have just realized that Hilfy is in line to the succession, not by blood but by talent and skill. Thanks in particular to the events of _Legacy_, she understands stsho better than any non-stsho alive; she is fluent in main-kifish, and understands their psychology better than any non-kif other than her aunt; and she's rubbed shoulders often enough with the mahe as well. Her gift for languages and her experience on the Pride make her a plausible successor. (I should have known _Legacy_ was deeper than I had perceived it to be!)
1. Thanks to a video pointed out by the redoubtable filkferengi, I see that I have been mispronouncing "Chanur" for lo these many years: the "ch" is a French "ch", not an English one, and the stress is on the second syllable. (Also, the hani "r" is strongly trilled.)
2. I have wondered about the future of the Compact. Pyanfar Chanur's remarkable domination - mekt-hakkikt, Personage of Personages, President, Director, and who knows what the methane breathers call her - can't last forever. What happens when she dies? I have just realized that Hilfy is in line to the succession, not by blood but by talent and skill. Thanks in particular to the events of _Legacy_, she understands stsho better than any non-stsho alive; she is fluent in main-kifish, and understands their psychology better than any non-kif other than her aunt; and she's rubbed shoulders often enough with the mahe as well. Her gift for languages and her experience on the Pride make her a plausible successor. (I should have known _Legacy_ was deeper than I had perceived it to be!)
