Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Duty Bound: Adventures in the Liaden Universe®, #3
    Duty Bound: Adventures in the Liaden Universe®, #3
    Duty Bound: Adventures in the Liaden Universe®, #3
    Ebook89 pages1 hour

    Duty Bound: Adventures in the Liaden Universe®, #3

    By Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    "Pilot of Korval" finds Er Thom yos'Galan and Daav yos'Phelium, raised together as brothers, separated and beginning to learn their adult roles of trader and scout.

    In "Breath's Duty," a grown-up Daav must undertake a painful duty of friendship -- find his best friend's ship, which was lost in the aftermath of a space battle, and return it, if he can, to Scout Headquarters.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPinbeam Books
    Release dateJul 29, 2016
    ISBN9781935224518
    Duty Bound: Adventures in the Liaden Universe®, #3
    Author

    Sharon Lee

    Sharon Lee has worked with children of various ages and backgrounds, including a preschool, a local city youth bureau, and both junior and senior high youth groups. She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and also in psychology. Sharon cares about people and wildlife. She has been an advocate in the fight against human trafficking and a help to stray and feral animals in need.

    Read more from Sharon Lee

    Related to Duty Bound

    Titles in the series (35)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Science Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Bargain

      Dec 10, 2022

      “Which one of you owns G2V3889?” Cygnus glided through a luminescent star field suspended in the center of an otherwise dark, oblong studio, then turned in a slow circle to survey the twenty Agents surrounding him. “Come on, speak up.” Vega shuddered

      16 min read

    • Article

      Externalities

      Jan 10, 2023

      “In economics, an externality is the cost or benefit that affects a party who did not choose to incur that cost or benefit.”—James Buchanan and W. Craig Stubblebine The library rolled heavily into town, bearing its cargo of knowledge mundane, esoteri

      15 min read

    • Article

      Meet Your New Favorite Poet

      Feb 20, 2019

      Meet Your New Favorite Poet
      6 min read

    • Article

      Some Strange Eruption: Watching ‘Station Eleven’ and Teaching ‘Hamlet’ to the Class of 2022

      Jul 6, 2022

      If they learn nothing else by the time their graduation caps land, I hope they learn this. The post Some Strange Eruption: Watching ‘Station Eleven’ and Teaching ‘Hamlet’ to the Class of 2022 appeared first on The Millions.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Table Talk

      Jun 1, 2023

      Table Talk
      11 min read

    • Article

      LeTteR BocKS

      Jun 24, 2021

      SCIENTISTS say that in the future, all meals will be in the form of a pill. Let’s hope they are right, and they don’t develop them in the form of a suppository. I think that would make dining out a most unpleasant experience. Umberto Coaltit, Hull YO

      13 min read

    • Article

      Disasters I Nearly Met

      Oct 14, 2021

      Disasters I Nearly Met
      10 min read

    • Article

      Rafe Versus Waist

      Apr 11, 2024

      Rafe Versus Waist
      5 min read

    • Article

      Students: Pleasures and Pains

      Oct 13, 2022

      Students: Pleasures and Pains
      10 min read

    • Article

      Reader's Letter

      May 31, 2023

      SIR: I was astonished to read (Spring issue) that Hunter Davies believes he may be the only person left in the UK who has milk delivered in glass bottles every morning. Oop ’ere in t’north, we have milk delivered in this way. We also have Ringtons Te

      6 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Sep 1, 2020

      Cricket League
      7 min read

    • Article

      TOWN & COUNTRY

      Apr 7, 2022

      TOWN & COUNTRY
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Glass Ceiling

      Aug 21, 2023

      ‘You’re late.” Evangeline glanced up from her workbench, neck already aching from the intricate creation before her: a hat decorated with no fewer than six hummingbirds, pinned to netting so fine it would look as though the creatures were, indeed, fl

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Color of Hope

      Oct 10, 2023

      The thing I remember most about him was his huge, shiny black shoes. No one I had seen since teaching at Chavez School wore such shoes. In the sweltering climate of this Arizona city, the boys wore what used to be called tennies, and the girls, on th

      6 min read

    • Article

      Let a Student in Your Life …

      Aug 14, 2022

      Let a Student in Your Life …
      9 min read

    • Article

      Oh No

      Jul 1, 2018

      Because past the angel at the gate, oh can turn like that, go under, straight into poetry. Here’s the god’s honest: a moment of calm recently came to me, so close to sleep it was sleep. In my dream I saw a girl whose dark t-shirt read: All is Failure

      7 min read

    • Article

      Paul Heiney

      Oct 9, 2020

      Paul Heiney
      3 min read

    • Article

      Paul Heiney

      Oct 9, 2020

      Paul Heiney
      3 min read

    • Article

      Press Ganged!

      May 1, 2020

      Press Ganged!
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Island

      Jun 4, 2018

      The Island
      8 min read

    • Article

      Making Things Up: The Millions Interviews Elliot Reed

      Sep 7, 2018

      Elliot Reed explores adolescent loneliness in his debut novel, A Key to Treehouse Living. “This condition of loneliness and isolation is largely universal, and it’s uncomfortable, so young people find lots of ways to cope with it. There are many ways

      5 min read

    • Article

      Sexual Tension

      Jun 5, 2023

      Sexual Tension
      13 min read

    • Article

      Roger’s PROFANISAURUS

      Aug 5, 2021

      profanisaurus@viz.co.uk aroma diffuser 1. n. A scientific device that breaks “essential oils” down into smaller molecules, dispersing them into the air for a pleasant or calming effect on the gullible. 2. n. The arsehole. Barbie’s minge sim. Somethin

      8 min read

    • Article

      HUNTING With The Ellements…

      Sep 13, 2021

      HUNTING With The Ellements…
      19 min read

    • Article

      Perfect Prose II

      May 15, 2020

      Perfect Prose II
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Duty Bound

    4/5

    18 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      I enjoyed these 2 short stories very much but I am glad that I had previously read all the novels first.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Again, two stories.

      Pilot of Korval has the young Er Thom yos'Galan and Daav yos'Phelium, raised together, separated for the first time, as they each train as pilots and for their adult careers, Daav as a Scout, and Er Thom as a future ship's captain and Master Trader. For Er Thom, it leads to a test of both his commitment to his crewmates, and his judgment in pursuit of that. It's also a tricky test of his self-control, discipline, and relationship with his birth mother.

      Breath's Duty gives us the adult Daav, long tucked away on Delgado, taking Ride the Luck into the middle of a battle to rescue old friend and ally Cronak, and his first, deadly encounter with the Department of the Interior. Along the way, he discovers he's maybe been insufficiently attentive to both what's happening on Liaden, and of who his son Val Con is growing up to be.

      This stories both illuminate important characters in the Liaden universe. For Daav on Delgado, there were a couple of what seemed like possibly false notes, but not once he was off planet.

      Overall, thoroughly enjoyable.

      I bought this book.

      1 person found this helpful

    Book preview

    Duty Bound - Sharon Lee

    Pilot of Korval

    Dutiful Passage en route to Venture

    Standard Year 1339

    MASTER PILOT VEN'DUCCI sighed and folded his hands on the practice board. By these signs, Er Thom knew himself to be in desperate straits.

    I had heard from Captain yos'Galan, the master said quietly, that you had achieved a level of skill equal to that of a second class pilot, Perhaps I misunderstood?

    Er Thom inclined his head respectfully. In fact, sir, I have achieved my second class license.

    The Master's eyebrows rose, as if in astonishment. Have you, indeed? Show it, of your kindness.

    Now he was in for it in truth. A short series of keystrokes from the board at which they sat, and Master ven'Ducci could transform the treasured second class license into a mere third class—or into no license at all. Such was the power of a master pilot.

    Still, it would reflect poorly on his melant'i—and on the melant'i of the Captain his mother—if he were seen to either flinch or hesitate in the face of this order. Er Thom neither flinched nor hesitated, but pulled the card from its slot in the practice board and held it out to his instructor in fingers that were, amazingly, steady.

    Master ven'Ducci received the license gravely and subjected it to a leisurely, frowning study, as if he had never seen such a thing before. Er Thom folded his hands forcibly in his lap and set his tongue between his teeth, lest he be tempted to blurt out any of the defenses of his own skill that were rising in his throat.

    Halflings defended before they were attacked, and he, Er Thom yos'Galan, was not a halfling. He was a pilot of Korval. Specifically, he was a second class pilot of Korval, the license fairly earned on the same day that Daav his foster-brother, boon comrade and fiercest competitor, received his provisional second class.

    Master ven'Ducci finished his inspection and laid the license on the edge of the board.

    How came you by this?

    Er Thom took a careful breath, and met the man's eyes with what he hoped was grave calm.

    I came by it at Solcintra Pilot's Hall, on Banim-Seconday in the first relumma of the current year. He had more than one cause to remember the day well, though very nearly a full Standard Year had passed. Er Thom licked his lips, hands stringently folded upon his knee.

    Testing that day established me as a second class pilot. Master Hopanik signed the license herself.

    'Testing that day', Master ven'Ducci repeated. Yes, I see.

    Er Thom felt his face heat, his fingers tightening convulsively. He would be calm, he told himself sternly. He would.

    Master ven'Ducci picked up Er Thom's license and held it in his palm as if weighing it for merit.

    It is sometimes the case, he said, in the mode of instructor to student, that the exhilaration of the test itself will call forth heightened response from a candidate. The results of such testings are not invalid so much as misleading. It may well be, young sir, that your proper rating at this time is second class provisional. It is certainly true that your results at these boards, over the time we have been working together, falls significantly short of the results one is accustomed to receive from solid second class pilots.

    Er Thom bit his tongue, refusing to beg. If he was a failure, if he lost his license this moment and spent the rest of his life balancing cargo holds, he was yet the son of Chi yos'Phelium —of Petrella yos'Galan. He would not shame his Line.

    So. Master ven'Ducci glanced at the license and slid it into the pocket of his vest. Er Thom's stomach twisted, but he sat still, and, gods willing, showed no distress.

    I will consider the proper course to chart from this circumstance, the master pilot said. Attend me here tomorrow at the usual hour.

    Yes, Master. Somehow, Er Thom managed to stand, to make his bow and walk, calmly, from the inner bridge.

    He was scheduled for dinner this hour, and his mother the Captain had made it plain during his first few days' service that she rated moody, self-indulgent boys who skipped meals just slightly lower than Port panhandlers too lazy to apply themselves to a job.

    Er Thom swallowed and deliberately turned his back on the hall that would eventually lead him to the cafeteria. He could not possibly eat. He swallowed again, blinking back tears.

    His license. He was a second class pilot! The tests had not been in error! If only—

    If only he could speak to Daav! If only his foster mother, Daav's true-mother and twin sister to Er Thom's mother the Captain—if only Chi yos'Pheliurn were here. But, of course, she wasn't. He had neither seen nor spoken with her since the day he had won the license.

    He had always known that his true-mother would one day claim him to serve on Dutiful Passage and learn his life-roles of captain and trader, just as he had always known that Daav would someday leave home to attend Scout Academy. He had simply been caught ...unprepared... when one day became this day, and he was suddenly swept into his mother's orbit, away from everything that was usual and comforting; his one cold joy the new license in his pocket, which proved him a pilot of Korval.

    It was no inconsiderable thing to be a pilot of Korval. Indeed, he had learned that it was no small thing to be cabin boy on the Clan's flagship, true-son and heir of Captain and master Trader Yos'Galan. The child of generations of space-goers, Er Thom had adjusted easily to his duties and to ship-life. He had adjusted less easily to the absence of his foster-brother, who had been within his arm's reach for the sum of both their lives. Er Thom's earliest memory was of gazing into his brother's face, watching the black eyes watch him in return.

    Good shift to you, young sir.

    Er Thom gasped, jolted out of his misery by the quiet greeting, and hastily bowed—junior to senior—to Mechanic First Class Bor Gen pin'Ethil.

    Sir, good shift.

    The mechanic considered him out of wide gray eyes. One remarks that it is the dinner hour, he said delicately.

    Er Thom gritted his teeth and bowed again. One also marks the hour, he said, politely. However, there is—a book—in one's quarters...

    Ah, but of course. A smile

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1