Melisande my beloved

I decided that if there wasn't going to be a tumblr all about Janet Edwards I would make one. SBK sideblog is mangrove-and-amethyst. she/her

[jextell2514]

Hi, I go by Jex, and I'm interested in all things related to Janet Edwards. Expect a mixture of analysis, AUs, and screaming, assuming I ever post anything.

I'm always up for discussion, but I might not be very active.

[skygemspeaks]

I've just finished my reread of the drago 2781 sequence and i have THOUGHTS.

It's clear that General Marshal Renton Mai is angling hard for Drago to be his successor. I don't know if it's still up, but I'm pretty sure I remember reading a short story on janet's website years ago of a meeting between him and Drago where he's talking to Drago about a promotion, and he's saying that if Drago doesn't accept it, then the position will go to someone else, someone who is less prepared - and the implication there was that the person would have to be Jarra, because she's the only other Tell clan member who's in a central position within Alien Contact, and who humanity would trust to lead them against the chimera.

Anyways, I know I'm very heavily biased in favour of Jaxon because he's my fav (though i do really love drago too), but i do think that it would make sense thematically for him to be the next general marshal, and for drago to be a red herring.

First of all, drago has made it clear in multiple books that he doesn't want to be the general marshal. He's spent the decade between drago 2781 and the main earth girl timeline dodging the promotion from major to commander, and even then it only happens against his will. When he found out that he had been approved as a gold list candidate, he was described as feeling "horribly alone" while imagining a "terrifying future."

Jaxon has repeatedly been described as staggeringly gifted in the drago 2781 series, and despite his repeated assurances that he's only a better pilot than drago because of his 2 more years of experience, it's clear that he's vastly underestimating his own talents. Despite the fact he's absolutely consumed by the guilt of what he did to his sister, despite the fact he doesn't have dragon holding him to impossibly high standards and forcing him to do as much practise and studying as drago has to, jaxon's natural talent still shines through. The only reason he's not the military's golden boy the way that drago is, is because of his obsession with finding jarra

Now that jarra has been returned to them, and has forgiven jaxon for his part in her abandonment, he's free to move on with his life. Jaxon is planning to join the fortuna mission, and he can prove himself as a capable military officer there. I believe his deep regret irt jarra would stop him ever taking advantage of his power over others, and make him more diligent in making the right decision for humanity

With everything he's done wrong in the past, with his spotty track record at the military academy and his unreliability, he's become something of an underdog, and for him to turn that awful reputation around to become the general marshal would be (at least for me) a more satisfying outcome than someone who's been the favourite from the getgo, and more importantly, someone who has made it clear he does! Not! Want! The! Position!!!

Anyways, do i think it's gonna happen? No, i'm like 95% sure that drago's gonna be the next general marshal.

But man do i wish it could be jaxon.

Anyways thank you all for coming to my ted talk.

[skygemspeaks]

I love how oblivious jarra is. In the earth girl trilogy she completely missed the implication that keon used to have a crush on her and so you think he must have been SO subtle about it which makes sense given what we know about him.

But then you read the prequels and you're like. Oh. He was not subtle about it AT ALL. He all but came out and said it.

[skygemspeaks]

the conversation that gemelle has with drago while she's waiting for jaxon's therapy session to end is so telling. it shows how similar she is to jarra, in a lot of ways

she starts off very cold and hostile (for good reason!!), but as they start talking about the past, about school and about her grandpa riak, you see the hostility drain away to something that's more like friendly ribbing. you see a little about how their friendship used to be, once upon a time.

then, as soon as she's reminded about what drago had done to her, she says, "I'm tired of sitting here while you reminisce about the past to try to charm me into being friends with you again."

you can almost see her trying to hold on to her anger at drago, because she's so scared about what will happen if she lets herself trust him again only to have him burn her a second time. for gemelle, her anger is comforting, she's learned that anger keeps her safe (she hasn't realized yet that it also keeps her lonely, that sometimes it's worth the risk of pain, in order to make those connections). and it's sooooo reminiscent of how jarra reacted to her asgard 6 classmates, of how jarra kept trying for so long to see the worst in them before grudgingly admitting that dalmora was actually nice and wasn't just putting up an act, for example.

i just think it's so cool, seeing the family resemblance there. it also explains how easily drago was able to fall into a friendship with jarra during earth star. jarra is still a little star-struck and wary of him, but i bet in drago's mind he's just thinking, "she's just like a tiny gemelle! how cute!"

[skygemspeaks]

jarra tell morrath who signed up for asgard's pre-history foundation course just so she could trick her classmates into thinking she was "normal" and then yell abuse at them is gonna walk into her fidelis trial and she's gonna hear about dragon trying to get her brother discarded from the clan four times for something he did when he was 13(!!!!!!) and she's going to tear Dragon apart so bad that it's gonna heal 30 years of Drago's trauma and make all of clan council terrified of her.

Plot twist: it makes Dragon respect her more than basically anyone else.

Other military officers see the way Dragon talks to Jarra and are gonna be absolutely terrified of her in the same way they're terrified of Dragon and General Hiraga. It doesn't help that Drago is gleefully spreading rumours about the verbal dressing down she gave his father.

[elveny]

Pretty sure she won’t give him a long speech. She’ll say something like „oh, so you’ve done basically the same thing Earth hospital does to its wards“ and Dragon who knows about the psychological torture she endured dies on the spot.

[skygemspeaks]

😂 that would be hilarious. personally, i'm hoping for something along the lines of the speech that donnell gave to tad on the roof, after finding out who he was. i still think that was the best bit of dialogue we've had in both portal future and hive future, tbh.

[skygemspeaks]

jarra tell morrath who signed up for asgard's pre-history foundation course just so she could trick her classmates into thinking she was "normal" and then yell abuse at them is gonna walk into her fidelis trial and she's gonna hear about dragon trying to get her brother discarded from the clan four times for something he did when he was 13(!!!!!!) and she's going to tear Dragon apart so bad that it's gonna heal 30 years of Drago's trauma and make all of clan council terrified of her.

Plot twist: it makes Dragon respect her more than basically anyone else.

Other military officers see the way Dragon talks to Jarra and are gonna be absolutely terrified of her in the same way they're terrified of Dragon and General Hiraga. It doesn't help that Drago is gleefully spreading rumours about the verbal dressing down she gave his father.

[jextell2514]

I would really like to see Crozier’s perspective on Jarra becoming famous (and on her coming back to him for camping equipment in Earth Flight). I think it would be really interesting to see that for people Jarra knew in general (Valeska in particular as well) but especially Crozier. Like, I’m pretty sure he was a big part of the reason Jarra loves history so much, in contrast to her science teacher being the main reason she hates science.

And yes, I am thinking about this partly because we got a new part of Earth and Water today.

[skygemspeaks]

Yess, I'm constantly thinking about the people Jarra knew growing up, and how they feel about her (extremely rapid) rise to fame. Other than Crozier, I'm super curious about Wren's thoughts, since she already idolized Jarra so much! Also just like, the people from the dig site federation who had known her through her school history club trips! I feel like tiny little 11 year old Jarra who had to have a special ordered impact suit might have left enough of an impression on people that they might have made the connection with tag leader jarra from asgard 6 🤭

[jextell2514]

Yes! Wren is one of my absolute favorite characters, I’ve requested her in a couple exchanges and I even got a gift that included her in it in the first exchange I ever did.

[jextell2514]

I would really like to see Crozier’s perspective on Jarra becoming famous (and on her coming back to him for camping equipment in Earth Flight). I think it would be really interesting to see that for people Jarra knew in general (Valeska in particular as well) but especially Crozier. Like, I’m pretty sure he was a big part of the reason Jarra loves history so much, in contrast to her science teacher being the main reason she hates science.

And yes, I am thinking about this partly because we got a new part of Earth and Water today.

[girl-blorbo-polls]

Would your girl blorbo make a good lifeguard?

Canonically worked as a lifeguard

Yes, she’s attentive and physically capable

She isn’t quite attentive enough

She doesn’t have the physical capabilities

She can’t swim at all

I don’t think she’d gaf if she saw someone drowning

Other/nuance

Remaining time: 3 days 7 hours

[skygemspeaks]

🥺oh...drago said that some of his ancestors were quite loyal to earth and their flag still flies in the tell clan hall....the tell clan is still flying the flag of the earth resistance? 😭 i wonder if that at all contributes to their shame about what happened to jarra? especially if the knowledge about blaze's mother being handicapped was also passed down.

[jextell2514]

I’m pretty sure they are! I believe there’s a bit near the end of Earth Flight where Jarra mentions a battered flag with an image of Earth on it as well. I’m not sure whether the knowledge of Blaze’s mother having the immune system problem would have been passed down though.

[skygemspeaks]

how interesting, i didn't remember that at all! it's been a couple years since i last read earth flight.

it's cool seeing how many things are recontextualized after having read the scavenger series though. there are a couple of references to it in the drago series, including a mention of wintereat as well as references to tad. and i do know that there were a couple mentions of that kind of stuff in the main earth girl trilogy and the prequels as well. like the fact that the art stasis box that asgard 6 dug up in the subway had been left there by wall!

it's great having a main character who's a historian, because we get to learn so much about the history of the portal future, and it really makes the world feel so fleshed out and lived in. i would love love love the chance to get to see more of the big historic moments of their world, like the liberation of artemis, or even some key moments of thetis. i hope scavengers isn't the only other timeline we explore!

[jextell2514]

Yes! I believe I’ve seen in the past some discussion of possible future books about Fortuna, etc., intersecting with books about Tellon Blaze and the chimera wars. That was on the website somewhere, but I’m not sure where.

[jextell2514]

Found it! March 2020 comment from Janet Edwards on the Coming Next page of her website:

The way I’m currently picturing the Fortuna books fitting into the general Portal Future is that the Scavenger Exodus series sets up the history that leads into Tellon Blaze and the first part of the Chimera wars. The Fortuna books are effectively the second part of the Chimera wars. Because of the way the Tellon Blaze and Fortuna series will interlink, there may be something weird like the books releasing alternately. Who knows. Frankly, I don’t at this point. 🙂

[skygemspeaks]

🥺oh...drago said that some of his ancestors were quite loyal to earth and their flag still flies in the tell clan hall....the tell clan is still flying the flag of the earth resistance? 😭 i wonder if that at all contributes to their shame about what happened to jarra? especially if the knowledge about blaze's mother being handicapped was also passed down.

[jextell2514]

I’m pretty sure they are! I believe there’s a bit near the end of Earth Flight where Jarra mentions a battered flag with an image of Earth on it as well. I’m not sure whether the knowledge of Blaze’s mother having the immune system problem would have been passed down though.

[skygemspeaks]

how interesting, i didn't remember that at all! it's been a couple years since i last read earth flight.

it's cool seeing how many things are recontextualized after having read the scavenger series though. there are a couple of references to it in the drago series, including a mention of wintereat as well as references to tad. and i do know that there were a couple mentions of that kind of stuff in the main earth girl trilogy and the prequels as well. like the fact that the art stasis box that asgard 6 dug up in the subway had been left there by wall!

it's great having a main character who's a historian, because we get to learn so much about the history of the portal future, and it really makes the world feel so fleshed out and lived in. i would love love love the chance to get to see more of the big historic moments of their world, like the liberation of artemis, or even some key moments of thetis. i hope scavengers isn't the only other timeline we explore!

[jextell2514]

Yes! I believe I’ve seen in the past some discussion of possible future books about Fortuna, etc., intersecting with books about Tellon Blaze and the chimera wars. That was on the website somewhere, but I’m not sure where.

[skygemspeaks]

🥺oh...drago said that some of his ancestors were quite loyal to earth and their flag still flies in the tell clan hall....the tell clan is still flying the flag of the earth resistance? 😭 i wonder if that at all contributes to their shame about what happened to jarra? especially if the knowledge about blaze's mother being handicapped was also passed down.

[jextell2514]

I’m pretty sure they are! I believe there’s a bit near the end of Earth Flight where Jarra mentions a battered flag with an image of Earth on it as well. I’m not sure whether the knowledge of Blaze’s mother having the immune system problem would have been passed down though.

[skygemspeaks]

I'm back to thinking about names in portal future, and i'm convinced there's gotta be a lot of convoluted laws and like social conventions irt how names work in beta sector.

Let's take surnames for example.

It seems simple at first glance - girls take on the last names of their mother, boys take on the last name of their father.

Then you add in the fact that triad marriages are completely normalized in betan culture, and both legally and socially, children belong equally to all partners, including the one who's not related to the child. So how does this reflect in the naming? Because if, for example, a boy took the last name of his bio dad, there would be a clear and immediate tell of who's his "real" dad. Well, in one of the extras, we learn about a conversation between Jarra's two grandfathers, Bard and Riak, where they decide on a marital name - that being Galad (after a lake near the Tell clan hall iirc?) - important to note that this isn't either of their surnames! We know that Jarra's father and brother both have Galad as their last name, and presumably so does her uncle Benard. Presumably, this means that in marriages with two women and one man, girls would take on the marital surname and boys would take on dad's surname.

Okay, so how does this work in relationships where all members are of the same gender, such as Jarra's aunt Seanna and her wife Nadira? Or if the child or any of the parents are nonbinary? Presumably they would take the marital surname?

We know from Dr Mandanna, who is genderfluid and who was invited to be adopted into the Kar clan, that the author is in fact aware of genderqueer characters, and it was mentioned that genderqueer folks can choose non-gendered versions of the clan prefix for themselves. So presumably there is some kind of convention with surnames as well? My guess is they go with the marital surname.

But anyways, when you take all this into account, it shows how useful it is to have something like a clan prefix within names to show at a glance who is part of the same family group - seeing as surnames can't really serve that function anymore, especially when you throw honour child names into the mix and suddenly you have three kids in the same family with the same parents but all different surnames -ie Jarra Tell Morrath (honour child, was given her paternal grandmother's full name), Jaxon Tell Galad (father's surname), Gemelle Tell Feren (mother's surname).

And let's not even mention what happens when a betan marries one or more non-betans because that's a whole other can of worms i already went into in another post.

I just really like how complicated betan culture is. It makes the world feel very lived in.

[skygemspeaks]

gemelle said that there was no way to find jarra after she'd been through anonymization.

my question is: couldn't they just have provided her parents' genetic information and had hospital earth do a medical scan of all their wards who were the right age to see which ones matched marack and gemena?

like, that wouldn't have been cheap given the population of earth, and it would have definitely caused some kind of scandal.

but i think that the tell clan would have been willing to fund it themselves.

they could even have the clan's PR team turn it into a front page scandal about hospital earth witholding crucial information about the custody laws of children with immune syndrome, and causing them to lose access to a daughter of their clan.

[jextell2514]

I don’t think Hospital Earth would have consented to do a medical scan on all their wards of a certain age even if it was the Tell clan asking/threatening them; if it were discovered, it would be far too big a scandal, and if the Tell clan tried to go public… well, I don’t think public opinion would be on their side in trying to get Jarra back. I think it would all feel too similar to the old blackmail scandal Hospital Earth had as well.

But with that being said, I would absolutely love to read a fic where it did happen! POV Outsider / social media fic sounds like the perfect format as well, I’ve always loved those and this is an excellent premise.

[skygemspeaks]

I mean, Gemelle did say that after Dragon went to go yell at the main board of hospital earth for several hours that they would happily have given the tell clan a hundred babies if they could, but that they had no idea where jarra even was. so i feel that with the right amount of pushing they have a decent chance of convincing the board.

i do agree it would be hard to get the public on their side though. even in canon, it was already hard, and they had the whole alien contact thing on their side, and jarra had a lot of positive publicity on her side. and of course we can't forget poor little carl vaughan.

though once the tell clan publicly committed to demanding jarra back, i feel draco would have no choice but to lend them his help, and he might be the difference on whether she survived or not.

[skygemspeaks]

there's something so charming about the way that gradin is such an absolute unapologetic asshat. i love him. i wish he was in more of the portal future books. i'm actively stopping myself from putting a pause on the drago 2781 series (which i also LOVE because jaxon <3) to reread the prequels. i don't know when we'll ever get a full novel about the fortuna mission, but if he's not in it i'll be so pissed

[skygemspeaks]

gemelle said that there was no way to find jarra after she'd been through anonymization.

my question is: couldn't they just have provided her parents' genetic information and had hospital earth do a medical scan of all their wards who were the right age to see which ones matched marack and gemena?

like, that wouldn't have been cheap given the population of earth, and it would have definitely caused some kind of scandal.

but i think that the tell clan would have been willing to fund it themselves.

they could even have the clan's PR team turn it into a front page scandal about hospital earth witholding crucial information about the custody laws of children with immune syndrome, and causing them to lose access to a daughter of their clan.

[jextell2514]

I don’t think Hospital Earth would have consented to do a medical scan on all their wards of a certain age even if it was the Tell clan asking/threatening them; if it were discovered, it would be far too big a scandal, and if the Tell clan tried to go public… well, I don’t think public opinion would be on their side in trying to get Jarra back. I think it would all feel too similar to the old blackmail scandal Hospital Earth had as well.

But with that being said, I would absolutely love to read a fic where it did happen! POV Outsider / social media fic sounds like the perfect format as well, I’ve always loved those and this is an excellent premise.

[skygemspeaks]

"If Tellon Blaze was here today, he wouldn't just throw his heirs out of his clan hall. He'd shoot the lot of us." - Hestia 2781

Drago's reaction to finding out what happened to Jarra is SO cathartic. Sometimes, I wish Jarra could see the moments like this, which show how very beloved and how very wanted she is by her family.