Sythyry

I did something dreadful today.

I was running around all day about this matter of Dustweed. (I am
temporarily obsessed with it. Anyone who says that Orren manners have
rubbed off on me is probably right.) I consulted with the priests.
Well, one priest and two graduate students in Applied Theology.

The priest and one grad student say that Virid never intended there
to be both-females, that it was a divine oversight. Not as serious as
the mistake that created the Khtsoyis (which was Accanax absolutely
screwing up). She decided to share certain anatomical features
between female and co-lover, which opened the possibility of, in a few
cases, some other anatomical features getting shared by mistake: hence
both-females. The (Herethroy) priest said that in all likelihood the
mistake was harmless but that it probably a good idea to kill
both-females at birth just in case, and certainly never wise to put
them in positions of authority. The (Rassimel) student said that
both-females were no more suitable in polite society than Khtsoyis,
and that hence the usual Herethroy treatment of them was as good as
anything else.

The other grad student (also Rassimel) denied the possibility that
Virid made a mistake on anything as important to her as the
Herethroy. She hinted at evidence that Virid had, in fact, created
the Herethroy some long time before, and was well used to their
structure and possible birth defects. (The main piece of evidence was
their wide range of variation — but the same goes for Zi Ri, and I’ve
never heard anyone suggest that we were made before the World
Tree. But our creator god is more creative than Virid. Very
confusing. This is why I am not a theology student.) She went on to
present evidence that (1) Virid didn’t care one way or the other about
any Herethroy’s sex and neither should we, and (2) Virid specifically
intends that Herethroy despise both-females.

At times, theology is not very helpful.

I also checked on some laws. In Vheshrame, there is a legal
category of Proper Citizen, which includes all Herethroy. (Also all
Cani, Rassimel, and Zi Ri; and all Orren who have broken fewer than
eight contracts; and all Gormoror who have neither broken their Word
of Honor nor killed anyone other than Gormoror or Khtsoyis. Sleeth
and Khtsoyis can petition the Duke to be considered Proper Citizens.
Theology was bad enough, but law is considerably worse.) In any case,
ordinary laws about inheritance, lynching, trials, and all those
things apply to all Proper Citizens. So in Vheshrame, which is what
matters, Dustweed’s title is assured, and the Herethroy who live in
zir villages have the right to run zir out of town if zie actually
tries to rule them, but not to refuse to pay the rents they owe zir.
And any Herethroy who kills zir will be guilty of murder, if anyone
bothers to bring them to trial. I am not sure if zie can count on zir
parents to do that. Tethezai might, I suppose.

I also checked with the masters of etiquette and nobles’ affairs.
The general result was that both-female nobles should be treated like
any other nobles with an incorrigible tendency towards wicked and
criminal activity but whose deeds were not suitable for legal action:
zie should be shunned whenever possible, and given zir perquisites
whenever necessary.

When I got home, though, Dustweed apologized to me for not warning
me what I was getting into when I moved in. It was not even a matter
of shame, not ’til later. Zie was desparate; zie needed roommates in a hurry. Zie had two apartment mates agreeing to move
in, but one got married by surprise and the other never came back to
the academy.

So I said, “Think nothing of it.”

I evidently was thinking nothing of it myself. I was so tired from
a full day of research on what to do that I didn’t remember who I was
doing that research about, or what I had come up with.

The next time I am so very much a fool, I do hope it’s over some
appealing Orren or other. And I hope I get more than a
spread-antennaed smile out of it. Though Dustweed is not known to
smile all that often.

And never, ever think that I had intended to accept an apology this
lightly. Really.

So now I am in considerable trouble. I can hardly continue to take
offense at the deception, having already accept an apology for it.
And, absent a personal offense, I can hardly storm out in anger,
quickly or slowly, or take revenge when nothing suitable remains to
taking revenge for.

So I suppose I am now restricted to “shunning wherever possible,
and giving zir zir perquisites wherever necessary”. Though exactly
what that may mean when we’re sharing a room for another few months is
not something I am in a hurry to ask the masters of etiquette and
nobles’ affairs, much less the theology graduate students.

Havune’s reaction to this: “Ah. Very convenient for you, Sythyry.”
I must re-emphasize that it was a simple mistake, caused by
inappropriate haste of speaking, and not what I would have done had I
spent a further twenty-seventh part of a second thinking about my
words.

Havune didn’t believe that when I said it either. My next
free Enchantment project shall be a talisman that hides my scent, so I
get at least a little privacy from Cani not-quite-mind-magic,
or mind not-quite-magic, or whatever it is best called.