Sime~Gen Roleplaying: Householding Naros Scenario
Episode #145: Familial Quirks (8/7/99)
Nick turns his horse up the approach to Naros.
Nick has had some leisure time over the past two months, and is thus dressed in his idea of travelling clothes: Serviceable pants of his preferred cut, and a somewhat flashy shirt.
Nick's unfortunate haircut has grown out, leaving him looking a bit scruffy.
Nick is, however, well rested, and sporting a slight tan, as if he's been spending time outdoors.
Nick has thus been mistaken for a laborer on holiday by passing Gens.
Nick halts his horse at the gate.
Lucia: Hey Nick!
Lucia calls down from the wall.
Lucia: I've got orders against letting your kind in you know!
Nick waves at Lucia, laughing.
Nick: It's all right--I haven't pledged.
Nick demonstrates ring-free hand.
Lucia: Yes, but you see, it says here, [pretends to consult notepad]: No salesmen, no Tecton officials, and nobody who hasn't written in more than two....
Nick: Where's Riyyh?
Nick is still unable to refer to his father/grandfather as such.
Lucia looks over her shoulder.
Lucia: Here he comes now.
Nick has the grace to look ashamed at his literary record.
Nick is not, however, surprised in the least that apparently everyone in Naros knows the frequency of his correspondence.
Nick nudges his horse towards the gate.
Riyyh flutters up to the inside of the gate, somewhat late due to having been surprised in the midst of a bath.
Riyyh is grinning from ear to ear, as if he only had one grandchild and hadn't seen the boy since slightly after Unity.
Lucia appears to open the gate, and smiles at her -- er, their -- father's enthusiasm.
Nick guides his horse through the gate, or rather loosens the reins and lets it come in.
Nick's horse is smart enough to know that there is more food in stables than on the road.
Riyyh darts up to Nick's stirrup, along with a cluster of other Narosians who happened to be handy and enjoy greeting visitors.
Nick: Hello, Riyyh.
Riyyh beams damply.
Nick extends the greeting to the rest of the group.
Nick notes the excess of moisture on Riyyh's hair.
Riyyh: Nick, how was your trip? Are you rested? Would you like anything to eat?
Nick: I hope I didn't interrupt you at a bad moment....
Riyyh: ~~beside himself, like a small puppy whose master is come home~~
Nick gets of his horse, and finds himself more glad than he'd anticipated to be out of the saddle.
Riyyh: No, no, not at all.
Riyyh moves aside slightly to let Nick find the ground, and to avoid being touched by the sweaty horse as somebody takes its reins.
Riyyh, being Riyyh, makes no more concession to personal space than that.
Riyyh: [some other Narosian would just have used the available space anyway]
Nick: Thanks. [to the person who took the reins] He's been fed this morning, whatever he tells you.
Nick turns back to Riyyh, who is conveniently located just under his nose.
Nick: Hmm, I'm out of shape a bit. I haven't done much riding lately.
Riyyh: Please, come, you must be exhausted.
Riyyh knows this perfectly well, just as he knew the answers to the other questions; this is all part of the fluttering.
Nick: Thank you.
Nick starts moving towards the buildings, walking a bid oddly at first.
Nick: How has the summer been for Naros?
Riyyh leads Nick out of the crowd and in the direction of his own house.
Riyyh smiles, flattered by the interest in the House.
Riyyh: Well, it's had its ups and downs, of course, but on the whole I'd say it's been good.
Riyyh: [for one thing, Prunida's long visit affected mostly only Riyyh]
Nick raises an eyebrow at their direction, having expected to be housed in a guest cottage, but follows without comment.
Nick: How is Rapol working out for you?
Nick is under orders to inquire after Rapol, but would have done so anyway.
Riyyh catches the raised eyebrow and the glance toward the guest houses, and is about to explain that he hopes Nick doesn't mind the detour, when Nick speaks.
Riyyh: He is doing very well. [tenderly]
Riyyh is still completely head over his heels, nagerically speaking, for Rapol, and this has only become more out of hand with each additional badly over-rated transfer he gets from the man.
Nick: I'm glad to hear that.
Nick: So he's settled in well?
Riyyh: Well... [hesitates] for the most part he has, although I wish for his sake that we were more closely matched.
Nick: Is that turning into a problem?
Riyyh: He's... he's very kind about it, and to be truthful he isn't at all interested in doing anymore travelling outside of Naros.
Riyyh: Perhaps one day, when, er, if, [finds it difficult to consider a time when he himself might be permanently gone]... well. Perhaps one day there will be a younger Narosian who fits him more perfectly.
Nick nods thoughtfully.
Nick: Is he more comfortable among the Naros membership?
Riyyh climbs the stairs of his house, then slows to wait for the slower-moving Nick.
Riyyh: He says he is, yes.
Nick: Has he become more social? Linn seemed to think that he was becoming a recluse, for a while there.
Riyyh: He does prefer me to be there if there are many other people.
Nick grunts as the stairs challenge his temporarily bowed legs, but navigates them without mishap.
Riyyh: I have asked him about it, but he says that he was somewhat private before, also.
Riyyh knows it's more than that, but at Naros there's no reason to confront him about it.
Nick: Well, he did have a talent for moving through life unobserved.
Riyyh holds the door open for Nick.
Riyyh, of course, is the worst sort of party animal, not only seeking out gatherings but generally participating in anything and everything the others might be participating in.
Riyyh tends to isolate himself only when depressed, which hasn't happened much since Rapol arrived.
Nick goes through the door and looks around, trying to see if any strange new furniture has been added.
Nick lowers his voice.
Nick: Has he every said anything about what happened to him, after Snake left Bender Cove?
Nick never did get a satisfactory explanation from Snake about the circumstances precipitating their departure.
Riyyh: Yes, he's spoken of it somewhat. [quietly]
Riyyh: Would you like to clean up first, and then eat, or vise versa?
Nick: Perhaps a snack first? It's been a long time since lunch.
Riyyh: Of course.
Nick: Good. That's the first step to healing.
Riyyh offers Nick a seat on the couch, which is fortuitously protected with a blanket.
Nick eyes the offered place of repose dubiously, then decides that it is sufficiently padded and eases down.
Nick extends his legs in front of himself, a posture which is different enough to be restful.
Riyyh hovers over Nick, zlinning him with concern.
Riyyh: You haven't overdone it, have you?
Riyyh: ~anxious~
Riyyh of course is not unaware of how quickly Nick's stiffness has increased since disembarking.
Nick: I'm just a little stiff. I haven't spent a full day in the saddle since....
Nick breaks off at the memory of the avalanche.
Riyyh becomes even more worried as he zlins Nick's reaction to the memory.
Nick wiggles his feet and bends forward to massage his calves.
Riyyh: Oh, let me remove your boots for you. [rushes to assist]
Nick: Thank you.
Nick settles back, a more comfortable posture, and offers Riyyh one foot.
Riyyh unlaces and pries off the offending garments one at a time.
Nick: That's much better.
Nick: ~~ relief ~~
Riyyh massages Nick's feet and legs, very expertly.
Nick starts to feel human again.
Riyyh: Your leg injury seems to be healing well, despite the bad beginning.
Riyyh has had an opportunity to zlin it fairly closely now.
Nick: It hasn't been giving me much trouble, although the leg is still a bit weaker than the other.
Nick: Exercise should take care of that.
Riyyh: Your Tecton channels don't keep you running after them enough?
Riyyh sounds surprised.
Riyyh puts Nick's leg down and gets up to go into the kitchen.
Nick: It's been a rather strange two months. Deah Tigue is a very independent person--half the time, I was wondering why she required a Donor at all.
Nick is, perhaps, overstating the case, but then, he's used to Farrises.
Riyyh washes his hands carefully while listening to Nick.
Riyyh: Oh, dear. Did it make you feel uncomfortable, to be held at arm's length like that?
Riyyh would have found it pure torture, he thinks, but he also knows Nick is a more independent person than he is.
Nick: It was frustrating to be idling my time away, when Arat and Snake were both stuck with Donors who aren't used to Farrises.
Nick is, perhaps, a bit possessive about "his" channels, and doesn't trust other Gens to look after them properly.
Riyyh selects some pre-scrubbed vegetables and starts cutting them into the ornate and festive shapes everybody at Naros is under the mistaken impression are the ordinary way to eat veggies.
Riyyh: I've heard there were some problems with that. [ventures]
Riyyh isn't sure he should admit he was in Capitol for more than a week recently.
Nick: ~~ concern ~~
Nick: Do you have any firm information? Arat didn't provide much in the way of details.
Nick: But Snake mentioned that he didn't zlin very good.
Nick at least assumes that was what Snake was trying to convey; between cryptic wording and even more cryptic handwriting, it was a bit hard to tell.
Riyyh: I only have gossip to work with, [admits] and you know how I feel about gossip.
Riyyh: [IOW: Riyyh pretends not to abide gossip, but is in fact the worst gossip queen in the District]
Nick: Yes, I do.
Nick carefully refrains from elaborating.
Riyyh: But my friends who work there have said that their first transfer was nearly a disaster. There were aborts, and Pylor was given some sort of disciplinary notice.
Nick winces in sympathy.
Riyyh: And, in fact, was assigned to a Second this month. [adds]
Nick: Good.
Nick is not above being a touch vindictive, if the circumstances warrant it.
Nick might be Narosian by blood, mostly, but there's 25% Prunida there, too, and working with Snake couldn't help but bring some of that out.
Riyyh decides not to mention nobody knows who Arat intended to have transfer with this month, as of a week before his due date.
Nick: I hope he found something better for this month.
Riyyh: I wish I could tell you more.
Nick nods.
Riyyh uses fingers and all eight handling tentacles to interlace the vegetables in a puzzle-like artistic weave, which looks very pretty and is considered de rigeur at Naros.
Nick: Have you heard anything about Snake? She couldn't tell me much about what has been planned for her.
Nick: Although her last letters sounded a bit less discontented.
Riyyh has been very interested in that himself, in no little part because he is afraid Naros might become a destination if she were to escape.
Riyyh: They say she has been working.
Nick brightens, nagerically speaking.
Nick: That would explain the improvement in her temper.
Riyyh: Arat has been working with her, and he has also convinced Linn Haskins to pledge and begin training as a Donor.
Riyyh has very mixed feelings about that last.
Nick: Linn? A Donor?
Nick shares Riyyh's apprehensions.
Nick: I wonder how he managed that; she was never very enthusiastic about it.
Riyyh: I do hope no coercion was involved. Darrel didn't seem to think so, but....
Nick: Well, I suppose Arat knows what he's doing.
Riyyh: Oh, dear. [to himself]
Riyyh has always associated the line "Well, I suppose _____ (insert name of Controller) knows what he's doing" with the worst kind of Tecton sheepishness.
Riyyh tries to tell himself that Nick seems much happier since beginning to associate with Arat, for all the trouble the Controller has caused Riyyh personally.
Nick: Snake seemed to think Linn had potential, too.
Riyyh places a small loaf of bread on the tray, then begins slicing three types of cheese in artful, interlinking curls.
Nick actually places at least as much confidence in Snake's evaluation as Arat's.
Nick: Well, I'll talk to Linn when I get to Capitol, and make sure that she knows what she's doing.
Nick doesn't even consider that Linn might flunk out of the program; he has some idea just how persistent a Farris channel can be, in the area of Donor training.
Riyyh eyes Rapol's strawberry plant hanging in the window.
Riyyh guiltily zlins about before using a small cloth for insulation and plucking one of the largest berries to place on Nick's plate as a treat.
Riyyh knows what the food was like in Bender Cove and doesn't know if Nick gets better or not.
Riyyh carries the tray out to Nick.
Nick's eyes widen at the sculpture.
Nick has forgotten how elaborate Narosian meals can get.
Riyyh sets it before him and returns for tea.
Nick examines the plate, then detaches a cheese-curl and sets it on a piece of the bread.
Riyyh nearly always has boiling water ready, an extravagance but after all he is Sectuib.
Riyyh comes out carrying a tray with water, tea varieties, honey, etc.
Riyyh zlins anxiously to make sure Nick has everything he desires.
Nick eyes the tea tray with enthusiasm.
Nick: Thank you. I've missed Narosian teas.
Riyyh beams.
Riyyh deposits the tray next to the other one, then sits down near Nick, in the sort of servile hyper-attentiveness that can be mustered only by relatives who don't see enough of their progeny.
Nick: Although Deah had an astonishing variety of other blends....
Riyyh: Oh? [interested]
Nick absently selects a blend and prepares his cup, then holds it over a second cup and raises an interrogative eyebrow.
Riyyh: Yes, thank you.
Riyyh sounds grateful.
Nick extends the preparations to the second cup.
Nick: Some of the teas were interesting, although they lacked a certain....
Nick waves a hand as he runs out of words.
Nick: It didn't help that some of them were rather old.
Riyyh looks unusual, as his hair has begun to dry in an entirely uncustomary natural fashion.
Riyyh: Oh, dear.
Riyyh: A pity I am not able to visit New Othwol more often. It is such an important trade route.
Riyyh in fact has been personally banned from New Othwol, a situation which dates back almost 20 years.
Nick: It's a bit strange: everything was built at the same time, according to a strict plan.
Nick: It feels a bit unnatural.
Riyyh: Yes, and not long ago, either. At Unity, there was nothing there but farmland, and of course the Audnes great house.
Riyyh wouldn't want to date himself by actually spelling out the fact that this has all happened during his tenure as Sectuib in Naros - indeed, it began after he'd been Sectuib for more than a decade.
Nick carefully picks some of the veggies apart, hoping to extract a particularly tempting bit of carrot.
Nick: I've seen it.
Nick: It must have been quite a place, in its prime.
Nick doesn't think any building could look its best, when stuffed with filing cabinets and unhelpful but officious petty bureaucrats.
Riyyh: Oh, yes, it was.
Riyyh: I... have seen it, as well.
Nick looks at Riyyh curiously.
Riyyh in fact had been invited to parties there pre-Unity, but that isn't the sort of thing a person admits to these days.
Riyyh looks somewhat chagrined.
Riyyh: A long time ago. [adds]
Nick decides that indulging his curiosity isn't worth the obvious embarrassment to Riyyh.
Nick: What sort of people were the Audnes?
Nick has trouble imagining a tribe of Farris channels who didn't channel.
Riyyh considers.
Riyyh: They were very proud, even then. Formal, distant.
Riyyh: And very rich.
Riyyh: They were more like a Householding than anybody will let on, these days.
Nick: Really?
Nick: ~~ interest ~~
Riyyh: There were Companions, although in that family they lived as servants.
Nick: Wherever did they find Companions? Or did they train them themselves?
Nick supposes that a Gen given the chance between Companion training and being sold immediately as a Choice Kill might pick training, at least until it was far enough advanced that the kill-option became untenable.
Riyyh: They were Garlenists. 2
Nick: Garlenists?
Riyyh tends to forget Nick has had neither Narosian, or Tecton, education.
Nick: I thought they were a legend.
Riyyh: No, not at all.
Riyyh: Before Unity, in the mountains north of here, there was a walled village named Fior. It is now Householding Fior, but then it was a mystery, unknown.
Nick: Well, before Unity, that could be said about most Householdings.
Nick is, of course, viewing the situation from a non-Householding perspective.
Riyyh: Perhaps. But this was unknown even to the Householdings.
Riyyh: At Fior they trained renSimes and Gens as servants, and sold them to the rich on both sides of the border, for use in caring for children.
Nick: Sold them?
Riyyh: The renSimes were prepared to bring any children who turned Gen safely across the border, or die trying... and to accept any blame if they were caught.
Riyyh: And the Gens were prepared to offer themselves to children who turned Sime, in order to protect their masters, the parents.
Nick: Well, if they were trained as Companions...
Riyyh: These people were fanatical, and for their time, surprisingly well trained. But of course there were many fatalities. The Garlenists existed for the purpose of setting the minds of the parents at ease, and for no other.
Riyyh: Because, you see, with Garlenist servants in the households, the parents did not have to fear their children.
Nick: ....Fatalities? You mean, they didn't bother to finish training their people, to avoid that?
Riyyh: They didn't know how. Garlen was a visionary, but he was untrained himself. He'd never zlinned another channel in his life.
Riyyh: What he accomplished was amazing. His Gens died in their first attempt to serve, only 7 times out of 10... that's three times the survival ratio of untrained Gens, and this is working with Gens we'd say today had no Donor potential.
Riyyh: But his vision was flawed. He felt that the division between Sime and Gen was essential, as was the division between Sime and Gen Territories.
Nick doesn't think the division part is the most obvious flaw in Garlen's plan.
Riyyh: He felt that any attempt to merge the two was impossible, and that the only way to save the human race was to repair the rift between parent and child that existed in junct societies on both sides of the border.
Riyyh: Therefore, he did not investigate the Householdings very far. If he had, a lot of things might have been very different.
Riyyh looks sober.
Nick: It seems such a waste. All those deaths, just for lack of readily available knowledge.
Riyyh: But if you only knew how dangerous it was then, to think in any terms other than those of the common world.
Riyyh: The exchange of knowledge was never easy before Unity.
Riyyh: Garlen was born in Gen Territory, and had no contact with the Householdings until very late in his life.
Nick: You know a lot about him... did you know him?
Nick has some idea of Riyyh's actual age, much as Riyyh would probably wish he didn't.
Riyyh: No. He died shortly before I was born. But his last Companion, Tomas, was ambrov Naros and became Sosectu in a Householding Fior after Garlen's death.
Riyyh: Naros has close ties with Fior, now - my heir, Anmyn, was born ambrov Fior.
Nick: Oh. Is she a descendent of Garlen?
Nick has some idea how rare First Order channels are in the general population.
Riyyh: No. We thought she was, but [looks rueful] it turns out a relative of mine was responsible.
Nick: Oh.
Nick thinks that's just what he requires: another sister.
Nick is not particularly surprised, however.
Riyyh: Garlen was not a remarkable channel, not so much as Anmyn is.
Riyyh: He was underdeveloped, and self-trained - really, it is what he accomplished given that, that is worthy of study.
Nick has made great inroads on the veggies, once he managed to get the first puzzle pieces untangled.
Riyyh: At any rate, Family Audnes used Garlenists quite a bit.
Nick: They would have to; even undeveloped, a channel wouldn't live long on kills.
Riyyh: To be honest, I don't think they ran to channels as much as other Farris branches.
Nick: Really? I thought channels usually bred true.
Riyyh: There is some variation from family to family.
Riyyh winces as he imagines how much trouble Naros would be in if he, for example, always bred true in that particular way.
Riyyh: Farrises are known for it.
Riyyh: But as I say, the ones I knew were renSimes.
Nick nods.
Riyyh hadn't found the attitude to be much different, however.
Nick: I don't think I've met any Farris renSimes.
see note 1
Notes:
1) This is the first part of a three-part episode. [return]
2) Garlen and his followers are from the unfinished novel Vale of Tears by Kaas Baichtal. This is a pretty good summary of their beliefs and activities. [return]