Not everyone was cheering when Yerenthax and Jyondre kissed on the balcony. A dozen Orren were particularly deep in their scowls and frowns — though they had been cheering as loudly as anyone else beforehand.
“What were you doing up there?” bellowed a titanic Orren woman. “You looked like you were kissing that Gormoror!”
“I was kissing her, Mother,” said Jyondre calmly. “This is Yerenthax, my intended. Yerenthax, this is my family.” He started trying to introduce them.
“Jyondre! You are avoiding the issue!” proclaimed his father or maybe uncle. I am not sure because the gentleman started roaring before Jyondre managed his introductions.
“Not in the slightest. I am confronting it directly,” said Jyondre.
Another Orren wailed, “But you have passed through the jivu! You have taken the vows of purity!”
Jyondre shrugged. “I wouldn’t be the first one to scant the jivu’s vows.”
“But — a foreign city! Even — Eigrach!”
“Should I let children die, because they are children of Eigrach?” asked Jyondre.
Jyondre’s mother climbed on a bench, and broke a walking-staff over her knee, and crashed the halves together seven and twelve times, proclaiming, “A nithe, a nithe, a nithe!”
(On the balcony, Rehit asked the Mayor, “An execration? We should stop her!” But the Mayor slashed with his hand, as if to say, “No; it must be done.”)
Jyondre’s mother howled as awful a poem as ever I have heard:
The roof that gives you shelter shall die with termites,
And the floor that upholds you shall break with shame,
The rollward wind shall blow you stenches
And the roll’gainst wind shall carry your own stench as a warning to all
When you request music, the hooting of owls shall answer you,
And when you request silence, it shall redouble,
The sunlight shall reveal your shame,
And the darkness shall never give you hiding,
The rain shall whisper as it falls on your head: Traitor, Traitor, Traitor
And the hail in your eyes shall answer it: Vile One, Vile One, Vile One
The cushion for your head shall be stuffed with thistles
And in the boots for your feet, small twigs
Bones of the fish shall pierce your tongue as you eat
And the wine served you with lees shall be bitter
In your path always, the dung of the perdithorne and the hyena
But compared to you, even the dung shall be proud.
At times, the heroes’ cup is full of gall and poison.
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I was afraid of that. Prejudice blinds so many…
Poor Jyondre. He didn’t deserve this at all, much less at what should be his time of triumph.
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sythyry Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 11:04 am
He’s been fighting with his family about it for a while, in various ways. This raised the stakes greatly, though.
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Veritas Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 11:56 am
What I wonder, though, is if there’s more calculation to the mayor’s move(restraining Rehit) than may be immediately apparent.
For the time being, Jyondre is the crowd’s darling; how might they react to such a condemnation? Could be anywhere along a vast scale… I do hope they at least don’t pick up the negative vibe and turn on him over it.
If, on the other hand, they rally to him… well, that could say intriguing things about the future of traff in Eigrach.
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sythyry Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 11:58 am
I think it might be a jivu matter, though I do not know for certain.
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Wow, that was very… Old Testament.
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sythyry Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 9:59 am
[Oddly, I was thinking of some Scandinavian stuff here. -bb]
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Stormy Dragon Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Jewish Vikings? ;>
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Wow. Nothing like an old fashion Gypsy Cursing to give a downer to an event…
I bet his mother overreacts this way at all the family gatherings after a bowl or two of punch, too…
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If I were Yerenthax, I would then reply,
“I have but one line:
What makes him yours, who is now mine?”
But I am not. So we shall see what really occurs next, I suppose. Probably an adventure.
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Well, Jyondre’s mother just totally sabotaged the town’s ploy, didn’t she?
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sythyry Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Well, she’s from Heleshario, not Eigrach. (Hence her calling Jyondre “traitor” as well as “vile one”.)
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Alex Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
And in that, we may well see a further bit of cunning on the part of the mayor, as Veritas hinted at above. On the one side, by not stopping her, they duck political responsibility. In doing so, and allowing him do get quite nearly disowned it sounds, this is a further encouragement (alongside the stipend) for the pair to hang about. Likely, this will be followed up by many “I’m sorry it happened”s and “You are always welcome here”s. Of course, this still depends on the crowd…and how important the jivu vows are locally.
Not only that, but if the mayor wished war upon Heleshario (for example), by letting him be rebuked, he may be able to drum up support with this incident; “they insult our heroes” and so forth.
I’m curious to see what will come of the mayor’s choice of discretion. And my sympathy to the star-crossed lovers as well.
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Jyondre should say that it’s a sad reflection on a mother that her enemy loves her son more than she does. who knows. they may hit it off together.
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Jyondre’s position right now is pretty favourable, I think. He’s just saved a bunch of people, and been named an official hero. His mother, on the other hoof, just spoiled a festive public occasion by bringing up a family fight and making a scene. It’s hard to imagine that this won’t result in some quiet public sympathy for Jyondre in particular, and for traff folk in general.
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sythyry Reply:
October 21st, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Your people have hooves? Remarkable. I shall have to visit at some point.
Jyondre’s position is pretty good in Eigrach. In his home town, rather less so, having been named an official hero of their greatest enemy.
And yes, there was some distinct sympathy, as you shall see.
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Gotta go with the rest, here: Eigrach is working hard at making friends with the people of the Strayway, in part by alienating y’all from everyone else. Spoooooky. I’m not sure this will pay off for the mayor: I’d've been more impressed by Rehit’s preference.
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