The Admonition of Lithia [23 Lage 4385]

[sythyry]

Mirrored from Sythyry.

Me: “You never told Treacle-Eyes that you’re a shifter hybrid.”

Lithia: “No.”

Me: “She knows, though.”

Lithia: “Not officially! We discussed it as much as we could without actually mentioning it. For her own safety, of course.”

Me: “And you think that not knowing officially will somehow shield her from the public opprobium?”

Lithia: “It might, if she plays it right. She’d like that a lot. I know you’re all about the traff … “ (I have not yet told anyone of my cissy encounter; it is too shameful) “… but Treacle-Eyes and I aren’t very political about it.”

Me: “The politics are not really that important.”

Lithia: “It might shield me from the public opprobium too, at least for so long as I manage to fool people.”

Me: “It might get you lynched when they find out.”

Lithia: [shrugging helplessly] “There’s only so much a lynch mob can do to me. Chop ten years off my life, maybe. They can hardly hurt me more than I already get hurt every hour.”

Me: “True. Still, that gives me an idea for a wedding present: an escape teleporter, probably with a Heal the Awful Wound secondary power.”

Lithia: “That’s a big present!”

Me: “You’re my little girl. Even if you’re actually old enough to get married.”

After I pried her off of me — it is somewhat disconcerting being hugged by someone who looks and feels like an Orren, but, if you know what to look for, is actually a Rassimel — we continued.

Me: “What do you think of your chances of successfully fooling everyone for ten years or so?”

Lithia: “I figure I get a year or two here with her pretty safe, and then we get to start again in Ketheria somewhere. Oorah Thrassen would have been good but Zascalle spoiled it. If the masquerade doesn’t work, we’ll go live in Castle Wrong, and Treacle-Eyes’ reputation is ruined. Or I dump her, I go die in Castle Wrong, and she goes somewhere else and tries to live it down.”

Me: “That’s pretty realistic. Care to summarize?”

Lithia: “Yeah. My chances of pulling this off are better than my chances of living to age forty-five, but not a whole lot.”

Me: “Still think it’s a good idea?”

Lithia: “Got any better ones? I get a chance to be married and pretend to be a regular normal person for a while. Treacle-Eyes, who is crazy enough to be willing to marry me, gets as good an escape route from the shame of marrying me as we can arrange. It’s this, or something that’s not really any better, or I get to be a child for my remaining less-than-twenty-five-hundred days.”

Me: “I suppose I haven’t talked you out of it, have I?”

Lithia: “No, feathermom, that you have not.”

Me: “Nangbang may talk Treacle-Eyes out of it.”

Lithia: “If he does, I’m going to cry a lot, and then see what I can come with for another marriage. Do you think I’ll dredge up anything that makes any more sense?”

Me: “No…”

Lithia: “I’m sorry if I’m inconvenient, trying to be an adult and all. I’ll be out of your feathers soon enough.”

Me: “Not that at all! I am not looking forward to your death!”

Lithia: “Of course not. And I’m a Herethroy, and probably the Duke of Pennypell as well.”

Me: “If I weren’t glad to deal with you, I would have left you in Vheshrame with your mother!”

Lithia: “The way you left Blenny in Vheshrame?”

Me: “Blenny I felt responsible for.”

Lithia: “Me you feel responsible for.”

Me: “I don’t call Blenny my daughter, or even ~daughter~.”

Lithia: “Ach, I concede the point. You’re never ignoring me, even when I wish you would. I’ll stop playing with your leash. On one condition.”

Me: “Which would be?”

Lithia: “Stop trying to persuade me not to marry Treacle-Eyes.”

Me: “I suppose I have seen it to be hopeless, anyhow, so I will stop.”

Lithia: “Good.”

Me: “And what sort of wedding will you have, and how can I help make it sweet?” Rather inevitable.

Lithia: “A masque. Inconnu, Jyondre, and Tingula are composing it.”

Me: “I shall discuss matters with them! And give you my blessing. Oh … did you tell your mother about it?”

Lithia: “I suppose I ought to send her a note. She’ll be relieved to have yet another person between her and responsibility about me.”

Me: “Even if she can’t deny her ultimate responsibility.”

Lithia: “Much as she’d like to.” She entangled me in fuzzy arms. “I’m glad you’ve taken her place mostly, feathermom.”"

I was glad I had, too, and not just for Lithia’s sake.

Comments

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

It would seem that rowyn was right. Lithia's being about as underhanded as they both want.

I still think that she put it off for too long - at the time they proposed, *-Eyes still hadn't made the connection. But I'm not the one living under the prejudice that somehow lands on shifter hybrids instead of the ones who brought them into the world, so I shouldn't judge overly harshly.

Tangentially: It's rather sad that any union between consenting parties - of similar station, not that I'm big on such divisions of class but that's how things are set up - should be seen as a thing of shame. Alas, changes - even good ones - are not brought about instantly. And this applies both to *-Eyes and Lithia (who seem like they wouldn't be that far apart, at least if Lithia were your adopted Orren daughter instead of triggering those aforementioned prejudices) and your own entanglement with Saza. Especially the latter, though. If you had a good time, you should be able to be happy for it, not twisted into knots with shame.

[rowyn]

One of the sad truths is that what Lithia and Treacle-Eyes are doing -- lying and concealing and trying to live in secret -- is generally what's best for individuals in their situation. It's not what's best for changing the situation, though. For making society more accepting so that people in their position aren't at risk of being lynched.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I thought *-Eyes figured it out fairly early on. Nobody gave a precise chronology though -- perhaps because, officially, *-Eyes has not figured it out at all.

If I weren't traff, and a leader in the Vheshrame traff community at that, my entanglement with Saza would be utterly normal and unremarkable.

If Lithia weren't a shifter hybrid, and *-Eyes weren't a stowaway who somehow got a cabin upgrade, I daresay I would be pushing for the marriage. And that the girls would be pushing away from it.

[rowyn]

Somehow, it seems like your research when you were try to help Lithia should be related to Feralan's problem. Or vice versa.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

Damn the gods.

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

Why, cause they had a plan for how species should live and be born, and through a loophole it is possible to thwart that plan, and they have made it clear that such a thing is Not Part Of The Plan?

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

They deliberately made the loophole extremely punishing to the child, and then went on to repeatedly screw any attempts to alleviate the suffering. It probably would have been easier for the Fertile Union ritual to flip a coin and make the kid match one parent or the other, but noooooo.

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

I'd say it'd be easiest to make the Fertile Union match the species that the child, um, wombs in.

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

I bet it was Reluu's idea. He freaks at anything that messes with his idea of how things "ought to be". SUCH a prick.

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

Defying the will of the gods should be a terrifying act, and the outcome should set an example for all that it is not wise to do, yes?

I mean, yeah, I feel sorry for Lithia. I wouldn't want to wish what she goes through on anyone. However, she is a living example of why being obedient to the Gods is a good thing.

(Or she could be the living example on why the gods don't care, and you should go all Conan on them...)

It is actually a sad state of affairs of the World Tree World... tree... that Magic is so uncommonly common. If it were most worlds that I know, she would have had terribly mighty magical powers and would either be a tool for good or evil (if you believe in such moralistic truths). Unfortunately, The Tree doesn't work like that. :(

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Generally, defying the will of the gods is encouraged. It means the gods are going to mess with you in return, but with surmountable challenges. Or else maybe you fail and die.

But Lithia isn't the one who defied the gods -- if she'd turned out to be a ravenous monster that murdered her parents, sure, that would be poetic justice. Instead she's miserable and sick and going to die of some made up disease -- how many times in their lives do orren change form with no harm done?

And even when she tries to turn herself into something that better fits their plan, NO. NOT YOURS. That's just adding insult to injury.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

However, she is a living example of why being obedient to the Gods is a good thing.

It's certainly pragmatic given how powerful they are, but merely being powerful doesn't make you worth of loyalty or respect. The fact they're willing to torture children over what is essentially an aesthetic complaint should underscore that they are not worthy of obedience. It may be a necessary thing, but it is most decidely not a good thing.

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not sure if I want to delve too much deeper in someone else's religion at this point, so I'll just concede.

[alex-muridae.livejournal.com]

It's a minor thing really, but if memory serves there is a way for mixed-species parents to have children that are not shifter-hybrids. In fact, I believe our friend Delight-in-Justice is a distant relation to a couple that did just that.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

It's called 'finding someone else to be the father', yes. Which is also what you'd need for same-sex couples presumably.

[delight-in.livejournal.com]

I know the gods can be pretty obnoxious but we can't really damn them we kind of need them to run the world. :/