Beatings and Matings [19 Nivvem 4385]

[sythyry]

Mirrored from Sythyry.

I could have put off the punishment by making various appeals. However, (1) the lawyer’s fees would cost as much as the likely reduction in fines, (2) I plan to stay longer than the appeals would go on, and (3) I plan to spend my vacation — this is a vacation, remember? — doing more amusing things than bickering in court. (Such as getting married.)

Shirahung was quite impressively unimpressed with me, and Khohu rather less impressed with Arfaen. It may be years before either of them dares take another foreign client. They did accept their fees without any great difficulty, though.

Payments

I didn’t mind one bit giving Arfaen her — loosely speaking — back wages. Which are triple what a person of my stature should be paying a tofyof for seven years.

Arfaen: “This makes me the highest-paid courtesan I know of! Twenty-one years’ wages for, what? A half-dozen nights together? Or maybe only the one night in Hanija counts?”

Sekhidi: “You are not a courtesan. You are a tofyof, or you should have been, which is an entirely different matter altogether!”

Arfaen: “Well, starting today, Sythyry’s the tofyof and I’m the keeper!”

Sekhidi: “The lizard clearly does not understand social ranks! Or, perhaps, zie is attempting to avoid zir beating by accepting an extravagant loss of status, in a misguided hope to awaken sympathy within my breast. But it fails! Sympathy has been awake in my breast for the whole trial. Nonetheless, even sympathy must be subservient to the law.”

I didn’t much like paying the other fines, though. They were expensive.

Ow

The corporal punishments were administered in a small room with a tile floor — practical, in case of blood flow! — and with only a few court officials and a healer around. And Arfaen, as part of her punishment — or, if she had been coerced into the relationship, as part of her revenge. I could have insisted that my barrister Shirahung attend too, but I didn’t see the point.

The officials had a bit of a problem with me anyhow. The whipping-stock is a padded log with an assortment of leather restraints and cuffs, the right size for anyone but a Zi Ri … or a Khtsoyis, I suppose, though I don’t exactly know how to restrain a Khtsoyis. They had to call in a leatherworker to adjust them so they could fit me, and as it was, I wound up in an unusually awkward position.

I didn’t much like the knout. The club was worse though, hearing my wingbones cracking and all. Next time I do this I will arrange for an undetectable pain-suppression spell on myself.

I won’t make any particular claims of bravery or stoic-ness for this part of the day. I just don’t want to talk too much about the details. Except that Arfaen claims that she was wailing less than I was, and I don’t believe her.

Afterwards: I wound up doing the spellwork on the healing of my wings. The Guild healer did put on the splints and immobilizations, which I should wear for a week or two, to avoid any long-term problems.

Anyhow, that was not the best morning I have spent in Hanija, and now I will try to forget it.

The Conversation

Since we were already on the Island of Official Buildings, Arfaen took me as tofyof that afternoon — after a fairly long lunch where we discussed our own private terms.

Arfaen: “I hope you’re not expecting me to be faithful to you. I couldn’t do that, not even to Mellilot.” (And yes, I count less to her than Mellilot did.)

Me: “Of course not. Honestly, that was one of my top reasons for not asking you to be my tofyof earlier, that chastity clause.”

Arfaen: “I’m not going to hold you to it either. I’ve seen how you look at Invincible Fire Demon.”

Me: “I do?”

Arfaen: “Oh, you do, you very very do.”

Me: “Oh dearie … um … does he look back like that?”

Arfaen: “Nobody could possibly look back like that!”

Me: “Ahem! Anyhow, I think I will follow Hanijan law on Hanijan territory. My wings hurt enough as it is … No, no. Please stop crying, Arfaen. They don’t hurt a bit any more.”

Arfaen: “You’d better! I expect you to perform your certain customary duties, which the law is quite coy about, just as soon as you are healthy enough!”

I flapped my wrapped-up wings (which do hurt a bit), and grinned at her.

Tofitude!

Then, back to the civic administration buildings, to register my tofitude. Arfaen is about as low-status a person as can take a tofyof, so the recommended celebration — and the wages she pays me in escrow — are rather small. We did have a bit of an audience, mostly gigging at how the lovesick high-status Zi Ri was becoming the tofyof of zir own low-status chef.

Fortunately, I have no actual sense of shame. At least as far as foreigners are concerned. Arfaen was rather whining, though.

I rode back to Strayway on Arfaen’s shoulder, with my tail looped comfortably around her other arm. I am oddly proud of being in a legally-recognized relationship; I thought it would never happen. A pity I got into it in such a ridiculous way, though.

Maybe I will start my own city-state, where traff marriages are allowed.

Comments

[sianmink.livejournal.com]

I have to ask again,

Is there any reason Strayaway could not be expanded (or at least more fully utilized) and become the possibly first fully mobile city-state on the tree?

[rowyn]

I think it's already bigger than some city states, in terms of square footage. I think people like some outdoors with their city, though, and sectioning off the dining room for housing would make a rather slummy warren.

Also, it's Sythyry's vacation home and zie probably doesn't want to share it with thousands of people. Zie has enough problems sharing it with several dozen.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

That's ridiculous ...

...

...

No, it's not ridiculous. We've got plenty of space already. We'd need certain different kinds of space -- like farmland. But some cities, like Oorah Thrassen, already do their farming indoors.

We'd need better defenses, like true city walls --- and that means we'd need some way to deal with the fact that we've got monsters living here.

And a lot of other interesting issues.

I will have to think about that.

[sianmink.livejournal.com]

I mean, I 'm not saying this is something that should be entered into lightly, or without a century or two of prep-work.. then there's the doom factor.

On second thought, maybe a bad idea.

[relee.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure the monsters already living there would be the problem so much as the monsters MOVING there after they find out there's only one city-state on the entire world tree where they are allowed, by precedent, to dwell amongst primes.

Of course you'd also have to deal with the more dangerous deviants who assume that since you're allowing traff relationships openly, you must surely be allowing every deviant behavior under the sun.

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

Can I state the obvious here?

The Strayway is inhabited by two all powerful monsters, and one that maybe is one. While the adventurers that live on the Strayway are adventurers and have accepted the monsters, no right citizen would accept a city that openly welcomes monsters, even *if* they wanted people to recognize their love of primes openly. It would be very... difficult, to uninvite them, also.

Nope. The only solution would be to build a new Boat.

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

Oooh! Can we be involved in the design of the boat??

[mmsword.livejournal.com]

Well, there is precedent for places being mostly made of locador-enhanced space being officially recognized city states. But yes, in-house food production would be quite useful in keeping reoccurring costs down. If not just growing, well... There's always enchanting. I know that magically created food can be problematic though.

[greenreaper.livejournal.com]

Call it the Ark of Doom!

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Yes!!!!

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Or to populate it with Norren.

[ragarth.livejournal.com]

I find Sythyry's evolution to be interesting. At the beginning when zie was entering college, the idea of socializing with classes below zier's was a source of contrition. Now zie's quite happy as the erotic consort to someone of the lowest social strata allowed a consort.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Castle Wrong can do that to one!

[arenhaus.livejournal.com]

Any city-state that Sythyry starts will be by necessity a doom magnet. *prepares popcorn*

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

I thought it was perfectly safe, just kind of icky because you can 'taste' the magic on it.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

Well, it's not as good as natural food -- not as nice to eat. In the short term, it is safe. In the long term, well, sensible people fuss about whether it is safe in the long term, giving impassioned and well-considered reasons on both sides. Many of these people are Rassimel.

[kistaro]

Obviously, this means you need to figure out how to have giant hanging farms off the side of the Strayaway.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

With the sort of time magic Sythyry can throw around the farms wouldn't have to be very large. 2 harvests an hour?

[rowyn]

I nominate terrycloth for the architect.

[rowyn]

I can't wait to see what zir ~mother~ has to say about this.

[waywind.livejournal.com]

I picture a flying Garden of Babylon.

[kistaro]

It'd require a great deal of endurance from the farmhands, though! Step in, tend the fields, finish, and now you have all of five minutes to rest from your day's duties before it's been a week and you must manage the crops once again.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Nah, you just never leave. It'd be the perfect place where wanted criminals could live out the rest of their lives in peace over the course of a day or two.

[terrana.livejournal.com]

Trouble there being that you'd run out of criminals pretty quickly. I think offering attractive terms for employed farmhands would be the way to go - it's been established that Sythyry is able and willing to extend the lifespans of those to whom zie feels zie owes it (e.g. Phaniet). This debt arises through similar time-distorted circumstances.

So, you work on Strayway's farms for a month/seven years, live well for the duration and get the time refunded via Gift of Seven Years at the end.

[dennisonad.livejournal.com]

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