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Yylhauntra to Dinner, part 2 [11 Lage 4261]

By which time, it was open season on first-generation Zi Ri.

Tethezai:"How long until people were transaffectionate? Or otherwise, well, not wholly bent on sex as a means of reproduction?"

Yylhauntra:"Transaffection, I do not know for sure. Karrakavva (Rassimel) married Barabrith (Gormoror) at one point, but they were born not created. Sex for fun, in ways that couldn't lead to children ... I can't say for sure. One day in the eighth year, I remember, all the Cani were lapping each other intimately in public. Though that might simply have been the invention of that particular modality -- or the first public demonstration of something that a few people had been doing for some time -- or if publicly doing that was the innovation -- or something else. It was so unlike what Zi Ri were doing that I wasn't very interested."

Havune:"How did clothing get invented?"

Yylhauntra's counterattack was devastating, though...

Yylhauntra:"Before my time!"

It is certainly preplexious when one of the first-created declares something "Before my time". Indeed, it can destroy many manners.

Havune:"Really?"

Yylhauntra:"Oh, yes. Not cloth, but leather and leaves. Everyone looked rather wild and Gormororly, by modern standards."

Narngi:"When did people start trying to look elegant?"

Yylhauntra:"By your standards, I should say that they have not yet done! By our standards, oh ... about twenty years in. About the time the first-born were starting to grow up a bit."

Mendrugai:"What did they wear, for elegance?"

Me:"Perhaps we could be a bit more like a group of friends and relatives gathered for dinner, and a bit less like a gathering of the Inquisitors' Club of Oorah Thrassen. "

Yylhauntra:"Thank you, Sythyry, but I don't mind: my powers as a conversational centerpiece are mighty! Mendrugai, we lacked many modern ornaments. Glirries and feathers, fur-dye and sparkling scapulae: these were popular, each in their turn."

And they continued to interrogate zir for the better part of an hour. Zie endured it with practiced grace.

* * *

Esory:"Are you a wizard, then?"

Yylhauntra:"Hardly! I'm reasonably skillful at magic, but I'm no Glikkonen or Llezcaryg or even Tabragore."

Esory:"Tabragore?"

Yylhauntra:"One of my great-grandchildren. Only a few centuries old, and quite impressively strong. No, I'm more of an architect than a mage of any kind."

Esory:"Architect?"

Yylhauntra:"Oh, certainly. I designed the previous Ducal Palace in Vheshrame, the one that got torn down three centuries ago and replaced by the current one."

Havune:"Were you angry about that?"

Yylhauntra:"Not particularly! It wasn't very good work. The then-Duke of Vheshrame wasn't willing to pay very much -- she wanted the cachet of a Yylhauntra design, but not any of the actual value of it -- so one of my assistants copied and adapted the palace of, as it happens, the Duke of Pelcour."

Me:"You designed the Viceroy's palace of Pelcour?"

Yylhauntra:"No, the Duke's, a good long time after I'd slaughtered the city and there wasn't a Viceroy any more, or a Calanchian Empire to be Viceroy of. I do have a house in Hrauminy, in Pelcour Mene."

Me:"Is that all you meant when you said you're still a Hrreptite?"

Yylhauntra:"No -- I still think Hrauminy and all should be their own city-states. It's ridiculous, having a single country two hundred miles long... but after Perfy won independence one century and rejoined Pelcour the next, it's distinctly a minority opinion."

* * *

And, over brandy, zie sprung zir trap. "You have asked me many questions about the first days! But now you must pay the price. I shall ask you many questions about the current days!"

All my friends had the good sense to look quite worried.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ulp. I get the feeling that zie may have done something like this before.

Oh, yes.

Oh, yeah. Zie was even polite enough to warn them: "...my powers as a conversational centerpiece are mighty!" Poor suckers. This should be fun. ;)

Well, zie wasn't cruel or anything. I just got the impression zie was trying to get to know our city and era, as yet another entry in a very big catalog.

Actually, Ylhauntra sounds quite nice and unassuming; it's fascinating how different and varied the attitudes of the few Zi Ri are. I wonder if one starts having issues with memory when one lives that long? My comment was mostly just me attempting to be amusing. ;)

As I recall, Sythyry was given this journal by one of zir relatives precisely because long-lived Zi Ri have memory problems.

I really didn't want to write that bit down, but ...

Why didn't you want to write it down?

Rut-roh. I'm sure that these questions are going to be probing, and not very comfortable!

Well, um ... no. Just things Yylhauntra's interested in.

And what could be more interesting than scurrilous gossip? };) Especially about family, about whom other family members will no doubt be asking curious questions?