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conversation! Supple sentences, with first and second meanings and overtones
beyond, outrageous challenges with cleverly planned slip-points, rebuttals of
elegant brevity; deceptions and guiles, patient explanations of the obvious,
fleeting allusions to the unthinkable. As a preliminary, the conversationalist
must gauge the mood, the intelligence, and the verbal facility of the company.
To this end a few words of pedantic exposition often proved invaluable. "By an
axiom of cultural anthropology, the more isolated a community, the more
idiosyncratic become its customs and conventions. This of course is not
necessarily disadvantageous.
"On the other hand, consider a person such as myself: a rootless wanderer, a
cosmopolitan. Such a person tends to flexibility; he adapts himself to his
surroundings without qualms or misgivings. His baggage of conventions is
simple and natural, the lowest common denominator of his experience. He
evinces a kind of universal culture which will serve him almost anywhere
across Alastor Cluster, throughout the Gaean Reach. I make no virtue of this
flexibility, except to suggest that it is more comfortable to travel with than
a set of conventions, which, if jostled, work emotional strains upon those who
espouse them."
Singhalissa joined the conversation, speaking in a voice as dry as the rustle
of dead leaves. "The Noble Lorcas with earnest conviction proposes a view
which I fear we Rhunes regard as banal. As he knows, we never travel, except
rarely to Port Mar. Even were we disposed to travel, I doubt if we would
school ourselves inhabits which we find not only vulgar but repellent.
This is an informal gathering; I will venture upon an unpleasant topic. The
ordinary citizen of the Cluster shows a lack of self-consciousness regarding
his bowel which is typically animal. Without shame he displays his victual,
salivates, wads it into his orifice, grinds it with his teeth, massages it
with his tongue, impels the pulp along his intestinal tract. With only little
more modesty he excretes the digested mess, occasionally making jokes as if he
were proud of his alimentary facility. Naturally we obey the same biological
compulsions, but we are more considerate of our fellows and perform these acts
in privacy." As she spoke Singhalissa never abandoned her mordant monotone.
Destian uttered a soft chuckle endorsing her views.
Lorcas however would not be daunted. He nodded sagely. "Everything depends
upon the quality of one's conventions. Agreed! But we must examine this
so-called quality for its usefulness. Overcomplicated, over strict conventions
limit a person's life-options. They confine his mind and stunt his
perceptions. Why, in the name of the Connatic's pet owl, should we even
consider a limit to the possibilities of this, our one and single life?"
"You will confuse us all if you talk in ultimates and eschatologies," said
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Singhalissa with a cold smile. "They are not germane in any case. One may
exemplify any point of view, no matter how absurd, by carefully citing an
appropriate, or even an artificial, theory. The traveler and cosmopolitan whom
you have chosen as your paladin above all else should realize the difference
between abstractions and living human beings, between sociological concepts
and durable communities. As I listen to you I hear only ingenuousness and
didactic theory."
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Lorcas compressed his lips. "Perhaps because you are hearing views which
contradict your emotions. But I stray from the mark. The durable communities
you mention are beside the point. Societies are amazingly tolerant of abuse,
even those burdened with dozens of obsolete or unnatural or even baneful
conventions."
Singhalissa allowed herself to show open amusement. "I suspect that you take
an extreme position. Only children are intolerant of conventions. They are
indispensable to an organized civilization, like discipline to an army, or
foundations to a building, or landmarks to a traveler. Without conventions
civilization is a handful of water. An army without discipline is a mob. A
building without foundations is rabble. A traveler without landmarks is lost."
Lorcas stated that he opposed not all convention, but only those which he
found irksome and pointless.
Singhalissa refused to let him off so easily. "I suspect that you refer to the
Rhunes, and here, as a stranger, you are particularly handicapped in your
judgments. I find my way of life orderly and reasonable, which should
certainly satisfy you. Unless, of course, you consider me undiscriminating and
stupid?"
Lorcas saw that he had caught a Tartar. He shook his head. "By no means!
Quite the contrary. Without hesitation I agree that, at the very least, your
outlook upon life is different from mine."
Singhalissa had already lost interest in the conversation. She turned to
Efraim. "With your permission, Force, I take my leave."
"As you wish, Your Dignity."
Singhalissa stalked from the room in a flutter of gray gauze, followed by
Destian, stiff and erect, and then, Sthelany. Behind marched Efraim and
Matho Lorcas, somewhat subdued. They found themselves on the arcade which [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]