by Lyn Gala
“No, Grandmother. I didn’t know it was a word.” Liam hoped he hadn’t implied that Ondry had somehow failed to teach him something important.
“It is an ancient philosophy. Calti holds that if one knew every story of every individual in existence, then one would know right from wrong and could make decisions in all sureness.”
The logical flaw in that was not hard to spot. “But since no one can know every story…” Liam stopped. He did not want to imply Grandmothers were foolish, and he could not politely construct the last half of the sentence.
“We all act out of ignorance,” she finished for him.
Ondry’s arms tightened around Liam, but he stayed out of the conversation.
“The Calti has always been on the edge of space exploring, and the first Grandmothers felt a need to remind us of our shortcomings. I cannot know Zach’s story. And I do not expect you to have perfect insight, but I rely on you to comprehend more of his story and, therefore, know more of what is right for him.”
The weight of responsibility felt heavy on Liam’s shoulders. He didn’t want to say or do something that created problems for Zach. Zach wasn’t half-bad for an officer. He’d gone to university on a hard-won scholarship, entered the service as an engineer, and then earned his pilot’s certification while serving. He wasn’t someone who took opportunities for granted or who folded at the first hint of a challenge. In some ways Liam could relate to him, but in others Liam had no way to relate to someone who had a strong family background and who believed hard work led to success because that formula had always worked for him.
“I can try, Grandmother, but I am not like him,” Liam warned.
“No two creatures can ever be alike,” she said easily.
Liam still had his concerns. “But there may be times you do not like my advice, and I fear I will cast my own chilta in a poor light through my ignorance.”
The Grandmother smiled at him, and Ondry gave a rumble of comfort. “Spoken like a tuk-ranked palteia,” the Grandmother said with undisguised pleasure.
Liam didn’t understand the higher ranks. He didn’t understand why that statement marked him as tuk or why the Grandmothers appeared pleased when Ondry took positions against them. And Ondry had very little insight on the matter. He could not explain why the Grandmothers had so quickly decided to show him honor. It made Liam uncomfortable that he didn’t understand why this Grandmother had changed her mind regarding Ondry’s rank, and he feared he would do something to undermine that decision. “Why? I do not understand how that statement is indicative of my rank.”
“I told you of the meaning of calti, young one.” She shuffled to the side and sat on a huge bench. “Do you think any Grandmother could ever know more than a fraction of the stories? Our lives are long, but are they long enough to truly learn right from wrong?”
Liam could give no answer without implying disrespect. “I am not qualified to speak on that.”
“I am,” the Grandmother said, and she sounded amused. Rownt humor generally relied on making fun of someone, and Liam hoped this did not imply she was making fun of him, or worse, of Ondry. “I do not have all the answers. My age has gifted me with more time to learn the stories of the universe, but I am not infallible. Only the younglings with egg on their backside think that of Grandmothers. So what does every Grandmother need?”
Ondry had a blank expression on his face, so Liam had to come up with his own answer. “Other Grandmothers?” Liam guessed. It was a logical answer, but he wasn’t convinced it was right.
“Yes, that is true.” Her tone also implied it was an incomplete or less desirable truth. “But Grandmothers live together, work together, grow to be sisters in a way humans might find normal but is not present in any other part of Rownt society. So the Grandmothers sometimes fear to begin conflicts that might go on for centuries.”
If Liam applied human terms to the concept, he would suspect groupthink. He simply hesitated to apply such a human concept to Rownt psychology. He said with great hesitation, “Do you need people to disagree?”
The Grandmother darkened in pleasure. “Yes, we do.”
“Tuk ranked means the individual is willing to say you’re wrong?” Shock took Liam’s breath away. Nothing in any story scroll he’d read implied as much. And when Liam looked up at Ondry, he found Ondry utterly still, his eyes huge with confusion.
The Grandmother gave a short trill of amusement, and this time it clearly was aimed at Ondry and Liam. She was entertained that they had been so ignorant. “It does,” she agreed.
“But…nothing in any of the reading I’ve done has suggested that.”
“And that is the paradox of Rownt psychology. If we told a lek-ranked trader that to please us she had to disagree, what would she do?”
“She would disagree about everything,” Liam said with some confidence.
“Do you agree, Tuk-Ondry?”
“Yes,” Ondry said, but he didn’t elaborate.
The Grandmother nodded. “But she would do it out of an instinctive need to please us, so her disapproval would be as useless as her unquestioning obedience. Many ka ranked come to realize we make mistakes. Some accept that as part of life and do not choose to concern themselves, trusting our age and experience to correct any errors. Others show their disapproval and openly contradict us. Were Ondry in the ka ranks long enough to spend time at the temple around the tuk ranked, both of you would have seen with your own eyes that once the younglings are out of the room, the upper ranks are not as unified as younglings might think.”
“Only ka-ranked individuals see this, though?” Liam asked.
“One does not present egglings with too many choices or options. It may distract those too young to distinguish those facts that are of importance.”
Liam frowned. “So you’re calling Ondry tuk ranked because he accused you of not understanding me?”
The Grandmother stretched her long legs out in front of her. “I call him tuk ranked because he was correct in his assessment of human nature, and he was willing to tell me to my face I had made an error. I have never had a Rownt of two hundred call me careless or narrow his nostrils at me, but despite his age, I can recognize the signs of one ready to join the ranks of the tuk.”
Liam jerked away from Ondry so he could turn and stare at Ondry. “You narrowed your nostrils at a Grandmother?” Shock left Liam unable to even imagine that.
“She put you at risk,” Ondry said, and his nostrils twitched, although he didn’t actually narrow them. He did pull Liam close again, and Liam leaned into his strength.
The Grandmother said, “The wise often say a town with soft-spoken tuk ranks will soon have Grandmothers as farmers. Your Ondry is not soft-spoken.”
“I don’t understand,” Liam said. He found he understood very little of this whole conversation. He needed time to wrap his head around this.
“Without tuk-ranked individuals, Grandmothers will soon make mistakes serious enough to drive others away,” Ondry said.
The Grandmother gave a single nod. “And the Grandmothers will be the only ones left to till the fields. And on a ship, we have more than fields to plow. No ship can run by the will of the Grandmothers alone. So I value your chilta for his understanding of alien ways of thinking and for his willingness to speak up before the Grandmothers can do something disastrous enough to drive our crew to join another ship.”
“Another would have handled the humans with less finesse,” Ondry said, which came close to condescending, but the Grandmother no longer seemed bothered by Ondry’s audacity.
She huffed at him. “Now that I have a human palteia, I am concerned about their abominably short lives. We will be delivering the human supplies, and then we will travel to Imshee space. I do not know if Imshee can cure humans of this unseasonable aging, but we shall find out.” She stood and shuffled over to her palteia, but now that Ondry had tuk status, no one frowned at him for being in the inner part of the temple.
“If she cann
ot get the Imshee to trade, I will,” Ondry said. Liam curled his fingers around Ondry’s arm.
“I believe you.”
“That is unsurprising because you are a reasonable creature able to see truth when he sees it,” Ondry responded. He tightened the nictel, and Liam shivered at the overt control. “I will not lose you. The story scrolls say only a palteia can defy the laws of the gods with impunity, for even the gods would hesitate to stand between a palteia and his chosen chilta. They fail to say the same is true of a chilta. I will defy the gods on this matter.”
“You don’t believe in the gods.”
“Then they will be easy to defy,” Ondry said. Liam might have continued the argument, only, Ondry leaned down and pressed his lips against Liam’s. When Ondry kissed him, Liam found very little else in the universe mattered. Liam wrapped his arms around Ondry’s neck and returned the kiss. Whatever came next, they’d deal with it. Liam trusted that.
Appendix
Rownt Ranks
Tuk rank—the highest of all Rownt ranks. All grandmothers would identify as tuk, as would elderly males and females who had enough status for the grandmothers to have called them in to consult on subjects.
Ka rank—the second highest and a much more common rank. A ka-ranked individual has done something unusual or noteworthy, whether that is preventing an invasion or refining a computer program in such a way to make it more desirable. Nutu are also ka rank; however, Ondry had not reached that status before claiming the second.
Ye rank—the third rank, and another common rank in Rownt culture. This individual supports himself or herself professionally and supports the community by building or contributing to the construction of community buildings or maintaining a part of the planetary defense network. Support of self, of community and of planet is required for ye rank.
Lek rank—the fourth rank and one more common for much younger Rownt. These Rownt support themselves, but they have only begun to contribute to the larger community, perhaps contributing art to the temple or building supplies for the central storage. However, they are not able to consistently offer anything to the community. This is not considered an honorable rank as much as a transition into adulthood.
Unranked individuals have been recently named adults by the temple grandmothers. They do not earn any rank until they begin to support the larger community.
Rownt Vocabulary
Belia steel—an iron and carbon compound that is mixed with different chemicals to either affect the properties or to simply create variations in color.
Baet bread—an expensive treat made with local berries and kaile spice. To humans, this tastes so bitter that the fruit is impossible to taste. For Rownt, this is a popular dish that only high-status individuals can indulge in.
Blestata—a species descriptor that indicates a species does not stand behind its agreements. For the Rownt, an agreement is permanent and the passing away or adding of new grandmothers does not change an agreement.
Calti—a philosophy that maintains that to know every individual’s story is to understand the universe perfectly and to know the correct course of action in every case. It is sometimes used to describe one who is insatiably curious, even if they are not a true follower of calti. Also, a Rownt trading ship of the same name.
Chilta—the guardian of a palteia. He enjoys the unwavering support of someone who will put his interests first; however, to betray that trust and hurt the palteia is one of the greatest dishonors a Rownt can commit, right up there with harming a child in one’s custody.
Da nut—a bitter nut that Rownt value not only for food but as a flavoring for many breads.
Dalit—one who calls himself a name he has not earned. It implies that a person has complimented himself when the compliment isn’t appropriate. Related to braggart or untrustworthy.
Desga—a native herbivore, the creature prefers the edge of swampy regions where its four legs and long prehensile tail give it an advantage in swimming. The size of a buffalo, they are generally peacefully, but exceptionally aggressive when wounded or in defense of their young.
Deidell—a trading town that has a space dock and tends to cater to the more progressive space-going Rownt ships.
Fora—a small bump on the Rownt neck that marks the spot where the eggling was attached to the inner membrane.
Gassa berries—a common fruit that grows wild on the vine. Some townspeople will grow gasha vines to shade their homes, making them almost worthless in town. Preserved with sugar and salt, they are a delicacy in the mountains.
Ilsil—the stroking of a Rownt’s neck, generally done by a parent to soothe a child. The stoking of the neck is an indicator that all is well, and this will quiet a child to the point that they often fall into a state that is close to meditation.
Kaile—a red spice that carries a combination of heat and bitterness that Rownt find very pleasing to the palate.
Kawt—an apex predator that generally hunts the Desga. Solidary and weighting as much as eight hundred pounds, they have prehensile tails, huge rear legs for leaping, and claws similar in size and shape to tigers, although their facial structure is much more narrow and foxlike.
Keatched—a small pouch lining the female reproductive tract where they store the sperm from prospective mates until they need it to fertilize eggs.
Nictel—a restraint or leash. One leg is leashed with a lead that goes up to a belt so that the person holding the leash can pull it tight and pull the ankle up. This is used on individuals who are not responsible for their actions such as a child when the parent is walking a difficult or dangerous path where the parent has to physically control the child.
Palteia—a natural submissive who seeks the profit of another. Palteia are generally recognized because they never seek to leave the protection of a parent. When normal youth start to get close to adulthood, they will begin to skim off their parent’s profits, sometimes even outright stealing. Parents see this as a sign of growing independence and evidence that the child is becoming smart enough and confident enough to take care of him or herself. A palteia always seeks to protect the parent’s position first. Staying with a parent long-term is seen as vaguely unhealthy, so most palteia are claimed by another member of the community. They are highly valued.
Playsa root—a mainstay of Rownt diet, it is a high-protein root vegetable especially nutritious for egg-laying females who require a lot of food to produce healthy eggs.
Reialet—a traditional weapon similar to an exceptionally heavy club. The additional of sharpened rock or metal blades close to the surface make this weapon deadly.
Rotilac—a period of hibernation during accelerated growth or following illness, during which the Rownt body can better regenerate.
Taliyba—a tiny red flower with a strong and spicy scent
Thothlickta—the combination of strong drink and narcotic smoke that work together as a sort of a truth serum by seriously lowering all inhibitions. The combination can only be applied in the temple by the grandmothers, although the two drugs are sometimes used recreationally by elderly Rownt who have joint pain from their excessive size.
Toal—a mythological carnivore that grew larger than a Desga and features prominently in much of the hero mythology of the Rownt.
Tuthaha—a large pink fruit with white flesh and black seeds which most Rownt consider too sweet for eating, but it is often used in foods, particularly stews and custard-type desserts.
Ututeh—an exile, one who feels the Rownt need for profit, but lacks the balancing need for status or to protect children, the temple, or palteia.
Loose Id Titles by Lyn Gala
Affiliations, Aliens, and Other Profitable Pursuits
Assimilation, Love, and Other Human Oddities
Blowback
Claimings, Tails, and Other Alien Artifacts
Clockwork Pirate
Drift
Turbulence
Two Steps Back
Without a Net
Lyn Ga
la
Lyn Gala started writing in the back of her science notebook in third grade and hasn't stopped since. Westerns starring men with shady pasts gave way to science fiction with questionable protagonists, which eventually became any story with a morally ambiguous character. Even the purest heroes have pain and loss and darkness in their hearts, and that’s where she likes to find her stories. Her characters seek to better themselves and find the happy (or happier) ending.
When she isn't writing, Lyn Gala teaches history in a small town in New Mexico. Her favorite spot to write is a flat rock under a wide tree on the edge of the open desert where her dog can terrorize local wildlife. Writing in a wide range of genres, she often gravitates back to adventure and BDSM, stories about men in search of true love and a way to bring some criminal to justice…unless they happen to be the criminals.
Links to find the author:
Main Web site: https://lyngala.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lyn.gala
LiveJournal: http://lit-gal.livejournal.com/
