…or, Fork All Y’all
Before we left his room, Iason opened up what I’d taken to be the closet door. It did lead into a closet, of sorts, if the term still applies when it runs the length of the adjoining room and extends almost half as far back. As large as it was, it was crowded.
He had a varied style, with plenty of forest greens and browns, some outfits with silver highlights, and a lot in black. His tastes ran to the swashbuckling. He had almost as many hats as Marlot, and more boots than I had shirts. The only empty space was in front of a set of full-length mirrors, with light emanating from the space in front of them.
On the other side of the dressing chamber was another door, which led to a bathroom. The bathroom was cramped compared to the closet, and sparsely decorated.
It was common in elven architecture for the bathroom to be hidden away like this, and to be less fancy. Some humans couldn’t picture the ethereal, beautiful elves doing anything as mundane and mortal as taking a dump. The elves weren’t fond of that mental image, either.
“This is a shared chamber when the connecting room is in use,” Iason said, going over to the other door and checking the bolt. “When that is the case, you must make sure you always lock this door as soon as you are inside, and you always lock my door behind you when you leave. There is no one in there at the present. That will change once the snows fall, but even when the room is supposed to be deserted, I do not want you to be alone in here unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“I don’t usually go to the bathroom just for shits and giggles,” I said.
“If you won’t be serious about this, I’ll get you a bucket,” he said. “Bring your axe, too.”
“You think I’m going to get attacked in your bathroom?” I asked.
“It is a place of vulnerability,” he said. “I know you have spent time among elves, Iamie, but middlings are a culture apart. We aren’t children, but we are not permitted to be adults. So, we invent games to fill the years until we are allowed to pass into society. We have bets and duels, we plot intrigues.”
“And you rape each others’ boyfriends?”
“It does not happen often, but it does happen, and I seem to have attracted more enemies than most, somehow.”
“Somehow,” I repeated, rolling my eyes.
“They are bitter over my hunting prowess, my superior endowments, my refusal to bend before others,” he said. “Those who cannot have me in bed or defeat me in battle may target you instead. Any man who harms you in any way will, of course, swiftly meet his end, but I would rather it not come to that in the first place.”
“Remind me again why we didn’t just stick with my place?” I asked him.
“Because you would not give me a key to it,” he said.
“Does that mean I get a key to your room?”
“That hardly seems fair,” he said. “But, come. Unless you have need of the facilities first, I will take you to the larder.”
“I thought you were going to introduce me to some girls,” I said.
“One does not simply walk into the ladies’ quarters,” Iason said. “We are likely to encounter some in the dining room at this time of day, and in any event, it will be good for you to know where the food is kept, if you really do have no interest in the stables.”
“I really do,” I said.
“A pity,” he said. “It would make things so much simpler, you know.”
“For who?”
“For both of us,” he said. “The stables are warded and guarded, and you would be very well cared for.”
“I’m still going to pass,” I said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me a minute, I do kind of have to go.”
After I finished, we went downstairs and outside. As large as they were, the trees were widely spaced, though their spreading canopies were big and thick enough that raindrops probably never hit the ground in the village-grove. We headed towards the middle, where a four-story twisting wooden tower stood in the center of a large clearing. It had a flat top, and rope bridges connected it to the lower treehouses in the nearest trees.
“It was once a tree,” Iason said, gesturing towards the irregularly-shaped tower. “The first lodge of Treehome was built in the branches. A magical blight struck and killed it. The wood had no life left to be renewed, but it was not physically damaged. The thickest part of the trunk was fashioned into the building you see before you, while the branches and upper parts were harvested for crafting.”
I gave a low whistle. The immense trees, known as elven heartwoods, were rare to begin with, and were never cut down. Elves used magic to maintain their health and protect them from the elements. They hardly ever even needed so much as a limb removed, and to remove one unnecessarily was like sacrilege. Because of this, heartwood was one of the most expensive substances for statues and carvings.
“Yes, that,” Iason said. “Of course, the families who owned the lodge at that point became immensely wealthy.”
I’d needled him enough about Petros, so I didn’t belabor the point by asking who he meant.
I hadn’t seen anything like a no smoking sign, but I figured I’d be polite and get that need out of my system before we headed indoors. However, the familiar bulge was missing from my pocket.
“Where are my cigarettes?” I asked.
“Wherever you left them, I expect,” Iason said.
“That would be in my pocket,” I said.
“No, I quite sure you had them out in the glade,” he said.
“The one where you transformed me?” I asked. He nodded, and I punched him in the shoulder. “You dick! Why didn’t you get them?”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because I had no hands,” I said. “And because somebody sent me running off through the woods.”
“Excuses, excuses,” Iason said. “It’s hardly my job to keep track of your things. You should be grateful I managed to hold onto your pants.”
“This isn’t going to make me quit, you know,” I said. “It’s just going to make me pissy and irritable all night.”
“I’ll let you know when I notice the change,” Iason said, draping an arm over me.
The tower entrance was huge. It was part of a tunnel cut all the way through the trunk of the tree-tower. There were portcullises recessed into the ceiling by the openings, and a spiral staircase in the middle.
“The bottom of the tree was left mostly solid,” Iason said. “For security and stability. Almost the whole of the tower is open to all guests. If a door is unlocked, you may go through it.”
The spiral stairs were narrow and they had no rail. Iason’s assistance felt less unnecessary than usual. The staircase came out in a large open chamber with low oak tables and reclining couches, lit by dancing lights hovering around the ceiling. The floor, ceiling, and walls were all made of solid heartwood. I revised my estimate of the Petros’s family’s wealth way upwards when I realized that it wasn’t just the wood from the top of the tree that they’d have been able to sell off.
Also, Iason had been true to his word: there were women present.
A little over half of them might have been mistaken for boys by inattentive humans. Those were the ones that I actually had a shot with. The other ones, the ones in the pretty, flowing dresses with the gauzy half-veils over their lower faces? They were pretty much saying “Fuck off, boys.”
At earlier points in elven history, it had been expected of elven women to cover their mouths in public with heavy scarves. Now the standards had relaxed, and mouth-covering had become a badge of youth, and a way for older women to signal that they were uninterested or unavailable to men. It was possible that some women from more ancient generations wore them out of a sense of modesty, but they probably wouldn’t favor the see-through fabrics that were now popular.
Elven culture traditionally recognized every orifice as inherently sexual. Remember Iason’s comment about my mouth? Some elves really thought that way. The reason men had never covered their mouths was complicated. Part of it was the sense that they could take care of themselves, and that in a literal sense they could give as well as they got.
Sexist? Yeah. Double standards were alive and well all over. By not wearing a veil, a girl was saying, in essence, “penis goes here”. She was also emulating the appearance of men, which was seen as a key to luring a middling male away from the childhood habits of boy sex.
That was why, as eye-catching as the gowns were, it was the flat-chested girls in riding breeches who interested me the most.
Though, my eyes couldn’t help drifting to the figure who seemed to be at the center of the group. She wore a gown with a multi-layered fringed hem in shades of lavender and purple, with a lavender vest over it and a purple double-crescent pendant around her neck. Her lips were colored purple as well, beneath her lavender veil.
Her heavily lidded eyes turned towards us as we came up through the floor, and one by one the other girls fell silent and looked our way, as well.
“Iason Manbitch,” she said. “And you brought a little bitchling. Well, well, well. Is it true what I heard?”
“What have you heard?” Iason asked.
“That you tricked him into putting on that ratty old bracelet that’s been rattling around your hope chest?”
“He didn’t have to trick me,” I lied, holding my wrist up. As annoying as Iason could be, I already didn’t like this girl.
“You see, Ursula?” Iason said. “And far from being ‘ratty’, it is everything I claimed it to be. But of course, you already know that, because the only way you could know of this is if one of your sycophantic little honey eaters was witness to my arrival.”
“I am honestly shocked,” she said. She didn’t sound shocked. She sounded bored. She snapped her fingers. “Muriel. Grapes.”
Another girl, dressed in a long red dress and wearing a fully opaque scarf over her mouth, scurried forward with a plate full of grapes. She stood, holding the heavy silver plate at waist height next to the reclining Ursula.
“You met Ursula’s cousin by the canal, Iamie,” Iason said to me.
“So, tell me, bitchling,” Ursula said. “Is it true what they’re saying? About the girl in Harlowe?”
“Where else are girls likely to hang out?” I asked Iason. I wasn’t about to answer to “bitchling”, even if she was talking about a subject I found interesting.
“Human hearing,” Ursula said. “I asked you a question, bitchling. Dionne says they let a drow priestess in this year, black as soot, with tits like a cow’s and oozing milk. Do you know if that’s true?”
So she wasn’t talking about the (maybe) demon girl. A drow girl was just as interesting, though if anything, even less likely. I wondered if she’d actually heard a mangled rumor about Kira. My curiosity almost got the better of me, but I held back from asking.
“There is an observation platform built up from the branches of one of the taller trees,” Iason said. “If you’d like, we could go there after I’ve shown you to the stores. If there isn’t anybody there, it will at least give you a nice view of the river valley.”
“Don’t you dare ignore me, humanbloods,” Ursula said.
“That sounds nice,” I said.
“That’s it!” Ursula said. “Somebody get me the bitchling’s balls.”
Immediately, weapons came out from behind backs and inside the folds of the flowing gowns. They were mostly small blades, both daggers and short swords, but there were a lot of them and they all looked fancy enough to be elaborately enchanted.
They were also mostly held by the girlier girls, but there were more than enough of them to be a problem.
My hand hovered around my axe. I wouldn’t have liked the odds if we’d been facing a room full of human women my own age. These were elves, and they could easily have decades of experience on me.
They seemed hesitant to approach, though. Some of them even shifted back visibly when Iason took a step forward.
“Stand back, Manbitch,” she said. “Your little friend’s going to give me a pair of earrings, and then give the healing center something to talk about for ages.”
“You know I cannot permit that,” Iason said. “Even if the injury is temporary, the insult would linger too long to be tolerated.”
“Then stop us, if you can,” Ursula said. She didn’t seem to notice or care that her cronies didn’t share her bravado. “We have the advantage in numbers.”
She said “us” and “we”, but she hadn’t so much as sat up, to say nothing of drawing a weapon.
“You do,” Iason said. “In the interest of keeping things sporting, will you permit me to arm myself first?”
“Sporting?”
“Interesting, then,” Iason said.
“Very well,” Ursula said.
Iason reached over to the table and picked up a fork. He hefted it in his hand like he was testing its weight, then held it by the end of the handle, like it was a dagger.
“Any time you are ready, ladies,” he said, pushing the brim of his hat up with his other hand.
The gang of dress-wearing girls looked at each other, and then at their would-be queen, and then at Iason. They broke and scattered.
“Muriel! Kill him!” Ursula shrieked.
I didn’t catch what happened next, but the grapes, the platter, and the serving girl were all on the floor. She had a fork buried in her thigh. Iason was straightening up. The straight girls all around the room were trying very hard to look like they weren’t paying attention.
“You useless lot of boychasers!” Ursula yelled. “My family built this hall. You could show some gratitude and help me!”
At least one of the straight girls, a blonde with a pixie-bob cut dressed in buckskins, had to stifle a laugh at this outburst. I caught her gaze as she turned her face away from Ursula. The twinkling lights reflected off her eyes, making them sparkle. Her masculine clothes couldn’t hide the femininity in her face, but she didn’t need to look like a boy to appeal to me.
“That is the third attempt you’ve made upon my person or possessions since the summer ended,” Iason said to Ursula. “You are in danger of becoming tedious.”
“You think you’re so tough, now that you’re on the skirmish team,” Ursula said.
“Judging by the scene that just unfolded, it’s not how tough I think I am that is the issue,” Iason said.
“I’d fight you myself, if you would submit to an honest duel,” she said.
“In other words, if you had something to gain,” Iason said.
They sounded like they were going to be at it for a while, and since I didn’t have anything to say to Ursula, I decided to go introduce myself to the buckskin wearing girl.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m—”
“Iamos,” she finished. “I heard. I was watching from the walkway when you came up from the canal.”
“Good hearing,” I said. “But really, I’m Jamie.”
“Alli,” she said. “You made a beautiful hart.”
“Uh, thanks.”
“So, I guess you aren’t like him,” she said, nodding towards Iason.
“In what way?”
“In the way that you’re talking to me,” she said. “Unless you missed the fact that I’m a woman?”
“No, I can tell,” I said. “I’ve spent a lot of time around elves. I’m part elf, on my mother’s side.”
“Oh, really?”
“You don’t have to believe me,” I said.
“No, if you say so, I’m sure it’s true,” she said. She didn’t sound convinced. “You are a bowman?”
“I’m a Bowman,” I said. “That’s my last name. I don’t actually know how to use a bow.”
“Oh.”
“Come, Iamie!” Iason snapped, grabbing my hand. “The stench of rotten womanhood is overwhelming me.”
“Uh, bye,” I said to Alli as Iason dragged me towards a door.
“I will show you where the food is kept, and then we are leaving to search for friendlier company,” he said
“So the men here want my ass and the women want my balls,” I said. “This isn’t exactly a nice place, is it?”
“We elves are a great many things, dear Iamie, but ‘nice’ does not number among them,” Iason said. “Middlings are effectively a law unto ourselves, as all oaths are removed and all debts are forgiven when we reach one hundred. So long as no unhealable injury results, our actions against each other rarely result in greater consequences.”
“What is it with Ursula and you?”
“Many women hate me, but not as Ursula does,” he said. “Part of it is family rivalry, part of it is her irrational dislike of my views on women, but her hostility has greatly increased in the past year.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“I may, at some point during that time, have relieved myself in her bed.”
“Iason, that’s nasty,” I said. “That’s beyond nasty. Are you serious?”
“Yes,” he said. “Perhaps it was unreasonable, but she provoked me beyond the point of reason.”
I shook my head.
“I just can’t believe you’d do that,” I said.
“In my defense, I was careful not to wake her,” he said.
Mook! Arf!
OOK!!
Those cannot have me in bed or defeat me in battle may target you instead. = those that??? .
So long as no unhealable injury results, are actions against each other rarely result in greater consequences. = Our, not are
“One does not simply walk into the ladies’ quarters,” Iason said. “But, when we go there, it will be to destroy a piece of enchanted jewelry intended for controlling purposes..”
*snerk* Does one march up to the gates with a big army, led by a wizard and a ranger?
“Elven culture traditionally recognized every orifice as inherently sexually.”
s/sexually/sexual/
And once again, AE, you leave me wondering whether or not I should hate or love Iason. He’s a repulsive person, but he’s so funny it almost makes up for it. Damn him!
MOOOK!
The spiral stairs were narrow and they had no rail. Iason’s assistance felt less unnecessary than usual. They came out in a large open chamber with low oak tables and reclining couches, lit by dancing lights hovering around the ceiling. – did the stairs come out in a large open chamber, or did you mean Iason and Jamie? If it’s the first it’s written right but confused me for a bit; if it’s the second ‘they’ should be changed to we.
Elven culture traditionally recognized every orifice as inherently sexually. – inherently sexual, maybe?
“You think you’re so tough, now that you ‘re on the skirmish team,” Ursula said. – “you ‘re” doesn’t need a space, and you may need to do something so it’ll format right.
So long as no unhealable injury results, are actions against each other rarely result in greater consequences. – our actions?
That has to be one of the greatest closing lines ever.
hmmm….as far as i know, Delia Daella was never lactating, she just nursed for a LONG time. so im gonna chock that up to a stupid rumour.
and……by relieving….he’s not talking sexually, right? i didnt think so, but im just confirming it.
“The only empty space was in front of a set of full-length mirror, with light emanating from the space in front of them.”
Shouldn’t that be full-length MIRRORS, in the plural?
Anyways, awesome chapter.
Ah, read it and still in the top ten. Interesting to meet some light elven girls, finally.
@Choo: I’m on the “funny” side myself.
@Tomo–wow… didn’t think of that. Raises the squicky question of which is worse: one would be worse to clean up, one scarier in the implications.
@4 – Epic win.
I love Iason in this chapter – he’s such a dick, but in a hilarious way… Although that doesn’t stop him from being a dick….
I doubt Ursula is blameless.
Alright, alright. Iason won me over with that last bit there. I’ll admit it.
Definitely the best chapter as of late, a few of them have been somewhat…well, not predictable, but you could in some manner make educated guesses where things were going (minus the stag, of course). I’d been wondering when we’d see Treeholme, and it’s pretty much what I’d hoped for about it.
MOOK!
Gotta say, now that we’ve finally seen other Elves, it’s awesome how none are portrayed as being ‘perfect’…too often I’ve seen that when Elves are ever portrayed they have to be ‘perfect’ in every way. I love how these Elves are all flawed in some way.(Or at least come off that way)
And that last line was just too awesome for words.
There is evil there that does not sleep! *collapses laughing*
Although I suppose from that last bit, the evil does in fact sleep from time to time…
@9: I think it was mentioned some while back – can’t remember if it was here or in the original Tales of MU – that female light elves usually bind their breasts to make themselves more androgynous, and are repelled by the fact that the dark elves don’t.
Mook…
Good chapter AE, and I can honestly say I understand why Iason hates women now… if that is who he has to use as examples….
Also I was wondering when Jamie was gonna hear about Dee… perhaps he needs to do a bit more research about the residents of Harlowe.
Iason, you magnificent bastard. Ha.
“I’ll let you know when I notice the change,”
This comment is full of win
Iason is clearly going to be murdered, slowly and painfully… that or given the key to the city. Or maybe both, and maybe by the same people.
[ “They are bitter over my hunting prowess, my superior endowments, my refusal to bend before others,” he said. “Those cannot have me in bed ]
Those THAT cannot… I presume
AHHH…that fracking elfhole! Just when I was actually starting to think, “Well this might be where his women hating might come from”, he goes and points out that he(hopefully only) pissed on here while she slept.
On another note, now that Misty is out of the oicture I’m rooting for Alli to take the girlfrind position….multimeanings there.*^-^*
“I just can’t believe you’d do that,” I said.
“In my defense, I was careful not to wake her,” he said.
snerk snerk snerk … oh he is funny, I’d hate to have to deal with him but he’s funny
)
I also love this bit …
“This isn’t going to make me quit, you know,” I said. “It’s just going to make me pissy and irritable all night.”
“I’ll let you know when I notice the change,” Iason said, draping an arm over me.
… for all Iason is, erm, Iason lol Jamie has been very contrary and irritable with him too!
“You are a bowman?”
Where did she pick up that from? His name isn’t mentioned earlier in the chapter.
Don’t tell me we have yet another telepath on our hands.
As much as I dislike Iason, he had some quality lines this time around… “I’ll let you know when I notice the change” made me chuckle
MU seems to have more annoying people (more people, not more annoying) than you’d normally find in real life — at least, of the 200 or so acquaintances I had over time at uni, I never disliked more than four. Not that I’m complaining, mind: gripping story, and contrasts keep things interesting.
On a different topic: I came across this strip in “DM of the Rings”, and I can’t read it without thinking of Tales of MU.
“Do you mean elves, or gays?”
“What do you mean by ‘or’?”
http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=1307
Also, Aragorn trying to marry Legolas and Gimli. *Heh.*
* * *
Finally: “hart”. Well-chosen. You transport me back to my childhood, when most of the English books I had access to were pre-war. Thankee for keeping the vocabulary alive.
ME – OOOWWWWW-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W!!!
Sooni, meet Ursula, the big sister you’re glad you never had.
Violet, meet Alli. I’ve an idea that you could be friends, and share your portion of Jamie between you.
We finally get to see Iason in action. I wasn’t suspecting that his skills didn’t match his reputation, but it’s good to see firsthand evidence. Maybe he could have matched Callahan in combat, or at least not given her a walkover.
Stick close to Iason, Jamie. His enemies now seem to be yours, too.
How would Dee have responded to Ursula’s comment?
“Whereas her faint elf breasts have none of the function and little of the form of true mammaries. Nor, I would surmise in her case, will they ever have, and perhaps that is for the best.”
mirrors?
Given the comment about lactation, I wonder if faint elves nurse their children at all. Alternative milk sources should be availablr. I had been thinking that I should avoid the term faint elf for the same reason I avoid dark elf, that they are mildly insulting. The more I see of the faint elves, though, the more I agree with Dee’s assessment of them. These might only be such assholes because they know everything they do short of permanent injury will just go away in less than a century, but I still find their behaviour to be inexcusable. I wonder how much of Ursula’s attitude is man-hating equal to Iason’s woman-hating, and how much came from her just not taking Iason’s s@#$. I don’t recall Iason saying how long he has been at MU, but if they have both been there for years, their feud may have slowly grown to this level. I would have to see Ursula outside of Iason’s presence for me to make my final judgement of her.
A collection of typos:
“The only empty space was in front of a set of full-length mirror” .
“…was fashioned into the building you see before, while…” ?
(The others I noticed have already been commented upon.)
““In my defense, I was careful not to wake her,” he said.”
Courteous one isn’t he? <.<
Iason maybe a prick, but he’s a funny one.
:shudder: 90 years of teen angst. I’d ship em all off to a city of their own too. What adult could put up with that?
ATTN: Biguglymug.
You asked:
“You are a bowman?”
Where did she pick up that from? His name isn’t mentioned earlier in the chapter.
I think the answer is here:
Chapter 45:
“I had not intended to cause such a commotion, but since so many of you are here, I would like to introduce my intended, Iamos Toxotes.”
Chapter 47 (this one):
“Iamos,” she finished. “I heard. I was watching from the walkway when you came up from the canal.”
From Chapter 46, comment 7, by Zathras IX:
““Toxotes” is Greek for “archer” — quite close to the Pax/English “Bowman”.”
That would answer your question, I think.
* * *
ConfusedUnderstanding said: “I’d ship em all off to a city of their own too.”
Ha! Yes, they get the company they deserve, don’t they?
So long as no unhealable injury results, are actions against each other rarely result in greater consequences.”
are -> our
This is why Iason confuses me. He’s a raving misogynst, has little respect for equality in a relationship and something of an all-round asshole… But he’s so incredibly charismatic that I just can’t bring myself to actually dislike him.
Great chapter, AE. Wonderful. Superb. ^_^
Iason is awesome. You’ve got some great lines in here, that other people have already commented on several times. ^_^ It also makes me understand a little bit why Iason might have some of the feelings he does towards women. It’s stated that women have to dress boyishly to attract a guy, which means it’s pretty prevalent that boys like boys and not so much girls. On top of that, it seems a lot, though not all female elves have a bit of an attitude. The impression I got was that one a girl elf snagged a guy, they tend to drop the facade. The one Jamie talked to was dressed boyishly, while the women surrounding Ursula were in dresses. It’s only an observation, but perhaps that’s part of the reason Iason dislikes girls. He might assume that a girl he showed interest in would turn into another Ursula after a certain point. Aaand, since Iason is very sexually minded, thinking that if he wants sex and Jamie won’t give it, he has every right to go elsewhere for it, why would he go after a girl who obviously can’t offer him everything a guy can, especially if the girl will want it to become a relationship? I’m not sure how monogamous elves think they should be once they settle down, but I get the impression that since female elves dress to show they’re taken, it looks like they’re at least somewhat monogamous. *shrugs* Just some thoughts. Either way, I suspect Iason is probably /more/ biased towards women than some other male elves are, but his attitude is probably not nearly so out of place in elven society as it is in human society.
As for the girl Jamie talked to.. I have a feeling she wouldn’t be interested in more than a fling with Jamie.. she’s dressed to impress boys, and while she might view Jamie as something fun to play with, he’s human in her eyes and most elves aren’t so keen on dating someone who will die, unless it’s for fun. She’s probably offer Jamie, if she was interested in him, something more along the lines of what he wanted from Missy. Someone to mess around with and have fun with, without the pressure of making a commitment. At least, that’s my opinion on the matter.
Aaanyway, I’ve ranted enough. Again, great chapter AE. Looking forward to the next, as always.
I’d like to call Ursula she-Iason, but whatever his faults, he’s not totally useless and he fights his own battles. Probably a good thing, else he’d be long dead with his attitude. Nice to see he’s crossed past the bounds of gender with Ursula, at least by now, and instead hates her because she’s completely and utterly vile. Baby steps, Iason, baby steps. Also, that he peed on her endears him to me a little bit, as does his ability to be totally honest about how much elves can suck to be around.
@25 Biguglymug To add to Esteis’s comment, elves in this setting don’t appear to have family names. Their last names are instead epithets, describing them in some way. Thus, an elf blood who calls himself Jamie Bowman(or Iamie Toxotes) would be claiming that he was extremely good with a bow, to the point that he defines himself by his ability with the bow. He then clarifies that it is his human family name instead of an elven honorific.
@37 pixiekhatt I suspect that he did not mean that elven women dressed that way to show that they were taken, instead saying that they dress that way to tell the boys that they are unavailable to them. Ursula and the other girly girls may be boinging each others brains out, with no suggestion of monogomany of life-partnering. They are just showing that they are not interested in boys. As far as your comment regarding Aili: um, what did you think he wanted? I thought it was pretty clear that he wanted sex and or friendship, not a life-long commitment. He seems to be developing some desire to bond long term with Iamos, but that came entirely from Iamos’s side, with Jamie just failing to entirely disagree with it.
I wonder if The males have similar ways of demonstrating that they are not interested in female companionship. Iason’s behaviour may be because he doesn’t want the attentions of women and he wants them to know it just as clearly as the scarves and gowns mark the women. I find it amusing that the elven way of demonstrating lesbian preference is the inverse of our cultural and racial tendencies.
With Elven wardrobes
Why should middlings ever come
Out of the closet?
Iason’s “refusal
To bend before others” may
Make him more brittle
That “magical blight”
Might have been Elven “arson”—
Heartwood into ¢a$h
Okay I just have to say that the following exchange had me LOLing regardless of my feelings toward Iason.
“This isn’t going to make me quit, you know,” I said. “It’s just going to make me pissy and irritable all night.”
“I’ll let you know when I notice the change,” Iason said, draping an arm over me.
@39 First, I didn’t see it that way, in regards to women saying they weren’t interested in male companionship, but it could be that too. “Now the standards had relaxed, and mouth-covering had become a badge of youth, and a way for older women to signal that they were uninterested or unavailable to men.” I wonder argue interpretation there. It’s pointless unless AE steps in and states one way or the other. ^_^ As far as Aili is concerned, “She was also emulating the appearance of men, which was seen as a key to luring a middling male away from the childhood habits of boy sex.” Again, interpretation as to where a girl’s actual interests lie beyond luring the male away. Either way, my response was directed at people hoping she’d be a new candidate for girlfriend. Perhaps my definition of ‘girlfriend’ is a bit different, but there’s someone you have sex with, and then there’s girlfriend, whom you tend to be more serious about. I was only stating that she probably wouldn’t be interested in a relationship. Tha’s all. And, of course, it’s all speculation, unless there’s a way to read AE’s thoughts that I’m not aware of. ^_^ Perhaps my thoughts got away from me and gave the appearance of having a different or stronger opinion than I do.. I was merely voicing possibilities. Right or wrong, I won’t be upset to find out either way.
I’m think I have found the perfect name for the various elves. Given the inversion of honorific in the underground societies, High Elf and Low Elf sound pretty good to me. They each believe it is insulting to the other.
And I agree with other previous posts. If this is a typical example if high elven females, I’m not suprised at Iasons attitude.
I haven’t commented here in months even though I’ve still been reading religiously – just got out of the habit. I have to say though, I was having a pretty crappy day until I read the last line of this chapter… I know Iason is an intolerable prick, but I just laughed more than I’ve laughed in ages. Thanks
Hee.
Say what you (well, I) will about Iason… he’s entertaining.
And, apparently, every bit as much of a badass as he thinks he is.
I know this is very fuggin’ belated, but you could at least be less rude when pointing out a grammar error. To me, it read off as very… How to put it softly. Mean, I guess. Much love to all.
Signed, in her own hand and whatnot, Nikolai (Nikki) del Rosia. <3
@Nikolai: You say “belated”, but it actually comes off as very random… to what are you referring?
I’m referring to that I was kind of late in mentioning the fact that people correcting your MOTHER FUGGIN’ GENIUS is kinda rude, and that they could at least add some constructive criticism, and stuff. I’m like, a total fan of yours, and I like to write murder mystery short story shit. Nothing ongoing, I get the idea and then it halts. The things I have added on my freewebs, people always pointed out what mistakes I made, and only a few were “good job” comments, and, and, and…
-Implodes-
Namely, I think it’s rude to just so bluntly point out what errors you might make. I just find it quite rude.
In her own hand, the Magnificent and Totally-Prettier-Than-You,
Nikolai (Nikki) del Rosia
@ Turnip king
“Iason, you magnificent bastard.”
I agree, this chapter elevated my understanding and opinion of him rather a lot. I can’t help but admire a Magnificent Bastard
As you can plainly see, I lack modesty, too. <3