Celandine's Chronicle (celandineb) wrote in cels_fic_haven, @ 2010-01-02 10:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | sime/gen fic hugh valleroy, sime/gen fic klyd farris |
Sime/Gen fic: Forepoint [Hugh, Klyd, general]
Title: Forepoint
Author: celandineb
Fandom: Sime/Gen [Lichtenberg & Lorrah]
Characters: Hugh Valleroy, Klyd Farris, various OCs; also OMC/OMC
Rating: general
Length: 7376 words
Summary: As Sosectu, Hugh Valleroy has to decide whether or not to permit Rior's members to act in ways that his friend Klyd Farris - and the other leaders of the Tecton - may not consider permissible. Matters come to a head with the arrival of several new young Simes and Gens.
Note: Written for Elfwreck for Yuletide 2009. I tried to show some of Hugh and Klyd's friendship here; this story doesn't quite get at the origins of the Distect as she requested, but there are perhaps some hints in that direction. Also, I tried hard to make this comprehensible to readers unfamiliar with the original canon. Thank you to florahart, ancarett, and others for cheerleading when I wibbled!
"He's still a child," Sala, head of the infirmary, told Hugh Valleroy. Her tentacles moved fluidly as she gestured toward the bed. "Not established as a Gen yet, although with that husky build, he probably will before the year is out. He'd been sitting just outside our front gates for two days before Auster convinced him to come in. I don't think he would have succeeded if the boy hadn't already been feverish."
Valleroy didn't have to ask how Sala had known the boy was there. She would have zlinned even the weak emotional nager of a child, using the sense that all Simes developed at changeover along with their tentacles, a means to locate and strip the biologic life energy of selyn from a Gen. Moreover, Sala was a channel, more sensitive than an ordinary Sime, and able both to take selyn without killing the Gen, and pass it to other Simes to keep them from killing as well.
Studying the boy, Valleroy said, "Has he said anything coherent yet?"
"Not yet, Sosectu. Do you want me to send for you when he wakes, if he's lucid?"
"Yes, please. I'd like to know why he decided to come here. Not that many people in Gen Territory are even aware of Rior's existence."
Valleroy gave one last look at the boy, noting the yellow bruises on his face and arms, before he left to return to his duties as Sosectu, head of the Householding. He was an artist by first inclination, and running the business that was Rior did not come naturally to him, although he could and did consult with his counterpart Klyd Farris of Householding Zeor, of which Rior was a daughter House.
Klyd. Sectuib in Zeor, perhaps the finest and most sensitive channel in the world, he was also a stubborn idealist. Valleroy was his usual transfer partner, serving Klyd's personal monthly need for selyn. That was a most unusual state of affairs; virtually all channels' transfer partners came from within their own Householdings, and Valleroy had never really been a member of Zeor. He had grown up in Gen Territory and worked for its government before a vital mission had caused him to work undercover with Klyd, an episode that had changed both their lives. Valleroy had overcome his initial terror of the Sime to be willing to offer up his selyn, even his life, when Klyd was in desperate need, verging on attrition. The aftermath of that event had led Hugh to found Rior on the border of Gen territory, relinquishing his former career in pursuit of the dream that he and Klyd shared: a world in which no Sime would kill again.
Even as he bent over his desk, pulling a pile of papers in front of him, Valleroy held tight to the thought that although he and Klyd might disagree as to the best means to that end, the goal was still shared. Surely over time they would be able to resolve their differences when it came to method?
By late afternoon, he had dealt with the most urgent business and organized his schedule for the rest of the week. As a new and still relatively small Householding, Rior had not yet specialized, the way Zeor had done in cloth production or Imil in fashion design, but relied primarily on farming and some trade to support the few hundred members and their children. Soon Valleroy would meet with the handful of Gen merchants willing to deal with Rior to arrange the sale of that year's harvest. Valleroy hoped the profits would be enough to purchase additional acreage; Rior owned enough property at the moment to support her membership, but it was always good to look to the future.
A knock sounded on his door, and before he could respond, it opened and a head poked in. "Sosectu?"
"Yes, Orain?" said Valleroy, recognizing the pre-adolescent boy as the son of two members who had joined Rior just the previous year. They had formerly lived in a nearby town in Gen Territory, but as Orain came closer and closer to the time when he would either establish selyn production as an adult Gen, or go through changeover to become a Sime, his parents had decided to join Rior, where they would all be safe either way. Any child who went through changeover in Gen territory was liable to be beaten to death out of fear, lest in his First Need he kill one of his own. Orain's family was exceptional in making that decision. Both his parents had lost siblings to changeover, Valleroy knew, but so had most other adult Gens, for there was a one in three chance that any child of Gens would become Sime at adolescence. The reverse was true as well: a third of Simes' children became Gen.
"Yes?" Valleroy repeated as Orain hovered in the doorway.
"I was passing by the infirmary, and Sala asked me to come tell you that the new boy is awake," Orain said.
"Ah, good. Thank you," said Valleroy, rising. He had time to go speak with the boy before dinner.
When he arrived, Sala was repeating patiently, "You're safe. You're in Householding Rior, and no one here will hurt you."
The boy was sitting up, huddled against his pillows with his arms wrapped around his knees.
"Sala is telling you the truth," Valleroy said reassuringly. He held out his arms. "See? I'm a Gen, but Simes here don't kill." He reached for Sala's hand, and she took it, her four handling tentacles wrapping around his arm in a gesture designed to make tangible that statement of safety.
The boy relaxed minutely, his eyes shifting between the two of them.
"Would you mind telling me your name and where you're from?" asked Valleroy. "We like to know who we're able to help."
"Javon." The boy bit his lip, tears threatening to spill over. "Just Javon. My family, they threw me out."
"Why did they do that, Javon?" Valleroy asked gently. He could see the way Javon tensed at the question, and heard Sala's intake of breath; the boy's emotional nager was doubtless shrieking at her, but she made no other sign of distress. "You don't look like you'd have been a disobedient son. Were there just too many mouths to feed? What made you decide to come to Rior?"
Javon chewed his lip. "Too many kids, yeah."
Valleroy glanced at Sala, catching her discreet signal. Javon was lying, at least in part, as Valleroy had thought. "Is that the only reason?" he probed. "Most Gens would never come here; they call us Sime-lovers and worse. So what made you decide to trust us?"
"They – they said I was a pervert and I should go live with the other perverts," blurted Javon, then closed his lips tightly as if horrified that he'd spoken.
"I see. What made them call you a pervert?" Valleroy kept his voice soft, persuasive. "You haven't established selyn production yet, and obviously you haven't changed over; you're still a child. What kind of perversion were they accusing you of?"
"I, uh. I don't like girls, all right? I like boys. Nobody thinks I'm old enough to know that, but I do. Are you gonna throw me out too?" Defiance and apprehension were written in every line of his body.
Valleroy shook his head. "We don't throw anyone out unless they pose a danger to the other members of Rior. Rest now. Sala and her helpers will take care of you, and we'll talk again later."
He stepped outside the room, beckoning the channel to follow him, and closed the door.
"Poor kid." Sala made a face. "You saw the bruises, right? I did a full lateral contact while he was still unconscious, so that I wouldn't frighten him, and he's been beaten pretty regularly. Judging from his physical condition as well as the wear on his shoes, I'd say he walked a long distance to get here, even if he was too nervous to approach right away once he'd arrived."
Sighing, Valleroy said, "Rejection isn't easy to cope with. It's not surprising that he doesn't trust us either. We'll see how he does with a couple of days in bed to get him over that fever. No life should be wasted or deemed worthless, after all." He paused to think for a moment. "If you don't believe he's contagious, maybe I'll send Orain in tomorrow to talk to him. Another boy about his own age might be able to learn more, and can at least tell him what life at Rior is like."
Sala squinted at him, saying, "Are you sure you want Orain to do that, given the other aspect? The same-sex attraction?"
"Which may or may not be true, whatever Javon thinks now."
"But if it is?" Sala persisted.
"It doesn't have to affect his ability to become a member of Rior, once he establishes or changes over."
Valleroy wasn't totally comfortable with those who felt such desires, he admitted privately to himself, but as Sosectu he couldn't let such personal feelings affect his judgment. He knew that many of the Gens in Rior, who had grown up in the Gen Church of the Purity, held stronger views than he did. Valleroy's own mother had been a refugee from Sime territory, and his father had died when he was young, so Hugh had never imbibed all the values of a typical Gen. Well, what was Rior for but to point the way to a new and better society? In the Householding it didn't matter whether a person was Gen or Sime, male or female; it shouldn't matter what their sexual orientation preference was either. Sexual preference couldn't harm another person.
He realized that Sala was waiting. "Is Javon likely to be contagious?"
"I don't believe so. It should be safe for him to have visitors oh, tomorrow afternoon if he's awake," she said. "Orain could come visit after classes are out for the day."
"Good. I'll suggest it to him."
Several days later, Sala pronounced Javon well enough to move out of the infirmary into one of the small guest rooms on the north wing of the main building.
"You can stay here, or if you'd rather we can find you one of Rior's families to foster with, for the time being. Once you establish or change over, you'll be considered an adult – Rior follows Sime territory tradition in that, rather than using natal age the way Gens do," Valleroy explained. "You'll be expected to go to school and do chores just like all of the children at Rior, and once you're an adult, you can pledge to the house; or, if you prefer, you can leave. You won't have to make the decision immediately, however, as long as you're willing to work for your keep in the meantime."
Javon nodded. "I understand. Orain was telling me what it's like for him."
"Good. You can start attending classes tomorrow. I understand that you can read and write?"
"Some. I learned to figure a little, too."
"Very good. One of our teachers will determine which classes to put you in, then. You'll also be expected to study the history of the Householdings, and to attend changeover classes. I think you'll probably establish, and Sala thinks so too, but we've both been wrong before. In any case all of our children are required to be fully trained for changeover, since no one knows for certain what they'll be. Well, channels are an exception to that; children who are going to change over into channels sometimes know that they'll be Sime with an absolute conviction. On the other hand, that's not something that anyone else can really judge."
"So becoming a channel isn't just a matter of training?" Javon asked.
"Not at all. A Sime either is a channel, or he's not. They're relatively rare. But you'll learn about that in your biology class."