Friday 16 February 2018

Arinnian And Eyath II

The Ythrian couple, Lythran and Blawsa, are the heads of a large household of the Stormgate Choth in an aerie of the Weathermother on Avalon;

senior family members and their children live in an old stone tower whereas the unwed and retainers and their kin are housed in lower wooden structures with amberdragon and starbells growing on their sod roofs;

the household eats not in their separate dwellings but in a common dining hall;

sons of Lythran and Blawsa include the Wyvan Tariat and their daughters include Eyath;

because it is close to Gray, Stormgate receives more human beings into membership than most other choths;

when Lythran had business in Gray, he took Eyath with him;

thus, she became a childhood friend of Christopher Holm;

Chris visited Stormgate and flew around Avalon with Ythrian friends;

at some stage, probably when Chris applied for membership of Stormgate, his father, Daniel, Second Marchwarden of the Lauran System, quarreled with him;

Chris hid in the Shielding Islands for a year with Eyath's help;

when Daniel confronted and raged at Lythran, only the intervention of Ferune of Mistwood, First Marchwarden, prevented a duel, which would have been allowable under choth law;

the compromise between Daniel and Chris/Arinnian was that Chris would -

continue his studies;
still aim to be a professional mathematician;
accept some financial help although no longer living at home;
earn other income as hunter and herdsman among Ythrians -

however, he also translates from Planha into Anglic and writes or co-writes two chapters of The Earth Book Of Stormgate;

thus, Arinnian's skills are not only mathematical but also linguistic and literary.

3 comments:

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Kaor, Paul!

And my sympathies lies more with Daniel Holm than with Christopher. The Second March Warden was fearing that his son was denigrating or rejecting what was unique and intrinsically human in him. And that too many other humans were going too far in "Ythrianizing" themselves.

Sean

Nicholas said...

Kaor, Sean!

When I first read THE PEOPLE OF THE WIND, my sympathies were with Christopher; I was about twelve years old, and my father and I did not get along well. Good for Christopher if he got away from his old man, and was able to live on his own!

You can read a great book at different ages, view it in different ways, and get different things out of it. Poul Anderson wrote great books -- not that all of his books and stories were great, but some achieved excellence.

Best Regards,
Nicholas

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Kaor, Nicholas!

Very interesting! I'm sorry you were having difficulties with your father. And, yes, we can have different reactions to the same book at different ages, as time and further thought changes perspectives.

I think almost ALL of Poul Anderson's stories were more than readable, and quite a few were GREAT!

Sean