Poul Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (New York, 2012).
Kossara learned Serbic from her parents, Anglic from a governess and Eriau from gamekeeper Trohdwyr's family. She calls Trohdwyr's people "ychani," in Eriau, not "zmayi," in Serbic. She learned to walk by clinging to his tail. Her mother sang her the Eriau lullaby, "'Dwynafor, dwynafor, odhal tiv'" (p. 401), although Kossara has no tail. Later, Kossara accepted that, although she was an Orthochristian, Trohdwyr "...remained an old-fashioned pagan ychan." (p. 366)
She served in the Narodna Voyska which had been basic to Dennitzan life since the Troubles: squadrons, regiments, honors, rights, chapels, ceremonies, parade grounds, bugles, pipes, drums, volleys, the flag coming down at sunset, the litany of the dead. An adult, she gave Trohdwyr "...confessions which she did not give her priest." (p. 368) I must not tell a future saint how to practice her religion but, of course, any actions that are classified as sinful should be mentioned to a priest.
Dennitzan Orthochristians canonize St Kossara. Virginity is not necessary for sainthood although unrepented premarital sex would disqualify, if it were known about. However, Kossara did in fact remain a virgin. She did not have sex with her first fiance, Mihail Svetich, before he was killed in action during the war of Imperial succession. Her second fiance, Dominic Flandry, and she were interrupted by a nearby nuclear explosion and, soon afterwards, she was killed in an attack on the Dennitzan Parliament. You have to be dead to be canonized.
No comments:
Post a Comment