Merseians At Home

Poul Anderson, Ensign Flandry IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, January 2010), pp. 1-192.

CHAPTER THREE Morning on Merseia - , pp. 22-28, is set on Merseia, features only Merseians and is narrated from a Merseian point of view. What Morruchan in "Day of Burning" had foreshadowed has come to pass -

Centuries after his time, Merseia is:

united (under the Roidhun);

an aggressive imperialist interstellar power;

the main antagonist of the Terran Empire.

The viewpoint character, Brechdan Ironrede, the Hand of the Vach Ynvory, presides over the Grand Council. We notice how Merseians interact with each other:

a guard salutes Brechdan by hitting boots with tail and raising blaster against breastplate;

a gardener salutes by folding his arms and bending his head;

Brechdan touches his brow to both but does not speak;

Brechdan and his bailiff, Chwioch the Dandy, also an Ynvory, exchange kin-salutes by placing right hands on left shoulders.

Brechdan has several wives, all properly "...thrifty, trustworthy, cultivated..." (p. 24) although we see none of them here. Indeed, Merseian females remain off-stage and cannot be present when Merseian males attend a reception at the Terran Embassy.

The gardener greets the approaching Heir Elwych the Swift by kneeling and embracing his tail. This goes beyond protocol. A loyal bunch, the Merseians.