Daniel Holm And Ferune

The Avalonian rotation period is just under half the Terrestrial. That has to make a major difference to life. The axial tilt is just slightly less than Terrestrial. Gray, at about 43 degrees North, has short nights, especially in summer. Daniel Holm wonders if it is the short nights that make him tired but reasons that they cannot be the cause. His ancestors came to Avalon centuries previously with Falkayn.

Two details in Holm's conversation with his senior Marchwarden, Ferune -

in Planha, Ferune says in two syllables and three expressions what would have required a sentence in Anglic;

speaking of his son who has "gone bird"/joined a choth, Holm says:

"'Ordinary girls aren't his type any more; and bird girls -'"
-Poul Anderson, The People Of The Wind IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 437-662 AT p. 461.

It is authentic dialogue when a character leaves a sentence unfinished. But what would Holm have said about "bird girls" if he had completed that sentence? See:

Arinnian's Problem
Arinnian's Problem II
Arinnian's Problems
In The Nest

Anderson imagines a psychological problem that can arise only if human beings meet beings like the Ythrians.

Arinnian's Problem

Previously, on rereading Poul Anderson's The People Of The Wind, I had difficulty understanding Christopher Holm/Arinnian's problem. Partly, this was because he did not state it:

"'We birds -' He couldn't finish..."
-Poul Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011), p. 509.

He tries again:

"'Why, we...our generation, at least -'" (ibid.)

Tabitha Falkayn/Hrill has to finish his thought for him. Apparently, "birds," human members of choths, are promiscuous with, but have no respect for, members of their own species that are not members of choths but can hardly touch fellow birds. So far, Hrill has articulated what Arinnian failed to utter. However, she then tells him that he must have some idea of the cause but does not say what the cause is! This is authentic dialogue as they talk around a difficult subject without stating it plainly but it does leave the uninitiated in the dark.

Let us try to reason it out:

Arinnian idealizes Ythrians and disparages his own species by comparison;
Ythrians have sex only when on heat;
therefore, most of the time, he can regard them as pure, exalted in flight but not brought low by Earthy desires;
he would prefer if his Ythrian friend, Eyath, did not discuss her lovetime feelings with him - but, of course, he is not an Ythrian!;
by extension, he regards bird women as comrades or sisters, not as potential sexual partners;
however, Hrill is both beautiful and bird so what should he do - try to have sex with her or continue to regard her as above that?

Despite his promiscuity with other women - a double standard -, Arinnian is in the same position with Hrill as if he were in a society with a more traditional sexual morality. Before going to war, Vodan, betrothed to Eyath, spends time with a nightflyer, a social outcast whose affliction is that she is permanently on heat. Hrill suggests that Eyath would be glad that Vodan had had some fun and forgetting but Arinnian protests that she is too clean and then blurts out, in effect: so why don't you and I do it, then?

We sense the tension between them even if we struggle with what his problem is.

Arinnian's Problem II

Conversing with his superior, Ferune of Mistwood, Daniel Holm hints at a problem that emerges later:

"'Can [Chris/Arinnian] ever make a normal marriage, for instance? Ordinary girls aren't his type any more; and bird girls -'"
-Poul Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011), p. 461.

What about bird girls? This is what Arinnian himself later does when speaking with Tabitha/Hrill, breaks off in mid-sentence. Eventually, we understand but I found it difficult - which makes this discourse authentic.

Daniel has to adjust his human terminology:

"'...when he first started running around, flying around, with Ythrians, why I was glad...'" (p. 460)

The conflict with his father became so intense that Arinnian did for a year what Diana Crowfeather later did permanently, ran/flew away to live with another species.

Two other details in the conversation between Holm and Ferune:

"the yellow light of Laura cast leaf shadows on the floor. They quivered." (p. 456)

A hint of the pathetic fallacy - the man and the Ythrian are restless, as is their environment.

Ferune observes:

"'...we don't catch time in any net.'" (p. 462)

The winged Ythrians hunt with nets. Metaphorically, Ferune applies this practice to life but only in order to say that at that level it is impossible to catch everything that comes our way.

From The Babur War To The Terran War

What a long way we have come in The Technic Civilization Saga, Volume III, Rise Of The Terran Empire:

(i) civil war in the Polesotechnic League for the industrial wealth of the planet Mirkheim;
(ii) colonization of the Hesperian Islands on Avalon;
(iii) colonization of the Coronan continent on Avalon;
(iv) the Troubles;
(v) Imperial annexation of Ansa and exploration of the Black Nebula;
(vi) war between the Terran Empire and the Domain of Ythri, with the Empire defeated on Avalon.

(i) and (ii) occur in the lifetime of David Falkayn whereas (vi) is set three and a half centuries later and is our last contact with a character surnamed Falkayn.

This is the pivotal volume of the History beginning with van Rijn and Falkayn aged but still active and ending not indeed with Dominic Flandry born but definitely with the Empire that he will defend having grown to its full 400 light year diameter.

Meanwhile, in (vi) The People Of The Wind, what exactly is Chris/Arinnian's problem when he is speaking to Tabitha/Hrill? This requires further thought.

Arinnian And Hrill

We left Arinnian and Hrill walking by the oily canal in Livewell Street. See here. Each is a human member of a different choth.

Star Trek at its best brings out the differences between human and Vulcan mentalities. Thus, a Vulcan appointed to a responsible post should have won the appointment on his merits and therefore should not need to thank anyone who had recommended him for it. Nevertheless, a particular Vulcan observes the human custom by thanking Admiral Kirk, especially since Spock has told him that this human being is particularly worthy of respect. See Admiralty.

Similarly, Poul Anderson differentiates between human and Ythrian mentalities. Arinnian reflects:

Hrill has just asked him a very personal question;
that is an insult;
alternatively, it is an endearment between the closest friends...;
but she is probably just thinking human again!

No surprise: they are both human. Hrill/Tabitha Falkayn suggests that they speak Anglic because they lack the feathers for the proper use of Planha.

Arinnian/Christopher Holm cannot relax around "bird" women because he expects them to emulate (what he sees as) the purity of Ythrian females who have to be on heat for sex. See Arinnian's Problem.

I like the Avalonian environment and might stay with it for a while.

Ythrian Cultural Lag

The People Of The Wind, VI.

Quenna, permanently on heat, is a social outcast but can work as a prostitute, stimulating males. Tabitha comments:

"'...here's a case of Ythrian cultural lag. They've been affected by human ideas to the point where they don't give their abnormals a quick death. But they're not interested in sponsoring rehabilitation or research on cures, or in simple charity. Someday -'" (p. 508)

Inter-species interaction continues. Earlier in the Technic History, Cynthian trade routes that had joined Technic civilization did not help other trade routes that lacked the capital but then David Falkayn, savior of Merseia and discoverer of Mirkheim, founded Supermetals long before he founded Avalon.  (Quite a guy.)

The rest of Chapter VI deals with Arinnian's problem and with receipt of the news that Terra has declared war on Ythri.

Chapter VII begins by introducing the sixteenth character, Admiral Cajal, who until now has remained an off-stage presence.

Arinnian's Problems

Chapter Sixteen

Grief causes premature ovulation in a bereaved Ythrian female. A male seeks her out. This is not against choth law and the female's human chothmate, Arinnian, has no cause to challenge so he insults the Ythrian male until the latter challenges him.
-copied from here.

To Ythrians, Draun's assault on Eyath was a misfortune, not a crime. Arinnian sees it in very traditional human terms. Draun should be killed and Eyath is somehow tainted. Tabitha/Hrill has to put Chris/Arinnian right as regards Eyath. I still have trouble understanding what some of his problems are. Chris to Eyath:

"'What befell you -
"'Was that worse than what befell her?' he challenged.'"
-Poul Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011), p. 654.

I am lost again. Does "...her..." mean Tabitha? If so, what befell her and why would Eyath have regarded her own experience as worse than Tabitha's?

Chris acknowledges:

"'...the years I wasted imagining bodily love could ever be bad...'" (ibid.)

- so, whatever his problem has been, he is getting through it with help from Tabitha and Eyath.

Pathetic fallacy again:

"Raindrops glistened within [Eyath's] crest like jewels of a crown." (ibid.)

Arinnian And Eyath

Christopher Holm/Arinnian (human male) and Eyath (Ythrian female) are members of Stormgate Choth on Avalon and have been close friends, like brother and sister, since childhood.

My problem is that I do not visualize. My thought processes are almost entirely abstract. When I read about Eyath with her arm around Arinnian's shoulder, I vaguely imagine her as looking something like Hawkgirl (see image). But she does not look like that. Eyath, an Ythrian:

has lips, not a beak, a long neck and a crested head;
is covered with rippling feathers that she can use to communicate;
is glorious in flight but walks awkwardly on folded wings;
does not need clothes, except a belt to hold pouch and weapons;
has real, not artificial, wings.

I can barely visualize such a being but do know that I would find close physical proximity with an Ythrian horrific. Jack Birnam is allergic to Ythrians although Ayan, Wyvan of Stormgate Choth, suspects that Jack's allergy is psychosomatic.