Uldwyr

The Day Of Their Return, 3.

We are told Uldwyr's personal name and Vach but not his nickname so maybe we can invent an appropriate one?

Have you ever stopped to think what a Merseian would look like or what it would be like to be in close physical proximity with one? Poul Anderson presents a detailed description of Uldwyr as this Merseian diplomat and his Terran counterpart, Desai, eat in a private room of a restaurant. I have explained before that I do not expect extraterrestrials, assuming that they exist, to resemble human beings remotely either in anatomy or in physiognomy. See Faces. Nevertheless, here is Uldwyr:

an almost human face;
however, thick bones and many differences in the details;
fine scales;
green skin;
no hair or earflaps;
a low serration from top of skull to end of crocodilian tail;
big body;
forward leaning stance counteracted by tail;
humanoid arms and hands;
dinosauroid legs and clawed splay feet;
silver-trimmed black military uniform;
colorful emblems of rank (which?) and Vach (Hallen);
a blaster hanging at his hip!

Frightening enough, especially when diplomats go armed. I am uncomfortable with a holstered weapon that someone else might try to grab and use even if its bearer doesn't. This description does not quite clarify that, like all members of his "Race," Uldwyr does not sit on a chair but squats on his tail. Thus, Desai's (armed) dinner companion perpetually appears to be crouching as if to spring toward him.

I would be all for befriending Merseians but at a greater physical distance. In A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows, we learn that not all beings of Merseian species either live in or support the racist Roidhunate.

Memorable Conversations

It can be satisfying to reread a single chapter of a novel as if it were an independent short story. For this purpose, I usually prefer rich conversational passages as against action sequences although the space battles in Poul Anderson's The People of the Wind and Ensign Flandry are good also. In conversation, characters reveal themselves and reflect on their situations, thus often outlining the plot of a novel.

Desai

In Chapter 3 of The Day Of Their Return, Chunderban Desai:

recalls a conversation with Uldwyr of Merseia;

experiences a conversation with Aycharaych of Chereion;
replays a holographic recording of his conversation with Peter Jowett.

Uldwyr is one of several well realised Merseian characters. Like several of his species, with the exception of Tachwyr the Dark, he appears only once. Desai and Uldwyr are fluent in each other's principal languages but it is easiest for Desai to speak Anglic and Uldwyr to speak Eriau. By referring to the planets Starkad, Talwin and Jihannath, Uldwyr alludes to the previous three novels in the History.

If we have read the series in publication order, then we know before Desai that Aycharaych works for Merseia. When Desai views his conversation with Jowett, we can feel that the point of view has shifted to that of the Desai engaged in the conversation although Anderson reminds us that the real time Desai is watching the recorded conversation by writing "...the image of Jowett said..." (1)

Desai asks for Jowett's help, then:

"- He snapped of the playback." (2)

- returning us abruptly to Desai's present. The Desai point of view chapters in this novel are the ones that I reread most often.

Flandry

In Chapter Three of A Knight of Ghosts And Shadows, Dominic Flandry converses with the Duke of Mars, then with Emperor Hans and later with Chunderban Desai. These four men personify aspects of the Empire: 

the Duke is a decadent holder of public office, with extrasolar colonists of Mars as his subjects;
Hans is the pragmatic usurper holding the Empire together;
Flandry is a gifted professional Intelligence officer;
Desai is the competent professional diplomat and theoretician of the fall of empires, a much more plausible character than Isaac Asimov's Hari Seldon.

In Chapter Nine, Flandry has definitive exchanges with his opponents, Tachwyr and Aycharaych.

Van Rijn

Earlier in the History, the entirety of the story "The Master Key" was a conversation. Two characters described combat that they had been involved in but there was no flashback narrative. The reader could see that the characters were seated comfortably while recounting their ordeal. The conversational style of fiction has a lot to recommend it.

(1) Anderson, Poul, The Day Of Their Return, London, 1978, p. 34.

(2) ibid., p. 35.

Uldwyr And Worlds

A conversation between Chunderban Desai and his Merseian opposite number, Uldwyr, impresses me with its future historical content. However, on searching the blog, I find that I have posted about this passage several times before! See here. I have also (just now) corrected an error. In one post, I had misnamed Uldwyr as "Ydwyr." The latter is a different character.

Maybe there is one additional point to be made. Uldwyr says:

"'So many traditions, works, mysteries - so tiny a lifespan to taste them -'"

-Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, February 2010), pp. 74-238 AT 3, p. 85.

Should "works" have been "worlds"?

Check another edition:

"'So many traditions, works, mysteries...'"

-Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return (New York, 1975), III, p. 15.

"...works..." again. But surely "worlds" would have made more sense? A very small point - but read the whole book, of course.

Poul Anderson's Future Historical Writing

Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, February 2010), pp. 74-238.

My favourite single volume of future history is The Earth Book Of Stormgate. My favourite single chapter of a future historical novel is The Day Of Their Return., 3. This chapter:

introduces Chunderban Desai and Aycharaych;

presents another human-Merseian friendship, Desai with Uldwyr;

presents a detailed architectural and sociological description of Nova Roma and its surrounding terrain on Aeneas;

refers to four previous Technic History novels.

The People Of The Wind

Uldwyr: Merseia has had better relations with the Domian of Ythri than has Terra.

Ensign Flandry

Uldwyr refers to Starkad

A Circus Of Hells.

Terran Intelligence has benefitted from the joint commission on Talwin.

The Rebel Worlds

The brilliant Terran defeat of the rebels in Sector Alpha Crucis also ended the conflict at Jihannath.

Regular readers know of Dominic Flandry's involvements in Starkad, Talwin and Sector Alpha Crucis.

Scuppers

When Uldwyr offers Chunderban Desai more ale:

"'No, thank you,' Desai said. 'I prefer tea. That dessert filled me to the scuppers.'

"'The what? - Never mind, I seize the idea, if not the idiom.'

"Though each was fluent in the other's principal language, and their vocal organs were not very different, it was easiest for Desai to speak Anglic and Uldwyr Eriau."

-Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, February 2010), pp. 74-238 AT 3, p. 83.

So Desai did not translate "filled me to the scuppers" into any Eriau equivalent but Uldwyr understands the gist of the phrase in context. But what are scuppers? A nautical term but meaning what? On a "sportfisherman" yacht:

"There were scuppers back there to drain the water out, of course..."

-Donald Hamilton, The Revengers (London, December 2015), 34, p. 44.

Of course. Thank you, Donald Hamilton and Matt Helm. We have got to that time of the evening for other reading but sometimes there is a connection, however tangential or trivial.

Desai And Uldwyr

The Day Of Their Return, 3.

One of my favourite passages in Poul Anderson's Technic History is Chunderban Desai's after dinner conversation with his opposite number, Uldwyr. The passage informs, or reminds, us that the Merseian has a "...crocodilian tail which counterbalanced his big, forward-leaning body..." (p. 83) but omits to add that he would have been squatting on this tail while conversing with the seated Desai.

Uldwyr refers to:

Starkad

Jihannath

Talwin

the recent insurrection in Sector Alpha Crucis

the Domain of Ythri

- and thus touches on the contents of the previous four novels in the Technic History. (The Jihannath crisis and the Alpha Crucis insurrection were contemporaneous, therefore featured in a single novel.)

Desai knows that he is:

"...Uldwr's honorable enemy, therefore his friend. By giving him opposition, I give meaning to his life." (p. 84)

That is the social psychology of the Merseian Roidhunate. Many beings find meaning without opposition. "Honorable Enemies" is, of course, the title of the second Captain Flandry story, published earlier although set later.

In Ensign Flandry, Brechdan Ironrede had explained to one of his sons why the Roidhunate cannot simply expand around the Terran Empire and Desai here confirms Brechan's words:

"Lest the balance of power be upset, we block them, we thwart them, wherever we can; and they seek to undermine us, grind us down, wear us out." (p. 84)

The Roidhunate must (!) deal with the Empire before it can expand any further. The Empire performs the historically useful role of demoralizing the Roidhunate so that, millennia later, it is not in control of the galaxy.

Meaning In Opposition

Chunderban Desai reflects on his opposite number, Uldwyr of the Vach Hallen:

"I am Uldwyr's honorable enemy, therefore his friend. By giving him opposition, I give meaning to his life."

-Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, February 2010), pp. 73-238 AT 3, p. 84.

Although, fictional heroes and villains are not usually friends, nevertheless:

"...I must honestly confess that, if we had suddenly learned that the thieves had withdrawn, the game would have lost a curiously attractive savour, which even the lifting of the treasure would not have wholly restored. For danger, once you have tasted it, is a superlative spice."

-Dornford Yates, Blind Corner (London, 1947), CHAP. VIII, pp. 254-255.

Uldwyr finds meaning in opposition. Chandos finds savour in danger. ER Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros ends when its heroes rejoice that the gods have resurrected their slain enemies so that the war can recommence. Valhalla is cyclical fighting and feasting.

To value conflict for its own sake is to mistake a means for an end.

Chunderban Desai

Chunderban Desai:

is a native of the human-colonized planet, Ramanujan, where there is a Mount Gandhi;

is married with seven children, four grown and settled on different planets (imagine living in such an immense civilization);

had worked in regions facing Betelgeuse and Merseia;

was assigned to the Terran diplomatic delegation that ended the Jihannath crisis, where his Merseian opposite number was Uldwyr;

is fluent in the principal Merseian language, Eriau, as Uldwyr is in Anglic;

is now a commissioner, thus intermediate between a resident in a single culture and a governor of a galactic sector;

specifically, is High Commissioner of the Virgilian System at the opposite end of the Terran Empire from Jihannath;

thus, is based in Nova Roma on the human-colonized planet Aeneas which had spearheaded the revolt of Sector Alpha Crucis against the Empire;

later, will teach at the Diplomatic Academy on Terra for a year before retiring to Ramanujan where he will continue to develop the cyclical theory of history that he explains to Flandry.

One of the many characters that we would like to know more about, Desai's single reappearance, to converse with Flandry in a later novel, is both unexpected and highly enjoyable.

One Merseian

The Day Of Their Return does not need any Merseians on-stage. First, all of its action, except for one brief reminiscence by Chunderban Desai, occurs on the surface of the planet Aeneas in Sector Alpha Crucis on the opposite side of the Terran Empire from the Merseian Roidhunate. Secondly, the only agent of Merseia on Aeneas during the course of this novel is Aycharaych, a Chereionite. 

However, Desai's reminiscence is about his dinner with Uldwyr. The latter mentions Starkad, Jihannath, Talwin, the recent insurrection in Sector Alpha Crucis and the Domain of Ythri and thus references the contents of the preceding four novels in the Technic History. We have now seen a succession of four powerful Merseians:

Morruchan

Brechdan

Ydwyr

Uldwyr

The humbler Tachwyr, whom Flandry met on Merseia, has by now appeared twice. He will become Flandry's opposite number, rising in parallel with him through the ranks, so that, when Flandry is an Admiral, Tachwyr will have become the latest successor of Brechdan. Future history is also fictional biography. 

Desai And Uldwyr

Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, February 2010), pp. 74-240.

Three pages of text (3, pp. 82-85) present a substantial future historical basis for this novel. Chunderban Desai dines with Uldwyr of the Vach Hallen. Their private room in a restaurant has poor animations but the meal is an inspired human-Merseian combination. Afterwards, they can drink more Merseian ale or tea or arthberry wine. There are references to:

the mutiny in Sector Alpha Crucis and the conflict at Jihannath (The Rebel Worlds);

Starkad (Ensign Flandy);

Talwin (A Circus Of Hells);

(implied) past conflict between Terra and Ythri (The People Of The Wind).

This is a novel where Dominic Flandry is absent but his influence is present. The Terran-Ythrian war was before his birth but he was centrally involved in Sector Alpha Crucis, on Starkad and on Talwin. He will meet Desai in A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows. Like John Ridenour, Desai both influences Flandry and makes his own contributions.

The Significance Of The Starkad Incident

The Starkad affair was more than an early adventure of Dominic Flandry. In fact, it was sufficiently significant to be cited at least twice later. Uldwyr tells Desai that, since force has failed at Starkad and Jihannath, he expects the Roidhunate to try something craftier, like the Terran use of the joint commission on Talwin, maybe in Sector Alpha Crucis which has had a recent insurrection and is near the Domain of Ythri:

"'...which has had better relations with us than with you -...'"

-Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 74-240 AT 3, p. 84.

 

Here, Uldwyr obliquely refers to the contents of the four preceding Technic History novels:

 

The People Of The Wind - war between Terra and Ythri;

Ensign Flandry - Flandry on Starkad;

A Circus Of Hells - Flandry on Talwin;

The Rebel Worlds - Flandry defeats that insurrection while the empires fight at Jihannath.

 

Magnusson tells Flandry that the Starkad affair caused inter-imperial relations to deteriorate entirely but fails to add that the Roidhunate's cynical manipulation of the Starkadian inter-species conflict was the sole cause of the deterioration. 

Dinner And Desai

 

Let's take a break from the Time Patrol and remember one of my favorite Poul Anderson characters, Chunderban Desai, a good Terrestrial name no doubt although Desai is from Ramanujan, not from Terra. (I will shortly drive Aileen and Yossi for an afternoon of bird-watching and hopefully also a meal in the Plough so there will be no more posts for a few hours.)

One of my favorite scenes in all of Anderson's works is to be found in:

Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2010), 3, pp. 82-85.

After the negotiations to end the Jihannath crisis, Desai and Uldwyr have dinner in a private room in a restaurant where there are (poor) wall animations but:

"...an inspired combination of human and Merseian dishes." (p. 83)

Uldwyr drinks Merseian ale whereas Desai prefers tea. Each is fluent in the other's principal language but finds it easier to speak in his own: Eriau or Anglic. They refer to Starkad, Jihannath, Talwin, Sector Alpha Crucis and the Domain of Ythri, all names that resonate in this series. These four pages summarize much. Back here later.

Do Aliens Smile? II

I was under some time constraint when writing Do Aliens Smile? Here are the relevant quotations.

"Beneath a shelf of brow ridge, Uldwyr's eyelids expressed skepticism while his mouth grinned."

-Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, February 2010), pp. 74-238 AT 3, p. 84.

We accept this - usually - but should also reflect on it. Uldwyr has eyes with lids and a mouth, all under a brow. His eyelids rise with scepticism. His mouth curves in a grin. In this sentence, he might as well be a man. Of course, Anderson's texts present a completer account of Merseians that informs us of physical and psychological differences between them and human beings.

"Axor smiled. The crocodilian expanse of his mouth drew a shriek from a joygirl. 'A godsend, indeed!' he roared."

-The Game of Empire, CHAPTER ONE, p. 212.

Why should a dinosauroid - or whatever description is appropriate for Wodenites - express pleasure or happiness by developing a smile reflex?

"Fangs flashed as Targovi grinned. 'What a waste, [Axor] a pacifist!'"

-ibid., CHAPTER FIFTEEN, p. 353.

Again, is a grin an appropriate expression of amusement for a fanged Tigery?

One other issue: described as a "godsend," Diana denies that she is a saint but, of course, Axor's God is believed to work mysteriously and not always through saints. 

The Flandry Pyramid

The Day Of Their Return.

We are told that Terra "brilliantly" put down the rebels in Sector Alpha Crucis. (3, p. 82) Flandry put them down. 

Uldwyr refers to "'...the joint commission on Talwin.'" (3, p. 84) Flandry was responsible for that commission.

Next Uldwyr refers to Starkad. Flandry thwarted the Merseians there.

Gabriel Stewart tells Tatiana Thane that:

"...some Terran agent had not only managed to rescue the Admiral's wife from Snelund - a priceless bargaining counter, no doubt - but while on Dido had hijacked a patriot vessel whose computer held the latest codes..." (12, p. 171)

Flandry was that Terran agent.

Thus, this novel is built on the foundations of the Young Flandry Trilogy.

Coincidentally, Flandry lodges in the Pyramid on Imhotep in the concluding chapter of The Game Of Empire.

Merseian Names

Runei the Wanderer was an interstellar explorer.

Brechdan Ironrede has essentially the same nickname as Harald Hardrada, a historical figure and the central character of Poul Anderson's Last Viking Trilogy. When Brechdan's bailiff, Chwioch the Dandy, becomes Ambassador to Terra, he could  appropriately be renamed "the Shrewd" but prefers that the Terrans underestimate him. An earlier Ambassador was called Ruethven of the Long Hand. (I think. I will confirm this name when I can access books in a room where my granddaughter is currently exercising.) (Later: Ruethen.) Brechdan's successor, Tachwyr the Dark, has skin of a slightly deeper green than is usual around the Wilwidh Ocean.

Brechdan's cyborg spy, Dwyr the Hook, had been Dwyr the Merry. He has also been Dwyr of Tanis and there is a Gwyanafon of Brightwater so personal names can include place names.

Brechdan's fellow Councillors include Shwylt Shipsbane, Lifrith, Priadwyr and Eidhafor. We may guess at the origin of Shwylt's nickname and are not told those of the others. However, later, there is a Fodaich Eidhafor the Bold of Vach Dathyr in the Merseian Navy. Tachwyr's fellow Councillors include, apart from Gwyanafon (see above), Odhar the Curt and Alwis Longtail. (All Merseians have substantial tails on which they sit.)

Dominic Flandry is captured by a Merseian crew whose broch (Second Mate) is Tryntaf the Tall, another self-explanatory nickname. Datholch Ydwyr the Seeker is a scientist whereas Qanryf Morioch Sun-in-Eye is a Naval Commandant. Ydwyr is also the Roidun's nephew. Flandry meets Brechdan and Ydwr and is a friend of Tachwyr. Ydwyr has a more exalted way of expressing his family connection:

"'As for my standing, I belong to the Vach Urdiolch, and' - he stood up and touched his brow while he finished - ' it is my high honor that a brother of my late noble father is, in the glory of the God, Almighty Roidhun of Merseia, the Race, and all holdings, dominions, and subordinates of the Race.'"
- Poul Anderson, Young Flandry (New York, 2010), pp. 281-282.

On hearing this, Flandry urges his human companion to join him in leaping up and saluting appropriately.

Cnif hu Vanden, a xenophysiologist, descended from Merseians of the pre-unification Republic of Lafdigu in the southern hemisphere, was born on a colony planet that retains Lafdiguan language and laws. Thus, his skin is yellow, Eriau is not his first language and he belongs to no Vach.

Chunderban Desai negotiates with a Merseian whose name I will confirm. (Later: Uldwyr of Vach Hallen.) Meanwhile, down with the Roidhun and "Glory to the Emperor!"

(My real world views are not imperialistic so this engagement with Anderson's texts must be understood as part of a dramatic performance.)

The Rebel Worlds And The Day Of Their Return

It is not immediately apparent to the reader how Poul Anderson's The Day Of Their Return follows from his The Rebel Worlds. In the former, the series character Dominic Flandry deals with Hugh and Kathryn McCormac. In the latter, we meet a new one-off viewpoint character, Ivar Frederiksen.

However, we were told that Kathryn's maiden name was Frederiksen. Hugh was Firstman of Ilion on Aeneas. When, at the end of The Rebel Worlds, Hugh and Kathryn went into exile, her brother, Edward, succeeded to the Firstmanship and Ivar is his son.

Thus, despite the absence of Flandry and the McCormacs from The Day Of Their Return, we are dealing with Kathryn's nephew who is also the heir of Hugh's successor. Anderson writes a direct sequel but disguises it by changing the characters and even the surname of the Aenean first family.

He also introduces a completely new character, Chunderban Desai, who has, since the McCormac's exodus, been appointed High Commissioner of the Virgilian System where the humanly colonized planet is Aeneas. Thus, the reader sympathizes both with Ivar trying to lead a new Aenean rebellion and with Desai trying to prevent it.

A commissioner is intermediate between a resident and a sector governor. Desai's superior is the Governor of Sector Alpha Crucis and the incumbent of that position has also changed since The Rebel Worlds. Desai has interesting conversations with Uldwyr of Merseia, Aycharaych of Chereion, Peter Jowett of the Web, Tatiana Thane of the University of Virgil, Colonel Mattu Luuksson of the Companions of the Arena and eventually with Ivar Frederiksen.

Like The People Of The Wind, The Day Of Their Return is a rich novel in Anderson's History of Technic Civilization that does not feature any of the series characters of that History.

Pictorial Content

"A book with plenty of pictorial content for at least a dozen good cover illustrations..."

-Bruce Penington, cover artist, quoted on the back cover of Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return (London, 1978) (see the attached image).

But that means, which I also believe, that the book is suitable for visual adaptations in different media:

sequential art story telling (comic strip);

animated film;

live action film.

When Desai and Uldwyr dine, their conversation could be illustrated with images of:

Tigeries and sea dwellers on Starkad;

Ythrians in flight on Avalon;

the joint human-Merseian scientific base on Talwin;

battle scenes during the McCormac Rebellion.

"[Ivar] saw each coiled blade of..."

-The Day Of Their Return, 2, p. 77.

Of grass? No:

"...the fire trava whereon he ran, felt how it gave beneath his boots and rebounded..." (ibid.)

In Poul Anderson's works, extra-solar terrestroid planets have ground cover other than grass:

"...an onyx tinged red and yellow which was the land's living mantle, fire trava." (p. 76)

"The sward [Ivar] lay on had started to curl up for the night, turning into a springy mat. Its daytime odor of flint and sparks was almost gone." (ibid.)

This would have to be shown on film although maybe not the odor.

Desai

The Day Of Their Return, 3.

Desai is our guy.

He invokes an interesting range of deities:

"God knows the present needs more of me than I have to give." (p. 85)

"God!" (ibid.)

"Krishna!" (p. 93)

"Siva have mercy." (p. 98)

He is a linking character. In an otherwise atrocious Batman film, one newly introduced character was a business contact of Bruce Wayne (the Batman), the employer of Selina Kyle (the Catwoman) and the political backer of Oswald Cobblepot (the Penguin). Similarly, Desai:

remembers his conversation with Uldwyr;

converses with Aycharaych;

replays his conversation with Jowett;

looks out, at some length, across Nova Roma and Aeneas;

reflects on the Terran Empire -

- all in a single chapter. A guy that we want to see a lot more of.

Fictional Locations

The Day Of Their Return.

I said before that the entire action of this novel takes place on the surface of a single planet, Aeneas. Sean Brooks pointed out that this was not quite true because, on just one occasion, Chunderban Desai reminisces about a conversation between himself and his Merseian opposite number elsewhere. On rereading the relevant passage, I am not quite sure where. After the negotiations that had ended the Jihannath crisis, Desai and Uldwyr had been in a restaurant that catered to many species where:

"...the meal was an inspired combination of human and Merseian dishes." (3, p. 83)

Desai reminisces on Aeneas but his reminiscence is about a restaurant on another planet. One fictional setting is imposed on another. When characters recount their experiences to each other, we have to bear in mind both the setting where the characters converse and the settings of their recounted experiences. Meanwhile, each reader is sitting in his own real world setting. We pass between real and fictional locations. Yesterday, after visiting Andrea in his three-dimensional warren overlooking Morecambe Bay, I walked past Morecambe Police Station where a camera crew was set up to film a scene for The Bay TV series. Fictional events were about to happen. There is a Lancashire Police Service but no West Lancashire Police Service.

Interstellar Bilingualism

"Though each was fluent in the other's principal language, and their vocal organs were not very different, it was easiest for Desai to speak Anglic and Uldwyr Eriau."

-The Day Of Their Return, 3, p. 83.

 

See Memorable Conversations.

 

"Let's hope" and "God willing" cannot be said in Planha. See Anglic, Planha and Eriau.

"Are you still a bachelor?" had better not be asked in Eriau! See Planha, Anglic and Eriau.

Arinnian not only pronounces Avalonian Anglic differently from a Terran but also sounds as if he is translating from Planha. There will be human beings on Avalon and elsewhere who retain none of their Terrestrial heritage. Although brought up by Oronesian Ythrians from an early age, Tabitha/Hrill, unlike Arinnian, is a well-balanced human choth member. Individuals will continue to respond differently to social inputs.