Good For Them

originally posted August 7, 2006

There was a time when those of Ar or even those allied with Ar would not have been welcomed so warmly in a city such as Port Olni. She is one of four in the Salerian Confederation, allied cities brought together largely for the purpose of halting piracy on the Olni River. Much of this sort of brigandry, of course, has been halted by the formation of the Vosk League. Still, there was a time when the treaties that brought four such cities together as one in the same region as Glorious Ar rose the brow of my Ubar. We all looked to the north and wondered if such a thing did not precipitate more than initially appeared. When my contracted companion voiced her opinion on the subject, questioning the fitness of the empire, the place of my birth, I found myself angered, irrational. I considered whipping her. She felt it was a 'good thing' for the Confederation to have raised the hackles, to have potentially challenged the very might of Ar.
"Good for them," she said.
I remember the treachery in Ar, the scapegoating of Gnieus Lelius. I watched as children were encouraged to spit upon him and bat him about with sticks as if he were a slave. I seethed as Talena, the puppet of Lurius, himself a fat piece of excrement, dared to put her slut of a slave's ass on the very throne of Ar. Men were made to apologize for being mighty and good-natured, true to themselves. Slave girls...slave girls...were accorded civil rights by so-called 'progressive thinking' and 'modern' masters.
"Good for them," some mentally castrated men would say.
I nearly slapped the teeth out of one little tramp's mouth when she dared to approach the high bowl of a public fountain for a drink.
I am not ignorant. I recognize the need for a strong city to have able allies and, perhaps, abler foes. I don't know, truly, what rubs me the wrong way about what she said. She speaks of my city. It is not a light thing.
"Good for them."
Perhaps it is just the casual manner in which she spoke of their potential insubordinance. I don't know. I know it did not - and does not - sit well with me. She speaks of my city. I cannot be counted upon to be rational. She should know better. I was born there. She, by my will alone, lives there as a free woman. She has a residence. She is domiciled. If she does not know the difference, perhaps she should be made aware of it.

Good for them.