She was waiting only for the arrival of two more of her people, the new ambassadors for Neda and Calacas, who were preparing for their tasks on the orbiting ship above. She would introduce them to the new rulers of the cities, Acamantu, who seemed almost certain to be chosen drandor of Calacas, and to whoever would be chosen as the Abessu-Denorru of Neda. She would spend a few grateful weeks with them, speaking her own language to her own kind, and then take her barge to her own post...
Where Necias had guaranteed her access to the city, to all Arrandal’s domains and dependencies, and, most importantly, to the minds of his people, through her academy. It was there that the future would be built, the foundations laid for the scientific investigation of their world, indeed the universe, by Arrandal’s citizens. And, as well as investigation, less honorable things: exploitation, conquest, domination. The two faces of the progress she symbolized, and was here to encourage.
Fiona moved to a comfortable settee and untied the tape on the package, slipping the sheaf of manuscript out of its protective cover. The title was written in Campas’ neat secretarial hand. Songs for the Star People.
Fiona blinked.
So, she thought, he had taken her words to heart, to write his verse not to fit the fashion of the time, but to embrace a universal audience. She set down the title page on the settee next to her, and read.
The wind howled, and the first tentative drops of rain splattered down on the shutters. She paid them no attention; she read languidly, absorbing every word, every turn of phrase, until she placed the last leaf on its pile, and then she only stared quietly ahead of her, not seeing the details of the room, her mind still resonating with the power of Campas’ verse.
It was, she thought, brilliant; but brilliant seemed an inadequate description, the word itself a failure of the imagination.
It started with a series of short poems speculating about the inhabitants of other worlds, trying to see them in Abessla terms, describing them in terms of nature, of legend, of styles of perception and of emotion — trying to define, not simply what they were, but how they related to the Abessla, and how much they shared a common humanity.
This merged gradually into a second theme, a series of longer verses relating complex ideas. Many of them were addressed to a lover, and in addition to presenting a sophisticated picture of a loving relationship between two intelligent, independent, and very different people — from ecstasy to puzzled misunderstanding, from resentment back to ecstasy again — there was added the element of the lover’s alienness, her estrangement from customs and values the poet had considered universal. There were jangling elements of discord introduced, the poet’s resentments of the lover’s accomplishments and knowledge, angry, naked jealousy as the poet, condemned to mortality, considered his lover’s extended youth, and her extended old age as well, culminating an unearthly wisdom the poet could not hope to match.
The third section, long verse meditations, resolved the conflicts. The poet had learned acceptance; he had learned to seize what joy and wisdom he could from his experience; he understood that his knowledge was far from whole, far from, universal; and yet he was proud of the knowledge and understanding that, in his flawed life, he had achieved. He understood that he would, in the end, have to let his lover go; and he had achieved acceptance of that idea, and found himself at peace with it.
The final verse was a hymn, a brief lyric that praised the gods for creating the universe in all its diversity, and for populating it with people. And lastly it praised the human race itself, for achieving knowledge, for gaining wisdom, and most importantly for being able to bridge the gaps between nations and peoples, and between the stars themselves, with a commonality of humanness.
Fiona took a breath, the conception, the scope of Campas’ achievement overwhelming her. Songs for the Star People was a masterwork — no, not simply that, but a definitive work. It was unlike anything the Abessla poets had done before, and its publication would transform poetic thought. Future poets would either imitate, or react against it, for generations.
And when their descendants finally achieved the stars, Fiona knew, they would take this work with them, to help them speak to any they might find of the scattered children of Terra.
Fiona took up the manuscript and pressed it to her. I, in some way, have inspired this, she thought.
Whatever else she might accomplish here, whatever brilliant graduates her academy might produce, she would never achieve a greater success. Here was something she could point to with joy: an accomplishment that never hated, that did not exploit, that did not conquer, but which strove through the bridge of art to connect the diverse threads of humanity and find a common bond between them.
Wrapping the manuscript in its folder and tape, she rose from the settee to find Campas. For the first time in months she was filled with satisfaction and joy, and she wanted to tell him so.
THE END
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APPENDIX: GLOSSARY OF FOREIGN TERMS
I
The Abessas language: The Abessas language is spoken over much of the great northern plain of Echidne, including the city of Arrandal as well as Cartenas and Calacas (though not, originally, in Neda, which was spared the original Abessas conquest.). “Abessas,” as a political concept, exists no more than did the concept of a “Germany” prior to 1871.
Abessas is a highly inflected language, with a complex variety of case declensions and verb forms: many nouns possess gender, though a majority are neutral. Due to the Abessas conquest of an aboriginal population speaking a different language, Abessas has become polluted (or enriched, depending on one’s perspective) with a variety of foreign words, particularly place-names, that do not fit into either of the two major declensions and are thus irregular. (“Arrandal” is an example of this.) Like modern German, Abessas permits, by the seemingly random stringing together of nouns with other nouns, pronouns, and even verbs, the creation of compound nouns (Abessu-Denorru, cenors-efellsan). Abessas nouns are usually pronounced with the accent on the penultimate syllable: eFELLsan, BEGgru, AcRAGas. Exceptions have been marked with an accent.
Abeissu pl. Abeissin - Common abbreviation for Abessu-Denorru
Abessu-Denorru pl. Abessin-Denorru: Literally “Community Speaker.” Chief administrative official of a Denorru-Deissin, principal oligarch of a city. Abbreviated “Abeissu.”
Amil-Deo: “Wheel of fortune.” A philosophical abstract assuring the rise and fall of human societies, lords, families, fashion and so forth. An instrument of boonan.
Anildas: Acquisitiveness; desire for display and property; urge toward conspicuous consumption. Considered a desirable quality.
Beggru pl. Beggrin: A merchant house, usually consisting of one extended family, headed by a Deissu.
Boonan: Evolution, change. Boonan is considered inevitable, and usually for the better.
Boonan-re: Progress, considered as a beneficial quality necessary to human betterment.
Cenors-stannan pl. cenors-stannin: Literally “most fortunate,” a term of high respect.