4—Orientation to the Amatory Arts
During orientation, which is what Madame Genevois called the sessions conducted with each new boy in the small classroom, Mouche was required to memorize certain information that Madame categorized as “essential to your understanding of your role in life.” These rules, regulations, laws, and customs were read aloud and explained by Madame, after which Mouche was drilled until letter perfect by Simon, one of the instructors, a former Hunk who had been improvident and was now required to earn a living in his later years.
The first thing drummed into him was the Dower Law.
“Section one,” parroted Mouche, “provides that a family wishing to continue through the male line, usually through the eldest son, must pay dowry to a girl’s family for the use of the girl as a wife.”
“And this is called?” asked Simon.
Mouche responded promptly, “This is called dowering in, as the wife comes into the man’s family and takes his name. Section two provides that a younger son who also wishes to continue his biological line may set up a new … “
“With the support,” prompted Simon.
“May, with the support of his family, set up a new line, under a new name, and pay dower for a wife under that name … “
“Which is called?”
“Dowering off. Because his new name is an off-shoot of the old family name. Like, say, the family name is Vintner, he could set up as family Vineyard. Or he may buy his way into a family that has a daughter but no son, where he takes her family name, and that’s called dowering out.”
“Dowering in, off, or out,” explained Simon, with a muffled yawn, “is always seen from the groom’s parents’ point of view, as they are the ones who pay. Now, section three?”
“Section three states that any attempt to evade the law through elopement, rapine, or abduction is punishable by blue-bodying and consequent death. Simon, what’s rapine?”
“Forcing sex upon a woman, often with the intent of getting her pregnant.”
“I didn’t know you could do that.”
“Used to be a good bit of it, but no more. Not unless you want to end up dead.”
“When was there a good bit of it?”
Simon settled himself. “Well, it was like this. Our ancestors came to this world in ten ships. The first ship had the male workers, the livestock ova, and the reproducer, but it didn’t have any women on it at all. That was so the men could get things whipped into shape, shelters made weathertight, crops planted, things like that, before the women and children came on the second ship. But the second ship was delayed, and instead they sent the support ship, the one that had the machines … “
“What machines? I didn’t think we had machines?”
“Of course we had machines. What do you think the Denti-med is? And the sensor array that keeps track of the volcanoes? And the stuff at the space port that lets us talk to the ships?”
“Oh. I guess I never thought those were machines.”
“Well, they are. Our people didn’t bring many, they had limited resources, but they chose not to do without medicine or geological and weather sensors or a space port. So, anyhow, the technology ship was the one that set down second, and it was full of technicians and scholars, a lot of them women, but most all of them were, so to speak, spoken for.”
“They had husbands?”
“Right. Or as much as. Anyhow, the first ship men were feeling pretty randy by then, so they started raiding, stealing the women, and some of them got hurt.”
“Some of the women?”
“Right. Some even got killed, which made their friends and colleagues very angry, so the others, the scientists and professors and technicians, men and women both, they moved the machines and the supplies and the libraries into the half-built fortress in Sendoph, and all the women stayed in there where they couldn’t get abducted. Most of the people on that second ship were Gaeans, like Haraldson, worshippers of the Life-mother, and they were the ones who set up the Council of Hags.”