Montray said, waiting for his son to translate, “The difficulty is this: Miss Lome is extremely valuable to us. She is the only woman qualified to act as an expert on the Darkovan languages, and to advise us on women’s customs and the laws governing social usage on Darkover. It seems to us that we cannot, for the moment, spare her to any other work, valuable as it may be, and highly as we may respect those who would welcome her among them.”
Rohana knew perfectly well that the polite phrases had been added by the translator, and suspected that Montray’s original had been more emphatic and much less courteous. She did not understand enough of the Terran language to be sure.
“If that is the only difficulty, it can easily be settled,” domna Fiona said. From the voice, and something about the narrow body in the judicial robes, Rohana suspected the woman was an emmasca; but the robes were too bulky to be sure. “If your problem is a lack of adequate experts on women’s customs and the languages, then I think we can offer assistance. Sister,” and she turned to Jaelle, who stood up nervously.
Her eyes met Peter’s briefly across the room. Jaelle said, “Say to the Terran official that if it is agreeable to your people, I will offer myself to take my sister’s place in working for you. I speak both casta and cahuenga fluently, and I can read and write in these and in the language of the Dry Towns; and I think I can help you to fill in what gaps there are in your knowledge of the customs of Thendara. And I think there are others of my sisters who would be willing to do the same, to the limits of your needs. We have been told”-again, briefly, she met Peter’s eyes-“that you Terrans have had trouble in finding workers for anything but simple manual labor, and that you have sought for them without success.”
Montray said, “That would indeed be welcome.” He bowed politely to Jaelle. “But we had heard it was the will of Hastur that the people of Thendara should not give us this kind of assistance.”
The Amazon Lauria, head of the Guild of Craftswomen, said quietly, “The Lord Hastur speaks for the Comyn, and for their sworn followers and those who owe allegiance in the Domains. But the will, or the whim, of Hastur is not yet the law of this land. With all respect, Lord Hastur”-and she made a deep bow to the Comyn lord-“we do not accept the right of Comyn to lay commands upon the free women of Thendara as to what lawful work they may accept, or what their relations shall be with the men of the Empire from the stars … or with their women. By the will of Hastur, the only women who have been permitted to know the men of the Empire are the women in the bars and brothels near the spaceport. We do not believe this will give a true picture of our world to the men of the Terranan. So we have come here today to offer you our lawful services in fields more suitable for meaningful communication between our two worlds: as map-makers, guides, translators or any suitable work at which the Terrans wish to employ Darkovan workers and experts. And in return, knowing that you of the Empire may have much to teach us, we ask that a group of our young women be placed as apprentices among your medical services and other scientific branches of your knowledge to allow us to learn from you. Is that agreeable to you, messire of Terra?”
Of course it was agreeable, thought Magda, watching Montray’s face; it was what they had hoped for from the beginning, what they had so obdurately been denied on Darkover. She had never realized-and blamed herself for her own insensitivity-that the women of Darkover would resent being judged, by the Terrans, only by the women their men met in the bars and brothels. She herself, with her knowledge of such respectable women as she could meet in the markets and public places of Thendara, had gone a little deeper -but not much.