Bradley, Marion Zimmer - Novel 19 by The Ruins of Isis (v2.1) Page A

still taking the mental notes of the trained
anthropologist. Children were very much in evidence, not banished to a separate
part of the household or community. Miranda opened a door which had been
gilded, and said, "These rooms have been prepared for the Scholar Dame
and— and her Companion." For the first time she glanced, briefly and
shyly, at Dal, and Cendri had the odd impression that she wished to extend him,
too, some courtesy, but did not know what form it ought to take.
                 She
thought in wonder, and some indefinable irritation, haven't these women ever
seen a man before? They act, quite literally, as if they had never set eyes on
a man, and that is preposterous, there are men all over the place! What is it?
                 I
can't expect to understand it, after only an hour or two. ...
                 The
room was hung all round, inside, with curtains; literally a cyclorama of
curtains, surrounding the entire room. Miranda showed Cendri how they could be
pulled back—"So that you can have darkness and privacy, or light, at your
wish," she said, and adjusted them, with what seemed an automatic gesture,
to admit indirect light while keeping out the glare from a window which faced
the sun. Behind another fold of the curtains she indicated a door, saying,
"Here you may refresh yourself as you wish; the Scholar Dame has no
objection to sharing bathing facilities with her Companion? If it is so, I am
instructed to tell you that there is a male facility at the foot of the
stairs—"
                 "I
have no objection," said Cendri quickly.
                 At
the center of the room was a bedstead; quite the highest and narrowest bed
Cendri had ever seen. She wondered how she would possibly sleep in it without
falling out. Miranda indicated racks for clothing, shelves—Cendri noted that
they were carefully braced on what looked like gimbals and had movable arms
which could be extended to hold the books in the shelves, a reasonable
precaution for a world prone to continuing seismic tremors—a mirrored enclosure
with a padded seat, and at one corner of the room an alcove, cushioned deeply
and filled with luxurious pillows, as if the entire alcove had become a thick,
comfortable bed. The Lady Miranda said, with a quick glance at the alcove,
"When our Mother informed me that the Scholar Dame had brought a
Companion, it was this room we set aside for her to inhabit a room with an
Amusement Corner." She glanced, quickly and surreptitiously, at Dal, and suddenly,
looking at the piled, luxurious pillows, Cendri understood, and felt almost
inclined to giggle, or to blush in embarrassment.
                 The
separation —that high, narrow, obvious bed, and the sybaritic "Amusement
Corner"—tells me more about how this society regards sex, than a whole
series of erotic films, or any number of lectures about sexual customs. 1 She saw that Dal had understood, too, for his mouth twitched a little at the
corners, and Cendri was suddenly afraid he would laugh out loud while Miranda
was still in the room. She said, hastily, "You are too kind, Lady;
everything seems more than comfortable."
                 With
a few more formal phrases, and assurance that their luggage should be brought
soon, the Lady Miranda turned to go, with a final request that if everything
was not as the Scholar Dame liked it, she had only to
request assistance.
                 "We
are honored and content," Cendri said. It was a risk to include Dal in the
pronoun, but by including the "Amusement corner" in her room—again
the hidden mirth bubbled up inside her—they had taken at least a tacit notice
of his existence! She said with a formal gesture, "We ask only one thing;
if we offend in anything against your customs, we ask
that you accept that it is done in ignorance and without intent to offend."
                 It
was the first time she had ever had occasion to use