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

this little memorized
speech suggested for contact with any alien society, and in her years of
training she had come to think of it, too, as a cliche, so banal and
stereotyped as to be virtually meaningless; she was surprised when it drew the
first genuine, spontaneous smile from the Lady Miranda.
                 "You
are kind, Scholar Dame. I trust you will be happy here." Again the quick,
embarrassed look at Dal; she added in a whisper, as if greatly daring,
"Both of you," and, coloring, withdrew.
                 When
the door had closed, Dal drew a long, whistling breath. He dropped into the
"Amusement Corner" cushions, saying explosively, "What do you
think of all that? Sharrioz! What a world!" He chuckled. "If
they want to get into the Unity they're sure going to have to change their
ways!"
                 Cendri
started to protest—there was no evidence that they wanted to get into the Unity
at all—then held her peace. This was just a way of working off the long tension
of being treated like a nothing, part of Cendri's baggage, a mere convenience
for her amusement or pleasure. Poor Dal! she thought, and was eager to make it up to him, but didn't quite know how.
                 "Let's
look and see what kind of bath they've given us. Some studies judge a culture
by the quality of their plumbing, you know."
                 "I
know," Dal said, good-humored again. "I told you that, remember. The
ruins on Serpens Delta Four had eight separate and distinct classes of latrine
and bathing facilities, each for a different class of society, and judging by
the ritual objects we found, there were rigid taboos against one caste going
near the bathing facilities of any other caste! We might as well explore this
one before it gets to be an artifact!"
                 "We
really do the same work, in a way, don't we, Dal?" she said, voicing a
thought that had come to her before. "I study cultures while they're still
going on, and you study them after they've stopped,
but it's the same work, isn't it, darling?"
                 "I
suppose so," Dal said, kindly but without enthusiasm. "Although, of
course, there is no way to measure a society objectively while scientists must
observe it through subjective judgments, either their own or the judgments of
the society in question. No society can ever be judged except in historical
perspective," he added, and Cendri, who had heard this before without
agreeing with it, and knew she would never agree with it, let it pass without
comment. Together they went to explore the luxurious bath assigned to them by
the Pro-Matriarch.
                 "If
a culture could be judged by plumbing, we'd have to give this one high marks,
wouldn't we?" Cendri said at last; it was unbelievably elaborate,
containing not only elaborate toilet and bathing facilities, but showers of
different sizes and heights, and some fixtures about whose use she was not
certain, though she guessed that one very shallow, waist-high tub, with
guard-rails and a headrest, and faucets fixed to give only warmish water, with
no hot or cold, must be a special fixture for bathing very young babies without
danger of dropping, chilling or scalding. Others she could not even make
intelligent guesses about; body-care facilities could be judged only by
actually observing their use.
                 Dal
looked dubious. He said, "I'm not sure; societies which place too much
value on luxurious body-care have usually been decadent, historically speaking.
Viable and vigorous societies tend to be more spartan in emphasis; but the
overemphasis on physical comfort is what I would expect of a society where
females define the major priorities."
                 Cendri
frowned, not sure she understood. "All societies work for physical comfort
as they define it, don't they, Dal?"
                 "You
know better than that," Dal chided. "The pursuit of luxury