Hubris. It took her a moment to remember the word, and when she did she realized that it was the most perfect one. Cassandra had always assumed that it was a divine tradition to keep mammalian Tavan. She did not know if there was a god of birds, but she did know that Laviku had gifted the world with fish and dolphin and all variety of sea creature alike. Could the preference really be a human device? And what of people who were not human? "It is true. Dolphins are... intelligent. Playful. Loyal." All somewhat inaccurate words. But the point was made. "Everything a good person is. But..." She hated to contradict Sana, and so contradict herself. Truly she did not know what she thought of the matter, had never considered it outside of her own self-preserving musings. Part of her delighted in the prospect of sorting out her own thoughts, but another part dreaded the rabbit hole they might venture into for it. Or maybe they had already fallen in, and there was no use resisting the conversation's course until it reached its proper end. Cassandra had enough drink in her to start on animals and their value, however she was not prepared to face the nagging possibility of the topic of more sentient things. Any redeeming reason for why a person might kill an animal could not be related to why a person might kill a person. Still, she hesitated to pick up her drink again. She knew too well the risk of drowning in it. "Fish are a gift from Laviku. When we eat them, we honor Him. They serve that purpose, and the dolphins serve a different purpose." She was speaking slowly, for while she shared Arysana's desire to perfectly articulate her beliefs, she did not have the vocabulary. Neither was she nearly as concerned with offending Sana as Sana seemed to be; Cass already respected the other woman for her depth of thought and would not insult her with trivial pleasantries. "No, I am thinking every creature has a purpose, which is given to it by the gods. People that eat cows and birds do not mistreat these animals, in the way people mistreat people for flaws that they perceive. Unless death is a mistreatment. In that case, I mistreat many fish." |