...
Cold Shower
Timestamp: Day 70 of Summer 515 AV
Location: Wind Reach
HOME DEAR HOME
There's nothing like odd local customs to give you a really strong feeling of finally being back home. But it's not always that the recognition is what you expected to be the very first thing that meets you at your homecoming after a long period of time abroad.
In Ornea's case, the Wind Reach collectivism she had eventually sort of forgotten during her year in Lhavit came down on her like a hammer on an anvil. The Valintar had ordered all the people of the city to take a shower, outdoors, in the rain. This would once have been something she had just obeyed withouth thinking twice of it, but now it felt ... weird.
This would definitely not happen in Lhavit, she thought as she strolled around at the market, looking to buy what she would need for a sudden cold shower up at the couryard of the Sky. It wasn't possible to imagine the authorities of the glittering, beautiful mountain city giving orders to all the citizens to get out and "bath" in the rain, collectively, naked. But in Wind Reach it was.
Lots of other red haired Inarta were obviously preparing to obey their bathing orders too. There were queues to everything, everywhere. And it's wasn't softspoken and well ordered queues like in Lhavit, oh no. The brutality of the queue system was shocking, just shocking, with people of higher caste nonchalantly passing by those of relatively lower castes and sometimes brusquely shoving them out of the way. Those of the lower castes accepted this without complaints.
Ornea was avora. She was entitled to push lower caste people out of the way if she liked. She knew that. But now when she was confronted with the rude queuing in Wind Reach she realized that Lhavit had made invisible traces in her mind. She had started to expect softspoken politeness from others. And she realized she even felt an inner resistance against behaving the way she had a right to behave.
It was rude.
But she wanted to buy soap and a body oil and some other necessities before they were all sold to other people !
Looking at the long queues she tried to make up her mind about how to go about things. She wasn't in Lhavit anymore. But she wasn't used to Wind Reach either.
...Timestamp: Day 70 of Summer 515 AV
Location: Wind Reach
HOME DEAR HOME
There's nothing like odd local customs to give you a really strong feeling of finally being back home. But it's not always that the recognition is what you expected to be the very first thing that meets you at your homecoming after a long period of time abroad.
In Ornea's case, the Wind Reach collectivism she had eventually sort of forgotten during her year in Lhavit came down on her like a hammer on an anvil. The Valintar had ordered all the people of the city to take a shower, outdoors, in the rain. This would once have been something she had just obeyed withouth thinking twice of it, but now it felt ... weird.
This would definitely not happen in Lhavit, she thought as she strolled around at the market, looking to buy what she would need for a sudden cold shower up at the couryard of the Sky. It wasn't possible to imagine the authorities of the glittering, beautiful mountain city giving orders to all the citizens to get out and "bath" in the rain, collectively, naked. But in Wind Reach it was.
Lots of other red haired Inarta were obviously preparing to obey their bathing orders too. There were queues to everything, everywhere. And it's wasn't softspoken and well ordered queues like in Lhavit, oh no. The brutality of the queue system was shocking, just shocking, with people of higher caste nonchalantly passing by those of relatively lower castes and sometimes brusquely shoving them out of the way. Those of the lower castes accepted this without complaints.
Ornea was avora. She was entitled to push lower caste people out of the way if she liked. She knew that. But now when she was confronted with the rude queuing in Wind Reach she realized that Lhavit had made invisible traces in her mind. She had started to expect softspoken politeness from others. And she realized she even felt an inner resistance against behaving the way she had a right to behave.
It was rude.
But she wanted to buy soap and a body oil and some other necessities before they were all sold to other people !
Looking at the long queues she tried to make up her mind about how to go about things. She wasn't in Lhavit anymore. But she wasn't used to Wind Reach either.
