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So at dawn, the door to Serpentine's Garden closed behind Adama and he began his forty-day retreat.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8H5dwPAhJ
At his home all seemed to be well. But then, three days after Adama entered Serpentine's Garden, Ila emerged from the house and pinned a note to the door. The note was a simple announcement. It stated that she had satisfied all requirements placed upon a Callrine woman with regard to the termination of her marriage and that henceforth she was divorced from Adama and free and willing to take up a new marriage.
Word of Ila's announcement spread fast and many men, mainly Callrines, gathered to read. I will explain as well as I can.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtaUdyj0Iq0
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Within centons of Ila pinning up her declaration, I was summoned by Magister Cain to leave the garden where I was attending to Adama. I flew up to him. The Magister instructed me to find out what was happening with Ila. He was very disturbed, for he had not imagined that Ila would take matters into her own hands in such a direct manner. Thus Magister Cain, for all his experience and years of contact with alien life-forms and alien mores, showed that he had neglected to study the Callrines. And is this not a common thing---that we neglect the truth that stands on our doorstep while we guess at meanings in the stars?
Straight away upon getting my orders I swooped down on Ila's house and tapped at her door. She bid me welcome and when I stated my business, invited me in.
The house was very clean and I guessed that Ila had been scrubbing and washing during the three days since Adama had departed. New baking had been done too and the place smelled of warm bread. In the back of the house the children were playing and they came tumbling into the room when they heard me arrive. I have some small reputation as a storyteller and they would not leave until I had promised to tell them a story from the olden times of Kobol. Not that they identify me with Kobol.
When they had gone, Ila sat at her writing desk and faced me. "So what would you ask of me, Sire Cylon? What can I tell Magister Caine?" We were speaking in Callrine.
"Magister Caine wonders why, so quickly, so with no consultation, you have chosen to divorce Adama. That man, Adama, knows nothing of your action. Do you not think it would have been wise, kind even, to have consulted him? Distressed by the news he may not think clearly. No decision is yet made. No final decision. All awaits."
Ila replied, "Your Magister Caine knows little about Callrine customs. When Adama married me he agreed to abide by our customs. These are gentler and altogether less strict than your own, but they are nevertheless very clear. Divorce is in the hands of the wife. The deserted wife just as much as the abused wife can claim divorce.
"Adama has not deserted you."
"I laid the issues before him. In my mind I decided to grant him three days. I regard that as generous. Any man who needs more than three days to decide whether he wants to stay with a woman or not has already made up his mind."
"That does not compute." (And it did not.)
"I set the issues before him, I could do no more. The moment he entered Serpentine's Garden he was a dead man to me. He had chosen his future, or one of his futures. And that was more important to him than the joy he might find in the present with me. Many Callrine women had divorced a man for less though few for the same reason. That is a penalty I must pay for marrying and loving a non-Callrine."
"Do you still love him?"
"Yes."
"Then why..."
"Because he does not love me."
Suddenly I saw with a sharp clarity what she meant. The intention is nothing, the act and deed is now and all-important.
"And you would be very unwise, Sire Vulpa, to tell Adama of my decision. Let him have his forty days. He will emerge the stronger for it. If he chooses the Galactica then he would have had to abandon me in any case. If he rejects the Galactica he will still have his house and access to his children and time to contemplate the passing moment. A one such as he will not stay lonely for very long."
I had to admire the clarity of her decision. "Tell me about the note you have pinned to your door," I said.
She smiled. "Oh. That is an ancient custom with us. Some women no longer follow it but because I am the woman I am and because I know that what I am doing might have certain implications and consequences. I decided to be very precise with our customs. I did not want anyone to think I was confused or acting from pique. The divorce is formal and final and I want a new husband. In my note I outline my terms. For instance, I don't want to bear any more children, so any Callrine male who is looking to build his bloodline must look elsewhere. But I am happy to take charge of any children which may already be in the house. This means that I am looking for a man whose wife has died rather than one who has declared divorce. I want to marry a man whose house is a long way from here. Remember that with us, the houses where we live are in the keep of the males. We women can move where we want for wherever we move we are at home or if we find ourselves at a loss we can enter any of the gardens. I have also said that I want to marry a Callrine male and not a human male for I have finished with experiments. I guarantee that I know medicine. I state that I want to work outdoors and that I am in good health with most of my teeth. And now I am waiting.
"Have any callers come knocking?"
"A few."
"Any that you like the look of?
"None up to now. But the severance bread is not yet stale and word of my declaration is still being carried abroad. I doubt if my mother will have heard yet and she still lives but a few hundred maxims away."
"You did not tell her of your separation?"
"No. Why should I? If I encounter problems I may go to her. But I might also go to my father who has a farm on Traylant Island far out on the Osko Sea. I am not making plans at the moment. I am waiting."
And at that moment there came a knocking on the front door. "Excuse me," said Ila as she rose. I noted with interest that she spoke to me as if to a human. She answered the door and I heard a cry of surprise and delight. This was followed by a rapid exchange in a Callrine dialect which I could only partly understand.
When Ila re-entered the room she had two men accompanying her. With one of them her relationship was obvious; it was her elder brother and their two faces were like pressings from the same mold but each had endured a different weathering. The other man's style of dress and appearance told me that he was from the islands in the southern ocean. HIs hair was so blond that it was almost white and he wore it woven into a plait which reached to the small of his back. His beard was a shade (maybe two) darker than his hair and likewise plaited. I judged him to be about the same age as Ila's brother though he was leaner and altogether more seasoned. His skin was dark like rubbed wood. He stood with sturdy legs spread and turned his wide-brimmed hat in his hands. In a human, such a stance would have suggested embarrassment.
Ila's brother, whose name I discovered was Bogan, was surprised and I think a bit angry to see me there. He wanted to dismiss me. He associated me with Adama for whom he had no love since Adama had, at least in terms of Callrine customs, jilted his sister. Ila intervened. "Vulpa is merely a mechanical writer," she said, searching to find the Callrine words to explain my function. "It is a cooperative glide-about and messenger. Give it no thought. Introduce me to your companion."
Bogan looked at me darkly and then nodded. He turned away and paid me no further mind. "This," he said, taking his colleague by the arm, "is my friend Digger. He's a fisherman. He had a scrubdown at the Commonhall before coming here so he doesn't smell too bad. We've come up together from Shellmout Island. I came as soon as I'd heard you posted a declaration."
"You heard fast," said Ila.
"I have friends who keep an eye out for such things in this town."
"Digger is welcome. Will he be seated?" Digger put his had on the table and then chose one of the seats by the fireside. He did not sit back in the chair but rather perched, like one who is embarrassed and expects to leave hurriedly. "Does Digger have a tongue?" asked Ila, not unkindly, but in a mischievous manner.
Digger cleared his throat. "I am honored to meet you, Ila. Your brother has often spoken of you. By your leave, I have come to taste of the severance bread."
"Straight to the point as ever," said Bogan. "I'll leave you two to it. If you need me I'll be in the Commonhall trying your thin northern ambrosa." He turned to me. "And if I may offer advice, my sister, I would abandon useless items like this. No good comes of such things." And so saying he struck me forcefully with his knuckles. I swayed obediently. Evidently satisfied, Bogan left.
Digger and Ila began to get acquainted. I observed that each of them had a clear idea of what they wanted and the discussion between them was more like a carpet sale than a betrothal. Digger's wife, Rigel, had been swept from the rocks by a rogue wave while gathering shellmouths. This had happened a sectar ago. Digger had four children: two sons who already helped him in the boat and two daughters who were still at school. Digger had a house with a cellar and a loft and a sailboat that he had shaped himself from the eggcase of a Featherfin Gungneer. "At night I still weep for Rigel," he said, "for we were a rare match, she and I. Hard as sleemov (a fish's tooth), sweet as gloog (the roe of a sea crawlon), soft as smog (a kind of putty made from seaweed). Have you a mind to be a fisherman's wife? The life is hard but you won't find me running away like some." He pointed his thumb at me. "You'll see me every minute of the day, if you've got a mind. You'll be with me. Out in the boat, out in the islands, dragging in the nets. Me and the boys. Your lads too, if they've got a mind."250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNtWnjqIewC
"I'll consider that," said Ila. "Will you now consider this bread?"
"I'll consider a drink, if this is a brewing house."
"It is," said Ila. My former husband was a finer brewer than most Callrines of either hemisphere. You may taste his ambrosa and his ale, but I have no skills in that regard." She poured a glass of amber liquid from a carafe on the shelf above the fire. "Nor have I any desire to stand the buffet on the deck of a ship. I am a landfooter."
"Perhaps then I'll retire from the sea," said Digger. "I've faced enough storms. I've prospered from my work. I'd not ask you to go to sea if you'd guard the home. But I won't live away from the sea."250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo01Bp5Ocvl
"The sea pleases me, too," said Ila.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZFh8WRgPe
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Thus their conversation continued.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR8ATeHRIRS
That night Digger slept on the floor.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjuwB9jZgw
On the next day another Callrine came calling. He was a trader from the towns which have grown up so close to the Paradeen monastery on the other side of the planet. He had dark curly hair and a flashing smile and he took Ila out to dine while Digger sucked on his pipe and looked at his thick gnarled hands and sampled Adama's ambrosa.
Ila and the trader returned late and the merchant too slept on the floor. Both men snored and I have no doubt that Ila heard this.
For myself, interesting though it was, I decided that I could no longer stay to watch the oddities of Callrine courtship. I reported to Magister Cain and then returned to Serpentine's Garden.
Seven days afterward I heard that Ila had locked up the house and left. She had made her choice.
I did not, of course, mention these events to Adama. That man was deep into his meditation and he would have time enough to think about love and departure if he decided to decline the Galactica.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGg9oO9ijo1
