Flight of the Bluebird

Vidam, He is Right

"Boestus will speak now," Acreon said.

Boestus stood up, shuffling papers. He looked up at his wives, and caught Shura's eye. She was looking helpless and her eyes were very sad.

He looked at Carya and Nitha, and they were sitting on either side of Shura, their hands on her arms. Solidarity.

He discarded his papers. "I will speak without preparation," he said, "and so this speech will be, it may ramble a bit. Please forgive and indulge me a little, for what I had to say beforehand, it no longer matters."

He cleared his throat. An aide brought him a glass of water. "Vidam, he is right."

Everyone in the Beta Council chamber stared at Boestus. Even the human bodyguards did so.

He stood there quietly for a moment. "The euthanasia law is wrong. All right-thinking Daranaeans should oppose it, and support its, its overthrow. I do not normally break with traditions but, in this case, I must."

Shura looked him in the eye, daring to hope a little bit for her own future.

"Vidam has said," Boestus continued, "that we had, and we continue to have, an imbalance between the genders. And that much is true. But it is also due to Thylacine Paramyxovirus. Daranean males are; we are far more likely to contract it. And so that skews the numbers even more." He sipped a little water.

"But if the disease is near a cure, and it is eventually eradicated, then that, that reason for the imbalance, it will diminish and, and eventually, it will completely go away, yes?"

He sipped more of the water. "So as the imbalance levels off, our reasons for having such huge families and, and only supporting and nurturing and feeding and giving a, a home to last – I mean, third – caste females who are fertile, those reasons hold much less, well, water." He looked at his water glass and smiled a little at the sudden absurdity of the metaphor.

"These women, they have a value. And I do not mean in terms of what they can fetch on the open market. Instead, they are, they only wish to, to please us. To care for our children, and to, to cook our meals and make our homes the sweet-smelling refuges we all know that they can be. And their value is more than that. It is in their smiles and their care and their laughter and their love. Yes, their love. We have no word and no symbol in our writing for wife-love or for husband-love. But perhaps we should."

Looking at Deb, he chugged the last of his water. "And what does it mean to our human allies, when the main political issue on Daranaea is neither jobs nor membership in the Federation, nor any of a thousand other worthwhile causes. But instead it is how we can perpetuate the senseless disposal of some of our most helpless citizens. How barbaric we must be to them. If this law remains on our books, then they have every right to depart and forget us, leaving us to our sad fate as our citizenry effectively cannibalizes itself, and we shed the veneer of civilization in favor of ancient problems that we should have learned how to look past a long, long time ago."

=/\=

"Darlings!" Rona Moran enthused during the gossip section of the news on the viewer. "It is I, Rona Moran, your Dish with the Dish. And have I got news for you!"

Behind her, the scene of the studio backdrop changed to a photograph taken that day, of Seppa.

"Today I spent the most lovely time with Councilman Archer and his guests. As you can see, darlings, this lovely young lady is not a Caitian at all. Her species is Daranaean."

The background photograph changed to one of Brantus by himself.

"The young lady's name is Seppa, and on the screen behind me is a photograph of her husband, Brantus, who I also met today. Didn't Mister Oliver capture a wondrous likeness of him? Brantus looks a bit like the ancient Egyptian god Anubis, don't you think?"

The picture changed to one of Brantus with Anatha and Raelia. "As you can see, Brantus has two other wives. On Daranaea, wealthy men have three, and each one is from a particular caste. Anatha, on the left, is from a caste known as Prime Wife."

The picture shifted to one of Seppa and Jonathan Archer together. "Seppa met Councilman Archer when she was rather small. After Second Contact with their species, the DC-1500, you know, the old USS Zefram Cochrane, sent a gift to Seppa's family for the holidays. And Seppa, being the gracious and polite girl she is, sent a thank-you note. Ever since then, she and Councilman Archer have been fervent pen pals. Her visit with her family is an occasion for Councilman Archer to meet her husband, and for her to share the joy of her first pregnancy. As you can see," the photograph switched to a picture of just the three wives together, "all three wives are expecting. I imagine there will be a lot of late-night feedings in this family's near future."

The picture changed to one of Brantus with all three of his wives. "Didn't Terry Oliver get a wonderful shot of them all? Really, darlings, I think he is the greatest cameraman I have ever worked with! Brantus told me, he said that there is a saying on Daranaea. Let me see if I can say it properly." She smiled and faced the camera directly. "When the wives all get along, there is no sweeter smell. But if the wives don't get along, nothing can ever make the home smell sweet."

She paused for a moment. "They do not have divorce on Daranaea. And that made me think a little bit about my four exes. I want you all to know, darlings, that there is nothing greater in the galaxy than love. The love in this family is self-evident. As for my exes, you all know, darlings; that I have spoken less than kindly of them in the past. But to all of them and, particularly, to my third ex-husband, Maurizio D'Angelo, I want to apologize. At the very least, in the name of the love that we once shared, I do hope that you can forgive me, Maurizio. And for my part, whether or not forgiveness is forthcoming, I swear to you I will not belittle you again."

She swallowed a little before wrapping up. "Darlings, the paparazzi had a field day with Seppa. I do hope that her – and her family's – impressions of Earth and her people can be mended and strengthened now. As for Councilman Archer, his private life," she smiled, "remains a mystery. But I vow to you, darlings, one of these days, I shall know all about it. And you'll hear it from me first. Ta, darlings."