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The Worth of a Shell (Stone Moon 1)

The Worth of a Shell (Stone Moon 1)

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Born to a harsh world, we Jokka have evolved three sexes to survive: neuter, male and female. Twice in our lives we may change from one to another. A change we accept with grace... or resignation. It was our way. ...until one female defied all tradition: Dlane Ashoi-anadi, revolutionary, intentionally childless, runaway.

This is not her story.

This is mine.

I am Thenet Reña-eperu, female-guardian, voice of orthodoxy... and Dlane's first and dearest companion. This is the tale of how we changed each other... and how that changed everything.

Genre (setting): low fantasy (Jokka)
Tags: aliens, no-humans, neuters, trisexual, low tech
Rating: R for rape, violence

 

Excerpt from Part 1

            What could I say about a Transactions fair to one who has never seen one? The whole of the town square had been commandeered for the platforms each employee of the House of Transactions would use to auction off the contracts--every kind of contract, even. Contracts for breeding for the most biddable of anadi. Contracts for employment for the most deft of emodo, the males with their clever hands and more clever talents. Contracts for lifetime employment for the most powerful of eperu, the neuters like me who do most of the work of the House. In their wisdom, the three gods of the Trinity separated us thus: the fragile anadi who gave their minds to bear children; the dexterous emodo whose minds retained enough elasticity to live lives of indefinite intelligence so long as they marshaled their strength; and the near-indestructible eperu, the neuters who plow and plant and build and hunt. We live outside the breeder's cycle, and so avoid the mind-death.

            Which is not to say we never touch that cycle... for also in their wisdom, the Trinity gave us two chances to experience the lives of the other sexes. At our first puberty and at our second we had a chance to Turn. Not all of us do, of course. I didn't. It was not a matter of choice; even if it had been, I'm not sure I would have taken it. I was merely eperu, and had been all my life: marishet-eperu, we called that. "Three times the same." Three times the same, for three gods, made me one of the most resilient members of our species. I had never touched the breeder's cycle, and gods willing I was as far from the possibility of mind-death as any Jokkad could hope to be.

            Spring's delicate shadows and cooling breeze made a perfect setting for the fair. I walked past the Houses of our town, het Serean, at a more leisurely pace than those rushing to man booths or help with the set-up of platforms. By the time I arrived, several auctions were already in progress. I spotted many of the het's most important members mingling in the crowds as well as many strangers: Jokka rarely traveled, but fairs of this size compelled some to brave the unfriendly terrain between towns in search of new blood.

            "Hail the Mated jarana!" a voice called. I turned and found an emodo strolling my way, showing off coarse fangs in a grin.

            "Ke Therun," I said with a laugh. "I should have known you would be about."

            "Of course," he said. "You know I need more people. Speaking of which, you wouldn't happen to be shaking loose from Mated any time soon, would you?"

            "No," I said. "I'm happy where I am, and well you know it."

            He sighed. "Well, if you will not put your formidable skills to work for me in my House, at least come with me to oversee the anadi they're selling today. Tell me which I should buy and I'll buy her."

            I canted a brow at him, but he was in earnest. No surprise, perhaps. Therun was the Head-in-Training of House Sikkul and for a while Sikkul had courted my contract. Mated refused to release me; they knew a good worker when they saw one. For Therun to ask after me was hopeless but it gave me a touch of a white blush, to know I was still sought.

            "I'll be glad to give you my best," I said.

            "--excellent!"

            "Unless I see someone I want for Mated instead," I finished. "Then you'll have to out-bid me."

            He laughed. "Fair words. They have a separate stage for permanent contracts. This way."

            I followed Therun toward the other side of the fair, passing the crowds accumulated around the emodo and eperu stages. As an anadi-guardian I could bid for eperu and emodo employment contracts on behalf of Mated but I rarely did. My expertise was in females, and the fair had brought them in force. While breeding contracts were negotiated continuously between Houses, full sales of anadi happened rarely, and the fair was a good time to buy. There was already a female on the stage when Therun and I joined the crowd.

            "Here we have Salida Metzi-eperu," the Transactions employee was saying. "She began as eperu, remained eperu in her first Turning, and only just became female. As you can see, she has the strong body of a neuter, and having been born with a neuter's intelligence she will surely pass it on to any of her children." On the stool in the center of the stage, the anadi looked bored--still smart enough for that, then. She'd perk up once the bidding started. Who could be bored when listening to people fight for the privilege of buying you?

            "Should I?" Therun asked.

            I eyed the anadi. "No."

            "Just like that," he said. "No reasons, no explanation, nothing? Surely a female from a twice-neuter would last longer..."

            "She will give you trouble," I said. "Few Jokka who are neuter for so much of their lives like being displaced to the life of a female. I would only suggest it if you were willing to let her assist the jarana, or if you were to give her some other duty that would help her feel useful."

            "Useful beyond bearing children," Therun said.

            "Not all Jokka understand the value of the anadi role," I said. "Save your shell for someone who looks anxious and curious."

            He harrumphed, but I could tell he was pleased. Well and again, so was I--this was my work.

            We watched a succession of anadi cross the stage. Over some I shook my head--others, I nodded and Therun bid, though he did not win.

            "You're not even trying," I said after he lost the fourth.

            "No," he admitted. "We need people, but it would be cheaper just to make the purchase at Transactions after the fair. There's too much competition here."

            "You might not find some of these anadi after the fair," I said.

            "And if you tell me there's one I absolutely must have, I will buy her," he said. "But you have only made the mildest of approving noises so far. I won't spend shell on anything less than your fascination."

            I laughed. "Good enough. But I need sustenance to continue my evaluations."

            "Then I shall buy you a roll. Come! The anadi will keep."

            So he bought me a roll stuffed with the tender pink flesh of forest nibblers, the steam carrying the green, piquant scent of herbs to my nostrils, and we ate and we laughed and we watched the crowd, pointing out the best-dressed or the most impressive tails or the most intriguing personalities. As the wind tugged my forelock over my sloped nose and cooled the sweat from my softly-scaled skin, I realized the kaña-befidzu had been right: I'd needed this time away from the House.

            "Back to the stage," Therun said when we'd finished off our third pastry.

            "Back to the stage," I agreed.

            We chatted companionably as the Transactions emodo auctioned off several more contracts. I enjoyed Therun's company; truth be told, I enjoyed any emodo's company. I spent so much time among anadi that the contrast was refreshing.

            But I was not so deep into that enjoyment that I could not be distracted by a flash of gold.

            "Here's a true prize," the emodo on stage declared. "This is Dlane Ashoi-anadi, already a kaña in Ashoi. She's ready to be yours! Shall we start the bidding at 100 shell?"

            If there was perfection among Jokka, it would be hard to quantify: we are so varied, between our three sexes and our Turning between them, and every Turning leaving its mark. But this anadi had never been anything but anadi, not with those broad hips and slim shoulders. She had a noble face and tufted ears longer than any I'd seen, a rich mane of flame-gold to match her arm and foot ruffs, and an exquisitely long tail. Across scales so fine I couldn't see them even with my hunter's eyes, brazen gold spirals cut through the clouds that comprised the hue we name shekul -- a gray built out of a thousand gossamer pale colors, so that each is there for the eye to see, but each subordinate to a greater whole.

            Her beauty was astonishing, like cold water on a summer afternoon... but I could see instantly why she was being sold. Many of the marishet-anadi are tractable, the sweetest and most gentle of our species. But occasionally, the Brightness uses such a three-times-the-same female to reincarnate herself, and nothing is less tractable than a goddess.

            "Oh my," Therun said. "I should buy her."

            "Only if you have a strong hand," I said. "She'll make you beautiful and intelligent children, but you should pray they all grow up emodo and eperu."

            "You're saying she's not happy?" he said. "I could make her happy."

            "No one could make her happy," I said.

            "All that from seeing her on a stage from over four people's heads?" Therun asked. "Are you sure?" His voice dropped. "I've never seen anything like her."

            "And you never will again, I wager," I said. "If you love adventure, Therun . . . buy her. But it will be adventure."

            "Worth it, though," he murmured.

            I looked on Dlane Ashoi-anadi and knew better. She would be nothing but trouble.

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