Bradley, Marion Zimmer - Novel 19 (44 page)

 
          
There
is
little social
mingling between men and women, except among
the
relatively
enlightened women
of the college of Ariadne, and a few of the
men working with
the
Unity team in We-were-guided. However, it has
been
noticed that
over
thirty
women, a full
half of them still
of reproductive age, have applied for a license to take a Companion.
Most
women, however, still
prefer a life-partnership with
another
woman,
and the
status
of a Companion is very low. A new
insult is in use
among children in Ariadne; "Companion's-child." This
word is
considered too gross for use
among grown women.

 
          
Twenty-nine
women
of the
University
team have formed a
Household
in
Ariadne,
and
although
I
have entered the household only on formal
terms as
a guest, I
have noticed that a few of the
women
have
chosen
life-partners,
although as yet
there are no cross-partnerships between
women of
Isis
/
Cinderella and the Unity.

 
          
Enclosed
in this report are several applications, passed on through
the
Embassy
and approved
by the Council, of five
women and
two
men
who
have applied for
matriculation and residence permits on University, with
provisional Student status.
Two of the
women are personally known to me;
Laurina,
of the
household
of the High Matriarch Mahala, and a full
professor
of History at the
Women's College, assisted me competently during
the
preliminary
mapping
of the
site
at
We-were-guided; she comes
with
the personal
recommendation
of the Master Scholar Dallard Malocq
as well as my own.
She has
written a monograph on
archaeology for
the
use 0/
the two colleges here, and
has requested
that
when
she achieves Scholar's
status she be reassigned
to Isis/Cinderella to
do her advanced work in the field of communication with
nonhuman
intelligences, among
the people
designated as Ruins
A
Culture.

 
          
The
second applicant to bear my personal
recommendation is Miranda, daughter
of the High Matriarch Vaniya. She holds a degree
in vocaJ
and
instrumental
music from
the
Women's College, and is my close
personal friend; she has appointed me guardian
of her daughter Cendriya
during the period of
her absence.

 
          
The
other applicants
are not personally
known
to
me, although one
of
the women bears the personal recommendation of the Scholar Dame Lurianna di
Velo and
holds a degree in
Temporal Mathematics; both of the
men
bear
the recommendation of the Master Scholar Dallard Malocq, and are advanced
students
and instructors
at the Men's College.

 
          
At
a later
date I
shall
submit
information as to the
continuing
cultural
investigation of social organization among the
Ruins
A
Culture, a
project which is barely beginning.

 
          
I
know that you and your colleagues are also interested in the
progress
of
the study of the
ruins
at
We-were-guided. May I direct your
attention
to the study forwarded
under separate
cover by the Master Scholar
Dallard Malocq and the Scholar Dame di Velo. This is, of course, a preliminary
study; it has not yet even
determined
whether or not the ruins were
erected by the race designated as the Builders. The Scholar Dame Lurianna di
Velo will forward an advanced report by the next ship from
Isis
. 1 enclose also her request, to be
forwarded to the Mentors of the
College
of Archaeology, for an advance
team
of four hundred;
I wish
in my
capacity of resident expert on matriarchal customs to
remind
the assigning committee of University that by the laws of the Matriarchate,
the
committee must number fewer men than women.
The Scholar Dame
has
also requested that among
the committee, at least half a dozen
women be
included
who hold
degrees in
Temporal Mathematics. She is
aware
of the
current Scholar's attitude
toward the
theory of Time
stasis,
which
is
why
she asked me
to forward this request informally instead of
going
through channels.

 
          
I
thank you for
your kind wishes, and
the offer to grant me a maternity
leave for the next season, and to delay the forwarding of my advanced
reports
and qualification data, but
it
is not
the
custom
of
women
on Isis/Cinderella
to take
such leaves, and
it
would reflect
poorly upon the
women
of
University
if I were to do so.
Nevertheless, I am deeply grateful for your attempted consideration.

 
          
I
shall be awaiting your
reply,
and your promised visit
to the site of the
Ruins
A Culture.

 
          
With
respectful greetings,

 
          
Cendri
Owain Malocq

 
          
Scholar
Dame [qualified; Isis/Cinderella)

 
          
Marion
Zimmer Bradley is best known for the famous "Darkover" series which
began with The
Bloody Sun
in 1961. She has consistently injected social
commentary into her work, and describes herself as a feminist long before
anyone heard of women's lib. The Ruins
of
Isis
carries on that tradition. Her wide-ranging
interests include costumery, gourmet cooking, opera, Gaelic folk music and
parapsychology. She considers her writing to be in the realm of
"interplanetary adventure," rather than the hard technology school of
science fiction. Recently elected vice president of the Science Fiction
Writer's Association, Marion Zimmer Bradley has three children and lives in
Berkeley
,
California
.