He said to Lider and Rhys, “Bamburgh Castle is holding a seminar on the Faroe Islands, including Faroe Doctrine. If you go there, you’ll meet up with Geo Aslund.”
Geo Aslund was a Siphon from an exceedingly aristocratic and wealthy clan. Wealthy enough that like Meke, he could have accepted a token position in his family’s company and spent his days hanging out in the equivalent of a men’s club.
Meke became a diplomat, Geo a translator. He usually worked with Anthros, those who preferred their kin group’s language to the Common Language. Geo was highly specialized and he was greatly in demand—which was in keeping with Geo’s personality.
“Is Geo a devotee of Faroe Doctrine?” Rhys said.
He couldn’t imagine Geo believing in anything much except himself. When Geo visited the Mars Space Station over a year ago, he’d attended a few Masses. Afterwards, he’d discussed the connotations of “Lamb of God” and “resurrection” with Lider, how to make the terms clear to his clients. He would have shown the same focus—and probably did—attending a meeting on the maintenance of air ducts. Geo’s job was his focus.
Meke said, “Geo? No. But the primary proponents of Faroe Doctrine have expanded their, ah, denomination to include all sentient species.”
Lider frowned. “Not an exclusively Siphon experience then.”
“Faroe Doctrine does originate with Siphons,” Meke pointed out.
“But applying it to humans and Anthros and Cubi would water it down somewhat.”
Rhys smiled. Lider believed in things being distinctly themselves: True pluralism. Let differences exist side by side. For those differences to exist, believers had to avoid reductionist abstraction. Catholic doctrine should be Catholic doctrine. If one claimed to believe it, one should be able to recognize it.
Rhys didn’t disagree. But sentient beings were fully capable of compartmentalizing their beliefs: exclusivity alongside diverse membership; cultural celebration alongside accusations of cultural appropriation. A sentient being could applaud an act and get offended by its outcomes in the same moment without feeling hypocritical.
Nevertheless, Rhys said, “Does Brae see Anthros and humans as spiritual companions?”“He isn’t bigoted,” Phillala said quickly.
Lider met Rhys’s eyes. Rhys nearly shrugged. Brae could want a Siphon-exclusive experience and not be a bigot. He might simply wish to “go deep,” a phrase familiar to Siphons, humans, Anthros, and even Cubi.
Would Brae admit such apparently narrow needs?
Rill muttered, “Geo’s ego would give Brae’s ego a bruising.”
He’d returned to the carpeted area and now perched on the sofa arm near Meke. Meke laughed and set his hand on Rill’s knee. Geo, Rhys remembered, had been the RaykJanes’s choice for Meke, a mate they set deliberately in Meke’s path. According to Lider, who talked to people about that type of thing, Rill had never felt threatened by Geo. One could still resent the sudden appearance of an ex in one’s lover’s life. Rhys deliberately didn’t look at Lider.
Juwel said mildly, “Geo is very accomplished. But not with numbers,” she added, and Rill flashed her one of his rare smiles. She smiled back and strode away.
Apparently, Juwel RaykJanes was confident that Rhys and Lider wouldn’t harass Phillala, not any more than Phillala harassed them.
Meke said contemplatively, “Brae isn’t confident enough to show off an ego.”
Phillala murmured agreement.
So did Rill. He said, “Geo knows where he belongs in the universe.”
* * *
Geo was a slender man slightly taller than Lider. He was somewhere between Rhys and Lider in age and he was handsome—not in the same way as Rhys, with worldly wear, or as Lider, with that hint of otherworldliness. He was almost shocking in his good looks, the kind of good looks that sent up red flags to people wary of grifters and con men. Bright, direct eyes of cerulean blue. Tan skin that didn’t blush or pale. Styled brown hair with blond highlights. The flare of blue-green along his hairline indicated membership in the aristocratic Aslund clan.Good looking enough to be dismissed as empty-headed until one noted the way the upper lip thinned and the eyes slightly narrowed when Geo teased someone.
Or until Geo opened his mouth. “Is Brae the Los Nares in absentia from RaykJanes’s marriage wrangling? I’ll ask around. But I just arrived at Bamburgh Castle. From Greenland.”
Greenland contained the primary political association of Anthros on Earth, an assortment of kin groups under a single queen. An Anthros prince had recently been officially presented in an international event that required a stampeding herd of diplomats and translators.
Geo said, “Meke left for New York about the same time—rushed home to his number-crunching weever fish.”
Lider said, “Aren’t weever fish dangerous?”
Geo grinned like a shark. “Sure. They bite. Have you talked to Rill?”
Which meant that Rill might be one of the few people to best Geo in an exchange of barbs.
For all Rhys’s own sardonic tendencies, needling conversations made him tired. He gave Geo a raised eyebrow. Geo’s shark smile quieted to something more neighborly.
“I can ask around about Brae,” he said. “But the castle is full-up for the conference.”
They stood in the west ward of Bamburgh Castle. Behind them loomed the clock tower. Ahead was the path that led to the restored St. Oswald’s Gate. To the right was a low wall edging an open sky, blown clear by fresh breeze from the North Sea.Geo said, “Brae is a devotee of Saint Mairead then?” Bamburgh Castle was a jumping off point for the pilgrimage for Saint Mairead, the first Siphon Saint.
“Faroe Doctrine,” Rhys said. “Brae expressed interest in its ideas.”
“More Catholic zealousness.”
“Faroe Doctrine isn’t Catholic doctrine,” Lider said.
“Not officially,” Geo agreed. “But it has Anthros and human Catholic adherents. What people do with their personal theologies—”
He shrugged, which more or less summed up Rhys’s attitude towards religion. But he wasn’t going to bond with Geo over, well, anything. He and Lider had agreed years ago that Rhys as priest should keep his agnosticism to himself.
Geo said, “I suppose you checked out Brae’s initiation temple?”
“It’s been thoroughly scouted,” Rhys said. “We sent agents to follow up. But it seems to be the one place everyone has thought of.”
Lider said, “We’ll hear if he shows up in the Great Lakes Duchy.”
Geo nodded. “So you think he came here to drown his sorrows in philosophical meanderings?”
Drown was a pejorative with Siphons. Lider frowned.
“You use ‘philosophical meanderings’ when you translate complex doctrines to your clients?” he said, and Rhys couldn’t help a laugh.
Lider sounded much the same when he scolded a young parishioner for using “unimaginative expletives.”Geo grinned. “Depends on what I am translating. Not everyone pulls their punches. Take separate the wheat from the chaff. Is that like separating deep water from shallow? Or salt water from fresh? Or polluted water from good?”
“Why insist on a single analogy?”
“I thought the object was to communicate successfully to an audience. Of course, metaphors don’t work for everyone.”
Lider and Geo could go on for hours about language and meaning and intent. Rhys said, “Does the castle have a list of attendees? Siphon attendees specifically?”
Geo considered, then set off up the road to the castle wall. They passed under the arch and trekked up the road to the gatehouse; they turned abruptly to mount stairs to the walkway that was lined with people and tables.Rhys gathered that the conference that weekend was a general celebration of the Faroe Islands. One table offered an excursion to the islands. Another sold statues of Kópakonan, a representation—some believed—of Lady Mairead. Another touted storytelling sessions of Faroe Island myths.
Faroe Doctrine had a table of its own.