tushanshu | VIII. Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you!

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VIII. Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you!

[AUDIO, public. The morning after the event ends and Tu Vishan starts moving again.]

I am not alone, I gather, in detecting a change in the air here. It is rather like waking on the very first day of the Season, with all the possibility that lies ahead—or waking the morning after the last day, with the happy knowledge that one need not be at home to anyone that day. We have, I suppose, escaped the fate of Des Esseintes's tortoise.

[AUDIO, private to Dorian Gray.]

I have finished Mr Findley's novel, Dorian. A most marvellous book; quite gorgeous and affecting.

But I must ask you, dear boy—is what he writes about Oscar true?

[He's already guessed that it is. This is less a real question than the confirmation of a sense of creeping dread.]

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I am Kara Zor-El. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. [ She has been well trained in manners, though she rarely uses them. ]

And to answer your question, yes. Normally under a yellow sun I don't need to eat or sleep, so this past few weeks has been very tiring.

The pleasure is all mine, Miss Zor-El.

[Odd how these names no longer faze him.]

I am pleased for your sake that matters have been set right again. I confess, however, that the concept of life without the pleasures of food and sleep seems quite strange to me.

It's been strange for me, too. In my home, on Krypton, everything was just... normal. I've been away about seven months now and I have to admit that I still miss the feeling of being hungry sometimes.

Starving, not as much.

Ah! So you are one who hails from the stars, then? Forgive me; such things are fantastical tales where I come from.

[ She chuckles at the irony. ]

They were tales where I come from too. I don't know how my father managed to build the pod that sent me to Earth.

I must remind myself that one is always a foreigner or an alien to someone else. My time here has been quite the lesson to that effect.

Have you lived most of your life on Earth, then?

None of it. I crashed there and two weeks later I found myself here.

Ah, then much has been new for you of late.

Everything has, honestly. I'm just relieved that this place translates speech.

It is quite an advantage, although paradoxically, I find it somewhat limiting at times.

Really? How so?

Well, for example—my mother tongue is—regrettably, perhaps—English, but I am very fond of certain French poets, and find their thoughts best expressed in that language. I cannot help but think some of the effect is lost when all sounds equally alike to one's auditor.

You mean you like the sound of it. [ The meaning, she has found, is translated almost perfectly. Only the accents tell her that those she's speaking with aren't speaking Kryptonian. ]

We only had the one language on Krypton, with different dialects.

The sound, yes—but as well, I find that there are certain subtleties of a culture that are part and parcel of the language.

My native country has at least three dialects for every county, I do believe, some of which are scarcely recognisable as English.

[ She chuckles at that. Sounds about right. ]

We have dialects for each guild, and a more basic one used for minors. I know a bit of science guild talk from my parents, but everything else may as well be a different language.

Now that is truly marvellous—a dialect based not on where one had the misfortune to be born, but on one's vocation.

From what I understand Krypton doesn't have countries like Earth does, so that may be part of it. It's hard to imagine society without guilds, but apparently you don't have anything like them, except perhaps the military.

The notion of a guild is rather old-fashioned in my day—it was once a system by which craftsmen would organise and train their own, and a guild was quite local to the city in which it was formed.

Is it? [ She perks brightly at that. She's always eager to learn more about other worlds, but even more so when she can make comparisons to Krypton. ]

Our guild system is global. Was, sorry. [ She sobers, but not much. Using past tense has started getting easier. ] Everyone enters a guild when they graduate.

Ah, nowadays in my world, when one is finished with one's education, one enters into an occupation, but there are no guilds to organise them anymore. Through a happy accident of birth, however, I was spared the need to go into trade.

Why is that a happy accident? [ On Krypton joining the work force and helping to advance and maintain their society is a matter of great pride. She can't imagine thinking of it as a burden. ]

As a son to an aristocratic family, little is expected of one save to marry well and not disgrace the family name. It is a pleasant life that has afforded me the opportunity to meet the most interesting people, in charming settings.

[Please forgive Henry's dreadful snobbery and idleness, Kara.]

What do you do all day?

[ judging you, tbh ]

[Let's be honest: he deserves the judgement.]

There is no shortage of engagements, charity concerts, and social calls that one must make. Idleness is dreadfully hard work.

You do a lot of charity work, then? [ You are a useless slug. ]

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