The Announcement
Part 1: The Dandes
Nick paced on the tabletop. Sophia sat a few meters away from him, an amused smile on her face as she listened to his footsteps. Sitting at either end of the table were Brinn and Zara, while Taron sat ahead in the pilot’s seat, making sure they didn’t wander into an asteroid field.
They were in Pryvani’s shuttle Elysium on their way back to Archavia. Pryvani had graciously allowed them to borrow the ship so that they could head home to Archavia to visit their families. Well, Taron, Brinn and Zara’s families.
“Will you settle?” Zara admonished Nick lightly. “Watching you pace is making me dizzy.”
“Sorry.” The human sighed dropping onto the small bench they’d placed on the table for his own and Sophia’s use. “This… I’m still not sure this is a good idea. I mean, there’s still so much to be done on Avalon… what right do we have to take off for a vacation?”
“Things are much better now.” Brinn reminded him. “Darren and Lysis have nearly cleaned up the countryside of bandits, and the trade routes are beginning to flourish. Alex I already planning his first franchise… You and Sophia have worked really hard. You deserve a chance to get away.”
The redhead’s eyes narrowed.
“Or are you just nervous to be meeting our parents?”
Nick started and a faint blush appeared on the back of his neck. “Well, there’s that…”
Sophia chuckled.
“Well, I mean… I’m not wrong am I? Meeting the parents is a tough thing normally… but given the circumstances…”
“Don’t worry about it Nick.” Taron called from the cockpit. “We’re heading to my place first, my folks’ll be easy. Good practice.”
“How do you know?” Nick asked. “I mean… Sophia and I are human…”
“Really?” Sophia feigned shock, before turning to Zara. “You told me I was just really short!”
“Sorry Sophia.” Zara responded with a grin. “I was hoping to find the right time to break it to you.”
“You know what I mean!” Nick sighed exasperatedly.
“Just trust me.” Taron said with a grin. “It’ll be fine.”
*.*.*.*
“Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking we are now entering Archavian airspace. I just got off the comm with ground control and we will be landing in Paeri momentarily.”
Sophia was jostled awake by the sound of Taron’s voice. She smiled softly and stretched her arms above her head with a smile. That had been a good nap.
The mattress underneath her shifted and Sophia realized she was laying on something living. She wasn’t sure who she’d been camped out on, until she caught the distinctive scent of Brinn’s mossaberry body wash.
“Have a good nap?” Brinn asked.
“Mm, yes. You titans make the best beds.”
“Cute.” Brinn snorted. “But we’re almost there. Taron’s landing as we speak.”
Sophia climbed to her feet and cracked her back. “So I heard.”
As if on cue, there was a slight bump that shook the shuttle before the vehicle settled with a series of mechanical pops.
“And touchdown. Sorry that was a little rough folks, I guess I’ve gotten too used to landing on Avalon.” Taron called back from the cockpit. “Nevertheless, welcome to Dzozar in the beautiful country of Paeri. Famed in song and story as the land of the sapphire shores and crystal caves.”
Zara sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yeah yeah.” She muttered, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. “Let’s just get out of this bucket already. I need real sunshine and air that hasn’t been reoxygenated.”
“Don’t let Pryvani hear you call it a bucket.” Nick laughed from his place on Zara’s shoulder. “She’ll make you hitch-hike the next time you need to go somewhere.”
The group stepped off the shuttle and into the bright Archavian sunlight. Taron paused to engage the security locks and then shouldered his luggage.
“Come on.” He said nodding towards the port’s exit. “The Taxi service is right over here.”
One short ride through the countryside later and the group found themselves in front of a suburban home. It was worn down in all the right ways, giving it a lived in comfortable appearance. There was a small lawn of turquoise colored grass with a small vegetable garden at the edge of the property.
“Welcome to my home.” Taron said to the two humans. “I wonder if anybody is home.”
Just then, the door swung open and a pair of titans came rushing out onto the lawn. A man and a woman, both with a slightly redder version of Taron’s sandy hair. The woman was almost a head shorter than Taron, though she shared his grey eyes while the man’s eyes were dark brown. He was around the same height as Taron
“Well well well, look at the wayward son come home.” The woman snickered even as she pulled Taron into a hug.
“Hi Yurea.” Taron muttered as he wrapped his arms around her. “Hi Eido. I’m glad to see the both of you too.”
He turned to the group. “My brother Eido and my sister Yurea. Eid, ‘Rea, this is everybody.”
“It’s nice to see you again.” Brinn said cheerfully.
“Well let’s not stand out here, come in, let’s get you settled.” Eido said, linking his arm through Zara’s and leading them towards the door.
“Are Mom and Dad home?” Taron asked, as he followed his siblings into the house. Once inside he directed everybody to leave their luggage by the door and then led them into the kitchen.
“Of course we are.” An older woman, with Taron’s hair and Eido’s eyes stepped out of the kitchen and quickly rushed to embrace her son. “You think we’d be anywhere else when you came home after all this time? Hello Brinn, Zara dear.”
“Hello Mytia.” Brinn murmured as Taron’s mother pulled her into a hug, followed by Zara.
“Hello Youngest Son of Wife.” An artificial voice attracted their attention in time to see an avartle male exit the kitchen. His fur was almost completely white, save for a few patches of grey and black.
Taron grinned and stepped forward before kneeling in front of the elderly avartle. “Good to see you Second Father.” He said as the two of them pressed their palms together in greeting. “I am pleased to see you well.”
“As I am for you.” Second Father responded with a twitch of his tail.
“All right, now that we’ve all said hello, why don’t you all take your luggage upstairs and get refreshed.” Mytia said with a smile. “I’m sure it was a very long trip for you.”
Taron rose back to his feet and helped Zara and Brinn grab their luggage. “Good idea, Mom. We’ll be back down in a few minutes.”
He led them up the stairs and down the hallway to a brightly lit room.
“Here, we can stash the stuff in here for now.” He said over his shoulder as they entered.
“So your dad… he’s an Avartle?” Sophia asked.
“Step dad.” Taron responded. “As if that wasn’t obvious. He and my mom have been married for about three years now. He’s a good person, and my mom loves him. Which has been good for her since my dad died.”
Taron shrugged his shoulders and grinned. “And that is why I don’t see my family having a problem with you and Sophia, Nick. We aren’t exactly rigid traditionalists to begin with.”
“I suppose.” Nick exhaled sharply and nodded.
“Now come on. They’ll be waiting for us downstairs.”
“Now then.” Taron’s mother Mytia said when they arrived back in the living room. “Why don’t you all have a seat and you can tell us what the big news you had to share with us was.”
After a bit of shuffling, every on assembled was perched on one of the many chairs or sofas that dotted the living room.
“Go ahead Taron.” Zara said with a grin. “Tell them.”
Taron swallowed and seemed to look uncharacteristically nervous. “Well, uh, everybody… we have an announcement-”
“We know that, that’s why you came several light-years to get here.” Taon’s brother interrupted.
“Yes, I know, Eido.” Taron responded, rolling his eyes. “As I was saying…We’re getting married.”
The room suddenly interrupted in cheers and Brinn, Zara and Taron suddenly found themselves engulfed in hugs by Taron’s mother, sister and brother respectively. It was all Nick could do to keep himself and Sophia from being crushed in the press of happy titans.
“Oh I’m so glad you’re finally settling down. I’m sure the three of you will be so happy.” Taron’s mother gushed as she wiped her eyes.
“Well, uh, mom, actually it’s the five of us.” Taron said, taking Nick and Sophia in his hand and holding them up. “Meet Nick and Sophia.”
There was a brief moment of silence as the three titans and one avartle stared at the two humans in Taron’s palm. Nick swallowed nervously and waved awkwardly. Sophia was, of course, unaware of being stared at, but she could sense Nick’s tension and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Suddenly Yurea’s face split into a grin. “Oh that is great. Marrying humans, I love it!”
Taron chuckled. “I figure you would, sis. You were the one who dated that Tusola for three months.”
“Yes I did.” Yurea nodded. “Why not? She was fun. And humans seem to be a lot closer to Titans than they are. So why not marry one? That physicist in Tanhauser did it, why can’t you?”
“Well, I do wish you’d told me beforehand, Taron.” Mytia admonished. “I’ve spent so much time looking at tripletus marriage ceremonies and now it’s all a waste because you’re going to need a quintus.”
“A what?” Sophia asked.
“Quintus. A five-participant marriage ceremony. Paeri, Sobdu and Turga were some of the first cultures on Archavia to practice polyamorous marriages.” Taron explained. “As a result, they have a number of different ceremonies depending on how many people are involved. A quintus is a five person ceremony.”
He turned back to his mother. “And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you beforehand. Things have just been kind of crazy on Avalon lately. I haven’t really had time to think about anything else.”
“Yes, I suppose working for Pryvani Tarsuss would do that.” Eido said with a laugh. “Is it true what they say about her?”
Brinn chuckled. “Oh I’m sure the truth about Pryvani Tarsuss is even crazier than the rumors. But I’m not sure she’d like us to give away her little secrets.”
“Well, never mind about that.” Mytia said. “Nick, Sophia. Welcome to the family to you as well. Good luck keeping my son in line.”
“We’ll do our best.” Sophia said with a grin.
*.*.*.*
It was later that night when Nick found himself unable to sleep. He climbed out of the makeshift bed he’d been sleeping on and carefully climbed down to the floor. After a short trek across the floor, Nick found himself out in the hallway where he climbed to the top of a bookshelf and looked out through a window and into the cool night outside.
He gazed up at the stars and tried to spot Sol Tarsuss, but he wasn’t familiar enough with the Archavian night sky to pick it out.
“Can’t sleep?” Nick started at the voice and looked over his shoulder to see Taron’s sister Yurea standing behind him wearing a bathrobe cinched tight around her body.
“Yeah sort of.” Nick admitted.
“Any particular reason why?”
Nick sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know… You’ve all been really nice and I suppose I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
Yurea chuckled and tapped her fingertips against the bookshelf next to Nick. “Waiting for Mom to turn into a terrible mother in law or for one of us to try and put you into a cage?”
“Maybe not that extreme, but yeah, something like that.”
“Look… I’ll admit I never really considered humans being equal to titans before. It just… hadn’t really occurred to me that that might actually be the case. Now that I have, it seems stupid that I hadn’t realized it before. I’m sure the rest of the family thinks the same. And, anyway, there was a time when marrying anybody but a titan would have seemed ridiculous. That’s not the case anymore, my family being proof, so why should being with a human be any different? I mean in some ways it makes more sense… at least we look alike, height accepting. You don’t have fur or scales or anything, after all.”
Nick snorted. “I suppose that’s true. Anyhow… don’t mind me. I do appreciate you all being so accepting.”
Yurea shrugged. “No big deal. You and Sophia both seem nice. And it’s easy to see the lot of you are crazy about each other. You’ll make each other happy.”
Suddenly, Taron’s eldest sibling leaned forward and pressed her lips to the top of Nick’s head. “I guess what I’m saying is, ‘welcome to the family, little brother.’”
Im glad this is now out in the open! I gotta admit its a little out there for such a big marriage with multiple races to be going on! I think this is the first gts story i have read where this happened!
The polygamy aspect of these stories… Not a fan of, not gonna lie.
Polygamy is one husband, several wives. That’s not what’s going on here.
Here it’s polyamory (spelling ?), several husbands and/or several wives. Still pretty rare but it does happen.
well if you want to get really *really* technical, Polygamy actually means “many marriages” so what they have *could* be polygamy in the technical sense (although, yes, general usage of polygamy is 1 man/multiple women- but the actual term for that would by polygyny, while the opposite would be polyandry)
This has been an impromptu language lesson that nobody asked for ;p
Well, whatever they call it, that’s going to be one very expensive ceremony if they do it on Avalon.
I doubt they will. None of them are Avalonian, and thus the traditions there don’t really apply to them.
There is nothing subjective oabout absolute truth . Go be part of a marriage where you are the juonior partner you feminist and then youll realize your folly.
“I have not personally met anyone who was part of a polyamorous relationship”
I have. I’ve met two parts of a threesome. It is kind of weird to people who are not used to it, but people in such relationships tend to take different roles within the household. But just having back-up from more members of the family is a good thing. So the relationship ends up providing different things to different people, and there is more potential for friction, and more potential for some members abandoning the family when it doesn’t work for them anymore. With larger groups some may be less committed than others, and that’s another potential for friction.
I guess that there are hardly “models” for poly relationships. Each has its own unique properties. (insert Anna Karenina quote here)
Which, to be fair, this isn’t “many marriages”. It’s a single marriage involving five people.
Polygamy is more along the lines of someone getting married, then marrying a separate person at a later time.
Polyamory is the closest word we have for this subject. Wikipedia describes it as “consensual, ethical, and responsible non-monogamy”, which sounds about right for this situation.
Weird that it describes it as ethical and responsible.
And why wouldn’t it be either? What about the relationship of the characters in this story comes across as unethical or irresponsible?
“Ethical” and “responsible” are conditions that are required to be met before the definition can be applied. Furthermore, ethics are highly subjective and vary greatly from person to person, culture to culture, etc.
Feel free to jump on board the Pryvani train but polygami is wrong, no doubt. I will never care for these characters.
Eithical and responsible lol. JUst bastardize Noami family relations. Im sure youll convince the soldiers that Fourth and watched their friends die in Iraq for yo. Gender equality ho!
There is a phrase with a long and storied history: De gustubus not est disputandum — literally, “There’s no accounting for taste.” I can state with certainty that a poly marriage would not be for me — a single spouse was enough trouble — but for me, in general, it falls under my “I don’t really care how consenting adults want to live” rule.
Don’t get me wrong, polygamy — as opposed to polyamory — has a ton of serious issues and a major, major, major problem with sexism. In principle, polyamory cures that. In practice? It doesn’t really have a long history, so it’s hard to say.
At any rate, I’ve accepted it, primarily because I think it’s coming, maybe in our lifetimes. Same sex marriage is a mortal lock, at least in the west. I’d be shocked if polyamory isn’t at least legal in, say, Sweden before I die.
What a disturbing thought. Polyamory is a good thing. What we need is competition amongst our spouses? What we need is families raised by several parents? What we need is a complete abandonment of the original structure of humans to make people go WHAAAT?
Im done if you go down this path. The reality is the traditional model has been pretty successful. Polyamori is bastardized, its a lie. Are you all sheep?
I have not personally met anyone who was part of a polyamorous relationship, but from what I understand they’re not competitions between spouses, but rather a sharing of lives where the result is more than the sum of its parts. So not much different from the traditional relationships. And who says anything about completely abandoning those traditional relationships? Most people will continue to enter into two-people relationships because those tend to work best. But emphasis on ‘tend to’. People aren’t all the same; if some people decide that for them a polyamorous relationship works better then they’re not automatically wrong.
As for getting raised by several parents, I’ve found that it’s not so much the number of parents that matters as the quality of their parenting. I’d also like to point out that more than one couple has relatives living in their house (or are living in their relatives’ house) who end up acting in a parental role similar to that of the couple.
Per Angusta Ad Augusta, are you seriously just now getting that this series is really, very, very liberal ? This has been true from the start.
I’m sometimes bothered by the political assumptions that implies, yet, not by the social ones. As DX said, “There’s no accounting for taste.”
As for your point about parenting, faeriehunter is right to point out that “more than one couple has relatives living in their house (or are living in their relatives’ house) who end up acting in a parental role similar to that of the couple.”
That is particularly true – funny enough – in more traditional societies, like eastern and southern Europe.
Greece immediately pops to mind for me : for both traditional and financial reasons, it’s very common there to build a ground floor house with a flat roof, then when the kids are getting married, to build another level on top of the first one , and so on. No need to buy new land to build the new house.
So it’s quite common there to have three generations of the family living in the same house. Many members play a parental role.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio…
This is not a new concept – fiction wise. Group or communal marriages was around in the 60s. Hippie culture. Most were not sustaining. Some religious cults sometime encourage this..mostly its one man and many women. The old testament bible had the Hebrew kings possessing a few wives. King Solomon was reported to have about 1000! Not so smart in my view 🙂
My father’s family in Poland was basically a large extended family. It consisted of the primary family ( 5 brothers, 5 sisters, mother and father) In addition they had a set of paternal grandparents (+2), maternal grandmother, 2 aunts and 1 uncle.
They also had frequent visitors and guests
The building that house them also had units in the rear that contained another small family (about 4) and their business. They owned the entire building. I got the impression that it almost like a small tribe unto itself. Raising the kids was a group effort. Family politics definitely played a role :0)
This is not a new concept – science fiction wise either. Poly in the Titanverse is treated very lightly as compared to what Heinlein was doing 45 years ago. It’s all speculative fiction and when its well done it’s intended to make the reader think. The few glimpses we see of the Archer-Dande-Kramer-Mavoy-Pria family certainly makes one wonder how such a family life would work compared and contrasted with the more traditional families. There’s a lot to think about here and if we are honest about it far more questions raised than answers proposed.
Dear Lord, no. Heinlein was an intriguing writer, and I enjoy his work, but I think you can pretty well count on us not having anyone literally marry their mother. Or twin daughters who are clones of themselves. Or grandfathers. Or themselves, who also happen to be their parents and children. (Bob had an interesting imagination. At least, one hopes it was imagination.)
Okay. Feel free to ignore them, then.
ok, Agusta, i’m sure not going to sit here while you insult me on my own damned website. I’m writing the story i want. You can read it or not. I dont really give a damn at this point if it offends you. You’re perfectly free to stop reading. Otherwise? You can kindly fuck off.
Ahah ! He’s mad now ! JS is on TinyDann mode ! 😆 😀
Trying to bully me about the content of my own damn stories is pretty much my hot button. As is the phrase “I’m offended.” when it comes to my writing. I’ll write what I want and I don’t care if people don’t like it.
As for the politics… eh. I actually think I’m the most conservative of the writers. Granted, that’s like saying Arizona is colder than Texas. It’s probably true, but the difference doesn’t matter all that much. Regardless, DX and OHH handle most of the political stuff- because frankly I don’t want to, lol. There are some things I disagree with when it comes to, say, the depiction of Earth in the Contact era but… The story was awesome enough that I was willing to set that aside in the interests of letting him tell the story he wanted to. And, granted, it’s more realistic than Star Trek Earth, imo.
I didn’t write the book on the angry reaction, truthfully there are many angry reactions…even out of the stoic and well composed D.X, I’m just generally the one who doesn’t mind not holding back. But, push somebody’s buttons enough and they’ll lash out.
For the record, I don’t buy into the “Death of the Author” fluff D.X does, and I stand by J.S on the “I write what I like, like it or leave it”.
As far as the polygamy though…Agusta, if you’re just now clicking in to the fact that there is Polygamy, and heathenistic Liberal values in Titan…I’m not sure what to tell you bro 😉
I’d love to see a vignette of Yurea with Manto. I get the feeling that she’d be an excellent aunt and would be absolutely smitten with her tiny niece. I feel that Tylum will be the same way as well.
Also, I have a feeling that one of the two remaining announcements is going to go very poorly.
Could be worse. They could be marrying Zhan.
That was really refreshing and sweet. I really needed that after reading about Laurna and Izzy. I’m still really pissed about that. Laurna was really selfish, Izzy’s life is her own to do with as she pleases. I feel that, as someone who attempted suicide, no one can be selfish with their own lives. People who love you should be able to realize that just because they love you, and need you in their lives, that their need doesn’t mean they can keep you from dying or living just because they’d be heartbroken. Its not their choice to make.
Very sweet… But if they are so casual about marriage to non-Titans, why didn’t Taron mention it earlier, like, for example, before they left Avalon? Was it still a secret? Or only from us? I am guessing it was just a plot device, sorry to complain, just sayin’…
Yeah, by the time I met my future wife’s parents I knew enough about them to not be in Sophia’s position: “So your dad… he’s an Avartle?”.
“So we’re going to meet my family. A bunch of people I’m going to tell you nothing about. My folks’ll be easy.” As nervous as Nick was, he wouldn’t let it go at just that. He would demand more details.
We already knew that Taron’s in a polyamorous marriage, now we see his mother marrying an Avartle, and he very casually said that his family is not traditionalist. Taron is becoming the ultimate “sure why not” guy when it comes to lifestyle choices, and this vignette illustrates the highly tolerant atmosphere that created that attitude.
good ssweet chap. I like Poncezk’s supposition!
Was wondering if we would see this. With the other mixed couples we’ve already established what their family’s think so going in depth for this one seemed like a logical step.
When the father (or step father) was revealed to be an Avartle it brought a big smile to my face, we’ve heard about this kind of relationship but never seen it. So good to know they’re accepting, especially since the first child in this relationship is Taron’s daughter.
A good first part though I’m wondering if we’re setting ourselves up for something bad. If nothing else Zara will at least have Tylum to back her up. With Brinn’s family…given her initial thoughts on humans, and well Trell, I’m not hopeful.
btw whenever Taron was talking about his town I kept imagining Sophia doing this http://i.imgur.com/ukQWp6l.gif
I can totally picture Sophia having Toph’s sense of humor about being blind.
Aww that was sweet. I like Taron’s step dad, I like avartle but yeah didn’t see it coming about being his step dad. Bit of a short read was hoping to see a bit more on Taron’s family but oh well maybe there is more to come or not, no big thing in the end.
But I do enjoy these little stories about these characters that don’t get a lot of screen time, its more on the fun side than what is going on in the novel size stories.
As for the email thing that is going on, don’t really care as I just come back here for story updates.
I guess the next chapters are the other families getting the announcement.
I guess Zara’s family will be accepting as well with her little sister being accepting of hhmans as an equal (though Zara’s parents may be a different story)
Brinn’s family will probably be the most interesting… for obvious reasons.
Anyways, great start and interesting dynamic of Taron’s step dad being an Avartle.
I have a feeling, that they may meet Pierce while visiting Zara’s family. I Wonder if he would still be mad on Zara for buying him in first place. Well cant be sure, as we don’t know any further plot of Sovereign (which is around early Physics now… Putting Pierce in it could cause spoilers, but again, we know already that whole Royal family gets to meet him, and they changed they point of view in case of humans).
But anyway, can’t wait to see reaction of others…
At this point in the timeline, Pierce is very likely to be with Rhionne, not Tylum. Though I’m sure it will amuse Zara to find out that the Earthborn human she bought her sister hooked up with a princess.