LtCmdr Sky Blake & Rivi Vataix, "The Rules and protocols of a noble house." (Part 2)
richyulin
((Vataix Estate, Ohmallera, Betazed))
Blake: Wait a minute. ::She interrupted.:: Did you say “Ukinix”? They’re a noble family?
::Tidrid smirked before looking over at Rivi.::
Tidrid: See, my point exactly. Apparently their shame is well-known even to an off-worlder.
::Rivi ignored her husband as he continued to give her a goofy grin.::
Rivi: Yes, the Ukinix family is one of the families within the Ninth House. They were in fact the ruling family until the war and occupation. Since then, the Ninth House has been controlled by other houses, and its land and assets divided as such.
::She narrowed her eyes, trying to understand what exactly that meant.::
Tidrid: Honestly, it’s only a matter of time before the entire house is dissolved.
::Rivi shook her head.::
Rivi: What a travesty.
::Blake glanced over to her companion, an eyebrow raised in a quiet hope he’d understood what had just been said.::
Blake: . . . you can dissolve houses?
::Zhou looked up and saw the look Sky had given him before he glanced over as well back at their hosts for the evening.::
Rivi: ::softly laughs:: Well, of course. If no heir is able to take control of a house *and* another house has effectively married into it, then the other house could choose to absorb the members and assets of the original house.
::Tidrid jumped in with more details of the logistics.::
Tidrid: Of course it’s rare. Only happened a few times in the written record. Usually there are enough families within a house that if the ruling family fails to produce an heir, then the next ranking family takes over. But there have been times of war, famine-- ::He tilted his head.:: --scandal, even--that have depleted a house of enough families to survive on its own.
::Blake blinked, one of her hands squeezing Zhou’s knee under the table as she quelled a minor panic at the thought of politics perhaps making Faith’s situation more complicated.::
Blake: For the record, I have no idea how the noble houses are meant to function, but this seems like an overly complex system.
::Tidrid’s wife and Sky’s cousin interjected.::
Rivi: You’re scaring her needlessly, imzadi. ::She looked over at Sky and smiled.:: Nothing so dire is a possibility in our case. Mother of course wants to ensure the Vataix family remains the ruling family of the Eleventh House, but I’ve been working with both the Ragen family and the Cori family -- the next two senior ranking families within our house -- to continue finding our lost cousins.
::She gestured towards Sky as evidence.::
Rivi: If ultimately the head should fall to one of them, then at least the Eleventh House lives on.
Tidrid: Oh, don’t lie. They might not be able to read your mind, but I know you would be horrified, my dear.
::Blake frowned again, rubbing her eyes as she tried to make sense of the influx of information.::
Blake: What difference does it make, who’s in charge or why they’re in charge? I thought the point of nobility was for morale, that they have no stakes in government or law - or anything of the such?
::Rivi nearly choked on her glass of wine when she heard Sky say that. Only someone who wasn’t a part of the nobility would say something like that. Or in this case, someone who didn’t realize the privileges her own nobility could offer her.::
Rivi: I mean, of course all citizens of Betazed are equal under Betazoid law.
::Tidrid continued though where his wife left off.::
Tidrid: But there’s more to how things work in Betazoid society than just the law.
Blake: To my knowledge the same could be said for everywhere in the Federation.
Zhou: I get it.
::The members of the Vataix family--Sky included--turned back to the Starfleet commander at his sudden reentry into the conversation. He looked at Sky, shrugging.::
Zhou: What? It’s true: there’s the law, and there’s the unwritten rules of a society. Class, social status, gender… the law may not discriminate, but society--and people themselves--may not be so neutral.
::Tidrid smiled at Zhou, pointing at him with his fist.::
Tidrid: This man gets it. Future ambassador here.
Blake: See, on Brekka, all of that is explained in a document already.
::Though on Ornara, there were currently only criminal laws set. The societal expectations were currently just a matter of getting through life on a day to day basis. Because they were still suffering through the effects of independence from Brekka (gained in the early 60s), there were no society classes or sense of discrimination, because all Ornarans restarted as equals. There would be splits that occur, no doubt - no society was perfect as the Federation advertised themselves to be.::
::Zhou looked over at Sky with a bit of an incredulous look on his face.::
Zhou: You’re telling me there’s no discrimination on Brekka?
Blake: No. I’m saying that discrimination is written down. You forget, Brekkian society made that to be law. I as an individual see this as abhorrent because I’ve seen and experienced better and I’m open to better, but as a majority, Brekka is still abiding by its rulebook. And this is a rulebook that still states that Ornarans should be manipulated to the extreme for their resources.
::Hence why she wanted Faith as far away from the Delos system as possible.::
::Zhou nodded as he understood now what Sky was saying. Rivi raised her eyebrow, looking down at her plate, her voice somber.::
Rivi: Well, in absence of a rulebook, here on Betazed we just have the protocols demanded by our mothers.
::A quiet, contemplative moment lingered before she looked up abruptly with her bright smile.::
Rivi: Who’s ready for the next course?
TBC…
Daughter of the Eleventh House of Betazed
Sky Blake’s Cousin
I238705TZ0
&
Lt. Commander Sky Blake
Chief of Security
USS Veritas
C238803SB0