How Dare You

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Good tides greet you. I am Elan Straibala, documenter of the Eddy's Water Seekers, and I am furious about the unsupported rumors circulating through the Cluster Islands regarding the former Dancinglight. These are different from others I've addressed before. Those first appeared immediately after the Unity was defeated, fueled by the fear and uncertainty of the time, and their popularity rises and falls like the tide over the years. I fault no one for speculating during a time of confusion. But this set is much more recent, and reported to me at a steadily increasing rate as if they are being seeded into the public consciousness.     Sage Alcendis Varenonde is the daughter of Salibret Varenagos, a prominent Zaiyeve. She is among the survivors of the double eruptions of 2030 Vol and one of the few who are heirs to what is left of their civilization. There is no reason to dispute this, except to challenge the legitimacy of the Allied Isles council that she helped form. Anyone who passes these rumors along, even with the disclaimer that "I don't know if they're true," becomes a partner in sabotage. It's just for that reason that I hate to give them continued exposure, but I hope that by presenting evidence that proves them false I can provide ammunition for you, the reader, to fight them with.

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Salibret must have bought someone else's baby. Why else would she insist on a private birth?

Yes, Salibret had planned for a private delivery, but it wasn't a case of privileged wealth snatching benefits not available to everyone else. She had a health condition that made her skeleton fragile. Even an uneventful birth would have been extremely risky--and it was not uneventful. She went into labor early and it was immediately obvious something was wrong. She had to take emergency transport to Stolc and was brought immediately to an emergency labor hospital.   I shouldn't have to remind anyone that emergency births are never public. Birthing plazas are not equipped to handle life-threatening deliveries, and medical staff must not be distracted by chanting crowds. To say nothing of how devastating it would be to witness the death of a baby--and Sage Varenonde nearly died that day. She was suffering neonatal collapse, a condition so rare it has been recorded less than twenty times in the last two thousand years, and up until then always fatal. She survived thanks to a daring chance taken by a quick-thinking doctor. Under these circumstances it is impossible to imagine that Salibret, also fighting for her life, could have contrived to claim someone else's baby.  

Alcendis never had a baby, like the last heir to an important bloodline should, because she knows she's a fraud.

I didn't ask her about this one because it is not my or anyone else's business whether any other person does or doesn't become a parent. Instead I will list a few factors both in and out of her control that could contribute.

1. She had her own health problems to deal with. Although she has outgrown the danger of neonatal collapse, either the disease or the treatment could have affected her fertility.
2. She was Dancinglight for nearly three decades, and the role is an extremely demanding one that doesn't leave much time or energy for raising children.
3. Salibret, who had Callas's Twist, chose to have an heir despite the risk of passing along the disease. Perhaps Sage Varenonde, who witnessed her mother dying in pain, chose not to.

 

Alcendis looks so much like Istlourn's sister, Kezlaf must have been her father.

The resemblance is real. I've seen it myself. That does not mean that she and Istlourn have the same father. Like all other humans I know personally, Istlourn had a mother. Her identity is lost because she died before the Unity's downfall, but she was clearly one of the Water Seekers Kezlaf recruited from the Eddy, and it is a fact that more Seekers have come from Zaiyev than anywhere else. It is far more reasonable to conclude that Istlourn's mother and Sage Varenonde's mother were some degree of cousins than that Salibret, who opposed everything that Kezlaf did, somehow decided she wanted him to be the father of her child.  

Salibret's real baby died and the hospital gave her a healthy one to keep her happy.

This is the most heinous of the suite of rumors. It's one level of awful to make jealous accusations about a rich and influential individual who can't come back from death to dispute them. It is entirely beyond the bounds of decency to aim them at an organization dedicated to helping parents and children through childbirth, which really is a very dangerous process. Treatment at Galtern hospitals is costly for foreigners, no question of that. The Varen estate was not charged after Sage Varenonde was born, and I can understand that leading to resentment among people who have had to pay significant medical expenses. But Galtern's records declare the debt paid in full by the discovery of a cure for neonatal collapse as well as opening new lines of research into pain alleviation. That is the reason behind the cost: their generosity with medical training.   I don't understand or much care for the way Galtern rewards its citizens based on what other people think of them, but this is a situation where I can see the value in it. None of these rumors have come from my Galternene contacts because of the harsh penalties they impose on slander. Lies like these endanger lives. If you hear them or any similar rumors, ask for sources. Don't repeat them. Please don't be responsible for someone refusing to go to an emergency hospital because she's afraid the doctors will steal her baby.

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