SC - Highnesses, Lownesses, and Period Cooking.

[Jehanne Argentee]

At 07:41 PM 2/29/00 -0600, you wrote:
>
>>Anyway, if Lance or I seem to have been putting ourselves forward in her
>>defence, it is understandable. We're retainers (Lance is in her household,
>>I'm not) and wouldn't be able to look at ourselves in the mirror if we sat
>>around as people attacked the Princess who is unable to defend herself in
>>this medium. (If you haven't seen any attacks, assume you're on the wrong
>>mailing list.)
>
>A question--on the obligations of retainers:
>
>Suppose you conclude that the attacks are correct and Her Highness is 
>wrong. Could you look at yourself in your mirror if you didn't point 
>out Her Highness's error and do everything you could to persuade her 
>to correct it?

Yes, but I would talk to her quietly, and privately. See if the problem was
what she said, how she said it, what she felt... and ask her quietly about it.

I will agree that the letter was poorly phrased. Especially in light of
what I know of Her Highness's good nature and her love of good cooking.

However I would also defend her in public and try to explain to people
about the Princess I know personally, and what she's said to me in the
past. I'm a gentle and retiring soul by nature, which is how I ended up in
the kitchen in the first place. I don't like discord.

It upsets me seeing profanity aimed at anyone I know, even if people feel
the need to use punctuation instead of letters. It is still upsetting to
me. I deal with it quietly, however, by avoiding the person using such
language. 

Lance is more confrontational than I, and more likely to ruffle feathers. I
know the idea of him challenging someone over how they talk about the
Princess seems outragous to some people... but in Trimaris it has been
known for a fighter to call another out during a feast, the two go out,
armor up, and fight... then come back to the feast so that the challanged
fighter could apologize to the ladies at the table for having used
profanity in front of them. And that was for just using a curse word. Not
for cursing AT the ladies. Taken in light of that kind of tradition, I can
see where Lance feels his duty lies... even though such confrontations make
me wish I was safely hidden again behind a pile of dirty dieshes!

Sincerely,

Jehanne
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