Considering En-e-kesh
Jellia cleared her throat several times before she finally manage, “Ska-drek, My en-e-kesh is coming up in four days, and I wondered if we could discuss it.”
“Ah, I wondered if I would have to insist. Where do you wish to start our discussion, My Daughter?”
“Well… I’m so nervous, and this is all so new, I wondered if you could just, sort of, give a general overview of what I should be doing?”
“Very well. The first thing you need to do is to decide what category you wish for your e-ne-ska. There are only three worth considering. A li-kesh, lo-kesh, and a lo-ska. They all three have their advantages and disadvantages.”
“My kesh-mates have told me all about that but… but I think you might do better.”
“Yes, well. A lo-ska is ideal in many ways. He is experienced, often brings more to the household account, is not as pushy… usually. It is always difficult to tell how they will be with an ska. Some men react strongly to it. Remember, they don’t get to decide, so it might come as a shock.”
“Yes, ska-drek.” She had already decided she didn’t want an lo-ska. If she was going to be fumbling around and nervous she wanted the en-e-drek to be too. It was probably stupid of her, and several of her girlfriends swore that lo-ska was the best e-ne-drek, and certainly Leah seemed happy with hers, but she wasn’t convinced.
“Between the lo-kesh and the li-kesh there is a severe difference. lo-ska are either shy, or preoccupied. I don’t think either one would do for you, Daughter. As an exo you need an en-e-drek who will take a firm hand with you. I think it should certainly be an lo-ska for your first.”
He saw her look. “Daughter, you have years ahead of you. You can pick an eager li-kesh as your second en-drek to bring some eagerness when you have maturity and experience yourself. But you have so much to learn about so much. And I know you resent discipline but you need a firm hand… at first.”
She kept her face down.
“Are you commanding her?” Mother asked, gently.
“Not yet,” ska-drek said. “I am ruling out lo-kesh, it will be completely inappropriate for an en-e-drek. But I will let her do more study and attempt to convince me if she still wishes to choose a li-kesh.”
“Can you command her? In this?”
“Certainly I can. This is her first contract and I am her ska-drek. Indeed her school would have something to say if I did not look very carefully at her e-ne-drek. No one wishes her to fail.”
“Nor do I wish to fail, ska-drek. I will do my research and return with my answer.”
“I could ask no more, Daughter.”
She sat through the rest of dinner while Mother and ska-drek talked of their work. Then she finished dishes and went upstairs, freshened, and sat on her bed, three huge opaque screens open from her wristcomp, and began a serious research of what information she got about the li-kesh-u that were potential en-e-drek.
It turned out it was quite a bit. Not nearly as much as someone who had already paired, but she got their entire school record, health/growth info, and records from all of their ska-dreks.
She had an idea and began a word search. ska-drek wanted someone serious, a good disciplinarian, who knew code and custom well. She could work with that.
The next evening at dinner she slid her wristcomp over to ska-drek, a large clear screen open to the potential en-e-drek’s file, along with her notes. “You could have just sent this to me, Daughter,” he said, turning the screen toward himself.
“This seemed… better,” she said.
Ska-drek scrolled up and down the record, put it down, ate some, picked it back up. “Well?” Mother said. “Can I see?”
“Certainly,” ska-drek said, and slid it over.
“What are you thinking, Darling?” Mother asked. Not challenging, just questioning.
“Ska-drek said he wished for me to be firmly discipline and taught, so I did a records search with certain key words…”
“It was well done,” ska-drek said. “I approve.”
“But, I don’t understand,” Mother said.
“She found an oldest kesh whose ska-drek-a was sick during much of his youth, so he had to help take care of his siblings. All of his teacher’s and Ska-drek-u are agreed that he did a very responsible job. His scores in code and custom are excellent. This our Daughter is hoping that a kesh who did well by his siblings will do well by her. I approve.”
“You… do you mean I can accept him?”
“I already approved him for you, and the registrar has put a hold on him while the exo bureau works on the approval. I hope you will soon have a snip with your e-ne-ska.”
“Oh!” Jellia said, a bit panicked. She had thought that they would discuss it, meditate on it for a day or so, and then she would make her final decision… “oh.”
“Oh, Darling, I’m so proud of you,” Mother said, coming over and giving her and old-planet hug and kiss. “Oh, I so hope you will be happy.”
“And I hope that she will be obedient to code, custom, and command, and that the en-e-drek will try her hard. He will have recieved, and will continue to recieve, my reports. May you have a successful e-ne-ska and a happy en-e-drek, Daughter.”
“Thank you, ska-drek,” she said, and cursed herself for having started this at the beginning of dinner. Now she would have to sit through all of dinner and dishes before she could run out and snip all of her girlfriends. She had an accepted en-e-drek!! Well, if they approved him.
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Von also writes as ‘Arthur Yeomans’. Under that name he writes children’s, YA, and adult fiction from a Christian perspective. His books include:
The Bobtails meet the Preacher’s Kid
and
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Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von