You wish to share in the bond of friendship, daughter of Jolanda?
[At this he sounds surprised, as if the thought had never crossed his mind: and indeed it had not.]
Among the Danaans it is unusual indeed for man and woman to engage thus with one another, unless they are kin, or unless he has taken her for his wife or his lover. But I suppose it is not so completely unheard of.
[Here is another allowance, small but with the potential to open wider. He had first been friends with Deidamia before they bloomed into lovers, had he not? This was so because he had assumed the disguise of a girl then, and to reveal his true sex would have been to foul his mother's plans of keeping him hidden, but still he had been immutably male beneath the dress in which he was draped - and truly they did not seem so different from one another in those early days tinged gold like the sky when rises the sun.]
Despite your attitude which is oftentimes far cruder than what I am accustomed to, you respect my prowess in battle - and so too do I hold respect for the great strength which is yours. On this matter we have reached understanding, have we not?
Thus I shall tell you this: if I am to try harder to meet your viewpoint, then so too must you understand that the ways of my people, which are the ways I loyally follow, are not so easily forgotten. These are a part of my dear native land, and thus a part of my person.
no subject
[At this he sounds surprised, as if the thought had never crossed his mind: and indeed it had not.]
Among the Danaans it is unusual indeed for man and woman to engage thus with one another, unless they are kin, or unless he has taken her for his wife or his lover. But I suppose it is not so completely unheard of.
[Here is another allowance, small but with the potential to open wider. He had first been friends with Deidamia before they bloomed into lovers, had he not? This was so because he had assumed the disguise of a girl then, and to reveal his true sex would have been to foul his mother's plans of keeping him hidden, but still he had been immutably male beneath the dress in which he was draped - and truly they did not seem so different from one another in those early days tinged gold like the sky when rises the sun.]
Despite your attitude which is oftentimes far cruder than what I am accustomed to, you respect my prowess in battle - and so too do I hold respect for the great strength which is yours. On this matter we have reached understanding, have we not?
Thus I shall tell you this: if I am to try harder to meet your viewpoint, then so too must you understand that the ways of my people, which are the ways I loyally follow, are not so easily forgotten. These are a part of my dear native land, and thus a part of my person.