"I think you're right. How could I have let you go, Sariana? You're part of me now. But don't I get some credit for at least trying to do the noble thing?"
"Of course, my love."
She watched him drag his victim to shore. The bandit sputtered and coughed and then proceeded to lose the contents of his stomach.
"Keenshee guano," Gryph muttered, yanking his bare foot out of the way. "This is my reward for humoring my wife. I'd like to know what you plan to do with this piece of garbage now that you've saved his neck."
"He should be taken back to Little Chance to stand trial," Sariana said stoutly. Gryph just looked at her as if she weren't very bright. "We already know he's guilty of everything from
dealing with live prisma to attempted murder."
"That's for a jury to determine."
"Sariana, have you gone mad? This man is Shield business. My business. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I am his judge and his jury."
"Well, you're not going to be his executioner," she told him forcefully. "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and I've decided that one of your problems is that Shields have kept to themselves too much. They operate too independently of the rest of society. They're too secretive. There are too many mysteries surrounding them. They deliberately do things that keep people in awe of them. They take pride in their reputations as warriors. But the plain truth is they exist on the fringes of respectable society. That's a dangerous place to be in the long run. It not only makes you Shields vulnerable as a class, it also stunts your growth."
"What in the name of the Lightstonn are you talking about now?"
Sariana clambered back on board the sled. "I told you I've been doing some thinking about this, Gryph. I'm convinced that you Shields aren't going to last much longer as an important, respectable class unless you take steps to modernize yourselves. The people of this world are moving fast on both continents. You have to move with the times. You have to stop living solely on the frontiers. What are you going to do when there are no more bandits to fight?"
"There will always be bandits of one kind or another," Gryph said with certainty.
"Well, perhaps, but the people of the western provinces may decide they can form their own militia to control them, just as they've formed their own town guards."
"Sariana, this isn't exactly the time or the place to discuss social philosophy." But Sariana was in full sail. She had some points to make and now seemed like an excellent time to
make them.
"I'll tell you something else, Gryph. I bet it wouldn't be nearly as hard for Shields to find wives if they had easier access to the same society and opportunities the other classes have. Oh, sure, according to the Pact, you can look for a wife at any level of society, but as it stands, most respectable families keep their daughters quietly out of sight when they know there's a Shield in the vicinity. Who would want to lose a daughter to some stranger whose only job skills are throat cutting and working prisma? They know he'll sweep the poor girl away from home and family and society and take her to live in some remote frontier town. I'll tell you right now, most mothers will fight that tooth and nail. Most fathers probably will, too. No wonder you Shields have a hard time meeting potential Shield-mates. When was the last time anyone invited one of you to tea?"
"I can't remember," Gryph said dryly. He stood on the shore, his nude body poised and powerful above the retching, choking bandit at his feet and he stared at his wife. Gryph's expression in the reflected glow of the vapor lamp was an interesting mixture, of amusement and exasperation.
"I'm telling you, Gryph, Shields have got to take a good look at the future and plan for it. Granted, your original role as a class was an important one, but times are changing. You have to integrate yourselves into mainstream society or you're going to find your whole class getting smaller and less important as the rest of the world grows. That would be a pity, and perhaps potentially lethal for the rest of us."
"I'm glad to know we'd be missed, but how do you figure our absence might prove lethal for everyone else?"
"Gryph, someday we're going to get back into space. With eastern financial wizardry and western technology that day probably isn't too far off. When we do we might very well find the beings who built those prisma ships waiting for us. Shields might come in very handy again at some point in the future."
"That's an easterner for you. Always planning ahead."
"I think your main problem is that your class is male dominated. Women only become members when they marry into it and there have been no daughters born into the clans. That means the males have made most of the policies and, to be perfectly blunt, males tend to be highly conservative by nature. You've stuck with the old ways because you didn't want to experiment with change. Yet all the other classes on both continents are changing rapidly. It's time for the Shields to start changing, too."
"What makes me think you have come up with some master plan for restructuring my entire social class?"
"I'll assume that's a rhetorical question. But as it happens, I've got some ideas I think you and the other Shields should consider."
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me."
Sariana was totally involved in her budding ideas. Absently she began to pace the deck of the sled. She was so enthralled in what she was planning that she didn't notice the chill of her wet chemise.
"The fundamental key to changing the Shields' role in society is to change their financial and business relationships with that society. You have to evolve out of your limited bandit hunting and find new financial niches for yourselves. What you need," she concluded triumphantly, "is a good business manager. Someone who can tackle the job of restructuring the economic position of an entire class."
"And as it happens," Gryph observed, "a very aggressive business manager has just recently married into my social class."
Sariana smiled her brilliant smile. "As it happens, you're right. This could be a lucky day for you and your entire class, Gryph."
He grinned. "Tell me something. Just how do you plan to change a whole class of frontier warriors into respectable craftsmen and business people?"
"That's easy," Sariana said smoothly. "All you need is a solid financial base and some shrewd
investment advice. By a strange and interesting coincidence, you have recently come into possession of a cavern full of financial capital. In the past you Shields have obviously not handled the sale of your prisma with any great skill. There's a vast difference between selling your capital and investing it so that it continues to earn for you."