the best-trained Hunks came from House Genevois in Sendoph. Polite people didn’t call them Hunks, of course, Mama was right about that. They called them “Consorts,” but it meant the same thing.
“Consort Mouche,” he said to himself, seeing how it sounded. It sounded dirty, no matter what word he used. It sounded like a teacher saying, “Take your hands out of your pants. What do you think you’re doing? Practicing to be a Consort?”
It sounded like teasing on the school ground, Fenarde saying, “Mouche can’t ever get married. Mouche will have to be a Hunky-monkey.” Which was very dirty talk indeed. All the girls stood and giggled and twitched their bottoms at Mouche and said, “You can be my Hunky-monkey, Mouche. I’ll put you in my contract.” And then they started kissing Mouche and touching him on his behind. Such evil behavior got the girls a talking to about courtesy and treating males respectfully, because they were not as resilient as girls and their minds weren’t as flexible, and Fenarde got a mouthful of ashes from the schoolroom hearth for starting the whole thing. Mouche merely got a brief lecture. Though the teacher was patient, he didn’t have much time to waste on boys.
“Girls always talk that way,” he said. “They have no masculine modesty. You must behave demurely and simply ignore it, pretend not to hear it. When they pinch you or rub up against you, get away from them as soon as possible. And take no notice! That’s the proper way to behave, and it’s time you learned it.” Though how you could feel those intrusive hands on you and take no notice, the teacher did not say.
The night after Papa had told him about House Genevois, Mouche heard a tap at his door, so soft and so late he almost thought he had dreamed it until Papa slipped in and sat on the edge of his cot.
“My boy,” he said, “a man’s life is never easy. We are the weaker sex, as everyone knows, though sometimes at the end of a long, hard day loading hay I think our weakness is more a matter of fable than reality. Still, this is the world we live in, and we must live, as the Hags say, either with it or against it. I’ve come to say some things to you that I didn’t want to say with your mama there.” He stroked Mouche’s hair away from his forehead, looking at him sadly.
“Yes, Papa.”
“This decision is much against my inclination, Mouche. You were to be the son of g’Darbos, our unique line. I had such plans for you, for us….” His voice trailed off sadly, and he stared out the small window at two of the littler moons just rising above the horizon to join a third, bigger one in the sky. “But seemingly it is not to be. There will be no g’Darbos lineage, no immortality of the family, no descendants to remember me and honor the name. Even so, I would not make this decision lightly; I had to find out what kind of life we’d be sending you to. I didn’t tell your Mama, but when I was last in Sendoph, I went into House Genevois, by the back door, and when I explained myself, I was allowed to talk to some of the … young men.”
Mouche wriggled uncomfortably.
“I found out, for example, that they eat very well indeed. Far better than we do. I found out that the maximum contract for a Hu—a Consort is about twenty years, beginning as soon as schooling is completed, somewhere between the eighteenth and twenty-fourth year. The standard contract for men from House Genevois provides one third the original payment set aside for your retirement, plus one third of the downpayment on your contract, plus half the payments to House Genevois every year of service, all invested at interest to provide you an annuity. All Consorts receive wages from their patronesses, plus tips, many of them, and even after they’re retired, ex-Consorts can freelance for additional profit. There are ex-Consorts in the city who are almost as well respected as Family Men.”
“But it isn’t the sea,” said Mouche, feeling tears, blinking rapidly to keep them from running over. “If I go to sea and make my fortune, I could send you money.”
“No, Mouche. It isn’t the sea, but it’s now, when we have need, not years from now when it’s too late. If you can set aside your dream of