Rebels of Vulvar (Vulvarian Saga Book 2), стр. 24

“You’re certain of that?”

“Yes, do you believe I freely abandoned you on Earth and returned here all those many years ago?”

“I don’t know what to think about it, mother. We’ve never discussed it.”

“I was an agent on Earth for the Goddess Queens,” she said. “I met your father. We fell in love. I deserted when it was time for me to return to Vulvar to remain with your father. Soon after that, you were born.”

“Then what happened?”

“The Goddess Queens sent other agents. In time they found me and appeared at our home. Your father resisted them when they tried to seize me. I escaped during the altercation and took you to the home of your father’s sister. When I returned home, your father was dead. The agents seized me, and the Goddess Queens returned me to this world.”

“I admit I had hoped the Goddess Queens might permit Idril to accompany me to Earth so we could live a normal life,” I said.

“As much joy as it gives me to see you, you should never have come back here,” my mother said. “You will never be free on this world.”

“The Goddess Queens have made me free.”

“Regardless, you heard the council members speak. Even amid this crisis, most of them are more concerned about how they will deal with you. If you remain here with your free male status, they will put you out of the city.”

“Vulvar is a large planet. Could I not live free outside the walls of Thiva?”

“No, there is no provision for free males in our society, Tobias. Without a city, all Vulvarians would consider you an outlaw. Others on this world would continue to view you as a slave, and you would be forever at risk of capture and enslavement.”

“Though your customs and traditions have proven viable for generations, I think Vulvarians must soon learn to accept change,” I said.

“What change should we accept?”

“Abandonment of the complete enslavement of males,” I said. “This rebellion is only the first. Unless females accept change, males on this world will continue to revolt. Your customs and traditions have become invisible bonds far heavier than chains.”

“You suggest we should return to the male-dominated ethos of Earth?” my mother said. “That’s unthinkable.”

“As is, the gynocracy established six-hundred years ago will not stand forever. There are superior traits that females naturally possess that make female rule a favorable system. But, your people must discover a way to continue the gynocracy without reducing all males to slavery, stripping them of every right and freedom.”

“No Vulvarian female would ever give serious consideration to such a proposal,” my mother said. “It would be too unimaginable.”

“Then the gynocracy had best prepare for great societal upheaval, and more turmoil after that until the situation becomes untenable.”

“If you feel our customs and traditions are so unfair, it surprises me you contemplate carrying out the orders of the Goddess Queens.”

“It is of fairness I speak, mother,” I said. “I do not support the rebel cause. They seek only to replace the gynocracy with an equally unfair system of male domination out of a desire for vengeance against their female masters. If they succeed, it will not improve life on this world.”

“If we ended male enslavement, if we accorded some rights and freedoms to males, they would only demand more concessions, Tobias.”

“Though females here despise men and congratulate themselves on their lofty status, I think they fail to respect themselves too. By hating men, they hate themselves. The rebellion shows the pendulum has swung. I pity the females of this planet. All will become the objects of the pent-up male frustrations that have simmered here for generations.”

“Tobias, I understand your perspective as one of Earth,” my mother said. “But, please do not speak thus outside the walls of this house. The council would demand your arrest and execution.”

“Yes, mother, I am aware,” I said.

“You cannot remain on this world, my son. I see that you will never accept returning to slavery. My blood flows in your veins. You have become a warrior.”

“The point is perhaps moot, mother,” I said. “Perhaps I will die an honorable death while attempting to satisfy the will of your Goddess Queens.”

My mother’s eyes filled with tears. “Each day, I will offer sacrifices to the Goddess Queens praying that will not happen.”