Fandom High School

"Hey, everyone."

If anyone had any doubts that Tisarwat might be a little excited to be pulling the ultimate TA duty of running class that day, the giant grin on her face should expel them pretty quickly. Deep down, she knew it wasn't even that big of a deal, but, still, she liked being able to exert some sense of responsibility, even if pretty much all her class was going to be was just dishing with her friends under the guise of a lesson.

Which would be far more fun than the other option, which was likely going to be about annexation. And she'd been here long enough to know that that topic would not be quite as big of a crowd pleaser.

"So, Seivarden couldn't actually make it into class today," she explained, "which means I get to step up as TA and run this week's lesson on How To Be Civilized, which I think you're all doing a wonderful job on, but we haven't paid as much attention to some of the more social nuances of Radchaai society, which is what I personally enjoy most, and so we'll be doing that today, especially since I figured it's just us, so we can be a little more comfortable without a teacher looming disapprovingly over our shoulders.

"Specifically, I wanted to talk a little bit about the delicate way in which Radchaai speak to each other, especially in social situations, especially when it comes to insults." Here, her grin bloomed again. "Now, I know you've all noticed that we place a lot of value in being polite and decorous in our interactions with each other, but there are often times when you're interacting with a political rival or someone who is competing with you for a top position or attempting to romance the person you're attempting to romance. It's considered terribly uncivilized to bad mouth that person directly, even though you may be tempted, but it is actually considered a useful social art to be able to speak badly about them but making it not sound bad. Anyone able to weave an effortless veiled insult into a conversation is immediately regarded with admiration and amusement but a failed attempt will leave you appearing clumsy and uncouth. So I thought today we could work on practicing the art of the veiled insult with each other, and what better choice for a subject do we have than someone we all clearly know and admire, our very own teacher, Seivarden Vendaai."

...did Tisarwat choose to cover this topic merely to trash talk the teacher while she was out with her friends?

Maaaaaaaybe.

Look, they had a bit of a past. One that Seivarden was completely oblivious to, but it was still a past.

Well, a past that was Seivarden's future, but....you get the idea.

"For example," she offered, sipping at her tea, which was, of course, available for everyone to enjoy, "in a conversation with friends, peers, associates, what have you, I wouldn't want to come right out and say that Seivarden is old," said the Radchaai with over two thousand years of memories, "but I might say something like, 'Aren't we lucky to have someone with so much experience under her belt to teach us?' And it would be incredibly rude of me to say that Seivarden's style is out-dated or unfashionable, but it would be just the thing to say something like, 'I truly admire that she has the confidence to pull off such a classic look!' If someone's tea set is not quite up to standards, one might mention that they're impressed with how well they manage to work with what they have.

"So, you see," Tisarwat concluded with a faint chuckle, "it's all about wrapping the insult in a compliment. It works incredibly well because one can hardly be upset over receiving a compliment, but those who are in the know can pick up on the underlying insult, while those who aren't merely see you as gracious and kind, even in the light of someone else's poor taste, bad tea, or questionable behavior.

"If you haven't gotten some tea already," she added, "please do so and we'll go around and practice how to construct polite but cutting commentary in civilized society."