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Parts of this message can be found in the following threads:
>Date: Fri, 16 Oct 92 06:53:19 -0700
>From: seth@cie.uoregon.edu (Seth Scott)
>Subject: C.J. Cherryh List


On Oct 15, Nancy Ott writes:


PPS: A general Chanur/hani question -- how can the hani maintain
continuity in their families and estates if the sons (or other young
males) are always trying to kill their fathers and take over?  The
mechanics of this confuse me, since it seems to cause a conflict of
interest for hani women.  Wouldn't they have to choose between
supporting their fathers or brothers?

_________

Now here's a question I can take a stab at :>

Well, in _Chanur's Legacy_, Hilfy demonstrates hatred, fury for her deceased
husband-- because he killed her father, old Kohan Chanur.  I get the impression
that hani are more businesslike about such things (death of a relative) than
humans are, since combat is part of their power structure....

An off-color question:  does anyone, in any of Cherryh's books, cry?
The hani never do; perhaps they can't.  I wonder if this is generalizable to
all of Cherryh's characters.

I guess that the hani _don't_ maintain continuity in their families, then--
I remember somewhere reading (Pyanfar's thoughts?) about how 'the stsho train
their successors,' with the implication that hani don't...

I'm still unsure as to how much actual power hani males wield.  Khym had a lot
of legal knowledge, but I had thought that it was Rhean and Pyanfar that made
all the actual decisions; Kohan was described as sharply intelligent, but
we never get to see much of him :(  If Cherryh was trying to portray a
plodding legal system and a merciless social structure (hmmm  ... ?),
then she succeeded.

				Seth Scott