No House, No Horizon: Life After Caste
A Family Interview with Taval Tall and Kina Thron
By Riva Dassal, Senior Correspondent, The Frontier Ledger
Location: Freehold Maintenance Grid Compound, Missouri Territory, Earth
Subjects: Taval Tall (Atmospheric Systems Engineer, 49), Kina Thron (Cooling Systems Engineer, 60), and their five children: Jema (20F), Sael (17F), Pran (14M), Lako (12M), and Tiri (12F)
RIVA DASSAL:
We’ve had poetic interviews and cultural reflections from your compatriots. Let’s do something different. While both of you descend from noble houses, neither of you are listed as highborn or what we would call aristocrats. For those watching, your families sit at the fifth level from the top. You can claim distant relations to both K’rem T’all and W’ren Th’ron. When your grandfathers lost the right to call themselves High Born, along with the apostrophes in their names and public status, what does that feel like—to live with the legacy of caste without the privileges?
TAVAL TALL:
It feels like being handed a title no one respects. My grandfather was demoted to the fifth tier a hundred and sixteen years ago, after House T’all lost its last lord. He kept the name. We still bear it. But we lost the right to use its aristocratic form. And with it, our status.
KINA THRON:
My family’s decline was quieter. A woman from one of the major banking families—an L5—was matched with my grandfather. That happens often enough, but the bonding usually elevates the pair. Whether politics blocked that or something else, we don’t know. Taval and I have talked about this often. We are—or were, it’s unclear—actually much wealthier than most minor L3s and nearly all L4s in our lineages. Our grandfathers bonded well. So did our fathers. Our lack of aristocratic status stings sometimes, as you humans say, but it’s given us freedom—to pursue what we’re good at without pressure to pretend we’re something else.
RIVA:
So you’re not of dissolved Houses. You’re of sidelined lines—still bearing the names, but no longer invited to speak them.
TAVAL:
Exactly. No fief, no votes, no recognition. Still L5 on paper, but with no path back. Only work. Our children might’ve had paths forward if we’d stayed on V’ren and not been exiled. But that doesn’t matter now.
RIVA:
How so?
KINA:
High Lord Marmaduke isn’t like other high lords. He earned his title through ritual—more so than anyone in modern times. That kind of blood ritual hasn’t been seen in millennia. But it’s still valid. And in my view, it might make him the only High Lord with legitimate standing among the L2 ranks.
TAVAL:
She’s right. I know many L3 and L4 engineers who feel the same. But I also know he’s said the caste system must die if the V’ren are to survive. That’s not small talk. I’ve seen him live up to it in how he treats us. And that makes me revere him even more—ironically.
RIVA:
This one’s for your kids. Do you think most V’ren here even care about caste?
JEMA (20):
Not the way we were taught. But it shaped us. It gave us status. While the high born outranked us, nearly everyone else didn’t. That never stopped me from having friends up and down the caste ladder, but losing it will change our dynamics. And we wonder if Earth will just recreate its own version.
SAEL (17):
I feel like I’m in free fall. The rules I was raised with no longer apply, and nothing’s replaced them. If caste is meaningless now, what matters? Looks? Charm? English fluency?
PRAN (14):
I still want a traditional bond. Caste shouldn’t be a factor—only biology. As someone who needs a compatible partner like Sael, I wonder what standards I’ll be judged by now.
LAKO (12):
I want to matter for more than being efficient. I want to be chosen—not for skills or leverage, but for who I am. I know I’m too young to start a family, but I have the same fear as my brother—and a lot of other V’ren boys.
TIRI (12):
I like being loud here. I never got to be loud before. Being L5 meant moving quietly, strategically. But one of my human friends says, “Fuck being quiet!” So I won’t be.
RIVA:
Does it bother you to see V’ren girls bonding with humans?
TAVAL:
Not if we can have children with them. I believe balance is possible. I’ve heard many human women say how poor some human men are as partners. You won’t hear that about V’ren men. I’ve also heard human women admire our instincts as fathers. While we traditionally need a pheromonal trigger for coupling, I believe science—ours or theirs—will find a workaround.
KINA:
Some of our men gave their bondmates only duty and silence. That’s sad. Earth men offer attention, playfulness. Sometimes the truth hurts—but it’s still the truth. That appeals to many of our women, especially the young. I’m lucky—I have that with Taval. I hope my children find it too.
RIVA:
So what now? Are your sons bitter?
PRAN:
No. Just uncertain. The future we were raised for may never arrive.
LAKO:
I just want to catch up. Learn the jokes. Be seen. There’s something attractive about Earth girls—not physically, necessarily. For us, procreation has no physical pleasure—it’s all scent. But what draws me is their joy in being alive. V’ren girls my age are so serious. I’ve never had one hop in my lap, call me cute, kiss me, and bounce away like those rabbits I see.
TIRI:
Don’t look at me, brother of mine.
RIVA:
Let’s talk about the work. Earth systems are unpredictable. How are you adjusting?
TAVAL:
Atmosphere isn’t a system here—it’s a creature. It changes direction, pressure, texture. You have to anticipate moods, not just track data.
KINA:
Cooling systems? Humidity ruins everything—seals, ducts, insulation. You build knowing it will fail. That kind of honesty wasn’t allowed in sealed structures or starships. It’d be the same anywhere, but Earth adds complexity.
RIVA:
What do you miss most from home?
KINA:
The discipline. The silence. The expectation of excellence—even when it was cruel.
TAVAL:
Filtered air. Red moons. The gentle hum of stable electronics. Base-10 systems sound wrong to us—off-tempo, mismatched with our heartbeats.
JEMA:
I miss predictability. Earth is beautiful—but it’s chaos.
RIVA:
And what do you love about Earth?
SAEL:
The sky. It never looks down on me.
PRAN:
Humans who laugh first—not last.
TIRI:
Singing without shame, even badly. A Filipino woman said she’d help me.
LAKO:
That I don’t know yet. And that’s okay.
RIVA:
If you could speak to the caste council that demoted your lines, what would you say?
KINA:
You thought loyalty could be inherited. But it must be earned.
TAVAL:
We’re the future you tried to erase. And we’re still here.
JEMA:
I’m not asking permission. I’m claiming my own place.
RIVA:
And to Earth?
KINA:
Don’t recreate what we fled.
TAVAL:
Question every ladder before you climb it.
JEMA:
We’re not guests. We’re partners.
SAEL:
We’re not lost. We’re evolving.
PRAN:
Don’t pity us. Meet us.
LAKO:
Give us time. Not labels.
TIRI:
Let the loud ones sing.
RIVA:
You’ve given us much to consider.
KINA:
That was the point.
TAVAL:
That’s always the point.
