Quoted By:
But really, it was the salon where one could find out the real important information. You could only chuckle at what gentlemen probably thought was going on in there.
None of these buffoons would last ten minutes in the ladies' salon after one of the dinner parties you attended back home in Sternbergen. The conversations there were much more cutthroat, under a paper-thin veneer of politeness.
It is true that no duels were issued by the ladies - that *would* be preposterous - but you saw girls take wounds far more grievous than any duel could effect. Through the infantry of Shunning, the cavalry of Rumour, and the heavy artillery of Insinuation, you saw lines of battle drawn, trench wars waged by factions, until one would eventually be run off. You saw subtle alliances and betrayals rise and fall with nothing more than a knowing gaze behind the wave of a fan. You saw people put on trial, accused, prosecuted, defended, convicted and condemned to (social) execution without them ever learning it.
Two men may fight, and tomorrow they could be fast friends. They were fickle and unpredictable. If you TRULY wanted to prohibit somebody from ever setting in another's estate, the way to go about it was to condemn them in the eyes of the lady of the house.
As for intrigue and politicks, well, the talk in the salon was much more salacious (directly proportional to the strength of the wine served at dinner). And for those who knew how to listen, the wealth of information was unparallelled. The gossip of which debutante had spent the night with which dashing young officer could trace airship movements much more accurately than the gentlemens' papers or listening posts. Talk of who was excluded from which garden party provided superior insight into the shifts of parliamentary favour.
Fashion trends were perhaps the most telling of all - if you really paid attention, they spoke of the flow of silk from Theodorea to Vostok, of riots in the pearl mines of Babylonia, of the blockade of the Channel of Lydia, of the ammount of influence merchants of Viginti currently held in the courts of Altmark.
