OOC post: no opinion
I re-read parts of Teja's canon again, for more Adalgoth, and realised that sometimes, Teja simply professes not to have an opinion on something and refuses discussion. He demands to be left out, and leaves it at that.
When Julius the monk tells Totila he is going to be a monk, Totila exclaims, "Julius, you must not! Why has the wish to renounce the world taken possession of all my nearest and dearest? Valeria: - and you: - and Teja!", upon which Teja says "I flee nothing, not even the world!" which is completely disregarded by Totila, who has only eyes for Julius.
And then, a bit later, when Julius claims that those troubled times full of violence, greed and lust need quiet places of chastity and contemplation, and Totila answers, "Splendour, fulfilled love, and glad pride seem no sin before the good god in heaven to me. What do you think of our argument, friend Teja," - Teja simply refuses to be so magnanimously included, or to venture an opinion on anything: "It makes no sense to me, as your god isn't mine."
If he ventures an opinion in that and the following chapters, it's only as an aside to Adalgoth. Totila makes an effort to ostensibly include Teja, but generally doesn't listen to him, does his own thing, and seems relieved that for Teja, there's Adalgoth to talk to and generally concern himself with (let's keep it at that, and not speculate in a modern way...)
All in all, during that last peace-time under Totila's reign, Teja keeps quiet, refuses to be drawn into things that he knows won't last, and hedges his bets until the (to him) inevitable end comes.
So I guess there is a list of things that Teja doesn't really have an opinion about in Milliways:
When Julius the monk tells Totila he is going to be a monk, Totila exclaims, "Julius, you must not! Why has the wish to renounce the world taken possession of all my nearest and dearest? Valeria: - and you: - and Teja!", upon which Teja says "I flee nothing, not even the world!" which is completely disregarded by Totila, who has only eyes for Julius.
And then, a bit later, when Julius claims that those troubled times full of violence, greed and lust need quiet places of chastity and contemplation, and Totila answers, "Splendour, fulfilled love, and glad pride seem no sin before the good god in heaven to me. What do you think of our argument, friend Teja," - Teja simply refuses to be so magnanimously included, or to venture an opinion on anything: "It makes no sense to me, as your god isn't mine."
If he ventures an opinion in that and the following chapters, it's only as an aside to Adalgoth. Totila makes an effort to ostensibly include Teja, but generally doesn't listen to him, does his own thing, and seems relieved that for Teja, there's Adalgoth to talk to and generally concern himself with (let's keep it at that, and not speculate in a modern way...)
All in all, during that last peace-time under Totila's reign, Teja keeps quiet, refuses to be drawn into things that he knows won't last, and hedges his bets until the (to him) inevitable end comes.
So I guess there is a list of things that Teja doesn't really have an opinion about in Milliways:
- other people's sexuality as long as it includes him out
- modern warfare
- history after his time
- inventions and technology as long as they don't pertain to forgework
- festivals, customs and events
- magic