Harmony, Comeliness, Seemliness: such are the watchwords of Aristasian “Law and Order” — a phrase from another land which would not be in the least out of place upon Aristasian lips, but would carry with it quite another colouring. All law, to the Aristasian, is akin to the laws of mathematics or of music — an expression of the underlying harmony of being; all order fundamentally the order of a dance, which is ultimately the great dance of the cosmos, presided over by Sai Thamë, the Angel of Harmony. To an Aristasian, grace in the sense of “gracefulness” is not a different concept from grace in the theological sense. They are intimately bound up one with another – and all of life is intimately bound up with them.

Sithamë (pronounced sit-ah-may) means the special thame of an individual. Thamë (with a small “t”) is a complex word that means “law” and “harmony” and “own-nature”. In a traditional society there is the thamë that is proper to everyone, there is the thamë that is proper to a particular estate (priestesses and intellectuals, nobles, artisans, servants), to a particular job or function (motherhood, musicianship, etc.) There is also the thamë that is special to an individual – her own personal nature, her “calling”, her “way”. This is called her sithamë or own-thamë.

See also:
Thamë, The Golden Order