The Gate to Women's Country: pg. 161 (Chapter 15)- pg. 182 (Chapter 18)

This reading introduced/elaborated on some characters:
Septemius

• It is mentioned that Septemius traveled all over Women's Country, and he has information such as that Marthatown was the first town of Women's country. Septemius provides a comparison to the play, when Polyxena decides to grieve for the loss of cakes, wine, and dances. Septemius too is saddened with the lack of spices and flavoring from the tropics, which the twins are confused about when they had never even had them in their lifetimes. 

Kostia and Tonia

• Kostia and Tonia appear to have some sort of long-feel, as shown through their ability to perceive Stavia's distress, along with extracting her name without being told. I found it interesting how suddenly they made the decision to settle, after a lifetime of travel. 

Myra

• Myra provides a parallel between the passage in Chapter 18 from the play. Hecuba comforts Cassandra, who was distressed after no one believes her, and Cassandra views herself as only defined by her ability to see the future. Hecuba  pointed out how Andromache and herself (Hecuba) were defined by their husband, and that with the death of their men they lost their own identities. However, Cassandra has her own name and identity for herself. Myra, much in the way of Hecuba and Andromache, had her identity completely dependent upon Barten. Even after his death, Barten's ideas and view of the servitors remained. It got to the point that Myra moved out of Morgot's house, after Morgot refused to get rid of the servitors.

Some details on Women's country came to the surface. Not only was Marthatown being the first town an interesting detail, but also that Annville seems to have been a town from preconvulsion times, explaining its power plant and factories from old times. Kostia and Tonia question why the cities do not become larger, which Septemius explained of as being able to grow and harvest things within a close range in order to support the city, and avoid bandits. This brings up the question as to if there are any other reasons for the smaller size. Perhaps the convulsions led to trade declining, making some communities unable to support themselves, however the smaller size allowed for better self-sufficiency. The exact size of Marthatown is revealed to be 15,000 with 2-3,000 servitors, and 4,000 boys and men in the garrison. Servitors seemed a lot less common, as the idea of honor and pride and how the majority of men stay in the garrison seems to be dwelt upon quite a bit. However, the numbers show that about a third of the men actually choose to go to Women's country.When the croplands are forced to extend in order to support the population, a new town is set up, however there is only so much available space, and the desolations are making harder to have available croplands.
One interesting thing about the garrison sparked Stavia's interest. The fact that in their freetime, men took up a certain craft, such as basket making or carving, which seem to have been within the realm of women's studies are actually quite common.
Also, it is revealed that all women must study a craft, an art, and a science.