FSE

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~~~

Chapter 1: The beginning of wisdom.

Twenty years on the frontier hadn't killed him, to Vation Nal'Galagar's eternal regret. It had taken his eyes, to be replaced by vat-grown clones later on and left him with a thin horizontal scar across his face. The frontier had taken much of his blood and many of his crew members. More than once, it had threatened to take his ship wholesale. But it never ended up taking that which he desired to be parted from -- his life.

For if he'd lost his life, he wouldn't spend the rest of it as the subordinate of a whelp thirty-five years his junior. A life that would be extremely long given the telomere-repairing elixir that he was sure his soon-to-be husband's family would be able to manufacture. A species entirely consisting of Maestros would essentially corner the market on Maestros' elixir when they elected to trade with the wider Empire.

Vation sat in his ready room, his chair spun around to face opposite the door, and out the viewport. There, he saw a brown dwarf in orbit around a main sequence blue star. The brown dwarf, magenta in hue, seemed to be a sign that the universe was mocking him. The older, cooler almost-a-star in orbit around an effulgent youth. If their colors were reversed, it would perfectly match the situation he found himself weeks away from experiencing.

Perhaps, he wondered to himself, it wouldn't be so terrible. His husband-to-be's family, the Uvand, weren't as finicky about tradition as other Houses were. Specifically, they didn't mind the two betrothed interacting prior to the wedding. Vation hadn't actually seen his husband since the boy was born, but the young lord had sent him things. The Uvand's species came to be known as pandas in the twenty years since their discovery, and early on that was what his betrothed sent him--panda-themed merchandise. Well made panda-themed merchandise, mind, but still items that treated their species like exhibits at a zoo--to be gawked at and made into souvenirs. It disturbed Vation, and he felt the offense somehow more strongly with the knowledge that the Uvand cared little for their reputation.

But as the years went on, the gifts would evolve. More than once, the ledger-keeper had informed him that the Uvand had sent a sum of scrib to pay the crew's wages with a bonus for a month. He would occasionally get poetry, presumably written by his betrothed. Vation winced as he remembered the stuff. It wasn't terribly good poetry, but it was in the Nal'Galagar style. If his betrothed had written it, he was making an effort to learn about Vation's House and their forms of artistic expression -- an unambiguously good turn of events. One of the gifts had actually moved Vation to the point where he carried it with him often -- a ring. The band was clearly from a Nal'Galagar jeweler -- it had a craftsman's mark Vation recognized -- but the gem was a black star sapphire, with the namesake star pattern being gold due to the hematite therein. The size hadn't been quite right, so Vation had to have that corrected, but he appreciated the sentiment nonetheless.

But warm sentiment wouldn't give him his freedom to choose, it wouldn't return to him his personal honor -- built up over a long career in diplomacy and exploration. The glory of introducing a new species to the Empire so early in his career, only a year into his first command, would be forever tainted by his status as a Sapphire Husband when the history of his life was documented. The practice of Sapphire and Ruby Husbands was the way the Empire had adapted to multiple species being obligated to marry to secure any and all House alliances. Ostensibly, the Ruby Husband was honor-bound to treat his Sapphire with respect and care for their needs. In practice, Sapphires had been little more than marital slaves. Since he had been named one, Vation had done research into the statistics.

The suicide rate for Sapphire Husbands that were protected with an onyx contract from the Lotus Order was eighty-four percent. The onyx contract enabled the Lotus Person with whom the contract was made to discipline the Ruby Husband if they abused the Sapphire, or didn't treat them with honor. Once the contract expired, or there was no contract at all, the suicide rate jumped up to ninety-one percent. On average, a Sapphire Husband attempted suicide somewhere in the Empire once every three Galactic Standard minutes. But that wasn't the worst part--the Sapphire Husband was, per the tradition, meant to fulfill the wifely role in the relationship.

How much more or less of the Sapphire's predicament was also present in any male/female couple, Vation had wondered more than once. Had his mother been suicidally brave, to argue with his father as often as she had? He'd been horrified to find out that the suicide statistics for Ruby and Sapphire Wives weren't even documented--utterly beneath the Empire's attention.

A pinging noise drew Vation away from his dark thoughts. He swiveled in his chair and pressed a blinking circle on his otherwise featureless reflective black desk. "What is it?" His question was tinged with the maudlin mood he had been in moments before, his noetics hadn't the time to kick in and even out his voice.

"My Lord," replied the ship's navigator. A lovely man, from a merchant family but eager to work for his keep, excellent with children. "We've completed the survey, and a report is ready for your review."

"Send it to me, then loose the sails. Our heading is for Noema, plan for regular breaks." With his noetics compensating for his sour mood, the wolf's voice was once more the solid tone of command required for a noble shipmaster.

"Very good, My Lord."

As soon as the call ended, another blinking symbol appeared on the mirror-polished desk--the report. He tapped the symbol and dragged it across the desk to a holding position--a proper review of the document would come later. Vation had other things to do in the immediate present, specifically things to escape his maudlin mood.

Out of his ready room, through the bridge, down the halls, and two elevators went the lowly Lord Vation, to the Anesidora's integrated bar. Nal'Galagar shipwrights had just as much of the famous decadence that the nobility had--their ships were packed full of features and luxuries that served realistically no purpose other than the make the voyage more pleasurable. On a frontier-expanding ship, so far from civilization for so long, those additions kept the crew sane. The bar had certainly done a lot to keep Vation sane during his lordship of the cruiser.

When he entered the bar, the off-duty crew were distracted enough not to follow the protocol of 'noble on deck' and salute him as he entered. They were distracted by a warrior-woman, a fox of Ro'Xanshin, the Lady Vecheld. She regaled them with a story about a pirate raid on her homeworld, Illyria Secunda.

The wolf nobleman made his way to the bar, and requisitioned a drink from the automated service system, and listened to the story he had heard a dozen or so times. She was getting to the part where she killed a pirate with a teacup.

~~~

Adept Mohz of the Lotus Order found himself utterly flummoxed by the Uvand people. Previously, he had met with masters who refused to describe the people of the worlds they ventured to. People aren't simple, they would tell him, and that breaking down a people into a summary one sentence long did them evil. The Uvand were his first experience with that notion. Mohz, a shorthaired cat of the chocolate point fur stock, had come to the barbarian capital world with a wave of new initiates after the Lotus Temple was completed--to learn about the barbarians as they became civilized and to teach civilization to them in turn.

The Caeso Temple was close enough to the Uvand's population centers to want for nothing, but far enough away that light pollution would not hamper their view of the stars. Most capital planets would naturally be conditioned to become paradise worlds--but the Uvand bucked that trend. Wilderness surrounded the butte into which the Lotus Temple was carved, with ruins of ancient cities long reclaimed by the wild to serve as the only indicator that anyone had lived there previously. The Uvand noblewoman who had granted the land lovingly referred to it as the family's old graveyard, and had shown them a map of the sites of old battles where they could commune with the vengeful dead.

Mohz disliked the woman and had opted to never speak to her.

On top of their odd behavior and social mores, the Uvand's telepathy made it difficult to maintain the Lotus Person image of unflappable, infinitely adaptable mystics. The temple's abbot had commented that it was a fresh challenge for the Order to adapt to and that they ought to relish the opportunity. Mohz never let it show on his face, but he had lost his fascination with the 'challenge' of defeating the Uvand telepathy long ago. As evident when the young Lord-to-be, Galess Halliwell, came to their temple to secure multiple contracts.

The Uvand rarely traveled in groups. When their interests needed representation they sent one individual empowered to make decisions, seemingly, unilaterally. In their own lands, they had no fear of dangerous wildlife or political assassination. When Mohz watched the panda nobleman ascend the stone steps to the temple, his body obscured by layers of red robes and his head covered with a wide-brimmed conical hat, he didn't see a nobleman at all. It was like looking at another Lotus Person.

It galled Mohz to see it, and the fact that it galled him so made him want to step out of consideration for the lord's contracts. But as if the panda had sensed his unease, likely he had, the Halliwell man insisted on Mohz being among the Lotus People considered for the contracts during the appointment setup.

Something... not a panda followed after Galess, Mohz saw. A child of some sort--it was dressed in the Uvand style with simple black and purple robes and an Uvand-style hat that was tilted so far back on the child's head that the rim resembled a black halo. Mohz thought the child some bizarre hybrid of a fox, a cat, and a bear, with the former's colors and the bear's skeleton and a ringed catlike tail.

Galess offered no greetings when he reached the final landing in the staircase. It was just as well as the positively ancient tortoise, the temple abbot, gave the signal for Mohz and the other Lotus People assembled to attack.

Four Adepts up to the third petal charged at Galess, in position to force the Uvand away from the child so their melee would go undisturbed. The cat-bear thing happily left Galess to rush to meet the temple abbot, which threw Mohz off course slightly. That break in motion-economy led to him being the first of the Lotus People knocked back. The test was to first contact.

Mohz, in conjunction with a hare Lotus Man, swept their legs in an effort to unbalance the panda. He responded by jumping over their limbs and lashing out with his own legs. Mohz's reaction time was slightly off from the slide he needed to do to get back in position and he caught the lord's distinctly feminine red shoe in the cheek, almost dead center on the pink Lotus mark under his left eye. His hare colleague dodged in time.

The chocolate point feline wasn't the only Lotus Person out of the fight for long, as his hare associate sailed through the air as soon as Mohz was able to sit back up. Lotus training allowed them to minimize the effect of pain, but there were some species who had biology that simply couldn't be toughened with training. Such as hare ears.

Galess struggled against the other two Lotus People, however. A komodo dragon, the largest and most physically imposing, and a python who lacked legs but possessed a powerful tail. It seemed the Uvand had a much harder time dealing with the reptiles, and less than fifteen seconds later the two of them had him beat. They had joined in a double chop that would have struck the panda's neck from both sides, and Galess had no clear stalemate move on them. Technically, the panda could betray the implicit offer of surrender and take them by surprise--with the knowledge that no offer would be made next time. Wiser than Mohz had expected of a nobleman, the panda surrendered. He held his hands up so that his voluminous sparkling red sleeves rolled down to the elbow, and didn't move.

"Has your big brother been doing those exercises we showed him, little one?" The tortoise abbot asked the strange child, while he slowly bent to pick the boy up.

Mohz hoped that the abbot was being metaphorical when he called the cat-bear thing the panda's brother.

"Ye," said the weird cat-bear, gleeful to be held. "He says he not good, though." The child spoke decent Catalos for being likely less than ten years old and having the Imperial tongue as a second language. Mohz wasn't good at reading ages in new species.

The abbot nodded and ambled toward the initiates and their guest. "My lord, your self-deprecation can be seen as a sign of humility, but it seems to be restricting your progress at hand-to-hand combat."

"Not everyone is fit to be a master, Master," said the panda back. His voice was deep, which reminded Mohz that the pandas were related to bears. Galess relaxed his stance when the reptilian Lotus People stepped away at the abbot's signal. "Perhaps I will reach it through hard work, in the years to come."

"You're doing that thing again," the tortoise chided, and jabbed the young nobleman with his long fingers. "You frame a defeatist attitude in a positive light in the hopes that no one will look deeper. You have taken your medicine?"

Medicine? Mohz's mind whirled, and not just from the blow to his head. Noblemen didn't need medicine, they didn't get sick in the first place. Their metafauna, nanites that lived in their bloodstream and individual cells, made sure of that. And the Uvand were Maestros, so their metafauna had to be even greater than the average Imperial aristo's. Right?

"Most of the time." The panda lord's tone was pleasant, noticeably so.

"He says taste like feet," the child tattled, matter-of-fact. "No like feet."

Mohz watched the abbot look from the child in his arms to the inscrutable panda lord, hidden by a hat and veils.

"...Some of the time," the panda corrected, begrudgingly.

"I'm sure your mother and grandmother wouldn't be happy to hear that." Once more the tortoise poked the nobleman. "If you have a better reason than the taste, I won't inform them of this."

Mohz wondered at the abbot's skill with the Lotus Path that he could discern the panda's expressions through thick veils and layered robes. While he helped his hare colleague back up onto his feet, Mohz tried to imagine what wisdom he would need to gain to have similar insight.

"...The side effects aren't... I don't like the person they make me into." The panda lord's hands clenched so strongly Mohz could pick up popping from his joints.

"That person is you, my lord," the abbot said, not unkindly. "He is the you that isn't diminished in this way. If he isn't someone you enjoy being, then you must correct his behavior. Like a parent corrects a child."

The panda nodded, his hat jingled from the sudden motion. "That is partly why I am here. Shall we move on to business?"

Inside the temple, the five Lotus People and their guests convened in a meeting room that consisted of cushions arranged around a low lacquered wooden table. All the walls were layered in intricate carvings of water, for the Lotus Path was most closely imagined to be a river, filled with obstacles for life to overcome. The child soon grew bored of their pre-negotiation pleasantries, so his 'brother' gave the young one his hat to play with. The hat was so much bigger than the child that he could stand up inside it, and the hat would still be flush against the ground. Mohz had to admit it was frighteningly cute how the child would scurry around completely inside the hat and attempt to spook the other initiates who wandered outside.

Galess took his brother's hat in place of his own and allowed Mohz to see the panda lord's face for the first time. The young lord had a strong jaw, a broader than normal neck that indicated broad shoulders, which were masked well by his robes. Galess hid his muzzle and lower face quickly behind a veil taken from his hat's rim, the white of his fur and the insides of his ears flushed red at the development -- perhaps a cultural chink in the armor of the Uvand, their need to be covered up at all times past a certain age. However, the upper parts of the lord's face were still bare. Overall, except some piercings along his eyebrow, he seemed a perfectly normal, perhaps even handsome, panda.

Except for his eyes. To those who had never seen the effects aristos used to make their eyes 'unique', they might have been intimidating. Blood red sclerae with rosy pink irises. To Mohz, the effect came off as trying too hard.

"Alright, well first off I'm here to negotiate for multiple onyx contracts," Galess started off. He stumbled over his words, clearly trying to work through the embarrassment of showing his face, but recovered quickly. "One for my younger brother -- no not him," the lord corrected when several eyes drifted to the child running around in an overly large hat. "Saester doesn't have any marriage agreements at the moment. No, it's for my younger biological brother, Multon. He's to be married to Baron Ganile of Ro'Xanshin in a year's time."

Mohz drifted into careful inattention to the rigamarole of the negotiation process. Really, the only oddity was that the Uvand seemed ready to pay for longer than normal onyx contracts--everything else was fairly standard for nobility. For the lord's brother, the komodo dragon was assigned, while the hare and python were given the contracts for the lord's younger sisters. That left him without work, and thus his time wasted. Or so he'd thought.

"And lastly, I'd... like to inquire on if it's possible to combine a jade and an onyx contract into one?"

Once more the young lord had become bashful in the presence of the Lotus People. Not uncommon, given they frequently served as hands-on sexual educators for nobility. He struggled to meet the eyes of the assembled Lotus People for more than seconds at a time. This was the behavior Mohz was more accustomed to seeing in a nobleman who interacted with Lotus People.

"To what end, my lord?" The abbot asked, his tone gentle and gave the impression of confusion though Mohz suspected the abbot suspected what this was about.

"Well... in a few weeks, I will marry. To Lord Vation Nal'Galagar." Galess fidgeted on his cushion. "He... he doesn't... I know he doesn't want the marriage and was strong-armed by his Archduke to go along with it. And, um. He doesn't... like...." The young nobleman struggled to say it. "He doesn't like me all that much. So, I um --"

The abbot held up his long-fingered hand to stymie the lord's oncoming ramblings. He was the picture of composure, which all Lotus People aspired to. "He has never met you, my lord. What makes you think he doesn't like you?"

Galess shook his head. Somehow the tiny black Uvand hat stayed on with no trouble. "We have met, actually. He just didn't seem to know who I was. Acted like I was a messenger for my family or something. When I brought up the topic of myself, like I was a messenger, he got all...." The panda mimed clawing hands and put on an exaggerated 'grr!' face beneath his veil. "'I don't want to hear a word about him, now go!'"

For a moment, Mohz felt pity for the nobleman. He had made an effort to get into his betrothed's good graces but was rebuffed--seemingly, multiple times. Normally, it would be the Ruby who did the rebuffing, and the reverse of the norm made the situation sadder. He couldn't help but note, however, that the situation wouldn't have played out so if the Uvand simply went without their ridiculously large hats once in a while.

"I see," was all the abbot had to say about the newfound information. Though Mohz and the other Lotus People could make out the displeasure beneath his neutral expression. Tortoises seemed unusually gifted at many-layered expressions.

"Yeah, and that's... Sapphire Husbands have it rough, and his House didn't pay for an onyx contract, so... I thought...." The bear's verbal flopping around like a dead fish had ceased to please Mohz. Now all he had was pity for the man who almost broke his cheekbone. "I thought I could do it for them? Make it last the rest of his life, by making it a jade contract? Maybe get someone he'd... someone he could know was unambiguously on his side because I don't think he'll ever really trust me."

The abbot was quiet for a long time. No one said anything, not even the young lord who had taken to staring at his clasped hands.

At last the deafening silence was broken. "This does not seem like a start to a healthy relationship, my lord." A subtle downward shift in the abbot's tone was all he added to indicate any sentiment on the subject. "Is this why you left Mohz without a contract until now?"

The chocolate point feline met the panda lord's gaze for a second before Mohz inclined his head to him.

"Yeah. To be honest, I know he--Mohz, right? Mohz doesn't like me. That's why I asked him to be one of the Lotus People for the contracts." Galess tried to smile under his veil. "If it helps, I haven't been listening in on your thoughts. I added the general Lotus Person mind-wave to my filter so I can't hear what you're thinking outside of emergency keywords."

Mohz got the feeling he was expected to reply, and inclined his head again. "Many thanks, my lord," the cat said with his voice devoid of the doubt that ate at his thoughts.

Galess returned to his attempts to meet the abbot's eyes. "Vation, he --" the lord struggled to continue on the sentence he'd started, then eventually started over. "When I was being born, he and his Archduke had this talk about the marriage contract. My relatives were in the same room, and it was like the two of them thought they were alone." The panda laughed bitterly like he had been there and remembered the conversation.

Mohz stopped to consider -- did pandas lose their memories of infancy the same way other species did? Or did their universal Maestro status mean they could remember everything in perfect detail?

"Anyway... he had a list of people who he claimed to have slept with to disprove virginity." Galess rolled his eyes and flipped a hand dismissively. "One of the Empire's more asinine traditions, that. But we did some research on them." He looked at Mohz again and smiled in a way that didn't reach his eyes. "And if our guess is right you should tick most, if not all, of his metaphoric boxes for a bed partner."

"I trust I don't need to tell you how nontraditional it is for a nobleman to come to a Lotus Temple in search of a courtesan for his Sapphire Husband?" The abbot offered no judgment, though his face was unnaturally neutral.

In reply, the panda's eyes seemed to light up from within and cast a weak red glow across his face and the table. "We will make it a tradition. We will be the change we seek to see in the Empire, in this and all ways."

"I hope that you have the sense to pick your battles, then." The tortoise inclined his head for a moment. "Too much change too suddenly will antagonize your allies."

Galess' red glow faded away as if it were controlled via a flicked switch. "We know. But the first change I aim to make is to treat our Sapphires with respect. Like they're still people. But to have that respect extended in any way to the Empire, certain arrangements need to be made." The panda thumped his pointer finger many times into the low wooden table. "Which is why I'm here."

The abbot turned to regard Mohz directly. "Anything approaching a jade contract is purely voluntary, my lord. So, Mohz, do you wish to sign a jade-equivalent contract with this young man on behalf of his husband?"

Mohz was suddenly the focus of attention, but what he lacked in combat prowess he made up for in the bearing a Lotus Man should have. His movements were so subtle, outsiders commented that it seemed like light and shadows moved around him. He regarded the panda lord and kept a neutral expression.

"What does the Lord Vation have to say about this?" He asked his question and watched as it stunned the panda lord. For a long, purposefully long, moment nothing was said. Then once more, Mohz spoke up. "I think it might defeat the purpose you aim to achieve if you were to foist me upon your husband for the rest of our lives with no input from him whatsoever. He's already been on the receiving end of that. So--here is what I propose." Mohz looked to the abbot again and kept his body language in compliance with Lotus Order standards -- unnatural composure. "The young lord purchases a short-term contract as a temporary measure. Use it to attach me to the lord Vation's retinue, and let him make use of my skills how he wishes. If I am invited to his bed, or not, it will be his decision -- which you seem to desire, yes?" He glanced at Galess and noted how his younger brother tried to climb up the wall carvings with the enormous hat on.

"Yes," the panda admitted, his tone a model of political neutrality.

"And if he desires my services for longer when the contract is up, you simply provide him the funds to make it so. By all means, set the tradition of purchasing a jade contract for Sapphire Husbands and Wives, however." Mohz smiled, the shift in expression so minute that it almost seemed his face had always been that way.

"That seems an acceptable compromise." The panda lord immediately launched into specifics about the short-term contract. Starting with an Onyx contract as a template, Mohz would not be able to be dismissed from the lord's court or his future holdings without Lord Vation's approval. Mohz would guard the Lord's person and see to the duties of a courtesan, secretary, and/or concubine as the Lord requested. Galess had tried to extend the time on the Onyx variant, but Mohz shot him down at every turn.

As soon as the panda lord had signed and authorized payment to the Temple, which would hold it in trust pending Mohz's successful completion of the assignment, the meeting was considered adjourned. Galess stood from the cushions and bent his back unnaturally to pop it back into proper alignment, and started off toward his brother when Mohz appeared behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Part of standard Onyx contract procedure is to ensure the Ruby Husband is properly educated in the male pleasures. At least up to the second petal, you see. However, you paid for up to the third petal, which is the highest I am qualified to teach." The chocolate-point feline delivered his lines matter-of-fact. And though he didn't show it, he viscerally enjoyed the sudden surge of bashfulness that overcame the panda and how his face and ears turned red under his veil.

"I -- um, I got that. But -- you see, my brother's here, and I need to look after him."

"Shira," Mohz called out while maintaining eye contact with the panda lord. A squirrel initiate in his first year appeared at the door quickly thereafter. "Could you take the young lord Saester to the courtyard? Perhaps show him the climbing ropes -- but be safe about it."

The squirrel boy answered in the affirmative, and in short order, the little cat-bear whatever was led out of the room by Shira.

Mohz gently, but firmly led the young panda lord toward the section of the temple set aside for instructing adepts into the second petal. More than once, the broader, taller panda tried to force the issue and get out of the lessons. While the feline could easily be bested in a fight, Mohz never let it get to a fight in the first place. Felines were most adept at ambush and restraint techniques. When Mohz tired of Galess' struggling, he twisted the panda's arm behind his back and kept it on the cusp of dislocation. All of this was ultimately just the panda pouting, Mohz was sure, as a Maestro could have gotten out no problem once his nanetic arts were employed.

"You paid for lessons, and you will get them, my lord." Mohz cooly informed the panda as the screen door to the designated chamber slid open automatically, and closed behind them once they passed through. "Subsequent lessons may happen on your terms, but the first will happen on mine." His voice never rose, it remained soft, cool, and smooth as silk.

"Could at least -- ow! Take it slower...." While his tone was belligerent, the panda offered no further resistance when his arm was freed. He noticed they stood on a floor of woven mats with great piles of cushions all around him. When Mohz automatically slid out of his simple wooden sandals, the panda lord took the hint and bent down to undo his own shoes. Followed shortly thereafter by his robes.

Mohz let no judgment show on his face while the panda disrobed. Reds, particularly ruby red, seemed to dominate the panda's fashion palette, often with some fabric or light-catching substance to make it sparkle. Such was the case with the lord's shoes--almost resembling a woman's pumps with a strap at the toe and ankle. Without them, the lord was actually shorter than Mohz, though broader in the shoulders, chest, and hips.

The Lotus Man helped with the panda's undressing. First was the outermost layer, a shawl-like mantel fringed in light-catching crystal tassels. Mohz easily discerned the necessary pattern to fold it so that all the crystal tassels would face one direction. A second mantle lay beneath that and covered the straps that held detached sleeves close enough that they appeared to be one garment. They weren't robes at all, Mohz found, but a distinct series of torso garments that blended with several long skirts to give the impression of a many-layered robe. Mohz let the lord pause when down to his underwear and facial veil, where he shivered.

"It's really cold in here," the panda commented.

Mohz had a distinct non-reaction. His composure didn't slip a micron. For many men who spoke those words, it was a justification for a less than ideal penis size -- but the panda seemed genuinely cold. Without taking his eyes from the panda's, Mohz reached out and brushed a seemingly innocuous wooden lotus flower along a support beam in the middle of the room -- one of many across the woodwork. The flower rotated with his gentle touch, and in a moment a rush of warmer air flowed down into the room. As Mohz watched, the panda ceased his pitiful shivering, and the short-haired feline retracted his hand. "Disrobe and sit down, my lord."

Hesitant, the panda removed his underwear and stood mostly nude before the still dressed Lotus Man. He let the cat take the soft garment, fold it, and lay it respectfully with the rest of his things. But he seemed stunned when the cat continued to look at him expectantly.

"The veil too, my lord." The Lotus man tried to be gentle, but he viscerally didn't want to be. Only his pity for how the lord had tried and continued to try, to improve the quality of life for his soon-to-be-husband kept Mohz from making his instruction a thoroughly unpleasant experience for Galess. His dislike for the panda had been entirely the reason for his assignment, after all. "If you would rather I do it for you...."

"No, I got it..." The panda was even more hesitant to expose his face than he had been to expose his body. And when he had done so and handed the item over to Mohz, it was his face he covered instead of his groin.

This was a side of the Uvand that Mohz hadn't seen before. Even in similar veil-using cultures, the general consensus was that the genitals were even more shameful to have on display. Over their lessons, Mohz would need to ask about that. Did the Lotus People get such a warm reception because they had appeared in the Uvand equivalent of the nude?

He put the musing aside, and gathered up the pile of the young lord's clothing and going back to the door. "I'll return in a moment." He left the naked young man and walked with the Uvand's outfit to the launderers. It would perhaps improve the lord's mood, after the fact, to have his clothes warm and freshly scented. A pleasant ending for his trip back.

When he returned, the panda still preferred to cover his face. His embarrassment with the situation was clear from the redness seen between his fingers and the insides of his ears. That would make certain parts of the curriculum easier, and others substantially harder -- but through the Lotus Path, all doors could be opened. For the first time, he stopped to actually look at the panda as an individual and not just another Uvand Mohz had to deal with. The young lord had some musculature due to the Lotus Path combat training he'd been given -- the Uvand had become enamored with their weaponless fighting style. Those muscles were focused on the arms and legs; he grew visibly softer and pudgier toward his middle. That fell in line with what Mohz had heard the lord's brother comment on his training. Overall, Galess gave the impression of an otherwise inactive man who exercised some, for sport rather than necessity.

"Sit down, my lord," Mohz said as he closed the door behind him and slid the rose-pink robe from his shoulders in one graceful motion that had been practiced literally hundreds of times. "And we can begin lesson one."

~~~

Twenty years was a long time to grow used to indignity. Vation hadn't returned to his home, the Noema starport, without someone from the port authority snickering to themselves at his expense. Brave Lord Vation, condemned to live out his life minding a barbarian brat, he had heard once. Vation had broken his hand slapping the fool senseless -- the fool had disrespected Vation himself, House Nal'Galagar in the direct assault on their ally's honor, and Vation's husband who at the time would have been seven. Thirteen years later, and still they snickered, but they knew better to let him hear what they snickered about.

None of his siblings had spoken to him. His mother had asked him to visit once, and he refused every visit since. She had tried to convince him to kill the young lord Galess to escape the arranged marriage and gave certain implications to Vation's father's mysterious demise years earlier.

By far the most severe indignity, however, was the specific terms of his chaperone's service aboard his ship. Vecheld, a warrior woman of Major House Ro'Xanshin, House Nal'Galagar's current strongest ally, was required to gently rebuff any men or women who became interested in the Lord in a carnal sense. Those were rare -- Vation had only ever used his looks entice diplomatic allies once, and it resulted in the Uvand marriage he was shackled to. But she also had to routinely search his quarters to make sure he had not, by some miracle, smuggled someone in to assault his long-gone virtue and invalidate his marriage.

Vation doubted that the Uvand would care if he was a virgin or not. Just as they simply failed to care about much of what was considered the default for nobility. But the Emperor cared, and as his marriage was to induct an entirely new species into the Empire, the Emperor actually mattered for once.

The black wolf Lord paused and struck himself lightly. It was impolite and dishonorable to point out the uselessness of the Galactic Emperor. Largely because the Emperor had made it so. The problem with being the central authority to a hegemonic empire was that it was held together by each constituent part's desire to remain a part of it. Oun'Catal, the Imperial House, didn't have the military strength to force any of the major political blocs to do what they didn't want to do. But the highest levels of nobility followed tradition, they practiced the eagle's religion and spoke their language. Mutual respect, for each other and the traditions that let them connect to ancestors long dead, was what the Emperor tugged on to get what he wanted.

And he wanted the marriage to be as traditional as possible. With every single tradition that cost Vation more and more of his dwindling dignity.

The latest of such crimes against his person was the tailor that his House had appointed to make his presentation wardrobe which would double as his wedding outfit. As a lowly Lord, the single lowest rank in the Empire's nobility, Vation was not entitled to an expansive budget for his wedding. And the Uvand were only permitted to provide half the funds.

However, there were some parts of his trip to Noema that gave Vation a smidgeon of hope. Such as the messenger who brought official word from the triumvirs of the Uvand. While he stood upon a raised platform in his smallclothes while tailors literally crafted his wardrobe around him, the hooded Nal'Galagar messenger read off the message.

"It has come to Our attention that your duties on the frontier of your Empire, far removed from Our People, have led to a gap in knowledge on your part. It has also come to Our attention that your Emperor desires a traditional wedding. Since it would be impossible for you to fulfill Nal'Galagar tradition in the wifely category during the ceremony, We have instructed Our son Galess Halliwell to take on that role for your most joyful wedding. By Imperial tradition, the Sapphire Husband might fill the role of the wife, but to the Uvand, for that wedding, you will be the groom. May you be stronger than the foundations of the earth; signed, the Charmed Ones."

Vation nodded and looked over his shoulder to the hooded gray wolf who had delivered the message. "Thank you, I appreciate you enunciating were they capitalized things in the letter like that. Leave your contact information with my man, I will pay your fee and your tip as soon as I have trousers again."

"That will be a while, Lord," said the tailor. A female spider monkey who held up a plethora of fabrics against his fur for the most ideal shade of the Nal'Galagar colors -- black and gold. "Right now, we're still on preliminary work."

One of the perks of his marriage to the Uvand lordling was the high-quality elixir they provided him. Physically, he hadn't aged a day in twenty years -- he was still physically young, strong, and his coat had not a touch of gray. Aside from the scars he had collected on the frontier, he was still the same wolf that had negotiated the Uvand's admittance to the Empire. And until he neared his centennial year, there would be no need to record his memories externally. He had enjoyed being youthful and energetic. Whether he would continue to enjoy it would be the decision of his husband.

The tailor boutique's bell announced the door opening, once for the messenger to leave, and then again as Vecheld entered. Naturally, she did not get to ogle Vation's body while he was being fitted, as screens had been set up specifically for his privacy--and chaperone or no, she was not permitted to enter. It had been the one saving grace of his privacy that she could not enter a room where the Lord was indecent.

The fox woman's shiverspear was visible over the edge of the screens, the blade protected by a sock-like cap. Vation had never asked why she preferred the spear over the sword, and she had never asked why he preferred a ranged weapon to the noble's oscillation weapons either. One of the boutique's employees brought the Lady Vecheld a seat, at first facing away from the Lord's silhouette. She picked the chair up, turned it toward the screens, and the undressed Lord's shadow.

"So," she said to break the silence that had followed. "How's it looking in there?"

"Still doing preliminary work," Vation responded his voice the picture of political neutrality.

"Ah, so you're still in your smallclothes then. A pleasing mental image."

Vation's ears went flat against his head and he very nearly snapped. A deep breath and a mental reminder that he didn't have that luxury with Vecheld helped impose calm on himself. "It isn't proper for a chaperone to lust after her charge, Lady Vecheld."

"You won't be my charge much longer. And after that, I'm afraid I may never see you again. State of undress or no. Such a shame." The sound of glass beads clinking together reached Vation's ears, and he guessed she must have been styling her hair. "For such a long-term assignment, I will likely be granted an extended period of rest. I could come to your barbarian husband's planet and watch over you as I have, hmm? I wouldn't need to be paid in scrib."

The wolf's face burned under his black fur. The seamstress was too professional to comment on what she heard, Vation blessed his ancestor's names for that. "I... am not sure I would have the authority to even pay you that. It would be my... husband's decision."

"Aww, you can't even have someone on the side like he can without his approval?"

"Correct. The only aspect of my life that I will have control over will be the terms of my death." The seamstress had Vation step into a pair of traditional wedding boots -- with pointed and upward curled toes and a neck that stopped a third of the way up his calf. Once the fit was secure, he was made to step out of them again, and they were set aside as the first completed item of the wardrobe.

"Well... have you seen the planet he'll have you living on?"

She could likely see his head through the screen, so Vation shook his head. "It isn't a planet he's getting -- it's an entire star system. Ushanka -- if you have a link you can look it up." Truthfully, Vation hadn't looked at the data for Ushanka -- he'd stopped at the story of how the system earned the name of a type of hat.

Seventy-five years prior, Vation's ancestor Hellial had been doing what Vation had done, expand the borders of the Empire by surveying new stars. The long-dead wolf had made a bet that he would eat his hat if there was anything worthwhile about the star that would become Ushanka. For reasons that had become classified, the hat was eaten and the system earned its name.

Vecheld's tapping could be heard easily, as she searched for records regarding the Ushanka system. What concerned him was that seconds later she made a heartfelt 'awww' sound, like she had seen a child do something adorable. "Well, your hubby named one of the planets after you, so there's your immortality."

If his face had burned from Vecheld's lewd offer, it was set on fire from that development. "He what?"

The Ro'Xanshin Lady cleared her throat and began to read from her link in an official tone of voice. "The star Ushanka is a red dwarf and has seven true planets orbiting it. Accompanying Ushanka is the brown dwarf Vos, and together they enable the system to have two habitable zones for terrestrial planets. The first planet nearest Ushanka is heavily irradiated and volcanic Ushanka Primera and there exists evidence of a civilization that once lived on its surface. The next three planets are otherwise unremarkable carbon planets with little water, and their primary use will be as mining colonies. The primary site for habitation are two worlds that exist in the brown dwarf's habitable zone: A water world with a persistent hurricane so large it has repeatedly been described as a planet-sized star sapphire, named Vation, and a carbon planet where diamonds the size of mountains cause it to sparkle even from orbit named Tel Adamanta."

Once more she made that wretched noise. "Oh," she continued. "People have drawn fanart of you in planet-Vation's color schemes. Some of this stuff looks really good, honestly. Oh -- here's one of you and some panda, I'm going to guess your husband? The two of you are giants having sex on the planet's surface."

Vation thought he could explode from anger at the very notion of such unauthorized uses of his image circulating the Empire's digital network for years without his knowledge. No wonder everyone in the Empire seemed to find him the butt of a joke! "I'm going to contact my barrister, get immediate injunctions against every piece of art that dares use my face," he snarled.

"Oh come on, Vation, don't be a censor hog." The Lady approached the screen and lifted her link up over the dividers. "If it makes you feel any better, you're on top!"

"Why would you think that makes it better?!" Vation's composure threatened to break as he realized artists had been interpreting his nude body for years without his consent or awareness. The scandal of it all -- if he had been any higher ranked nobility than a Lord it would have been grounds for a lawsuit. He then noticed that Vecheld's link didn't display and planetary lewds between him and an unknown panda, but was set to record. "Madam, if you wish to live to see tomorrow you will delete that right now!"

"I'll delete it no problem after I get what I want from it. Nice butt, by the way."

~~~

"My lord, there is no need to be ashamed. You face is perfectly nice."

Easy for him to say, the panda lord thought as he watched the Lotus Man disrobe in a span of seconds, fold his own rose-pink robe, and set it aside as if to mock how long it had taken Galess to do the same. For someone who had only been among greater and lesser pandas all his life, Mohz was an exotic beauty -- his lithe build that moved with an utterly unearthly grace, cream fur that became brown at his hands, feet, face, and tail, head totally devoid of headfur for a sleek look, eyes a shade of blue Galess had never seen before. The Imperials were so confident that they could walk with their faces on display, for anyone to see. They even marked their face with nano-pigmentation to show their House or Guild allegiance. Mohz's mark was of a five-petalled lotus flower with rose pink at the edges.

And that same exotic beauty approached him in the nude, shamelessly baring his face, with the utmost contempt for Galess who couldn't do the same. That contempt had been something Galess had insisted on in their candidates. It was vital for the Lotus Man to dislike Galess so that Vation would be more at ease with his presence. He'd known from the very beginning that combining that with someone contractually obligated to impose sexual education would lead to an uncomfortable experience. He'd hoped that he would have time to prepare, to brace himself for the humiliation.

Mohz's contempt for him meant Galess was given no such time.

The feline's face never rose above his default smooth, soft, but unyielding tone. Like a moving piece of art, he crossed the room to where Galess sat on the cushions, crouched down, and reached out to the panda's face.

Terrible dread and fear gripped Galess when the Lotus Man's hands touched his own and pulled them away from his face. It wasn't that Mohz was strong, so much as Galess suddenly became weak. He couldn't muster the strength to resist. Mohz held them away from his face and met the panda's eyes, unblinking.

"My lord, have you had many male lovers?" Mohz released the panda's hands and leaned over to a table. He pressed down on a carving of a lotus flower, and the table split open to reveal several bottles in various sizes and shapes. Frost rose off the bottles when exposed to the warm air, and condensation gathered on the twisted bottle that Mohz selected.

"No." It took the panda a moment to realize he was free to cover his face once more and did so without hesitation. Shame could not be unlearned so quickly.

When Mohz noticed, he sighed. The subtle gesture seemed to convey primordial disappointment but it had no effect on Galess' willingness to bare his face.

"From the way you act, I wonder how any of your lovers found your behavior acceptable," Mohz commented and returned the bottles save his chosen to their hidden compartment.

"I have had no lovers." To add to his shame, his humiliation, Galess' voice was filled with desperation. He wasn't a Halliwell at that moment, not an Uvand, he was one man surrounded with deafening silence and he was afraid.

Mohz froze, then squinted at the panda lord. After a long moment of deafening silence -- Galess wished he hadn't added the Lotus People's mind-wave to his filters at that time -- before the feline acted again. The cat closed his eyes and brought up his free hand to pinch the bone between his eye sockets as if to forestall a headache. "You're a virgin," Mohz declared, he didn't ask.

"Yes," Galess responded promptly. He became puzzled -- why would the Lotus Man assume otherwise?

"In the Empire, it is unusual for any adult to remain a virgin save in the case of noble marriages." As if he could read minds, Mohz explained the concept to the panda lord. "For nobility who have the husbandly role, it is, in fact, scandalous for them to remain virginal. It is seen as neglecting their duties, as it so happens."

Dread and fear once more met in Galess. He had dared hope that the revelation would earn him some reprieve in the Lotus Man's instruction, instead, it gave him greater cause for contempt.

"Among the Uvand," Galess hastily explained, "when you are promised to someone else, you can only... lay with that one person. It's different when there are no arrangements, but I've had an arrangement since I was born."

Mohz sighed once again and looked up. Galess couldn't shake the notion that the Lotus Man was, in fact, a work of art brought to life and made mobile, such was the beauty in every gesture. "So while you would purchase our services for your husband, you yourself would never come to us of your own free will?"

The panda was confused. Pink and red eyes tried to find some explanation in the feline's stony face for why he'd bothered to ask that question. "No, never. And if it would not help Vation for me to do this... I would never have agreed to it."

The two men, in the nude, regarded each other. Mohz's expression, without his thoughts for Galess to hear, made him impossible to read. And Galess had yet to take his hands away from his face of his own will.

At last, the feline sighed, and stood. "Then we will have to make do with an... alternate method of training you, my lord." When Galess vocalized his confusion, the Lotus Man shrugged. "In the Empire, your condition is unacceptable. But in the Lotus Order, it is beautiful for you to walk the path of chastity that your husband has been forced onto. I won't diminish the significance of your gift, but you still need to be educated." The chocolate point feline dressed and went to the door once more. "I will return with another Lotus Person, we will demonstrate the techniques, and you will practice them on yourself. There are tools to assist you in that manner in the table, just turn the lotus flower the other way. Don't go anywhere," the cat added the last part with an ominous tone, and left.

Alone, at last, Galess took his hands from his face and leaned over to the table. The nanites in his eyes let him see that the lotus was connected to a series of rotating chambers which would be spun around with the user's input, and made available. He followed Mohz's direction and felt his face heat up with what was sent up through the table. Synthetic phalluses of many sizes, in many species, stood permanently erect and proud, as if waiting for Galess to pick one.

Naturally, the panda's hands gravitated toward the one labeled 'wolf'.