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Chapter 3 of our lovely diplo-drama, or whatever genre this is. As a reminder, these are marked adult due to some of the "sexually charged" content, but there won't be any actual sexy stuff for several chapters yet.

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We spent some time going over the various political processes and organizations I would need to interact with, their aims and notable members. I felt... tenuously good, about the whole setup, my own predicament excluded. The Federation was a decently run nation, a pleasant balance of power, reasonably competent upper levels, reasonably responsible devolution to lower levels, and a nice healthy dash of corruption to keep it all interesting. No scary imbalances or unchecked forces running amok. Really, it rather showed up the Empire in that regard, but I'm used enough to imperial politics that it doesn't distress me. Nothing wrong with a clunky machine, if you're intimately familiar with its quirks and weak spots. And who to bribe.

What did distress me, I found, was having to use the bathroom again. Mohjir was as gentle as he could be, discussing such things with me, but it didn't matter; no degree of care could make me feel anything but violated by the whole experience. I splashed a lot more this time. I felt like a small child, needing to be 'cleaned up' in such a manner. I didn't want to think about what would happen when my digestive system eventually ran its course; hydrans have a relatively slow metabolism, so I had some time yet before that would become... a concern. Good timing aboard-ship set that up, but timing and eating lightly would only take me so far. If Mohjir were in any way... involved... my anxious mind couldn't imagine getting through the experience without shedding tears of shame.

After the ordeal, all I particularly wanted to do was lie down and have Mohjir not look at me for a while, so I sent him to follow up with his government-side superiors regarding my condition. With luck, I'd have these damn shackles off before Mohjir had to experience any more of my bodily functions.

In his absence, I found myself somewhat at a loss. I would have liked to peruse the bookshelf and find something to read, but, no paws. So, I lay down on the bed in a position that didn't further aggravate my underside and considered the ceiling, the quilt, the land beyond my window.

I was basically a prisoner, I remembered again. I may have inhabited a prison with a fairly polite, undoubtedly helpful warden, but it was a prison nonetheless. I wondered if Mohjir had been given any particular orders to control me in any way. If so, likely the first one had been to befriend me, I realized with discomfort. I resolved not to be so easily apprised of his benign nature; I did not truly know him, and likely never would. It would be foolish, perhaps even crazy, to trust him.

And yet, I had little choice, given my position; simply the metrics of our situation foisted trust upon me. To fail to trust him would be to drive myself crazy.

Perhaps I was going crazy, regardless.

When Mohjir returned, he bore a sheaf of parchment and a grimace. "Unfortunately, the matter of your attachment status has not yet been brought up for debate in the council," he said, to my eager appearance in the doorway. "I inquired and got an answer of this evening. Most other items of import are dependent upon that determination."

"Curse," I muttered, feeling more put down than I expected. "Well, looks like you're to be my butler again tonight."

"And I am perfectly happy to do so, though of course I would prefer you with the independence you desire." He gave me a smooth smile. "While I was making my inquiry, I also collected several documents of interest from councilmembers, addressed to yourself. You may wish to review them."

"Indeed?" I lead the way to my study, frowning, and resumed my seat in its chair. "I'm afraid you'll have to read them to me. I'm not familiar with the Kletholan script; my knowledge of your language stems from Acyrot."

"Aaaah," he said, in a tone of dawning comprehension.

"Rather explains my accent, I suppose?" I chuckled.

"Less that, and more a few of your grammar choices. You have a most... perplexing... way of speaking, to one of my kind, almost poetic, but very roundabout. Charming, in a way."

"Well, that could as easily be the imperial coming out, heheh. We are not known for our directness, particularly in court." I nodded at the paper. "I will endeavour to learn the script, but until such time..."

"Naturally, I will read, and you may dictate to me when need be." He opened the letter, scanned it with a critical eye. "This is a missive from the Chieftain of Clan Ardor, which is in the central region of the Federation. Fifth rank in size, exports primarily livestock and textiles. Chieftain Ardor-Hetus welcomes you to these shores, wishes you prospertity, inquires as to the safety and comfort of your journey -- these are all traditional statements, very formulaic, you are not expected to provide a reply -- and requests an audience at your earliest convenience."

"Hm." I frowned. "What could be his urgency?"

"Likely he wishes to secure overseas markets for his wool," Mohjir chuckled. "Or something of that nature. The past decade has not been kind to the heartlands, his popularity is suffering, and he may feel the Empire could be his savior. You're the first major change to our economic relationships in a hundred years."

"Nn, I rather doubt he will find many wool buyers among my kind," I posited. "It does not get terribly cold in most regions, and we favor silks and linens. It is not one of the commodities in demand. Still, it seems prudent to begin trade with a predictable, underserved unit; perhaps this would make a good candidate. I can place out a few inquiries to traders I am affiliated with, if it would serve his needs. Though, it occurs to me that I doubt they'll be able to read a letter, if you take it."

"Ah, indeed. I'm afraid there's not been much call for me to learn another language, so I am not useful to you in that regard."

"Oh, nonsense," I protested. "I would not expect it of you; you've proven yourself far more useful than I anticipated already. Do you suppose this fellow really needs my attention immediately?" I pivoted the chair toward him with my feet, and found him giving me that strange look again.

"Ah, well, it would be abnormal to deny a request for an audience from a Chieftain," he began, somewhat put off.

"Not deny, mind you," I said, tone sliding downward. "I just simply wonder if it would be... most seemly... for such an audience to occur in my, ah, present state."

He blinked, processed, and gave me a headdip and a small smile. "To the contrary, I daresay he expects as much. Indeed, I believe he has brought up the matter of your attachment twice in the past week, in council session. Though it has, of course, been a topic of much discussion across the council."

"Splendid," I muttered, sarcastically. "So he not only expects me to be nude and in irons, he wishes to see it for himself."

"You must remember, this state is not a slight upon you. It is part norm, part unfortunate disagreement. I guarantee you he has nothing of the sort on his mind. Given the political history of your role here, he is likely even one of your advocates, though I have not seen enough of the council debate to say for certain."

"Indeed," I replied, somewhat reassured. "That brings to mind a matter I had been intending to pursue. In fact, perhaps you could be of help to me."

"Yes, Emirus?"

I blanched, taking a moment to remember that using my personal name meant 'sir' or 'ambassador' over here. "Obviously, in my position, it is not possible, nor likely appropriate, for me to spend a great deal of time involved in your governance, when it does not directly relate to the Empire's interests. I would... like a better understanding of what occurs in council," I said, choosing my words carefully. "Day-to-day activities and present topics of discussion. Only public information, of course, nothing clandestine, but a complete picture."

"I... I see..." I couldn't read his tone. "Well, council meetings are public affairs, anyone may attend if they wish... If there are particular debates you are interested in, I could take notes for you?"

"You have your own duties to me, which occupy too much of your time to provide a thorough report on council affairs every day. That's more what I'm after, not a specific debate."

"You would like to procure a separate information stream?" He sounded somewhat uncertain.

"Yes. And more to the point, you are an excellent source of personnel knowledge and contacts."

"I can think of a few council deputies I am acquainted with, offhand. Several lesser councilor-adjuncts, particularly within the Holsfir delegation. A barrister or two. Would you... like me to approach a few of them?"

"If you feel it is within your capabilities, then yes." I paused, debating how frank to be with him; I decided in the interest of trusting him, I ought to give him reason to trust me. "In the empire, I would handle such things myself, but I have a very small set of contacts here. Multiple will be desirable in time, but let us begin with one. Someone attentive, bright, and discreet."

"Hm. Yes. I believe I can do this for you," he replied, thoughtfully. "One individual springs to mind, in fact. You... do not sound as though you wish this arrangement to be common knowledge," he remarked, tone markedly uncomfortable; he was not meeting my eyes.

"I find it often... simplifies my position, if any political opponents have limited grasp on how I know the things I know," I said gently, but with a smirk. "I have little interest in gaining access to information I am not entitled to, never fear. I find that sort of information... does not come from seeking it out, at any rate. Rather, I would like to be in a position where I can impress, say, Chieftain Ardor, with my knowledge of current council deliberations and their background, without him understanding how I derived the intricacies of this knowledge."

"An interesting tactic," Mohjir replied, and I could not judge his opinion of it. "I will pursue this matter for you. It will take a few days, likely."

"Of course, of course." In lieu of waving my paw, I shook my head. "And now, you may continue."

Mohjir moved on to the next letter. "This is a formal address from the council committee on the magical arts. The usual pleasantries, your health, your comfort, et cetera. Goodness, they go on at some length. Ah, this is the meat of it. They wish you to observe that, in the federation, magery is regulated and controlled by the Guild. As you are a diplomatic figure, they are granting you a dispensation to practice outside the normal Guild membership and regulations; there is an official notice in triplicate enclosed." He removed it and placed it on the desk. "However, they warn you not to abuse this allowance, and suggest that it would be wise to keep your activities beneath notice, or they may be forced to rescind this formality."

"A lovely gesture that I'm sure would be much appreciated, if I were a mage," I said, somewhat dryly. "Unfortunately, I am not, so it is not. They mention a guild?"

"Yes, the Mages' Guild is the largest single organized group within the federation, and the only one that is legally permitted to be fully unified, rather than being divided into independent, affiliated guilds within each clan. They are responsible for training and administering our citizens with magical abilities, and have at various times played a considerable role in politics, particularly before the Federation was formed. Which is, naturally, where their special status in the Federation originated. Several Chieftains are members."

"Indeed," I murmured, not a little apprehensive. I didn't know how things were on this side of the water, but in the Empire, mages always meant trouble eventually. "I should like a list of those. And a discussion of the political positions the Guild has taken in the past, and those it now supports."

"I will prepare those for you," Mohjir said, writing them down.

"Excellent. Next, please."

"Here we have another request for audience. This one from a member of the nobility."

"I didn't think the federation had much of a nobility," I remarked.

"Generally speaking, we do not, at least not in the sense of the word as the Empire understands it. Chieftains exercise complete control over their clanlands, and interact with the mayors of cities, holders of farmland, and leaders of local guilds directly or via their administrative officers; there is no feudal heirarchy as I understand there is in the Empire. Councilors who are not themselves Chieftains are generally drawn from the leaders of other important families, with only rare exceptions. However, there are, for example, elected mayors of large cities such as Nendara, who are not members of any particularly distinguished lineage and have no role in clan or federal government, but are independently wealthy and can pursue their own interests, up to and including some federal politics in certain cases."

"I suppose this is one of those cases," I snorted.

"Indeed. The letter is from Herell-Ejus, former mayor of the port city of Caztlor and currently nominal administrator of the southern region of Herell territory. As this region is also where the majority of the population and the clan family lives, it is something of an... honorary title, in recognition of the considerable wealth and influence that family has collected. To the best of my knowledge, she does not engage in any of the day-to-day affairs of the Herell."

I'd been following along and nodding, before looking at him in surprise. "She?"

"Yes, Ejus is a woman." He looked up at me.

"I see. I take it this is not... uncommon?"

"How so?"

"You know, for a woman to hold such a position of power and wealth."

He regarded me for a moment, and a wry grin materialized on his face. "Are you projecting your imperial sensibilities, Emirus?"

I flinched again at the usage of my personal name. "Not at all," I protested. "There are females in positions of power in the empire as well. Most of the individuals you've mentioned have been male, however. Also, her name sounds masculine, at least to my ears; -us is a male ending in imperial names, as in mine."

"Well," he said, leaning against the side of my desk. "As you know, lepulines suffer from considerable gender disparity. Females are prestigious, in most of the cultural circles where they might be active. This leads to almost an over-representation of the female sex at the highest levels of our government. I believe, of the hundred... hundred-eight? Hundred-nine? Hundred-eight current councilors, forty-two are female, and of the thirty-three chieftains, sixteen are female. For comparison, at the time of the last census, roughly one in six Kletholan citizens was female."

"I... did not know that," I sputtered, taken aback. "How on earth did your culture end up so skewed?"

Mohjir glanced at me, hesitated, and then looked down at the floor. "Please understand, Emirus, that you are speaking about the reality of my people. It is not an easy situation for us to cope with."

I realized my outburst had offended him. "I... I beg your forgiveness," I began, contrite. "I did not consider, I simply had no understanding of..." I took a deep breath, and started over. "My words were crass and insensitive, please do not consider them heartfelt."

He looked up, and to my surprise, he had a sort of half-grin that I almost recognized. "You know, really," he murmured, "There is no need to be so considerate. I am no one of importance; save your emotive apologies for the councilors."

I blinked. "You're... saying I shouldn't apologize for insulting your people?" I asked, gaze askance.

"Well, you go rather... over the top, when you apologize for anything," he chuckled. "To me, at least. I am just your attendant, you need waste no effort or formality on me. It's very imperial of you."

I considered that. "You might entertain," I offered, "That perhaps it is not imperial, to act in such a way, but my own prerogative. I simply do not wish to hurt you, or give you cause to think less of me, regardless of your status."

He regarded me. "That, at least," he said quietly, "is very imperial of you."

I dropped the subject. "In any event, I should not have said what I said."

"It is no matter, if you did not know," he dismissed. "Yes, women are rare among our kind. It is not unusual for a mother to have a litter of all boys, and a blessing for her to bear two girls. It has been a... significant factor, at various points in our history." He paused, and I got the sense he did not like discussing the subject. "In the west, in antiquity, women were... often considered property, bought and sold for high prices, and... passed around, among male peer-groups. And in the southeast, boys were often killed, or... mutilated, made incapable of mating. Moving beyond such barbarism was a great struggle for us, and took many centuries."

"I... I see..." I replied, speechless. I had never read of any of this; I wondered how much of it was even known to imperial scholars. The Empire was very old, and we had not always been so dismissive of this hemisphere, but I'd dug up everything I could easily find in the time I'd had available. I would have given a lot, to have had more time to research the culture I was now a part of.

"That is all... old, dark history, however," he demurred. "For hundreds of years, in both the east and west, men and women have had equal status. Though, as I said, women are often more respected, and young men like myself often find themselves society's flotsam." He chuckled weakly. "There are, after all, so very many of us."

"Hm." I wasn't sure what to make of that, precisely, but it helped to put the nation I was dealing with into context. "I suppose marriages are held in great esteem."

"You suppose incorrectly," he grinned. "We do not form lifetime pairs as other species do. Most women bear children to several fathers over the course of their lives, though some do choose one male in exclusivity. You are correct, however, in that a father receives greater respect and consideration than a male who has never fathered children. Women also generally retain their mates who father children as close companions, whereas those who do not are typically dismissed after a time. Often, a short time."

"I... see..." Polyandry! That was a shocking revelation; and here I'd thought any nation that abstained from alcohol had to be fairly dull! "Courtship must be... competitive."

"You could say that," he said, somewhat dryly. "The pressure to bear children, particularly girls, is intense, bordering on desperation. We are particularly weak to any condition that might reduce the number of fertile females, from plagues to famine, it is a great stressor that weighs on most of our traditions and influences many of our laws. Historically, whole clans have died out, on account of losing too many females in such a catastrophe, and the clan structure itself is built around a certain desire to retain females, though inter-clan marriages have been legal with dispensation since the time of Federation. Even today, I would guess a majority of males have never fathered children, and merely the chance to do so is a driving motive for the whole society."

"I'd suggest that the 'chance to father children' is a driving motive in any culture," I chuckled.

He laughed as well. "You are right, of course, but among my people, it is as much a matter of... perhaps not survival these days, but social cachet... as it is a matter of libido. Mating with a female represents a chance to improve one's status, and secure one's position, as well as further securing the position of one's family, clan, and species. A great responsibility, and not one taken lightly, I assure you."

"Indeed not."

"And how about your kind, Emirus?" he remarked, with a playful sparkle in his deep green eyes. "How does the Empire regard the chance to father children?"

"Well," I said, feeling the first hints of embarrassment. "With an even mixture of shame and thirst, I daresay."

He burst into laughter. I grinned in spite of myself.

"Ostensibly, in the eyes of the spirits, it is right and just to marry, and to be virginal there-before, and to be fecund thereafter, and to be devoted and dedicated to one's spouse," I droned, ducking my head back and forth in lieu of waving my paw in the same manner. "And on and on in that vein. And that's certainly the way things are... publicized. But, in practice... well, it is not spoken of, but in the capital, if you are someone of standing and wish to mate with a stranger tonight, that can easily be arranged, regardless of your marital status." I snorted. "Hells, if you wish to mate with five strangers at once tonight, that can also be arranged."

"And if the public learns of such events, it is a tremendous scandal," he suggested.

"Naturally, naturally. 'Centurion caught in gross orgy' splashed across the bulletins, never mind that he's been holding them every fortnight for the past two years, I know because I've been to a few -- " I paused, grinning, as Mohjir cackled. "Oh, it's very farcical. Great entertainment. Supposing your own activities are suitably private, that is."

"Indeed. And have you engaged in many... activities?" he smirked.

"I suppose, ah, 'many' is in some ways a fitting word," I replied, somewhat more uncomfortable. "But, I am not married, so it would be... rather less scandalous, if that were trumpeted from the ramparts. I would only be flaunting two tenets, as opposed to five. Not that the traditional ways place any regard on the tenets, I would point out, it's all modernist effluent..." I paused; he was regarding me oddly. "You... do not approve?"

"No, no," he said quickly, "It is clearly not my place to judge you, and obviously, our ways do not precisely, well, we do not pair-bond... It is simply odd, to a lepuline, to think that you mate with multiple women, regularly. If, ah, I have not misunderstood you."

Now I was embarrassed. "Well, uh. No, you haven't, I suppose."

"If you were a lepuline, it would be exceedingly rare for a male your age -- if I have not misjudged it -- to have had the company of more than one or two women. Likely women who did not bear your children and only shared your bed for the one night." He was smirking. "How foreign that must seem to you, with your... 'imperial thirst'."

I was about at my limit for discussing my sexual behavior. "You certainly seem interested in hearing about it," I mumbled, drawing another laugh out of him.

After a moment, however, he spoke again, seeming to have picked up on my discomfort. "I... I am sorry, if my attention is... out of place. Such things are discussed openly, among my kind."

"So I gathered," I groaned, but I was managing my embarrassment. "I am not offended, I simply, well, you will need to accord me some deference, when it comes to such topics. I am... unused, to thinking and speaking in a Kletholan sort of way. I will get used to it eventually." I cleared my throat. "This has been a fascinating conversation, but perhaps we should return to the missive from... what was her name? Herell..."

He'd been giving me that look again, the weird smile, but he jumped slightly, and his eyes widened. "Oh, yes! Herell-Ejus, excuse me, Emirus, for my distraction." He lifted the parchment, unfolded it. "Ejus bids you welcome to our shores, wishes you good health, inquires as to the comfort of your journey..."

---

I write a lot of complicated relationships, and spend a lot of time thinking about how to portray them. Something I've found, is that my mental conception of how people work is based pretty heavily on a "founding premise" of sorts, and that individuals will return to this premise repeatedly even as momentary events pull them in other directions and put them in other moods. Emirus is starting to demonstrate that, I think, because while he does have significant motivation, both conscious and unconscious, to be snippy, standoffish, or downright hostile, that's not the sort of person he is. He's personable and diplomatic to a fault, and he craves positive relationships with mutual emotional investment. Even when he knows better, that's the behavior he returns to.

Of course, one of the downsides to writing characters in this way is they can sometimes feel a little inconsistent, or like they're acting only with regard to hidden motivations, like an unreliable narrator of sorts. To this I would say, well, people are inconsistent, and the motivations they assume consciously (even in secret) are not always the ones driving their decisions. But, it's something I'm still working on. I spent a lot of time polishing Emirus's behavior throughout this whole story to try and strike the right balance, and I'd say I'll continue to learn in other stories, too.

Next update in two weeks, like usual.