"You might find them harder to deal with. They change their system of government every several centuries, I can hardly keep up."

"The entire system or just the head of state?"

"Oh, they don't currently have a head of state. The rulers of each province jointly form a council that oversees matters affecting the exterior of the planet as a whole, and decide their policies by vote. I'm expecting them to notice how inefficient this is sometime in the next few decades and come up with a new, even less efficient system a few decades after that." He pauses. "That was me mocking them for personal amusement; they do seem to be mostly floundering in the direction of a robust and functional government, with a few steps backward every now and then."

"Voting-based systems are very popular where I'm from."

He shrugs. "It's not a bad idea in principle, but you have to watch out for the details."

"I suppose you get around a lot of the traditional monarchy pitfalls with the immortality thing."

"Yes. I've been king of Aluvanna longer than any of my subjects has been alive. I fancy I've improved with practice."

"One hopes. Anyway. The cult aliens seem downright friendly. I don't know if they'll want to have extensive diplomatic/academic/etcetera contact with you lot but if they do can you put something together, and how should I go about meeting some Ceirene?"

"That depends. You could just fly out of the planet and say boo, but that might turn out to be a slow and frustrating path. On the other hand, if you allow me to introduce you, you suffer the association of having been introduced by an Aluvai. Perhaps I should have Kyralaine pass you along. Have you met her? You've met her boys, that much I do know."

"I have not met her, as it happens."

"She's a Ceirene woman with an utterly brilliant mind who, happily for the future of my country, got it into her head to marry Azair Kevarsin and have brilliant babies together."

"I'd be delighted to be introduced."