Archduke Xavier recognizes her impeccably good reasons and has time in his schedule to see her!

Well, no, he doesn't, but he has time he can spare to see her.

"Duchess. Welcome." 

"Archduke. I am grateful for your earlier aid, and would ordinarily try not to interrupt your plans once again, but - censorship. We intended to take it through Safe Roads; we can't." It would confirm the Geryon whore pamphleteer had inside information; it would make the bill easily discredited, by people who know to be looking to discredit it. 

"I know that Rights is full of radicals, but - are they stupid radicals? Because the alternative to our censorship bill -"

He thinks a moment.

"I'll start in a minority of one. Archduke Banlius will see the necessity, Avenger Ferrer won't agree to anything, Tallandria and Lebanel are intelligent but will need some convincing, and most likely want modifications that will make it harder to pass. The Erastilans have the swing votes and I expect we'll have their support but it's not a certain thing, the bill's complicated and they distrust that."

"That makes sense. One alternative is to take it through Forms of the Monarchy, though it'd have to be reillusioned as at least mostly restoring an old law, which I can sell with a patchwork of eight old laws it half-resembles. This would have the advantage we could also restore slander laws that way. The downside is that people will notice Forms of the Monarchy is by far the most powerful committee. They haven't, yet, and I was rather imagining they wouldn't until Alexaera emerges with a constitution. 

Another alternative is to hold a morning vote to abolish Diabolism, reform Judiciary - which is full of Wain's allies, right now, and could instead collect the dozen people who want to spend most of their efforts inventing things to retry her on - adds Law, and then tries to work through one of those.

The other alternative is to lose this one, but while this isn't my favorite position it's a winnable one. I would not really contemplate losing except - I care more, if I have to pick one, about getting slavery through tomorrow so we can open the ports."

He nods. "The convention has voted on its abolition to slavery, all the archdukes have voted against it, one of the chief advocates of slavery was executed for riot and arson. I think we can win that without losing this." He drums his fingers on the table. "I'll see if Archduke Banlius and Delegate Lebanel have time to speak with me. They're educated, they'll understand the importance of a moderate example, and if the three of us are united we can get it through Rights. If they're opposed - we play for Judiciary to attract them and add Law, or perhaps add a direct committee on Censorship, use open signups to secure a majority, then disband Censorship after the law is passed?"

"That works, I think. I mean not to go near it, but Narikopolus will speak for it, since the Church will. ...I think Bainilus shouldn't, any more than I should. You'll need her to get it through Rights but you'll have to be the one to take it to the floor."

"Agreed," he says, looking like this is something he has to do but doesn't want to."

Whereas she would like to very badly but can't. She would propose ridiculous shenanigans with Alter Self but that would almost certainly backfire spectacularly. "I'll leave my notes on it with your staff, then. Are there, among the matters I've distracted you from, any I can help with more usefully than censorship?"

"I can't think of anything," he says, "not unless you know where to find another dozen Good or Neutral adventurers interested in being barons and remotely qualified for it who you haven't already found posts for."

"Regrettably on every occasion I have encountered one of those I've instantly hired them."

"Tragic," Xavier says precisely as if he wasn't doing exactly the same thing.

"It would be an excellent experiment in whether promoting wildly more people than the usual to the ranks of the nobility improves matters or worsens them, were there not so many other distracting features of the situation - in any event, if you have this in hand, I meant to spend the evening talking to those members of the Slavery committee who intend to speak in their bill's favor on the floor tomorrow, and make sure that they - have a good understanding of the room and don't lose themselves a winning battle. If you end up concluding you can't get it through Rights, send a message, I will mull over which of our backup options stand the best odds."

"I will do this," he says, rising and bowing. "May the righteous gods bless your work."

"And yours."