"It can tutor you in math and geography and history and the sciences. Most people get a bigger screen for that, and the smaller one is for recreation and travel and things you do on the go, but I think it should work fine with just the one."

"We should learn about history," declares Sigrun.

"Yeah," says Tyr, dispiritedly stabbing his chicken nuggets with a fork.

"Father would want you to learn."

"Yeah."

"You don't want him to think you've been wasting your time."

"I think you get to waste at least one day if you're kidnapped."

"Well I wouldn't, and then I'd be a day ahead of everyone else who wasted it."

"Does it tell you about what's happening in the world right now?" asks Tyr, after kicking his sister under the table. She does not kick him back.

"There are news articles and news videos you can watch or read, yes. The translation is going to be a little choppy for something like that, but I bet it's good enough to get a general idea."

"We should learn whatever most people speak here, too," says Sigrun.

"A lot of people here have bought themselves a magic universal translator, so they sound to everyone like they're speaking their native language. I have. But the local language is Italian, and I'd be happy to find you tutors for it."

"We'll learn Italian," says Sigrun.

"They don't speak Italian at home," says Tyr.

"Some people do."

"Not important people."

"Sigrun," says Catherine, "You can study whatever you want, but you're not in charge of your brother. It's not unreasonable to want a few days to settle in."

"Fine," says Sigrun, mildly. "If he wants to be murdered by a Catholic uprising when he's twenty."

"I think it might make more sense to start with history and current events, if you're worried about dying in uprisings."

"Well I'm not," says Sigrun.

"My best friend was actually murdered once," says Melody's husband cheerfully. "It took us three years to get him back, and now he constantly tells us we're so elderly he can barely relate to us."

"That sounds like it would be highly inconvenient for someone who's supposed to be doing things of political importance," says Sigrun, sipping her milkshake.

"Well, it doesn't take that long if you're doing things of political importance."

"Well it'll still look bad," she says. "If you get murdered by peasants all the time."

"It'd look bad for the peasants," mutters Tyr.

"Oh, are you planning to rule here?" asks Melody. 

"No, of course not. But Tyr's an heir, and he has a responsibility to study things that will make him a better ruler, and Vanda Nossëo's history will be relevant to - things."

"You don't need to. What're you even going to do with history?"

"Talk to my husband. I'm sure Father can find someone in the world who's more concerned with responsible stewardship of his lands than you are."

"It's actually traditional to find someone yourself, these days," says Melody's husband. 

"There's a reality show where they do arranged marriages, the old-fashioned way, and then film the subsequent relationships," Melody says. "I haven't watched it, but I think one of the couples arranged that way is still together."

"...why would I want to do that?" asks Sigrun, as if the idea of finding her own husband is something distasteful that's stuck to the bottom of her shoe.

"Well, since no one is ever going to die, marriages as a way of securing political alliances fell out of favor," said Melody's husband.

    "I think marriages as a way of securing political alliances fell out of favor long before it became the case that no one died."

"Huh, did it really?"

    "Yes. I'm not a historian but if I were trying to summarize the trajectory of things, broadly... changes to the nature of warfare made feudalism stop being viable as a political system. Monarchies centralized. Land stopped being the primary form of capital you'd hold to maintain power. Marriages ceased to function as alliances between families and turned into an alliance between two individuals. Immortality happened, and immortality means it's incredibly important to marry someone you're so deeply compatible with that you are sure you'll still be close to them in a thousand years, and that kind of compatibility became the top priority, and no one else can really assess it for you. People started thinking that other people were shortsighted and foolish and irresponsible unless they married for long-term compatibility."

Sigrun looks deeply confused. Catherine would help except that she actually doesn't know anything about this. 

"Well," says Sigrun, sounding irritated. "Even if I were going to choose someone I'm sure Father would find them first."

"I suppose if he meets lots of people he might be well-positioned to do that."

"Father knows everyone. Everyone important, anyway." She pauses. "Everyone important in Scandinavia, anyway."

"That's a lot of people! They say the same thing about the Elf King. I guess it's a good trait for kings to have."

"Yes. He's very good at what he does."

"I can imagine it'd be really complicated to have someone you loved who had so many good traits and also murdered and cruelly mistreated people."

"Father doesn't murder people," declares Sigrun. "Cowards murder people."

"Murdering people is a very terrible thing to do but I don't actually know that I'd call it cowardly, what makes you say that?"