He blinks. Right, caralendri are not humans. "...Er. All the executions can't be helping, either."

"Are there that many? I think there's less than an execution a day worldwide. But if they don't have kids who don't have kids who don't have kids I guess that adds up, yeah."

"Well, there are probably other factors. This place sounded somewhat execution-happy when they were explaining the law to us is all. I may have to do a proper investigation at some point - speculation is not science."

"Oh, what kind of investigation? Can I help?"

"Sociology! It's a bit of a niche field, but I'm sure I could find some useful texts and advice. It may be useful to look into why people make the decisions they do, and what effect laws, magic, and technology has on those decisions. Seeing why people decide not to have many children, for example. Or possibly how to reduce crime rates in a more humane manner than draconian punishments. I think it'd be interesting, and a local perspective would be useful. Sounds fun."

"It does, let's. You want to start with a survey of people asking how many children they have and why?"

"I remember reading that asking people why they do something doesn't always get useful or even correct answers. Perhaps we should start by finding some relevant books and reading them, or talking to a sociologist to get an idea of where to start? Surely there's at least one among all the people who came along."

"You'd know the imports better than I would. I can look for anything that's already been written about local birthrates, there might be something."

"I know who to ask to get pointed in the right direction! But I don't honestly want to run off and get started on it right now - I just got here. I'll write down what we have so far-" He pulls out a notepad and pencil to do this.

"Okay. So what do you want to get out of the research? I'm just curious, so we might as well aim it at whatever you care about most."

"Ideally, we uncover a deep and sublime cosmic truth about the nature of personhood and consciousness. I don't think that will happen. If we can figure out whether population-level birthrates will continue to fall, perhaps even lead to extinction - seems worth looking into. Understanding the causes of and ways to deter crime that aren't almost as harmful as crimes themselves would be good too."

"Almost as harmful as crimes? What exactly is the problem with our justice system that you're complaining about?"

"Slavery! Slavery is a massive waste of intellectual capital. Shackles are an affront to the ideals of liberty. There are softer ways of rendering someone harmless. It's- Well, we considered slavery and substantial coercion a crime in itself. It's a bit hard to explain."

"A waste of intellectual capital? Are you worried people who can't follow incentives or understand the law are sitting on brilliant inventions they're keeping secret out of spite or what?"

"Not every slave will come up with a brilliant invention or write a compelling novel or design a beautiful building, but some might. And the ideals of liberty are important to those of us from England or America, they're a bit harder to sum up quickly."

"What would you rather do to criminals, just bind their magic and hope they're harmless?"

"I don't have anything specific in mind. I was never a politician. Laws ensuring slaves are fairly treated, or some clause for being eventually freed? Some other way of restricting people, perhaps with bindings? Our legal system was kind of awful too. But that's no reason not to try and improve things."

"We have bindings besides slavery, we can bind people against violence. If you've reoffended enough times to get killed or sold you've figured out how to circumvent those. Unless you're a thwilit and your family disowns you, then I guess you don't have to have ever done anything before."

"...It's possible I don't understand the Imperial justice system well enough to legitimately criticize it yet. I hadn't heard of bindings against violence. And it's less objectionable for multiple murderers or whoever to be enslaved, though crimes of negligence or accident still sort of rankle. Children are going to be the really touchy subject for us."

"If children are the problem it won't do you much good to research criminal justice, will it?"

"I'm not sure I follow? We - we think it ought to be a crime to not free your children. More or less."

"And if they can't follow the law, what then? Would you have to free them anyway and then get blamed for what they do?"

"Yes, that's rather the sticking point. It's a whole - a whole system, where someone is responsible for everyone and - ugh. Perhaps I should not have come here. I'm no good at this."

"Maybe you'd be happier if we looked at something besides criminal justice first."

"Or you could not blame parents for what their kids do after their majority. How long does that last anyway? How does it even work? If I had a son and he stabs someone at age eighteen, a year after majority, is it my fault? What about twenty-two? Am I at risk of random imprisonment because he might steal something, for the rest of my life?"