"The Lord of the Radch will see you when his current audience concludes," the tablet translates for the guards.

"He's a he now?"

"I'm just making my best guesses," says the tablet defensively. "The Lord of the Radch resembles you more closely than Isabella."

"Okay then. Not just because of the wings, right?"

"Also the hairstyle and clinginess of fabrics and height and style of walking."

"...not really conclusive but okay."

"If he won't find it offensive we can make our best guess when we meet him."

"I'll be translating you into a language which doesn't mark the distinction anyway."

"Yeah, I'm more worried that it's rude to speculate? Is it not?"

"It's fairly rude but you are possibly time-travelling noncitizens and anyone expecting you not to be rude would be somewhat unreasonable."

"Is the Lord consistently reasonable?"

"I have never heard anyone accuse the Lord of being unreasonable," says the tablet.

"...in your limited personal experience as language software, or anywhere ever for thousands of years?"

"I do not have access to all conversations in the Radch over the last several thousand years, and I can access almost none of them outside it, but I have been translating on Uldoraam since its annexation."

"Are your habits of reporting on the aggregate contents of those conversations to third parties well known?"

"Yes."

"Okay, maybe that's all it is."

"I wasn't clear on the referent to that sentence."

"Um, even a very popular head of state on our Earth would... have critics."

"That must be very frustrating for them."

"I think they cope okay."

Someone walks out of the room ahead of them.The escort murmurs something. "You can go in," their tablet translates.

In go the Swan twins.

The Lord of the Radch is as promised about Xander's height, sitting comfortably, dressed in what's presumably formalware around here. She waves them in. "Isabella, Xander," she says with impeccable pronunciation, and then something that the tablet translates as 'delighted to make your acquaintance'.

"Hello, uh, my la- my lord," says Isabella.