"Assuming it's her administrative building and she wasn't there on an official visit, showing up invisible, finding someplace to de-invisible, and walking in and asking at something that looks receptiony should answer the question 'how hard is it to get an appointment'."

"Alright." Invisible. Go.

There's a place right next to the admin building behind a steamed bun truck where nobody's looking. In they go.

There is a reception desk. Kib asks if it would be prohibitively difficult to get a meeting with the Imperatrix today?

The receptionist blinks at the two of them very professionally and says she thinks she can fit them in in half an hour, would they mind waiting in the room over there? There are snacks.

Well that was astonishingly easy.

They go wait in the room over there.

Yeah. I wonder what's up with that. Maybe somebody canceled on her too.

Or maybe her people have unfriendly mind-reading and noticed we were important, or some other kind of magic that flags us as such...

Maybe we should have brought Boots.

Has the problem where she looks like the local Bell - we're assuming, we haven't actually seen the local Bell - but still might have been a good idea. I could read the receptionist to check but not without significantly more provocation than 'they were really happy to schedule us a meeting'.

She could've gone invisible. And yeah my thoughts exactly.

The building's only tolerable but these are very pretty humans, for humans.

Huh, they are, aren't they. I mean, not all of them, the steamed bun truck guy didn't look so great.

My model of an evil alt of you does not go to particular trouble to surround themself with pretty people.

Coincidence or side effect or instrumental goal.

Yeah. ...maybe side effect of the cancer cure she distributed after giving everybody cancer.

Could be, depending how it works.

It would probably be conspicuous to read more of the files Cam gave me while we wait.

A bit, I doubt they have chiplocked computers here.

So they sit and talk politics and so forth while they wait.

And eventually the receptionist says they're welcome to go up to the top floor and the Imperatrix's office will be clearly marked, the elevator's just there, please be advised that a biofilter is in effect and don't morph in the elevator.

"Sorry, what?" says Kib, scratching an ear.

"It'll let humans through," the receptionist assures them, "just don't morph in the elevator, it'll set off the alarm."

"Ah," says Kib. Enter elevator, teleport up?

Yeah, we'd better. Or possibly just me, but let's be safe.

I don't want to find out if the 'is human' test includes 'has navel'.

They go in the elevator and teleport up and over to land on the landing. The Imperatrix's office is indeed clearly marked. Imperatrix on one line, Isabella Swan on the next.

He knocks.

The door opens. She barely looks at Kib; Matirin, though, she obviously recognizes - "Oh my god! What are you doing here - you forgot your -" She flicks at one of her eartips. "Or is that deliberate - incidentally if you were trying to tone down the cheekbones you went way too far and in the wrong direction. You didn't tell me you were coming!"

Joy didn't check for a you, did she.

Must not have - to be fair, this is the first Earth to have one -

"Oh," he says, "that should have been my first guess as to how we got a meeting so fast. There's someone here who looks like me. Name starts with an 'M', oldest of seven, good at people?"