"Good idea. Detective work getting anywhere? I left the note he sent at the church with the list of people we lived with before we could afford a place."

"They thought they had a name but were running some more checks, last I heard."

"Maybe I'll order the basket this afternoon, then."

And they head Dome-ward.

It's intimidating. She's intimidated. Holds his arm a bit tighter as they get close.

They don't go to the gate of the Dome, but instead to a side entrance full of guards, who escort them through some stone underground hallways. Then they want to do the security check.

There's a couple of spells - to make it hard for her to concentrate on resisting the truth spell, then the truth spell - and then a long string of questions meant to get at whether she is planning or likely to murder anyone or spy for any foreign countries or do any other crimes while she's here, and also whether she is an eligible wife for the prince, which is to say has she been sleeping around and does she have any reason to think she can't bear children and does she understand that she'd really better not sleep around once married and that one cannot divorce a prince and so on and so forth.

He stays to watch and motions them to hurry along whenever they seem to be belaboring something, though it's not clear they are paying him any attention on this.

She isn't going to murder anyone. She's never even been to a foreign country. She isn't tempted by any crimes she didn't confess to yesterday and that one wouldn't work any more, now, would it. She hasn't been sleeping with anyone, let alone enough of them to qualify as "around". She seems in good general health and can probably have kids. She is aware that it is a very bad idea to cheat on royalty and that she's in it for good once she's married.

They are eventually satisfied on these points! They can proceed on in to the palace. 

The interior of the dome is both pretty and a very comfortable temperature; the houses all seem to be striving to outdo each other, but someone enforced reasonably good taste. The palace is the biggest. 

Ismat hasn't been in here before; she walks slowly, taking it in. "You could have warned me it was cooler, I could have brought a coat. I have a reasonably unisex coat."

"But then I couldn't give you mine, which I am led to believe is practically socially obligatory." He does this.

She laughs and slips her arms into the sleeves. "And probably you're used to the climate control."

"I left very infrequently, growing up, it seemed embarrassing to cause everyone so much inconvenience with no way to compensate them."

"Suppose the Cicerone's robes help with that till someone wants your name."

"Yeah. I don't have to stop everyone in the streets, at least."

"Are people going to do that at me, now, I've never seen one of the royal women out."

"They aren't obliged to but I don't know whether they will anyway. The royal women are mostly discouraged from going out. Even more than we are, I mean."

"How far out does that go? It's not like Khalil goes for walks alone but if he did?"

"That's fine. The children'll be discouraged. - less once the pharaoh has children himself but that might be a while."

"How is that to live with, growing up? There isn't a - sky, in here -"

"The winter palace, down the coast, has sky, that helps somewhat. But I don't think it's particularly healthy for children. I think they should grow up in a city and run around and get into scrapes and so on - I might be glorifying it, not having lived it -"

"Well, I'm from a farm, I didn't live like that till I was old enough to apprentice. - ugh, I have no idea how Zaki'll take this when he hears."

"Zaki?"

"Kosai Zaki. He taught me."

"Should you tell him yourself before the news comes out?"

"Probably." Sigh.