"I'm not sure what you'll already have heard - it's called Trilliant, we make jewelry both inert and magical, the first thing everyone remarks on is -" she suppresses a snort - "that I'll hire women..."

"A clever idea! Where'd you get it?"

...she is not sure if he is joking. "I had a lot of public explanations and they're all true - cheaper, not picked over, not going to strike off and compete with me - but also I just didn't think I could reasonably be quite that exceptional."

"And the business is going smoothly, other than recent hiccups?"

"Other than that yes, your grace."

"I will keep it and you in my prayers," he says seriously. "Did Merenre give you his best account of all the disadvantages he can think of to marrying him?"

          "I did," Merenre says. 

"I don't know what it would look like if he'd tried harder," she says. "He did list some."

"People usually do not regret marrying into the royal family but if they do the most common reason is having wanted to achieve specific political things that turn out to be less tractable or less shaped for their effort to be satisfying than they expected, because the person they married enjoys terrorizing people, or because they get set aside for someone else and are persistently very sad about this. I'm working from about ....forty people here? And most of the problems that aren't variants of one of those are highly individual, like really missing the specific neighborhood they grew up in or turning out to find intimacy intolerable or having a persistent phobia of ceilings supported by pillars after an accident."

"It'll be - confining - but I can run Trilliant from here, I think, and was told my brother could move in too."

"We'll be delighted to have him. Should we take some steps to check whether he'll hate it here?"

"I don't think he will, your grace, but I suppose I have no way to be sure. - being Merenre's brother-in-law could inconvenience him if it means people around him aren't willing to issue him instructions, he often needs prompts to do things, but I think the relation's probably distant enough or he could just be attended by people who know they need to do it anyway when I'm not with him."

"We would expect to be able to find people competent to do that."

She nods. "Thank you, your grace."

"Do you have any questions for us?"

"What steps were you imagining taking to find out if my brother would like it here?"

"Primarily inviting him here."

She nods. "That would make sense, I suppose."

"Prince Merenre said he didn't expect he'd wish to join you for this trip."

"He would have if I'd asked it."

"We'd be delighted to have him."

"Next time I'm here I'll take him along, then, thank you, your grace."

Nod. "I heard that your life plan before recent events was to keep up the masquerade forever. Most people'd find that very difficult."

"My brother knew. I didn't mind the outfits. I did have to learn to walk a bit differently but I got used to it and I think walking differently isn't illegal and may not switch back."

"I'd mind the loneliness, if I tried that."

"Khalil knew. - oh, you - yes, that was annoying, but I was hardly going to go crawling home to our parents about it - hadn't really thought that far ahead when I was twelve, anyway."