"I guess we can't all be idiots."

He hugs him. "'m not going to marry because I have a crush. Even if it works out great for you. But I really hope it does."

"Better wait until the father shows up to see if anything happens on that front, anyway.

"I have no idea whether it's at all a good idea, but - I guess I don't want her to feel like she doesn't have any options."

Nod.

"Well, I've had my fill of strategizing over people's worlds and marital prospects. I do keep wondering if there's anything else we should be doing while her majesty is on vacation."

"I've been wondering that too, I don't think so. - I guess maybe I should tell you more about what the palace was like, I didn't mean to surprise you with it."

"I guess so. I'm not, like - I figure palaces are weird."

"In Ancient Osirion the pharaoh had hundreds of concubines. Slaves, almost all of them. Lots of them only ever saw him once. If they bore his children they'd be promoted to his wife, and if their child became pharaoh they'd be the mother of the pharaoh, a title in its own right, an important one. During some eras of history the sons who weren't chosen to be pharaoh were executed so they wouldn't challenge their brother for power. 

Now it's - all much tamer, but it's the same - it's the lineage we're claiming, right? And the way it works is that any girl who wants to can apply, and if she passes screening she's accepted, and then she's added to a household and can flit around trying to get your attention - not that I blame them for how it works - and the princes they just tell to give Abadar a lot of choices, so there's someone around who's good material to become the pharaoh."

"Sounds - I'm sure 'miserable' is not actually the word I'm looking for but it's the one that's coming to mind."

"I was really unhappy."

Hug?

Hug. 

 "I feel like I should have something really smart to say here, but I - don't, really."

"There's not really - a lot to say about it. It's how it is. Cecelia'd find it very familiar, I'm sure."

"Probably. Kind of a wonder she's as functional as she is. I think her king wasn't just borrowing ancient aesthetics."

"Course not. It's not like the difference is very big anyway, being free doesn't mean they can leave."

"Guess not, given how everybody else is.

"What happens to them? After they stop being nineteen or twenty?"

"Oh, they stay that way a while. Anti-aging magic. And then if no one wanted them they do other stuff in the palace, less visible, the laundry and cooking and childcare and so on, and look after the newer girls."

"I see."

"I think it's mostly - better than their other options, for the people who do it. If you want to be comfortable, and have lots of food, and be around important people and important happenings, and do less work than you'd have to otherwise."

"Yeah. I'm sure there are lots of people for whom it's the best option available."

Shrug. 

"I didn't, uh - I would have obviously told you if I had any children -"

"I know. I think you said."

Nod.

" - I'm not, like, unimpressed with you for coming from depressing circumstances? I'm just - momentarily depressed about them. I guess."