"Do most husbands want their wife to take another husband? If anyone's ever asked them."

"They're probably sometimes consulted even if it's going to be in some weird frame. I don't think it's popular. The rates are lower that Osirian rates of plural wives, but that alone could mean any number of things."

Nod. "I don't think love exactly is the thing that's measuring but - most Osirian women don't want their husband to take another wife even if he can afford it comfortably."

"Even if they don't like having him around much they might be thinking, oh, my friends will feel sorry for me, he'll ignore the kids in favor of the new ones -"

"Yeah. But - dunno, if I were a slave I think I'd hope they had lots of people and could barely keep track of me."

"That's actually not the winning strategy for slaves downstairs, I think, but maybe that's just because we have fewer rules about not randomly murdering 'em. The safe relatively well treated slaves have lots of people who know them and their skills and when to expect 'em to show up."

"It honestly sounds like a kind of unsustainable murder rate. You go to all this effort to raise people, which takes most of a century since they're elves, and then -"

"Most people do wind up with more than two surviving adult children. The fear has as much cultural effect as the actuality. And the slaves aren't drow, they're surfacers."

"Ah. I guess that saves you on the - production costs."

"Do the slaves end up in the Abyss? Do you know?"

"I haven't checked. Can't do my own scrying yet so it's slow going, dribs and drabs from borrowed crystal balls."

"I thought being a slave made people more lawful?"

"Sure, here, where we know how to encourage that. Probably if you have enough intraslave maneuvering and strategically disobeying orders and plotting murder then it wouldn't."

"By and large drow don't care where their slaves wind up so there's no systematic encouragement aside from not wanting them to act up."

Nod. 

"Maybe when I can scry I'll check up on some slaves."

"I mean, it's probably not very actionable. Just wondered."

"Basic research with no immediate application can be worthwhile."

"True." 

They head out over the water. It's cooler, but sunnier. Sothis is visible as a black lump on the horizon.

She flops on her stomach and watches the water below. "I saw dolphins, when I sailed to Osirion."

"Dolphins are great."

"They're neat looking. Are they great in other ways?"

"They're really smart! They communicate with each other and hunt as a group and can learn pretty sophisticated problem-solving. And they're just very chipper. Always in a good mood. They have names for each other, though I can't make the sounds right."

"Speak With Animals doesn't do it?"

"It makes me saying things with my mouth sound right to them but I'd like to be able to really do it!"