"But also - he thinks it's a just system, right? Full of people like him, right to the top, that no one would ever make a decision just not caring whether Cheliax picks off a few border towns as a result, that whatever dreadful things they do they did them diligently, with all Abadar's knowledge and whatever the hell the human element is supposed to contribute - he thinks that the people who are in charge are better than people in charge ever are -"

"Abadar's not straight-up possessing the dude but I dunno, if someone were going around advertising themselves as my avatar I might get pretty strict with 'em about minding their border towns... you think he's wrong though?"

"No. I don't. I think he's right. I just -"

Shrug. "I did say it was stupid."

"I will accept a funny story in lieu of the stupid thing if you don't wanna tell me the stupid thing, I'm not trying to pry you open like a clam here."

"I hate the way Osirion works, and I do not like that it can reach us here and I'm scared it will want to put us to some use or another and if it does I will - obey it - because I think Fazil's right, and I'm really mad about that, and I wish I lived in some other country with some stupid corrupt government it was entirely reasonable to defy as far as you could get away with it. Feels much more natural."

"It's overrated.

Why d'you think he's right?"

"The pharaoh's my brother," he says, in Elven instead of Taldane.

"Ha. I promise not to call you on it if you reuse that one for a more populated audience."

"I don't think he knows I'm here. Guess he might. For a while I was very sure they'd drag me back if they found me but maybe they wouldn't bother now."

"- wait, you're serious?"

"Please don't tell them. They'd - we couldn't be friends, not really -"

"I - okay, I won't. Wow."

"I don't know exactly what formal limitations that's supposed to have you under but I'm getting the sense it's too many."

"We're not allowed out of the Dome without security and an important purpose. 's very nice there, of course. Not much to do except study in case the damned thing ever falls on you and make heirs to pass it off on instead. Lots of slaves, when I was growing up, taking care of everything for you. I guess now they're technically some other thing."

"Small mercies. Depending on the technical other thing. So you - this isn't a normal life, so it's not 'wanted a normal life', but - yeah. Okay."

"I wanted him not to pick me. There was no real reason to think he would, of course, but - far enough away on the alignment chart and he probably can't. And - wanted to see the sky, sometimes, and have friends, and do things that might matter."

"...yeah. I like the sky and having friends and doing things that matter too. The sky least of the three because half the time it's on fire but I get it."

"I don't know how to explain the - 

- the royal family is holy, and it's an insult to Abadar if anything happens to us, and -

- uh, imagine if I were toting around an important three-thousand-year old work of art from Abadar's temple which people had worked that whole time to keep clean and unbroken because it was by the greatest human cleric in his history, and I knew if Fazil knew about it he'd want to protect it better and pray to it and get it to a museum as fast as possible, but I didn't say anything because I didn't want the inconvenience -

- that's how he'd feel about me being here. Sort of."

"...okay, I'm any reluctant to round that to 'then he's a dick' but that kind of sounds like he would be a dick about it. Because you are, y'know, a person painting. I also dislike it when people are mean to their intelligent swords."

"Oh, he wouldn't be a dick about it. Couldn't, because he can't contradict me about anything or do anything I don't ask him to or stand in my presence. He'd just - feel a way about it."

"That's even worse, ew!"

"Yeah." Sigh.

"You're allowed to tell people they can stand up, right, or do you have to do that, like, per-occasion - I am experiencing a weird desire to get up and loom over you but I don't love standing on the carpet. ...gonna do it anyway." She gets up and looms over him.

Snort. "Per occasion. Since other people might see and not know they had permission and think they'd witnessed disrespect."