"That sounds really hard."

"It's not great."

"Do you think he's similarly stressed when talking to you?"

"Probably at all? Probably not worrying that I'm going to - I can't actually do anything to him, besides not like him, or disagree with what he decides to do. Possibly insult him, I guess? Although it would probably go pretty badly for me."

"It sounds like you feel hurt or sad that it's not - advisable to insult your husband - even though I can't imagine you did a lot of insulting him before."

- sigh. "No, I didn't. I don't even really want to insult him now. Usually. But - it seems like - I understand that it might be better for me to think about how he's also going through a hard thing here, and might also be scared and hurting, but - he can kill me. He can rape me. He can torture me, if he wants, he can take away everything I own, he can forbid me visitors, he can take away my servants, he can change the way I have to address him - he can probably send me to hell, if he wants, and - I can't, actually, do any of those things to him? So it feels like - we can say that he's afraid, but it's not really the same thing, you know?"

"You - decide whether he has children or Osirion perishes."

"I - really don't see how I do?"

"I - understand that you feel scared and trapped. It seems to me that someone whose entire family is dead and cannot be raised, who ought to fear assassins in his own right, who has married a woman and sworn not to marry another, and who cannot have sex with the one he married, might also feel trapped and feel that the power is all with her."

Sigh.

"I guess so."

"That doesn't mean he'd be right. But it's useful to imagine how he might be thinking of it."

" - yeah. Okay."

"I think you're doing a very good job of trying to solve this."

"Thanks."

"Was there more you wanted to talk about?"

"I don't think - immediately. Can I see you again - I dunno, tomorrow, or in a couple days, or something - I know you must have other obligations but the situation is still kind of, like, dire, so - "

"Yes, definitely."

"Okay. You've given me - a lot of stuff to think about. I think I'd like to talk again tomorrow. Not, like, every day, but he's gonna try to heal me soon, so - tomorrow everything will either be much better or much worse. So."

"That sounds good, then."

"Okay. Thank you."

In that case, she'll..... wait for her husband to summon her? She's probably not gonna succeed at reading anything right now.

Zakiya comes back after a while, replaces the flowers in some vases around the room, dusts. 

She writes some notes about what her plans are. She's going to actually try to support her husband, even though it is kind of ridiculous to expect this from her given her current situation, not because he necessarily deserves it but because he might need it. She's going to try to be genuine about this and not half-ass it. She's not sure that she can do it but she's going to try. 

Eventually she runs out of stuff to write about this and starts doodling some flowers.

And eventually they can go to dinner. There is again cheesy pasta.

...she should probably at some point request some other stuff but this is fine for now.

"How was your day?"

"Country persists in not having burned down. We're going to do a coronation. So people can see me."