"I'd really like to find a solution that works for everyone. Solving the metaproblem of how we negotiate seems like an important step but if it's going to take a lot of meetings it might be that we want to start spending down our year even while uncertain about that - I've had some emails from Federated, they heard we were in talks and they desperately want to be able to let their angel cultists loose, the station's gridlocked with protests, but they don't dare till the prisoners are unsummonable."

"That's not actually how the year works, it's specifically about stalled negotiation. I might be able to get permission for you to summon them again but I'd have to do that separately - how many of the angels are summonable, right now?"

    "Twelve."

"Higher than I like."

    "They did agree to the risk of being caught again."

"That helps. You'd be taking a risk, summoning them again, I'll have to treat this as more urgent, but I think I can allow it."

"It would be the GCP; Mars subscribes but doesn't administer. Since I misunderstood the first time can I have a lengthier explanation of how the year works and also as close as you can come to an operationalization of 'more urgent'?"

"You collectively, then. Fharlanghn doesn't believe that it's possible to negotiate productively with jailers; the old rule was that we were allowed to try, with no particular time limit, but as soon as it failed, we were obligated to take action about the problem as soon as we were reasonably able to. I pointed out to him that that policy doesn't give us a chance to see for ourselves that it doesn't work - and seeing things for ourselves is fundamental to being clerics of Fharlanghn, so that's a very compelling argument - and he added the year to allow for it."

"That sounds like.. maybe a rule developed in a world where everyone has known about all the gods all their lives."

"Well, yes."

"So I'm not sure it'll hold here at all; we're still getting used to it and communication and translation hasn't been exactly smooth."

"He still believes what he believes and requires of us what he requires," he says, touching his holy symbol at the second phrase. "That doesn't change until he changes his mind about it. He might eventually but he learns the same way we do, by going places and seeing things and talking to people, and I'm not sure what that's showing him right now."

"...is he wandering around within Revelation at this time?"

"I'd assume so. Possibly in one of your afterlives."

"Ah.

Anyway, I don't know if it would be the right idea to start floating creative object-level proposals yet, I don't want to ruin the presentation of an otherwise workable idea by offering it up without enough general working rapport and I am still pretty worried about the meta-negotiation question. I do have one, though."

"I want this solved too; I'm not going to refuse something just because it isn't immediately perfect."

"Oh, yes, I wasn't questioning that you want all this solved, that's clear as can be. You think it's a good idea to outline the concept now?"

"Go ahead," he nods.

"To be clear I do not have Revelation-end authority to agree to this myself, but I can look into it if it's workable on your side. A lot of places require daeva to be escorted by their summoners. What if they could go anywhere that doesn't specifically bar them - to be clear, I'd expect most inhabited Revelation polities to specifically bar most of them - with their summoner on hand to authorize every change of venue so they don't go somewhere they oughtn't or get out of control once they're wherever they choose, but can go places?"

"If their summoners are willing to allow them to go anywhere that hasn't barred them as often as they want to regardless of personal inconvenience, that works, but that doesn't sound like a realistic thing to ask."

"Hm. I don't know enough about summoning to know if it would necessarily have to be them. How does the 'often as they want regardless of personal inconvenience' thing interact with what you said before about them not needing a way to ask frequently?"

"In that case once they do ask, they're freed, no further restrictions."

"Ah, I don't remember your exact words but -" She has a computer on her desk. "Removes their confinement, okay, you meant completely and irrevocably as opposed to enough that they could go visit a wildcat mini-colony on an asteroid."

"Mmhmm. Irrevocably is a little strong, you don't have to protect them from being captured later and you aren't actually obligated not to capture them a second time for another reason, but you can't be intending to reinstate it by force in an ongoing way."

"Okay. It would be... impossible, I think, to find someone who will do that, since daeva don't need to sleep."

"Literal inability like that is enough of a reason to restrict them but it would have to be the summoner's whole life, yes, I don't think it works at all."

"Well, back to the drawing board. I'm nervous about that misinterpretation of the phrase 'removes their confinement'. This time we caught it but it'll be a huge setback if we get far into the details on something only for a phrase like that to turn out to be understood differently by different parties. Does that help clarify what I was saying earlier about getting elaborate with your explanations? It would help a whole lot, though I'm trying to catch as much as I can."

"I can do more of that. I do often have specific examples in mind but they might give you a skewed idea of Oerth if I share them."

"I can bear that in mind," Leonor assures him.