Sigh. And if they are more direct about intending that the apartheid deal stop by mid-afternoon if not sooner -

She's still very distracted by the sudden visitation thing, what's up with that, how did you get in here, guards guards.

"What if you just reach out to her remotely with the telepathy -"

...then she makes an appointment with her minister.

"Okay. I think we did our due diligence. Rebel birdfolk -"

The rebel birdfolk are also very alarmed about the otherworldly visitors and think they're more likely plants from the imperials explaining why they are sympathetic despite not being birdfolk with a silly story.

But can they be persuaded to within an hour give a purely factual description of what could be expected to happen if they head in, ask the Empress to resign, announce that birdfolks are full citizens, and set the various powers of the empire to enforcing this?

Well, the Empress would refuse to resign and the various powers of the empire would give them trouble with the order to enforce birdperson citizenship, that's what.

They were not actually expecting it to be a very voluntary resignation. Who'll be particularly troublesome, or particularly looked-to, among the powers of the empire -

The birdpeople are afraid that someone who actually hates birdfolk personally instead of just considering them second-class subjects like the Empress might wind up steering things, like this governor or that timocrat or those stratocrats -

Two of whom are already flagged and she notes the others. Any stratocrats that don't suck - (didn't look like it from the written works, but that might just mean someone is smart enough not to commit objections to writing) -

Some of the birdfolk liked the one who wanted to go recolonize that planet! There is also this other one who has been claiming credit for some nasty stuff but the birdfolk think maybe she's lying and has never actually harmed a feather on a birdfolk's head in her life? Maybe?

Probably checkable. Notes notes notes - what happened to the one who wanted to go settle Everything On Fire planet -

Publicly beaten and thrown into prison for life!

And what happens if they talk to him -

He's, uh, not holding up that well from the amount of life in prison he has thus far experienced, winds up clinging to the hem of Maitime's outfit and begging her to take him with her.

...okay, Maitimë wants to actually go and get him and leave a basement dweller right now if basement dweller can be provided.

Cam can nip over and do that. Here is a psychologically damaged stratocrat.

Hi, they are interfering aliens, he's safe, would he like a room in the palace to relax and get his bearings.

Yes he would.

He can have one. What about lots-of-tales-of-atrocities-no-actual-atrocities, what happens if they talk to her -

She insists very stridently that she has definitely never defrauded her superiors by claiming accomplishments she did not accomplish.

What if they claim to know perfectly well she didn't do it, with their alien magic, and they approve of this because the things she is supposed to have done are atrocities -

They're not gonna tell anybody, are they?

Of course not. They are, though, going to overthrow the government, and they'd tremendously appreciate local advice.