"Very reasonable," he nods. "Are there lesser punishments that are common? How would you handle a misunderstanding that harmed someone, where the person harmed couldn't simply be repaid but the damage was fairly minor?"

"If you just steal a little thing they might only bite off your toe and not a whole leg. Uh, if you screw up with your money the bank might fine you or even stop letting you bank there. Do you have an example?"

"We had a case where a fisherman reported one of his nets missing; two days later the fisherman in the next section reported that his children had miscounted his nets and taken it. The fish had already been sold, and the extra money above the second family's needs had been donated to the church - a habit that the second family had taken up after the church healed one of their children the year before. No records were kept of the value of the fish or the amount of the donation. What would your people say should be done in this case?"

"...why can't the church give back a reasonable guess at the money to the one whose net was taken?"

The king smiles. "And that is what we did. But I am curious how that would be decided, among your people."

"It seems obvious? Everybody knows that you can't just keep something that turned out to be stolen, like if a kid gets into his mom's wallet and tries to buy something and you take the money that's pretty silly of you because when his mom shows up you have to give it back even if what the kid bought was food and he already ate it. If you don't give it to her she'll go to your bank to complain about you."

"Raafi did mention that they seemed lawful to him," the prince adds. "Lawful neutral."

"I see." Scepter-gesture. "Do you have any questions for me?"

"What does it mean if we're lawful neutral?"

"That you are inclined to thinking of your behavior in terms of how it affects others and how they will react to it, and making decisions on that basis, more than in terms of how it affects yourselves and how you feel about it, with no particular inclination in terms of helping or harming others. Does that sound accurate to you?"

"I guess! I have to look out for my family even if I didn't care about anybody else."

"You may find it interesting to ask the priests about law and chaos and good and evil; they're primarily religious concepts." He turns to the young woman next to him. "Sahar, do you have any questions for our guests?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. - do your markings mean anything?"

"They aren't symbols," says Uamok. "...except the leaves, which I suppose symbolize leaves. But they do sort of correspond to how we want people to see us? Like, Kiv looks very academic right now - it's sort of a girly pattern actually but I don't mind it on him - and Zoi looks artsy and I look... what was the word..."

"Intrepid," says Skon.

"Yeah!"

"That's interesting! How do you know what the patterns mean?"

    "You may go with them, Sahar."

"Yes, Your Majesty." She joins the group.

    "And I hope you enjoy your time in Kaprela. You may go."

"Theater performers are often painted to make it easier to tell them apart from far off," Zoi says as they move off, "so their characteristics are matched to the patterns and we learn them that way."

"Oh, just like clothing, that makes sense. What's your theater like aside from that?"

Zoi will happily chatter about theater. "Though I'd need to see Oerth plays to compare."

He doesn't have long to chatter; Raafi is waiting just outside the throne room with a human woman in heavier clothes than anyone they've seen here so far. "Hello again, sorry I disappeared on you all. Your highnesses, Uamok, boys, this is Luxuriant Katrianne; Kat, His Highness Prince Maziar, Her Highness Princess Sahar, Uamok, Iss, Skon, Zoi, and Kiv."

    "Luxuriant Katrianne, I've heard good things," the prince bows and takes her hand to kiss it. "Welcome to Kaprela."

        "I've heard good things too," Kat says, looking the shirtless prince up and down. "And it seems they were true."

    "I do try not to disappoint."

"You're supposed to introduce us in order," says Kiv to Raafi.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you!" Uamok tells Kat.

Raafi will clarify that with Kiv.

"It's nice to meet you too. I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

"We were just talking theater," Zoi says.

"Always important. Raafi asked me to come talk to you about some cultural - things - but it can wait."

The prince takes the initiative to lead them back to the east ballroom, with only a slight detour to point his suite out to Kat.

"What's it waiting for?" asks Skon.

"There are some things that are - more difficult to talk about, in front of people who aren't of age, among humans." She nods indicatively at the princess, who looks confused, then annoyed.

    "I know what sex is," she asserts.

"All right. If everyone else is comfortable with that."

        "She's of age to be hearing about it," shrugs the prince.

            "I guess I don't have a problem with it," Raafi nods.

"I'm not even clear on why anyone would," says Uamok earnestly.

Kat nods. "I am going to wait until we have a bit more privacy, though."

They make their way to the ballroom; Sahar and Maziar and Katrianne get themselves cushions to sit on, and Raafi looks slightly lost until Katri tells him to sit with his boyfriend, whereupon he lays down with his head in the prince's lap to be absently petted.

"So," Kat says, when Uamok and her mates are also settled. "Raafi's told me a little, but I'd like to hear it from you - how does sex work, for you? Not the mechanics; what does it mean?"