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"Vouch for my competence at running political units and give your alternate tips on collaborative political-unit-running so he will work with her and teach her what he knows instead of just assigning her things."

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"That I can do!"

He looks at Edarial. "Speaking of my knowledge of Isabella: extremely, absurdly competent. If she doesn't know what's going on she will catch on quickly. She is good at being empress, or in this case, queen. I do not mean that she is just good at running the place, I mean that she has an extremely good set of priorities. So if nothing else, she is fantastic to collaborate with. Just - share what you are doing, why you are doing it, ask her to do the same with you and I promise it will just work."
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Semi-skeptical look, but Edarial nods.

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Iobel detects skepticism.

Sigh.
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Adarin frowns at Edarial. "You're being subtext again. Stop it."

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"I'm a little concerned about trusting an entire country to..." He trails off. He gets a look from his alt. "Fine! Okay, she has been nothing but cold and - and distant and I keep trying to tell her things and I get no emotional response from her. I am worried that if I hand her a country she will react the same with the people under her care."

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"Wow, ouch, but, not subtext, so that's good."

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"Emotional responses do not feed the hungry - they could conceivably stop wars under the right conditions but my skills do not lie in rhetoric so I focus my efforts elsewhere - emotional responses will not get contraptions invented or cram spells into my head any better or line up economic incentive neatly - and if they don't help, and if I can control them, I will control them and have those pieces of energy left for being useful. You've seen me with Cricket and with my mother, you know I'm not some kind of ambulatory statue."

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"Immediate family members and total strangers are two different beasts. I saw you heal some people, that was promising, but it very well could have been a political move so that if things went south you would have people indebted to you. Other than that - I know you as the woman who glares without explanation and gives no response when I try and explain myself!"

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"... Oh, my, that's half of the problem, right there. She's not under your wall of paranoia, is she?"

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"No."

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"...Wait, what?"

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"You think I healed people who were most recently found in the employ of the man who poisoned and kidnapped my familiar because I thought they'd do me favors later? What kind of plan is that? And you have since learned the reason! Why hasn't it percolated yet?"

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"That doesn't mean that you're going to miraculously get good at explaining why when it concerns me to know! The lack of that is extremely bad!"

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"... Okay, hold on, please, both of you. Iobel, there is a thing you should know about my alternate. He is extremely paranoid. As in, my list of people I trusted was at two before I met Isabella. One of them was dead at the time, and the other was my sister."

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"What does he think I'm going to do, then?"

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"Well I'd have to know the specifics of his life to get things exactly, but from what I can guess - right now, he is aware that you want to be queen. Because of that single fact alone, he is probably quietly worried that you're going to do any combination of the following: kill, depose, imprison, emotionally torture, or manipulate him. Not because of anything you, personally, did, but because that is what he is used to. And you haven't gotten past the wall of paranoia yet, so you are at a disadvantage."

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Iobel pinches the bridge of her nose.

"Maybe I had better go home with you and be Isabella's sister-princess after all. Daemon or no. I don't suppose it helps at all that I considered killing him only during the period of time when I expected to be raped and dismissed the idea when that expectation was disconfirmed even though I still thought he'd taken Cricket."
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Adarin sighs.

"That, right there, that doesn't help. That's you expecting him to know you and what you're like. This is not insulting, this isn't - him being vengeful against you because you glared at him a lot, this is him being too scared to let anyone in."
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"I do hope for basic charity of interpretation from even total strangers."

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Isabella hugs her.

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"... Sorry," says Edarial.

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Iobel looks at him but doesn't say anything.

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"Would it help," says Adarin, "if he told you about what his childhood was like and why exactly he is paranoid? Or if he doesn't want to, I can tell you about mine, and you can extrapolate what his was like and get why he is paranoid."

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"I really don't know. So far all of this seems to have plausibly worsened the situation. But I have a standing job offer on another planet now so why not, go for broke."

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