Cynthia looks at Sana mildly amused, before getting out the tea steeper and spinning it a few times around in the cup. She turns on the timer function of the microwave, putting the cup on top of it, before walking off towards Sana. She kneels on the floor next to her, wanting to stretch a bit before sitting down and having her tea in the meditation posture. There's what looks like an unusually thick rug under her feet; it's thick and soft enough to cushion her knees. She doesn't need the pillow if she's just sitting for a few minutes.

"Well, uhh. Just sitting here is kind of boring, don't you think? Anything you're curious about or want to talk about?"

Why is she kneeling?

Well, uhh. Just sitting here is kind of boring, don't you think?

Oh, so she is interested.

Anything you're curious about or want to talk about?

Or maybe not? She's getting very mixed signals here!

"Well, most of all I'm curious about you."

"Sure, you barely know me after all. I'm Cynthia, and I'm a support worker at a local hospital. My job is to really just be a pretty face and comforting touch for patients, so they don't feel isolated or touch-starved if they're stuck in the hospital. I really like it, so I spend long hours at work, and it feels so amazing to get paid for doing something I like so well. I also do scuba diving, working out, and meditation, but that's everyone. I'm uhh. Not someone with a lot to say about themselves."

"I also work with providing a pretty face and comforting touches! It really is great to get paid for enjoying yourself. Well. Most of the time at least. What is scuba diving? I've never heard of that."

She will lean towards Cynthia, her elbow resting on her leg, looking curious and interested.

The lights in the microwave flash a bit, so Cynthia walks off to pick up her green tea. She's tempted to take a sip, but stops herself before getting back in the proper pose on the meditation mat.

"Fancy coincidence that we both have the same job! Scuba diving means you have the tanks on your back and the mask on your face so you don't have to hold your breath? In case you didn't know that it was called that."

Cynthia takes a sip of the green tea, grinning to herself with how fantastic it tastes. She doesn't look at Sana, but makes it clear that she's listening to her intently.

"Tanks and a mask? For diving? I'm confused, I don't think I've ever heard of diving with a mask, is it something traditional?"

Sana can smell some kind of herbal infusion coming from the mug. It feels nice. She relaxes her posture, leaning back into the couch.

"What. You didn't even think of having a mask over your eyes so water doesn't get into your eyes? Huh? It shouldn't be something traditional. Have you ever even been to a pool?"

How would that even work? She's so confused!

"We don't really have pools near my city, I usually get Sofia to bring water from the river if I want to take a bath. Which is really often, I bathe almost every day!"

Cynthia starts laughing when Sana says that she bathes almost every day.

"Wow, you really came from a backwater, huh... Also, who's Sofia? And what do you mean, you 'get her to bring water from the river'"? Cynthia looks at Sana with suspicion and contempt.

"She's my maid. Absolutely loyal, and really smart." Sana is smiling fondly now, for the first time since she met Cynthia. "And bringing water to the house is among her responsibilities."

Cynthia responds with rage, instinctively smacking Sana in the face. "She is not yours! She is not loyal, you've just broken her! She is an equal and whole person! Where is she, tell me now! I'm not letting her languish and toil while you just lay back and leech off her work!"

"She gets paid for that! I'm not a slaver!!! She works for me because she wants to!"

She is now standing, hands clenched in fists.

Cynthia calms down, before looking at Sana again. "And what else could she be spending time doing? Helping make food for everyone? Helping children have a happy childhood? Caring for her aging family members? Think of how petty and wasteful it is to have someone hired just as a servant so you don't have to do your own chores."

"And with what gold she would do all that exactly? You may be used to being so rich that you can afford to spend time of frivolous Good activities, but were I come from nobody has time to give happiness to children. I'm already thankful that my country has orphanages at all, and children don't simply die if their parents do. Abyss, we even have schools for the smartest ones! That's already better than most other countries. Life is harsh in the Material, we don't have the resources you have here in Axis."

"Mylady"

Cynthia gets saddened. "You told me that you had a servant to bring water from the river. I should have realized... I'm sorry, I - your life must have been miserable. And everyone else who didn't have servants..."

The first tears start sliding down her face.

"You called me "mylady"! Fucker..." she begins sobbing and wiping tears off her face.

Sana is startled! People don't cry in front of strangers (or at all if they're not kids, really) in Cheliax! She doesn't know how to react.

She decides pretending to not notice the tears is the most dignified thing to do.

"My life is actually pretty good, most people don't have servants, no. Some people actually have slaves, but I think freedom is important, and if you pay a person you're less likely to find a dagger between your shoulders when you let your guard down."

"Aren't you a lady? You live in a magic tower, with columns of pure marble, rooms that move and you even use magic for something as mundane as heating your infusions. Your house is huge and you are powerful enough that you can afford to invite a stranger home without fearing for your life."

"I'm not a lady. There are no ladies. This is just the life me and my fellow human beings have built, together, for each other. It's a magic tower, yes. Made using the wisdom and life's work of thousands. Magic has become so cheap we can casually use it for heating tea. And I know that I have dedicated, fearless guards keeping me safe. But we don't need slaves, or servants or nobility for any of that. We just need each other, working every day to make life a tiny bit richer, safer and happier for everyone."

Did they execute their nobles like Galt? But if so, how can they be so... peaceful? Maybe they had more time to create a stable society after the revolution.

"Thousands, for each tower... but I have seen dozens of them, how could you... how many people live in this city?

I hadn't noticed your bodyguards, but I guess if magic is cheap to you they could stay Invisible at all times.

How can you manage people and taxes without nobility? I know Galt tried but the result is... an unruly chaos, where the Council gets executed every year and yet your roads looked peaceful, and the people calm.

How can you have people working for everyone? Wouldn't the greediest just... take advantage of that?"

"Well, it's thousands for all the towers. This city has probably 5 or so million residents. And those bodyguards aren't with me now, everyone gets bodyguards that they can summon at any time. We manage people and taxes by using bureaucrats and mayors and high-consensus votes. Galt sounds like utter insanity to me; if the council truly gets executed every year, then eventually someone else should take over, shouldn't they?"

"The roads are peaceful because we know nobody has any cause to hurt another, and people are calm because they know there exists no reason to hurt them. And it's simple to have people working for everyone: just don't get in their way."

"Five... million people. I don't think there are five million people on all of Golarion. And you all live in a single city? How do you deal with the inevitable plagues?

You can Summon at will? What... creature do you usually summon for your protection?" This will be very informative on her alignment

"Oh Galt is utter insanity, better to be ruled by Hell than to live in that instability. The issue is exactly that 'someone else takes over'. And then they kill the previous rulers"

"Don't you have thieves? Assassins? Kidnappers? Then this must definitely be Axis, there is no way to avoid those unless everybody is selected for their Law"

"Well, we stay at home and have food sent to us when there's plagues. We have room enough to make that comfortable and to not feel cramped in any way."

"I summon guards to protect me, not horses or cows. What were you expecting?"

"And of course there are bad people, still. But they must fight an entire world of good people, so they never get very far or do much harm."

"I was expecting an Archon, or an Arbiter. But I can now see you meant summon, not Summon."

"I can see how having so many good people means that you will win any fight, even a powerful wizard can't defeat an army on its own."

"Archon? Arbiter? What are those? Are those what you call the people from the state who kept you and your things safe, back from where you came from?

And of course, a powerful wizard can't defeat an army on its own. But it's deeper than that: if a wizard destroyed the tower we live in now, it would be hard for him to get one to replace it. He would need an unbelievable amount of people, under his perfect control, if he wanted to force them to build him this tower. It'd be more work than using his wizard powers and asking for a tower like this in return, instead."

"They are outsiders, being from the outer planes. Archons are Lawful Good, Abiters are Lawful Neutral. The state I live in, Cheliax, would never call Archons, they would usually call devils...

But in any case for keeping things safe we usually have humans, mostly guards, some time Inquisitors"

"A sufficiently powerful wizard could just build their own tower, or even get a permanent demiplane eventually?"

"Outsiders, outer planes, lawful good... none of those words mean anything. Is there a reason that Cheliax would use devils? They sound dangerous."

"Also, that's exactly my point! Wizards have much better options than violence. You don't even need to force people into your bidding, you just get your own tower without dealing with conquering or fighting anyone!"