"It seems sort of indefensible to have children who will die if you can have children who won't."

"But you're not sharing with the other countries."

"I don't have any influence. But their concern is that if someone walks into Milliways and decides not to leave there's absolutely nothing we can do about that, given the way Milliways operates, and then they can trivially look up summoning or even just nuclear weapons or something."

"You could cart them through unconscious."

"Be a bit of a logistical nightmare but I suppose they could."

"Has its drawbacks, yes."

"I think we should get as many of us into the dimension with the afterlife as we possibly can, but Milliways really isn't the ideal arrangement for it."

"It's not. Do you have a better idea?"

"Nope - nor the leverage to arrange it if I did, for that matter -"

"Getting arrested is probably hell on your political capital. Iobel'll probably immortalize more people for you if you want."

"Yeah, having everyone you associate with arrested on secret charges doesn't tend to make people want to associate with you. I may take Iobel up on that."

"On general principle we'd like most everyone immortal but she's got limited capacity and may as well do it in a useful sequence."

"I was not thinking she found Anitami blues particularly deserving, no."

"Well, she probably figures you are, if principally because she's fond of Mitros."

"Their arrangement is adorable. I turned down immortalization, I don't want to want children for the rest of eternity."

"You lose your sweet tooth at some point?"

"Amentans cease to be fertile at twenty. I'm fourteen. After that - well, if you never had children it's awful, but if you had a few it can be soothed by being around the grandkids, or around other kids. Iobel's pretty sure if she immortalizes us before then we'll stay fertile, and then - Saniah's planning one every year, forever."

"Aaaaaaaagh."

"I'm glad she can do that but I don't want to."

"Like - at some point how do you even remember your kids' names -"

Shiver. "That's part of why I don't want to, yeah."

"- oh, yes, that thing, I don't have that thing in general but if I were going to have kids -"

"Not even just the names, to not know all of your children well, to not be in touch with them and relatively up-to-date on your lives..."

Nod.

"But it's awfully hard, in the spring, if you don't even have to buy a credit and you can provide them a good life and they'll be immortal themselves as a daeva - we wouldn't give in every year but we would eventually have thousands. So no immortality yet."