#Csethiro!!! just in general!!!

[beatrice-otter]

Fic: Amber

fffx has now revealed authors! I wrote a fic that was, er, exactly in my wheelhouse, I would not be surprised if people clocked it was me. I feel people on the TGE discord especially are likely to have suspected, because I've brought up "given the technological level, they really SHOULD have trains, why don't they?" on more than one occasion. And then I couldn't resist writing a fic that is (partly) about that. And partly about politics and 'soft' power, and Csethiro and Maia's relationship.

Title: Amber Author: beatrice_otter Fandom: The Goblin Emperor Length: 11,698 words Rating: General Audiences Written For: swingandswirl in fffx 2024

Summary: "The Ethuveraz has been trapped in amber for a very long time. Preserved, beautiful, but … not useful. Not able to go out and do things. Not able to grow or change. Not like the rest of the world has."

On AO3. On Squidgeworld. On Dreamwidth. Rebloggable on pillowfort and cohost.

The Ethuveraz was a backwards place. That was obvious to anyone with a modicum of education who wasn't a hopeless chauvinist.

"Which is why, of course," Vedero said dryly when Csethiro said it, "that much of the Untheileneise Court believes us to be the height of modernity and the center of the world."

Csethiro snorted in an unladylike fashion and leaned back, tucking her feet under herself. She hadn't been a part of Archduchess Vedero's set before her engagement; Vedero was just enough years older to make an awkward gap when Csethiro had been a girl, and her friends were more likely to read academic treatises than adventure novels, as Csethiro's friends were. But she had cultivated her new sister-in-law's favor since the engagement, as she had cultivated Arbelan's, so that the Drazhadeise women might have a united front.

"I should invite thee the next time Maia has a family dinner with his Aunt Nadeian," Csethiro said. "Her description of daily life in the Corat Dav Arhos was … well. She was very good at not being too obvious that she thought us all backward country rubes, easily dazzled."

"Considerate," Vedero said, "since Edrehasivar is one, no matter how he tries to hide it."

Which was true; but Csethiro was most definitely not one, at least not by Ethuveraz standards, and it had been somewhat galling to have her nose rubbed into the fact that she might be by Barizheise ones. "Maia was fascinated with the idea of railroad trains from a mechanical standpoint," Csethiro said. "Apparently they make models of them, much like his model Istandaärtha Bridge. I've no doubt he'll get one as a present from his Aunt or his Grandfather at the next suitable opportunity to give a gift."

"Those are very hard to come by, in the Ethuveraz," Vedero said. "If he'd be willing to put it on public display for a time, I have several friends who would love to spend hours studying it. Not to mention playing with it."

"And why are they hard to come by in the Ethuveraz?" Csethiro asked. "We have craftsmen enough, and my husband can't be the only one who'd want one."

Vedero shrugged. "I am not one to study mechanics, nor the flow of trade; I have friends who might be able to answer that question, if thou art truly interested?"

Csethiro thought about it. "I think Maia would like to know the answer more than I would. He likes to know things, but is always afraid of being censured for the dreadful state of his education, so he hides both his ignorance and his curiosity."

Vedero nodded; she had undoubtedly noticed that herself.

"What I would like to know," Csethiro said, "is why we don't have the real thing. Models are all well and good but they serve little purpose beyond amusement. Real trains would be a boon to trade within the Ethuveraz. I'm told that some Ethuverazeise cities have little trains called trams for people to ride from one side of the city to the other. The technology exists; we can build the rails and the engines to run on them. Why don't we have trains outside of cities? It would seem to be much easier to build a rail line in the countryside than in the middle of a city."

"I suppose," Vedero said thoughtfully, "it's because we have such an excellent river network, and also because we are the best in the world at building airships. We don't need trains to go from city to city."

"The rivers are all well and good if you're trying to ship something down to Barizhan, or in the eastern half of the Ethuveraz," Csethiro pointed out, "but there are no great rivers in the western half—especially not up in Thu-Evresar. And from what Merrem Vizhenka was saying, railroads are faster than river travel or airships, cost less to build than canals, and can ship a great deal more cargo—or people—than an airship. While also being significantly safer to build, maintain, and operate." She shrugged. "At least according to Merrem Vizhenka. We are, apparently, the foremost manufacturers of airships because nobody else considers them worth the expense and danger; there are cheaper and safer ways of moving people and cargo quickly overland."

Vedero thought for a bit. "Assuming that Merrem Vizhenka was being completely honest and not, say, shading the truth to get the Emperor to favor railroads for the benefit of Goblin merchants, I do not know."

"She could have been doing both, of course," Csethiro said. "Being completely honest and trying to get Maia to favor the railroads for the benefit of Barizheise merchants." Merrem Vizhenka was a soldier's wife, not a diplomat's wife, and her husband had been chosen for his post at least partly because she was Maia's aunt. Still, if she weren't canny and loyal, she wouldn't be here.

Vedero dipped her ears in acknowledgement. "I do not know why the Ethuveraz does not use rail, but there are several people in my circles who are interested in steam-powered machinery; perhaps one of them will know."

"I would appreciate an introduction," Csethiro said.

***

Csethiro had expected the introduction to happen in Vedero's apartments over a ladies' tea, the sort of thing the Court took little notice of. If not that, perhaps at a salon Vedero hosted, which were becoming more and more fashionable as Vedero's position solidified within the court.

Instead, Maia received an invitation to view an amazing automaton of a horse (which had apparently been a unicorn at one time). And given how few places the Emperor went, it was sure to be noticed and gossiped about. Which was probably the point, when Csethiro thought about it; it was a way of signaling the Emperor's favor without directly saying anything. She took note of the tactics.

Dach'osmin Tativin was a short, plump woman with a button nose and lilac eyes. She wore a dress that did not fit the current court fashions, or any other fashion Csethiro was familiar with. She was also shockingly tactless, which was something Csethiro had not thought it possible to be at Court. After a half-hour's conversation, instead of being astonished that a daughter of marriageable age was allowed to live away from Court for most of the year, she began to be astonished that Dach'osmin Tativin was allowed at Court at all.

The horse was interesting, though; Csethiro had never seen an automaton of that size before, and though it would be more impressive if it could walk, it bowed its head and pawed the floor in a manner very similar to what a real horse would have done.

The horse was merely one of Dach'osmin Tativin's toys, and Maia and Csethiro were given a thorough tour of all of them before they were allowed to sit down for refreshments. Maia was enthralled. Csethiro would have been a bit bored, honestly; she did not need to see them all demonstrated and explained in quite that much exhaustive detail. But Maia's delight was contagious, and it was a rare treat to see him lose his self-conscious reserve. It was something Csethiro seldom managed to achieve. Unfortunately, not being a maker of novel devices, she could not try Tativin's methodology. But at last they were all sitting down to tea and pastries, and Csethiro could ask her question.

"It's the land rights, of course," Tativin said, nibbling delicately at a cheese puff. "And the question of tolls. And we don't have enough engineers. But mostly it's the land rights."

"Oh," said Csethiro. She had—quite naively—assumed that the problem would be a technical one. She tried to think through a possible route—say, from Csedo to Cevezho. Two towns with resources and a growing proportion of craftsmen, but no large rivers nearby to transport the goods they made to distant markets. Ideal for a railroad, to get their goods to the Istandaärtha and the cities that dotted it. Csedo was an Imperial town, and neither beholden to the local prince for governance nor required to pay taxes to him; they regularly had conflicts with the Prince of Thu-Istandaär. He would need to approve any such route; would he allow it, for such benefit to a town he was jealous of? And Csedo was near the border with Barizhan. Surely they would wish a railroad south to their Goblin neighbors and the larger markets beyond, and the Prince would like that even less. Such goods would pay tariffs at the border but not any taxes to the Thu-Istandaär. If they chose a route which led only through lands the Prince did not directly own, it might be possible to force it through against his will, but only if the Corazhas decided that a road with rails was not like any other kind of road between cities, which were automatically under the jurisdiction of the prince of the province. "We see. Who would own the rails themselves? Who would govern them?" (Who would profit from them?)

"In Barizhan, there are a variety of privately-owned rail companies," Tativin said. "They buy up land—or in some cases merely the rights to use it—for every new rail line they put in. They own the land, they own the rails, they own the engines and hire the people to run them. Then they get all the profit from the cargo they move and the tickets they sell."

"It must be very expensive, to buy up that much land," Maia said thoughtfully. "As opposed to airships, which do not take any more land than is needed for mooring masts."

"And of course most of the land in the Ethuveraz either belongs to the Emperor or to the noble houses or to itself with a witness to steward it," Csethiro said. "It cannot be sold, only inherited or gifted by the crown."

"It could be leased, which given a long-enough term would be as good for the purposes of most companies," Tativin said. "It's getting the nobles in question to agree to it, is the problem. Half of them disapprove on principle, think it would just encourage their peasants to run off to the city instead of staying home and working the estates. Or think it would let in foreign ideas. Or think that the merchants are getting too influential already. The ones that would be inclined to lease their lands all want the rights to put tolls on the railroads just as they would on a tributary river flowing through their territory. Which quickly adds up to enough money to make the project unfeasible."

"We do not think that putting a vital link of commerce under the sole power of the nobles would be a good idea," Maia said. "And we do not know that putting it under the power of a company would be any better. There is a reason the Istandaärtha belongs to the Crown."

"You mean besides the fact that the tolls on cargo moved along it are a significant part of the Drazhadeise purse?" Csethiro said.

"At least in theory, an Emperor should be working for the good of the Ethuveraz as a whole, not merely the profit of a part of it," Maia said.

Tativin snorted. "Not historically …" she muttered.

"The Istandaärtha belongs to the crown because it is too vital to be prey to petty squabbles," Maia said. His ears twitched as he thought it through, earrings shivering delicately. "Trade and messages cannot be held hostage to local problems. Surely, if there were to be railroads connecting cities that cannot reach each other by river, the principle would be the same."

"You would want any railroads to belong to the Emperor, as the Istandaärtha does?" Tativin said. "That would solve some of the land rights issues…."

"But it would greatly offend the princes, since roads without rails belong to them," Csethiro said. "And besides. You are both getting far ahead of yourselves. The Wisdom Bridge is barely started, and it required a significant amount of political capital to achieve. And it is much simpler a project than building an entire road network made out of rails. You'd need the Corazhas on your side, and probably the Houses of Blood and the House of Commons. They are unlikely to be very receptive to a second massive building project when the first is only just begun."

Maia's eyes lost their animation, though his ears held steady. "You are right, of course," he said. "We should not become caught up in cloud fancies. With the bridge, there already existed a large and diverse group of people who wished ardently for it and had all the plans ready. We merely ensured that they were heard, rather than ignored."

"You did quite a bit more than that, Serenity," Csethiro pointed out. "And it was more than your father ever managed." She was gratified to see that Maia smiled at her; she hadn't meant to douse his fire, merely channel it before he committed himself prematurely.

"There's an even larger faction that wants railroads," Tativin said. "Even many people who wanted the Istandaärtha bridged did not support the Clocksmiths, because they did not believe it possible. But railroads cannot be dismissed as a cloud fancy; many countries have them. And even, on a smaller scale, many cities in the Ethuveraz."

That might be true, but it would be some time before Maia had the political capital to bring another ambitious building project before the Corazhas. And while the Wisdom Bridge had been of a novel design, the principle of bridges was well-established: who owned them, who had the right to use them, who had the right to put tolls on them, who had the responsibility to maintain them. For railroads, all of those questions would have to be ironed out. "You mentioned other problems besides the political," Csethiro said. "A shortage of engineers?"

"Oh, gods, don't get us started," Tativin said. She heaved a sigh. "We don't really have any in the Ethuveraz, not the way Barizhan does. No places to train them."

"We beg your pardon," Maia said. "But what, exactly, is an engineer? Do they run engines?"

"No, Serenity, an engineer builds engines," Tativin said. "Designs them. And designs other things, too; any large mechanism, for example. Or the railroad itself—there is quite a lot of specialized knowledge required to figure out how and where to lay the tracks. As we discovered when we tried to build a railroad between two of our father's estates."

"What happened?" Csethiro asked.

"Oh, any number of things went wrong, and a great deal of it had to be ripped out and done again," Tativin said. "And our father thought it the greatest waste of time and money imaginable. Then there was the engine itself—we bought it, and had it shipped in at great expense. And then we had to train people to run it and maintain it, no small feat. But it works now, and saves a good deal of time and money when things must be shipped back and forth."

"And has it made up the cost in making it?" Csethiro asked.

"Of course not," Tativin said. "May not ever. If we could extend it to the nearest city and use it to ship our grain and things to market, then it probably would. But we were mostly interested in proof of concept, and in seeing it work." She sighed. "We wanted to build the engine ourselves, but our father forbade it. Too dangerous, he said, and we are not sure whether he knew enough about steam engines to know they can explode if made incorrectly or handled wrong, or if he knows so little that he thought they are as dangerous as making airships. He's not a stupid man, our father, but he'd not notice if the rest of the world disappeared, as long as his horses and his dogs were spared."

This being far from the worst thing Tativin had said about someone in the time they'd been in her apartments, Csethiro merely wondered how much similarity there might be between Tativin and her father; she suspected that Tativin wouldn't notice if the rest of the world disappeared, so long as her steam engines were spared.

Tativin continued in her response to Maia's earlier question. "But a real railroad—one between cities, not merely between two neighboring estates—would require a lot of engineers with more training than we have managed to cobble together. Then there would be the manufacture of steel for rails, and the manufacture of the train engine and cars—the design and manufacturing would take far more people with specialized training than the Ethuveraz currently possesses."

"How does one train an engineer?" Maia asked.

"In the Ethuveraz, one doesn't," Tativin said. "Architecture and mathematics are taught in the universities, but not engineering. The Clocksmiths' Guild has been experimenting with steam engines for quite some time; many clocksmiths these days spend very little time working on clocks and mostly build other things. But there aren't enough of them, and most masters only have a handful of apprentices and journeyman at a time, so the guild grows very slowly. And of course the military trains men to build and design things using similar principles, but they only work on projects for the Army. The airship companies and others that need engineers usually either train them in an apprenticeship program, or import them from Barizhan. Railroads are not the only thing we could do if we had more of them." She sighed.

Beshelar checked his watch, and cleared his throat portentously. "Serenity, Mer Aisava charged us to remind you of your other appointments this afternoon."

Csethiro started at the interruption. It was not that she was so wrapped up in the conversation that she had forgotten their surroundings, but rather that her subconscious tended to forget that nohecharei were not servants. She was used to being surrounded by servants and attendants who faded into the background until they were wanted, and were supposed to be ignored by their betters; she was not used to people who worked just as hard at being unobtrusive … but had the right and responsibility to interrupt and give opinions. It had been quite shocking to her, how much they talked with Maia, when she was first getting to know him—and them.

"Thank you," Maia said, climbing to his feet. Csethiro joined him.

Tativin scrambled gracelessly up and bobbed a curtsey. "Serenity, we thank you for your time and hope you were entertained by our hobby."

"We were, your creations were quite marvelous," Maia said. "Thank you for taking the time to explain them to us, we learned a great deal."

"Yes, it was quite informative," Csethiro said, politely but with less enthusiasm than her husband.

***

Maia had audiences that afternoon, and Csethiro had no public duties or engagements. She retired to her apartments to write letters; some were to personal friends who were not currently at court, but many were to people that she needed to cultivate. An empress' duty, besides bearing heirs, was to weave together the social threads that bound the upper classes, so that they would all form a tapestry in support of her husband.

Or, at least, that was the theory; in practice, the nobility of the Ethuveraz hadn't been united in one cause for at least the last few centuries, and Csethiro strongly suspected that the histories which claimed that they had been united and harmonious in the past were not entirely accurate.

Csethiro's goals were more modest: build up enough tolerance of her husband that nobody else would try to kill him. And, if possible, encourage support of his policies.

To that end, she had begun exchanging letters with every Princess, Duchess, and Countess not at the Untheileneise Court, whether she liked them or not.

The next letter in her rotation of correspondence was to Naraino, the Princess of Thu-Evresar. Csethiro sat at her desk in her solar, tapping her pen on the ink bottle, as she considered what to write. She had a store of gossip and news and politics ready to be shared; Csethiro didn't know the lady at all well, given that Naraino was forty years older than her and rarely came to court, but that would come in time, if they kept writing.

"Your grace, is there something troubling you?"

Csethiro turned in her chair to look at Dach'Osmerrem Eshanaran, one of her ladies in waiting. She had several, of course, but was in the habit of giving most of them the afternoon off when she had no public events or pressing business in need of assistance. They rotated which one stayed with her, and today by chance it was Dach'Osmerrem Eshanaran, a sensible older lady whose advice Csethiro had come to value. "Not troubling, exactly. But we were considering whether we should hint at our husband's new enthusiasm."

"New enthusiasm?" Dach'Osmerrem Eshanaran asked.

"He is much taken by the idea of trains. Roads made of rails, with great steam engines pulling many wagons, that could carry more cargo and passengers than airships can," Csethiro said.

"We have heard of them," Dach'Osmerrem Eshanaran said, cautiously. "But … surely he is not going to attempt to champion another mechanical wonder so soon? Before we even know if his first works as the clocksmiths have said, or if all the money is wasted?"

"He understands the need to be politic," Csethiro said, "and that his political capital for new projects is currently low and will not be replenished until we see whether the Wisdom Bridge is as wise as it seems like it should be." Or, at least, if he did not understand, he trusted her and Csevet when they told him. "This is merely an interesting idea that may bear fruit in the future, not a current plan of action."

"Ah," Dach'Osmerrem Eshanaran said. "Very good." She flicked her ears. "Then why would you even consider bothering people about it now?"

"We would like to lay the groundwork," Csethiro said. "We have not his enthusiasm for gadgets, but we want the Ethuveraz to be modern and not lag so far behind the rest of Osreiath … and it would be good for trade and so on."

"Mm." Dach'Osmerrem Eshanaran looked down at her embroidery. She thought all the world outside the Ethuveraz barbaric, Csethiro knew, and didn't care what foreigners thought of the Ethuveraz. But she was loyal and would not gossip. "Well, if it will be years before the Emperor can openly press for it, you certainly shouldn't be doing it now. If you think it important, what you should be doing now is laying the groundwork for it."

"Well, yes," Csethiro said. That was obvious. But asking what their thoughts on railroads would be too direct, and she hadn't come up with anything else. She spread her hands, hoping Dach'Osmerrem Eshanaran would have a more explicit suggestion.

"So ask them questions about the things that make you think the Ethuveraz should have railroads," Dach'Osmerrem Eshanaran said. "What things do they have trouble importing, or exporting? How much do they care about keeping up with Barizhan? How confident are they in the safety of airships, after what happened to His Serenity's father and brothers? That sort of thing."

"That is an excellent point," Csethiro said. She knew several people who were hesitant to travel by airship, even now that they knew the Wisdom of Choharo's destruction was due to Eshevis Tethimar's treason rather than accident or a peasant's grudge. Now that such sabotage had been proven to be possible, surely someone else would try it—and everyone knew the airship workers and manufactories were full of violent radicals. They might not need a treasonous duke to prod them into action next time. "We wonder if we should open the topic of railroads now," she mused. "After all, Varenechibel's death will not be so immediate a tragedy by the time the Wisdom Bridge is finished. People may have forgotten their mistrust of airships."

Dach'Osmerrem Eshanaran shuddered. "We shouldn't think so, Your Grace."

Csethiro turned back to her desk, and the view out the window to the gardens. Thu-Evressar was historically the poorest and most backwards of the principalities. It was scarcely populated, grew grain and cattle and sheep, and exported wool. Until the discovery of gold in Ezho, it had had few mines or other natural resources except for the portion nearest to the Istandaärtha. Its longest river was the Evresartha, which fed into the Istandaärtha but was itself too shallow and narrow, along most of its length, for the movement of large cargos. And it was too far north for direct trade with Barizhan. Like Thu-Istandaär, Thu-Evressar was beginning to produce goods that were worth marketing elsewhere; unlike Thu-Istandaär, Thu-Evressar had few good ways to get those goods to market.

"Do you know what Naraino thinks of the Wisdom Bridge?" she asked. "Or her opinion of the rising prosperity of tradesmen, manufacturers, and merchants?"

"No, Your Grace, we do not," Dach'Osmerrem Eshanaran said. "We have only met her a handful of times, and none of them were in places where such conversations would have been appropriate. Her husband has been silent on the matter, as well; he was not of Chavar's faction, nor any other." Dach'Osmerrem Eshanaran paused, biting off her thread and sorting through her box of embroidery floss for another color. "Naraino was from Thu-Tetar, and her family has many connections in the silk trade, but there was some falling-out a short while after their marriage. We have heard that she declared she would rather walk naked through the court than ever speak to any of them again. We do not believe she has any fondness for the society she was raised in."

"Which, since Thu-Tetar is so conservative and stratified, would probably influence her to be in favor of anything which challenged the power of the ancient silk merchants and the nobles they are beholden to," Csethiro said. "And then there is the potential profit to her domain, if the rising class of Evressaran merchants can get their goods to market faster and cheaper." Though that wasn't a factor she could count on; many Ethuverazheise nobles would prefer their peasants to stay poor and in their place, even if that contributed to their own impoverishment.

"Thank you, Osmerrem," Csethiro said. That had given her some ideas, and she began to write her letter. All she really needed was the gossip she had already collected for the letter, appropriately slanted; she did not need to win Naraino's approval now, merely open up the possibility of future discussion.

After all, she was playing the long game.

***

"How goes thy wooing of the absent noblewomen?" Maia asked over luncheon. They usually ate together in the Alcethmeret, when neither had another engagement. It was private, so they could relax, and Maia's cook was excellent. Today's spicy sour soup was delicious.

"Oh, as well as can be expected," Csethiro said, dipping her bread in her soup and nibbling at it. "I have little enough in common with most of them, but they all of course are quite prompt in their correspondence; Csoru did not trouble herself to keep in touch with any other than her own set, and thy mother of course could not even if she had wanted to. I've no idea what Leshan and Pazhiro's habits of communication were. So the opportunity to correspond with the Empress is an honor and a novelty."

"But if they have nothing in common with thee, how long can thy correspondence last?" Maia asked. "What canst thou have to say?"

"A great deal!" Csethiro said. She shouldn't be surprised; he had never been taught how to converse or build bridges with people of differing characters and tastes. But she was so used to living at Court where everyone could do it that she had trouble remembering that the art of conversation was not something everyone knew.

She took a sip of her tea. How to explain it? "Most people like gossip," she said. "And for nobles, knowing who has done what can be vital to any political plans they have, or any financial dealings. It wouldn't do to try and make an alliance with someone who had just been disgraced, for example! And living away from court means they do not receive it first-hand. There is always some amusing or scandalous story I can tell them."

"But what about the people thou gossip'st about?" Maia said. "Are they not harmed by the spreading of tales?"

"I do not spread those sorts of stories, of course," Csethiro said. "Only the harmless ones. Or the true ones. Not the cruel ones or the false ones. I'm not Csoru." That last was said with some tartness.

Maia's ears lowered. "Of course," he said. "We did not mean to imply thou wert inappropriate or cruel."

"Of course not," Csethiro said gently. She ate some soup, but Maia did not say anything, perhaps out of fear he had offended her. He was so sweet, but she looked forward to the day when he had more confidence in her and their relationship, and did not retreat when he felt he had made a mis-step.

"Aside from the gossip, well, most people like talking about themselves," Csethiro went on. "If one asks them about things they care about, and are willing to honestly listen and appreciate their thoughts, they will be very pleased to share. At worst, one has spent a few boring minutes; at best, they will go away from the conversation quite well-disposed to one."

"Like at Marquess Lanthevel's party," Maia said thoughtfully. "I asked him about his wall-hanging, and his studies. I asked many questions that night. And by the end of the party, Lantheval helped me convince Pashavar to allow the Clocksmiths their hearing."

"Yes," Csethiro said. "Showing genuine interest in their opinions and things they care about probably helped a great deal."

"But is it not … impolite to pry?" Maia asked.

"It can be," Csethiro said. "The trick is to ask leading questions on subjects thou dost not think are particularly sensitive, and allow them to say as much or as little as they feel comfortable with."

"Ah," Maia said. "I see." He pondered that for a bit, and Csethiro had to nudge him to eat his soup.

"And of course, if all else fails, people generally love to give advice, especially to young people," Csethiro sad. "Though I try not to use that very often; sometimes they become offended if one does not take the advice."

"That one wouldn't work for me, though," Maia said. "Emperors are supposed to give advice, not take it. At least, not from anyone but our advisors."

"True," Csethiro conceded.

***

Orshan was a minor goddess, not part of the Five-Fold Harmony; and yet despite being unfashionable, two of the major festivals of the year were in her honor. The first, Bel'Orshonei was a planting festival, in the spring, and as it was a traditional occasion for gift-giving, Csethiro spent many hours with Csevet planning out lists of who should receive a gift from the Emperor, and what they should be given.

"That seems to be a rather long list," Maia said dubiously, when they consulted him on the final details.

"It does not do for the Emperor to be stingy," Csethiro said. "Rich gifts are a traditional way to bind the loyalty of the nobles to the Emperor. The two Orshaneisei festivals are a customary time for such gifts."

"We believe the custom of gift giving at planting and harvest-time sprang originally from a belief that it would bring the goddess' favor and bounty," Csevet said.

Maia smiled at Csevet. "Thank you." He turned his attention back to the list. "We see many things on this list that were gifts to us on our birthday. Will they not think it … ungrateful of us, to give away what they have so recently given us?"

"Most gifts to the Emperor are not for his personal use, or not in perpetuity," Csevet said. "The ones that seemed more personal, or exceptional, such as the clock, will not be given away. But the rest—no, Serenity, they would think it odd if their gifts were not passed on, eventually."

"Empress Leshan was once given an exquisite dress made entirely of lace," Csethiro said. "She only wore it three times, and I believe a court painting was made of her in it, and then it was taken apart and the lace given to ladies whom she particularly favored. Even for an Empress, it was too extravagant a gift to keep."

"Ah." Maia frowned and thought for a few minutes. "What makes a gift good to give? That is, what political messages are we sending with these gifts? There must be something besides wealth."

"Oh, many messages to be sure," Csethiro said. "Gifts that you have commissioned specially for someone are much more highly valued than those which merely come from the Drazhadeise vaults and store rooms, for example."

"And the relative value of the gift given now with that of past gifts, and the gifts they have given you, must all be calculated," Csevet said. "If there is an imbalance, it will be noted. If they have given you something much more valuable than you have given them, for example."

"Nobody would say outright that we owed them, but they would think it," Maia said. "We knew that from Tethimar's gift of the silk bedchamber set." He bit his lip. "If we give a great many of a certain kind of gift, would it then become popular? That is, would people think it was something we favored?"

"It depends on who you gave it to, and when, and how often," Csethiro said. "If it was, for example, known to be a set given you by a person now out of favor—or executed for treason!—and you gave it only to people who were associated with him but not closely enough to fall with him, and never gave anything like it again, it would be taken more as a sign of your disfavor than anything else."

"Oh!" Maia smiled. "Then let it be done with Tethimar's sharadansho silk set, by all means. We think it a cruel trade, which enriches people like Tethimar, while the artisans who make it suffer for it."

"That can certainly be done, Serenity," Csevet said, making a note.

Csethiro had never thought much one way or the other about the silk-makers, but she supposed Maia had a point. She did rather think he'd look lovely laid out on a sharadansho silk coverlet—it would set his complexion off to perfection—but it wouldn't be worth it if it made him uncomfortable. Maia was so reserved, he was so easily distressed by the cruelty of the world, and so self-conscious of his own awkwardness, that she had to take constant care not to trample him.

It wasn't that he would not or could not speak up for himself; his sharp tongue was one of the first things she had learned about him as a person, and not as the Emperor. It was that he did not trust himself to know when to use his voice.

Maia had a few other notes and concerns about the gifts being sent in his name, and then left the matter in Csethiro and Csevet's care.

***

By the time Csethiro and Maia entered the Tortoise Room on the morning of Bel'Orshonei, the servants and secretaries had their gifts sorted and catalogued. The majority of them had already been taken to be displayed or stored as appropriate, and both she and her husband were presented with lists of what they had been given and by whom. Csethiro handed the list off to Osmerrem Mevaran, and sat down to open and examine the more personal gifts.

First was, of course, an envelope with Maia's cat-serpent seal on it. She broke the seal and extracted the letter. It was a promissory note for a horse—and a horse of her choice, at that!

"Oh! Thank thee, my dear," she said, giving him a kiss and smiling as his ears twitched with embarrassment. They went out riding when the weather was good. His horse was excellent, a gray gelding named Velvet that Csethiro had been envious of since first she saw him. Her own mare, Lady, was a fine animal … but she had been selected by Csethiro's father and perfectly suited his ideas of what a young lady should ride. She was pretty, reliable … and slow. Csethiro had never complained to Maia, but he had paid enough attention to notice her discontent. Csethiro sighed happily, joy at the horse and at his attentiveness vying for pride of place. "And wilt thou come with me to the Horsemarket?"

"I'll not be much use or help," Maia warned her.

"Oh, I know better than to ask for thine opinion of horseflesh," Csethiro said with a laugh. "But at least thou hast been to the Horsemarket; I have not, for my father did not deem it ladylike enough, to go to a common market."

"I found the Cetho Horsemarket to be a very uncommon market," Maia said.

"Yes, that is what I have heard," Csethiro said.

Maia opened her present for him; it was a set of novels she thought he would like. Nothing weighty or serious—he got enough of that day in and day out—but amusing and interesting tales. The Alcethmeret library had a wide and varied selection of works, but only a handful of novels published in the last fifty years; Varenechibel IV had apparently not cared for them.

"I thought we could read them aloud together," Csethiro said. "I'm very good at doing voices and things."

"Really?" Maia said. "I have no idea if I can do the same."

Csethiro waved a hand. "The stories are interesting regardless."

None of the rest of the gifts for either of them were surprising; all were within the range Csethiro and Csevet had expected. Maia's Aunt Nadeian had indeed sent him a model railroad.

"It seems part of the fun is putting it together yourself," Maia said reading the letter. "The track comes in segments that can be configured in many ways, and she chose a size that is approximately the same scale as the model of the Wisdom Bridge, so that if I choose to incorporate it into that model or display it next to it, it will look right."

"Interesting," Csethiro said. "And a very good thought, too; having it out on public display with the model of the bridge will mean people will see it, and begin to associate trains with the bridge as something possible to build in the Ethuveraz. And possibly stir up interest in both model trains and the real thing."

"But it is my present," Maia said. "I don't want it to be kept where I would have to go visit it."

How much time was he planning to spend with it? Csethiro wondered. "If it is only on public display for short periods, that will give it notoriety and interest. The rest of the time, it can be here in the Alcethmeret. And if thou truly canst not bear to part with it even for a short time, of course it is thine; I only mean that it would be a political coup for Barizhan to have the set on public display, and it might ease the way to future railroads in the Ethuveraz."

Maia nodded, turning his attention to the letter and the large box it accompanied. He opened the box, and bit his lip. "There are many parts," he said, taking a booklet from the top. He looked from the booklet to the array of gifts on tables lining the room. These were the ones that were either personal or from a giver of sufficient status to require Maia's personal attention to the gift. "But it would be rude to spend so much time on this when there are so many other gifts to look at."

Csethiro waved her hand. "Don't worry about it, my dear; Mer Aisava has already organized them, and we have time for thee to enjoy thy present; 'twill not throw the day off kilter. Is that not so, Mer Aisava?"

"It is, Your Grace," Csevet said.

So Maia sat down to read the booklet that came with his set, eventually declaring that the Tortoise Room was not suitable for his railroad. A footman was called to carry the box to the Jasmine Room, Maia leading the way, and Csethiro started in on the presents that would need thank you notes written in her own hand. First, of course, was one to Maia for the horse. Csethiro smiled as she contemplated what qualities to look for.

***

By the time she was finished with her notes (though she had not yet glanced at and signed the thank you notes that her ladies and secretary were writing on her behalf), Maia had still not reappeared, and she went to go look for him.

She found him—and Prince Nemolis' children—arrayed on the floor of the Jasmine room. Ino was lying on the floor under the watchful eye of her nursemaid, watching the train that had been set up. The tracks were laid in a figure eight, and the train was long enough that it almost hit its own tail, and Ino crowed every time it missed itself. Maia, Idra, and Mireän were sitting at a table with the box and a variety of little buildings and trees and people and animals made out of porcelain. Mireän was playing with the figurines, and Idra and Maia were poring over various papers, deep in discussion.

"I would have thought it would be rather more elaborate than that," Csethiro said dubiously, eyeing the train.

"Oh, that's only the simplest layout that we set up to test that we knew how it worked and to keep Ino occupied," Idra said. "We have enough track to cover the whole room with it, if we wanted to."

"It seems that before one can set it up, one must decide how one wants it to be set up," Maia said. "Aunt Nadeian thinks that half the fun is putting it together, and she might be right. In Barizhan, each of the rail companies has its own crest and colors, and you can buy different ones and different styles of buildings to show what part of the country you are in. But of course they don't have Ethuverazeise ones. Aunt Nadeian had the trains painted with the Drazhadeise crest, but if we want buildings that look Elvish—"

"—like the Alcethmeret—" Mireän interrupted.

"—like the Alcethmeret," Maia continued, "we shall have to have them custom-made."

"Cousin Maia has said that if he has custom figures made, we can paint some of them," Mireän said excitedly.

"Oh?" said Csethiro, who was fond of drawing and painting. "That sounds very interesting." Perhaps she could help with that. She hadn't had much time for such pursuits since she was married, and she missed it.

"We are also trying to decide how large we want the initial layout to be," Maia said. "And if we want to put it on the floor, or on a table. The floor would allow for it to be much larger, of course, at least until something of sufficient size can be built. But it would mean the room could not be used for anything else in the meanwhile."

Csethiro's ears raised. "How big are you planning on making it?"

"We have enough tracks that we could cover half the room, depending on how closely we put them together," Idra said. "I think, that since it is so easy to change how it is put together, we should just start building and see what we come up with."

"And I want a plan before we start, and it is my present," Maia said.

Csethiro sat next to him, and he showed her the various example diagrams in the booklet, and they debated amiably over which one they liked best until Csevet summoned Maia for his next appointment.

***

Social events were a fraught proposition for Maia. Although he was a much better conversationalist now than he had been when he came to the Untheileneise Court, he was still not at ease in social situations. At first Csethiro had thought that hosting small, intimate parties where he was not on display might be the answer, but unless he was with people he already knew and trusted, Maia actually preferred the larger court functions, where he did not have to talk as much.

At a formal dinner, he only had three people to talk to: the people to each side of him and across the table from him. And at a dance or concert, he could sit on his throne and watch the court, and no one would be offended that he did not speak to them. Those who did approach him did so one at a time. Maia was on display, but his conversational skills were less noticeable.

At a small, private gathering, he had to talk with everyone, and there was nothing to distract from any awkwardness.

Still, he was getting better, and there were some matters of politics that were simply not possible to handle any other way than sitting down with people and getting to know them. Thus it was that, once they were married, Csethiro had started hosting various gatherings where Maia might socialize with key members of his government and court.

Today's gathering was a quiet one: a few of Vedero's friends, the Witness for the Universities, the Chancellor, and their spouses, gathered for lunch.

About half-way through the meal, once all of the formalities were done and there had been enough wine and enough conversation to relax things, Maia turned to Lord Isthanar, the Witness for the Universities. "When we first put forth the Clocksmiths' Guild's proposal for the bridge on the Istandaärtha, Lord Pashavar asked a question for which we did not have the answer, and we think it a good question. We do not wish to accuse or censure, we are not looking to cast blame, we only wish knowledge."

This did not, in any way, reassure Lord Isthanar, who was looking more alarmed with every word. Csethiro kept her face serene and her ears still; they had discussed how to breach the subject, and though Csethiro thought the approach was good, Maia's manner was not. He was too stiff, and though she knew it for social anxiety, others took it for censure.

"Why was it the Clocksmiths, and not the Universities, which produced the advances necessary for the Wisdom Bridge?" Maia asked.

Lord Isthanar sighed. "Serenity," he said in some exasperation, "we do not, as yet, know whether the Clocksmiths have indeed produced what they claim to have produced. We have checked their math and found it good; but there is a difference between plans and reality, and between a scale model and reality. They have not even broken ground yet! It will not be a quick construction—nothing that complicated ever is, even without considering the newness of so many of the mechanisms. It will be some years yet before we know for sure."

One of Vedero's friends snorted; Csethiro was not sure which one.

"Nevertheless, the question remains," Maia said.

Isthanar spread his hands. "Serenity, universities are places for study thought and learning the higher truths of life and expanding the sum of Ethuverazeise knowledge. Not for tinkering."

"We should think the expertise that led to the design of the Wisdom Bridge is far beyond mere tinkering, whether or not it actually works in practice," Vedero observed dryly.

Isthanar bowed shallowly to her. "As your grace says. However, that is only obvious when looking at the final product. There is a group at the University of Cetho studying the design of the bridge, and it is obvious that it was not a single great leap forward in terms of materials and function. Rather, it is the culmination of a series of smaller advances over a long period of time that, when added up together, became a monumental difference in what might be achievable. And that is the problem. Each of those small advances was the result of tinkering with things that were already known, and judged of no great intellectual rigor. And now we are shown up—" and here his ears drew back, and his voice lowered "—by a craft guild." He said it in the same tone other men might use to speak of intestinal parasites or perhaps a venereal disease.

He shook his head. "You may depend upon it, Serenity, we do not intend to have it happen again. You are not the first to notice, nor indeed was Lord Pashavar. We'll not allow ourselves to be pushed aside for long, of that you may be sure."

"May we enquire what measures are you taking to prevent it?" Csethiro asked.

"Of course, your Grace," Isthanar said. "We've already decided to add engineering to the courses a university should properly have to be worthy of the title. The question is, how to do it, and about that there is much debate. The schools of architecture and design argue that it should be placed under their jurisdiction, and the natural history schools claim the same, but we are of the belief that it is a distinct enough discipline to merit its own college."

He was well-used to explaining things to the Emperor, apparently, for he elaborated. "Each university, you see, has several smaller schools within it. Each has its own specialty: philosophy, mathematics, theology, history, literature, languages, though of course there are many areas that overlap and so each college will also have offerings that overlap with those of others in the same university, and students regularly take classes outside their own college. There are common resources, such as a shared library, but in general each college can be quite insular. Its own classrooms and faculty, its own specialty library, its own refectory, its own dormitories. And, most crucially for our present discussion, its own hierarchy of professors. If we slot engineering as a specialty in some older, more established college, we are sure you can imagine what will follow."

"It will be forever coming second in its place to the more established discipline," Csethiro said.

"Exactly!" Isthanar said. "And that is not good. It would open the possibility to the Clocksmiths showing us up again."

Csethiro took a sip of her wine to hide her smile, and the conversation then turned to what would be needed to establish a new college at Cetho University. For that was where Isthanar was a professor, and had the most influence.

It turned out that it would be quite simple for the Emperor to achieve, for it was mostly a matter of finances. A suitable gift of money to build such a school and land to put it on would achieve it. There was a short digression into names—the expectation was that it would be named Edrehasivar College, or something similar, but Maia nixed that. "Chenelo Zhasan, perhaps," he said. "Or Archduchess Vedero." He lifted his glass in toast to his sister, who blushed prettily.

From there, conversation moved on to other educational needs in the Ethuveraz, and the possibility of copying the Barizheise system of trade schools. "For there are many trades, you know, that would benefit from a wider variety of people trained to them," said Osmerrem Lathevaran earnestly.

"Hm, suppose so," Isthanar huffed, once it was made quite clear that such institutions would in no way have the same prestige as the universities he represented. He brightened. "And they would be a place for some of the more practical disciplines to conduct their experiments—the natural historians do not only do history, for example; many of them study current plants and animals, and some work to breed them for specific purposes, or discern better ways of managing them. And they are always complaining that the gardens and greenhouses of the university are not sufficiently large for their purposes. The university obtained a farm for them a decade or so back, but it was not sufficient, either. And as for the school of architecture, they would benefit from the experience of designing and building the new schools …"

Osmerrem Renshavaran had some words to say about developing better-quality or hardier crops and animals, which could then be given to farmers and herders to improve their incomes and the taxes the sale of their produce would bring. And from there the discussion moved on to where, ideally, such schools should be located and how they might be funded so that the sort of people who farmed or went into the trades could afford to go to them.

It was all a cloud-fancy, at the moment, of course, except for the College of Chenelo Zhasan (or Archduchess Vedero, whichever they ended up calling it). But the ideas were interesting, and Isthanar went away very thoughtful, and who knew what might come of the seeds planted at that meal?

And, once the conversation got rolling, Maia was free to sit back and listen and did not need to lead the conversation, which helped him relax and enjoy his food.

Inviting Vedero and her friends to a meal with the Witness for the Universities had certainly been an inspired choice. Csethiro pondered what other such combinations of people would result in similar ease of conversation and take pressure off Maia.

***

Csethiro painted the figurine with delicate strokes—it was small enough that the embroidery at its collar was a mere squiggle, but she wanted it as precise as possible nonetheless—while Maia pondered the design of his train set.

"I wish I had thought of this earlier," Maia fretted. "It would be so perfect—but the table is all wrong for it."

The table he had ordered made to fit his original design. But Maia had found he liked planning out where everything would go, and had made several designs in the intervening months. Not one of them had been completed before some new idea had come to him, and he would take up all the track to start again.

Idra was annoyed by this, despite the fact that each version had been at least finished to the point of being able to run the trains on it.

Csethiro had decided to find Maia's enthusiasm charming. It was something he took genuine delight in, and as it was confined to the Jasmine Room it was no inconvenience to her. And she liked painting the little figurines even though none of Maia's plans had gotten far enough for them to be emplaced. "Couldst always commission a new table."

"I suppose I could," Maia said. "But then I would have to wait to start on it."

"And by the time it was finished, wouldst have had at least three more ideas, yes, that is a problem." Csethiro finished and set the figurine delicately down.

Maia's ears drooped. "I—yes, that is likely."

"Thou couldst finish this design, while thou wert waiting," Csethiro said.

"I would have to rip it all up when the new table was done," Maia said.

"Or thou couldst have two train tables," Csethiro said.

"But I have not enough track for both designs!" Maia protested. "Nor enough train engines. And I could use more cars …"

"All of which can be purchased," Csethiro pointed out. "And given that thy Aunt Nadeian and thy cousin Merrem Gormened know thy love for the train set, it is very likely that thou wilt receive additional pieces as gifts on the next suitable gift-giving occasion. And if thou displayest this set—completed, and with figurines hand-painted by thine zhasan—" she gave a half-bow from her seat "—it is quite likely that others will realize 'tis a gift thou wilt truly appreciate."

Indeed, in the long run, the problem was more likely to be that he was inundated with more train equipment than he could use. As difficult as that might be to imagine now, given his enthusiasm.

"Oh," he said, as if it had not occurred to him that people would be overjoyed to know that there was a gift they could give the Emperor that he would specifically appreciate as more than 'another lavish present to be passed on as appropriate.' Something that might actually win his favor and notice, instead of merely being part of the appropriate exchanges.

"And I suppose Idra would prefer it, if we simply finished this plan," Maia said thoughtfully.

"He would," Csethiro said.

***

Idra was suspicious when Maia told him his plans, and even when the last figurine was in place he did not quite believe Maia was not about to rip it all up and start over.

It was a very cunning design, and they all enjoyed controlling the trains and watching them weave through countryside and city and back again.

Maia hadn't gotten any more train sets by the time the second table was delivered, but Csethiro was beginning to suspect he enjoyed the planning more than the actual running of it; he had a catalogue of model train sets and pored over it, contemplating which pieces to purchase and what architectural and decorative pieces he should commission from local artisans. When Csethiro suggested he put the model on display in public, it was actually the children who were most disappointed at its temporary absence.

***

"You are quite a gifted painter, Zhasan," said Ashedo, Princess of Thu-Istandaär. She examined the figurines on the model railroad. "If you had not shown us which were yours and which were not, we should never have been able to guess. Your eye for detail is … remarkable." She glanced up at Csethiro and flicked her ears, then back down to the figurine.

"Thank you," Csethiro said gravely. If that particular figurine was—almost—a caricature of a certain lady of the court who was proving very intractable, well, there was enough doubt that Csethiro need not admit to it.

"The Emperor seems to have taken a great deal of care with his model," Princess Ashedo said, stepping back to view the set as a whole.

Csethiro nodded to the page boy whose job it was to run the train for viewers—and, in certain select cases, allow people to run it themselves—and he turned the knob on the controls. The train began to move on its course.

"Edrehasivar is quite taken with his trains," Csethiro said. "He is planning a newer, larger model; we have commissioned a replica of the Alcethmeret for it, as a birthday present."

"Indeed?" Princess Ashedo said. She stood contemplating the tiny train winding its way through hills and over a river before coming back in to the city.

"And it runs on ... electricity? A battery?" Princess Ashedo said.

"Why, yes," Csethiro said in some surprise. Most people assumed it was some sort of mazeise trick … though in that case, they would have needed someone with maza gifts to run it. But electricity was not common in the Ethuveraz.

Princess Ashedo hummed thoughtfully. "There is a proposal to convert the trams in Choharo to electricity. Currently, they are drawn by horses, and it would be too expensive to put a steam engine in each tram, not to mention requiring too much coal. But if the system were electrified, then the trams would be faster and we would save the cost of the horses."

"Indeed?" Csethiro said. "Edrehasivar would be very interested to hear about it—and to see it, if it should end up happening. Where do you get the electricity from?"

"They have several water-turbines along the rivers," Princess Ashedo said. "They were put in place to power factories; but they produce more power than the factories need."

"What is a water-turbine?" Csethiro asked.

"We are not entirely sure," Princess Ashedo said. "They get power out of a river like a water-wheel does, except they are entirely below the surface, and they are not a wheel."

Csethiro mentally added that to the list of things to look into.

"Perhaps His Serenity would be interested in a tour, when next he visits Choharo," Princess Ashedo said.

"We are certain he would be quite fascinated," Csethiro said with a smile. There were no such visits scheduled, but the Emperor did travel around the Ethuveraz as needed to attend various events and show himself to the people. Perhaps Choharo should be given greater weight, in deciding which events were worthy of Edrehasivar's notice.

***

Summer had turned into fall, and Maia was sufficiently practiced on Velvet that he was comfortable joining Csethiro and her new gelding Lightning for rides out into the countryside near Cetho.

They were attended, of course; besides the nohecharei, there were both Untheileneise and Hezhethoreise guards, her ladies, and Csevet. But the pack of attendants rode at enough distance to give them some privacy.

"Art discontent, Maia," Csethiro said. He had been reserved for a few days, so it was probably not an issue with the ride or the day.

He twitched an ear. "'Tis nothing. I am sure it will pass."

"I am sure you are right," Csethiro said. "But will it pass easier for being shared?" Maia got quiet when he was upset or uneasy; and the worse he felt, the quieter he got. Nor was he like to ask for help or reassurance, even on things she or others could very gladly and easily give.

"Perhaps," he said, but was quiet.

Csethiro rode next to him and enjoyed the day. If he chose to speak, she would listen; if not, well, he would be a poor conversationalist, but the ride itself was pleasing, and perhaps on the way back Merrem Renshavaran would indulge her in a race. (Lightning was very aptly named, and a joy and delight to ride.)

"It is stupid," Maia said at last.

"Not if it bothers thee," Csethiro said.

"It is only that I feel very … ineffective, at the moment," Maia said. "There is the bridge, yes; but that was approved months ago. And the college, but that could have been done by any number of nobles; all it required was wealth and the will to do it. It did not require the Emperor. In the meantime, I have sat through many meetings of the Corazhas and though I have learned to understand what they discuss and comment on it intelligently, truly, they could do their work very well without me. I have adjudicated many disputes, and virtually all of them are petty squabbles that should never have needed my attention. We have talked of schools and railroads and other ways to improve the Ethuveraz, and strategized how best to accomplish them, but none of them have come to the official notice of either the Parliament or the Corazhas. Model railroads are like to become very popular, but the question of real railroads has advanced not one bit. What have we done that a figurine such as adorn our model railroad could not have done?"

Csethiro snorted, a most unladylike habit neither her mother nor her stepmother had ever been able to break her of. "Oh, yes, thou only achievedst something thy father tried for years to bring about. That is certainly nothing worth mentioning or celebrating. Dearest, thy first few months wearing the crown gave thee a terribly skewed vision of what thy role may achieve. If thou measurest political change on what happens immediately after thou beginst to think on it, wilt be terribly depressed thy entire life. Even were it possible to simply dictate policy to the government, it would be horribly unwise. Taking time to listen and build support gives time to adjust policies as they are planned, before they are put in place—for nobody can ever truly think up all the possible outcomes and account for them on their own."

"I suppose," Maia said. "Even when it is a good idea, there is so much I still don't know."

"Couldst know everything thy father and all of thy forefathers knew, and would still not know all that thou needst know," Csethiro said. "'Tis not a slight on your ignorance. Take the question of the technical schools—everyone at that luncheon knew a great deal about education and how schools work. And yet, as the conversation has moved out from that first one, many people have brought forward challenges to be solved … and opportunities nobody there thought of. If such schools ever become reality, they will be much different than the speculation that day, and be the better for it!"

"True," Maia said. "I just received a letter from Prince Orchenis, with suggestions that were very interesting."

"Ah?" Csethiro said. "I didn't know he was interested in education." She tucked that away for her next letter to Dach'Osmerrem Clunetharan. "Consider thy father."

"I try not to," Maia muttered.

"Even so," Csethiro said. "At the time of his death, he was in his seventies, and still hearty and hale. Presuming thou dost not fall to an assassin, thou hast every likelihood of equaling or exceeding his life. That is fifty or sixty years to rule and shift the government's policies more to thy liking."

Maia started so hard that Velvet became jittery, and the next few minutes was taken up by soothing him back into good temper.

"Sixty years," Maia said. "That is three times as old as I am now. I can't even really conceive of it."

"Nor I," Csethiro said. "But 'tis true nonetheless. There's time. And I think it is better to take the time to do it right, to find allies and move the opinion of the government and the nobles and the merchants and everyone, so that they will support thy policies rather than oppose them." She made a face. "'Tis easier said than done, I know—my parents have always been counseling me to do the same with my relationships at court, and I never have managed. But I think this is more important than whether to trade the immediate satisfaction of hitting Csoru with the more long-term and lasting victory of persuading people that she is unpleasant, and so I am trying harder to remember it."

Maia laughed, as she had intended him to. "I suppose thou'rt right."

"If the rest of thy reign is even one tenth as productive as this first year has been, wilt be the most effective emperor the Ethuveraz has ever had," Csethiro said. "Edrehasivar the Reformer, they'll call thee."

"I could not do it without thee," Maia said. "'Twill be thy legacy, too. Csethiro the Modernizer."

Csethiro waved that off. "Oh, they never consider the legacy of the Empress, unless something truly dire happens which leaves space for her to take an unusual role. A regency, or a war, or a great disaster or something. And even then, not always."

"That's not fair; all my political acumen and strategy comes from thee and Csevet, and as a secretary he'll not be remembered, either."

"Oh, I doubt he'll stay thy secretary for the rest of his life," Csethiro said. "He's done too good a job, and been noticed. No, someone will hire him into one of the ministries—the Chancellery, perhaps, or the Treasury. Then he'll be promoted, and perhaps end up on the Corazhas."

"Thinkest thou so?" Maia said. "Nobody could deserve it more, only I wouldn't know what to do if he left me."

"He'd not leave until he was satisfied thou wert well enough served," Csethiro pointed out. "But I do think so. It was an impossible job, and yet he did it, and did it well, with no training and experience. Give it time, for him to train his undersecretaries, for thee to gain experience as Emperor, and for him to mature, and he'll be off to a job that will allow him the possibility of promotion."

"Time," Maia said. "We do have time." He sounded surprised, and after the tumultuous year he'd had, Csethiro didn't blame him. They rode on in silence for a while, as they thought of what the future might bring.

"If they did remember empresses and their legacies, what wouldst thou want thine to be?" Maia said.

"Beyond supporting my husband's causes?" Csethiro said. "Thank thee for choosing ones I can wholeheartedly support, by the way."

"Art welcome," Maia said. "But truly, I am curious."

"I've never much thought about it," Csethiro said. "It's never seemed … relevant." Idle dreams of running off to join the army, or perhaps running away to the sea and signing on to a ship and becoming a captain and having adventures, those she had had in spades. They'd seemed more interesting—and no less plausible—than the sort of question Maia was asking now. "I think … I think the Ethuveraz has been trapped in amber for a very long time. Preserved, beautiful, but … not useful. Not able to go out and do things. Not able to grow or change. Not like the rest of the world has." It was a metaphor she had most often used—in her own head—for her role as a daughter of the Ceredada. But it fit the Ethuveraz as well. "I want that to change. I want us to change. Not that I want us to become a second Barizhan, but—"

"You want the Ethuveraz to be what it could be, not merely what it used to be," Maia said.

"Yes, exactly," Csethiro said. "And if we could do that together, it would be well worth those fifty or sixty years' effort. Don't you think?"

"I do," Maia said. Lightning and Velvet were very close together, and he reached out for her.

She took his hand and squeezed it.

#fiction #fanfiction #fanfic #the goblin emperor

[july-19th-club]

i think it takes probably twenty years' worth of institutional and social reform in small nudging bits, but maia eventually manages to soften certain requirements of nohercherei. in their first year together they formulated - and had the conversation about - what kind of a friendship they'd be capable of, and after that there's no way he would be able to go the rest of his life knowing that even if when he died it was of old age, his bodyguards, if they were still alive, would be contracted by oath to commit ritual suicide and be buried alongside him. i think it takes him a long time, and he probably has to find some oath loophole to work with magically-speaking, and the athmaza is probably a real pill about it, and the potential for scandal and widespread disapproval is intense. and i think that he probably has to leave in a caveat, like, 'nohecherei have a retirement age now and if i die first and you still haven't reached it, you're encouraged to retire BUT if you really feel like a stickler for tradition you can kill yourself if you want to' because beshelar in particular would be adamant that the traditional option remain. but one day he comes to all four of them and says i've got a proposal i'm going to put before the corazhas, but because it's about you right now i want you to see it first. i want your input, i want you to tell me what does and doesn't work and if you'd consider it an insult to your profession or if you'd be willing to accept it.' and it's been a long time and they're all in their forties now and have known each other long enough that cala definitely thous him and telimezh and kiru maybe do and beshelar does if the situation is serious enough that he's willing to put aside etiquette. and they've been through dangerous days and busy days and boring days together, they were together for his wedding (though graciously agreed to stay outside the room for at least a few hours that night), they were there for the births of his and csethiro's children, they've watched them grow, and when he shows them the proposal - no nohecharis/o is obligated to die with their emperor; the death of an emperor of any causes shall mark the end of the nocheharis/o's career and they will instead teach the next generation (for who better to do it? it's not just sentiment; there's a practical reasoning here (maia having realized that certain parties would only accept the offer if it could be something more than sentiment))...when he presents it, cala cries. kiru likes it immediately; she's always been practical and forward-thinking. telimezh has outgrown his nervousness and starts looking through it for points that can be made clearer, for wordings that will make it most likely to get through the corazhas intact. beshelar, though, is the first to, out loud, say yes.

#i keep thinking about the five of them specifically in the context of. they're contractually obligated to die with him #and how much maia would HATE that . because he really loves them #but also how once he settles into his role he's going to get used to taking a long time to sneak through really big things #that's kind of his superpower is that he's got grandiose ideas that if they're said outright everybody rejects #once he learns subtlety he'll be unstoppable #the goblin emperor #q

[baladric]

Ough Maia mommy kink...that's exquisite...would also fit with his intense reaction when he first met Hesero...and Csethiro would be the best soft domme...sword fighting muscle mommy... What kinks do you think the other characters have? I read that one Cala/Beshelar boot worship fic on ao3 and it's lived in my head rent free ever since

ohhhh anon. oh sweet beloved dear anon, i am kissing you on the forehead, i love you so, you are so wise and clever

the funny thing is i feel like there's UHHH wrong answers to the tge kink question(s) so like these are all just ME, having read surprisingly little of the extant fic for this fandom (once i start writing for a thing, i weirdly lose interest in reading for it)

i will say i'm on the fence about the general Softness of csethiro's domme'ing ;alkdfjw like in the universe where i get everything i want, csethiro's had some Experience™ with ladies in vedero's circle (i think a lot about the passingly-referenced aizheän tativin A Lot), and so i think she comes to maia's bed with a skill set that feels very inapplicable to her at first, and also involves a lot more Meanness than she expects maia to be in any way into?? so i think it takes them a good while to get to anything particularly kinky—but when they do, i think csethiro is the dominant party for a Long Time, like mommy kink stuff obvs, praise kink goes w/o saying imo, definitely like rope bondage in the manner of silk ribbons and calling maia Pretty and treating him like a doll, and when his anxiety is eating him alive? i honestly think he asks her to get kind of mean to him!! like lance the wound, right? voice the bad things!! get it all out of his head and into the real world and then throw it out the goddamn window at the end!! there is so much catharsis to playing in the space of self-hatred in a controlled environment, i am just sayin

also i think they find out during some regular tender vanilla sex that csethiro does, in fact, love Actual soft-dom maia, and then they play with service roles and something along the lines of hypnosis, like maia talking her into a meditative state and going to town on a list of pre-arranged tasks, etc!

and like. 100% of the time i think their sex is INCREDIBLY gender-fucked. like the bed hangings shut and neither of them has ever heard of a binary gender, everyone is babygirl and also daddy and sunshine and silly boy and little slut and and

and then there's cala and beshelar ;lkajdflaw;kfjdsd like the SHORT list: major S/m (painplay, humiliation/degradation mostly), bondage, breathplay, definitely some INVOLVED roleplay, and i think cala likes to wig deret out with the idea of semi-public things (plugs, cages) even though they both know they can like. never ever risk that bc like talk about compromising their attention for protecting maia!!! as well as i rly love the idea of them both just. knowing each other so well that they can drop each other out of their heads with a few words once the door shuts behind them when a day has been rough, bc jesus god are their jobs hard and long and they know when the other one needs to just. fuck off and get fucked. for a while. (also they are very very sweet to each other and both so huge into aftercare, it's basically the whole point to them, like the other one having let go enough to allow themself to be proper taken care of and petted and loved on OUGH)

csevet aisava has cumslut energy. i'm sorry. he just does. that's a twink who just wants to be on his knees until his brain turns off, okay.

telimezh is vanilla and i love him. berenar, however, FUCKS.

thara celehar is a babygirl and he does not want anyone to know this, ever, including the person he is actively having sex with. this goes hand in hand with a STRONG humiliation kink, which you can bet Iäna "Daddy Dom" Pel-Thenhior uses to screw with him SO HARD

meanwhile iäna wants little more in the world than to be blown in the wings of an active performance and then fucked raw in a dressing room, half-clothed and made to stare at himself in the mirror while it happens

vedero drazhin mostly wants to slap csoru drazharan in the face i think. and make her cry. and then go read a book.

hope this helps <3

#i'm SO glad you asked anon #aj answers #anonymous ask #ask #tge

[theladyragnell]

Hello!! Hmm, AMA - if the mood strikes, I would love to hear about your writing process! How do you set about coming up with naming schemes for a set of characters? Sending good thoughts your way~

I'll start with the generalities and then move on to the specific question you asked! (And whoops, I got wordy, so most of it's under a cut.)

So, my writing process seems to be in flux, which makes this a little harder than usual to answer. I think it's partly Pandemic Brain Drain and partly just that I'm writing more complex and mature stories these days, but for my original work, at least, I've just in the last year or two started outlining for the first time.

In the past, I'd have some characters, or a concept, and usually a few candybar scenes (generally romance-related), and I'd start off! I didn't plot so much as I narrowed possibilities. In the first scene, very nearly anything could have happened next, in the scene after that, a few possibilities got eliminated, and so on and on, and then generally by the time I got to 60% of the way through the story I would know how the rest of the work had to fall out based on what I'd written before. I like that method, and it's still what I use for fanfic (though that tends to be shorter, so the candybar scenes tend to take up a larger proportion of the story, which probably helps).

With my current WIP, I wrote the first ~10,000 words and then spent two weeks writing an exhaustive outline once I had that mood down. I made some vague use of a few plotting methods (the lovely @samyazaz is an absolute font of those), but mostly I did the extremely cut-down no-prose version of the plotting method above. It's not the most efficient way of doing an outline, and the outline is no doubt bloated as hell, but the writing is going pretty well? I'll keep refining this process, but it's where I'm at right now.

Character names! Truly one of the worst parts about writing SFF when I'm doing original work, even if I'm using real-world names for first names I usually have to do something about surnames. Names, though, are really where there's an intersection of character and worldbuilding, and I'm trying to get better about it.

Things I try to keep in mind when naming characters or coming up with names:

Language: Are the characters all from the same place? Are there common name endings or phonemes? Katherine Addison's Goblin Emperor does a gorgeous job with this--people with goblin heritage are really the only ones who have "kh" in their names, at least from what I'm remembering now, and part of the reason it was hard to read for me the first time is because there are common name beginnings and phonemes and things, and I kept mixing up my Csethiros and Csorus and Csevets. Though it won't come up unless there's an audiobook, Addison also makes a point of saying that elves and goblins have different syllable stresses even if their names are similarly constructed.

Gender: Do people of different genders commonly have different name endings or beginnings? Once again turning to Addison, among the elves men often have names ending in -a, while only women seem to have -o or -u, and gender also impacts the ending of surnames. (Maia's house name is Drazhada, his surname is Drazhar, his unmarried sister is Drazhin, etc.) Or, in my current original WIP, there's a location where a lot of women have names ending in -ie and a lot of men have names ending in -a, and -or, -er, and -ar are more gender neutral.

Class: Do richer people have more syllables in their names? More middle names? Longer last names? Conversely, are they shorter? Do last names hyphenate, and does that change based on class or location? Are there names or nicknames that one class or another prefers not to use?

Personality: This matters more with real-world names that you're assigning to a character, and that I do mostly by feel. But again, maybe you've got a very regal fantasy character, a real snobby prince type, and "Kod" does not feel regal or princely, but Kinrod gets closer, and Elkinrod Felforth III gets you all the way there.

And then there's various other things, like religion and subcultures and characters being named after other characters, like Tasha Suri's culture in her Burning Kingdoms trilogy where people of a certain religion are named for prophecies and only share those names when they're getting close to fulfilled and go by nicknames, but those are all Advanced Naming Things and I've been writing this for half an hour so I'm leaving it there!

#cendiar #answered asks #i like talking about writing i'm just not the most coherent about it

[words-writ-in-starlight]

Maia for the Aita meme?

Local emperor very stressed, posts on Ethuveraz Reddit on a sockpuppet account his secretary made for this specific purpose:

AITA for arranging my own marriage

Csethiro doesn't post on Ethuveraz Reddit, because she has spent her entire life worrying about her image, but she does sit Vedero and Arbelan down and clasp her hands and ask if she would be the asshole, so to speak, if she stabbed her fiance's ex-guardian with a sword, against said fiance's expressed wishes.

Csethiro would like to clarify that Setheris really, really deserves it, if that changes their opinion on the matter at all.

#ask meme #the goblin emperor #maia drazhar #csethiro ceredin #i just think csethiro deserves to stab setheris #like. i think setheris deserves to be stabbed on general principles but specifically i think csethiro deserves to do it. #because like #not that beshelar and telimezh don't Really Believe In Stabbing Setheris #but it's also sort of their job to stab people on maia's behalf #it would so utterly astonish setheris for the oathbound future empress to grab a sword and stab him #and it would be so good for csethiro! she would be so pleased with herself! #and maia would be so baffled and flattered that she stabbed someone for him! #they deserve that. all of them. #asked and answered #anonymous

[solacefruit]

What are your favorite examples of enemies to lovers? (Whether in your head or canon)

Hello there! Thank you for asking in--and your patience while I got around to answering this. I’m always terrible at this kind of thing, because people ask me my favourites and I forget everything I’ve ever read. But these are a few I’ve loved that jumped to mind immediately so hopefully that’ll do! I’ve put it all under the cut so as not to clog up everyone’s dash.

In no particular order and numbered only to make this a bit more legible: 

1. I think quintessentially for many people of my generation is Draco/Harry, and honestly yeah, the dynamic is a lot of fun. It’s narratively + emotionally a very fun and flexible pairing, because you can really play any tune with it without it stretching credulity. Mortal enemies? Completely plausible. Petty stupid rivalry? Equally plausible. In the right hands (i.e., mine and my friends’), hours of entertainment. 

2. Sophie/Howl from Howl’s Moving Castle, obviously. Any variations but the book specifically is so fun and is much more antagonistic than the film, which I love. The weedkiller always makes me laugh. 

3. Laurent/Damen from Captive Prince trilogy. I remember first picking it up on a trusted recommendation and being intrigued by the notion of enemies-to-lovers that absolutely does not hold back at all when it comes to the enemies part, and honestly I was a little dubious to see if Pacat could pull it off--but by the end, I was convinced. I also just love court intrigue and machinations. If you’re going to read this one, though, I recommend checking out a content warning first if you’ve got any sensitivity to particular dark content. 

4. Maia/Csethiro from The Goblin Emperor. Not enemies as such but certainly not friends, but again, I love court intrigue and their set-up as an arranged marriage that becomes a genuine relationship is charming to me. I also love both the characters dearly, so there’s that too. 

5. Zagreus/Megaera from Hades (game), obviously. Thank you, based Supergiant Games. Their dynamic and banter is so extraordinarily good. It’s hard to know where enemies begins with them, though, since they’re lovers -> enemies -> lovers again but they still beat the daylights out of each other, and there’s sort of every reason to believe that they’ve more or less eternally been in that cycle in some form or another. Not relevant to this question, but I have my nose way out of joint about the fact AO3 disproportionately ships Zagreus/Thanatos, which is just so typical. Anyway. 

6. Discworld: I’m one of those people who believes in Sybil/Vimes/Vetinari superiority, so I’m going to say that Vimes/Vetinari counts here too. Like, there is so much to say about this, but in particular Vetinari’s little “you know... I rather think I did” comment after it’s remarked that if Vimes didn’t exist, Vetinari would have had to invent him--but then in Night Watch, there’s Keel (cough) and young Vetinari is enamoured in his own way and grows up to become Patrician and it’s like... oh you created each other. I’m obsessed with that. It’s perfect. However, I disagree totally with everyone who cuts Sybil out of the picture, because she is probably the only person who loves either of these men and she is vital. As a bisexual man, I am begging people to stop acting like girl germs are real. 

7. I don’t know if this is cheating but Hiccup/Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon series (films) have a special place in my heart too. It’s definitely enemies-to-lovers from her side of things, whereas Hiccup’s starts at longing, journeys through the valley of rejection and self-actualisation, and then they have a healthy, cute relationship, so not exactly the trope but close enough and also I like it so I’m going to say it counts for the purposes of me talking about things I like. 

8. I’ve only read the first book so far but I really got a kick out of Gideon/Harrow from Gideon the Ninth and I’m looking forward to reading the rest. The dynamic, chemistry, and mutual loathing is delightful, and I just love when people hate each other with their whole chest. I think some writers are worried if they’re too mean early on, it’s too hard to do the to-lovers bit, so it’s always terrific when a writer has the confidence and vision be properly nasty and still sell you a great story of overcoming that.

9. I am deeply enraptured in what can unfortunately only be called the Jesus Christ Superstar dynamic, which is to say whatever the hell Jesus, Judas, and Mary Magdalene have going on in that musical. I feel like enemies-to-lovers is... somehow relevant to it, but just chronically it’s all over the place. It’s like enemies-to-lovers-to-enemies, but also enemies-to-friends? confidants-to-enemies but also lovers-to-confidants. It’s a hot mess and I have a lot of feelings about Heaven on Their Minds, is what I’m saying. 

10. Dimitri/Anya from Anastasia. It’s very good, although another example where enemies is maybe not the right word and a little too harsh for what ultimately is just petty bickering. But it’s just so fun, and more or less any time I see a film where they try to show chemistry and tension between a man and woman by having them snark at each other, almost always Anastasia did it better. 

I think I said this before when I was talking about the trope, but really and truly I would love to find more really good novel with a bit of enemies-to-lovers in the mix. I love other relationship dynamics too, but my truth is that I’m very much I don’t want peace, I want problems, always! and I’d like more books and whatnot to deliver me that. 

#reply #book recommendation

[septembersung]

Here's what I want to see in a sequel to The Goblin Emperor:

- More Csethiro!! - More Maia and Csethiro together - Csevet. Lots of Csevet. More personal arc content for Csevet. - More bridge building - Maia leveling up in interpersonal relationships. - Idra!! I want to see him staking out a place for himself. - Maia getting out into the city and making imperial visits different places - Maia and his horse - Maia and his goblin relatives - Maia and Vedero - Maia and a different set of young men who can talk about more than horses and hunting (full offense, Nurevis) - I want to see Maia finding his footing as an emperor enough to deliberately push some boundaries and find out what will give and what can't, and what shouldn't, and finding good things about his tradition and generally being an awesome leader - Must be at least three things that give Beshelar apoplexy because of manners and protocol, just because it's really funny - New fascinating linguistic details - Maps

#i know there technically is a sequel but it's more like a companion novel and he was a great character but I want more Maia #book talk #my life

[heartofoshun]

Tagged by @byrchentwigges! Thanks!

Top Three Ships:  

Maedhros/Fingon The Silmarillion.

Maia Drazhar/Csethiro Ceredin The Goblin Emperor.

Elrond/Gil-galad The Silmarillion

Honorable Mentions: Feanor/Nerdanel, Glorfindel/Erestor (if we are bringing up classic old favorites!), Galadriel/Celeborn, Alexander/Hephaestion and, last but not least, Swordspoint Alec Campion/Richard St Vier.

Last Movie Watched: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I liked it although I have issues with Quentin Tarantino on a number of levels. Violence mainly although people complain about a lot more when they get wound up about him. I actually like some parts that many people might not like--re-visiting the general creepiness and casually accepted prejudices and sexism of the period; he observes that the good old days weren’t good old days at all! (I lived the time period and so can admire how much he got right about setting and general ambiance although the movie is clearly not intended to portray the period in a realistic way--how about that title!) Sorry--did not mean to try to write a review. It was complicated for me. Not always an easy watch.

Book I am Reading: The Chapel by Michael Downing, a novel about a marriage, how one can feel grief and be furious all at the same time and wrongly believe one remembers things as they were. It’s about Dante’s Divine Comedy and its relationship to Giotto’s frescoes in a famous chapel in Padua also. If one is going to write about people’s pretensions one needs an object. One review called it “playful and erudite but also self-conscious and perhaps too restlessly rarefied.” True, but it works for me because I relate so much of it to a real-life relationship past--if the shoe fits wear it. A lot of the worst things about these people feel very real.

Food I am craving: I’ve been wanting ice cream for days!! Dulce de Leche.

I’m tagging: @kelcipher, @keiliss, @just-ann-now, @hearseeno, @hhimring

#if anyone else wants to play #consider yourself tagged here!

[cactusspatz]

July recs

Mostly Good Omens again this month, with one lone rec for The Goblin Emperor!

Aught That Can Be Named by phoenixflight (The Goblin Emperor, Csethiro/Maia, Csevet/Maia)

Maia really didn't mean to say someone else's name in bed with his wife.

An excellent extrapolation from the idea that Csethiro definitely, definitely owns a strap-on. The ‘accidental confession’ trope isn’t one that usually works for me, due to secondhand embarrassment issues, but this one was played perfectly. And hotly.

Mr. Fell Attempts to Buy a Book from Mr. Bennet by @amarguerite

Mrs. Bennet attempts to husband hunt. Aziraphale attempts to buy a book. No one gets what they want.

*dies laughing*

You, Soft and Only by thehoyden

He hadn’t expected a sudden lapful of angel.

“Very sorry about this,” Aziraphale said, and kissed him.

An exceedingly fine specimen of Crowley/Aziraphale fake-out makeouts over the millenia, with that distinct mix of totally-married-yet-pining-terribly that I love about this pairing.

ask and ye shall receive by ariaste

Smite me, Crowley thinks one day, about three or four days into the Beginning of the World. He feels rather daring about it, especially when God doesn’t answer. Puts a bit of a swagger in his slither.

God’s sense of humor is terrible, but on the other hand I adore terrible puns and Crowley suffering, so.

The Soho Bookshop Job by Poetry (Good Omens/Leverage)

Crowley asks Leverage to stop the shady corporation trying to buy out Aziraphale's bookshop. He gets rather more than he bargained for.

SO much fun tossing the Leverage team into this universe, with some fun speculation about the fallout from the not-pocalypse.

His Banner Over Me by pineapplecrushface

Three of Aziraphale's excellent ideas, and how Crowley (very casually) obliges him, as a friend does.

Some choice goddamn Crowley pining.

VIDS

Hallelujah by purplefringe

I have watched this so many times already, cannot recommend highly enough! It’s not the only one going around to this specific cover of the song, so I almost skipped watching it due to thinking I’d seen it before, but I love the way purplefringe constructed the vid around the duet, and just such good editing in general.

Out of the Woods by such_heights

Ugh, their faces. *chinhands*

#good omens #monthly recs #crowley/aziraphale #the goblin emperor #goblin emperor #fic rec

[bomberqueen17]

fic update

did i self-insert my noisy flock of sisters into a goblin emperor fic? not exactly, but sort of. listen it is canon that Csethiro has a pile of sisters, though I had to OC all of their names.

Writing Arbelan in was easier than I thought! Triumph.

Chapter 3: Family

Another chapter where Beshelar steals a baby, though most of the chapter is about other things, and Csethiro’s POV.

*

“Please,” Maia said, amused, “don’t give our First Nohecharis a toddler of his own, he gets little enough sleep as it is.”

“You’ll just have to make one for him to borrow,” Ramiro said to Csethiro.

“If thou think’st I’m not trying my absolute best,” Csethiro said, unable to resist being baited by her sister.

“Thou’lt just have to keep practicing,” Ramiro said. “I got the hang of it eventually.” 

“I am practicing, Ramiro, and thou know’st I’ve done research besides.”

“Research,” Ramiro said fondly, “of course thou hast, Csethiro, thou great bookworm. But isn’t practical experimentation more your style? An thou couldst get a child by the art of the sword somehow, thou wouldst already have done so.”

“Truth,” Csethiro said, “if the conventional method serves not, I’ll duel some other lady for her heir and steal one.”

“Lieutenant Beshelar could help,” Malino put in, and everyone laughed, including the maza. Even, Csethiro noted with delight, Maia. And, allaying her small worry, Arbelan was laughing too, shaking her head; the wound was too old, perhaps, to hurt her now, or perhaps it was finally healing, or perhaps she was just too generous of spirit to begrudge the sisters a good baiting session.

“He is very keen. One hopes I wouldn’t need his assistance for any of the various methods of getting an heir,” Csethiro said, “but there is no surfeit of privacy in the Emperor’s household, so I could doubtless rely on assistance at any time.”

“Oh-ho,” Imelzhu said, “now I know this conversation is too scandalous for me.”

*

#the goblin emperor #fic update

[beatrice-otter]

📓 (most interested if you have something in your head for TGE, but if you'd rather talk about something else, go ahead)

I have a number for TGE, but the biggest is DEFINITELY the Sedoretu AU round robin. (For those who don't know what a sedoretu is, it's a fancy polyamorous quad marriage created by Ursula K. Leguin, in which each of the four spouses has one heterosexual pairing, one homosexual pairing, and one person (of the opposite gender) whom it would be incest to fuck (whether there's any biological relationship or not).)

Back in May of 2020, we got to talking on the Goblin Emperor discord, and stills and Taliesin started a Sedoretu AU round robin (i.e. fic where anyone can contribute). After it was established, I also wrote some (though not as much as they did). And then it petered out. It's fun, but would need a number of fill-in scenes to make it into a cohesive enough thing that I would feel comfortable posting as a completed story. I came up with an outline that the other two liked, and even wrote one or two of the scenes! ... and then it petered out, and there it has stayed for over two years.

But I really love it!

Here's the bare bones: so, in this AU, goblins have sedoretu marriages and elves have monogamous het marriages. But, given the number of goblins in the Ethuveraz, there are a lot of sedoretu there as well--just not among the nobility.

Anyway, in this particular AU (as distinct from the general sedoretu trope) one of the members of the poly marriage is officially the manager/coordinator of the family. And so when the Great Avar is visiting, he tells Maia how wonderful it is that he's on the way to putting together his sedoretu! because obviously, Csevet would be the perfect manager, he's doing that already for his Emperor.

Maia (who got told all about sedoretu by his mother and secretly longs for One Big Happy Warm Polamorous Marriage but thought he could never have one because it's Not How Elves Do Marriage) is confused: Csevet, Csethiro, Maia himself, who would be the other wife? (But he still assumes it couldn't happen.)

According to goblin practice, the other wife would be Vedero, because that way any children born of the sedoretu would be members of the Imperial family. (In this sedoretu, the expected pairings would be Maia/Csethiro, Maia/Csevet, Csethiro/Vedero, and Vedero/Csevet. Maia and Vedero would not be a pairing, nor would Csethiro and Csevet--both of those would be considered incest.)

Csethiro: Actually, it would be fairly easy to sell to the court despite being A Goblin Thing because it would mean people could imagine that Vedero's future child (i.e. a pureblood elf) would be the next Emperor, rather than Maia's future child. If you're into it, I'd be up for it, sounds like fun, Vedero's hot and we're friends already.

Vedero: Neither Csevet nor I have any interest in the opposite sex, this is a way for me to have a wife and not have to worry about having to fuck my husband, and I would still be allowed and encouraged to continue my research! That sounds awesome, sign me up!

Csevet: I get to be with Maia? 😍

Maia: do ... do you think it would work? Could we get away with it?

And they do! And they all lived happily ever after.

And one of these days I'm going to finish and publish the damned thing.

(Ask box is still open to talk about my plot bunnies/ideas!)

#the goblin emperor #fanfic #fanfiction #sedoretu #au #plot bunny

[sophiegaladheon]

Dear Chocolatier,

Hello! Thank you so much for taking the time to create something for me. Below I’ve included my likes and dislikes and some prompts and suggestions for my requested famdoms. But, if none of these prompts inspires you, go right ahead and follow your muse. Thanks again, and have a great chocolatebox!

General Likes:

found family

domesticity

hurt/comfort

angst with a happy ending

mutual pining (omg do I love mutual pining)

backstory exploration

fics that explore gaps in canon (missing scenes, etc.)

loyalty

competence

worldbuilding exploration (especially social/cultural stuff - food! clothing! mass media!)

repression and denial (and what happens when these things fail and have to be confronted)

asexual characters

General Dislikes / Do Not Wants:

infidelity

eye trauma

hand/finger trauma

character bashing

breakup/divorce

(non-canonical) character death

pregnancy

sad endings

humiliation

AUs (canon divergence is fine)

hurt/no comfort

NSFW Likes:

praise kink

blindfolds

bondage

light dom/sub

loyalty kink

generally anything with kindness and caring and consent and lots of emotion, however that is conveyed (like, sex should be an overall positive experience for the characters involved, even if that includes things that not everyone would consider fun and even if there is some of the emotion is angst)

NSFW Dislikes / Do Not Wants:  

rape/non-con

bestiality

water sports

A/B/O

humiliation

I am happy recieving works rated gen through E. If you would prefer to create something that is less focused on a pairing and more introspective or character study, I’m okay with that as well.

Vorkosigan Saga

Aral Vorkosigan/Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan

Aral Vorkosigan&Simon Illyan

Aral Vorkosigan/Simon Illyan

I’ve requested something for these three set inbetween Barrayar and The Warriors Apprentice for the last two chocolateboxes, but I’ve recieved great gifts on this prompt and it’s my favorite so I’m going to ask again :))))  There’s so much opportunity for plot to be explored, between cleaning up after the pretendership, Miles and Gregor’s childhoods, the day-to-day of running the government, and the war with the Cetagandans that only gets an offhand mention in canon.  There’s loads to explore with these characters and I’d love to see something looking at the intersection of their private, personal realationships and their roles as very public figures dealing with their high-stakes, heavily scrutinized public roles.

The Goblin Emperor

Cala Athmaza/Deret Beshelar

I love both of these characters, and I love their relationship both platonic and shippy so if you’d prefer to go in the & derection that’s fine with me. My favorite thing about this book is the worldbuilding, so I’m sure to love anything that explores that. I’d love to see some hurt/comfort (physical or emotional, both are great) and if you want to include other characters (Maia! Csevet! Csethiro! Idra!) I’d love to see them. I’m also especially fond of epistolary fic in this fandom, and if you want to try something more expiramental with your structure feel free; I’m sure it will be amazing.

Machineries of Empire

Ajewen Cheris&Garach Jedao Shkan

Another series I’m just in love with the worldbuilding for, it’s just fantastic (also, like, horrific, but fantastic). If you’re inclined to head in a more gen direction, I’d love to see something about daily life in the hex/heptarchate because frankly I find this universe terrifying and the question of how do people just live day to day in a world where the threat of being publically tortured to death is omnipresent.  And Cheris spent a long time with Jedao in her head - with how much the hex/heptarchate changed from his lifetime to hers, how did the knowledge of those changes impact her on a day to day level?

Original Work

Female Suitor Sent As An Insult To Ruling Monarchs/Princess Uninterested In Male Suitors

Queen/Head of the Royal Guard

Sensible Royal Guardswoman/Arrogant But Skilled Court Sorceress

I call this selection of pairings the fantasy-politics-comedy-of-manners set, but if you have an idea for one of these go for it. Have fun!

Thanks again for creating something for me. Happy chocolatebox!

#i guess i need some kind of personal tag

[prinzenhasserin]

Rare Pair Letter 2017

Dear Creator!

This letter is just in case you might want to poke at some more of my prompts/likes. Generally, I’m open to a lot, and I will be pleased with any rating from gen to explicit.

I’m not so much a fan of darkfic, exceptions apply for hopeful/happy resolutions.

Feel also free to include other characters or OCs as side-characters, if they are necessary because of plot reasons.

(If this letter cribs a lot from my other letters, it’s because I’m lazy, and my likes don’t change around that much :D You can find some of my other letters under the exchange letter tag. I hope you have fun creating!)

Likes:

fake/pretend relationships

arranged marriages turning into supportive partners

loyalty

odd couples

found family, dysfunctional families that nevertheless love each other

historical stories for same-sex pairings that aren't unhappy but that fit with the society of the time (so like, spinster ladies living together; bachelors-for-life)

cultural differences, age differences, height differences

heists, rescue missions

dragons, fairy tales, magical realism, urban fantasy

competent characters

people not realising they’re the most competent at their job/hobby

people failing their way to success

happy endings, earning your happy ending, open yet hopeful endings

cynical humour

mutual pining

suits, corsetry, fancy dresses

Identity shenanigans (secret identities, mistaken identities)

Blatant Lies

Enemies becoming friends and/or lovers

outsider POV

epistolary

orange/blue morality (that is, not entirely human morality)

people not usually found in law enforcement solving crimes

non-verbal expressions of affection

Kinks:

wall sex

shifting power dynamics

semi-public sex

lots of foreplay, drawn out orgasms, edging

sex toys

sex toys in public (though I get embarrassed if someone else notices)

size kink (not only about their dicks but also hands/body/muscles relative to each other)

DNWs:

mentions of suicide

major character death

rape (dubcon is fine though; I’m mainly DNW’ing feelings of utter revulsion on part of the POV character)

infidelity

The Queen’s Thief 

Eugenides the God/Hephestia (fanfic)

This is mainly brought to you by the fact that Eugenides and Attolia set themselves up as mirrors of these two gods. I would really like something exploring the chemistry between those two gods — do they have the same kind of relationship? Does the God of Thieves pine from afar and make her ridiculous gifts? Do they start their relationship before or after Attolia and Eugenides do? Is that relationship the push they need to start a relationship? I imagine something along the lines of Greek myths, but any way you want to take this would be great. Small moments between them? A heist for Hephestia's literal heart? Gifting her the trinkets dedicated to Eugenides, and how she feels about that?

I have a thing about powerful women, so if you want to make this about the power imbalance between them, that would be great! Especially with Eugenides being outside of a clear hierarchy.

DNW: BDSM, noncon, character death

Wynonna Earp

Season 2 is ongoing, and I'd be fine with spoilers, but probably won't be entirely caught up, so if you want to disregard canon after the season 1 finale, or at any time before, feel free to. I really like the canon setting, though, so I'd appreciate if you wouldn't change that.

That said, I'm really sad we probably won't be seeing anything of Dolls, because his repressed character speaks to my soul. He could hide all kinds of secrets! (He could appear during the season finale out of the woodwork to save everybody!)

Xavier Dolls/Doc Holiday They really don't like each other when they first meet, and yet there's some great chemistry between them (especially during that fight scene!) I'd love to see that slowly developing into a real relationship -- or just plain sex buddies, if you rather. There's a small step between angrily yelling at each other, and having sex against a wall. (Or so I imagine :P) Drunk sex? Magic made them do it? Wynonna locks them together in a room?

Xavier Dolls/Wynonna Earp I love how careful Dolls is with Wynonna, though she'd probably shoot him if she ever found out. The reluctance (guilt?) to start something with her, and even so, he clearly falls for her. -Wynonna finds out about a secret Dolls was keeping, and he distracts her with sex -"Hey, it's great you survived, let's bang"

Xavier Dolls/Wynonna Earp/Doc Holiday I kind of think they're all equally attracted to each other, and if there was ever anyone who could make Dolls and the Doc work together, it would be Wynonna -- if only to contain her natural exuberance.

DNW: rape, character death

Crossover Fandom

Cher Horowitz/Elle Woods Do they meet in law school? Or before, or after? I want them to be competent, and brilliant, and dazzle each other with their excellent taste in clothes, while bringing down shady people and starting charities. Would also read PWP.

Miss Marple/Phryne Fisher It would be interesting to read them having a dalliance at any point during their lives, and I know they aren't quite the same age, but then again TV!Phryne is much older than in the books. I'd be interested in them at whatever age, even with a larger age difference! Do they meet at the school in Florence where Miss Marple went to? Do they meet at the cypher regiment during the War? Or maybe they meet much later in life, and live out the rest of their years together solving crimes in St. Mary Mead (or wherever)?

Susan Pevensie/Minerva McGonagall Tbh, I'm mad about Susan Pevensie being written out of the Narnia storyline, and I'm mad about Minerva having some sort of tragic love affair; and I'd much rather have them be beautiful and slightly strange but very proper together. They could have met when they were young, being roughly the same age, or later. Would Susan Pevensie be a muggle? Would she be the first muggle to visit Hogwarts?

Thomas Nightingale/Bertie Wooster They're roughly the same age, right, so I would love them to have some hijinks & shenanigans together. Does Bertie stumble across something suspiciously magic, and needs saving? Are they distantly related and Bertie needs some saving from an Aunt, and so he invites himself to the Folly? A short romp around the sheets would also satisfy me :D

DNW: rape, non-canonical character death

The Goblin Emperor

Csethiro Ceredin/Vedero Drazhin

Dashing sword-maiden and a soft-spoken astronomical researcher? Hell, yeah. I'd love to read how they would have arranged meetings when Varenechibel was still alive - did the Women Society cover for them? Or does it only start after Ceredin is engaged to Maya? Does Maya have a hand in getting them together? I'd like him to at least know about the relationship.

DNW: noncon, non-canonical character death

The Three Musketeers

d’Artagnan/Athos

This was my ship before I knew what a ship was. I like their dynamic, and I'd really think they'd be great together. D'Artagnan offers to relieve some tension and Athos takes him by his word? During a military campaign Athos and d'Artagnan share a tent, and they have tomorrow-I-might-die-sex? I'd also love something canon-divergent after the death of Milady, and a different happier ending for Athos. I can see Athos as very dominant, but I have trouble accepting d'Artagnan as subservient, and I'm pretty sure he would have no trouble of persuading Athos of his ways. If you want to play up the catholic guilt, I'm game but I'm very much against feelings of disgust about homosexuality.

DNW: dark ending, character death, rape, canon-typical homophobia

Rivers of London

Peter Grant/Molly Peter is so puzzled by Molly (and also frightened), and he seems like the kind of guy who wanted a partner who could wipe the floor with him, and Molly would do that literally. They could have sex for a magic ritual, warding the Folly perhaps?

Peter Grant/Lady Ty Lady Ty puts Peter under a thrall and has her way with him to break off Peter/Beverly. Only the thralls not working right and Peter is very attracted to her anyway? I dunno. I think Peter just magically attracts powerful women who want to get him into their beds, and he doesn't really mind.

Thomas Nightingale/Varvara Sidorovna Tamonina I'd love more of Varvara -- does she break out of prison, and Thomas catches up to her somewhere more private than an interrogation room, and then their sexual tension leads to something concrete? Or does Thomas need some help on a case, or the wards of the Folly, or dismantling some traps, and the only way to convince Varvara is to have sex with her? (Does he feel guilty about imprisoning her?)

Thomas Nightingale/Father Thames "Negotiating" a new treaty with the Folly? Creating a new river/something else? Magic sex ritual?

Gokusen

Sawada Shin/Yamaguchi Kumiko

How does Shin convince Yankumi to have sex with him? Is he getting kidnapped left and right before they actually get together because all and sundry already think they've been doing each other for years? If they are already in an established relationship, how does Shin deal with Yankumi's students (especially when one of them develops a crush)?

DNW: AU, character death, rape

#rare pair fest #exchange letter

[beatrice-otter]

Just Married exchange is open!

Go read, because there are a lot of really great fanworks. I wrote one, which I think is pretty obvious given what I've recently written for ficathons, see if you can guess which one it is! I received a delightful Black Panther fic: Steady as the Lake, Ever-Changing as the River (3626 words) Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Panther (2018) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Nakia (Black Panther)/T'Challa Characters: Nakia (Black Panther), T'Challa (Marvel) Additional Tags: Wakandan Wedding, Future Fic, Celebrations, Wedding Fluff, Family Feels Summary: In theory, he was going to have a pleasant chat with Nakia's parents and spend the rest of the day dancing and feasting and sweeping Nakia off her feet to carry her back to the palace for their wedding night.

In theory, there was no need to be nervous.

In theory.

I really love Nakia's family in this story.

Moar recs behind the cut.

With This Demon Artifact, I Thee Wed (2460 words) Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Rupert Giles/Buffy Summers Characters: Buffy Summers, Rupert Giles Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Accidental Marriage

Summary: “There seems to have been a, um, minor translation issue. The binding spell doesn’t just work to safely bind the artifact’s power; it also… well, it also binds those carrying out the ritual to each other.”“Like, ‘til death do us part’ binding? This ancient demon cult tacked on a quickie Vegas wedding clause to their stop-the-apocalypse spell?”

Trust Buffy's instincts, indeed.

We Could Be Anyone (6181 words) Fandom: DCU (Comics), Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd Characters: Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Kon-El | Conner Kent Additional Tags: Future Fic, Woke Up Married, Character Doesn't know or remember that they're married, Amnesia Makes Person Forget Their Marriage, Ambiguous/Open Ending

Summary: This is not Dick's beautiful house. This is not the Jason that he left behind.

Zhas and Zhasan Fandom: The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Csethiro Ceredin/Maia Drazhar Characters: Maia Drazhar, Csethiro Ceredin Additional Tags: Art, Weddings

Absolutely STUNNING artwork of their wedding

First Dance Fandom: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Gimli (Son of Glóin)/Legolas Greenleaf Characters: Gimli (Son of Glóin), Legolas Greenleaf Additional Tags: Fluff, Weddings, Art, Dancing

Port Out, Starboard Home (15286 words) Fandom: Thor (Movies) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Brunnhilde | Valkyrie/Loki (Marvel) Characters: Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (Marvel), Loki (Marvel) Additional Tags: Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Mpreg, Space Road Trip, Marrying Someone Pregnant Knowing the Baby's Not Yours to Protect Them Both, Fuckbuddies To Lovers, Intersex Jotunn (Marvel), Dual Genitalia, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Past Loki/Grandmaster

Summary: Loki was, as it turned out, pretty far along, as the Jotnar reckoned pregnancies. They carried for fourteen standard months and only really started to show in the last five, and it was those five months, apparently, that Loki was in now.

His Aesir body had hit a point where it was no longer equipped to carry the child, and some unconscious reflex had shifted him to a shape that was more accommodating. Apparently—magically—his two forms usually coexisted somehow, which was how he’d managed to get knocked up in the first place.

“They have similar instances on Earth,” Thor said, almost absently. “Something to do with waves and particles—and they have a breed of undead cat, you know, it’s both alive and dead at the same time. It’s all very interesting, the way things coexist.” He cleared his throat. “What are you going to do?”

I especially like Valkyrie's perspective on Asgard past and present.

[Art] a house of dreams untold Fandom: Wonder Woman (Movies - Jenkins), DCU (Comics), Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Diana (Wonder Woman)/Elizabeth Swann Characters: Diana (Wonder Woman), Elizabeth Swann Additional Tags: Themyscira (DCU), Lasso of Truth, Just Married, Actual Ceremony Not Depicted, Holding Hands, Art

Summary: You are invited to celebrate the wedding of Diana, Princess of Themyscira & Elizabeth, the Pirate King

steps towards destiny (3390 words) Fandom: Mulan (1998) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fa Mulan/Li Shang (Disney) Characters: Fa Mulan (Disney), Li Shang (Disney) Additional Tags: Marriage Arranged Because of Matching Soulmarks, Alternate Universe, Destiny

Summary: Fa Mulan is born with a mark of the dragon that covers her entire back.

This captures Mulan perfectly

Here’s hoping we collide (2261 words) Fandom: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Bodhi Rook/Luke Skywalker Characters: Bodhi Rook, Luke Skywalker, K-2SO (Star Wars), Jyn Erso, Baze Malbus, Chirrut Îmwe, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, Wedge Antilles Additional Tags: "We Could Be Dead Tomorrow So Let's Get Married Today", Unexpected Marriage Proposal, Marriage Proposal, Cultural Misunderstandings, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, 5+1 Things

Summary: Five times Luke thought he had made his feelings for Bodhi absolutely clear + One time Bodhi finally got a clue  

Nothing's fair in love and war (4906 words) Fandom: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Lando Calrissian/Luke Skywalker Characters: Lando Calrissian, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Rey (Star Wars), Poe Dameron, Chewbacca (Star Wars), Finn (Star Wars) Additional Tags: Mutual Not-Actually-Unrequited Pining for Spouse, Reunions, Not Canon Compliant - Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Implied Poe/Finn, Force-Sensitive Finn (Star Wars), Treat, Guilt, Banter, Ambiguous/Open Ending

Summary: When the remnants of the Resistance arrive on Bespin, Leia tells Lando where to find his husband.

Lando doesn't know how he feels about Luke meanwhile Luke knows he loves Lando but also knows he doesn't deserve him after fifteen years of hiding.

#fanfiction #fanfic #fic rec #star wars #sequel trilogy #Mulan #ficathon #Wonder Woman #pirates of the caribbean #the goblin emperor #thor #lord of the rings #batman #Buffy The Vampire Slayer #black panther

[beatrice-otter]

Fic: Light a Mourner's Candle (Goblin Emperor, Maia)

My last fic I wrote for Yuletide was also a treat. I was planning on writing more--I had the time!--just not the inspiration or desire. Still, I'm happy with what I got done.  Also, my betas Gammarad and Samson were a great help, especially with sorting out pronouns and such. Title: Light a Mourner's Candle Fandom: The Goblin Emperor Author: beatrice_otter  Written for: bethynyc  in Yuletide 2019 Betaed by: Gammarad and Samson Rating: General Audiences Word Count: 1859 Summary: The Archprelate finds a chaplain for Maia. At AO3.  Dreamwidth. Pillowfort.

Maia had attempted to meditate for, oh, a long time, the night before, and had achieved nothing more than frustration and greater nerves than he had had when he started. His disquiet was stupid, and he knew it was stupid. Whatever cleric the Archprelate had chosen would surely count it a great honor to be appointed the first chaplain an Emperor of the Elflands had had in several generations, and would court his favor. If the chaplain the archprelate found for him displeased Maia in any way, it would be a simple matter to have him replaced. Maia would not even have to tell him directly, merely ask Csevet, and Maia need never see him again.

Maia took hold of his thoughts as firmly as he could. It is absurd to assume that thy new chaplain will displease thee before thou hast even met him, he told himself. Archprelate Teru Tethimar had supported Maia since his coronation, and been kind to him, and was a man of intelligence and devotion to his calling, from everything Maia knew of him. Even were he a man of worse character than he seemed, he would not wish to squander the opportunity of placing a cleric so highly in the Untheileneise Court. Everything would go well. Maia should not assume trouble before it happened.

And yet, Maia was painfully aware that his religious training had ended at the age of eight, with his mother's death. What he knew had sustained his mind and soul through all the endless petty cruelties of Edonomee, but it was paltry indeed compared to what an adult ought to know.

It was fortunate that his day was as busy as always, and so he had little time to dwell on the matter. The Archprelate had sent word the day before that he had selected a chaplain and asked when would be convenient to make the introduction; Csevet had suggested a time the next day where a previous appointment had been cancelled. And so Maia had had little time to fret.

The Archprelate was punctual, and brought the prospective chaplain with him.

Maia scarcely noticed the formalities of greeting and introduction, so surprised was he at the chaplain's appearance. Archprelate Tethimar had promised a cleric experienced in the Barizheise rites; Maia had not expected an actual Goblin . But no, given his bone structure and his name, there must be Elvish in him; he was merely very dark-skinned. The Ethuveraz court will whisper about thee, and thy goblin superstition, and thy hobgoblin soothsayer , Maia thought, and the voice in his head sounded very much like Setheris.

"Mer Dulcar," Maia said, his voice sounding thin in his own ears. "We thank you for your service."

"The honor is mine, Serenity," Mer Dulcar said with an accent as smooth and polished as any elf.

The Archprelate then gave a listing of all Mer Dulcar's qualifications and history: degrees from the university here in Cetho and a seminary in Barizhan that was apparently quite prestigious, posts in prestigious Othasmeires in both Barizhan and the Ethuveraz. Commendations and recommendations from people he had served as spiritual director for, or given counsel to, some of whose names Maia recognized as important personages. He seemed to have been a very busy man.

At last the Archprelate finished his presentation of Mer Dulcar's credentials and took his leave, sweeping out with Csevet in his wake, and Maia was alone with Mer Dulcar and his nohecharei.

Maia knew that, as Emperor, it was his privilege and duty to begin the conversation, but he could not think of a single thing to say. Cat got thy tongue, hobgoblin? His internal monologue had not sounded so much like Setheris in many months. But then, Setheris had always been particularly harsh when it came to Maia's practices of religion. He had learned to speak as little about his spiritual practices as possible, but that habit would be broken today.

"So, Serenity," Mer Dulcar said, when Maia did not speak. "I am at your disposal. I know you wanted a chaplain familiar with the Barizheise practice, but is there any particular aspect that you wish further guidance in? Or anything you would like to discuss, anything weighing on your heart? I am, of course, bound by oaths of silence; I may not share anything you tell me with another, unless you give me leave to do so."

He was probably trying to make Maia more at ease by using the informal first person to refer to himself. If Maia were even a hair less on edge, it would probably be welcome. "We … we do not know what it is exactly a chaplain does," Maia said miserably, acutely aware that he had not had to expose his ignorance before a stranger so nakedly since his first day in the Ethuveraz, when Csevet had had to explain all his correspondence to him. Even during those first few weeks with the Corazhas, he had had Csevet's explanations to give some context.

Mer Dulcar shrugged. "A chaplain can do many things, depending on what it is you want and need, Serenity. Theological education and discussion, performance of private rites, spiritual and moral guidance and coaching, counsel for the heart and mind, training in the spiritual disciplines: these are the more common aspects of a chaplain's duties."

Maia nodded when he paused, to show he was listening. "All of those sound … acceptable," he said cautiously, overwhelmed by all the possibilities he had been longing for. They were more than acceptable, and were it not for Setheris's iron training he could not have maintained his composure. His gut was churning, and it was no little frustration that he could not sort out what he felt, or whether he wanted to laugh or cry.

"Are there any that seem particularly pressing, to you?" Mer Dulcar asked.

Maia shook his head helplessly. "We … do not know enough to know which is most pressing," he said at last.

"Mm," Mer Dulcar said. His face was open with compassion, and his ears had not so much as twitched at Maia's ignorance, for which Maia was deeply grateful. "Well, then. Perhaps the best place to start is by telling me about yourself—what training and spiritual formation you have received, what practices and disciplines best suit you and which do not, and what experiences you have had in matters of religion."

"When I was a child in Isvaroë, I prayed and meditated with my mother," Maia said. "As I grew older, we spent a great deal of time in the Othasmeire, as my ability to sit still increased." He bit his lip. It had also been because, as his mother's health worsened, there was little she could do but sit and meditate, but he could not bring himself to share so personal a detail with a person he had just met. He realized he had slipped into the informal first person without realizing it; intimacy on Dulcar's part prompting a like intimacy of his own.

Yet it seemed somehow right, to use a child's pronouns and informality when discussing his childhood. In any case, Mer Dulcar showed no shock at Maia's intimacy. "Ah," said Mer Dulcar. "And I would imagine that even now, when you meditate, you feel close to her."

Maia felt his cheeks warm and blessed his dark coloring. "I know that such sentimentality is not what meditation is for , and I should not—"

"Serenity," Dulcar said gently, "it does not make your meditation less profound, or less devout, to have such a motive. There is no harm in it, and if it nourishes your soul in other ways besides the ineffable, so much the better. We do not exist only for the gods' sake, and neither do our meditations."

Maia stared at him, mouth open, aware on some level that he looked every inch the moon-witted hobgoblin Setheris had so often named him, and yet not able to care. "It was the only thing of our mother that we could keep," he whispered, "besides a pair of earrings she had given us. All the rest of her things—and our things—were taken from us when she died, and we were sent to Edonomee."

"Oh, Serenity," Dulcar said, face open with … pity? Compassion?

"And then at Edonomee, our cousin Setheris who had charge of us … was much of our father's opinion of religion in general and the Barizheise forms of it specifically," Maia said. "He wished us to cease what he called superstition."

"And in so doing, took away your connection with your mother," Dulcar said softly. "Serenity, that was very cruel of him."

"Yes," Maia said, blinking back tears. He had always known Setheris was cruel, of course; how could he not? And yet, he had always known, too, that his opinion of it did not matter, and few would agree with him. But here was affirmation of the sort he had dreamed of, when a lonely, heart-sick boy at Edonomee.

He could not keep back the tears, and they spilled out of him against his will. Blinking, he stared up at the ceiling, struggling for composure. He had not cried at his mother's funeral, so why, now, so many years later, could he not manage the same restraint?

"Serenity, may I hold your hand?" Dulcar asked.

Maia nodded, not trusting his voice, and clutched at the cleric's hand when he was offered it. They sat there, in silence, as Maia's tears trickled out. Dulcar's hand was warm in his, and he gently stroked the back of Maia's hand with his thumb. It was … soothing, and Maia was abruptly aware of how few people touched him, in the course of his daily routine. His edocharei might touch him briefly, lightly, in the course of dressing and undressing him, and he clasped hands and arms and shoulders with Csethiro in their dance lessons (and even, sometimes, put his hand at her waist for an eight-count), but this was different. There was no need or purpose to it besides comfort, and he found that meant more to him than he could put words to.

When Maia was done crying, he found that Cala had crept up beside him and laid a handkerchief on the table for him.

"Thank you," Maia said, taking it, using it as much to hide his face as to dry his tears. What a fool he must have looked! But his nohecharei were on his side, and, if not friends, at least trustworthy and non-judgmental; and Dulcar did not seem to hold it against him, either.

"I should ask," Dulcar said when Maia finally looked back at him, "whether you wish to speak Ethuverazhin or Barizhin. I do not imagine you have many opportunities for speaking your mother's tongue."

"I— We do not know it," Maia said. "Our mother was forbidden from teaching us of her homeland."

Dulcar took in a deep, slow breath, and let it out. "Serenity," he said at last, "if you wish to learn, I can teach you."

Maia twisted the handkerchief in his hands. "I think … I would like that," he said.

#fanfic #fanfiction #the goblin emperor #goblin emperor #yuletide

[bomberqueen17]

notapaladin replied to your post “listen”

I have no idea what the plot of this fic is but I need it in my life.

I... hit the 30k marker and I think I’ve excavated a plot? Plot’s not my strong suit. LOL. The overarching framework is everyone getting ready for the Imperial wedding.

“We are at our lady’s service,” Beshelar said, a little bit indistinctly, as if embarrassed.

For some reason Maia was beaming at Csethiro as if she had done something noteworthy. “Lieutenant Beshelar has been very generous with his time,” he said, looking fond and perhaps a little embarrassed. “All the nohecharei have been great supports to us, whether in assistance or advice or mere tolerance, in our attempts to mount an effective courtship.”

She laughed, and looked at Beshelar again. “Have you had a great deal of courtship advice?”

Beshelar’s color deepened. “No, my lady,” he said. “Our sole relevant expertise in all of this has been the cipher keys.”

She noticed that the maza was laughing, so she looped him into the conversation. “Then it is Cala Athmaza who is the lady-killer among you,” she said.

Cala’s bright blue eyes went wide behind his spectacles. “No, my lady, our contribution has been the tolerance, mostly,” he said, with admirable poise. “Maza are not taught the arts of love.”

“Then who?” she asked.

“Of all people,” Maia admitted, “the celibate cleric of Csaivo, Kiru Athmaza, has had the most practical advice in most matters.”

“Has she,” Csethiro said, surprised and delighted. “Your household is not very full of married people, is it.”

“Not so far,” Maia said.

It occurred to her that she had never given a great deal of consideration to the lifestyles of nohecharei before, so she turned and regarded Lieutenant Beshelar again, whose color had mostly returned to normal. “Are most nohecharei celibate?” she asked him. “Or is it just the ones who are clerics also?” Beshelar colored magnificently again.

#notapaladin #the goblin emperor