NationStates Jolt Archive

Pantocratorian Attorney General, Sébastien Jambart, had agreed to a meeting, under some duress, with the visiting Danaan Minister for Justice. It wasn't that he objected to Beatrice Wake personally - it was more that he didn't want to be seen as supporting her joint speaking tour with that most infamous of opposition members, former Imperial Chancellor Princess Irene. He sat waiting to receive Minister Wake in the lounge room of his offices at the Department of the Attorney General headquarters building in the Old Quarter of New Rome.

Ms. Wake arrived exactly on time with her aide, Alfhild Aageheim, and her protection officer for the trip, Lieutenant Agnar Backstedt, both of whom she left in front. The Minister herself was a tall, athletic woman in what looked to be her late thirties or early forties. She wore her brown hair short, a few inches above shoulder length. That day, she was dressed in a perfectly tailored but otherwise non-descript light brown suit. It would have been entirely unremarkable, even boring, at home but she was finding it made her stand out quite a bit in Pantocratoria. She smiled politely as she entered the lounge room, offering her hand with a professional smile. "Monsieur Sébastien Jambart I presume?"

"Mademoiselle Beatrice Wake, a pleasure to meet you." said the Attorney-General, rising to accept her hand. "Please, minister, won't you sit down?"

Wake gave him a robust handshake before sitting as asked. "Thank you, Minister."

"You had a pleasant flight, I hope?" Jambart enquired.

"Quite pleasant. Fortunately, it is not too long of a flight from Tarana." she answered.

"Indeed not." Jambart agreed.

"I hope that things are going well for you." she said.

"Oh yes, quite well." Jambart nodded. "And for you?"

"Very well." she said. "We been working on getting local prosecutors to take full advantage of the new Rule of Law Act."

"Forgive my ignorance, but which act is that, mademoiselle?" Jambart enquired.

"A recent omnibus crime bill. Most importantly, it allowed for full prosecution of marital rape for the first time in Danaan history. We have been having some trouble with local prosecutors reluctant to take advantage of this." Wake commented.

"I see. Why is that?" Jambart asked.

"Because women are citizens of the Resurgent Dream deserving the full protection of the law within their homes as much, if not more, than outside of them. A staggering percentage of rapes occur within the immediate family or the intimate family circle. Many of these are, in fact, committed by husbands who, in the past, were almost always able to convince juries, especially in rural areas, that rape and violence, criminal acts, were somehow simply a part of married life." Wake replied.

"That wasn't what I was asking." Jambart frowned. "Why are you having difficulty with local prosecutors not pressing charges?"

Wake blushed ever so slightly. She had actually assumed that in a country as...traditional...as Pantocratoria, her first answer wouldn't have been as obvious as it was to her and as it clearly was, in actuality, to Jambart. However, explaining that seemed like it would make things even worse, as it obviously would, so she just moved along.

"That is a hard question to answer. Individual prosecutors obviously do not produce any documentation regarding their reluctance to prosecute certain crimes and not others, certain offenders and not others. They simply state that they make all decisions on whether or not to prosecute a given crime based upon the weight of the evidence against the suspect. If patterns emerge in which crimes are or are not prosecuted... they insist that this is merely a coincidence, that each individual decision was made based solely on whether there was sufficient evidence, in their professional judgement, to bring charges against a given suspect. We run into the same problem in trying to eliminate racial bias from prosecutorial decisions." she explained.

"A lack of documentation on any given subject to do with my department is not something I have ever encountered." Jambart said, cringing as he was reminded of the vast, never-ending stream of paperwork with which his staff kept him constantly busy. "Crown Prosecutors routinely write to me expressing their reluctance to prosecute any number of crimes, and I must admit to frequently finding it difficult to fault their reluctance. But then there is an entirely different set of reasons perculiar to the Pantocratorian situation for that..."

"Do go on." she urged.

"Well, having over two thousand years worth of applicable legislation, edicts, decrees, bulls, declarations, and so and so forth, much of which has never been considered by the Pantocratorian Parliament or even the Pantocratorian Emperor, doesn't help these matters." Jambart explained. "Despite the fact that over the past several decades a fairly exhaustive criminal code has been constructed, not a month goes past in which I do not receive a letter from one Crown Prosecutor or another expressing reluctance to prosecute one crime or another, the existence of which neither I nor anybody in my department had previously been aware."

Wake laughed slightly. "Perhaps the lack of such endless historical statutes is one benefit of having a Common Law."

"Indeed." Jambart nodded. "I've commissioned a white paper examining what gaps in Pantocratorian legislation exist which would require acts of parliament to fill them if all acts, decrees, legislation, and other applicable criminal laws we've inherited from Roman times were rendered void by an act of parliament..."

Wake nodded. "I am sure it is a rather long paper?"

"It will be, yes, all the other ones on the topic were." Jambart nodded grimly.

"You have my sympathies." she said. "In any event, I very much doubt that our reluctant prosecutors are even aware of their reluctance. What we're dealing with is not some mythical secret chauvinist ideologues secretly conspiring to undermine Parliament's statuatory authority. What we're more likely dealing with is unconscious social bias inculcated by the churches, the media, the pornography industry, even children's toys..."

"Plus you have the inherent difficulty, I should suspect, of actually having enough evidence to prosecute in cases of marital rape." Jambart pointed out. "I mean, were I a Assistant Crown Prosecutor, and I had such a case in which the only evidence of rape was the victim's statement, I doubt very much that I'd recommend to my boss that charges be laid. I would think that in most cases of marital rape, that would be all the evidence you'd have, after all."

"Evidentiary problems exist in most rape cases. There are, of course, ways to garner evidence even from the conflicting testimory of two parties. Stories can be compared for consistency. Polygraphs, while never considered conclusive, are conditionally admissable in Danaan courts. Psychologists specializing in marital relationships can be brought in to examine both parties..."

"A lifetime ago, I was a criminal defence barrister, prior to my election to parliament, Minister, and I must say, if a Crown Prosecutor fronted up at court with a case built around polygraphs and psychologists, I'd make short work of it indeed." Jambart said. "Not that I'm dismissing those other factors, but I do think they're secondary at best... I imagine it would be extremely difficult to secure a conviction. You are after all talking about a criminal matter, not a civil one in which a balance of probabilities is sufficient. Can anybody say beyond reasonable doubt that a crime did in fact occur when the only real evidence consists of two sets of conflicting testimony?"

"I do hope you're not saying we should stop prosecuting rapes because of the intrinsic evidentiary problems." Wake commented.

"Of course not, merely suggesting that the cultural issues you suggested a moment ago may be less of a factor than the practicalities..." Jambart replied.

"I don't think that's the case." she replied.

"Maybe you should commission a white paper of your own." Jambart suggested with a smile.

Wake sat back in her car after the meeting with Jambart. Alfhild sat next to her, pulling her blond hair out from in front of her eyes self-consciously. "How did it go, Your Excellency?"

"Well enough..." Wake said with a slight shrug. "He doesn't like that I have things planned with the Princess. I know."

"Speaking of whom...do you think you'll be ready to meet her tonight?" Alfhild asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Wake answered.

Princess Irene sat in a drawing room in La Petite Augusta Maison, a nineteenth century home built by the Empress Theodora II to which she frequently retreated with her most intimate friend, the Duchess of Montmanuel, in order to escape the prying eyes of the courtiers at the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator. She wore, as she usually did, a largely black gown with white lace edging around her neck and wrists, cut in the New Rome court style, although her long, deep brown hair had been let down and fell about her shoulders freely, rather than be bound up in buns and curls as it usually was. It was difficult enough getting back into her dress with only Michél's help, and absolutely impossible to replicate the elaborate hairstyle coiffured for her each morning by her staff in the palace itself. Instead she had brushed it so that it was neat and relatively straight.

Michél entered the room, putting his white Roman collar back on. The priest, Irene's confessor, had just showered and changed after his earlier tryst in the bedroom with the princess. He walked over behind Irene, who didn't stir from her seat, but smiled and gently purred as she heard his footsteps, and then he bent over and kissed the side of her neck.

"Michél..." Irene moaned softly. "Leave the priesthood, we can..."

"We've had this discussion, ma chérie." replied Father Guillot, standing back up and rubbing her shoulders.

"I don't care what they'd say!" Irene pleaded, although she already sounded defeated.

"Sssh. Minister Wake will be arriving soon." Michél reminded her. "I need to go before she arrives."

"I hate this... sneaking about... please, Michél, say you'll think some more about it." Irene sighed.

"You know I already have." he said gently, stroking her hair. "Now I have to go. There's evensong..."

"I know..." Irene sighed, rising from her chair to kiss Michél on the mouth before his departure.

The priest drove off towards the Old Quarter just as Wake's car came to rest outside the suburban home. The butler went to open her car door, one of only three serving staff employed in the house. Wake and Alfhild were greeted and guided into Theodora II's home, and upstairs into the drawing room, where Princess Irene was seated in an armchair in front of the fireplace, quietly contemplating the flames.

"Your Imperial Highness, Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Beatrice Wake, His High Majesty's Minister of State for Justice." announced the butler, as the two women were shown in.

Irene turned from the fire to look at the two women, her piercing eyes settling on Wake's and regarding her coldly.

"Mademoiselle, a pleasure to finally meet you." Irene said after a few seconds pause.

Wake had dressed in a plainer version of Pantocratorian Court garb for her initial meeting with Princess Irene, although, for reasons of political principle, she had done without the corset and had the gown fitted to her actual body. For all that, it was the girliest, least comfortable thing Wake had worn in at least twenty years, even worse than the gown she'd had to wear when the High King formally accepted her oath as a minister. A woman in her position naturally had no difficulty maintaining her composure in uncomfortable or foreign situations. Still, she seemed just a little out of her element when she made due courtesy to the Princess. "The pleasure is all mine, I assure you, Your Imperial Highness."

Alfhild curtsied silently to the princess but made no move to draw any attention to herself, quietly watching the proceedings, focusing her gaze a little more on her boss than on the Pantocratorian.

"Not at all, mademoiselle, I've been looking forward to it. Please, sit down." Irene said. Her eyes passed from Wake to Aageheim, expecting an introduction.

"This is my aide. Alfhilm Aageheim." she said, taking a seat.

"Please, sit down, Mademoiselle Aageheim. I presume it is mademoiselle, isn't it?" Irene inquired. It was normally polite of course to call any adult woman 'madame' on the assumption that they were married unless told otherwise, but Irene didn't seem to think that the normally polite course was necessarily to be the best one with Wake and her aide.

"It is." Aageheim said as she also took a seat next to her boss.

"I don't know if I told you in my letter, Minister, that I've read much of your work from prior to your election to the Danaan Parliament." Irene began. "Naturally, as a Pantocratorian, my attention was drawn particularly to Illusion of the Private Sphere..."

"I do recall that Pantocratoria was mentioned several times in that essay." Wake noted.

"I thought that ladies in my position were made a particular... well, we were the most prominent case study, I thought." Irene prodded, her eyes twinkling.

"Such phenomena are...most intense among ladies in your general class, Your Highness." Wake answered.

"How many of those case studies were based on direct observation?" Irene inquired.

"None. It wasn't a sociological study, it was a commentary." Wake said.

"Would you like to participate in some direct observation?" Irene asked, almost smiling.

"That sounds interesting." Wake said.

"I teach a class for the highest born girls at court." Irene said. "Perhaps you'd like to observe it."

"I would be glad to." Wake said.

"I've a class tomorrow and the day after before we're due to start our speaking tour together, each is in the early afternoon, which would better suit?" Irene inquired.

"The day after tomorrow." Wake said, frowning thoughtfully.

"I'm curious, mademoiselle..." said Irene, reclining backwards into her armchair. "Why did you accept my invitation?"

"Curiosity." she said. With a slight smirk, she added "Morbid curiosity."

"I've been remiss in my responsibilities as a host." Irene chided herself. "Can I get you anything? Something to drink, perhaps?"

"That would be lovely." Wake answered with a polite smile.

"What would you like?" Irene asked, rising from her arm chair and moving towards a cabinet against the wall.

"A mimosa would be lovely." she responded politely.

Irene froze in her motions as she opened up the cabinet, inside which there was a small refridgerator. She frowned faintly and turned back towards Wake.

"I'm... afraid I don't know what that is, mademoiselle. There isn't much of a staff here, either." apologised the Princess.

"It's vodka and orange juice." Wake explained.

"I don't have any vodka, I'm afraid." Irene said.

"What do you have, Your Highness?" she asked.

"A variety of wines... gin, brandy... some non-alcoholic drinks as well." Irene observed, checking the cabinet contents.

"Brandy would be lovely." Wake said.

"With anything? Dry? Lime and soda?" Irene inquired as she retrieved the bottle of brandy from the cabinet, along with some glasses. "And you, Mademoiselle Aageheim?"

"Dry." Wake answered.

"I'll have the same." Aageheim said.

Irene poured three brandies and dry, and then put the bottle back in the cabinet and carried Aageheim and Wake's glasses over to them.

"Thank you, Your Highness." Wake said with a polite smile.

Irene returned to the cabinet, retrieved her own glass, and then sat back down in her arm chair.

"So, we're going to be doing two nights in New Rome, one in the Old Quarter and then one on the southside, before heading to Votosoros for a night in Demetriopolis..." Irene ran through the start of the itinerary.

Wake nodded. "I'm looking forward to it."

"To Demetriopolis?" Irene asked.

"To the whole itinerary." she clarified.

"Good." Irene replied. "You know that Pantocratoria doesn't have many prominent feminists, some of your ideas which are accepted out of hand at home may seem controversial here."

"An interesting choice of words." Wake noted.

"In what way?" asked Irene.

"Out of hand." Wake pointed out.

"And in what way was it interesting?" Irene repeated.

"It suggests a great deal of irresponsibility." Wake said calmly.

"Oh. Perhaps the meaning was unintended." Irene speculated in a coy fashion. "I meant only that some things may be taken as a given in the Resurgent Dream which simply are not here."

Wake nodded. "That is hardly unexpected."

"And not all the crowd may be particularly receptive... to either of us, for that matter." Irene observed.

Wake smirked slightly, sipping her drink. "That is rather a part of politics. Crowds can be rather unreceptive back home at times."

"Usually, the crowds which show up to a political speech are there because they already agree with the speechgiver and want to show support." Irene said. "That's been my experience, anyway. I should imagine there will be a good deal many Pantocratoria First supporters in the audiences you and I will be gathering, as well as a good deal many feminists... assuming that there are a good deal many feminists in Pantocratoria..."

"It is in the PSA platform..." Wake pointed out, not altogether convincingly.

"What is?" Irene inquired.

"Feminist positions." Wake said.

"The United Christian Front has some positions which could be described as feminist in its platform as well." Irene pointed out. "There are many issues which might be described as feminist and the Socialists hardly have a monopoly on policies which address those issues."

"For example?" Wake pried.

"Maternity pensions." Irene replied. "Whereas the Socialists support a six month paid maternity leave, the United Christian Front supports a maternity pension. Women who leave work to give birth would receive a pension jointly funded by the taxpayer and their employer, who would contribute one year of the mother's salary to a pension fund. The Imperial Government would contribute the rest, and the fund would pay the mother on a monthly basis from the day she left work until the day the child was admitted to primary school."

"Exactly. An example of an issue on which the Socialists hold the feminist position." Wake said smugly.

"Superior income support for mothers for five years or so versus a few months of entirely employer funded leave?" Irene asked. "Come, I'm sure there are many feminists who would regard the United Christian Front's policy as better."

"The Socialist policy is designed to allow women to function in the workplace on equal terms which take into account their special needs. The United Christian Front policy is designed to encourage women to return to the home for an extended period of such length as to make it difficult for them to have a career properly speaking, even if they do return to work, and to eliminate the need for public day care." Wake stated.

"Child care has been another massive failing of the Drapeur Government." Irene replied. "The number of available child care places has fallen twenty percent over the past eighteen months because the Government stopped funding the Church's child care services."

"That isn't exactly what I meant by public child care." Wake stated the obvious.

"It's not-for-profit." Irene replied. "But I was referring to child care places overall anyway. The Socialists have failed to replace no longer available Church child care services with Government ones. And the Constantinople Party is outright opposed to any expansion of public child care. But this issue aside, do you honestly believe that the Socialists have a monopoly on feminist issues in Pantocratorian politics?"

"I believe that on issues where the United Christian Front has a position more beneficial to women, it is nonetheless not motivated by feminism properly speaking." she explained.

"And how would you define feminism?" Irene asked. "I agree with that statement, incidentally."

"Feminism is the belief that men and women are fundamentally equal; that women are oppressed by traditional family and religious structures; and that women best serve their own interests by fighting against barriers and restrictions placed on them by such structures. That is a gross oversimplification, of course." she answered.

"Would you agree that it is possible to work for the best outcome for women motivated out of some other belief or ideology other than feminism?" Irene asked.

"It is possible for someone who is not a feminist to work with the intention of helping women." Wake answered.

"And is it possible for them to achieve the best outcome for women?" Irene pressed.

"Usually not." Wake said bluntly.

"If the Socialists are the feminist party, then why am I the only female chancellor in Pantocratorian history?" Irene inquired after a long pause, in which time she swallowed a few sips of her drink after Wake's unusually blunt answer.

"The first female chief of government of a nation is almost never a feminist." Wake said.

"I hadn't thought of that. Why is that?" Irene asked.

"Because the right normally votes for them to support their partisan positions and independent minded women voters who might ordinarily vote for the left vote for them because they find them sympathetic, generally speaking." Wake said.

"Was I sympathetic?" Irene inquired.

"You won." Wake pointed out non-commitally.

"Only once." Irene replied. "But please, answer the question, I'm not going to take the truth badly, I promise."

"Probably to women with independent attitudes but who had not developed the political and social implications of such attitudes, you seemed a sympathetic figure." Wake said.

"I disagree that women who voted for me hadn't developed a sense of the political and social implications of doing so. I think that women not only developed that sense, but they craved it. Remember, they had twelve years or so of me as a senior minister to get to know me and my policies." Irene replied.

"We're only discussing a specific segment of women who voted for you...or for your party with the understanding that you were its leader." Wake clarified.

"Which segment?" Irene inquired. "I thought we were talking about all women who voted for me..."

"No. We're talking about women who voted for you primarily because of your appeal as an independent woman who otherwise would have likely voted for the left." Wake stated.

"Oh." Irene replied. "And who was the left in the election I won as chancellor? The Pantocratoria First Party or the Loyal Christian Front?"

"The Loyal Christian Front...speaking relatively...very relatively." Wake said.

"So... independent women... would vote for a party led by my younger brother?" Irene said. Terrifyingly, she actually smiled, the thought was such an amusing one.

"If they knew sufficiently little about his personal life and if the Pantocratoria First Party was led by a man of comparable views and in a comparable position to yourself, Your Highness. Such a man would not likely be much more progressive on such issues than your brother." Wake explained.

"Wait... what do you know of Monsieur's personal life?" Irene asked, leaning in curiously. She glanced at the silent Aageheim for a moment, before her eyes settled again on Wake.

"Just that he is a very authoritative head of his household." Wake said.

"You don't know the half of it." Irene almost chuckled, reclining back in the chair.

"Does this mean you're going to share?" Wake inquired.

Irene looking meaningfully at Aageheim, before looking back to Wake. She didn't say a word.

Aageheim tilted her head. "Your Highness?"

"Yes, mademoiselle?" Irene responded innocently, after sipping her drink.

"You gave me a look." Aageheim replied.

"Perhaps you'd let me speak to Her Highness in private." Wake said.

"Of course." Aageheim said, rising. "By your leave, Your Highness."

"Of course, mademoiselle." Irene nodded.

Aageheim rose and left. Irene turned back to Wake.

"As I said, you don't know the half of it..." Irene said, sipping her drink.

"Do tell." Wake urged her.

"I am telling you this in confidence, of course." Irene started.

"Of course." Wake said, inclining her head.

"You've heard, of course, of the discipline corset..." Irene began. "It's the kind of tradition I'm sure you'd find most offensive."

"Very." Wake said, paling slightly as she listened.

"It's a tradition with which Monsieur and Madame are intimately familiar." Irene hinted suggestively.

"I see." Wake said, breathing in sharply.

"I thought you might." Irene said, grinning almost imperceivably. "I don't imagine you're much of an advocate of their birth control method either, but that probably doesn't outrage your feminist sensibilities so much."

"I doubt that's possible, Your Highness." Wake said tightly.

"On this matter, those are sensibilities I share, mademoiselle." Irene continued. "I know that Monsieur is very charming, handsome, well-mannered, but now you can see all that for what it truly is, I imagine, just as I have for years."

"I can indeed." she answered, tasking another sip of her drink.

"That's what the culture's really like towards women in the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator, mademoiselle." Irene continued. "For years, I was my younger brother's deputy in the United Christian Front. Do you think it was because I was less inclined towards or capable of leadership? Even when I orchestrated the party's greatest triumphs, both policy and political triumphs, there was never any question in the minds of so many as to whether I could lead the party or not. How could a man... how could men, with attitudes like that, accept me as Imperial Chancellor?"

"And yet when you did become Chancellor you continued to support socially conservative policies which similarly limited the life choices of millions of other women." Wake pointed out, not so easily won over.

"I'm not trying to prove that I'm a feminist, mademoiselle, you misunderstand me." Irene shook her head. "I just hope you can understand now why I wanted to do this speaking tour with you so very much."

"I doubt your brother is very happy about it." Wake commented.

"His Majesty couldn't care less, he has always allowed me complete freedom in pursuing my political objectives." Irene replied. "As for Monsieur, whether he is happy or not does not concern me... althought it might concern Madame."

"How does Monsieur feel about it?" Wake asked.

"I don't know, I haven't asked." Irene replied. "I can't imagine he's pleased."

Wake smiled warmly, bringing her drink up to her lips and taking another sip.

Two days later, Beatrice Wake was escorted through parts of the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator that few members of the public ever got to see, and taken back through countless long corridors to a classroom. The door was left open while the class was being taught, and so before she had even been admitted into the room by its teacher, Princess Irene, Wake could look about the classroom.

The far wall of the room was dominated by tall but narrow glass windows which overlooked the western gardens of the palace. The ceiling was decorated with an heroic oil painting of King Solomon holding a book of wisdom, with very stern eyes cast downwards at the students. There were twelve students in total, all girls between the ages of twelve and fifteen, seated behind surprisingly normal-looking school desks, although if she looked underneath the books and papers each girl had on her desk, Wake would see that the top panel of each desk was decorated with a painting of a different biblical scene, protected by a layer of glass. At the head of the room was a blackboard in a bronze frame, with bronze gargoyles and fantastic creatures holding the blackboard itself in place. A duster with an ornate hand-carved silver handle and several sticks of chalk inserted in ivory holders sat in the open mouth of a bronze dragon which served as their receptacle beneath the blackboard. "La Généalogie" was written on the board in Irene's carefully practised cursive script.

The students were all girls of the highest birth, daughters of Pantocratoria's greatest noble families, and included the Emperor's youngest daughter herself, Princess Zoë. Each girl was dressed in full-blown New Rome court fashion gowns, complete with delicate embroidery (usually, but not always, depicting floral patterns in brightly coloured silks), although some of the younger girls were not wearing corsets, and none of them wore a particularly severe corset. Irene stood at the head of the class, staring expectantly at a girl standing at her desk, wearing a very plain, dark green dress, which conformed in its basic cut to the requirements of the fashion at the court, but was of the sort more usually worn by women of common birth visiting the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator than by noble ladies. The girl stood silently, her pretty face contorted as she desperately tried to remember something.

"...and... before that... the eighteenth generation..." she resumed, not exactly confidently. "Erm... Sir Michael... umm... a Knight Master of the..."

"Sit down." Irene snapped impatiently. "You've been making up the last three generations."

"Yes, mademoiselle." the girl said, hanging her head and resuming her seat.

"Pardon me, Your Highness," said the page who had led Wake in. "Danaan Minister of State, Beatrice Wake."

"I can see that." Irene replied icily to the page, who bowed and departed. Irene indicated to one of the three tabourets by the windows. "Minister, please, come in, and take a seat along the side here."

Wake, dressed in a fashion similar to that she had worn when first calling upon Irene, took all of this in from the hallway. She had found her walk through the parts of the Imperial Court normally closed to visitors somewhat interesting but architecture was never something she had paid much attention to. Of much more interest was the human social situation playing out in the classroom. As she was finally noticed, she stepped in side.

"Thank you, Your Highness." she answered simply. She curtsied briefly to Irene as she entered and moved to the indicated tabouret. She sat quietly and crossed her legs at the knee.

"The Minister will be observing our class today." Irene explained to the girls. "Who can tell me what she just did wrong?"

Two of the girls put up their hands straight away, and Princess Zoë could be seen to roll her eyes.

"Mademoiselle de Kainaut." Irene called on one of the girls with their hands in the air.

"The Minister crossed her legs, mademoiselle." replied Mademoiselle de Kainaut, a rather plain girl with a somewhat piggy nose and a generally spoilt look about her.

"That's right, Louise." Irene replied, although she didn't pretend to be impressed or pleased with the girl's response. "But we shan't hold that against her. Now, who thinks they can remember their ancestry in the primary male line further back than Mademoiselle de Votosoros' pitiful effort?"

Wake uncrossed her legs, frowning slightly as she fought to bite back her indignation and continuing to listen quietly. The girl who had been trying to remember her answer when Wake first walked in shrunk down in her chair, and flicked through her exercise book to the chart of her genealogy she had drawn in a previous class. None of the other students raised their hands. Irene walked over to Zoë's desk and wrapped her fingers on the glass tabletop.

"You should certainly be able to answer this question, Zoë. In fact, I'm sure even Marie-Angelique can remember your male ancestors back eighteen generations." Irene told Zoë. "Stand up and tell us."

Zoë stood up, and looked over to her friend, Marie-Angelique de Votosoros, and then across to Wake. She then looked back to Irene.

"Where should I start, mademoiselle?" she asked.

Wake listened intently, shifting slightly in her seat.

"Start six generations back." Irene nodded, before walking away to pace the classroom. She knew that Zoë had the easiest task of them all in remembering her genealogy such a far way back, and hoped to prove by her example to the rest of the class that it was possible.

"In the primary line, my ancestor six generations back was the Emperor Louis, King Louis XVII of France." Zoë recited, sighing as if bored. "Seven generations back, King Louis XVI of France. Eight generations back, Louis, Dauphin de France. Nine generations back, Louis XV of France..."

Irene nodded at each generation and paced confidently around to the front of the classroom so that she was in front of Zoë once more. Wake continued to simply observe, keeping her gaze focused on Irene.

"Ten generations back, Louis, Duke of Burgundy." Zoë continued, the corners of her mouth turning upwards very slightly as a rebellious glimmer twinkled in her eye. "Eleven generations back, Jacques, the Dauphine Maria-Anna's butler. Twelve generations..."

"I..." Irene scowled, turning to face Zoë, who shrank a little at Irene's expression, but more or less stood her ground and maintained a somewhat serious expression on her face. "...beg your pardon, mademoiselle?"

"Pardon me, mademoiselle." Zoë apologised. "I don't know Jacques' last name, although I'm sure the Dauphine did."

Several of the other girls in the class laughed, several others sat and watched in stunned silence. Marie-Angelique de Votosoros grinned a little, cheered up. Wake bit her bottom lip and otherwise concealed whatever she was was thinking. She looked at her lap for a moment to hide her amusement from Irene.

"The next girl who laughs will be joining Her Highness." Irene snapped angrily at the class.

She turned her attention to Zoë, and then spun on her heel to walk over to her desk by the blackboard. Zoë sighed and shifted about impatiently, knowing what was coming next. Irene opened a desk draw and produced from it a twenty nummi coin, which she held up for the class to see, before slamming the door shut and walking back over to Zoë. Irene gave Zoë the coin and then pointed to the wall opposite the windows, and Zoë defiantly rolled her eyes before walking over to the wall. She held the twenty nummi coin against the wall with her fingers level with her face, loosened her shoulders slightly, and then pressed her nose to the coin, before letting her arms drop by her sides, so that she was standing against the wall, leaning slightly forward, holding the coin against the wall with her nose. Louise de Kainaut smirked a little at the sight of Zoë's punishment, before turning forward again like a perfect teacher's pet. Marie-Angelique de Votosoros shook her head slightly, feeling slightly guilty for her friend's predicament even though she hadn't really had anything to do with it. Wake's expression sobered and her frown deepened as she observed Pantocratorian "barbarism" first hand.

Irene glanced at Wake self-consciously, Pantocratoria's infamous "Ice Maiden" unable to conceal her embarrassment at Zoë's joke, before looking back to the other girls in the class. Wake froze her expression, looking back at Irene from behind an inscrutable and inexpressive mask of composure.

"Open to a fresh page in your exercise books." Irene told the class. "You've all got your genealogies in your textbooks, copy out your ancestry in the primary male line to the twentieth generation back from yourself, and do it again and again until you know it off by heart."

While the girls flicked through their books and started writing, Irene made her way over to Wake and sat down next to her, her eyes still on the girls. Wake remained seated quietly for the moment, waiting for Irene to say or do something which invited a response.

"Her Highness sometimes misbehaves when she has an audience, especially when that audience is a foreign dignitary." Irene whispered to Wake, glaring across the room at Zoë's back.

"I see." Wake answered noncommittally. "That is not unusual."

"She's not immune from being punished just like any of the other girls would be, just because she's the Emperor's daughter." Irene continued at a whisper. It wasn't clear, but it seemed like Irene was proud of that fact.

"That is... equitable." Wake answered without much enthusiasm.

Irene nodded and then sat quietly, watching the class carefully.

Wake sat quietly next to Irene as the two women watched the class work. The class was not seriously objectionable, at least in anything Wake had seen so far. Punishments seemed to be dealt out equitably and they were not severe enough to constitute any kind of abuse in a meaningful sense of that word. Still, the nature of the punishments seemed somewhat objectionable. They seemed designed to humiliate and degrade more than anything else, not by shaming students for specific bad behavior but by generally embarassing them with antics like this one. It hardly seemed healthy for young women of these girls' age to be treated in such a manner.

More horrifying by far was Irene's revelation the previous day that her brother was essentially a wife batterer. While Wake knew that many cases of such behavior were unreported or unprosecuted, what really bothered her was that Basil's behavior seemed to be common knowledge among the Imperial family. The Emperor had never done anything to her knowledge. Irene, while expressing disapproval, spoke as though she were just exchanging malicious gossip, not speaking of a real crime. Of course, what Basil did was not recognized as domestic abuse by Pantocratorian law, which made the situation so much the worse.

Wake frowned slightly to herself, forcing her thoughts back to the present. She looked to Irene, wondering when the other woman would resume class.

The Isaac V Opera House in New Rome was an indoors venue with several concert halls and stages. The ballroom of the Opera House could seat eight hundred people arranged at dining tables of ten people each, and was booked for tonight's dinner with speeches by Beatrice Wake and Princess Irene. As the staff busily prepared the entrées in the kitchens and the event organises checked that everything was prepared, the Minister and the Princess and their attending staff prepared in a private lounge room.

Tonight, Wake was dressed in a finely tailored black pantsuit with a white blouse and black pumps. While it was a fairly simple outfit, it was one she'd actually put an unusual amount of thought into. She knew that, unlike past audiences, this one would find her normal wardrobe somewhat unusual. As she finished her last minute conversations with her staff and moved towards the door, her normally serious expression softened into a more congenial public speaking demeanor.

"Are you sure you won't even give me a hint about what you'll actually say about women and the military, Minister?" Irene asked hopefully. The two had agreed to the same broad topic for the night's conversation, but nothing else.

"I'm for it." Wake said with a teasing smile, stating the extremely obvious.

"Nothing else?" Irene asked, rising to her feet and following her towards the door. Irene was wearing quite a different dress from what she would usually wear. She wore a cream coloured gown in the fashion of the court, with embroided floral patterns and all the usual decorations. Her hair was done up in a more typical court style, with delicate curls instead of her usual severe bun. In short, she was dressed like any other lady of the court would be, as opposed to her usual style of stark black dresses with only white lace around her neck and wrists for decoration.

"You don't have much longer to wait, Your Highness." Wake noted.

"I'd like to be able to prepare a specific rebuttal though..." Irene murmured.

"I don't know what you're going to say either." Wake commented.

"Ah, but I speak after you, it wouldn't affect what you had to say." Irene replied.

Wake just smiled. Stunningly, Irene smiled back. Not affected a grimace which resembled vaguely what somebody who hadn't smiled in years might have remembered what a smile looked like, as Wake had seen before, but a genuine, and quite pretty, smile. Wake listened, waiting to hear the introduction.

"Mesdames et messieurs, je vous presente nos parleurs ce soir, Son Excellence Mademoiselle Beatrice Wake, Ministre Danaan de la Justice, et Son Altesse Imperiale La Princesse Plus Pieuse Irene, ancien Chancelier Impérial Pantocratorien!" announced the master of ceremonies. The audience stood at their dining places and applauded as Wake and Irene entered.

Wake entered the room with Irene, smiling broadly at the crowd. She didn't waver even as her eyes unnoticeably, and instinctively, took the pulse of the crowd. Irene and Wake walked down the aisle between the dining tables to their table near the stage, the crowd clapping them down their way. The crowd was an interesting mix. Tickets were expensive so it was, overall, a fairly well-to-do audience. There was a substantial majority of women, but a good deal many men as well, although it looked like most of them had been brought along to the event by their wives or girlfriends. About a third of the audience, the group amongst whom there were the most men, although even here they were in minority, was clearly a Pantocratoria First type-crowd. Their styles of dress (especially amongst the women) and general demeanour were good indications, as were the suspicious looks Wake got compared to the adoring glances Irene got. The rest of the audience wasn't so easily grouped. There was a small contingent of "Danaaphiles" - Pantocratorians who, since the signing of the Treaty of Subeita, had developed an enthusiasm for all things Danaan. There was a not insignificant group of dubious-looking feminists, clearly puzzled about such a strange speaking combination but here to see what Wake and Irene would say nevertheless. Finally, there was one table of Young Socialists, identifiable from their political slogan covered T-shirts and their occasional jeers directed at Irene when they dared.

Wake smirked on the inside as she noted the Young Socialists, but she gave everyone who directly crossed her natural field of vision the same winning smile as she walked down the aisle. The mood of the crowd, especially the tables of Pantocratoria First supporters, grew even more electric as Irene smiled at them on her way to her table, for the first time they had seen her smile in her adult life. There was certainly an excited buzz about the room by the time Wake and Irene sat down at their table and the entrées were served. Irene smiled again at Wake as they sat down next to each other at their table. It was odd how much more attractive she was smiling, with her hair soft and delicate rather than severe and constrainted, wearing light colours rather than almost in-mourning black.

"I saw a few army and navy officers towards the back. They might find this an interesting night." Irene told Wake.

"I'm sure they will." Wake answered. "Although not so much as they might have a few years ago. A fair number of Pantocratorian officers and soldiers have had working contact with Danaan and Excalbian military women in recent conflicts."

"I'm sure we'll hear all about it." Irene nodded, and looked down at the plate served in front of her. The entrée was pâté de foie gras with herb-bread, carefully prepared and arranged.

Wake waited for Irene to start eating. "Perhaps we will."

In due course, Wake, still smiling, rose to make her speech. As it was announced, she took the microphone and surveyed the crowd briefly before beginning. "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. As all of you doubtless know, Her Highness and I are going to speak about the role of women in the military today. We have very different views, and represent nations with very different policies, on this issue. In the Resurgent Dream, men and women are, as a matter of law, allowed equal opportunity for voluntary sevice in any part of their nations armed forces except for the First and Second Companies of the Royal Guard, which are entirely male and entirely female respectively. It is true that the Resurgent Dream exempts all women, as well as some men, from conscription according to the terms of the Conscription Act of 1992. However, as conscription has never been activated, this has made no practical difference in terms of male and female military service. At present, 32% of enlisted personnel, 24% of non-commissioned officers, 11% of low rank officers, and 2% of high rank officers are female. This includes 12% of combat personnel."

((OOC: I need the comparable Pantocratorian stats before continuing the speech in my next post))

"In Pantocratoria, of course, the numbers are much lower. 9% of enlisted personnel, 4% of non-commissioned officers, 8% of low grade officers, and less than 1% of high grade officers are women. Women are excluded from all combat positions, including naval and air combat positions. Why the difference? Is it a different political conception of the military’s role? Different religious values? A different history? I intend to argue that it is all of these things, that the difference reflects a difference between the totality of circumstances in the Resurgent Dream and the totality of circumstances in Pantocratoria.

We can begin with the political conception of what a military is for, a discussion that first requires us to address the issue of what a monarchy is. Speaking as a matter of historical fact, educated Pantocratorians know that the Emperors of Pantocratoria are also Emperors of Rome. Furthermore, they know that the Roman Empire evolved out of the Roman Republic and that the republic itself replaced a kingdom through violence. The people of Rome exiled their king and established a republican form of government. After several centuries of republican rule, the Roman people, acting through the established institutions of the republic, began to create the office of the Emperor as we understand it today until, eventually, the Emperor possessed in both fact and name the full Sovereignty of Rome, which the Pantocratorian Emperor retains to this day. As a matter of historical fact, no one would seriously dispute this. It is, I might add, much better established than the origins of the Danaan monarchy.

However, I have stressed that this is undisputed only as a historical fact. It is a fact irrelevant to Pantocratorian discourse about the nature of the Imperial Crown. If it were to be taken seriously, it might lead to one of two conclusions. The first might be casually laughed off as the fantasy of a monarchism gone mad, namely, the possibility that the unknown heir of the latter Tarquin is the real, if undiscoverable, Pantocratorian Sovereign. The second, which might hypothetically be taken more seriously, is that the Roman people, and hence the Pantocratorian people, as a polity, collectively possess the right to give or remove Sovereignty from a person or a lineage or to retain it for themselves in institutions of their design. Neither idea, of course, features strongly in official Pantocratorian discourse.

In the Resurgent Dream, however, the second idea prevails. In addition to the Sovereign power vested in the Crown, a constitutive power (to use Rousseau’s term) is recognized as residing naturally in society itself, in the collection of all individual citizens, and this constitutive power is accorded no other power, no other right, no other history, aside from the fact that it established the Sovereign power before the dawn of recorded history and, in theory, possesses the right to establish Sovereignty after a different fashion, a right which it is understood should never be used. In Pantocratoria…the conception of monarchy is different to say the least.

I know it sounds lime I’ve gone off on something of a tangent here. Our topic, after all, is women in the military, not the constitutional framework of political science. But I’m getting to my point. In Pantocratoria, there is no body of mainstream opinion which conceives the freedom of the Pantocratorian people to rest ultimately upon the ability of Pantocratorians to defend that freedom with armed force. In the Resurgent Dream, there is.

Danaans, in part because of a different approach to political philosophy, in part because of a different culture, and in part because of the traumatic experiences of the Danaan Civil War which almost every adult Danaan lived through, are much more conscious than Pantocratorians that the survival of their society rests, in the last instance, on their ability to defend it with physical force against one of any number of enemies who are perceived as willing to destroy Danaan society except for the fact that they know they would be physically prevented from doing so. Incidentally, I think this is a very harmful and very undemocratic way to look at the military but I won’t go into that here. I am merely explaining a widespread perception among Danaans because of the effect it has on women’s struggles.

In any event, there is a tendency in Danaan society to see the military as the ultimate guarantor of the rights of the citizen and of the security of the body politic. Many Danaans see all the rights of membership in society as being ultimately owed to this source. Correspondingly, many Danaan women see their presence in the military as a guarantee of their equal status in society. Some women might even look at women in a country like Pantocratoria as enjoying rights and freedoms only as privileges at the sufferance of men, who defend them, and not as rights at all.

So why should Pantocratorian women care about getting into combat? I’ve told you why it is important to many Danaan women but I’ve also told you that the reason is a Danaan national trait, not a universal one, and moreover that it’s a trait which I consider destructive and would hardly come here asking you to emulate. However, there is a certain truth here which I think needs to be stated clearly…”

The audience applauded Wake, although some parts of it were predictably more or less enthusiastic than others. Princess Irene followed Wake to the stage, looking warm rather than severe, as the audience had come to expect her to look. One of the Young Socialists hissed, but was quickly silenced by her comrades at the table who thought that since Wake had been heard respectfully, so should Irene be heard before she was pre-judged. After all, she did look different, maybe she'd say something different.

"My friends," Irene began. Her voice was still strong, but it had a sweet quality to it which had been rarely heard in her speech since her youth. "In the time of my government, and the United Christian Front Government which preceded it, Pantocratoria's military underwent a transformation, which saw it grow for the first time since the Turkish War. For the first time, that growth included women, although, as my friend Minister Wake has observed, not in combat roles. My friend talked about differences in perception, differences in the perception of the role of the military between the Resurgent Dream, and I imagine, most of the world, and Pantocratoria. She said that her countrymen and women conceived of the military to a very large extent as the ultimate guarantor of Danaan sovereignty and society. I would like to propose another view of the military, before I begin discussing the specific role of women within it."

"The biggest danger in having any military at all is that it will be misused." Irene said. "In many ways, it is just as big a threat to the society it is sworn to protect as the external threats with which it was created to deal. In Pantocratoria, we have never seen the military as our ultimate guarantor. The people of Constantinople, before it fell, saw the Virgin Mary and their faith as their guarantor, their last and most effective protection against their enemies, and even if the walls fell, as indeed they did, it was ultimately that faith which led those who escaped to Pantocratoria. From the very beginnings of our settlement on these islands, we have known, proven by our very presence here, that faith, an enduring spirit and will to survive, were the ultimate guarantors of our society and way of life. Where the military defenders of our former home had failed, the spirit of our nation and our trust in God succeeded, and preserved the most important thing for which so much blood had been shed on the Theodosian Walls - the values and beliefs of our people. Those things survived our people being deprived every material possession, every inch of soil, and even, and most tragically, many of their friends and family members."

"Of course, losing every worldly possession one has isn't an event anybody would care to repeat, and so even on these islands, so far away from the Old World, we re-armed, built walls, forged weapons, and so on, but always with the certain knowledge that these things could and would only defend material things. Land. Homes. Possessions." Irene said. "The things which really matter can't be measured, and thus can't be, and needn't be, defended with armies and weapons. We have always, as a people, known this. A military cannot defend those things. It can, however, threaten them."

"I have enormous respect for the men and women of our armed forces, but, like many Pantocratorians, that respect is tempered by a certain suspicion, a certain fear." Irene said, as some of the audience frowned. "Not of the individuals involved, of course, but of the sentiment, the motivation. I worry about our society becoming more violent, and I know I'm not the only one. I worry about the militarisation of Pantocratorian society. Violence, militarisation, regimentation, these are things which threaten those very things which militaries cannot defend. These are things which policy makers must be very careful not to encourage, not to spread further through our society. It's a difficult balancing act, weighing up on one hand the necessity to defend our homes, our fields, our worldly possessions, and on the other hand, the danger that we will lose something even more important in the process. I believe that the military reforms undertaken since 1992 were vital, but I also oppose further expansion of the military. We struggled to strike a balance, between defending the material and preserving the national spirit and I pray that the Drapeur Government maintains that careful balance. I must say that so far, they have done so. I must also say that I am greatly concerned by the tend towards militarism in Pantocratorian Ambara."

"It is because I am against the expansion of Pantocratorian militarism that I am against women entering combat roles within the military." Irene said, coming to the main point. "It is true that over time it would be possible to maintain the same overall force strength whilst increasing the proportion of women in combat roles. Some would say this wouldn't be an expansion of Pantocratoria's military, and they would be correct, it would nevertheless represent an expansion of Pantocratorian militarism. Even if the number of soldiers remained at a constant level, women as well as men would conceive of themselves as soldiers, or potential soldiers, as potential instruments of violence and force. It would represent a spiritual erosion..."

Irene's speech went on, and was surprisingly well-received by parts of the audience which perhaps wouldn't be expected to applaud her. Some of the Pantocratoria First supporters in the audience seemed slightly confused, but even they were generally enthusiastic, having particularly enjoyed Irene's discussion of the indominatible Pantocratorian national spirit. All segments of the audience found Irene's smiles and warmer appearance and manner a welcome change, many finding it positively endearing. She looked at least five years younger than the severe, frowning woman dressed in black they remembered from years past. When Irene sat down next to Wake again after her speech, she beamed at the Danaan, took one of Wake's hands in hers and squeezed it appreciatively.

"Thank you, Minister. I thought your speech was excellent. I can see this is going to be a wonderful tour, I'm so very much looking forward to spending more time with you." Irene said, sounding quite sincere. "There's so much I have to learn from you..."

Wake listened respectfully to the whole of Irene's speech. A few lines through, she straightened in her chair. This was going to be much more interesting than she expected. Instincitvely, she took in the reaction of the crowd. It seemed Irene has impressed them as much as she had impressed Wake.

She was startled when Irene took her by the hand. Irene's hand was somehow much softer than she had expected. It was the hand of a princess, after all. Irene's past public image had caused Wake to see her as a somehow hard despite the fact that she had the same soft, feminine figure as other women of the Pantocratorian aristocracy. She squeezed back. "I thought yours was excellent as well. It certainly wasn't what I was expecting."

Wake smiled brightly at Irene. She was clearly enjoying this, even if she did feel she'd lost the first engagement in the eyes of the audience. "You know, I didn't bring it up because they don't really know anything yet, but they've recently discovered signs of ancient human habitation in Sahor. A Marine unit looking for SoR operatives happened on it. Anyway, apparently this ruin contains depictions of women exclusively as warriors..."

"I didn't know there were any ancient human societies in Ambara..." Irene replied, a little puzzled about the sudden change in topic, and half-expecting Wake to swing into a discussion of how ancient Sahori Amazons somehow demonstrated that it was not only appropriate for women to hold combat roles in the military, but the natural order of things.

Wake was looking out the window at the Pantocratorian countryside. She and Irene were driving on their way to a Pantocratorian girls' school for the next of their engagements, one on girls' education.

"It is lovely countryside." Wake commented.

"St Irene's is a lovely old school." Irene said, telling Wake about their destination. "It was Pantocratoria's first all girls school."

"Meaning it was Pantocratoria's first school for girls?" Wake guessed.

"Yes." Irene said, looking a little confused. Then the light dawned. "Oh, for a moment there I thought I had just said as much, but you are asking if there were co-education schools before that?"

"I wasn't really asking." Wake pointed out.

"Oh." Irene said quietly, stiffening a little as Wake made her feel a little stupid.

"It has a lovely name though." Wake smiled.

"Empress Irene restored the icons in the 9th Century, that's why she was sainted." Irene replied, brushing off the compliment, although she loosened up again slightly. "She also had her son's eyes gouged out."

"That seems less saintly." Wake joked.

"He later died from the wounds." Irene said quietly. She looked out onto a paddock of dairy cows. "I love dairy country..."

"Oh?" Wake inquired.

"It's so pretty." Irene nodded. "And I've always thought that cows were beautiful creatures... it's easier watching them knowing that the abatoir isn't waiting for them."

"You should come to Farinor sometime." Wake suggested.

"Oh?" Irene enquired, looking back at Wake. She smiled slightly. "Why's that?"

"It's full of cows and essentially none of them are ever slaughtered." Wake said. "The countryside is full of them."

"Hmm..." Irene smiled, thinking about it, reclining into her car seat. After a few moments of silence, she changed the topic. "Any chance of a preview of what you're going to say?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Wake said.

"What would you like me to say?" Irene asked her. She had a slight grin but also wore a very sincere look indeed.

"That is actually a hard question to answer. I can't exactly want you to say something I would find disagreeable but, if I wanted you to say something I would agree with, it would drain the whole engagement of interest." Wake commented half-playfully.

"Oh..." Irene sighed. "I suppose I'm looking at this a different way..."

"How so?" Wake asked.

"I'm looking at this speaking tour..." Irene began. She paused for a few seconds. "...as a chance to... reinvent policy."

Wake blinked once. "You...really?" she said, blushing as she realized how stupid that must have come out.

"Really what?" Irene asked, grinning at the blush.

"Really considering reinventing policy. I'd always imagined you were rather set in your views, if you'll forgive my saying so." Wake noted.

"That was an unfair assumption." Irene chided.

"Forgive me?" Wake asked.

"If you tell me what you'd like me to say, perhaps." Irene said. "I know we have to do more about female education. I'd value your advice, Minister."

"Well, you have to remember that one of the most important things educational insistutions do is socialization, even more than the actual work of education. One of the worst inequities as the males are disproportionaly able to participate in team activities which teach them effective skills for working together and exhibiting leadership." Wake started.

"What sort of team activities?" Irene asked. She honestly didn't know - she had been privately tutored, she had never received an actual school education, she didn't know what sort of team activities there were for students of either gender.

"Sports." Wake answered.

"Oh." Irene said almost distastefully. "You think sport develops leadership skills?"

"I know it does." Wake responded.

"Why?" Irene enquired.

"Sociological and child development studies." Wake answered. "Children have to work together to perform a task where they value success. It socializes for initiative, cooperation, peer bonding, and leadership very strongly."

"Surely there are other things which are equally useful for fostering leadership skills?" Irene asked, unconvinced of the value of an activity so distasteful as sport.

"Such as?" Wake pressed.

"I was asking you." Irene pointed out. "But... surely there are more academic pursuits which also develop leadership skills? Or spiritual ones?"

"Not the kind of competitive skills needed to do well in a business environment. It's one of the ways socialization often disadvantages women economically." Wake argued.

"I don't see why societies are always striving to measure themselves along an economic axis... why a person's worth is measured by the wealth they accumulate, their success at business..." Irene complained.

"I didn't say it should be." Wake said. "But claiming to value things more important than wealth is not an excuse for systematically disadvantaging people economically. Doing so, in fact, reflects poorly on a nation's character and integrity, those very higher things being appealed to."

"But isn't that attempting to foster the worst elements of leadership skills?" Irene enquired. "Extreme competitiveness, an almost cut-throat mentality? Young women driven more by profit than those things which our society holds dear?"

"Justifying fundamenal economic inequality just by saying that's not what's really important in life? That hardly seems reasonable." Wake insisted.

"Well..." Irene frowned. "I just... I don't think there's necessarily a link between boys who play sport at school and boys who succeed in business, to begin with, and even if there is, I don't think we should be encouraging attitudes which place profit and material gain above everything else in our young people."

"I think you are greatly exagerrating the cutthroat element in sports and ignoring the idea of sportsmanship, cooperation, and constructive competition." Wake commented. "It is teamwork that sports best prepares people for. You've taken my comment about competition and somehow turned it into the main issue."

"I'm not exaggerating the cut throat element in sports, I'm talking about that attidue in business!" Irene replied. "And I'm just saying that if school sports produce businessmen, and I'm not convinced that they do, then I don't know if I want to encourage school sport."

Wake nodded a little, falling silent, reflective. Irene breathed deeply and thoughtfully looked out the window again.

"So you're going to suggest that girls should participate in more sport?" Irene asked quietly. "In your speech, I mean."

"I am." Wake said.

"Can I ask you a question about feminism?" Irene enquired.

"Go ahead." Wake answered.

"Please don't take this the wrong way," Irene began. "But it seems to me that often, feminists seem to be arguing for women to become more like men, rather than for equal rights and opportunities for women. This seems to me to be a case in point."

"That's because what's been defined as male is simply that which naturally comes from being respected as an autonomous and rational person." Wake answered.

"Participation in sport comes from being respected as an autonomous and rational person?" Irene asked.

"No. Functioning in society does." Wake said in slight irritation.

"I'm sorry." Irene replied. "I didn't mean to annoy you."

"I'm sorry." Wake said. "It just felt like you were trying to strawman me."

"Maybe I was, old habits die hard." Irene replied with a slight smile. "It's not just any sport you want to encourage though, is it? It's team sports specifically, right?"

"Right. I want to emphasise teamwork more than competition." Wake answered.

"What do you think about school uniforms?" Irene asked.

Wake shrugged. "I could go either way, honestly."

"I think they can encourage that same sort of spirit as team sports." Irene said.

"They don't foster actual teamwork skills. They simply represent a common external bond handed down from above." Wake said.

"Wouldn't forcing children to participate in team sports do the same thing?" Irene asked.

"I didn't say anything about forcing." Wake responded. "It should be encouraged."

"I'm sorry, I misunderstood." Irene replied.

"So I take it you've never been involved in sport?" Wake inquired.

"No, I've not." Irene replied. "I've played tennis but no more than a few times as a girl."

"Ever been curious?" Wake asked half-playfully.

"About sport?" Irene asked. "Not really, actually. Even the boys at court never really played team sports, I must say."

"I suppose that makes sense." Wake said.

"There aren't any team sports which are popular nationally in Pantocratoria, you see. Those team sports which are popular are only popular in their particular region. Soccer is very popular in Montmanuel, for instance, but almost nobody plays or watches it in New Rome." Irene explained. "Tennis is the only real sport girls play at the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator. My nieces all played it a good deal more than I did, but tennis wasn't very popular with ladies when I was a girl, because my father the Emperor disapproved of sweat, especially ladies sweating."

Wake started to say something and then closed her mouth.

"What?" Irene asked, smiling. "Believe me, I won't take offence."

"It seems to me that a married man with a healthy conjugal life would like to make at least one woman sweat." Wake commented.

Irene blushed and looked completely stunned by the remark. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and broke eye contact with Wake.

"You promised you wouldn't take offence." Wake protested.

"I thought it was going to be about my father's sexist attitudes or something!" Irene replied, still surprised.

"Feminists are also much more open about sexuality." Wake noted.

"You're talking about my parents, though!" Irene replied.

"Our first impressions of what's sexually normal come from our parents." Wake pointed out.

"Let's change the topic." Irene said hopefully.

"Yes, ma'am." Wake agreed.

"What do you think about the position of women, overall, in Pantocratorian society?" Irene asked.

"It's their own fault, largely." Wake said bluntly.

"What's their own fault?" Irene blinked, somewhat surprised. "I mean, before you allocate blame, what's the state of women in Pantocratoria contrasted to where you think it should be?"

"They're underrepresented in public life. They're economically dependent to a large extent. They're subordinate within the home. At Court, they're subject to institutionalized abuse. I could go on." Wake said.

"And why is it their own fault?" Irene enquired.

"Because there's no huge legal barriers to be surmounted. Women can vote in people to change their situation if they wish. They are a slight majority. Women can found their own companies, pursue their own goals, redefine the social situation...but they don't." Wake said.

"Some do." Irene pointed out.

"You do." Wake said smiling a little.

"Thank you, but others do too." Irene replied. "When you say that there are no legal barriers to be surmounted, and that women could vote for people to change their situations... what do you think remains for legislators to do?"

"Affirmative action." Wake added. "Better day care, a workplace more reflective of women's needs..."

"Affirmative action, as in, preferring female employees to male ones where possible?" Irene asked.

"No, that isn't what affirmative action means." Wake said. "Affirmative action is taking active steps to prevent discrimination in wages and employment and going out of your way to open opportunities by addressing special needs."

"Did you know that the majority of university students are women?" Irene asked. "That was an achievement of the United Christian Front Government. We never really got anywhere, or tried, to be honest, in the workplace... not after the early nineties anyway."

"The workplace is where things need to change for those college degrees to be useful." Wake noted.

"Well we spent the first few years breaking the power of unions to dictate how workplaces should be run... after we had basically handed over control to employers there was a lot of opposition within the party to any suggestion that we should try to interfere with their workplaces..." Irene said. "Although I suppose I am making it sound like some of us wanted to introduce something along the lines of what you're suggesting, which wouldn't really be accurate."

"The Socialists haven't done much along those lines either though." Wake said. "And one might expect it more of them."

"They've been committed for years to getting it back to the way things were, shifting the power back to unions." Irene shrugged. "Until they've finished doing all that, they won't even begin to think of doing anything else. The unions are still looking backwards at how things were before 1992, they won't be able to look forward until they feel that they're more or less back where they started."

"And the unions consist of the very men who have an interest in avoiding competition from women, I know." Wake concurred.

"There aren't many inspiring women in the Pantocratorian Socialist Alliance." Irene nodded.

"There's Folquet." Wake pointed out. "I think she's very inspiring."

"Oh?" Irene asked. "In what way?"

"She's managed to triumph over adversity, provide an important perspective for Pantocratoria, and participate in the important work of Governance." Wake said.

"Have you ever heard her say anything of substance or give any sort of vision for the country?" Irene enquired breezily.

"I've heard some of her speeches in Parliament." Wake answered.

"So have I, and I've never heard anything from her which I'd classify as a vision for the country, or even of substance." Irene replied. "I don't say that to be cruel either, or because we're political opponents. I've heard Dr Drapeur say plenty of things which I'd call visionary. Not from Folquet though."

"What do you think of women in the Resurgent Dream?" Wake asked Irene

"I think it depends on the principality." Irene replied.

"Well, I'd say there's even more social repression of women in Alekthos or Kadoki as you'd say there is in Pantocratoria." Irene ventured.

"Do you know much about either principality?" Wake asked. "I don't think they're what you might expect."

"Am I wrong about them?" Irene pressed.

"Largely, yes." Wake answered.

"Please, enlighten me." Irene asked.

"Girls there frequently play sports in school. They feel free to wear shorts or pants. They often go into business or law. More of them hold political office than in most parts of Pantocratoria."

"And how many wear headscarves? Or have all the important decisions in life made for them by their father and then their husband?" Irene asked.

"A good number wear scarves." Wake admitted.

"And how many spend their whole lives dominated by their patriarchs?" Irene pressed.

"Fewer than you think." Wake insisted. "A small minority to the degree you're suggesting."

"Larger still than in Pantocratoria." Irene declared. "At least here that sort of thing is mainly confined to the aristocracy."

"What do you think of Danaan women generally?" Wake then asked.

"You forget, mademoiselle, that I am not a feminist." Irene smiled at Wake. "I'll happily concede that they are more empowered, outside of certain principalities, than Pantocratorian women are, on the whole."

"And how do you feel about it, Your Highness?" Wake asked next.

"I don't know..." Irene answered honestly after a long pause. "I'm trying to work that out... and I hope that you'll be able to help me."

St Irene's School was set in idyllic countryside, and it felt like driving into another world as the motorcade carrying Wake and Irene entered the school gates, underneath an old stone archway surmounted by the school's name and a statue of its saint, the Empress Irene. The cars pulled up in the courtyard inside, to be greeted by the school Principal and two girls, the school's Captain and Vice-Captain. The girls were dressed in the school's uniform, a white short-sleeve blouse with a red tie, only the top of which was visible, framed as it was by the shoulder straps of the long black dress which started just above the waist and went down to just below the knee. The girls wore long white socks and sensible polished black leather shoes. The school Principal was a rather severe looking middle-aged woman, Sister Marie-Thérèse Hagiosophecles. All three of them curtsied as Irene and Wake's door was opened for them and they disembarked the car. Wake smiled politely at the girls and the principal. She stretched her legs a little after the long car ride, slightly flexing her athletic frame.

"Your Highness, Minister, welcome to St Irene's." the Principal said, clearly thrilled to have them there.

"Minister Wake, please allow me to presented Sister Marie-Thérèse, the Principal of St Irene's." Irene began. "Besides being a dedicated educator and bride of Christ, Sister Marie-Thérèse was so very helpful to us in 2004 in this area, in both elections, I can't thank her enough."

"Your Highness is too kind." replied the Principal, blushing despite herself. "Please allow me to present the school's student leaders, Isabelle Court, the School Captain, and Jeanne Ribaldi, the School Vice-Captain."

Each of the girls curtsied again in turn. Isabelle, the Captain, was a tall, slim girl with natural straight blonde hair and big brown eyes. Jeanne, the Vice-Captain, was shorter and stockier, although she wasn't overweight by any stretch, with curly black hair and an olive complexion. Both looked to be about sixteen or seventeen, which would put them in their final year of secondary school.

"It's an honour to meet you both, Your Highness, Minister." said Isabelle.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all, ladies. Thank you for graciously allowing us the use of your school for this event." Wake answered.

"Of course, Minister." said the Principal. "Please, would you like to come into the office for a moment to recover from your journey before we tour the school? We've prepared some refreshments if you'd care for something to eat or drink."

"That sounds lovely, Sister, don't you think so, Minister?" Irene responded, turning to Wake.

"It sounds quite pleasant. It was a very long ride." Wake answered with a smile.

The Principal smiled and looked at the Vice-Captain.

"This way, if you please, mesdemoiselles." said Jeanne, sounding very nervous.

The little party proceeded up some stone steps and into the school's office. A Pantocratorian flag hung from a flagpole in the corner, and the school's receptionist stood by a table of kettles, cups, glasses and jugs of various things with a smile on her face. On a coffee table in the middle of the room, presumably placed there just for the occasion, above a white lace tablecloth, sat a few place settings, and a tray of cakes and sweets. On the walls about the room hung, starting directly opposite the door and moving around the room in clockwise order, a Crucifix, a painted stone Madonna, an icon of St Irene, an official portrait photograph of the Emperor, an official portrait photograph of Pope Leo XIV, a large photograph of Irene visiting the school as Imperial Chancellor in the first 2004 election, admist a crowd of excited students.

"Please, sit down." the Principal said, moving to stand behind her seat and indicating to the seats across from her, which the girls prepared to push-in for the visiting dignitaries. "Can we get you something to drink? Tea, coffee, orange juice, water, or something else perhaps?"

Wake took her seat with a polite smile. "Orange juice, please."

"I'll have the same." Irene answered, sitting down next to Wake.

The Principal sat down, and the girls helped the receptionist serve the drinks before sitting down quietly in their chairs.

"Would you like something to eat, mesdemoiselles?" asked Isabelle, not quite as nervous as Jeanne but still noticeably ill at ease.

"One of those cakes would be lovely, mademoiselle." Wake answered her.

With a faintly trembling hand, Isabelle used a pair of polished silver tongs to set a cake on Wake's plate. She looked to Irene.

"Something for you, Your Hi... Highness?" Isabelle stammered.

"I'll have one of those smaller ones near the back there, they look lovely." Irene answered.

"Thank you." Wake said as the cake was placed on her plate.

Wake waited until everyone who wished had one before eating it fairly quickly. Irene only ate about half of hers, and did so rather slowly. Each of the girls served themselves some sweets as well, although both were rather self-conscious as they ate them, worried that they would commit some unspeakable breach of etiquette. The group engaged in some small talk before finishing with the refreshment and moving off towards the classrooms for their tour.

Wake didn't ask for another cake immediately. She didn't want to seem uncouth in front of the Pantocratorians, even though she was still rather hungry. Instead, she took a sip of her orange juice, leeting her gaze wander over to the poster of Irene in the 2004 election. She looked so different than the Irene Wake knew now, so much more severe, even in what was supposed to be an appealing photo.

"In the last two years, the world has changed rather greatly. I'd actually say that there have been more major changes in the last two years than in the two decades before that. The United States of America regained its independence. The Menelmacari and the Necrontyr combined their states. Democracy has come to Adoki, Marlund, and Upper Virginia. The Grand Duke of Saxmere has been restored, however conditionally. My own country has changed far more drastically than most but there have been a number of major events in Pantocratoria as well: Electoral changes, religious divisions, Pantocratorian Ambara, tensions in Finara, a mass attempt at illegal immigration by Allanea...I'd actually like to hear how you young ladies feel about all of this, growing up in such interesting times. Do you think things are changing for better or worse or neither?" Wake said, trying to start up an interesting conversation with such advanced students.

The girls looked to Sister Marie-Thérèse for permission to speak. The Principal nodded with a smile.

"In Pantocratoria, for the worse, mademoiselle." said Isabelle. "But in most of the rest of the world, for the better. It's OK to answer that, one being one way, the other another, isn't it?"

"Pantocratoria was better when Her Highness was the Imperial Chancellor." Jeanne added. It was difficult to determine whether she was being sincere or not - she certainly wanted to be sincere.

"It is perfectly alright to answer that way. Few questions in life have only one answer." Wake reassured them with a small smile. "If you ladies wouldn't mind terrible, may I have another of those cakes?"

Wake began on this cake much more delicately, eating it in the manner she'd noticed Irene and the other Pantocratorian ladies had been eating. It seemed to come naturally to her once she decided to do it. She was used to adopting this or that mannerism for this or that occasion. A politician had to be.

After a moment of silence, she looked back to the young ladies who seemed to have finished speaking, at least in so far as her question was concerned. There were quite a few specific things she could say. She could call them on the fact that they'd just implied the Shattering, the greatest tragedy and suffering in her nation's history, was a good thing. But these were kids, bright kids but still kids, so she just said "Go on."

Irene watched on with studied interest as Wake interrogated the girls. The Principal regarded the girls expectantly. The girls both looked a little nervous.

"Well, Ambara's a lot better off now than it used to be..." Isabelle ventured. "The last two years have seen an end to decades of slavery, torture, Calvinism, mass-murder, and other human rights abuses in Marlund, and the country is now almost completely rebuilt, so Marlund is a lot better off. The military dictator of Upper Virginia was overthrown and now that country has a democratically elected responsible government, so Upper Virginia is a lot better off. The people of Saxmere... well I guess they're still sort of oppressed... but less so now than they used to be by the government in Jefferson. So in lots of places, things are better now than they used to be two years ago."

"But Pantocratoria isn't." Jeanne reiterated, looking to Irene with a hopeful smile. "There's unemployment, and people are really rude and selfish now... maybe that sounds naïve but that's what I think, the country has changed a lot since 2004."

"There's a schism in the Church too!" Isabelle added in a hurry, looking at the Principal.

"Oh, yes, that's... that's the worst thing." Jeanne nodded.

Calvinism had never been the official or the predominant religion in Marlund but Wake decided it would be cruel to point that out. She settled back slightly in her chair. "You're both very perceptive young ladies. I think you'll go far in life."

She let it go at that, waiting for Irene or the principal to speak. She hoped she wouldn't have to forcefully drive the entire conversation like this.

The girls smiled, more from relief that their ordeal was over than anything else. The Principal smiled as well, pleased that Wake had complimented her charges. Irene finished her orange juice, and waited for the others to finish their cakes and drinks.

"Well, Sister, Minister, shall we begin the tour?" she asked.

"That sounds lovely, Your Highness." Wake answered.

After a few minutes the little party had left the school office and was walking towards a classroom block. As Irene and Wake had requested, classes weren't to be disrupted by their visit, so they could see girls working at their desks through the windows of the classroom block, with only a few of them noticing the visiting dignitaries with some excitement.

"How typical of a girl's education in Pantocratoria is this institution?" Wake asked curiously.

"Well, Minister," Sister Marie-Thérèse began. "We like to think that we're Pantocratoria's finest school for girls. I know that's somewhat immodest, but I can't help but feel a little pride in what we've accomplished at St Irene's. I suppose it would be typical of the better girls Church schools."

"You're familiar, of course, mademoiselle, that in Pantocratoria there are two types of school, Church schools and the present government's newly created public schools." Irene explained. "Unfortunately, most other Church schools are now hard pressed to maintain the sort of standards we see at St Irene's."

Wake nodded. "But they do have the same orientation? St. Irene's excellence is due to better success at achieving shared goals, not a disagreement about educational theory?"

"Both Church and public schools follow a curriculum set by the Department of Education, if that's what you mean, Minister." the Sister answered. "For non-religious subject matter that is. Or did you mean our teaching philosophy?"

"I meant more how you teach than what you teach, yes." Wake confirmed.

"At St Irene's we try to foster the moral and spiritual development of each girl as an individual." the Sister replied. "I think the girls here would agree with me if I said that we were strict but fair with our pupils. We encourage our students to be introspective, self-disciplined, and thoughtful. And unlike a lot of other schools, both Church and public, we eschew corporal punishment."

"I have heard some of corporal punishment in Pantocratorian schools from my colleagues." Wake commented with a wry smile.

"We think it's un-Christian, frankly." the Sister nodded. "We demand nothing but the highest standards of behaviour and obedience from our girls, and we are rarely disappointed. If you, as a teacher, need to beat a child in order for that child to obey you, then the child is obeying not because she wants to obey, but because she's afraid to disobey. Our girls behave themselves because they want to behave themselves. You can't do that with fear."

Wake nodded. "It must do wonders for your national unity to have a single national curriculum. Sometimes, I come close to wishing we had something like that back home."

"The curriculum allows for considerable variation, but it does ensure that every school covers all the important areas." the Principal agreed as they entered the classroom block and neared the first class.

Wake nodded, falling silent for the moment. The party approached the classroom door. Inside, a lay teacher was teaching mathematics. As he wrote a sum on the board, he saw the Principal, the girls and the guests, and set down his whiteboard marker. He turned to the door, motioning for the girls to stand up. They all put down their pens quickly and stood up behind their desks.

"Sister..." he began, acknowledging the Principal.

"Monsieur Pinon, girls," said the Principal as she stepped into the room. "We've two very special visitors today as you know. Allow me to introduce Minister Beatrice Wake from the Resurgent Dream, and Her Imperial Highness Princess Irene."

"Good afternoon mesdemoiselles, and peace be with you." the girls all said in unison.

"This is final year Advanced Mathematics with Monsieur Pinon, mesdemoiselles." the Sister said to the guests.

Wake nodded, smiling slightly to the girls. "With you as well."

There was a murmured giggle from the backrow of the class, but it was silenced by the Principal with a quick glare at the girls responsible.

"And what are you teaching the girls, monsieur?" the Sister asked the teacher.

"Quadratics, Sister." the teacher answered.

"Do all the girls take the same mathematics classes in the same year?" Wake asked.

"No, the girls choose between ordinary and advanced mathematics after their tenth form final exams." the Principal answered. "There are two advanced classes and three ordinary ones, with approximately twenty girls in each."

Wake nodded, letting the principal show her around for the moment. Irene looked up at the board thoughtfully, regretting that it was all meaningless to her. She, like the other women her age at the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator, had never been taught any mathematics past basic multiplication and division. She looked to the girls and smiled.

"Pay close attention girls. I wish I understood quadratics." Irene told them with a smile, before wandering back next to Wake and the Principal.

"Well thank you, Monsieur Pinon, girls, and sorry for the disruption." the Principal said. "Good afternoon girls."

"Good afternoon Sister, and peace be with you." the girls replied by habit as the party moved on down the hall.

"Do you know what they were giggling about?" Wake asked Irene quietly.

"I've no idea. There's probably some rehearsed answer to their greeting that we didn't know." Irene answered.

"Possibly." Wake answered, giving Irene a grateful smile for the pretense. "So tell me more about the mathematics requirements, Sister."

"Mathematics is a compulsory subject in the Department of Education's curriculum." the Principal answered patiently. "For their last two years, students can do either advanced or ordinary mathematics. Advanced mathematics is for girls who might like to pursue mathematics-based subject matter at university. Ordinary mathematics is for students who don't intend to pursue a science or engineering or other mathematics based degree, who just need basic life skill mathematics."

"And what exactly is encompassed by advanced mathematics?" Wake asked curiously.

"Well," the Principal began. "Advanced mathematics covers advanced algebra, factorials... I don't fully understand it all to be honest. I'm not particularly mathematically inclined. But it gives students a grounding in the hard sciences, or rather, the material they need to pursue study in the hard sciences."

Wake nodded. "So advances mathematics is a fairly limited course of study, pursued by about the same proportion of the student body as might major in mathematics at university" Wake asked.

Wake nodded. "So advanced mathematics is a fairly limited course of study, pursued by about the same proportion of the student body as might major in mathematics at university" Wake asked.

"No, it's broader than that." the Principal replied. "It isn't just mathematics courses at university which require advanced mathematics, but also the sciences, engineering, computer science, and so on. I'm pleased to say that at St Irene's we have the highest proportion of advanced mathematics students to ordinary mathematics students of any girl's school in Pantocratoria."

"But not of any school." Wake noted. "Is there a similar system in place in the humanities and the natural sciences?"

"No." the Principal answered. "Students are not required by the Department of Education to do any science beyond tenth form, nor any humanities beyond literature. The only compulsory subjects in the Department of Education curriculum are mathematics, either ordinary or advanced, and literature, either French or Greek depending on the school."

"So it's all electives then?" Wake inquired.

"For the last two years, yes. And Religious Education is compulsory at St Irene's as well, of course, as it is at every Catholic Church school. And probably every Orthodox one too." the Sister answered as they passed by a few class rooms. "Why don't you tell the Minister which subjects you take, girls?"

"I take French Literature, Ordinary Mathematics, Religious Education, Ancient History, Social Studies, English and Greek." answered Isabelle.

"I take French Literature, Advanced Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Religious Education, Biology, and Health and Physical Education." answered Jeanne.

"What do you study in Ancient History?" Wake asked Isabelle.

"Right now we're studying the rise of Islam, mademoiselle." Isabelle answered politely.

"That is interesting." Wake said, slightly surprised.

"This week we studied the conquest of Spain." Isabelle elaborated a little.

Wake nodded. "Will the Reconquest also be covered in Ancient History?"

"It will but only as a footnote, Ancient History is supposed to end with the fall of Constantinople." Isabelle answered.

"And what was the earliest event you studied in detail?" Wake inquired.

"In Ancient History? Because we did general history before that, and we actually covered cavemen and things in ninth form." Isabelle sought clarification.

"Yes, in Ancient History. The earliest event covered in detail in this particular course." Wake continued, apparently very interested.

"The first topic and the topic which stretched back the earliest was Ancient Greece." answered Isabelle. "We especially focussed on the development of Athens, mademoiselle."

"Are you interested in Ancient History, mademoiselle?" Irene asked Wake.

"I merely found the time period covered to be different from what would be designated by the same phrase back home." Wake answered. "It intrigued me."

Irene nodded thoughtfully. Jeanne had fallen back a little bit, looking slightly dejected that Isabelle had been asked many more questions by the Minister than she had. The Principal was still enthusiastic, and stopped to point out particular classes, statues, and other points of interest. Wake asked quite a few questions about everything she was shown. After a while, she ventured in a jocular tone "I'd like you young ladies to feel free to ask questions as well as answer. I don't want to feel like such an interrogator."

"Thank you, Minister." Isabelle answered, but neither girl actually did so, both a little nervous about asking so eminent a visitor anything.

"St Irene's is lucky to have some very notable and well to do benefactors." the Principal said as they entered a hall with pictures of a variety of people who had made significant donations to the school. She was obviously not through pointing out various things she thought were interesting. "The Duchess Dowager of Montmanuel was a student here as a girl. Through her generousity just this year we were able to upgrade all the computers in our computer laboratories."

"Is a lot of schoolwork done by computer?" Wake asked.

"The girls have computer literacy classes once a week." the Sister replied. "Besides that, some subjects have some of their classes in computer labs, and girls can enroll in information technology class just like any other subject, all the way through to twelfth form."

Wake nodded thoughtfully before turning to Jeanne. "Jeanne, you said you were taking health and physical education?"

"Yes, Minister." Jeanne nodded.

"Are you interested in athletics?" Wake continued.

"Not really, mademoiselle." Jeanne answered. "I like exercise, but I don't really find athletics interesting per se. I picked Health and Physical Education because I like exercise but I also like the theory classes. We learn about how the human body works. The subject is half classroom theory lessons, and half sports and exercise."

"What sort of sports do you play during the sports section?" Wake pressed.

"We do athletics, swimming, tennis, and netball, mademoiselle." Jeanne replied.

"I opened the athletics track last time I was here, if I recall." Irene observed.

"Indeed you did, Your Highness." the Principal nodded.

"Netball is the only team sport?" Wake continued.

Irene grinned although she didn't mention anything since she didn't want to give anything Wake might say in her speech tonight away.

"No, mademoiselle, we play doubles in tennis, have relay teams in swimming, and we sometimes play water polo." Jeanne replied.

Wake nodded. "Are there extracurricular teams for any of this, competitive with other schools?"

"No, Minister," the Principal answered. "St Irene's is the only girls Church school in the area, an inter-school sports competition isn't very feasible. We have athletics and swimming teams which compete with other schools in annual regional and imperial competitions, though."

Wake inclined her head. "I'm sure you do quite well."

"We're always very pleased with the girls because they always give their best efforts." the Principal replied, smiling at Wake then Jeanne.

"That's good to hear." Wake said. "I actually ran track for my school when I was that age."

"Jeanne placed... what was it dear, fifth? Fifth in her age group in high jump at last year's national athletics competition." the Principal recalled. "That's right, isn't it Jeanne?"

"Yes, Sister." Jeanne blushed.

"The fifth best in the whole country." Wake noted. "That is very impressive, Jeanne." Wake said with a grin.

"Thank you, Minister. I had an excellent coach." Jeanne blushed, looking down modestly.

"I certainly never did so well." Wake continued her praise of the girl.

"I think you're embarrassing her, mademoiselle." Irene ventured.

Wake smiled wryly but changed the subject. "Does the school have any student publications, Sister?"

"What do you mean, mademoiselle?" the Principal asked.

"Does the school publish any materials written by students on a regular basis?" Wake clarified. "A literary or poetry magazine, a journal of essays, something of that nature."

"Some students, like the Captain and Vice-Captain, are asked to contribute to the yearbook each year." the Principal replied.

Wake nodded. "Do you ladies know what you will contribute this year?"

"The Captain and Vice-Captain are always asked to contribute a page of reflections on the year itself." the Sister clarified.

"Ah." Wake responded simply.

"I'll certainly be mentioning your visit, mesdemoiselles." Isabelle piped in.

"I'm sure it will be well-written, Isabelle." Wake answered. "But try not to go too hard on us." she added with a wry grin.

"Hard on you? Oh, no, mademoiselle, I didn't mean that I would write something bad..." Isabelle stammered nervously.

"Isabelle, I wasn't criticising you or suggesting anything of the sort. You don't need to be nervous about it." Wake reassured her.

The group crossed a quadrangle to the hall where the evening's event had been organised. The Principal continued to point things out along the way.

"...and the hall itself is named for Empress Theodora II, in whose reign the original hall was built, although that hall was pulled down in the fifties and replaced, and the replacement was pulled down again and replaced six years ago." the Principal said. "The boarders set it up for your event yesterday evening, and some of them have volunteered tonight to assist with the event, as we've discussed with your event organiser."

"Thank you for showing us around, Sister. I'm looking forward to this evening." Wake said. "Thank you as well, girls."

"Yes, thank you very much, Sister, and thank you as well, girls." Irene reiterated.

"It was our privilege, mesdemoiselles." the Principal answered, curtseying slightly, along with both girls. "I'm looking forward to this evening myself."

"Your Highness, Minister..." began one of the event organisers who had arrived before the actual speakers, as he emerged from the hall. "We've a few things we'd like to run through with you for this evening..."

After getting all the details arranged with the staff, Wake and Irene retired until the actual event for a light meal and some time to settle in to their quarters for the evening. Wake wasted very little time in getting out her laptop and beginning to edit furiously. She got up from time to time to retrieve a book or some notes that she had with her, looking up this or that point. For the most part, she worked intently and in silence. It took her over an hour to finish and print out her new speaking notes.

Only after she was done with this did Wake go to join her travelling companion. She didn't volunteer anything about the changes she had just made although she wasn't necessarily trying to hide anything either.

"Do you really think I upset Jeanne when I embarassed her like that? I always thought that it was sort of a good feeling to be embarassed by praise, especially for your people."

Wake settled down into a seat, looking reflective. "It's been far too long since I've been on a track. Maybe I should take it up again."

"No, I don't think you upset her at all." Irene answered reassuringly. "She was just being modest. But what do you mean, especially for your people? Do I detect a hint of prejudice, or at the least, preconception?"

"I meant young people." Wake explained. "French is my third language after all."

Wake crossed her legs casually and rested one hand on her knee. In light of the conversation earlier, she couldn't help but notice that while her legs were still athletic, they also had more fatty tissue than she liked. The same could be said of her whole body, she supposed. So much youth and beauty made her feel a little old and a little alone. She smiled gently at Irene and then looked off for a moment. "So do our people have anything planned between now and the event and, if not, how would you like to pass the time?"

She shifted a little in her chair. "I've already updated my notes to reflect what we learned during our tour of the school and our conversation in the car on the way down here. Both were rather enlightening. I was surprised to see that the curriculum was so strongly oriented towards the positive sciences, including mathematics and similar disciplines."

"Well, you wouldn't be surprised to see such an emphasis at a boys school, surely?" Irene asked. "The Sister's ambition is that St Irene's be regarded the equal or better of any school in Pantocratoria in any given field, not just any girls school."

The women spent the next hour or so in conversation over a light (and early) dinner before the evening's event actually began in the school's Theodora II Hall. The guests for the event itself were to be served dinner throughout the speeches and it would be hard on the two speakers otherwise if they hadn't had their dinner first! The crowd at the school was substantially different from the previous event, seeming to consist mostly of prominent members of the community in the region, some of the parents of the children at the school, faculty, and a table of prefects. Irene and Wake entered the hall to polite applause, and took their seats on the stage. This time, Irene was to speak first. She rose and made her way over to the podium to speak.

"St Irene's is, in my opinion, the best place in Pantocratoria to talk about the future of girls' education. It was the first school for girls in the Empire, although I hardly need to tell this audience that, I should think." Irene began. "Suffice it to say that it was a model to the rest of Pantocratoria then, and by all rights, should be a model to the rest of Pantocratoria now, because St Irene's represents what should be the future of education for all of Pantocratoria's young women."

"The family is the most important building block of our society. That much goes unchallenged by all but the most extreme ideologues. I have always been and will always remain an advocate for those women who believe that their best place is with their family, caring for their children, and raising Pantocratoria's future." Irene said. "If that means they do not feel it appropriate to take a job, that is a decision which I believe government must support, and which society as a whole must regard with admiration, not with derision."

"There are two traditional views on this matter which I would, however, challenge, and which I do not believe I have sufficiently challenged in the past. The first is the view that the mother should be the one to stay at home with the family. Why not the father? I believe we, as a society, should support fathers who decide to stay with their families, caring for their children, just as we should support mothers who do the same. As far as I can tell, there is no real merit to the idea that the stay-at-home parent must be the mother as opposed to the father. So then, either parent can stay at home with the children, and either parent can be the family's bread winner. The decision as to which parent does which job is surely up to families." Irene said. "Secondly, I'd challenge the view then that girls do not need so great an emphasis in their education placed on the hard sciences and mathematics. If women are to be equal participants in the workforce, or at least, if they are to have the option to be the family's bread winner rather than the family's stay at home carer, then they shouldn't be de facto excluded from a wide range of professions due to inadequate education in fields traditionally regarded as male."

"What I am saying is hardly new, although I suppose that it's probably not said enough in Pantocratoria." Irene told the audience. "But the problem, even in a lot of other, supposedly more progressive nations, is that all which ever happens about the fundamental problems in girls' education is that political leaders just talk about it. They have platitudes, but no action. It is time we took action. Girls should be encouraged into the sciences and mathematics. St Irene's is an exception in Pantocratoria, and much of the world, as a girl's school, in that so many girls study mathematics and the sciences. Let me assure you, they don't do it so that they'll be able to take science courses at universities and meet men training to be doctors..."

There were a few chuckles about the audience, especially from the table occupied by the school prefects, who found the idea particularly amusing. Irene paused a few moments to smile, the first time most of the audience there that night had ever seen her do so.

"I am not saying that girls shouldn't be girls." Irene said. "Learning the proper way for a young lady to behave is an important part of a girl's socialisation, but girls can take classes normally dominated by boys without ceasing to be young ladies. More needs to be done to encourage them to do so, and to those parents here tonight, I urge you to encourage your girls to take mathematics and science classes, especially if they've not decided what they want to do after they finish school yet. But that won't be enough. As I said before, political leaders have long talked about this problem, but they've never done anything to actually do something about the imbalance in maths and science classrooms. So tonight, I challenge the Government to take action."

"As I said earlier, St Irene's ought to be a model to Pantocratorian girls' schools." Irene said. "Far too many Church girls' schools have no science laboratories or antiquated ones at best. The Parliament should legislate to require all schools to have adequate science teaching facilities. The Government should assist all schools, Church and state schools alike, to bring their science laboratories up to scratch. The curriculum does not require students to take science beyond their first year of secondary school. In Pantocratoria's state schools, the proportion of boys to girls in science classes post-eight form is six and five sixths boys to three and one sixth girls. In New Rome's Church schools, the porportion is six and one third boys to three and two thirds girls, identical to New Rome's state schools. No similar metric has been collected for Church schools on a national basis but the proportion is thought to be similar to the national average for state schools. The disparity isn't good enough. Boys and girls should both be obliged by the curriculum to take at least one science class a semester until the beginning of eleventh form. Even if the proportion of boys to girls remains similar for the last two years of school after that, we will at least have ensured that every child, boy and girl, has at least a grounding in the fundamentals. We make some level of mathematics compulsory, we ought to make some level of science compulsory too, even if we don't extend that to the last two years of schooling."

"Each year the Treasury collects a few simple metrics which tell us something about financial literacy in the adult population. In 2005, 92% of all tax returns filed for married couples were filed by the husband." Irene began, reading the statistic off a sheet of paper on the lectern. "In 2005, 58% of the bank account details provided on tax returns for married couples for electronic funds transfer of tax refunds were accounts in the name of the husband only. 12% of bank accounts were in the name of the couple, given in the form Monsieur et Madame, followed by the husband's initial and last name alone. 26% of tax refunds for married couples were paid to bank accounts in the names of both husband and wife, and only 4% into an account held only in the wife's name. These metrics, though apparently dry and uninteresting, suggest a significantly higher rate of financial literacy among men than among women. This can be corrected in our schools. A semester of practical mathematics aimed at improving financial literacy, should be introduced and made compulsory for all students. It could be amalgamated into Ordinary Mathematics and Advanced Mathematics, or be a class in its own right. At the very least, it should be incorporated into Home Economics courses."

"Ladies and gentlemen, when I was a girl, it was thought that girls had no need of science or mathematics in their classes." Irene said. "That certainly was the attitude which prevailed amongst my tutors, at least, all but one of whom were men. I haven't the slightest idea what makes a car engine work or what keeps a plane in the air. I'd very much like to understand evolution, and some people have tried to explain it to me, but I've only really the vaguest idea of what a cell is, and a very primitive understanding of even my own anatomy. I struggle with mathematics more complicated than determining how many seats out of five hundrend and forty constitutes a majority, or how large a percentage point swing is required to win this seat or that. I admit all this freely, because I am not alone. There would be many women here tonight whose educations were similarly neglected in the sciences and in mathematics. We must do better, and while things have gotten better, and the young women of today are far more scientifically and mathematically literate than women of my generation, they still have a ways to go before they can be said to have a true equivalency with men. Until they do, women will never have equal access to workplaces because they simply won't possess the skills many professions require. And until women possess those skills, the fact is and will remain that the vast majority of families who decide to have one parent stay at home while the other works will decide that the mother should be that stay-at-home parent."

Wake stood to make her speech shortly after Irene had sat down. “This might surprise some of you but I actually agree with most of what Her Highness said. However, from a feminist perspective, the key element in girls’ education which creates sexual stratification was barely mentioned, namely socialization.

“In Pantocratoria, there remains a huge disparity in the mathematical and scientific education of boys and girls. In the Resurgent Dream, this gap exists as well, although it is smaller and, in certain regions, absent. However, I don’t think that this gap is the primary problem as far as gender equality in education is concerned. I certainly don’t think that this gap is accurately measured by who makes the financial decisions for families. In the Resurgent Dream, the taxes of 62% of households are filed by the man of the house. However, this percentage increases to 89% among families who hire a professional accountant to do the actual calculations. That is, when math skills are removed entirely as a factor, the disproportionate control of family finances by men increases, rather than decreases. In 61% of families where the woman of the house has three or more years of formal education more than the man, the man still files the taxes. The issue is primarily one of socialization and only secondarily one of mathematical skills.

“I’m not going to focus on the content of the curriculum tonight although I am not so ungracious a guest as to refrain from mentioning that I found what was shown us of the curriculum here at St. Irene’s most impressive. In fact, I am not going to focus on overtly gendered socialization either. I am not going to spend a great deal of time about the different dress codes of boys and girls, the idea of proper modesty for a young lady, the differing physical expectations, or anything of that nature. I have made my opinion on all of those topics clear in the past and I stand by them, but that is not my topic tonight.

“Cooperation is the foundation of society. Some might even define a society as a plan for cooperation over time between vast numbers of people of many generations. In the family, the spouses are partners cooperating to maintain a life together, rear any children they might have, and perform productively as a constituent part of a larger community. In the workplace, cooperative labor is the norm from factories, to corporate offices, to academia. In trade unions, political parties, religious communities, charity organizations, the armed forces, in practically every sphere or public and private life, the ability to work as part of a team is fundamental. While this is especially important in modern states, it is an intrinsic part of human nature found in every kind of state and society, including those which espouse in theory a radical individualism. This is a point so obvious that I barely feel the need to argue it.

“However, this is not to stress the opposite extreme of collectivism. The social nature of human beings is best cultivated through individual self-expression within the context of cooperation and the bonds of community. In practical terms, this means that the individual not only fulfills a role in a group activity but actively participates in the intellectual and spiritual life of the group, shows initiative, discusses group affairs intelligently and with the expectation that his or her view will be considered relevant, and generally behaves not as some sort of drone but as a partner in a shared enterprise.

“I think that for most of us, most of the time, our ability to function as a participating, responsible member of a team or a partnership is an important key to success in a financial, spiritual, intellectual, and emotional success. I obviously don’t want this to be taken as an absolute. All of us have been through experiences in our lives which we either wanted or needed to do entirely on our own. Likewise, there are times in every life when it is necessary to simply fulfill a function without question. Children need well-rounded socialization so that they can function in all of these situations but they especially need socialization that helps them be part of a team.

“For boys, this socialization largely occurs through athletics. Many more boys than girls participate in athletics at all ages, both in Pantocratoria and the Resurgent Dream. Moreover, almost all boys participate informally in team sports at a young age, even if it merely takes the form of playing an improvised game with other boys from the neighborhood without any coaching or official judging. This socialization gives boys a tremendous advantage in the area of teamwork skills.

“We feminists often tend to fall into the error of simply demanding that the current advantages enjoyed by men be applied to women, without pausing to subject them to a thorough critical examination. This is the case with the easy fix proposed by many feminists of merely socializing girls through the same sort of athletic programs without pausing to think if the advantages of this socialization might be better realized in some other context lacking the overly competitive, sometimes hostile, and definitely aggressive climate of team sports. I do, of course, unequivocally support the right of girls to enter all athletic activities on equal terms with boys in the same situation.

“However, many more productive group activities suggest themselves to the imaginative mind. For example, and this is merely an example, at some schools there exist student poetry magazines. A faculty sponsor provides some limited guidance and supervision and the school provides funds but the student staff, headed by a student editor, do all of the work themselves. They collect submissions from fellow students, set policies, determine which submissions to include, even arrange for the printing of the magazine at a local printer or copier. An identical pattern might be followed for an art publication, one of short stories, or, at higher levels, even a publication of essays.

“This is just one possibility among many that might help to socialize girls to be more active participants in their own lives and in the lives of their communities. The key to this sort of socialization is to connect the students both with an immediate team and a broader community while encouraging not merely responsibility but initiative…”

Wake continued on with her speech, going into more detail and praising certain specific programs at St. Irene's while suggesting other possible programs. She sat down next to Princess Irene with a fond smile.

OOC: unassuming interuption so deleted.

And besides, how would a Fiefdom official get there? Its like a pleasant North Korea there.


Well, sort of pleasant.

((OOC: I'm a little confused now but ok. I'll edit my post accordingly.))

OOC: A solution, of sorts.

IC: Sitting in the audience, enjoying a delicious meal of....well he assumed it was peacock but he could never be sure, was Deputy Chairman of the Fiefdom Commission for Advanced Planning of the National Economy Acamapichtli Pochtecatl.
The opening-up of the Fiefdom had allowed, for government officials like Pochtecatl at least, the opportunity to visit the world. He had been sent to Pantocratoria as part of the vanguard of Uncle Noel's own visit which, according to Pochtecatl's watch, would be happening tomorrow morning. This meant, therefore, that Acamapichtli's role as impromptu foreign official had now come to an end and, before his flight left for Port Sunlight in a few days time, he would have the opportunity to have a little sight-seeing. He had spent the day hiking in the lush countryside, which was a great novelty for a man brought up in the mining centre of New Azcapotzalco, and had retired to a local inn when he had heard of the great "debate" taking place at the local girls' school. That he was able to obtain a seat was largely thanks to the generosity of the sisters, the name-dropping of the soon-too-arrive visiting head of state and possibly, just possibly, a couple of white lies about Pochtecatl's religious orientation. That is to say, he may have hinted at being a Catholic when in fact he was still a follower of the Aztec religion.

The only down-side, however, was that Pochtecatl had been forced to sit at the back and next to a rather inebriated man at dinner.
The talk, which Pochtecatl had failed to discern before attending, was on Education and took place between Princess Irene, the former chancellor if his memory served him, and Beatrice Wake the Resurgent's Dream minister for Justice and, shockingly for the Deputy Chairman of a finance committee, not a fairy. People in the Fiefdom knew next to nothing of the Resurgent Dream, not even of the Shattering, and thus the ill-informed Acamapichtli assumed that everyone in the Dream was a fairy.
That said, it was a very interesting talk. Acamapichtli never dealt with the economic planning for education, that was Bob Taylor's department, but he still found it interesting. That was, however, before the drunken gentleman next to him shouted "Boo" and "Get off" before falling off his chair. When everyone turned, Acamapichtli hoped that they had not assumed that HE had made the noise.
The Deputy Chairman of the Fiefdom Commission for Advanced Planning of the National Economy poured himself another glass of wine and hide himself behind a leaflet until there was a call for questions.

The leaflet, however, revealed that there weren't any for this particular talk.
"£$%$^" he thought to himself, [ooc: people can feel free to telegram me if they know any Nahuatl swear words as i don't] 'I should have checked. Maybe I can wangle another few days to attend the next meeting.'

Château du Sonde was built in the late 18th Century essentially as an imperial hunting lodge. At the time it was a few hours ride from New Rome - now the outskirts of the city had almost grown to the palace's grounds itself. Wake and Irene had gone there for the day before their scheduled speech in New Rome itself for a day of relaxation - Irene thought Wake would be more comfortable outside of the extremely formal Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator. The two women were riding about the palace grounds, able to wear regular riding clothes and use regular saddles thanks to the more casual setting. Wake guided her horse up next to that of the princess. Her eyes, however, continued to move over the grounds themselves. "It's quite lovely, mademoiselle."

"Yes, I think so... Nobody comes here very much, which I think is a shame... It's so close to the court after all." Irene observed.

"That is unfortunate." Wake agreed.

Irene took a nodded thoughtfully and looked about as the pair trotted through the hunting forest.

"Do you ever go hunting?" Wake asked.

"No, I don't." Irene replied. "I don't hunt."

"I don't either... not really." Wake said.

"Not really?" Irene inquired.

"Not regularly or with much interest." Wake clarified.

"I never hunt." Irene said more definitely. "I am of the opinion that ladies shouldn't hunt."

"I'm sure." Wake said wryly.

"That's not really why I don't, though." Irene answered.

"Then why don't you?" Wake asked.

"It's senseless violence." Irene replied. "I can't understand why anybody would find it an enjoyable pass-time."

"You're an interesting woman." Wake replied inscrutably.

"Oh? In what way?" Irene enquired as she pulled her horse's reins back, let Wake overtake her, and then caught back up to her on her other side.

"On the one hand, sometimes you say things which display a much greater level of sensitivity and respect for life than one might expect, and I don't mean this to be offensive, from the political right." Wake began.

Irene listened quietly. "And on the other hand?"

"I'll put it this way. Your critique of hunting is in many ways a criticism of conservative aristocratic mores. But, on the other hand, it's also what the sort of man who sought to rigidly exclude women from hunting while enjoying it himself would want a woman socialized to say." Wake explained.

"Oh." Irene said, a little deflated by the last point. "Do you think I've been socialised into thinking what I think about hunting? Or do you think I've reached that opinion myself through reason?"

"Probably at least some of both." Wake answered. "But I'd say the same about most of my opinions. The impartial, rational person forming opinions beyond the influence of the social context in which she exists is usually admitted to be a myth even by the people who make the most use of it."

"Even still... and while I recognise what you're saying as accurate... I can't help but resent the implication just a little bit." Irene told her. "I wonder whether some of the women in the audience resented some of the implications in our speeches last night."

"Probably. I do believe, as most people do, that we are both free in the metaphysical sense and that socialization has a real effect on us. Still, no one likes to think directly about how much of who they are is freedom and how much, well, isn't." Wake said abstractly.

"It'd be interesting to survey the audience after the speeches..." Irene said.

"It might be." Wake said. "You know, I know a woman who, through a rather distant inheritance, came into position of some of the best hunting lands in Western Wintermore. The gentlemen in the neighbourhood were, of course, immediately seeking her friendship for the rather shameless purpose of using her estate."

"Oh?" Irene asked.

"Eventually, she said that she would allow anyone who wished to hunt on her land, but that she would allow no one to bring a firearm onto her property." Wake said with a faint smirk.

"Did they use bow and arrows then?" Irene asked.

"A few people, but none of the fashionable gentlemen who had been asking." Wake answered. "I found it rather amusing."

"Hmm..." Irene smiled. She didn't really see what was so funny, but she didn't want to make Wake feel bad.

"It is interesting, however, that you entertain at the same time the belief that ladies, as contrasted to gentlemen, should not hunt, and the belief that no one should hunt." Wake noted.

"Maybe one's my socialised attitude and the other's my reasoned one." Irene answered.

"Quite possibly." Wake granted. "Is Princess Morgan well?"

"I suppose so, I've never really spoken to her beyond a few brief polite words, to be honest." Irene answered Wake.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Wake said softly.

"I've not had a very good relationship with my nephew for sometime..." Irene offered by way of explanation.

"Oh?" Wake asked curiously.

"No." Irene answered.

"What happened?" Wake pressed.

"Monsieur brought His Highness into Parliament at far too young an age essentially as a rival to me." Irene replied. "Since the United Christian Front split, His Highness and I haven't really had a lot to say to each other."

"But now the United Christian Front is back together." Wake pointed out.

"More because there were so few of my supporters left, and because I left the Pantocratoria First Party to them, rather than because of any burying of a proverbial hatchet between Monsieur, His Highness and myself." Irene explained. "Anyway, I understand Monsieur and His Highness have now had a falling out over Princess Morgan."

"That is what I heard as well." Wake noted.

"I can understand why. It's not Her Highness' fault of course." Irene shrugged.

"Have you considered patching things up?" Wake asked.

"Between them or between myself and either of them?" Irene asked.

"Between yourself and Prince Constantine." Morgan said.

"No, I've not, not really..." Irene began, stiffening up a little. "I'm not really sure how... or if I want to."

Wake made more casual conversation for the rest of her walk. She then showered and changed into her best, most elegant, most elaborate pantsuit for the benefit of her audience. She had even considered wearing a gown but had decided it would take away from her effect. She and Irene headed to their next venue after getting ready. Irene was speaking first.