Prime Minister Asibridel predicted her sisters felt implacably betrayed, and rightfully so, as she paraded human men through the Sanctuary and exposed their reticent lives. Her shredded clothes and dramatically submissive behavior helped her none, which confirmed her volunteered enslavement to Walter and Lady Elin.

Your apprehension is irrelevant. You must face this, sisters.

She laid bare the stratification of elf society, manifested literally by elevation. If Walter looked up, he would see well-dressed women strolling, unhurried by need, on spacious platforms. If he looked down upon the plainly clothed women, he would see them toiling and climbing rather than leisure and walking. The lowest status, 'the forgotten,' lived out-of-sight, obscured by shadow and overlapping structures, closest to the ground and the monsters. The businesses of the middle layer, the most interconnected, also rose and fell with social standing as they walked up and down short flights of stairs.

The familiar sounds and smells of the Sanctuary floated around her. Elves chatted, and birdsong, from hundreds of flocks, accompanied their murmur. Potpourri and perfume wafted. Elves never permitted unwanted scents, as humans tolerated them. Also, unlike human lands, they lacked playing children.

None of the women shared a welcoming smile. When Lord Walter and Prince Wilhelm passed, work stopped. The elves stared. While silent, the women demonstrated a spectrum of emotion when discretion would serve them better. Some women, starved for affection, salivated as if smelling freshly roasted meat. Others tightened their jaws in disapproval as men trooped through their work zone.

Sometimes a woman would stalk them a distance. Lady Elin moved in front of Walter, partly from an instinct to protect and partly to mark her territory. Nix did not do the same for Prince Wilhelm.

"I still don't see any men?" Walter asked.

That's an insensitive question, and you're smarter than this, Walter.

"They live further up, in, or on top of, the canopy, out of sight," she said. "We pamper them, and they want for nothing, as do the children, until they can move safely about the loggia."

Thankfully, Walter didn't inquire as to why they were kept hidden.

The parliament stood in the center of the Sanctuary, a proper multi-story building, one of the few, built into the center v-notch of two symmetrically separating Blackroot branches. It was one of the few buildings with halberd-touting guards and a large enough platform to grow a smaller fruit tree on it.

Under the fruit tree was an elf, haunched over in a pillory. The woman's legs quivered with cramps, her lips chapped, and a hoarse cough escaped her when she lost her balance. When she tilted forward and gagged, unable to breathe, the posted guards snatched her hair back until she regained her footing.

"Holy shit. Please tell me that's not an execution." Walter said.

"No," Asibridel waited for several breaths to answer, "There are few crimes that warrant execution in the Sanctuary. That punishment is reserved for the crime of ｢Modi'nu｣. She'll be released when she's at her limit."

"How is she not at her limit, yet, and what's ｢Modi'nu｣??"

"She has yet to pass out."

When the prime minister took too long to complete the answer, Nix said, "Insult."

Ms. Robin stood in the doorway. After shoving her glasses up her nose, she asked, "Are these humans your diplomatic guests?"

"Are we barred entry?" Prime Minister Asibridel sized her up.

"Oh, we wouldn't dare block the path of a hero and his slave," Ms. Robin curtsied, and a mocking smile masked her face. Without raising her head, she backed up and to the side, "By all means."

The room looked unusually organized. Ms. Robin likely ran ahead and ordered everything cleaned up. The baskets of long rolled scrolls, the stacks of borrowed books, and the scattered tables and maps were all gone. They freshly mopped the floor and dusted.

"First," Prime Minister Asibridel said, "allow me to thank you for escorting me back to the Sanctuary. It is regretable we can offer so little in reward, but, please, enjoy the room and board. Now, entertain my request."

"Before that," Ms. Robin's voice cut in before Walter could react, "you have a pressing appointment with your husband."

"I see. Then, with your permission, of course, Lord Walter and Lady Elin, may I attend to my duties?"

"Permission?!" Ms. Robin's incredulous voice echoed in the room, "You're not taking this slavery mishap seriously, are you?"

For the first time, Walter watched a bemused expression play across the prime minister's face. "Of course. I am their slave. Am I not, Prince Wilhelm? Did you not make the verbal contract legally binding? Should they order me to other tasks, then I truly have no rights to refuse."

"Indeed, on my honor as the crown prince, I did, and yes, prime minister, that is true."

During the entire length of the conversation, Prime Minister Asibridel kept eye contact with Walter.

His answer, here and now, will determine if I keep my station.

"For now."

Thank you. That will do.

Prime Minister Asibridel ascended the spiral staircase to her husband's canopy island. Her usual stone-like stoicism hardened to the iron of a sword.

As prime minister, her husband enjoyed additional privileges and status, such as living at the emergent layer of the forest canopy. The sun directly touched the platform's surface. It did nothing to improve his temperament. Nothing ever did.

He took on six wives when most husbands took no more than four, and Asibridel, the highest-ranked government official, ranked lowest among the homemakers. This was her first visit to his canopy in a year. The arrangement was purely for convenience, society expected her to marry as prime minister, and he wanted to share in her power. It stopped the interference into her job.

"｢Asibridel! Now! I said now, damn you! Move your ass!｣"

She ignored him and continued at her pace. It was her own fault he was spoiled. No, it was every woman's fault in the Sanctuary. Unchecked supply and demand, too few men and too many women pursuing, created a one-sided dynamic. Some in the Sanctuary never looked upon an elf man. Courtship for elf women grew competitive, considering strangers would drop unearned gifts upon a man's platform hoping for any attention at all.

At the top of the staircase, he waited, surrounded by three of his wives. Each woman openly showed a sadistic and predatory look. For an elf, he was young because he still remembered his childhood and still clung to childish notions, notions like the force of will equated to maturity. The women he surrounded himself with were not his choice, though he believed it was. They selected him for easy manipulation.

"｢Please excuse my lateness｣" Prime Minister Asibridel said, "｢I was discharging official business.｣"

The words flew out of his mouth the same way a goblin slung stones, "｢Fucking humans?｣"

"｢I would choose not to, but if I must, then I will. Maybe my husband lacks understanding about the Sanctuary's current situation?｣"

"｢Bitch! Is this why you're wearing this dress, whore?｣" He grabbed the fabric and yanked it down, and the lace shredded. The women behind him giggled. If she resisted, then the others would interpret that as her attacking him. He stared at her breasts, then glimpsed for a reaction. Asibridel didn't care. He gnashed his teeth. "｢Drag her to the bath and scrub her clean. I can't stand that human stench. After that, take her to the bedroom.｣"

One of the women said, "｢But, Devdan!｣"

"｢Do what I fucking said!｣"

So, in a fit of jealousy, the women grabbed Asibridel by the wrists and hair and dragged her off. Asibridel stood above her peers in terms of beauty, wisdom, and strength. This is why the other women conspired against her as a whole. If she made a serious effort to seduce her husband, then, individually, the other women would lose. If she fought these women, then, even as a group, they would suffer defeat.

Asibridel permitted them to have their way, up to a point. They dunked her into the wooden tub. When one attempted to grind soap on her face, Asibridel's hand shot up, with a splattering of water, and caught the woman by the forearm. Unable to push forward or yank back, the woman winced until Asibridel released her, and the three admitted they shared a room with someone far outside their league. Respect returned.

They laid out lingerie. White, in the same style as the dress. It seemed Devdan liked what he saw before. She ignored it and remained naked.

"｢See? That wasn't so bad.｣" He looked her up and down. "｢I said, put it on.｣"

"｢I have traveled from the congress, and I have slept not once since. I am in no mood. Give me proper attire. Master Walter awaits me, and I do not have permission to tarry.｣"

Devdan's face reddened, then turned purple with anger. "｢You're mine! You're not allowed to say no!｣"

"｢I'm not your slave, and you only want me now because I am out of reach. It sparked your desire because someone else threatens your hold. Women write the laws of the Sanctuary,｣" Prime Minister Asibridel said. "｢Rape is still illegal, regardless of what your harem whispers to you.｣"

He groped her; his fingernails dug in. "｢Then, I'll just buy your ass off that stupid human, and then I'll make you learn--｣"

A casual shove laid him flat on his back.

He screamed from the ground. "｢Modi'nu!? You dare?! I'll have you in the pillory for this!｣"

"｢I'm several times your age, boy. Punish me? Don't presume, unless you inteded to anger a summoned hero. How would you think he'd react, knowing you tried to steal his property?｣"

The bulging fear in his eyes told her he understood. She turned and left, nude and composed.

She didn't blame Devdan for his behavior. Poison flowed into his ear from the very women he tyrannically controlled. He ignored her, for the most part, out of the fear of being challenged. When her status dropped to that of a slave, he mistook that for vulnerability. The enticement to own her, combined with his harem undermining her standing with suggestions of punishment, proved too much. Given time, the accumulated guilt would mellow him. Asibridel saw men go through this phase before, and that was the reason the older men avoided her, to maintain the balance of their harem. Harmony eventually eclipsed infatuation.

He acted solely as the shepherd's crook, at any rate, for women at the top that wanted to maintain the current situation. Her contrived slavery to Walter permitted her more room to act than she enjoyed before. Elf society would continue as it did before he visited, and she'd be forced into being a wayfarer after. Before the temporary arrangement expired, she needed to convince him to go to war, again. Or, worst-case, force his hand. There were worse things than loveless marriages to bastards.

Ms. Robin waited for her at the staircase with a dress. "Well, now that you've destroyed your personal life, why not move on to something essential?"

The use of English, without the presence of a human, was not lost on Asibridel. "Perhaps you're growing to respect Walter, or see the benefit of his presence?"

"Lord Walter," Ms. Robin corrected.