Dinner Preparations

Despite only having five attendees, only one of whom was a guest (and not one either of the Lords Odestag were interested in impressing), preparations for the dinner with Kirasiel still took practically the whole day. Butler and Dorin took Ahsch to a tailor for some proper clothing, as his original clothes were hardly suitable, and aside from some nice, casual clothing and his wedding outfit, the hrafthi had yet to actually get much in the way of a formal wardrobe. With the help of magic, a formal dining outfit was prepared for him within two hours. Ariin and Mahat were able to wear their outfits from the wedding, seeing as they had only attended the ceremony, not been a part of it.

Meanwhile, the Odestag suites were in an organized mess of cleaning, rearranging the dining room, and preparing several courses for the dinner. Six, in fact, which just seemed weird to Ahsch, though he didn't comment. The moment the trio had returned from clothes shopping, Butler hurried off to make sure the Odestag servants were getting everything done properly, though the tone in which he had dismissed himself from Ahsch's company suggested that the automata wasn't really worried, just dutiful.

Dorin then took Ahsch, Ariin, and Mahat aside to drill them on proper etiquette for hosting a higher-ranked royal, including greeting, walking with, and dining with them. There was a minute of consideration for whether Ariin and Mahat would count as royal women, noble women, or commoners, as the situation of Ahsch being _a _Lord but not _the _Lord of the House made their exact standing a bit murky. A quick Daydreamweave consultation with Avery later, and they decided on minor royal women, as both were essentially Ahsch's wives in all but law, and them being his familiar and sister (even if his royal standing didn't technically extend to the rest of his family) would usually covey at least some level of respect.

The whole while, during moments of quiet when Dorin was distracted by some matter that didn't directly involve him, Ahsch contemplated his servant's suggestion from the day before. Wrestling with himself led nowhere, as he felt that Dorin's points in regards to the benefits of making the young man his Thrall were well-made and factual; on the other hand, Ahsch still held significant reservations about the consequences of his Dominant's Tithe. He'd chosen it based on utility, not believing himself of the right mindset to properly dole out his Mana expenditures the way that having Ecstatic Generation as his primary Method would require, and wholly uninterested in Exhibitive Creation on principle (the defensive side-effects, while cool, being rather contrary to the 'build' he was aiming for when he was picking his Boons and Innate Spells). He'd initially thought to just have a familiar as his Mana generator, and swear off the whole Thrall part of the Method, but the reality was that restricting himself in that way could end up getting himself killed. The raw amount of Mana he'd have access to, both in storage capacity and Generation, was staggering, and he was only tapping into less than a a sixth of it - and even less than that, considering he never touched Kirasiel's extradimensional pool, wanting to distance himself from her as much as he could, even in such a meaningless way as that.

Even after Phashak's meddling, the idea of having any sort of direct, immutable influence over the thoughts and feelings of others was... disturbing. And in a more personal way, the idea of having control over the orgasms of people he didn't feel sexual interest in was also... not disturbing, but definitely weird.

But the reality was, he'd keep gaining Magnitude, which meant he'd keep increasing the number of Thralls he could have. Which meant that the difference between his potential and his actual Mana Generation and storage would keep getting bigger and bigger.

Even if he did ascend to godhood, could he be a proper god - whatever that meant - if he didn't make use of all the tools at his disposal?

Mahat, though present in his mind, rarely commented. Something he was grateful for (if guiltily so), as her perspective as a familiar was warped from what a human or monster would think - her base existence was predicated on servitude, so her views on it were understandably skewed. Ariin was likewise of a somewhat different mindset from the average, given that she had lived her whole life knowing that she was, to some extent or another, divinely-crafted to be the perfect Thrall for her brother, something she had accepted and acted upon, regardless of Ahsch's personal feelings on the matter.

Which left Kirasiel, Avery, and Dorin as the only other beings who weren't goddesses or walking calamities who knew of Ahsch's situation. The former was unhappy by her circumstances, that much was obvious, and the latter was actively asking for it. Which left Ahsch's wife.

I don't think I need to tell you that I'm not interested, Lord Odestag replied dryly to the hrafthi's request for perspective. But then, I'm not exactly your average person, given that I have to consider House Odestag and all my responsibilities and shit.

Yes, but you're also the only person who hasn't made their stance clear on the subject, Ahsch replied.

_Okay, well, break it down: pros and cons. You've told me Dorin's list of benefits, and I have to agree with the kid, he makes a lot of good points. The cons are the control you have over your Thralls, but has that ever _actually _come up? Mahat and Ariin haven't ever complained, right? Kirasiel doesn't count, the cunt would complain about a smudge on her spoon until everyone's ears were bleeding. You're super concerned about that control, and that's good, don't get me wrong, but how concerned should you _actually _be? Unless you go off the deep end and start aiming for world domination, what are you _actually going to do with that power? Some kinky games and cover your own ass like any sane person would?

Ahsch blinked, considering that. Okay, good point, but what if I do go off the deep end?

Then we're all fucked anyways, unless something overrides your reincarnative immortality. That stumped the hrafthi, causing Avery to chuckle mirthlessly. Look, you're immortal, in the undying, can't-actually-ever-be-put-down-permanently sort of way. That means that if you set your heart on world domination, eventually you'll probably succeed, especially if you ever become a proper god. At that point, Dominant's Tithe is a minor concern - depending on what domains you end up with, you could easily become a god of, say, enslavement, and mortals exposed to your power come under your thrall in a different way. And sheer power can be enough to make people fall in line no problem.

Ahsch had to concede the point. So... are you saying I should accept Dorin's suggestion? Make him my Thrall?

I'm saying nobody but you can really make that decision. Sure, we can help make sure you're not abusing your power, but that's just an outside perspective - there's not anything any of us can really do to stop you if you don't want to play nice. If you decide to take him as a Thrall, you need to be the one to make sure that you're doing it for the right reasons. And keep watching that every time you take a new Thrall. Forever.

The Dominant Mage swallowed. That was a hell of a lot more responsibility than he signed up for when he made that choice.

I know my perspective isn't helpful for making the moral decision, at least for mortals, Master, Mahat finally spoke up. _But what I can do is watch your thoughts and feelings, warn you if things seem... wrong. Because as much fun as absolute power sounds, being a good person is important to you, and to me. I wouldn't want to be your familiar if you became the sort of monster you're envisioning._

Ahsch smiled. And what do you feel from me when it comes to Dorin?

Do it, Master. There was a mental smile. Worst case scenario, he regrets his decision, and you have two people to look for a way to free instead of one, and it's not like that's the worst thing going on right now.