Laughter

Dustin started to panic for a moment. All the careful planning that Meli had gone through with him and he was about to blow the entire mission because he couldn’t help getting hard over an extremely attractive and naked alien woman. As that thought flashed through his head, the woman in question leaned forward further and murmured something in a soft yelping language. By his side, Eriff stifled a chuckle and translated. “My imperial majesty and matriarch, Liselia val Felias asks the ambassador from Earth a question. Is that a statue of Felio, goddess of relationships and healthy childbearing, she of the thousand tails and hundred sons, first pridemother of the land and sea and painter of the heavens, she who brings love to those who seek it in all things” and here he paused for breath for a moment before adding “in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see her?”

That short-circuited Dustin’s brain just long enough for a woman next to the Empress to whisper something to the imperial figure on the throne before both women and Eriff burst into peals of laughter. “The look on your face amuses us” the matriarch of the Feliax said, leaning back and crossing her legs. “And we are pleased by the accolade you have offered us. Enough of the formal greetings.” And here she clapped her hands once; at which point the assembled women turned and began filing out of various doors into other parts of the palace. “It seems we judged your species correctly. Eriff, be a dear and take our guest through to the drawing room? I’ll just get dressed in something less formal and join you. His matriarch and her second are already there… Celinx will go with you I think to start narrowing down the list of candidates for them. Don’t look so surprised Dustin, if I wasn’t able to pre-empt your reason for coming here I wouldn’t have remained Empress for as long as I have.”

With that, the woman stood, revealing that she was taller than Dustin had thought. Five tails gracefully splayed out behind her - although as she turned to leave they flicked to either side revealing a rear that drew Dustin’s stare for a moment before his brain caught up and reminded him that he was perving on an Empress. Eriff slapped him on the back and chuckled. “Glad I’m not the only one that thinks she’s sexy for more than just her power. Did you know that I ended up as patriarch because I was the only one courting her that asked her to join my clan instead of the other way around? I didn’t care that she was going to be Empress, all I cared about was that she made my breath go every time she walked into a room. Oh, don’t be so worried human. I’m not mad you had a healthy reaction to her, she was looking for it. This way.” And with that he lead the dazed Dustin out of the throne room and down a winding set of corridors to a opulent room with bright open windows and art supplies scattered everywhere.

“The drawing room. Literal, in our case - I understand humans use the term to describe a place for discussion rather than one for art, but her majesty does like bad puns.” He explained as Meli and Rye looked up at their arrival. Meli took one look at Dustin’s shell-shocked expression and smiled. “Please tell me he barely kept it in his pants, patriarch?” she asked Eriff who nodded, busying himself with making drinks even as the other Feliax - Celinx, Dustin vaguely remembered - entered the room. “Oh, indeed. I thought my dear second’s eyes were going to pop out of her head when she saw it. You’d been so sure that despite everything his matriarch said in her messages that the human ambassador wouldn’t find our lady attractive.” Celinx winced at that, but turned to Meli and offered a half-bow. “Lady Matriarch. Your patriarch impressed - were it not for the L’anl question, I believe I would have asked Eriff to challenge him to vesalk.”

Both Meli and Rye turned sharply at that and glared at the fox-tailed woman who raised both hands - and both of her twin tails - in a gesture of apology. “As I said, I would have asked. He’d have sought permission from you of course.” Dustin glanced at Eriff and whispered “what’s vesalk?” The other man shrugged and handed Dustin a glass of some kind of pale juice before setting a jug and cups down in front of where the ladies had moved to sit. Turning back to Dustin, he gave a vague wave towards the women. “Your matriarch has informed you of the… fertility situation? For my people?” Dustin nodded, and Eriff sighed “Vesalk is a traditional solution to that if the second in a pride wishes to have her own children and a potential mate is available. Her current patriarch and the other candidate are both pared with lesser members of the pride and tested on their - ah - virility, shall we say? If the mate is sufficiently capable, the second will move to start a new pride. Unfortunately, with your species’ L’anl issue, the likely outcome of that would be… hopefully obvious.”

Dustin shook his head slightly and coughed to try and cover his embarrassment before commenting “I’m glad I impressed your ladies. You’re sure you’re not mad?” Eriff had just replied to reassure Dustin once more when the door opened and the Empress returned - this time, thankfully for Dustin’s ability to think above the waist clad in a long black and red dress. She glided over to where they were stood, kissed Eriff firmly before turning and walking over to the other women and dropping into Celinx’s lap. “Honeyflower, how are you getting on with finding them a candidate? I want to get on with negotiations with the ambassador, but this takes priority.” The Empress said, turning the other woman’s face to hers and kissing her on the nose before she could reply.

Celinx sighed, clearly used to the Empress’s manner and gestured at the tablets on the table in front of them. “We’ve narrowed it down to a handful. I’ve included all the options but I suspect you’ll…” the Empress picked up a tablet, glanced at it and tossed it back “…want me to discard all of the ones from the big clans, correct?” A nod and a handful of taps on the tablet later, Celinx offered the device to Meli who took it and flicked through a couple of times before handing it to Rye. “Thoughts on this one, second?” she asked, at which the engineer bunny skimmed the details quickly. “She meets Dusty’s requirements as well as ours at least, and her skillset is good.” She mused, flicking through a few more details and nodding. “Oh boy, yea. Definitely. She’s as much of an oddball as the rest of us.”

From where they stood sipping their juice, Eriff gave Dustin a glance. “Oh dear. I suspect I know who they’ve picked for you in that case. My congratulations, there’s no way my love is going to let you take someone other than that one if I’m correct - even if she has to bankroll the engagement herself under the table. And if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and stop my second from having a meltdown.” As he said this, the patriarch darted forward, leaning in between the two Feliax women and catching Celinx’s face in his hands before putting his forehead to hers. “We’ll handle the duchesses, dear heart. Don’t worry.” The Empress left the other woman’s lap while her patriarch calmed Celinx down and picked up the tablet from where Rye had set it down. Glancing briefly at it, she turned and with a speed Dustin hadn’t expected darted to the door and pulled it open causing a servant waiting outside to jump. “Send a missive to my sister in law; inform her that I expect her pride here on the fastest shuttle.” Closing the door with a click, she turned and glanced at Dustin. “I hope you’ve got a good payment prepared - clan Motea are tiny and hold no real power, but they are under our personal protection.” The clan name caused Dustin to glance at the patriarch for a moment before looking over at Meli and Rye and groaning. Of course those two would have picked a woman directly related to the imperial family to join their crew.