A Servant's Suggestion

Ahsch leaned back in his chair in his office (one of the stranger things in recent years, in his opinion), rubbing his eyes as he finally wrapped up the last of the small pile of papers he now had to deal with on a weekly basis. Turns out, even without having any direct control over income streams, the occasional bit of bureaucracy still needed his signature.

Well, that and he was making his tentative first motions towards procuring materials to begin renovating his bit of the forest. Turns out, for the amount of materials he would need, that involved a good bit of paperwork.

A polite knock broke through his reverie. "Come in," he called, and Dorin allowed himself in, closing the door carefully, before striding over to stand across the desk from Ahsch.

"My Lord," he greeted.

The hrafthi nodded. "Dorin. How is the transition treating you?"

A small smile came to the servant's face. "Quite well. Butler is an excellent teacher, and the Odestag servants have been quite welcoming." A slightly amused look crossed his face. "Your wife did make a somewhat... peculiar comment the other day, but I think it was just a teasing remark."

Ahsch huffed a little laugh. "Avery is a bit of a tease. And just playful in general." When she's not being fucking terrifying, he thought, recalling her little display earlier that morning. "I don't think you need to worry about her much. She's the upfront type - if you piss her off, she'll let you know, and unless you were doing it on purpose, she'll give you a chance to fix whatever it is."

Dorin smiled. "I wasn't worried much, but your reassurance is welcome, My Lord."

The Dominant Mage's smile twitched. "Dorin. I've told you..." he started.

"I know, Lord Ahsch. It just..." The servant thought for a moment before shrugging. "Habit."

There was something slightly off in that response, but the hrafthi decided not to comment on it. "I assume you didn't come here to talk about my wife's teasing nature."

Dorin's expression quickly became serious. "No, My Lord. If I may be so bold..."

"Always."

Another slight smile. "You are... 'involved' may be too strong of a word, but you certainly have the attention of one of the Mystical Calamities... and her Goddess Mother."

With a sigh, Ahsch slouched in his seat. "You deserve to know what's going on," he supplied.

Dorin paused. "I was going to politely request, as it's not my place to make demands..."

"No, it's true. You're involved with me, which makes you party to... well, this whole fucking fiasco." The Lord dragged a hand across his face. "The quick version is that something... I don't know if it smiled or glared upon me, given the amount of trouble it's caused lately, but I've been given absurd potential... potential enough to become a god myself. And that has Phashak's attention."

Ahsch gave his servant a slightly edited retelling of his life on Euphoria, cutting everything about the in-between reincarnation place and the reincarnation itself - much as he hated keeping that a secret - but filling in Dorin on everything to do with his Innate Magics, Boons, his growth potential, his little adventure in the Canyon with Kira and their encounter with Phashak, and the 'gifts' he was given by the Draconic Goddess of Magic. The only other thing he kept hidden from his servant was the method by which Dominant's Tithe made someone a Thrall, his paranoia about the Mana Generation Method making him want to reduce the chances of someone oopsing into Thralldom as much as he could. Despite the shock on the servant's face, Dorin's disbelief quickly disappeared under the mountain of details and the alignment of Ahsch's story with Phashim's words the day before.

"So, currently, I have a bored goddess and her calamitous daughter paying far too much attention to me for comfort, and they're... _encouraging _me to either use my Dominant's Tithe more or do... I don't even fucking know what with Kirasiel."

"That... certainly is a lot, My Lord," Dorin finally said.

Ahsch ran his fingers through his hair, stopping on a certain feather and beginning to worry it. "I... I understand if you wish to distance yourself from me, Dorin. This isn't what you signed up for, and..."

"My Lord, please stop," the young man held up a hand. "I swore to serve you, and I shall do so to the best of my abilities; you are a man deserving of my devotion far more than many in R'sath, and despite the potential danger, I believe that my place is here, as your loyal servant.

"To that end..." A slight flush came to Dorin's face, the hesitation seeming rather out of place after his brief speech moments earlier. "I would like to suggest that you make me one of your Thralls."

"What?" Ahsch shouted, finding himself suddenly on his feet.

Dorin, for his part, was relatively unperturbed. "I understand there are... sexual implications, My Lord. However, there are several clear benefits to doing so, and possibly more which we are as of yet unaware of: firstly, I do believe I would count as being more 'physically capable' than you - if your assumptions about the restrictions of the method are accurate - providing you with increased Mana Generation beyond the addition of a fourth Thrall, and that's not to mention to increased pool of Mana which you could draw from me; secondly, having an additional point from which you could cast your spells would be beneficial no matter what; thirdly, given the rather vague understanding you seem to have of the Method - and your apparent unwillingness to explore the limits of it - I can't help but wonder if there are any other, hidden benefits you may be missing out on; fourthly, it may go some way towards appeasing your draconic observers; and fifth and finally, though I don't doubt my loyalty to you, having the reassurance that I am doing my utmost to follow your orders could be beneficial - and Dominant's Tithe may additionally provide some benefit on my end to ensure my understanding of your commands."

Ahsch had slowly sat back down as his servant rattled off the, honestly, impressive list of benefits. The Lord thought for a moment, his fingers drumming on the arm of his chair. "You understand this may we be permanent, at least until I possibly attain godhood - an achievement that could take longer than your life."

"I understand, My Lord."

The hrafthi squinted at his servant. "We're both honest men, Dorin."

A confused look crossed Dorin's face. "Yes, My Lord, I believe that to be true."

Ahsch took a deep breath. "How much of this has to do with your... interest in me?"

The young man was again flushed. "I... I didn't think you knew..." he murmured.

The hrafthi gave Dorin a reassuring smile. "Don't worry - it was Mahat who first pointed anything out, and it was only after I was looking for it that I saw the signs."

"You never said anything..."

Ahsch shrugged. "Why would I? You were - are - professional and as far as I can tell, have never once let that interest impede your work." He smiled again. "And it's not like I'm allergic to homosexuality - if I was, the regular interactions between my sister and familiar would have killed me weeks ago, let alone adding my wife to the mix." A peculiar look came to Dorin's expression, and the hrafthi leaned in. "Go ahead, what is it?"

Flushing a little deeper, the servant asked, "Do you... I want to be clear I'm not asking if you reciprocate, as that would be quite improper, even if you did, but..."

An apologetic smile ended the question before it was finished. "Sorry, Dorin, but I'm not interested in men."

The servant slowly nodded, though his face still expressed some confusion. "Lady... Mahat... familiars take on an appearance designed for their masters, and she has a coc... er... phallus..."

Ahsch laughed. "Yes, Mahat has a cock. But having a cock doesn't make someone a man, Dorin," a slightly irritated look crossed the hrafthi's face as he recalled some choice individuals from his previous life who were probably still not really 'men,' rather than childish boys, even almost two decades later. "You'll also notice that she has a vagina, and that's, honestly, more important to me. If she had the former but not the latter, I'd probably not be attracted to her, even with the rest of her body being quite appealing to me." He thought for a moment. "In fact, in a similar vein, _Lord _Avery Odestag isn't a man, yet because of how royalty works, she goes by a masculine pronoun because it more accurately describes her position within the House - and even comes with legal benefits to boot. She's a Lord, the Head of House Odestag, not a Lady.

"But we've strayed from the topic at hand. My personal preferences aside, your preferences don't bother me, as you don't make them a bother. Hells, if you and one of the male servants of the House decided to become intimate, I don't think Avery or I would care, so long as the relationship didn't disrupt your performance. And that's that. You've never let your interest in me affect the service you've provided, never once leered, stared, or in any way expressed that interest in a way that might make me uncomfortable (something that cannot be said for many of the 'men' in R'sath, according to Avery). The only reason I bring it up now is because you are proposing to give me a terrifying level of control over you - control that comes with an explicitly sexual addendum - and I can't help but be concerned."

The pair were quiet for several minutes. Ahsch gave his servant time to think, knowing that being aware of one's own feelings could be a difficult thing, especially if there was more baggage wrapped up in the situation. Euphoria wasn't necessarily hostile to homosexuality, but the hrafthi had quickly picked up on there being some generally queer-phobic attitudes among the royals - something that wasn't terribly surprising, given the way that the royal families operated when it came to gender roles. Male partners weren't any sort of secret, but there was a silent requirement that they were more side-pieces to the Lords' wives, who they were expected to impregnate with their heirs. That and the male-centered harem relationships that virtually every man on Euphoria found themselves in led to there being a quiet, almost 'natural' pressure against male homosexuality, though even in Sarvas there had been a male couple who essentially shared a harem, though Ahsch knew that Balen and Gavith were bisexual, not strictly homosexual.

So he could only imagine the struggle that Dorin - who he assumed was primarily, if not quite only, attracted to men - went through in a world with a majority female population, and the social pressures that entailed.

"I would be lying," the servant slowly began, drawing Ahsch from his thoughts, "if I said that there was no part of me that was... thrilled at the idea of you having that sort of control over me. However, the greater part of me sincerely believes that the concrete benefits of my being your Thrall would bring are worth the costs. And given the arrangement you have with Lady Celes, there's no reason you would have to involve yourself in my sex life - blanket permission like what you gave her should be fine."

The hrafthi held Dorin's gaze for a long moment. Then, with a sigh, he leaned back and closed his eyes. "I will... consider your suggestion." Looking at his servant, he saw the slight deflation, and chuckled slightly. "I mean it. I'm not just brushing you off, Dorin. I'm just... paranoid. I'm not sure how I feel about having that amount of power over someone, and given that it could be permanent... it feels like a violation. Consent to that level of control which can't be retracted is a dangerous thing, even if I'm as careful and considerate about it as I can be. So I will _consider _it. No more, no less. You have my word."

Dorin smiled and bowed. "That's all I ask, My Lord."