Culture shock

Jaisyl froze. There was absolutely no way that a maid of all things could have made so crude a comment to one of her station, especially not in front of the ambassador and his consorts. Clearly, this had to be a test… yes, the irritating clerk was testing her to see how would she handle a recalcitrant member of their household! Taking a deep breath to center herself, the princess then smiled and tried again. “I believe you misunderstand me. You are in my seat. Please respect your betters and move without making a fuss.”

Behind her, a Rabyth woman - some mid-ranked engineer, judging by the overalls that she was dirtying up the ambassador’s quarters with - let out a snort of laughter, and then followed it up by actually talking over the top of her. “You heard her highness, ya-ya. Better move, she wants that seat for the royal backside.”

Across the room, Jaisyl could see… Meli’a? That was the Velca’s name, she was pretty sure her mother had told her - but she’d been far to busy worrying about packing to take in anything about the people she would be spending the next year with. She was somewhat regretting that now, as Meli’a was clearly unimpressed by how Jaisyl was handling the situation, judging by the way that the heavily pregnant woman was gesturing with her face covered by her palm.

“Rye, Yaerwen, I did ask you specifically to behave yourselves! Be nice to Jaisyl, she will be struggling with the fact that she’s having to leave her home without you two picking fun at her expense.” Meli’a’s voice cut across Jaisyl’s thoughts like a wave, pulling her up short as she tried to process why the woman she was pretty sure was the ambassador’s prime consort was being so polite to servants, instead of ordering them out of the room for future dismissal.

Dustin meanwhile had stepped up alongside, and now took to gently guiding the somewhat bemused princess over to an empty seat slightly closer to where he sat than the one she’d picked. Was he trying to indicate his support for her? It was all so confusing that she didn’t even complain as he gently pressed on her shoulders, sinking into the seat he’d chosen for her before he left her to take his place at the head of the table.

The immediate disaster that was the princess butting heads with both one of his oldest and one of his newest partners averted, Dustin smiled gratefully as Bleu set a drink down in front of him. The medic nodded in reply, before drifting along the table to serve the others. When she reached the princess, Bleu paused - before setting down a glass of vibrant green juice. For the briefest of moments, an almost child-like joy flickered behind the icy façade on Jaisyl’s face at the sight of the drink - before the Tho’unn woman firmly tamped it back down again.

Dustin noted the moment and made a mental note to try and find out what that was all about later, then leaned forward and spoke. “Alright, so before we go any further - or before there are any further misunderstandings, I think we should probably all introduce ourselves properly to our new crewmate here. Jaisyl, I’d like you to formally introduce yourself to everyone you don’t know yet as well.” As Dustin finished speaking, he sat back, gesturing for Meli to start the process. “Meli, if you wouldn’t mind going first?”

His wife smiled and nodded, shifting slightly in her seat to face Jaisyl. “We’ve already met, although I think you were focused on other things at the time. I’m Meli’a, although to almost everyone here I’m just Meli - please use my full name unless we become more closely acquainted.”

Rye barely stifled a chuckle at the way her Velcan love had phrased things, before leaning forward and offering her own introduction. “Rye, Engineer and pair-partner to this idiot,” she began, hooking a thumb towards Dustin. “Call me whatever ya like, but if ya hurt Dusty’s feelings you’ll find a whole bunch of things will just stop working when you’re around. Like the gravity plating.”

“Wait, pair-partner?” Jaisyl scoured her memory for lessons on interspecies etiquette that she’d always thought would be completely useless. “That’s… like a consort, right? You’re one of his consorts too?” Rye’s answering blush made the princess second guess herself - and then with a horrible sinking feeling the Tho’unn woman glanced over to where Yaerwen had just leaned in to whisper something to Emely.

Dustin sighed. “Jaisyl, I probably should have been clearer on the tour about who you’d be meeting. The ladies here are all my partners. Consorts, I guess you’d call them?” As the Tho’unn woman glanced from one face to another, shock plastered on her speechless face, the others resumed their introductions.

“…and I am Emely val Smith. I am still judging you on that outburst in the court, but sir wants me to play nice, so I will behave myself. As long as you don’t treat him poorly again.” The redhaired woman sat back, the last of Dustin’s lovers to introduce themselves to the bemused looking Tho’unn still trying to suppress a scowl and not entirely succeeding.

“Sir?” Jaisyl said at last, cocking an eyebrow before trying to rally what was left of her frayed nerves. “You are subservient then? Even if my marriage to the ambassador is only in name, it would be to your benefit as one of a lower class to not be so coarse when speaking with royalty.”

Dustin groaned. This was not going well at all. Between the hostility of around half of his lovers and her own pig-headedness, Jaisyl was not making a good first impression. “Your highness…” he began, before she turned and glared at him as well.

“Jaisyl.” Her tone was cold, and she pursed her lips after she spoke. “Even if we are in a… a… a sham concocted by my father, we are connected. It would be improper for you to not address me by my given name.”

Behind her, Dustin could see several of the other women rolling their eyes, but he pressed on regardless. “Jaisyl, then. Leaving our relationship to the side for a moment, let me lay out a few ground rules I have on my ship. Firstly - we look out for each other. Regardless of your feelings for me, every one of the women that was sitting around this table when we arrived both loves me and loves each other. I will not let anything harm that relationship.”

The princess was… attentive, Dustin was shocked to see - she genuinely seemed interested in the rules he was laying out, and so he continued. “Secondly, we talk through issues. Whether our marriage is a farce or not, you are one of my crew and as such I expect us to have a calm discussion if there is a problem. On which note - you are expecting to be treated like a royal on her own world. I do not and cannot spare the time, resources or energy that would take in light of the greater threats to the galaxy.”

Dustin paused, frowning. “I doubt your father has talked much about the Durathisians or the Fractals. We’ll have to bring you up to speed later. But in any case, you will be treated like one of the crew - no special treatment. And before you bring up your title - you are not the only royal in this room; Emely is the niece of the empress of the Feliax, and Trea’k as Envoy evolved from a Vex’ess queen. Put bluntly, they work hard at things other than just sitting there waiting to get married. I’d advise you to do the same - figure out what makes you happy and then work towards that. In their case, I’m forever glad that the lives they wanted for themselves were ones with me, but more important than that as far as I’m concerned is that they are happy.”

The two pregnant women smiled over at him as he concluded his speech. “Finally, with regards our marriage - you are an attractive woman, but I’m not exactly short of those. Every person that has joined the relationship I share with those present has done so after discussions between the existing partners, and usually after a period of getting to know each other. At the moment, I am expecting this to just be the convenient excuse your father was looking for - but I need you to understand that even if you want it to be more at some point in the future, you will be held to the same standard as everyone else has been.”

Jaisyl looked about to have another one of her outbursts for a moment, her finger raised to do so scathingly, before (to Dustin’s immense relief) she lowered it again and nodded. “I understand your ‘ground rules’. I will do my best to comply.” The response was formulaic, with the coldness of noble expectations behind her words - but it was at least an agreement, and that was probably the best Dustin could have hoped for in the circumstances.