R'sath, Tower of Starlight - Part 6 - Negotiations

Ahsch had to wonder if 'negotiate late into the night' was another tactic of Lord Avery Odestag. While he hadn't exactly had a difficult day, 2 in the morning was still very late for him to be up yet talking with the Head of the House, who looked like she had just jumped out of bed all bright-eyed the entire time that they spoke. She also maintained her casual, lazy, yet confident air, making herself comfortable in unorthodox ways in the easy chair, smirking and winking, and making crude innuendoes when she could.

Even still, the hrafthi could tell that she took the negotiations seriously. While her manner was lazy and careless, her attention was clearly focused on him and his words - he oddly felt that she paid his thoughts and opinions as much mind as Michlas did, despite her sometimes flippant remarks.

He also felt that she was being fair, though he had little to judge that against. The bulk of their negotiations centered around what he would gain from marrying her, in terms of land, wealth, and authority within the House. Despite its middling status, House Odestag was a small family, at least where it came to blood. Ever the maverick, Pavil had never kept a harem, and Avery and her younger brother were his only children. Likewise, there were no immediate, unmarried cousins or other relatives, as the branch members of the family had already married into other royal families, leaving Pavil, his wife, and their children the only real members of House Odestag.

That wasn't to say that Avery's holdings were insignificant. In fact, due to the one-member nature of her family, she controlled the largest single holding outside of the ruling family, as she didn't have to share any of House Odestag's property, wealth, or titles with any family members. As a result, Ahsch had the potential to marry into ownership of a significant amount of capital. Something he was simultaneously intrigued by, yet also terrified of. After all, he was well aware that he hadn't the slightest idea what to actually do with any holdings he obtained from the marriage. The best he could come up with on the spot was exactly what he had discussed with his mother and sister earlier that day - or technically, the previous afternoon - which was to spend frugally, and hire more learned minds to deal with the business side of things.

When he had haltingly explained his thoughts, Avery had stared at him for a long moment before bursting out into laughter. Seeing the hrafthi's embarrassed look, she'd apologized through her chuckles and told him that she hadn't even thought of the fact that he wasn't educated like a royal. Then she'd gone thoughtful for a long while, swirling her drink mindlessly for a minute. Then her gaze had shifted back to him, piercingly analyzing, before she made a suggestion: he would get a slightly large share of standard holdings - shares in Odestag-funded businesses, his cut of the House treasury, and things of that nature - but the income streams would only generate wealth for him, not be something he could affect without going through Avery or a trusted advisor, at least until he learned how to properly manage such things.

In lieu of being able to determine his own passive income, Avery would further grant him a modest, unused parcel of land near the capitol, to do with as he pleased, at least within an annual spending limit. If he wanted to build a business, a private retreat, a massive garden, or anything else, he was free to do so.

After considering the idea for a minute, Ahsch agreed - though not before sweeping his potential betrothed with Heart Sight, just to make sure she wasn't trying to trick him. As with every other time he had checked, she radiated nothing more than playfulness, curiosity, the occasional helping of seriousness, and a constant undertone of lust.

At his agreement, she then moved onto a different topic, the tone shift catching him off guard. "Now, about our harems."

The boy nearly choked on his drink, which he had still be sipping post-toast to their agreement. "E-excuse me?"

Avery gave a giggling cackle. "You know, who we fuck, who we love, who we are committed to - well, who you're committed to, you would be my first on that front." She winked. "Guess that's one virginity you're taking."

Ahsch ignored the innuendo. "So you're asking about my current partners and our expectations for our future partners?" Lord Odestag nodded, and the hrafthi took a deep breath. "Well, I currently have two permanent partners... one of whom is right here," he reached down to scratch Mahat's head where she laid near his feet, "And the other... is my sister."

Avery glanced down at the beast-form familiar, then up at Ahsch. Then back down and up, a grin growing on her lips. "I didn't take you for a beast fu-"

"She's my familiar," the boy stated, giving the royal a slightly irked look, though the tiny smile pulling at his lips belied any real irritation. Avery cackled in response.

"So, your familiar and your sister. Your familiar will, of course, be staying with you regardless of any other decisions, but as for your sister...?" she left the question open.

"She plans to stay. If needed, I suppose I could use some of the wealth I get from our marriage to house her elsewhere, but ideally..."

"She can stay here," Avery said nonchalantly with a shrug. "She - nor your familiar, nor any others who join your harem - have any right to Odestag holdings outside of what I give them."

"Of course," Ahsch agreed. "Trust me, the numbers you were throwing around earlier... my sister and I could live comfortably on much less, so I doubt we'll have any trouble paying for what we need - or want - with what I'll gain out of this."

"I believe such an arrangement would work for any future 'permanent partners' you would have, though obviously if you start growing your harem by leaps and bounds, we'll have to revisit the subject - the Odestag suites are large, but not limitless."

The Dominant Mage gave her a small smile. "I don't think we'll have to worry about that. I don't really plan to add anyone for the time being." A mental spank preempted the snarky comment he felt coming from Mahat.

"Well, with that agreed, what are your expectations for..."

"The same," Ahsch interrupted, receiving a raised eyebrow in response, to which he shrugged. "You _are _the Lord and Head of House Odestag. That comes with duties and responsibilities, including growing the family." He didn't miss the flash of some dark emotion flickering through Avery's glowingly blue eyes, but he ignored it in favor of continuing. "For me to demand you relinquish aspects of being Lord - such as having a harem - would... well, first off, I doubt it would work in the first place, from what I've heard of you from Lord Michlas. But even if you did agree to such restrictions, it would only weaken you in the eyes of the other royals, and by extension, weaken my position. Neither of us want either of those things to happen. In fact, the only real restriction I would request - and that I offer for myself as well - is that before there's any future 'official' permanent partners for either of us, they must be vetted by at least each other, and ideally the entirety of both harems. If we're all going to be living together - even in a space as large as I think the Odestag suites are - it only makes sense for us to do all we can to make sure that everyone gets along."

Avery looked... almost impressed. Then she grinned. "I don't see a problem with that."

Afterwards, there were a few details to confirm, but they had mostly covered all of the important topics for their negotiations. Ahsch had heard from Michlas that such marriage negotiations had been known to go on for months, even over a year in rare cases; but the Armsmaster had also guessed, since both Ahsch and Avery were honest, blunt, and forthright types, that their negotiations would be done at record speed.

With the major talks over, the two toasted in celebration of their fruitful marriage negotiations. Then, as Ahsch made motions towards leaving, Avery surprised him once again.