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"You need our marriage," Vedero Drazhin said to Maia one spring night when they were pressed together on the rooftop, using Vedero's telescope to examine a comet that was visiting their night sky.
Maia blinked in confusion, a very un-imperial sort of expression no-doubt showing on his face. Fortunately, the only people witnessing the conversation between himself and his older sister were his nohecharei and they'd seen him in plenty of worse situations.
"We do not plan on beginning negotiations," he said carefully. "The last man to try to claim your hand also attempted our assasination. We believe this gives us a significant reason to refuse to consider the subject a while longer."
"But not forever," Vedero said, her jaw tightening slightly as she looked up to the sky. "We have escaped our marriage far longer than should have ever been allowed."
Maia shook his head. "Should you wish it, we will delay forever."
Vedero looked down from her stars and over to him, a genuine smile hiding at the edges of her mouth. "Since the advent of your rule, you have championed the education and honored the creations of women. Your kindness and honor have already been aptly demonstrated. But now? It once again continues." She shook her head. "We appreciate it. But we do not want to be forever a child of your house, a reminder to all of your softness."
"What would you want?" Maia asked. It seemed the safest question.
"Independence. Freedom. And, if we are able, to strengthen your reign." Vedero wrapped her cloak a little tighter, not looking up to her stars, but out over the rooftops of the Untheileneise Court. "You need loyal connections in Thu-Athamar and Thu-Tetar. Unless you intend to heed the calls of revolutionaries and strip all the noble houses of their land, as you dissolved the Tethimada."
"No," Maia said dryly. "We believe that may cause some unrest. It seems a bit extreme."
"The successful assasination of one emperor and the attempted assasination of his heir is extreme," Vedero pointed out. "Were it ever it to be considered justified…but no, if that is not your course, you need to nurture alliance there, or have them be forever your enemies."
"Of all the court, you have been one of the people least inclined to lecture us of politics," Maia said, carefully feeling his way through every word. "Why now?"
Vedero was not quick in answering. After a long moment, she tore her eyes from the rooftops and looked back to him, a grave expression on her face as she said, "It is easier to stay silent, when we know our voice will not be honored. But you have given us some reason to hope that our words will not fall on deaf ears."
"Speak," Maia said, more begging than ordering. Vedero volunteered so little, he was desperate to know what she had refrained from saying until now.
"The house Ubezhada has been given into the care of Cirevis Ubezhar, after his cousin was implicated in your assasination attempt. We are reasonably certain he is not inclined to follow in the politics that served his cousin so poorly. He is unmarried, and with the dissolution of house Tethimada, the Ubezhada is one of the strongest houses in Thu-Athemar. It would be a good match."
"And you desire this match?" Maia asked slowly. He had enough sense of politics now to think that Vedero was probably right. If Maia brought this marriage alliance before the Corazhas, they would bicker, as they always did, but the majority would agree with Vedero's assessment.
The real question was why Vedero, who had in her quiet way made her objections to marriage perfectly clear, was choosing this path now.
Vedero's lips pressed together, becoming a thin line that nearly vanished into her face. After a long moment, she said, "He has graciously given harbor within his household to Medo Ubezharan, the wife of his late cousin. Medo was innocent of her husband's schemes, but her family disowned her, making a clean break with house Ubezhada impossible. Medo…was a friend."
"Oh." Maia wasn't certain what to say next. "It speaks well to the man's character."
"We know Cirevis as well. He is also…well known to be disinclined to marry. Though as a man, he has more options to avoid that fate. But he is now the head of a noble house, and there is more pressure to take a wife."
"So he will be inclined to look favorably upon a proposal."
Vedero took a slow breath and shook her head, before straightening her shoulders and turning to Maia. "I would like to speak plainly, and though I have no reason to doubt it, I must beg thy discretion in what I am about to share."
"It is thine," Maia said quickly, following the sudden shift into unprecedented informality. Vedero, the sister he had not met until he had been declared her emperor, had always chosen strict formality with him. "Please, share."
"Cirevis favors men. And when we were young, Medo and I were lovers," Vedero said, the truth delivered in two blunt hammer blows. "If I married Cerevis, we would both be content to let the other carry on whatever affairs they wished, and we are both discreet enough to not cause a scandal. Perhaps, even Medo and I…" Vedero's pale skin flushed, and it was as undignified as Maia had ever seen her. "It is a small chance at happiness, but it is greater than any other I have seen. And that is the truth of it."
"I thank thee," Maia said, sincerely. "And I would like to see thee happy."
"I know," Vedero said, inclining her head. "It is why I decided on this approach. I could have placed a quiet word in the ear of a woman who knows a man who knows Lord Pashavar, and another with a servant that knows a courier that knows thy secretary, and hope that would carry things. But I thought…thou'rt kind, when thou can be. There was no harm in asking."
"I am glad thou trusted me," Maia said. "And I approve, of course. Only…will he let thou continue thy studies?"
Vedero smiled, bright and genuine, and pressed an impulsive kiss against Maia's cheek. The spot radiated warmth, and Maia felt a deep satisfaction that he had pleased her with the question. "The Ubezhada manor sits high on a mountain, and the view of the stars is unblocked by city lights. Cirevis is better with people than with books, and I have no doubt the house library sits unused. I shall be Lord in the study, to both of our great pleasure."
Maia raised a hand to his cheek, smiling in return. "Good. And perhaps I may visit, and see this mountain sky." Maia paused. "We do not request an invitation as your Emperor," he said, retreating carefully back into formality.
Thou knowest better, he berated himself. He had too much power to voice his whims. What choice did anyone have but to take them as orders? That sort of catering was something no Emperor should grow accustomed to.
"An emperor's visit is a tedious thing," Vedero said, gravely inclining her head. Then she reached out her hand, and laid it lightly along his forearm. "But I should be glad to host my brother. Thou'rt welcome, and I shall bore thee with lectures on the night sky until thine ears droop."
Maia couldn't help the boyish smile that spread across his face. "I would like that, very much."
"Then it shall be so," Vedero decreed grandly. "And now, enough talk of tedious matters. The comet will only be visible a few hours more, and it would be a shame to waste this opportunity."
Vedero linked her arm in his, and they turned their back to the sky, together.