Author's Notes: No warnings for this chapter, except that it contains reference to a lesbian relationship. As people from Gaia may already know, I had a co-op interview this week with a very prestigious aerospace company well known for producing high quality aircraft. As an aerospace engineer, it was like a dream come true. Consequently, I did not write anything for 2 days, and am now 2 days behind schedule. Hence why this chapter was delayed. I won't find out if I got the co-op until the end of this month, but luck and good wishes are most certainly welcome.

There is only one other important character to be introduced after this chapter, and he won't come in for a VERY long time. So, after this, we'll buckle down and get a move on the plot. XD

Chapter Two: Choices

It was a little known but undeniably true fact that Advocate Charlotte Dartey did all her best thinking while playing solitaire on the computer. There was something calming about the simple repetitive motions of clicking cards into their correct place that left her mind free to wander and diligently debate the pros and cons of her current case in peace.

There wasn't much too debate. By the time Charlotte had finished her first game, she had reached the painful but logical conclusion to reject the passage of what Lilya had nicknamed “the consent law proposal”.

Her phone rang. Charlotte paused her game to check the caller ID. Lilya Deretic. She picked it up. “Hello Lilya.”

“Darling! I'm so glad I got through! Have you had a chance to read over the petition?”

“I did. I set it as my priority for the day.”

“And?”

Charlotte minimized the game screen and pulled up the file containing Lilya's proposal. She glanced over the title, Concerning the Legal Age of Consent for Tier One Minors. A fancy title for a relatively simple and important idea; to raise the age of consent for slaves and enforce harsher penalties on those who broke that law. “I'm sorry Lilya, but I have to reject the proposal. It will never hold up in the Court of Lords.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. Finally, Lilya sighed. “I see. I suppose I was wrong to get my hopes up. May I ask why, in particular, you have decided to reject the proposition?”

A click, she pulled up her email system. No new mail. Charlotte minimized the screen. Then, she said, “I understand where you are coming from, and on a personal level, I would like to say that yes, your proposition to raise the age of consent from fourteen to eighteen for slaves is an admirable goal, one that should be passed, but I cannot see it being terribly popular among the nobles who keep Companions. It would drastically reduce their functionality and increase the cost of training them.”

“I see your point, Charlotte, but this is about more than money. Have you seen the conditions of these training centers?”

“Lilya, please.” Open the inbox window, check messages. None. She switched over to the proposal, before deciding it was too depressing and closing the window again. “This is not Kokia. The conditions of the training centers have absolutely no bearing on this matter. If you can't present a logical reason on how raising the age of consent for Tier Ones would benefit the Nobles, then I cannot give it my support.”

“Tch. I don't suppose I will ever understand the way you alientes think. It is not a matter of money.”

Charlotte opened her mouth to reply when someone knocked on her office door. She covered the mouthpiece and yelled, “Just a minute! I'm in a phone conference.” Where was the maid when she needed her? Whatever. She uncovered the mouthpiece. “Lilya, dearest, I love you. I love where your heart is, and I wish I could give you my unconditional support. But this screams abolitionist all over it. I cannot jeopardize my chance to become a Judge by putting my name on a proposition that is unfavorable. I'm sorry.”

“No, no. Don't be. I understand.” Even so, Lilya's voice was cold as she answered. “You care very much about your career. Well, I suppose I won't be free on Thursday night, in that case, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to cancel our date. Sorry.” Click.

Charlotte sighed, setting the phone back in the cradle slowly. “Well, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.” She glanced in at her email again. Still nothing. “Come in!” She called, wondering if whoever it was that had come to bother her had stuck around. The one nice thing about working at home was that she didn't get walked in on while she was “deliberating” (read: playing solitaire), but it did mean that she had to rely on the unreliable servants to direct her traffic.

The door opened to reveal Emmer, dressed in slacks with his work tunic unlaced and a house robe draped casually over his shoulders. He wandered over, grinning as he casually took a seat in one of the plush chairs on the other side of her desk. “Hey Charlotte.” He greeted cheerfully, grinning.

“Good morning Emmer. How are you today? How went the meeting with Lord Lockheart last night?”

If possible, Emmer's easy grin grew even broader. “Fine. Perfect even. He wants something from me. I'll let you know when I figure out what it is.”

“And what gave you that idea?” Charlotte's mid morning cup of coffee was still warm. She took a sip. It needed more sugar.

“He bought me a slave.”

Charlotte sputtered, a bit of coffee finding it's way up her nasal passage. “Ugh, Emmer! You made me get coffee up my nose!” Charlotte grabbed a paper tissue from the box on her desk and blew her nose into it. “Now, explain this to me. He did what?”

“Do you want all the gory details? I mean, even if it was only for one night, Lockheart pretty much treated me to a fine meal at a nice club with expensive wine and then bought me one of the best trained pleasure slaves I've ever had the pleasure—excuse my pun—of bedding.”

“Yeah, that does sound like he was planning something.”

“Good. Glad I'm not the only one. Because I was kind of hoping I wasn't just being paranoid. He didn't even give me any real challenge trying to convince him to offer his assistance on the Noreya Protocol. So... yeah... now I've just spent the last four hours trying to figure out what it is he could possibly want from me so I can decide if it's worth continuing this alliance. Other than that, how was your morning?”

“Fine. I guess. I think my girlfriend just broke up with me.”

Emmer thought for a moment, wracking his brain to see if he could remember who his sister's current (well, recently current, now) girlfriend was. “You mean the Kokian one? The short dark girl with black hair? You weren't that serious about her anyway.”

Charlotte glared at him over the desk, but it didn't hold any heat. “Thank you oh so much for your kind and sympathetic shoulder, Emmer. I should just kick you out of my office now and save myself some trouble. Why, oh why, do I bother putting up with your idiocy?”

“Probably because you love me oh so very much.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Oh, never mind. You're incorrigible.”

“Damn straight.” Emmer boasted, before calming and switching to a more serious tone of voice. “But, honestly, why did your girlfriend break up with you?”

Charlotte pulled up the proposal and hit the document print button, waiting for the printer to spit out the twelve page document. She grabbed them out of the tray and handed the stack to Emmer. “This. Read the abstract and tell me what you think.”

Emmer flipped through the stack of papers briefly, before setting them back down with a soft snort of amusement. “Complete nonsense.” He decided. “This law would only increase the length of training for Companions, thereby increasing the cost to train them and the price to sell them. Plus, it will shorten the functional lifespan of a trained Companion. Other slaves, yes, I could see raising the consent age for them, but those meant for pleasure cannot afford to have their training set back by a law like this.”

The brown haired woman nodded. “I told her as much. You know what she said? That it was not a matter of profit.”

The young man shook his head, tousled brown locks falling into his eyes. “Funny notions these foreigners have. I know she's supposed to be the daughter of a high ranking official in Kokia, but what makes her think that a proposal like that would go through? Where's the precedence.”

“Well... since you asked...” Charlotte trailed off in a sing-song, and Emmer groaned.

“Fine, I asked. There is a precedence, isn't there?”

“Yes, there is. In the Kokia Protocol. Remember that they're a Democracy, not an Oligarchy like us, and they don't believe in slavery.”

“Which is why their country has so many problems with unemployment and crime.” Emmer snarked, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

“Yes, well, they are an odd bunch. Anyway, one of the conditions agreed upon in the Kokia protocol was to create an age of consent for slaves and pass laws criminalizing anyone who violated the age of consent. They settled upon fourteen and thirty-two percent of ones income for six months as a fine for breaking the law. Prior to that, some Companions were being sold as young as twelve or thirteen. Now, however, a Companion is sold around the age of sixteen or seventeen. I suppose she allowed herself to be disillusioned into thinking that if we did it once, we'd be willing to do it again, since under her law, a Companion's training would finish when they were around twenty or so.”

“Not likely.” Emmer said. “The Kokia protocol opened our country up to a source of inexpensive raw materials. That was a sacrifice worth making. Her proposal... it has nothing in it for a Noble businessman to sink his or her teeth into.“

“My thoughts exactly.” Charlotte agreed. She closed out of the file, and clicked her solitaire window back up. To continue playing or not? She closed the window. “Anyway, I doubt she and I will be making up to each other anytime soon. She probably thinks I'm a horrible, selfish person just because I won't kill my career for her silly proposition.”

“I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I spoke with Gregory this morning and he still hasn't found a girlfriend.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “That man...” She shook her head sadly. “Just don't tell him I broke up with Lilya. I don't want him thinking he has any chance with me, which he will, if you tell him.”

“Why do you--” A knock on the door interrupted Emmer's reply.

Charlotte checked her computer clock. 10:30 AM. It was time to feed Ivan. “Come in!” She called, and the door opened to reveal her oldest child, her seven-year-old daughter Leala, dressed in a floral print robe with the sleeves pinned back and her long blond hair tied up into pigtails with pink ribbons in them. Charlotte wondered absently how long that must have taken Dove to do, considering how active of a child Leala was. “Hello Leala. Was there something you needed?”

The little girl shook her head, but darted over to Emmer's side anyway, hugging her uncle around the waist. “Noooooo. Shh... I'm hiding from Dove. He doesn't know where I went.” She looked up at the man, blue eyes bright. “Hide me Uncle Emmer!”

Emmer chuckled. “I don't know how well I can help you there. Dove's awfully good at finding missing items like toys... homework... books... misbehaving little girls.” He teased.

“Speaking of which.” Charlotte interrupted. “Why are you hiding from your caretaker anyway? Aren't you supposed to be going to the park this afternoon?”

Leala giggled. “Sure! As soon as he finds me!”

Charlotte shook her head. “I will never understand the way you think, Leala.”

Leala just giggled.

The next knock on the door sent the little girl diving under Charlotte's desk, where she huddled by Charlotte's feet with a giggle and a reminder not to tell Dove where she was hiding. It turned out to be Dove at the door. The slave, a young man in his mid-twenties who had spent his childhood being trained as a nursery attendant in a training center, was just as tall as Emmer, though not as broad, with warm mocha brown skin and long black hair tied off in the back. He was carrying Charlotte's youngest son, six-month-old Ivan, who was awake and fussing, and gladly handed the baby over to Charlotte's waiting arms.

“Thank you, Dove.” Unselfconsciously, Charlotte unfastened the top two buttons of her tunic so she could feed her son more easily. Down at her feet, Leala made a face but stayed impressively quiet. “How has he been this morning?”

“Quiet, ma'am.” Dove answered softly. One of the things Charlotte liked about him, besides how good he was with kids, was how quiet he was, and his sense of humor. “If only a certain little girl was as easy going as he is.” He grinned.

“That would be quite boring.” Emmer replied automatically, also amused. Leala crossed her arms under the desk. “It's already too quiet in this household. Leala's about the only person who actually makes exciting things happen.”

“Oh, sure, they are exciting all right, sir.” Dove agreed. “Until I have to clean up after her. Speaking of which, do you know where the young lady ran off to?”

“I'm afraid that's supposed to be a big secret.” Charlotte answered, glancing up just long enough to wink at Dove.

“Oh, well, in that case...” He smirked. “When you two see her again, please tell her that the cook just finished frosting the chocolate cake for our picnic in the park this afternoon.”

“Ooh! Very nice!” Replied Emmer. “I don't suppose you have room for another person on your picnic? I'll go just for the chocolate cake!”

“Sure, Master Emmer. You can have Leala's piece.”

“No!” Came a cry from under the desk as Leala scrambled out, one of her hair bows getting caught on the side of the desk and coming undone. “That's my cake!”

Dove just looked amused. “Well, I suppose you'll just have to hurry and get there before Master Emmer does.”

As if to emphasize Dove's point, Emmer made as if moving towards the door, his motions comically over-dramatic. Leala, afraid she'd lose her piece of cake, ran after him, darting out the door before Emmer even reached it, her hair a complete mess as her other bow fell out. Emmer paused.

“Well, there's one way of dealing with that problem.” Emmer observed, watching the door swing shut. “Though now I suppose you'll have to sit her down again and redo her hair.”

Dove shrugged. “Knowing her, I'll probably have to give her a bath today anyway. I might as well just cut my losses while I'm ahead.”

Charlotte finished feeding Ivan, and handed him back over to Dove, who began the process of burping him. “You have the patience of gods, Dove.” She told him, before turning back to her computer screen.

“All in a day's work, ma'am.” Dove replied, before he bowed slightly to both Charlotte and Emmer, taking his leave quietly.

“I'm going to be very upset when his contract is over and I lose him.” Charlotte mused, as soon as the two siblings were alone again. “Anyway, I should be getting back to work. Lady Merrin's asked for my assistance on a case that's being passed from the commoner's court to our court, and I'm afraid I need to do some research into commoner's law first.”

“That's fine. I have a meeting with Lady Faulk this afternoon. She and I are going for afternoon tea – purely as friends, mind you – to discuss our progress on the Noreya Protocol.” Emmer replied.

“Good luck on that. Let me know if you find out what it is Lord Lockheart wants from you. I'm rather interested in the way these alliances are moving.”

“I will.”

Reviews are made of love. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/alerted me or this story. I appreciate your support! I hope to finish the next chapter this evening, and I'm thinking it will focus more on Jade. Quick question, though: Now that I've introduced all but one important character in the story, who is your favorite character? Who is your least favorite? If you could tell me why, I'd appreciate it!