I mentally smile at the term.
'Gal pals'.
I'll bet there was much playful teasing on Tey's part.
And once the meal was prepared and she'd had time to array herself, I was summoned and they were released back to their regular duties.
A private dinner for the two of us, about a dozen Jaffa guards standing at the ready around the room, and five or six servers of various types.
About as private as it could be for a pair of nobles in any culture. I expect the staff are very
discreet.
"System Lord Bastet." I bow, but she rolls her eyes and gestures to the couch opposite her. "Thank you."
"I believe that there are things that we must discuss about your new station." She smiles as a tureen of soup and a plate of flat breads are brought forth and placed on the low table between us. "Though I admit that I think it will be more amusing to instead ask you what you think that you need to know."
Heh. Let him offer his ideas, so that she can confirm the correct ones and shoot down any mistaken ones. Very sensible.
A young serving maid looks at me questioningly, and I nod. She raises a ladle and serves me a bowl of vegetable soup.
"I.. suppose that the first thing to ask is what you consider appropriate to say in front of human witnesses."
After all, there's discreet, and then there's
discreet.
"You may discuss law and politics freely, and our personal relations as well. Details of technology and science make for poor dinner conversation."
"Then I suppose that I should ask what I am to call you. I have been erring on the side of caution in using your full title, but given… Our current relationship, perhaps it would be more appropriate to use your name, if only in private?"
Reminds me of Japanese politeness in suffix use. It takes a lot of friendship and respect to earn the privilege of using someone's given name, much less skipping any honorifics.
"Lord Mammon, you have been my favourite for some time. It was 'appropriate' when you discovered the error in the sarcophagus."
"And yet you call me 'Lord'."
Boy, she
really likes him for that one, eh? Then again, ensuring that she and her minions don't suffer gradual brain damage form their longevity devices has to be a big feather in his cap...
She smiles fondly. "I sometimes think that you need to be reminded of your rank. You seem oddly uncomfortable with the title."
I nod as I take a flatbread. "I spend a long time without being a 'Lord'. Abandoning that ego was a big part of how I became what I am today. Bastet, then. But… I was also wondering if a… Pet name was also appropriate."
Heh. Nicely done. To anyone listening, that would sound like he's talking about his time in the wilderness after Ra's discipline. But the two of them know it's about his
actual nature.
She smiles fades faintly. "'Pet' name?"
"Yes. It was fairly common practice on the world of my birth for couples to refer to one another by a term of endearment rather than by name. Is that not something that happens here?"
Certainly not in public, I'll wager.
She looks mildly intrigued. "It is not something that has happened to me, but I have not before attempted this particular form of courtship. I will tolerate this. Make certain that it is a good one."
'Pussycat' shelved.
'Lioness' might be a good compliment, but it would fit Sekhmet better.
The vegetable matter in the soup appears to be a mixture of grains and legumes, and a combination of spices which I can't immediately identify. Certainly, it's not quite like anything I've had when I've been here before. But I think I like it.
"A new recipe?"
Well, not every meal need be a grand feast with dishes that take days to prepare...
"Public dining is a ritual in which I display the wealth and power of my realm. Private dining is a different matter."
"I think we have different definitions of 'private'. A privilege of not being a System Lord, I suppose."
Indeed, has anyone under Mammon's rule
really seen him in private?
I try the bread, and… I don't think it's wheat, but the texture is pleasant.
"It is still so strange to hear you call it a privilege. Most gods would relish the chance to display wealth, even if they could ill-afford it."
And that's why they're so stupid. A strong ego does not need shoring up with conspicuous displays of wealth and power...
"They would be better served playing the long game. Bite your tongue today, and quietly but smugly lord it over your enemies in a few centuries." I sigh. "Though I can be pleased that the tendency to not do that is shared by those idiots in the Tok'Ra."
"Which brings us on to the subject of our children."
Ah, a more pleasant subject...
I nod cautiously.
"Your expressed a desire to involve yourself. What manner of life would you plan for them?"
See, there's your mistake. You don't plan their life for them, you arrange for them to make their own best life...
"For a human child it is impossible to say until their particular talents reveal themselves. I… Am tempted to arrange for them to be educated on a world that is more technologically advanced than those in your domain."
"You would give them over to the Tau'ri?"
Eh... Maybe not
Americans, certainly.
"I would sneak them into a school somewhere on Earth, in the guise of a wealthy merchant. They would have to learn a couple of languages first, but beyond that the range of cultures common in such schools would cause the other children to overlook any oddities. Or there are other worlds, off the stargate network."
The trick is finding easy, discreet access to them without simply using his Ring. Pulling up in orbit in even a small ship might send the wrong message, and it's passage would be noted by others.
"I have not yet quickened and you are already planning to abandon our child." She raises her eyebrows mockingly. "Are you certain that you want to become a father?"
"I don't intend to abandon them. If needs be we can relocate a stargate and buy some land wherever we choose to send them to build a home for them. But unlike System Lord Yu, you use minor gods to rule all of the worlds in your domain. Putting a human in charge of one would be awkward, since they would not share the gods' knowledge base."
On the other hand, a human can be trusted to be less likely to get ideas about independence or promotion by elimination.
"There are significant roles that are performed by humans."
"True, but… Unless you're planning on bearing more than one child, I think it would be better to establish a new tradition. Being your child would set them apart from their fellows anyway. I think it would be best to let them create a unique role for themselves in your civilisation." I frown. "Unless they turn out to be a wastrel, in which case maybe they could act as a host for one of their siblings."
Heh. Waste not, want not.
"I would want to see the world your proposed to have them educated on and the school you wish to send them to."
"I will do my due diligence and submit a full report."
"I will wait with great curiosity. And our divine children?"
Ah, the meat of the matter. What knowledge to endow them with?
"We are well aware of the usual drives which queens bestow upon their children. But the success of your realm is based on the actions of Underlords who have risen above the need to constantly expand and dominate all those around them. Do you intend to raise an heir, or a new Underlord tied to you by blood?"
Either has its benefits. With loyalty being a great positive for either choice.
"Why would I need an heir?"
"Each of your Underlords in content in their place. The only thing that could disrupt your domain is if they were no longer certain that they could continue to live as they prefer to. That and that alone could turn your domain into a mirror of nearly every other domain in the galaxy, with Underlords constantly at one another's throats. And the only way that could happen is if you were killed in such a way that you could not be resurrected. Raising an heir ensures continuity, and ensures that if the worst comes to pass then your realm will remain whole, your ideas continue and your death will be avenged."
Or worse, captured, as was her canon fate. Which left her people to the same end...
"Planning for my death already? It usually takes longer."
I look her directly in the eyes. "Perhaps I should say something romantic, about wanting to spend eternity with you and that your death is unthinkable. But the truth is that having a plan for your death is a necessity for a competent ruler, and you are certainly that. I would do everything I could to keep you alive, but I am not all-powerful. And I have yet to discover whether or not cloning gods is practical or useful."
Battles are won by preparation, after all.
"And what gifts should I pass on from my ancestors?"
"They have all the time in the universe to learn new skills, but few goa'uld rise above the mindset their mothers grant them. I would say that the most important thing to share with them is sagacity, and an instinctive understanding of why it is necessary. Ambition on its own goa'uld have a surfeit of, but dedication to an ideal may serve to motivate them just as well while avoiding the pitfalls of vainglorious pride and foolhardy arrogance."
Though
what ideal? It would have to be one that would not bring them into conflict with Bastet, nor one likely to leave them to be trodden on by other Lords.
"You would have me neglect the greatest advantage our kind has over mortals?"
"I would de-emphasise it. I don't know how the process works, how much… Ancestral attitude is bound up in the technical data."
"It would be a challenge, but I understand your reasoning and I believe that it is worth the attempt. Now, what plans have you made to continue our courtship?"
In other words, what's their
next date going to be like?
