"You have living humans who remember war. We don't. We don't even have living humans who remember talking to someone who saw a war. ...But sixty-five years is longer than I thought you could go without a war. How have you had that much peace that long?"

"Peace... Treaties...? Mostly people don't want war, it destroys things and kills people?"

"I guess that makes sense. How much of your country's resources do you have to spend on being strong enough to prevent war?"

"I'm not in the army. I don't know. I was just a construct-making student."

"What laws do you have?"

She thinks for a long moment.

There is absolutely no way Valanda doesn't know she knows what's up by now. She can't keep avoiding it so assiduously. And as long as the conversation is not about constructs she's probably not hurting her chances to... Do something hostile later.

"One of the most important laws is 'no slavery'. I am so very angry - it didn't - it is not even-."

Deep breath.

"'No slavery' is almost as important to us as 'no murder'. Some of our laws are not 'people can not do this thing', they are, 'the government cannot do this thing'. The government cannot make people not talk. The government cannot punish people without proving that they broke the law. The government cannot punish crimes with things that are deliberately painful. The government must say there will be new laws one year before the new law is made. The government cannot make a law if most people say they do not want the law."

Deep breath.

"The government should give everyone liberty - that means, 'not slavery'... Not just not-slavery. I don't have enough words to say what else it means. But I tell you, I am lost, I am afraid, Hari is - people of my home would think Hari is the worst government. I think that too."

And one more deep breath. She does not cry this time. She got the words out in a tone of cold determination. It feels almost... Good. Defiant.

She watches Valanda's reaction.

...Oh, because they don't have command magic, their slaves could revolt and kill people. Of course. That makes complete sense.

"If I appeared in your world and didn't know your laws, would I be allowed to go wherever I wanted and do whatever I wanted and no one would try to stop me?"

Valanda's not angry. Good? Good.

"...No. People would stop you from breaking the law, but... Gently. We also have some people who can't understand the law. We don't enslave them. We try to make them able to obey the law without taking away their liberty. If you broke the law and could not speak my language, the people who enforce the law would try to talk to you before they try to capture you unless they think you are very dangerous. When they know that you did not know the law, they will not punish you. They will teach you the language and the law."

"What if teaching me the language and law took a long time and I broke the law more times before I knew how to follow it?"

"It depends... Liberty is very important. Even if it's expensive, liberty is important. If you break the law three, four, five times... They warn you every time and watch you closer and try to warn you before you do it. If that doesn't work, or if you break bigger laws like 'no murder', they make you stay in a place until you can understand the law. They work hard to make the place comfortable and help you learn. If you can't learn for a very long time... Half a year... They put you in a place where you can have as much liberty and happiness as you can have without hurting people. It sounds like slavery but it's not the same as slavery. And it's the government that does this... Not owners."

"I don't have a comfortable place to put you. The government would auction you if I gave you to them. 'Auction' means they would ask a lot of people how much they want to pay and give you to whoever will pay most. If I let you go and you commit a crime I could be in trouble. If I hadn't caught you... someone else would have. Or they would have realized no one here would know if they killed you and ate you."

 "Maybe you are less bad than if someone else found me. Less bad is still bad. I want to kill slavery. Being a slave is worse than being sick or hurt or hungry. It might be worse than dying. I don't- You can't know how scary command magic is. And how you smiled when you gave me these-" She thrusts her arms towards Valanda, grimacing in anger.

Pause. Deep breath. Mouth shut.

"I can't know? Why can't I know that?"

"I can't... I can't explain. It feels like being eaten. Command magic is okay here. You always knew about it. It's a law. It's not okay to me."

"When I decide to free you, would you like a ward that will keep anyone else from ever using command magic on you again? If you do have a ward like that, if you commit crimes that would get you enslaved, you will be executed instead."

"Yes."

Pause.

"You will decide to free me?"

She's probably lying. A slaveowner has every reason to lie to keep her complacent. Then again, she does seem... Understanding.

"Probably. When I've gotten what I want and you understand the law."

"Probably."

Sigh.

"I want to understand the law. I am not happy. That makes it hard. But I will understand soon."

...The meat is starting to burn. She touches her little stove and turns it off.

"Keep learning Hari and you'll be able to understand. There are also state laws, I can bring you those, but they're longer and harder to understand and you're less likely to break one by accident. It will be safe for you to go and get your own copy of Ehima's laws if you understand all the imperial laws."

She wants to stretch her legs properly and get some fresh air and have a break from long periods alone in anxiety with occasional hope/anger/frustration.

Asking for that is not worth it.

"I will do that. When you don't have more questions about my home."

"I have a lot of questions about your home, you should study when I take a break from asking you things, not wait till I'm done. Speaking of your home, tell me more about it."

"...I don't know where to start." Wow, mood swings are great aren't they, look at that depression making her want to just curl up and do nothing.

"What do you know about human health? How long do humans there live?"

"I'm not a doctor. I know some nutrition. I know some things that are bad for you like eightieth element and eighty second element and... Too much exposure to the sun because of special light... And the special light that big number elements make when they change what element they are. I knew about the small things you can't see... Eighty to one hundred years. Most humans die of being old when the heart breaks or part of the body does not stop growing when it should or the... Tube that carries blood to the head is full."

"Humans here usually live to be sixty and usually don't live to be ninety. Humans might be healthier where you're from. I knew to avoid the eighty-second element, we call it lead, but not the eightieth."

Valanda takes notes: for human life expectancy 80 - 100, avoid element 80; sun dangerous like unstable element.

"How much sun is too much? Do you know anything else about nutrition, besides what you told me?"