"Administration, I suppose. We go back a long way, to Kyrthassa's founder." Ianchus himself has an appreciation for people of low status...much more so than nobles, but he doesn't say anything about it.

He supposes the truth will come out eventually--but it's ironic, because even when it does, it won't matter. The Cepheos line dies with him. Perhaps if his brother--Oli, Jebel would never have been able to seduce a woman, much less impregnate her--had had a little bastard somewhere, perhaps there would have been a chance. But Oli was the last type to do that, too busy with his ambassadorial crown prince duties. And now, and now, Cepheos would just be a tragic earmark in the history books.

He waves those thoughts away with another order of absinthe and brings it to his lips, reveling in the taste.

"And what of you? What is your homeland like?"