*A startled look came over Lady Sukkana's exotic features.  The thought had never really occured to her before that the Empress, someone of such power and prestige, might possibly be a prisoner of this convoluted system as much as she, herself, might be.  How long had this poor soul been trapped in this intricate web?  Years certainly.  And much longer than a mere foreign ambassador, such as herself had been ensnared.  Sukkana had only endured but a single day of this oppressive pompous court nonsense, but Eclypsia had had to endure a lifetime.  It was quite a stark difference between this culture and that of her own.*<br/><br/>*Sukkana suddenly had cause to look upon the Empress in a new light and this brought a new dilemma.  To selfishly try to go ahead with her self-serving plan to get released from this place and abandon this noble woman to what must surely be a soul-draining life of joyless empty duty-laden drudgery?  Or to abandon her plans for an easy pathway out and try to make a go of things here, knowing that it would be the more difficult road?  Time was ticking away and she had to decide quickly.*<br/><br/>"Well...I suppose that...I mean...."<br/><br/>*For the first time in a long time, the wily Sukkana Bint-Badra of Shantarra was at a loss for words*<br/><br/>"If...err...if you don't mind my presence here, then perhaps something could be arranged...but I don't think your staff would agree with your private assessment, your highness.  If you would perhaps, allow me to retain the ways of my culture, so long as no one is harmed in so doing, I would be...agreeable... to remaining here as your liason to my country.  I think it just might shake things up around here, in a good way, just like the Sihr has been doing in my own nation.  Sort of like 'shaking the dust out of an old rug' so to speak."<br/><br/>*Sukkana had never allowed anything...or anyone...to dictate to her how she should live.  It was unthinkable to her that someone as powerful and shrewd as Empress Eclypsia should allow others to set terms on how she should conduct herself in her own palace.  Sukkana had rebelled against each and every arranged marriage, every group of conservative fanatics who tried to mold her, every critic of her hedonistic ways...valuing her own personal freedom of expression and indivuality more than all the treasures she'd acquired in her younger days as a notorious burglar, and given her rather staggering hauls that was no idle boast.  It would take quite some effort to get used to this culture, provided she remained here after all.  Much depended on what Empress Eclypsia had to say*