InsaneJournal

FIC Courtship Part 2
Title: Courtship
Fandom: FFVII Cetra Restoration AU
Rating: PG
Warnings: implied slavery, implied het, implied slash

“Umm...Aeris, wouldn’t you rather talk to Triumvir Joanne in private?” Zack shifted from foot to foot in a deliberate display of discomfort. He had no right to be involved with the selection of Cloud’s spouse, anything he could say about the candidate Joanne had put forward was irrelevant, and he didn’t need to know anything more than what little he already did. And Joanne’s resentment of his presence showed, which worked since they didn’t want him stuck here playing the attentive adoring consort during this visit.

“Yes, that might be better.” From the look on her face Joanne had caught the implication that Aeris expected her to be more forthcoming if she sent Zack away, and she wasn’t so sure that it was a good thing anymore. “Go and take, oh...an hour to amuse yourself.” But she caught hold of his hand and pulled him to her for a quick kiss before she let him go.

“Thank you, love. Triumvir.” He nodded a polite farewell to the warrior caste before he turned to leave.

“You really should have brought a bodyguard with you, as well as your consort, or better yet instead of him.” Zack didn’t need to hear how Aeris responded to that, and he shut the door on the two women thankfully. If Joanne didn’t have the common decency to at least wait until he was out of the room before disparaging him then he’d have had to listen to her insulting him if Aeris had wanted him to stay with her. And he’d have had to stay silent throughout.

No point thinking about something that hadn’t happened, and Zack made his way to the nearest terminal with access to the population database as they’d planned. Aeris had made a point of personally seeing to it that his clearances were upgraded the day after she’d accepted his vows as her consort, so he didn’t anticipate any problems as he logged onto the machine.

As he accessed the database programme he felt a moment’s gratitude that he didn’t have to sit with his back to the door, although he supposed that would be bad security, since it would let the screen be seen from the door as well. Then he bit his lip as the database programme called for additional authorisation before it would open, and he typed in his normal userid and password, hoping for the best. He really didn’t want to have to tell Aeris that they’d have to find another way to get the information they needed - it would mean the Triumvirate was more likely to find out, and try to interfere, even though this was something Aeris had a right to do herself.

‘Access currently restricted to healer caste high nobility.’ That was all he needed, or had a legal right to search for, and Zack inserted the pen drive he’d brought with him as he indicated that yes, he wanted to continue. Aeris had asked Sephiroth to explain to him how to use the programmes he was most likely to encounter, and he’d found that most of them were fairly intuitive, at least when it came to simple things. This was no exception, and it seemed almost simplified in a lot of ways.

He knew he couldn’t save the entire database (or even just the section he could access) to his pen drive, that would take too long, but he didn’t need to, he only needed the records of suitable candidates for Aeris’ spouse. So, he started a search of the database. Criteria...common-born and male, unespoused, between the ages of 18 and...40 - he didn’t like the idea of Aeris taking a spouse who was twice her age, but he would still be fertile, and there’d be a recent photo of each man in his record. Zack was tempted to include not having a harem as one of the criteria, but Aeris had told him not to when they’d talked about this; they needed information on every suitable candidate, they could always eliminate some later. He set the search running and waited, getting up to pace when he realised it would take a while.

“Who are you, and what right do you have to wear a sword here?” Zack knew better than to go for his sword when the warrior caste challenged him, but his partner spared Zack from having to answer.

“Don’t be stupid Murgen, you know that only the Planet’s Chosen are allowed to decorate their inner household with materia. And the Weapon and the Heart both let their consorts carry blades.” It was clear from his tone how foolish the man felt that was, and Zack clenched his teeth to keep from protesting the casual condescension warrior caste always displayed around consorts.

“And how do you know I’m not Aeris’ bodyguard? This is one of the designated safe areas for her.” He couldn’t resist the temptation to push just a little, especially since the man’s easy assumption that Zack wasn’t a threat could be a security risk.

“And just because he’s wearing a collar with materia doesn’t mean he got it from one of the Chosen Glen. It could be a disguise or some sort of trick.” Murgen could be a pain in the ass for Zack, but he was doing his job much better than this Glen was.

“A bodyguard, or some sort of criminal would have been a lot more alert, if he wasn’t a consort he’d have noticed us before you spoke Murgen.” There was that contempt again, and it was unfair too. Zack was pretty sure his enhancement was at least as good as theirs, if not better.

“Not necessarily. A lot of warrior caste instinctively walk pretty quietly, you two were almost silent. And since I’ve got a right to be here I didn’t think it mattered that there were a couple of people walking towards this office. I’d have closed the door if I was trying to hide anything.” Zack deliberately turned his back on them as he moved to check on the computer, pleased to see that the database search was completed, even if he was disappointed to find only 13 candidates. He opened the first one’s record, and began downloading it onto his pen drive before turning his attention back to the Cetra.

“Then what are you doing here?” Murgen again, Zack smiled at him.

“Something my lady would rather the Triumvirate didn’t learn about just yet. She told me to amuse myself for an hour while she talked about her candidate for Cloud’s spouse with Triumvir Joanne.” He had the first record saved, now back to the results of his search, and open a new record. “If you’ll permit it I can show you my visitor authorisation?” They probably should be able to recognise him on sight, or demanded to see his ID or visitor authorisation when they first spoke to him, but Zack wasn’t sure about that, and he could always bring it up with Joanne later. He set the second record to save before they responded.

“Yes, and some form of photo ID, if you’ve got it.” Murgen really was a much better guard than Glen, and he hoped he was appreciated for it.

“Here’s my blade license, and here’s my visitor authorisation.” He laid both cards on the desk in front of him, feeling slightly smug that he’d reminded Aeris about his blade license needing to be reissued to still permit him to carry a weapon in Aeris and Cloud’s presence now that he was her consort not her bodyguard. While Murgen inspected the cards he opened the third candidate’s record, and he made it clear there were no hard feelings when they apologised for questioning him.

He was back at Triumvir Joanne’s office just a few minutes before his hour was up, and he decided not to mention his encounter with Murgen and Glen, in case they retaliated by letting her know Aeris was hiding something.

“Did you get it all?” Aeris didn’t ask until they were walking back to the palace together, showing more patience than he thought he would in the same circumstances. “Was there enough space on the pen drive?”

“Yes, but there were only 13 candidates, even going up to the age of 40.”

“That’s more than I expected actually. There aren’t that many of us who qualify as common-born high nobility.” At least Aeris was pleased with what Zack had found for her, even if she didn’t want to look at it straight away, preferring to make love with him first.