Aeris stopped Cloud as he made his way to the small council room, one hand on his arm and an anxious look in her eyes.

"Cloud, you don't have to do this. The Triumvirate can't force you to take a spouse against your will."

Cloud laughed softly as he took hold of Aeris' wrists, turning her hands palm up, and lifting them to kiss her on the pulse points in her wrists.

"I'd have to take a spouse at some point. Just as you will. This way you'll get a bit more time with just Zack, and I only agreed to consider the three candidates they put forward."

"Oh, so you aren't going to accept any of them, you just agreed to consider the candidates to distract them from me. Thank you." Aeris pulled her hands back, a relieved look on her face.

"No, I looked through the files of the candidates they presented and considered each one seriously." Cloud shrugged one shoulder. "Look, unless I do the political marriage thing, and take a spouse from one of the factions who have issues with our rule, I've got three real choices.

"I could buck tradition in choosing my spouse and pick her from the low nobility or noble-born high nobility, which will make our people feel at least a little bit insecure. It's been done before, but I really don't think that's a good idea since our people have spent so long in stasis and at least some are still uncomfortable with how the world have changed.

"I could do the 'romantic' thing and take one of my guards as my spouse, except that's a much less established tradition, and I can't lie and claim to love one of them, not when I already have a consort and I've fought so much to keep him and have him accepted. But I can get away with saying I'll look among my guards for a spouse if the candidate I select from the options the Triumvirate suggest offers grave enough offence far enough into our courtship."

"You mean you're hoping whichever poor woman you select from the three they've suggested insults you like that?" Aeris sounded disappointed in him, and he hated doing that to her, even as he was glad to distract her and give her a bit of sympathy for his chosen candidate. "What will it do to her reputation?"

"Hey, I'm not setting her up to fail. I fully plan to see if she can handle treating Sephiroth right, but she's only eighteen, and she's already got a small harem, four concubines." It was more likely to be a bad sign than a good one, but Cloud hoped it would mean she'd be happy to keep out of his personal household. "She's the best of the three candidates, it's not like we've got a lot of common-born high nobility to choose from."

"No, no it isn't." Aeris shook her head sadly, she probably knew that he'd chosen Rowan just from the description he'd given, considering how few common-born high nobility there were, and how most of those from the warrior caste were in their thirties or older. "I've kept you long enough, I'm sorry, go on and deal with the Triumvirate. I'll send Zack to spar with you afterwards if you want?"

"No!" Cloud made a conscious effort to temper his instinctive revulsion at the idea of sparring with a consort, any consort - after all he'd sparred with Zack before Aeris took him as her consort. "Thank you, but no. I'm going to want to spend time with Sephiroth after this."

"To reassure him, right." Aeris smiled, a hint of approval in her eyes, and turned away slowly. "I'll see you at dinner then."

"Yes...we'll have to eat with the Triumvirate, unfortunately. But I'll still be able to let you know how it goes then." Cloud set his shoulders and walked into the small council room, taking his seat across from the Triumvirate, laying the folders on their candidates on the desk in front of him and waiting for one of them to speak.

"Have you made a decision about which of our candidates would be acceptable as a spouse, my warrior liege?" He wasn't too surprised that Glynnis was the one to speak first, for all that she was healer caste she had the most courage of the three of them, at least when dealing with him, and so she was their default leader in this area, possibly others.

"Yes, I'll go through them from least suitable to most." Cloud picked up the first of the folders he'd brought in with him. "Ivan, what precisely were you thinking when you suggested Marian to me?"

"That she's the leader of one of the factions most offended by your choice of consorts, my warrior liege, and taking her as a spouse would be seen as a conciliatory move." Ivan looked confused by Cloud's question, and oblivious to the glares Glynnis and Joanne were directing at him. Cloud wasn't too happy with his suggestion either, but he didn't let it affect his expression - his words should make his displeasure at Ivan's attempt to slip a political espousal through the back door clear enough.

"First she is noble-born, not common-born. Taking her as a spouse would placate a small faction of bigots, at the cost of making the majority of the Cetra feel uncertain of me. Not something a responsible ruler would desire. Or are you one of those bigots?" Cloud shook his head before Ivan could reply and dropped her folder in the bin. "Don't bother to answer, I won't be able to trust your word on this. And your personal feelings do not matter so long as you do not allow them to colour how you perform your duty." As he had in this case, but this was the first time he'd let his prejudices against Sephiroth show. "I will not put my consort into a situation where he is subject to abuse, which is what your suggestion would lead to. I advise you to re-examine your prejudices and beliefs very seriously."

"I...yes my warrior liege." Ivan looked shaken, as well he should. Cloud's words were putting him on notice that he was coming close to losing his place as a Triumvir, and he'd finally noticed that Joanne and Glynnis weren't going to try and save his political career.

"Glynnis, I appreciate that you were looking for someone sympathetic to my choice of consorts, but...Yvanne is nearly old enough to be my mother." Cloud hated having to reject Yvanne, probably for the same reason Glynnis has put her forward; her consort was an enhanced human, one of the ones who'd been enhanced as an adult. "She's probably still fertile, and I know all the children she got by her first consort were warrior caste, but we don't know how much longer she'll be fertile." He put her file to one side, reluctantly.

"I know." Glynnis clearly understood his reasoning. "You need someone closer to your own age. Getting children from Yvanne would be difficult, and possibly dangerous for her. Besides, she's already done her duty that way."

"And Rowan hasn't. I'd refuse if that was her biggest qualification, but killing a Midgar Zolom, even an immature serpent, before her power activation ritual tells me she's an incredibly skilled fighter."

"So you're going to take her as your spouse, my warrior liege?"

"You're getting a bit ahead of yourself aren't you Joanne? I'm not going to basically order someone to be my spouse, certainly not when I've never even met her." Cloud picked up the fourth folder, opening it and taking out the report on top, glancing over it. "We're due to do a cull of the Midgar Zolom fairly soon. I think that it would be appropriate if Rowan was paired with me for that. Arrange it."

"Yes my warrior liege." Joanne stood and came to collect the file, putting it on her own smaller desk. "With your approval I'll organise the cull so that you can make the best possible start to your courtship with Rowan."

"Granted." Cloud stood and picked up Rowan's folder. "I believe that completes my business with you. Of course you are all invited to eat with us this evening." And with that he walked out.