Page 51 of Cozy Prisons
Daxus didn’t understand why she found the statement funny, but it was good to hear her laugh.
“I’m more worried about the state of your mind,” he explained. “I don’t like that I’m causing you distress, but I can’t work out how to fix it.”
Her smile disappeared, and her mouth turned down in a frown. “Sorry. I’m more broken than I realized.”
He sounded an angry rattle. “You’re not broken. Don’t ever say that about yourself. We all have problems to solve.”
She snorted. “Then what’s your problem?”
Daxus went silent. He knew he should share, but it was hard to get the words out. The last thing he wanted was to act with the same hypocrisy as the Talins he’d worked with. But being vulnerable went against everything he’d been taught.
Nataly put a hand on his cheek, pressing against a scent gland. “Hey, it’s okay. You don't have to say anything. I was being snarky because I’m frustrated.”
He captured her hand and gently drew it away from his face. It was already hard enough to talk; having her touch his scent glands wasn’t going to make it any easier to concentrate!
“No, I want to share, but it will take a little effort.”
“This is a nice spot,” she said.
He was confused by her comment, so he responded with a neutral statement. “It is.”
“We could sit here for marks and be comfortable,” she continued.
Now he understood. “I don’t think it’ll take me that long, but I appreciate your patience."
“What is a mediator mavin anyway?” she asked. “I heard that was your title, but I have no idea what it means.”
Answering her question was probably the best place to start.
“Mavins are civil law keepers. We mostly work on Talarian, but we might have a presence on larger colonies like Tovor.”
“Why does the size of the colony matter?” she asked. “Or is it like you don’t need law keepers on some colonies because they’re like ours? There’s not enough of us to have crime, only the occasional argument.”
Daxus decided to be completely honest. “When I said large, I should’ve said influential instead. It’s not about population density, it’s about political power. Most colonies are forced to organize their own law keeping force, usually made of individuals who’d served as station security. Having Talarian-trained mavins on your colony is a sign of affluence. Lots of colonies, independent of size, will petition the Apogee Assembly, but few are granted the privilege.”
“Ah, got it,” she said with a little nod.
“Within the mavins, there are three basic groups: security, investigator, and mediator. Security works for the ports and any colony or station that is within a two rotation travel time of Talarian.”
“Oh, I bet I can guess what an investigator does,” she said. “They solve crimes.”
“You’re mostly correct; they are involved with solving nonviolent crimes.”
She gave him a curious look. “Does that mean mediators figure out violent crimes? But doesn'tmediatormean a type of negotiator? The title feels wrong.”
“Not when figuring out what’s happened requires a lot of diplomacy," he argued. “There are strict laws about how many Talins can live on our homeworld. Talins who don’t have family there can’t even visit unless someone is willing to sponsor them.That means only the wealthiest and powerful live on Talarian. Imagine trying to solve a crime that would require access to private property and the security vid captures of some of the most affluent citizens in your empire. What about when the suspect who needs to be interviewed is the son or daughter of an assembly citizen?”
“I need a little more context. What’s an assembly citizen?”
He wasn’t surprised she didn’t know much about how the Talin government worked. He wished he didn’t know as much as he did!
“Assembly citizen is the title we give to the leadership of a clan. Every clan leader is a member of the Clan Assembly. The Clan Assemblies then send a representative to the Apogee Assembly.”
“You know, that’s not so different from the way some of the governments were run back on Old Earth,” she said.
“Possibly,” he agreed. “There are only so many ways you can organize large populations with any degree of effectiveness.”
“It sounds like your job was the hardest of all the mavins,” she said.
