Jasmine gets into the carriage with him and directs the driver to take them to the Parliament building. They come up on the large white marble building nearly twenty minutes later, vines climbing up the large pillars and helping it to look even more regal. There are plenty of errand golems and wisps working in and around the building when they get there. The building reminds Persius of one of the palace’s that belonged to the Seven Kings in Baehalan. 

Persius looks at the building in amazement at the infrastructure, taking in the view: Must be one of the goddess’ designs, it’s way too pretty. *He gets out and heads up to the entrance, a set of double doors with glass panes. He sees runes carved into the sides as he opens the door for Jasmine. He heads up to the receptionist.* H-Hello, I am here for the meeting with parliament, I wanted to know which building that was.

Receptionist: -she’s looking over at her computer, barely acknowledging him- Invitation or golem to vouch for you?

Jasmine looks at her with a blank expression: He is the representative of The Goddess Aiah. A Sister of the Ivory Sanctuary is his escort.

Receptionist: -she gasps and looks up at him, stares for a moment and starts blushing Wow he’s cute!- O-oh um of course of course! Welcome, y-you’re new. A golem has never come with an actual representative before. C-Can I have your name? F-for your visitor badge?

Persius smiles and nods: Thank you dear. My name is Persius Selvaraj. I’m not late, am I?

Receptionist: No no not at all. Not even all of the council members are here yet.

Jasmine: -she looks up at Persius- Most meetings start on average twelve to seventeen minutes later than the posted time.

Receptionist: -she glances down at Jasmine- Wow…your golem is pretty..precise. Oh before you go in you also need a draft of the minutes. -she reaches into her desk and hands him a stack of papers- You can leave this with the golem.

Persius: Her name is Jasmine by the way. Thank you so much. *leaves to go to the meeting room while handing Jasmine the papers* Ready?

Jasmine: -she takes the papers and immediately starts reading them- Yes. I will know the minutes before we sit so you are prepared.

Receptionist: You..shouldn’t name them like that. They’ll become sentient you know?

Persius: Darling, she’s older than your great-grandfather. Come along Jasmine, we need to introduce ourselves. *goes off without hearing anything else and goes into the meeting room*

The meeting is a large round meeting room with rows of desks and seating lining each level with a larger desk than the rest in the very center of the back wall. Many councilmen are already in their seats and talking quietly amongst themselves but they all look up when Persius enters the room, easily spotting the new guest. 

Jasmine: -she leads him to the large desk in the center when a woman with fiery orange hair and eyes with a rose gold monocle is sitting- Please allow me to introduce The Goddess Aiah’s representative, Persius Selvaraj. Persius, may I introduce the current Prime Minister, Seraphina Vesta.

Seraphina: -she looks down at them and gives him a polite smile- Well hello there. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. How wonderful that you’ve been given the opportunity to be the Goddess’ representative. 

Persius: *he looks at Seraphina* what on Ahanium?..…the Prime Minister huh? Mhm *he bows very demurely and meets her eyes* Hello, pleasure to make your acquaintance, I hope to become quite acquainted with you as we go through this meeting. Thank you so much for welcoming me. 

Seraphina: -she looks him up and down- You are quite lovely, what kind of mage are you?

Persius: What kind of mage? As in the magic style I use?

Seraphina: Heh yes, the root of your family’s magic. My family has fire magic as its root.

Persius manages a forced chuckle, still feeling awkward from the question before: Ah makes sense, red hair and all. Y’all are quite the riot. My magic is based in Alchemy and Psychic. 

Seraphina: -her eyes widen slightly and she grins as she leans forward- Really? A true split root. How wonderful~. Are you single? My daughter would be delighted to meet someone so unique. Or has your family already found you a match?

Persius keeps a smile but stands firm in his speech: My family believes that my choices are my own but I am only here for representation. *his eyes flash for a second* I just prefer to keep business as such, Prime Minister.

Seraphina: Of course, of course, this conversation is better suited over tea. I’ll send the request to your golem later then. -she smiles at him and waves to an open seat up towards the top of the room- You may sit there to observe this afternoon.

Persius looks where she waves too: Ah…okay. Oh her name is Jasmine, please acknowledge her as such. *he goes to the front of the room and sits down, looking at the rest of them murmuring*

“A split root?” “I heard that too, where on Ahanium has he been hiding?” “I want him for my children.” “Wouldn’t he be nice to have around?” “Never seen him in Opirea, his parents must keep him inside. Ehhe." "With a child like that, I’d keep him inside too haha.” “Could you imagine the amount he’s worth alone probably?”

Persius cringes deeply on the inside. You disgusting people. I am not an object! He stills himself and just calms his breathing. I just want to get the fuck out of here. These people talk about children like dice in a game. I don’t understand it. I just want to get through this so I can leave. 

The rest of the councilmen file in and take their seats, all of them getting filled in on the gossip and glancing up at him.

Seraphina: -she stands up and claps, instantly silencing the whole room- Now that we’re all here, allow us to get this meeting started. We do have a new face here today, Lady Aiah has sent in a representative for this meeting. Please welcome Persius Selvaraj! -the whole room looks to him and some clap and they all greet him- Wonderful wonderful. Now let us begin. 

The meeting begins and Seraphina leads the council through all of the minutes in the packet that Jasmine was handed. Jasmine keeps Persius on track for the meeting as they go along and signals him when they come to the end of the budget portion without mentioning Aralan or Sifinica. 

Persius puts his hand up, and stands up slowly: I don’t mean to just interrupt but…I realized that we went past Aralan and Sifinica without doing any budgeting. If we could go back and go over those budgets, that would be great. Thank you. *he smiles softly at her*

Seraphina: -she looks up at him- …Oh my how careless of me, apologies. It seems those weren’t prepared for today but I’ll be happy to circle back to them before the end of the meeting. Well done, very good catch. -she smiles at him but it doesn’t reach her eyes and she looks back to the council room and continues on with the meeting-

Persius makes a note of that in his mind: Hmmm I see..they purposely do this so that they don’t have to talk about it. *he sighs* Mmmm..

Jasmine makes notes on top of the minutes for him as the meeting continues. As the meeting goes on they spend a lot of time on Opirea, seeming to slowly go item by item about school grants, nature maintenance, and recreational spaces. An hour into this, Persius starts to visibly become tired. Jasmine taps him gently several times to wake him as they drag into hour two as they start on Brevurant.

Persius: *he shakes himself* Huh? On Brevurant? *leans towards Jasmine* Have they gone over Aralan and Sifinica yet? I feel like this meeting is taking an awfully long time…

Jasmine: They have not. After Brevurant the minutes state they will move on to Oppeven, then end with Grand Econ.