"Really?" Margrit's laughter left a broad smile stretched across her face. "What's she done?"

"Got the governor to pass clemency on a murd -"

"Self-defense."

Tony hitched a moment before agreeing. "Self-defense case." Margrit leaned forward in her chair again to put an elbow against her desk and press her fingers into the inner corners of her eyes. Long before the Old Races had interfered in her life, her job had been the major crack in her relationship with Tony. Coming, as they did, from different angles on the same side of a flawed legal system, the topic incited them to break-ups as often as passion got them back together. The case she had on the table was the sort they could never discuss. The very necessity of building a decent defense for a rapist was offensive to the cop in Tony. Margrit sympathized, even wondered sometimes if he was right, but her ability to abhor the crime and still do her job effectively was a dichotomy Tony could barely fathom. Arguing that anything less than her best would create an opportunity for appeal or mistrial fell on deaf ears.

Curiosity tickled her, making her wonder if Alban would have the same difficulties. The world he came from might be so different from Margrit's own that no evident double standard in human behavior could distress him. Margrit curled her lip, trying to push the thought away as she listened to Tony's amused litany.

"Then she took on the richest guy on the East Coast over a squatters' building, and he backed down. I think she's got some high-minded ambitions. Hanging out with this kind of crowd might be good for her career."

"She sounds like somebody you wouldn't want to mess with."

"I dunno, I kind of like messing with her. Whaddaya say?"

Margrit laughed. "I think it sounds fantastic, but isn't offering tickets to exclusive events very much like bribing an officer of the law?"