Gondolessa isn’t playing any kind of game here. Avians’ interests have been seen to…they’re kind of easy, as special-interest groups go. He just wants Penk’s coalition to work.

Byron may not want the job, but he here demonstrates why he should have it. Not really a huge surprise, but we needed to confirm that somehow.

With the point about contact often reducing racism, we speak to a modern social problem and argue a bit for the very existence of “mixed-race” series like Guilded Age, even if the race-mixing is mostly metaphorical.

One of the important arts of marriage is to know when your spouse can (and wants to) do it themself and when you should step in. Byron can make his own choices, but he still struggles a bit with the speechmaking part of the job. Syr’Nj has talked to him enough that she can represent his thoughts here better than he can…then segue from them to an idea of hers that she’s been workshopping.

“Wait, Newlight is EASIER to spell? It has two silent letters and that thing you do where you change a vowel sound by adding a w to the end of it! Why is it not just ‘N-ū-l-ī-t’? Humans, I swear…”

FB: When you get caught between the namers of Newlight City—I know you’re Big Boss, but it’s true—if you get caught between the namers of Newlight City, the best that you can do (the best that you can do) the best that you can do is fall in line.