One of the habits I have acquired over my months here in the capital of Bravia is to sit and thoughtfully observe the audience that the exilarch of Bravia holds six days a week–every day except the Sabbath, when he rests in his quarters when he is not attending services in the Templo Mayor, where I have seen him regularly sit among the ordinary congregants at the services there listening to the readings from the Scriptures, the messages, as well as the music. Although it is not the time here to discuss the religious services and liturgical matters of the Bravians, rest assured that I have taken notes on these matters to tell you at a future time, and I can say in passing that the Exilarch–for this is the official title of the ruler of Bravia, a recognition of their being in exile from their homeland, which appears to have been some gently rolling land of green hills a long way away from what I have been able to determine–has a pleasing baritone voice that ranges into the tenor when he sings along to the hymns in harmony with those around him. I find it striking that a ruler would choose to sing harmony rather than the melody, as that is a very curious choice for someone who obviously can sing well as he can. I can only chalk it up to one of the many odd things that I have found in my time here.

One day, while I was sitting during the attendance period of the Exilarch, a young man with a somewhat regal bearing and milky chocolate skin asked to be recognized by the ruler of Bravia. My attention was drawn, not only because of his bearing and obviously different appearance from the general light-skinned and obviously European background of the Bravian people as a whole, wherever they come from, but because of his loud voice and curious accent, which had the tones of our neighboring country. Having not heard these tones at all in the months I had been in Bravia, I was rather startled to hear them from the mouth of someone who, like me, was seeking a diplomatic relationship with the Bravians. As you might imagine, my attention was immediately drawn to the young man, and I will recount his tale now as best as I am able.

Your loyal servant,

Leonidas Smith

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The Exilarch sat on his modest throne chair and looked out to his hall, while his herald called that anyone who wished to seek an audience with the Exilarch was welcome to at this time. Almost immediately, it seemed, a well-dressed young man who appeared to be of mixed background (what we would term mulatto, properly speaking) made a slight bow to the ruler and took off his hat. “I would like to speak of a matter of urgent importance to the Exilarch of Bravia.”

“What urgent business do you have, sir,” was the gracious reply of the Exilarch.

“I come from a land across the sea, where the blood of your people mixed with the blood of my mother’s people to create a new people elevated from the stain of slavery and oppression to reside with hopes of a good life near the trading posts of the land of __________. For years, traders from your nation made their home and encouraged the growth of farms outside of their towns and factories to feed themselves and others around us, and we lived in peace, enjoying the bread gained from the sweat of our brow in a land that was otherwise full of oppression. But dark days arose, and a ruler who did not know your people and did not value the promises made by his fathers sought to destroy our homeland. While your people were able to fight them off, and that wicked ruler reigns no longer, as he and his house have been destroyed, much damage has been done to the farms and to the land that we lived on. My people seek a new homeland, where we may dwell free and safe from the oppression of others, and we ask your help in finding us a place where we may once again live by the work of our hands and have no fear that others will seek to steal the fruits of our labor nor view us as property.”

The Exilarch thought carefully and took a bit of time thinking about his reply. “It is true that we have lands where your people could settle without fear of being viewed as property or having your property stolen. The laws of our land forbid involvement in the slave trade, viewing it as a capital offense, and forbid as well the viewing of people as if they were mere property. Similarly, we refuse to return those who have fled slavery or been freed to those who wish to enslave them once again. All these are matters of sacred law for us, and having come to seek refuge in the wings of the red-tailed hawk of Bravia, you will find such refuge. I do, however, have many questions for you.”

“What do you wish to know, your highness?”

“I will not ask all of my questions here, as some of the questions will require the consent and support of others besides myself. What you have said hints at matters of both a civil and a religious nature, and authorities of both church and state must be consulted concerning this matter. I understand the urgency of your request, but I hope you understand that we have laws and procedures that must be followed in these matters.”

“I understand, and I am grateful that you are willing to engage in difficult thinking on such little notice.”

“Who knows, good sir, when difficult thoughts will be required of us with little or no notice. What I first ask is, what sort of relationship do you want to have with us as a nation?”

“There are different options?”

“Yes, good sir, there are many options. You could seek for freedom to live in our existing towns and villages, where you would be able to find work or housing, and be considered to be strangers within our gates, subject to protection under our laws but as outsiders lacking political rights. You could seek to settle in empty lands that, for various reasons, we have not yet settled, becoming a province within our empire and having self-government in the province you settle along with full political rights wherever you travel elsewhere, so long as you share a commitment to the same religious beliefs we have and are willing to live under our laws while also being able to make your own local laws as well as send delegates here as part of our nation. Alternatively, you may wish to live in free association with us, having local self-government while we are responsible for your external relations and protect your freedoms with our military, even as you live ways that are different from but compatible with our own, and lack the right to vote for delegates or be full citizens of our nation, but nonetheless are otherwise free. If you do not wish to live near us, you may ask the help of our navigators to help you find a more distant place to settle that suits you better, where you may seek some kind of alliance with us if you feel it necessary to preserve your own security.”

“Those are more options than I or my people had thought of,” the young man answered honestly. “I do not know which of them my people would most prefer. Do I have permission to go to them to ask them what they want of you and to return to you, perhaps with a small party of others, to answer whatever questions you and your people might have?”

“That is certainly agreeable to me,” the Exilarch answered politely. “I also wish to know one more thing. What is your name?”

“My name is Musa Ben Eleazar,” the young man said.

“That is a very auspicious name,” the Exilarch continued. “Do you wish to be like a Moses, leading your people to freedom, and a righteous priest like Eleazar, son of Aaron, Moses’ brother?”

The young man brightened at hearing this. “Yes, I would, very much so.”

“I hope we can speak again soon, when your people know what they want from mine,” the Exilarch said, with a slight bow. At this, the young man bowed in return and left the audience room to answer the question that the Exilarch had asked.

It was not any surprise to me that the young man would want to leave so quickly to determine the will of his people. At least in my observation, dread prince, the decision making of our neighbors can be a very tricky process. Everyone who is considered to be a free man may speak up and give his opinion yay or nay, as well as ask questions that the person presenting a matter like this one may not know the answer to. The interview was not a long one, and the options available may be imperfectly understood. It would have been far better, I am sure, for the young man to have known the wishes of his people. Yet, as I have found in my own experience, the options that the Bravians have when it comes to their relationships with others are so varied and complex that it is impossible to know them ahead of time. I could relate to that young man wanting to know the will of his people concerning exactly what kind of relationship that they would want to have with the Bravians, as I have had the same questions in my time and have asked you to clarify your wishes so that I may pursue the course you would wish. Indeed, it is part of the reason why I am telling this tale in the first place to demonstrate to you the high tolerance for complex ties that the Bravians have in their dealings with others, even people perfectly strangers to themselves.

As soon as the young man left, the Exilarch called the High Priest of the Bravians to talk to. I could not hear all of their conversation, but it was an animated one, and it indicated that when the Exilarch said that he had to involve church and state in the matter of the former slaves seeking refuge with their previously unknown fatherland, he was not in any way exaggerating things. Given that I do not know the intricacies of Bravian religious practice, I was most curious to see the High Priest and the Exilarch speaking as equals, which demonstrates a high degree of cooperation and warm fellow feeling between two sorts of people who are frequently at odds with each other. My curiosity at seeing the two work together, and in seeing what factors would lead Bravia to seek a relationship with others, had my interest piqued for when the young man would return to seek close relations with Bravia, whichever option he chose among the ones presented by the Exilarch.

I must admit that one other consideration also filled my mind during this time, as I was waiting for the young man to return and to see how Bravia would deal with the request, which had an indirect though powerful influence on how they would deal with us. For example, what could the possible grounds be for a warm relationship between Bravia and this new people, which I did not even have a name for. There were numerous possibilities available. There could be, on the low end, an alliance out of self-interest, where Bravia would obtain as allies a group of people who had already fiercely won their freedom and defended it against a dangerous foe, and would therefore add to their military strength. There would be alliances based on identity, not least because there was the claim that the blood of Bravians flowed through these people, even though they did not look like the usual Bravians. There was also the question of a possible religious bond that would further cement the ties between Bravia and this people, as the Bravians consider any co-religionist to be an automatic friend, and it is easy for Bravians to develop close ties with those who share the same religious background and body of interpretation. Yet they are also able to share warm relations with those with whom they share only a part of the same belief system, as appeared to be the case here. As it appeared that the easiest ways for Bravia to forge a relationship was based on common ground, especially in faith, or in a relationship where Bravia was viewed as the stronger party and others were autonomous though under the guidance and oversight of Bravians, I understood that my efforts at forming a relationship with them on other grounds was going to be a more difficult sale for them than I had initially hoped.