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That had bothered him, at first--especially because it hadn't been that way during his previous visits here, back in his student days. When he'd merely been a foreign princeling with an amusing quip for every occasion, the big players had been more than happy to give him the time of day. To have him entertain their guests for them. And to try and mold him, too. To impress themselves upon an impressionable young mind.

But now that he was older and an official ambassador of Atreya, they were clearly less interested in him. More wary, perhaps. It didn't help that half or more of the people he'd been familiar with had been replaced, either. What an obnoxious system of governance. How was anyone expected to get anything done when they were constantly having to build new relationships after every election? And find new funding before each one? Even now, he almost found himself reluctant to get to know some of these people, seeing as any number of them could be gone within the next three years.

In that sense, perhaps their dismissiveness towards him was warranted. Perhaps they didn't want to bother building a rapport with him, either.

But again, that had only bothered him at first. The reason it didn't bother him anymore was because he'd learned to adjust the angle of his approach. And to see the reality of things, as well.

The terrible truth of the matter was that these supposed big shots didn't know what the hell they were talking about most of the time, anyway. They were elected to look like they did. It was the people behind them--sometimes even beneath them--who were actually thinking deeply about and trying to influence political policy here in Intar. The ones writing and proofreading speeches, the ones whispering in ears between meetings, the ones cutting checks during fundraisers--those were the ones he needed to pay more careful attention to.

Optics in this country were truly a fascinating thing. Obnoxious and tedious beyond measure, but fascinating, nonetheless. Since his arrival, he’d had to learn almost an entirely new skill set in order to even begin navigating the political landscape here with any sort of success.

And to that end, being foisted upon assistants and secretaries wasn't actually so bad. These were the overlooked, the barely thought about--despite the fact that they were present for so many important conversations, silently observing and learning.

Lending these hard-working young folks a friendly ear was therefore no trouble at all.