Chapter 176 (2/2)
”Yes, my king,” said Stephan, taking the book and setting it beside his reports .
Turning to the council in general, Joseph said, ”I understand that the initial laws I made will need to be adapted to issues that have undoubtably popped up . Would someone please give me a report on that?”
A fox-kin stood up and picked up his report nervously . ”Your majesty, the restriction on physical harm is a little vague . There was an issue where someone refused to pay rent, but no one was sure if evicting them would const.i.tute physical harm by denying them shelter . ”
”No,” said Joseph, rubbing his head . This was going to be a long meeting . ”Evicting them for lack of paying rent is not physical harm . ”
”Physical harm seems to be a very broad term, your majesty,” said the fox-kin, anxiously . His nose wouldn't stop twitching and his report was getting crumpled as he waited for Joseph to answer .
”Malicious intent is typically present when physical harm occurs . The law was intended to cover most situations . ”
The eagle-kin, from the previous beast-kin council, stood and the fox quickly sat down .
”Your majesty, a lot of progress has been made in establis.h.i.+ng the courts . You are obviously the highest authority in the land, but lesser cases are able to be settled without your intervention based on the guidelines you have established, however, there is a special case I need to bring up . ”
”Go on,” said Joseph .
”There was a bunny-kin who attempted to turn down the amorous advances of a dragon-kin, but her intentions failed to bring about the intended results, and she feels she was a.s.saulted . ”
”What do you mean? How can a no be misinterpreted?” asked Joseph .
”Well, the culture of bunny-kin is vastly different from that of dragon-kin . The refusal for a bunny-kin, is exactly the same as an acceptance for the dragon-kin . He believes he is not at fault for any a.s.sault charges . ”
”Shavist, I never took into consideration different cultures,” groaned Joseph, rubbing his face before turning back to the eagle-kin . ”What happened? I am to a.s.sume it has already been settled?”
”They are happily married,” said the eagle-kin, consulting his notes .
”What?”
”Well, apparently, a bunny-kin's first s.e.xual experience causes a bond with their s.e.xual partner, that cannot be removed . ”
”I find that difficult to believe . ”
”We had to investigate this ourselves, and the bunny-kin population confirmed it . Apparently, the deed is synonymous with marriage itself, for them . That seems to be why they are so picky choosing their mates . ”
Joseph sat there stunned, rolling the information around in his head .
”What of the dragon-kin?”
”He was horrified when he was informed, but he seems to be a very attentive husband . ”
”We need to investigate to see what other cultural characteristics there are . We have too many different species to leave this one alone!”
”We have started a cultural awareness group; whose sole purpose is to catalog such particulars for our awareness . ”
Joseph nodded, still having a hard time understanding how this one could have gone unknown among the beast kin . Then a thought occurred to him .
”Wait, weren't the bunny-kin a popular among the human wh.o.r.e houses in your realm?”
<script>