

Because it's important to portray the marriage between Jainan and Kiem as as stable and strong as possible, they're forced to live together immediately and share the same bed.


Kiem, for example, has some trouble understanding gender as expressed by Theans since they do not subscribe to the gender system that Iskat has (the acessory-based gender expression). Culture Clash: Thea and Iskat have quite a few diferences in culture, which proves to cause some problems for Kiem and Jainan to understand each other's culture.This gets quite funny when our heroes are attacked by a "bear" that apparently has scales and extra legs, and they get sidetracked into an argument about whether it's actually a bear during the attack. The terraforming on Thea seems to have resulted in a more Earthlike planet with more conventional animals. Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": The wildlife on Iskat seems to be mostly dangerous alien reptiles, but the long-ago colonists gave them names like "doves", "kingfishers", and "sheep".Boomerang Bigot: Among certain Theans, Jainan is seem as this, as some believe he has turned his back on Thea, its costumes and its people, in order to pander to the Iskat Empire.Jainan and Kiem are wrapped in a really rushed one to show The Resolution that the treaty between the planets still stand after Jainan's Iskat partner dies. Arranged Marriage: Iskat alliances are sealed through political marriages between the parties involved.Kiem and Jainan are married within minutes of meeting each other, having to now work together to solve the mystery surrounding Taam's death.
WINTERS ORBIT FREE
In amidst of a delicate political situation where all of their treaties are under heavy scrutiny by The Resolution, an intergalactic federation that protects their connection, safety, and trade to other galaxies, they need to quickly make a new marriage to solidify their connection.Įnter Prince Kiem, Taam's cousin and a controversial party boy, known for multiple public fumbles, the only member of the large royal family that is free to be married off at such a hurry. The Iskat Empire, a galactic empire that manages its vassal planets through treaties and political marriages, faces an incoming problem when the already shaky relationship to its smallest vassal planet, Thea, is weakened by the accidental death of the Iskat Prince Taam, married off to the Thean Count Jainan.
WINTERS ORBIT ARCHIVE
An earlier version, The Course of Honour, was published on Archive of Our Own in 2017 as an original work it has since been taken down. Winter's Orbit is a 2021 sci-fi book by Everina Maxwell.
