"The Dominion has layers and layers of organisation dedicated to maintaining virtue," said Fengye. "The priestesses and monks watch the legions and the nobles. The army watches the peasants and the Thousand Scales. Intelligence agencies and the Heptagram watch the temples. It is a vast and complex interlocking organization. And isn't that what's needed to guarantee virtue?"

She shifts oh so slightly. Just enough that the faint pressure you had placed upon her shoulder gives way, and your head gently falls to rest on her bare shoulder. Absently, her hand came up around your head to rest gently but firmly on your temple. And through the subtle pressure of those fingers thinking becomes hazy. How much of the pressure in your head was purely physiological? 

"Wouldn't it be dangerous to put all that responsibility on just one person?" said Fengye. "How could one person alone care for you as skillfully?" her hands run along your hair, working deep and hidden knots of pressure. "As tenderly?" her hand brushes against the back of your neck, sending an involuntary shiver down you spine. "As safely?"