"It hasn't become evident that this Farm never again gets a Prince, or the Grand Dukes here would already be dead.  I'm not sure they can afford to kill the Grand Dukes without shutting down two-thirds of the lightlines, or shutting down a third of them and doubling the prices of the remaining ones.  We're in an interregnum where the Grands are temporarily deprived of their political power, nobody knows for how long; the Dukes will be treading carefully around them and not burning bridges."

"You could easily enough get an audience with a Grand Duke by saying that you want to know where to pledge your allegiance after they return to power, maybe?  But to state what would be obvious here, you cannot recruit them to kneel before you, or even politely speak to them as equals, without revealing your own real power to them."

"It hasn't become evident that this Farm never again gets a Prince, or the Grand Dukes here would already be dead.  I'm not sure they can afford to kill the Grand Dukes without shutting down two-thirds of the lightlines, or shutting down a third of them and doubling the prices of the remaining ones.  We're in an interregnum where the Grands are temporarily deprived of their political power, nobody knows for how long; the Dukes will be treading carefully around them and not burning bridges."

"You could easily enough get an audience with a Grand Duke by saying that you want to know where to pledge your allegiance after they return to power, maybe?  But to state what would be obvious here, you cannot recruit them to kneel before you, or even politely speak to them as equals, if they do not see you for a greater power than this."