Reading the message, Carl was momentarily stunned that his Sovereign was 
according equivalent status to Nell; but upon some reflection he saw that it 
was simultaneously just and pragmatic. During his time in the streets of 
Pudong, he had seen enough of the Mouse Army (as they called themselves, for 
some reason) to know that they did, in fact, constitute a new ethnic group of 
sorts, and that Nell was their undisputed leader. Victoria's esteem for the new 
sovereign was well-founded. At the same time, that the Mouse Army was currently 
helping to protect many New Atlantans from being taken hostage, or worse, by 
the Celestial Kingdom made such recognition an eminently pragmatic step.