“Lady Amani,” Aria said, bowing to her. “Is nice see you.”
“Hello, Li'ren,” Jack said. “You're looking good. Hope you've been having a good time here with your family.”
Li'ren laughed lightly. “Oh, yes. Very much. I have not been to Arbaros in some years, and it does feel nice to visit. Though I hope to be home on Lirna very soon.” She looked momentarily wistful, but it passed after a moment, and she turned to Aria's eldest sister. “And Sami, so good to see you as well.”
“Yes, Lady Amani,” Sami said, looking rather breathless. She took the consort's hand, bowing also.
“I must say, it is nice to see fresh faces,” Li'ren admitted. A sheepish look made its way onto her face, her pointed ears twitching backwards. “Kri'a seems to think my life may be in danger, so on her direction I have not been allowed visitors. If it is alright with my mother, I would very much like to show you around. You are to live here, after all.”
Miri, standing behind them, shook her head in the affirmative. “I would not mind in the slightest. We must be good hostesses to our guests.”
Suddenly clearing his throat, Arn said something to Aria that Jack didn't quite catch. He looked distinctly weary, as though he hadn't slept much in the past few days. He had been quite standoffish during the journey, and Jack couldn't really blame him. Only a week before, he'd found out that his mate was alive, and leading an open rebellion against the government of the Ascendancy. On top of that, he was brought thousands of light-years away from his home to live with strangers, even if the rest of his family was there.
“Ah...,” Aria said. She looked between the governess and Li'ren. “Is nice offer, but family tired. We maybe take tour later?”
Li'ren looked disappointed, but she reluctantly nodded. “Of course, Aria, how thoughtless of me. This is a trying time for you all. Certainly, I can have someone show you to your quarters so you can get some rest.” She nodded to one of the Ailian guards who had accompanied her mother. “The officer will show you to your wing of the residence. We have rooms prepared for all of you.” She offered a diplomatic smile. “I certainly hope you all enjoy your time on Arbaros.
Su'te kanme a arbaros re'laare.”
The last sentence was for the rest of Aria's family, who seemed relieved to finally hear their own language again.
“Um...I not mind tour,” Sami said hesitantly. She looked among the rest of the people in the room, her tail twitching uncertainly. “If...If is okay.”
“I would love to show you around,” Li'ren said enthusiastically. Jack thought she was genuinely pleased to have someone take her up on her offer. Li'ren looked to the governess. “Mother, would you care to come as well? You know far more about the residence than I do, after all.”
“I am afraid not, Li'ren,” Miri said apologetically. “Captain Me'lia and I-” She stopped as a door opened on the other side of the room.
A girl walked in, a human girl, dressed in the same green color as the governess. Dark-skinned and with ebony hair, it took Jack a moment to realize that he had seen her before, though it had been back on Lirna. She was the slave girl Jack had met his first day on Lirna, and then run into again in the royal palace: Brooke. As she came into the room, she froze. The young slave clearly hadn't expected for so many people to be present.
“I...I...F-Forgive me, mistress, I didn't mean to intrude,” Brooke said quietly, looking at Li'ren fearfully. “I-I-I just...”
“It's alright, child,” Li'ren assured her. Noticing Jack's attention to Brooke, she explained quickly to him. “When I came to Arbaros, Kri'a insisted I bring her with me. She seemed to think I would need someone to serve as a sort of lady-in-waiting. The girl has proven quite indispensable, she really is quite wonderful.” Turning back to Brooke, she smiled encouragingly. “Is there something you needed to tell us?”
“Yes, I mean...f-for the governess,” Brooke said. She looked to Governess Amani. “A call for you, m'lady. They said it was urgent.”
Miri rolled her eyes, sighing. “The burdens of my office. If you will all excuse me. I won't be a moment. If you wouldn't mind waiting for me, Li'ren, Captain Me'lia. In the meantime, the officers will conduct your family to their rooms.”
The governess left, one of her guards following after her. The other three guards and the male assistant showed Aria's father and her siblings out, much to their apparent relief, but Jack chose to remain with Aria. That left the two of them alone in the room with Li'ren, Sami, and Brooke. Li'ren bid them all to sit, and they sat around, passing the time chatting until the governess returned. While Li'ren, Sami, and Aria conversed in their own language, Jack took the opportunity to catch up with Brooke.
“So,” he said to the younger girl. “It's been a while, Brooke. What's it like for you, being all the way out here? You haven't been off of Lirna since you could remember, right?”
“No, I haven't,” Brooke said. “It's...It's okay.” She looked over her shoulder, towards where Li'ren was. “I was surprised when Lady Amani brought me here. I like her mother. She has been very kind to me.”
Jack grinned. “Good. Looks like your luck is holding out, a bit.” He glanced around the room. “Not as rich as you're used to living, eh?”
Brooke even laughed at that. “N-No, no...I guess not. But I like it better here. It's not as big. I don't get lost in the governess' residence.”
“Well, we'll be living here together,” he pointed out. “Sami over there will be getting the tour from Li'ren soon. Maybe you could show me around later, if you have a free minute sometime.”
“If...If m'lady allows it,” the dark-skinned girl agreed. “It would be nice to have another human to talk to. There are no other slaves on Arbaros, at least none that I've seen.” Which was news to Jack. He'd assumed that slavery was omnipresent throughout the Ascendancy, but from what Brooke had just told him that might not be true.
A few minutes later, the door opened, and Governess Amani walked back in. She looked slightly shaken, her eyes wide and her tail hanging limply behind her. Li'ren stood up as her mother came into the room, smiling.
“Mother, what was the call about?” she asked. Then she saw the look on her mother's face, and her smile faltered. “Mother? Is something wrong?” Everyone else stood up as well. The mood in the room had suddenly shifted, and there came the sense to all of them that something was very wrong indeed.
Miri took a moment to answer. When she did, her voice was trembling and quiet. “A call came in on the emergency line. There has been terrible news.” She looked around at all of them. “The rebels have attacked the homeworld. They struck less than six hours ago with a massive force, and the fleets are in retreat. And there's more, the...” The elder Ailian put a hand to her chest, as though she felt a pain there. Her ears were laid back as low as they could go. When her voice came back to her, she looked at Li'ren with a great sorrow in her eyes. “The Empress is dead.”
In the silence that followed Governess Amani's news, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of Sami catching Li'ren as she sank to the floor.
- 7 -
When Miri returned to the greeting room some hours later, the mood was deeply in contrast to the cheery, colorful decorations that were present. Li'ren was gone, carried out by one of the governess' guards after she had fainted, and the slave girl, Brooke, had been dismissed as well. Jack and Aria remained, both of them still reeling from the news that had just been received, and Sami was also there, looking lost and out of place. Tea had been brought for everyone, but the cups still sat on their silvery serving tray on the table, untouched and by now cold. Few words had been exchanged; they were all still too stricken to talk much. For Aria and Sami, it felt much like they had lost a family member. The Empress, for all of her controversy, was a beloved figure to all Ailians and a symbol of their people. If she were really dead, that would be a severe blow to the morale of anyone loyal to the Ascendancy. For Jack the mood was different. He had no particular love for the Ascendancy, quite the opposite in fact, but his feelings
had shifted somewhat in his time with Aria. He knew that the decade-long war was not as black-and-white as he'd been taught to believe, and it seemed that Ailians were not so different from humans. There were jerks and saints among them just the same as with humans. And Jack had met the Empress, and if she wasn't exactly saint-like she had at least tried to lead her people as best she could, and she had been trying to end the war. If the news of her death was the truth, he was sorry to hear it.
Miri took a seat opposite Jack and Aria, near the table where the tea was, sweeping her tail to the side to keep from sitting on it wrong. Blankly she picked up a cup and sipped at it, and her ears laid back as she grimaced at the cold drink. Then she set the cup down again, growling and rubbing her eyes with one hand.
“Pa'ka le mar'eshka,”
the governess cursed under her breath, baring her teeth as her red eyes blazed. Jack could see that the fur on her cheeks was slightly matted. With Li'ren being her daughter and being mated to the Empress, it really
was
losing a family member for Miri.
They were all quiet after that for a while, until Jack was the first to speak. “Any more news?” he asked tentatively, a little afraid of breaking the silence but wildly curious about what was going on. Miri's head jerked up as she looked at the human, and for a minute he was afraid that she was going to explode at him for daring to ask a question. Then she seemed to calm down, recognizing that she was letting her emotions get the better of her.
“None yet,” Miri replied. She sat up straighter, smoothing her emerald robes and attempting to look dignified again. “We were very lucky to get as much news as we did. Communications from Lirna have been severely disrupted, and our interspace military relays appear to have been tampered with. We're having difficulty in communicating with the fleets, and I suspect we'll have to wait until the fleets are in closer range before we can get more information. Arbaros is the designated fallback port, so survivors from the battle on Lirna will be coming here.” Looking at the tea again, she stood up abruptly and went to the door. Opening it a crack, she exchanged hushed words with someone just outside, then closed the door and returned to her seat. “I am afraid we will just have to be patient.”
Aria growled softly. “Hate waiting,” she said. Jack reached over and put a hand on her thigh, squeezing it a little. She hadn't cried yet, but he could tell she was at the point where she might. The fur visible outside of the boundaries of her clothing was sticking up, and her ears were limp and flat, not perky and pointed as they should be. He had only seen her in this sort of mood a few times before: on the planet they'd crashed on, when she told him she'd likely be facing treason charges on her return home; on Lirna, when her youngest sister had been murdered; and again on Lirna, the night before her trial was to begin.
“Is true?” Sami timidly asked. She was only in the room by accident, after all. The rest of her family had been shown to the quarters provided for them, and she had stayed behind to accept Li'ren's offer of a tour of the governess' residence.
The grief passed over Governess Amani's face again, briefly, before she answered. “I am afraid it does appear to be true,” Miri said. “What little communication we have been able to receive confirms the initial reports on all counts. A combined fleet of Ara'lana's ships, Pteryd war cruisers, and human troop carriers attacked Lirna about eight hours ago. They were able to break the defensive lines and land soldiers on the planet's surface, and their first targets were Mat'aar Airbase and the royal palace. The Royal Guards put up a hard fight, but the palace was breached. From what we can tell, they did not even attempt to take Kri'a alive. This attack was an assassination, pure and simple, and now they control the planet as well.”
Jack looked down at the floor. From what he had learned about Aria's mother, that kind of blitz attack seemed like her style for sure. He realized that they had been lucky to get off the planet when they did; if they'd been on Lirna when the attack had hit, surely they'd all be dead or captured by now. Ara'lana didn't seem to be the sort of person who liked leaving loose ends.
“Um...Lady Amani?” Sami asked next. She looked between the governess and her sister. “How is she?”
“How do you think?” Miri replied. The door opened, and Brooke came in, carrying another tray with fresh tea on it. She came over and placed the new tray on the table next to the old one. “Thank you, child. That will be all.” Brooke nodded silently, glanced at Jack for a brief moment, and then picked up the old tray and carried it out of the room. Miri passed cups around to everyone before she continued. “Li'ren and Kri'a were together for ten years. They loved each other very much, and they stuck together even when the gossip and ridicule was at its worst. Li'ren was devoted to the Empress.” She lifted her cup. “She's in her room. She came to before I left her. I still don't think it has sunk in for her, yet.”
Jack cleared his throat. “I don't mean to be rude or anything, but...um...Should she be alone right now?” He gave Aria a sidelong look. “I mean, she's had an awful shock. Sadness and stress can do funny things to a person. You don't want her to do anything she's going to regret.”
Though she was furious that Jack would bring that up, Aria nodded. “Is true what he say.”
The governess looked as though she hadn't considered that until now, and she grew worried when Jack mentioned it. “Do you think so?” Miri looked towards the door, touching a hand to her chin. “Perhaps I should send someone to check on her. I could call one of the servants.”
Sami stood up at once. “I...I go,” she volunteered. Everyone turned to look at her, and an embarrassed expression came to her face. “Is better than servant. Someone...someone she know.” The Ailian clasped her hands in front of her, waving her tail somewhat awkwardly.
Miri eyed Aria's sister, and then she smiled just a little. “Alright. Thank you, I think you may be right.” The governess waved a hand towards the door. “The guard outside can show you the way. It will give me the chance to discuss some things with Captain Me'lia.” Bowing, Sami went to the door and walked out to the hall. The three left in the room could hear her footsteps on the carpeted floor, growing more distant as she was led away by one of the guards. Miri turned back to Jack and Aria when she was gone. “Captain, perhaps Jack should go as well. I can have someone conduct him to your family's quarters.”
“No,” Aria said at once. She slid one arm around behind Jack's back, resting her hand on his other hip. “Jack stay.” While the governess gave her an odd look, her face stayed resolute. “I trust Jack. He help me many times. He deserve to stay.”
Though she looked for a while as though she was going to disagree, Miri changed her mind. “Very well. If you believe he can be trusted, I will take your word for it. I wish to discuss with you the plans for security, Captain.” Her eyes flicked between Aria and Jack. “With Lirna lost, the seat of government will default to this planet. Outside of the homeworld, we have the largest military and diplomatic presence in the Ascendancy. That means that Arbaros is the next likely target for attack by the rebels. As governess of the planet, my job will be to keep the government together until the question of leadership can be sorted out.”
“Yes,” Aria agreed. She leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms. “With Empress gone, will be trouble.”
“Indeed, but you needn't worry about that,” Miri assured her. “That's not what I want to talk about. What I
am
worried about is keeping my daughter safe. Kri'a appointed you to the Royal Guards for a reason, and that reason has not changed. Li'ren is still one of the highest-ranking diplomats in the Ascendancy. As consort to the Empress, she knows a great deal about defense and political matters. Ara'lana will want to deny us that expertise, and I believe she will do her best to make an attempt on my daughter's life.”
Jack leaned forward. “You don't think she'd try to kidnap her? If Li'ren knows that much, wouldn't Aria's mother just take her alive so she can learn what she knows?”
Miri shook her head, raising her tea cup and taking a sip. “No. Ara'lana already knows much of what Li'ren does. It would be much easier and just as effective for her to just kill her.” She put her cup down and stared at Aria. “That is why you are here, Captain. You are one of the last of the Royal Guards. Your orders from the Empress still stand. The best soldiers to be found on Arbaros have been selected, and we also have the few Guards that Kri'a sent here. Allow the fleets to worry about the security of the planet, Aria, I want you to be concerned with the security of Li'ren.”
“I do that,” Aria promised solemnly. “I give Empress my oath. She safe with me here.”
“Good. I want you to start your preparations tomorrow. Let me tell you what resources we have...”
******
The guard led Sami from the greeting room, taking her through a series of halls which led deeper into the governess' residence. The Ailian found herself overwhelmed by the size of the place, which was much larger than her family's mansion back on Lirna, and Sami had considered that quite a large home. Yet she was also impressed by how simply yet elegantly it was adorned. Like many Ailian government buildings, the walls were lined with detailed paintings, but apart from that the home was very plain. The same as the entrance hall through which they had been brought, the walls were of white stone and the carpets were a deep, dark royal blue. Sami wasn't quite astounded enough to totally forget everything that had happened today, but the distraction was enough to help her calm down.
Finally, they arrived at a door at the end of one hall. The guard gave Sami a perfunctory bow, then took his leave and returned back the way he came. Sami watched him go, her ears pricking forward in minor annoyance at the guard's attitude. Then she turned back to the door, taking a preparatory breath before raising a hand and knocking gently. She waited for several minutes, but there was no answer from within.
Sami placed her ear against the door, listening. -Lady Amani?- she called. Sami knocked again, but she still didn't receive an answer. Reaching for the door handle, she turned it, finding the door unlocked. She wasn't sure if she should really intrude like this, but she pushed the door open anyway and looked inside.
The room inside was as simple as the rest of the governess' home. From the doorway, Sami could see a large, round bed, and a low table set in the middle of the room surrounded by several plush chairs of the same color as the carpets. On the far side of the room from the door was a large window which looked out onto the trees upon which the building was constructed. There was another table sitting in front of the window, and in a chair next to the table sat Li'ren. The noblewoman had something in her hand that she seemed to be staring at, but what it was Sami couldn't tell from where she was standing.
Stepping fully into the room, Sami closed the door quietly behind her and walked up behind Li'ren. -Lady Amani?- she repeated, when she was a meter or so away from the other woman. She saw Li'ren's shoulders jerk in shock, and her tail gave a twitch of alarm as she looked behind her. When she saw who was speaking, she seemed to relax just a bit.
-Oh...,- Li'ren said, blankly. -Sami. I did not hear the door.- She turned her eyes back to the object she was holding. Now that Sami was closer, it looked like a photograph.
-Forgive me, m'lady,- Sami apologized. -I didn't mean to intrude. The governess thought someone should come check on you.-
Li'ren gave a quiet sigh, sinking a little lower in the chair. Her tail was hanging limp down to the floor, and her fur was laying flat and expressionless. -Thank you,- she said, not taking her eyes off of the photograph in her hands. -I am fine.-
Sami peeked over her shoulder, curious about the picture. The photograph was of two Ailians, sitting on a low garden wall near a fountain. Their tails met between them, twisted around each other. One of them, dressed in white robes and shorter than the other, was Li'ren herself. The other was dressed in a sharply tailored admiral's uniform, looking right at the photographer with a smile that mirrored Li'ren's. For a few seconds she couldn't tell who it was, but then she recognized the face.
-That's you and the Empress, isn't it?- she asked, pointing at the picture. -And is that the palace?-
Looking up for a moment, Li'ren blinked at Sami, then she looked back at the picture. -Yes.- Her voice was hoarse. -This was one of the first pictures we ever took together, after our relationship became known. She was still just the princess when this picture was taken. I was...eighteen, I think, just starting as a formal diplomat.- Li'ren gave just the faintest hint of a smile, which quickly disappeared. -This spot in the gardens was always our favorite. We'd go there whenever we wanted to be alone for some fresh air. I still remember the first time we sat there together, the first time she ever called me 'my little one'...-