“So what’s this?”

Shaar peered intently at the small component that Myona was holding up for her. “That… that’s the oscillation belt.”

“Excellent!” The redhead chirped. “And this?”

“Easy. That’s the lens.”

“Yup. Okay here’s a tough one!” Myona grinned and held up a small notched piece of metal.

Shaar bit her lip and scratched the back of her head as she tried to recall the name of the piece being held in front of her. After a few seconds, her eyes lit up with recognition.

“The flux capacitor!”

“Correct!” Myona cheered, setting the piece on the top of the pile of components. “You’re really picking this up fast, Shaar.”

“Thank you.” Shaar replied, in the way that Fara had told her was polite. She looked down at her lap and fingered the material of the dark grey jumpsuit she was wearing.

“Soon I think you’ll be ready to learn how to put one of these projectors together.”

Shaar rose to her feet and dusted off her clothing. “Good. I want to learn how to make the pictures soon.”

“You will.” Myona assured her. “You’re picking up on this very fast.”

*.*.*.*

As Pierce sat on Rhionne’s shoulder, he found himself lost in a bit of a daydream. He imagined what things would be like if he and she had been born the same size. He imagined Rhionne gazing up at him adoringly- because of course, she’d be shorter than he was- and then standing up on her toes, lips puckered expectantly. He’d lean down, closing the gap between them, pressing their lips together and-

“Uh… Pierce?”

Pierce’s eyes opened to find his lips pressed tightly against her cheek. He quickly recoiled and looked forward, seeing her bemused expression in the reflection of her computer monitor.

“I… uh…” Pierce muttered, burning red with embarrassment.

Rhionne sighed and plucked the human from her shoulder, before depositing him on her desk top. “Look…” she muttered, refusing to look down at him. “I think we should… we should talk about what happened yesterday.”

“You kissed me.”

Rhionne bit her lip. “Yes… I did… and it was a mistake.”

Pierce sighed and nodded. “Is this the ‘I only see you as a friend’ speech or perhaps the ‘I think you’d make a really cute pet’ speech?”

Despite herself, Rhionne grinned. “Well if those are the only two options… No, Pierce, while I do think you are very cute, I realize now that you are nobody’s pet. That’s… that’s not what this is about. The truth is… I’m, sort of, engaged.”

Pierce’s eyes widened and he found himself unable to talk for several seconds. “You’re engaged?!” He finally spluttered when he’d regained his voice. “Like, as in going to be married?”

“Well… Not exactly. But… Sort of?” Rhionne said with a shrug. “Engaged probably isn’t the right word. It’s more accurate to say I’m betrothed to someone.”

“To who?!”

Rhionne shook her head. “I don’t know yet. Someone politically advantageous, I’m sure. That’s how it always works. After all, my parents were married to help seal the rift between Archavia and the Jotunn.”

“But… this isn’t right. I mean, how can you marry someone you don’t love?” Pierce was absolutely flabbergasted.

Rhionne shrugged. “It is what it is. My parents were lucky, they fell in love with each other anyway, and they’ve been very happy. Relations between Archavia and the Jotnarherath have been improved immensely by having my mother on an Archavian throne… though they aren’t perfect.”

Pierce scratched the back of his head. “So… so you’re really okay with this?”

Rhionne sighed and shrugged. “It wouldn’t be my first choice, probably, but there are worse things.”

“Oh.” Pierce sat down on the desktop. “Okay.”

Rhionne sighed. “It’s like this, Pierce… I’ve been blessed with a number of advantages and privileges. There are things that I can do that almost no one else in the Empire can do. So… well, it seems logical that there would be a tradeoff for that somewhere. Maybe I have to deal with the press hounding me where ever I go, or maybe it’s that I have to have a bodyguard trailing after me. Or… maybe it’s that I’m not in complete control of my destiny. It is what it is, and I’ve accepted that. Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky and wherever I’m tied to will be someone I’ll come to care for deeply, like my mother and father.

“I guess…” Pierce muttered, but he didn’t sound entirely convinced.

The two of them sat in silence before Pierce’s head shot up to look Rhionne in the eyes again.

“Hey… this isn’t just some way of letting me down easy, is it?”

Rhionne chuckled. “No. Of course not.”

“Good.” Pierce smiled.

“You know… It’s funny. I’ve come to care quite a lot for you over the past few weeks. I mean it seems crazy now but… if you were a titan…”

“Or if you were a human…” Pierce added wryly.

“Yeah.” Rhionne sighed. “It wouldn’t work now though. I mean… there’s just too many things standing in the way. Not the least of which being my betrothal to someone else…”

Pierce chuckled mirthlessly. “That would tend to put a damper on things.”

Rhionne scooped Pierce into her hand and raised him into the air in front of her face. Smiling softly, she leaned forward and pressed his lips to him. Deliberately, she kissed him this time. Only, not a kiss with romantic intent. Still, Pierce enjoyed the sensation all the same, and if she held the kiss for just a second longer than was proper, well, he wasn’t going to say anything.

*.*.*.*

Tylum watched the loading pattern move about on the screen of her data pad impatiently. This was taking a lot longer than she would have imagined. The protocols she had to work through were ridiculous. Tylum could imagine that security on Pryvani Tarsuss’ private moon was probably pretty tight… but this was pretty ridiculous.

Finally, after what seemed to be an interminable wait, the screen clicked on. Only, it wasn’t Zara who answered. Looking back at her through the screen was a handsome male face with grey eyes and sandy brown hair. Tylum recognized him immediately as her sister’s on-again-off-again boyfriend, Taron.

Tylum was a little surprised to see him; until she remember that he was a frequent member on Zara’s research teams.

She’d never seen him looking so haggard, however.

“Tylum!” His eyes widened, as if he too were surprised to see her. “I suppose you’re looking for your sister?”

“Yeah…” Tylum replied. Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized Taron’s appearance. “Is… is now a bad time? Should I call back later?”

“Uh…” Taron looked away from her, off screen, for a moment. “No… It-it should be fine. Hang on, I’ll go get her.”

He got up and left Tylum looking at the blank white wall that had been behind him. Tylum bit her lip. Standard etiquette was to put the other person on standby. Just what was going on over there?

She didn’t have to wait too long. Within a few minutes her sister, who was if anything, even more worse for wear than Taron had been, sat down in front of the screen.

“Hi Tylum.” Zara said. She smiled, but it didn’t quite seem to reach her eyes, which had alarming bags under them. “Is there something you need?”

“I… well…” Tylum was completely off-put by her sister’s appearance. “Well… Th-There was something I wanted to talk to you about but… You seem a little busy, so it can wait and- Is everything okay over there?”

Zara sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Yeah… um… everything is fine here we’re just… having some difficulties, is all… nothing to worry about. What did you need to ask me about?”

“Well… uh…” Tylum muttered

“Oh! Before I forget, how is the human I sent you doing?” Zara seemed to perk up and her smile seemed a little less forced.

“That’s… He’s sort of what I want to talk to you about, actually.” Tylum replied. “Zara, why exactly did you send him here?”

“Well… before I answer that. What’s his name?” Zara asked, smiling demurely.

“His name?”

“Yes. He’s from Earth so I assume he has one?” Zara’s eyebrow arched. “Tylum… you have unfrozen him, haven’t you? He’s not still in cryostasis or anything?”

“What? No, of course not. Of course I’ve taken him out of stasis. His name is Pierce, he’s from Canada. He likes art and I think he has an infatuation with at least one of my roommates. Maybe more. So, now that I’ve introduced you to him, in a way, how about telling me why in the Emperor’s name you would send me a human when you know how I feel about us keeping them as pets?!” Tylum sat back and inhaled a large breath after running out of oxygen from her outburst.

Zara snorted in amusement. “That’s why I sent him to you.”

Tylum blinked. “…What?”

“I sent him to you because I know how you feel about humans as pets.” Zara grinned and shook her head, sympathetic to her sister’s confusion. “Look… I’d spent enough time with Sophia by that point that I was already starting to wonder about human intelligence. Sophia is obviously as smart as any titan, smarter than most, even. She’s… she’s amazing and…” Zara blinked and cleared her throat. “Anyway… uh… I saw those humans in that shop, frozen in little metal tubes… completely oblivious to what had happened to them.”

“Zara…” Tylum whispered.

Her sister held up her hand and Tylum fell silent. “It was probably the most depressing sight I’d ever seen, kiddo. And, honestly, if I could have afforded to, I’d have bought the lot of them, if only to get them out of stasis. But… well, obviously I couldn’t. I could only afford one. So… I chose Pierce and sent him to you. I knew that you’d just be starting school by the time he got there and… you know… maybe you could use a friend. Emperor knows Pierce would need someone who saw him for what he is… someone like you, Tylum.

Tylum’s mouth worked soundlessly as she tried to form a coherent thought. This was not at all what she’d expected her sister to be saying.

“Oh…”

Zara laughed at her sister’s expression. “Not what you were expecting is it? I bet you were all ready to harangue me about human equality, weren’t you?”

Tylum blushed and cleared her throat self-consciously. “Well… um… no…”

“Liar.”

“All right maybe a little.” Tylum rolled her eyes. “But I’m pleased you’ve come around, none the less.”

“I was close as it was, I just needed a bit of a push to get there. But… seeing this city they have, Avalon?” Zara shook her head. “Kiddo, you really need to see this to believe it…”

“Well, maybe I will.”

“Yeah… if it’s still there…” Zara muttered under her breath.

“What?”

“Nothing!”

“Zara is everything okay with you?” Tylum peered at the screen. The bags under her sister’s eyes seemed to be getting worse.

“Yes, everything is fine.” Zara said in the tone that older siblings use to mean ‘everything is not fine, but I’m convinced you’re not old enough to handle the truth yet, so here’s a complete lie to get you to leave the topic alone.’ “There’s just… a lot of work that needs to be done.”

“Uh huh…” Tylum answered, in the tone that younger siblings use to mean ‘You’re lying, I know you’re lying, but I know better than to try and get the truth out of you, so I’m going to pretend to be mollified and let it slide.’ “Well, in that case I suppose I should let you get back to it, then.”

Zara smiled wearily and cleared her throat again. “It was nice talking to you, Ty. I’ve… you know, I’ve missed you.”

“Yeah.” Tylum agreed, nodding. “I’ve missed you too. Anyway, I’ll let you get back to what you were doing. Say hi to Sophia for me.”

A haunted look appeared in Zara’s eyes for the briefest moment, but then it was gone and she smiled back at her sister. “I’ll do that…”

“Bye Zara…”

“Bye Tylum.”