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Dapri's visits to Earth were rare these days. She was busy taking her Ert-inspired democracy to the Empire: changing the Debate at Lan to allow registered worlds a vote in Empire decisions in place of audience time, pulling occupying forces off of colony-resistant planets and recognizing more sentient species than ever before. If she was the royal who brought the boat in, there would have to be a reason for it.

The techs who hooked the redundant grapples on her ship marched in her open hatch as soon as she cleared it. That small space was pretty gamy after her long flight. She smiled at the thought of them braving it to ensure she was ready to leave again immediately. Her humour was shortened by the ship's comment on that very thing.

"Watch out guys," Lig said, "She's been eating tanelmeat sticks since Cu-Nnen."

To respond would be to feed it more material. Carol chose to ignore it and open the bulkhead lock to the main house. As she went, she found herself nodding to a lot of other rarely present house members who greeted her as they walked to and from whatever
amenities the house offered. She grew more suspicious the farther she went. She would have been notified of a meeting.

By the time she got to the great hall she was catching herself scowling at passing members. They were starting to duck away from her as they went by. At the door to the hall several loitering members broke away in all directions essentially announcing her entrance to the roomful of householders. Those that had enough distance did not run off, but they stopped talking and stared in her direction.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked the room.

"Nothing specifically," came the matter-of-fact response from Ross, somewhere behind his wife and their one normal child. He sent the boy aside with a hand pressed to his shoulder and walked toward her. "Just an influx. There have been a lot of people crossing Ert space these days."

His wife, The Exile, made her cold smile to her from behind him. Tiplil was a royal, but she held to zealotry like some women of her class hold to jewels. She claimed to have visions of the will of the goddess – and by that, she meant Serene. But what Serene said plainly herself was not what Tiplil and the other zealots reported the goddess saying. They were always off by just enough that Carol did not trust the lot of them. If it were not for their own sincerity in their belief, she would call them liars.

Her sister Dapri was far more reasonable – more intelligent. It was fortunate that she was the one who stood for the throne when the power of their father started to crumble. Fortunate that it was her who met Tavi and married the Blue and White thrones into a single Empire. Tavi and Tiplil would have done nothing better than settle which planets to leave intact after each feud. It took a level man like Ross to tolerate a wingnut like her.

Dapri was here. Her husband the Blue king was beside her. This was quite the influx. When the Queen raised her hand to wave, Carol felt the first loosening of her tense shoulders.