Bianca walked over to her chair and stepped behind her to inspect. And she hated seeing it, but it was not the only white hair the girl had.
Gray too early.
"You're far too stressed," she said. "You need to find some time to relax."
"That is hard to do when you're attempting to end a war and overthrow a tyrant."
"A tyrant who has managed to maintain the support of the people for years," Eleanor added.
"Through lies and manipulation," Caoimhe added.
Bianca leaned over to Caoimhe.
Looking in her eyes, so much like her mother's, it was like looking back in time for Bianca. Like she stared not at the princess she'd raised but at her friend, who was determined to keep the Terran Empire in place.
Now Caoimhe has taken on that mantle.
Bianca ran her hand over the girl's face. "You are not here to correct every one of your father's mistakes."
"But if I don't do it, then who will?"
"You do not have to do any of it alone, Caoimhe. We are here to help you in every way we can."
She nodded. "I know. I do not know that I could do it without your support."
"You couldn’t," Eleanor said.
"You're one to talk," she said to her sister.
"And I'm awesome," the younger princess said.
"Girls," Bianca said
"Yes, Mommy," the girls answered in unison.
Bianca shook her head. Hearing the term of endearment always kicked her in the heart.
Even more, since they prepared to go back to the Rhimodians. This time, Bianca was going as well to make sure nothing happened to them.
Did she think she could stop a scheme to prevent peace? Not likely. But whatever the girls’ fate was, it would be hers too.
This time, she wasn't staying behind.
2
Harbin stepped onto the landing platform where the fighters were being inspected. The winds blew the scent of the sulfur and soot from the nearest volcano through the air. Beyond the flat field of starships sat the rough terrain of Sol-3, the main moon where the Rhimodian lived.
The dark burnt landscape was peppered with rivers of molten lava and the constantly shifting masses. It was the last thing most humanoids would consider a perfect homeworld base.
The Rhimodians, however, saw it differently.
Sol-3, right in the middle of the chain of moons, had active volcanos that were carefully monitored for their next eruptions.
For more than one reason. Scattered all around the moon, these volcanoes made great locations where the Rhimodians could process their lysteel for their cybernetic parts as needed. Rumbling black mountains that always spouted their red fury and trickling rivers of molten rock should have made Sol-3 a dark and depressing world.
In between the rivers and burnt land, however, the ash and soot made the ground incredibly fertile, so they could not only grow nearly anything but also made a good commodity to sell off-world.
Or, rather, it would when they stopped warring with the Terran Empire. Getting exports out of the Sol system without the Terrans attacking proved a challenge.
