"And Master System defeated him.Whether that was in part from your mother's consciousness or not, it was still done."
"I'm not telling my people.I don't think it should become public knowledge that she was integrated into Master System.It would cause problems I really do not want to deal with."
"Would people be angry?"
"They would find a way to hate the Rhimodians because of it."
"Well, then, since it is Rhimodian business, it can be kept that way."
She nodded."At least your people are secured as not a piece of our Empire, but partners.I like that better."
"It allows for us to stand on our own, not just with the Terran Empire, but within the Galactic Alliance."He shifted and put his hands behind his head.
She smiled at him and studied how his skin blended into the sheets on the bed, but she could still see every line of him.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself?"
"I am now," Caoimhe said.
"And before you were not?"
"Not particularly."
"Your cries of ecstasy said otherwise."
She smiled."I meant before that.A trying day or so.Wouldn't you agree?"
"But it mostly worked out in the end."
"Mostly?"
"Your father did die."
She sighed."He wasn't much of a father.I am saddened by it, but it is what had to happen.He would never have relinquished any of his power."
"No, probably not."
She had a question for him, something that had dawned on her a bit earlier.For a lot of reasons, it would be a good move politically.But it would also be a good choice for her emotionally too, to have the locked in stability that she felt like she needed.
She stroked his chest.Savored the warmth of him."In the Terran Empire, we have a process that we do, when we want to bond a couple together.It's called a marriage."
"I know what a marriage is."
"That's good," she said."That makes it easier for me to ask you to marry me, then."
"Why do you want that?"Bahran asked.
"There are many political advantageous reasons to marry you.The obvious one being it shows our two people's unity."
"We should not have to demonstrate our unity.It will show in our actions."
She nodded."Yes.And it is a formality, in that regard."
"So why bother?"
"Well, Bahran, it also means more."
"Like what?"
