"Master System."
She smirked."Of course."
Thumping on the wall made her jump.
Bahran sat up immediately, his hand out like he had before, ready with a weapon.
"Will you two shut up in there!"Eleanor said.
Caoimhe blinked."Eleanor?"
"You're loud.When we get home, you're moving.I'm not sleeping next to you."Her words were slightly muffled through the wall.She punctuated it with another hit.
Caoimhe laughed.
Bahran looked confused."Is everything all right?"
"Fine.It's perfectly fine."She curled up with him."Put your weapons away and come to bed."
He held out his hand, and the weapon he had been holding dissolved into the gauntlet on his wrist.
And he laid back down, pulling her into his embrace.He was asleep in a few moments.
She remained awake, and admired the ring a bit before tumbling off to sleep herself.
The Terran homewardskyline shined a bright blue-lavender as it always did on the brightest of days.
It seemed like even the planet was celebrating the changing of power in the Terran Empire.
While the Emperor would be mourned in all the proper, public ways that royalty was supposed to behave, privately, Caoimhe was relieved.
More than relieved.
Like a great weight had been lifted.That years of deceptions and lies were finally released and the burden of her position suddenly seemed much less heavy.
She almost felt like she could do this, that she could be the Empress.
And unlike her father, she was not about to do this alone, and trust very few.No, Caoimhe would not do it how her father did it.She planned on keeping a strong circle around her, one that will always remain true to her.
The hum of the ship’s engines as it shifted to landing thrummed, the floor vibrating in that subtle way that it did when transports shifted modes.She didn’t buckle or stumble from the shift, she merely rode the sensation out.
Just behind her, Bahran stood.He didn’t touch her, and he did not speak, but she knew he was there.More than a guard.More than a friend.
Just more.
She was thankful for it as well.Thankful that they all were alive, that they’d found new partners.
Everything.
A tear formed in her eye and she brushed it away.
“Caoimhe?”Bahran whispered.
“I am fine,” she said.“Just thankful.”
“I am too,” Bahran whispered, and stroked the top of her shoulder.
The transport landed.Looking out the windows to the landing pad, she could see the crowds ready to welcome her and Eleanor home.
