Caoimhe grinned."Like an angel."
"Good," she said."I certainly do not want to look a devil, coming to negotiate.It might intimidate them."
Eleanor was looking out a side window of the apartment, while Diado tried to pull her hair up into a braid."I don't think anything would look intimidating to those monsters," she said."Ouch!"
"Eleanor," Fallon said."The Rhimodians are not monsters.They are just bigger and different than us.Nothing more.They are still humanoids."
"Why are they so big?"Caoimhe asked.
"Biology, I would suspect," she said.She took a few steps to Caoimhe."Now, are you going to help me negotiate?"
Caoimhe nodded."I will, Mommy.I'll make sure the peace happens."
She stroked her face."I know you will, my diamond."
It feltlike she was back in that day.In that moment.Dressing for the peace talks that never happened.
The emotions became overwhelming, and hit her very hard.
Eleanor walked to Caoimhe, and took her non-injured hand."She was beautiful, wasn't she?"
"Not quite so see-through," Caoimhe replied.It was startling how much the hologram represented their mother.
"She almost seems real," Eleanor said.
Caoimhe nodded, and took a deep breath, letting the emotions quiet as she pulled herself into this moment.A thousand questions flew through her mind, but she couldn't dare say anything.Her instinct was that this was a very pivotal point in this peace treaty.
And it seemed, they were negotiating it right now.
So much for all the fancy clothing they brought.
"Greetings.I am Master System."The hologram nodded, a slight bow.The voice was mechanical, yet also female--sounding like Empress Fallon, but not entirely.
Perhaps it was the pain medication, but Caoimhe was not freaking out.A part of herself thought that she should be, but another part, a louder voice, told her that this was what she was trained for, all her life.If she can negotiate with her dead mother, then she could negotiate with anyone, at any time.
As a good ruler should.
Still, that quieter voice started screaming.She couldn't possibly be seeing this.Her mother, standing before her.
A hologram, and like most holograms, she glowed with an etherial light, and seemed almost dreamy looking.There were very few colors on her, except hints of pinks and browns where her skin showed.She wore a simple white gown, and the hair that her mother would have had, was pulled back, away from her face.In braids.
Braids that resembled the way she'd had her hair styled under her headdress the day she died.Caoimhe remembered the pattern, because she'd traced it as a child, fascinated by the way it went around her head.
She squared her shoulders as best she could, and looked straight in the eyes of the holographic image of her mother."Why do you choose to look like my mother?"
"Because I am your mother.From a certain perspective."
"My mother is dead.You cannot be her, from any perspective.Explain your logic, please."Caoimhe asked.She still held Eleamor's hand, and her sister squeezed her hand tighter, she hoped to stop the shaking, because Caoimhe absolutely was shaking.
"It is an unnecessary detail for this moment."
"A negotiation means that we both give something to one another.You know what I am giving."
"The prisoners of war."
Caoimhe nodded."I am merely asking in return, for a story at the moment."
"Acceptable."Master System shifted, like she was about to tell a story, the holographic eyes landing on everyone in the room before speaking."That day, when the Empress died, it was a planned attack against the Rhimodian people.The Emperor had wanted to sacrifice his family to create the war.Empress Fallon was determined to make peace, to bond the two together.She had convinced the Emperor that she could make them into allies, and then into soldiers for the Terran Empire.That was how she convinced him to allow her to pursue peace.He, however, did not want peace.He wanted an excuse to destroy the Rhimodians.So he had his own people create and execute the accident that killed the Empress.It was supposed to kill all three of you."
