The Princess and the Human

Silgvani leaned back as she watched the servants disassemble their temporary desks in her quarters. They were finally done with the… “crunch time”, as Nadine had called it. Her work wasn’t done by any means, but the rest she could manage by herself, even if her capacity was still reduced. Walking also had started to get easier for her, and over short distances, she no longer needed someone to lean on. According to the doctor, she wouldn’t fully recover until her next molting cycle – her current one was about to end, so it was too late for that to fix anything – but luckily, the internal damage from the calcium had been low considering the circumstances. As long as she was careful, she would even be able to receive guests again soon. On top of that, it was also time to schedule Nadine’s first outing.

The mere thought made her recall the dialogue the two had after the trial. It almost made her paranoid to let Nadine out, but she knew those fears had no basis. She knew she could trust Nadine, not to mention that the small alien wanted this knowledge to be public just as much as she did – in other words, absolutely not at all.

“Your Highness?”

The voice of her head maid pulled Silgvani out of her thought.

“Yes, Mhita?”

“You seemed lost in thought, is something on your mind?”

Well…

Sixteen days prior

“Have you ever heard the “Equilibrium of Terror”? Or, um, what was the other term for it? Ah, right “Mutually Assured Destruction”.”

“No, can’t say I have.” But both terms sounded quite menacing and definitely not like something that was to thank for lasting peace.

“Okay, then, how do I explain this,” the small alien began. “Imagine you had a weapon that was so powerful that it could end any conflict in an instant. Ships no matter the size, enemy armies, or even entire countries, all of that you could wipe out with the press of one button.”

“There is no such weapon,” Silgvani said without even thinking about it.

“Hypothetically, imagine there was. And, for the sake of the thought experiment, further imagine you were the kind of person that had absolutely no qualms about using such a weapon. What would that mean, politically?”

The princess really didn’t like to think about something that was both so morbid and so far off from reality at the same time, but Nadine was clearly trying to get somewhere with this, so she complied.

“Well, I guess, militarily speaking, if we had such a weapon, then none of the others could oppose us, because they would lose the moment they initiate conflict.”

“Yes, exactly! But here is the catch: everyone else has that weapon as well. They still can’t stop you from using it, but they can fire back.”

Silgvani stared at Nadine for a solid moment before speaking again.

“Wait, so what you are basically saying is: Every party could at any point wipe out whoever they wanted, but the targeted parties could always drag them down with them?”

Nadine nodded.

“You got it. That’s what Mutually Assured Destruction means. Considering our history, it’s probably the closest to peace we’re ever gonna get.”

So that is how they ended their wars? No actual peace, but rather an armistice no one can survive to break? Wait…

Realization didn’t hit Silgvani immediately, but when it did, it did so with full force. So far, the example had been purely hypothetical. But now…

“Nadine… if what you say is true, does that mean… are you saying humanity has…”

She didn’t need to finish to make Nadine nod.

“It’s… objectively speaking, it’s really stupid. Funny even, if it wasn’t so sad. I… I’m not sure if I should tell you about this weapon. I don’t want to introduce it to your culture, but then again, if you make contact with humanity, you’ll have the technology eventually anyway.”

“But such a weapon must be insanely complicated to build right?” Silgvani tried to assure, still in half-denial. Why would any species even want something so terrible?

“Nope. Once you figure out how… the basis of it works, it's super easy. It wasn’t even planned. I mean, with nukes, while the potential was discovered by accident, the thing itself was intentionally developed. And antimatter, well, that might always be a bomb, but no one is suicidal enough to try acquiring it in such a quantity. But this thing? It was supposed to provide new possibilities for us. And it did. But as soon as it was done, it also was a weapon. As it was, no changes necessary. Didn’t take long for someone to realize it, the idea apparently wasn’t even new. And, well… if there is one thing humans are really good at, it’s finding out how to turn something into a weapon.”

The princess had no idea what this “nuke” was that was apparently not as bad, nor did she know whether or not she even wanted to know it. But one thing, she knew for sure: She could NEVER allow this weapon to be introduced to the alliance, not if she could prevent it.

“I’m sorry that I’m so vague about this, Sil, but-”

“No, that is good,” Silgvani interrupted. “Nadine, I am sorry, but under the authority of hospitality, I prohibit you from telling anyone about this weapon or how it works, don’t even hint at it!”

Under normal circumstances, an order of hospitality would be considered a grave insult. It was more or less the only real way one could exert authority over a political guest, at least as so long as they didn’t commit a crime. It basically meant that the hospitality was now tied to a condition, which normally was something to be avoided at all costs. And doing this to Nadine felt even worse since she had nowhere to go. But Silgvani couldn’t help it. For this instance, her role to her people outweighed her role as a friend. But to her surprise, Nadine smiled and seemed… glad?

“Yes, Your Highness,” she said with audible relief in her voice.

Present Day

“Nothing important, bear it no mind. But while you’re here, have you heard anything from my parents?”

“We received no message from them, no.”

That was strange. By now, sixteen days had passed since the trial had ended, but her parents still hadn’t invited Nadine to the Sun Palace. Nor had they just shown up unannounced. Considering all she knew about her parents, at least one of those things should have happened by now, other side of the planet be damned. Not that she was complaining. The mere thought of the meeting provided her with headaches that rivaled the ones she had during her calcium poisoning, so from that standpoint, she certainly didn't mind. Nevertheless, it was weird. Or, at the very least, atypical for them. Were they still so occupied with Kiyrtin that they didn’t care? Unlikely, but possible. The only other explanations that she could think of were either that they were distracted with something else, or that they hadn’t watched the trial and also hadn’t heard about Nadine through gossip. The latter, she could safely rule out. But what options were there for the former? Certainly no normal day-to-day business, that had never stopped them when they had set their minds to something.

That was the downside of working on the other side of the planet. Sure, it made it easier to isolate her parents from external affairs, but it also isolated her from internal ones.

“But we are done sorting through the requests from the noble clans wishing to meet Lady Nadine. I compiled a list, but it is pretty much everyone and I doubt I have to tell you the priorities. I briefly spoke to her when I met her this morning, she says that she is still nervous about it, but ready. She even got a new set of clothes.”

That was good to hear. They still didn’t know how much time Nadine would still have to spend on Hohmiy, so this could open many doors for her.

“But she also said that, if possible, she’d like not to meet a, um… “big shot” right from the start, but I’m not sure if that is doable.”

“No, it is. Just call her over later so we can come up with something.”

Since no one on Hohmiy knew about human culture, they just needed to find something in the invitations that could be a breach of a made-up tradition. Or an actual one, who knew? Either way, it would give her an excuse to refuse. According to history, refusing invitations during a first contact because of something like that had been a common occurrence in the early days of the alliance. And she knew the nobles knew that as well.

And she could understand the girl, handling a ducal clan without building up some confidence was probably not a good idea. Even better, it would mean when she would eventually meet a “big shot” on their second or third attempt at inviting her, they would be apologetic and more forthcoming. For now, there were a handful of comital territories not far from Calhanar, one of those should be a good start.

“What do you mean, she accepted?!” Countess Espiyne asked in half-denial.

“I mean as I say, Milady. Lady…”

The servant paused for a moment, then pulled out his datapad.

“… Nadine Valentina Esmeralda Anastasia von Klot of House Haydenfeldt accepts your invitation and offers to meet you on the 112th day of the cycle. She emphasizes that no political matters shall be discussed and that she merely wishes to socialize.”

“But… how? We should be way too low in rank to even have a shot, the invitation was purely a formality!” Count Ariyless pointed out.

“That I don’t know, her message makes no mention of that. I can only assume that the other invitations were over-enthusiastic and ended up breaching a human tradition.”

The two looked at their respective partner as they slowly started to comprehend the situation. Since neither of them had expected their invitation to even be looked at, they hadn’t made any preparations either. And now, answer had arrived on such short notice. Still, they couldn’t possibly back out now, the reputation of clan Silpiyne wouldn’t survive that. They had to act. Fast.

The mansion was in turmoil. Servants ran through the halls without any regard for the image they created and rarely could any normal talk be understood amongst all the shouting. Needless to say, it didn’t go past the two youngest members of the household that something was amiss.

“What is going on?” Reiykin asked his adoptive sister with audible confusion. The young heiress could feel him getting tenser by the tigg as he clung to her left arms.

“Don’t worry, everything is fine. Everyone is just very busy.”

“And loud,” the blind boy complained.

“And loud,” she agreed. “Maybe mother or father know what’s going on.”

Guiding her brother through the busy hallways was a challenge. Alone, she probably could’ve managed to slip past everyone without much trouble, but she couldn’t possibly leave him alone right now. In the end, her father was the one the pair found first, standing in the atrium and barking orders. The pair didn’t exactly sneak up on him, but he was still distracted enough to not notice them and got startled once they stood behind him.

“Ah! What are you two doing here? Shouldn’t you be busy with your studies?”

“They ended almost an inva ago,” Reiykin pointed out.

“It’s that late already? Damn it!”

Despite his distress, he quickly caught himself and took on a more dignified demeanor.

“Listen, an important guest will arrive soon, and we had to order a lot of things for her visit that just arrived today, so we must hurry to get everything ready before she gets here.”

“Doesn’t the mansion always keep a reserve for surprise guests?” Reiykin asked curiously.

“Yes, that would only be unusable if the visitor was an alien,” Falpiyne added.

“And you said “she”.”

Realization dawned on the step-siblings.

“The human?!”

Count Ariyless sighed.

“Yes, the guest is Lady Nadine. No, you can’t come with us and meet her.”

Faces of utter disbelief were the answer.

“Why are you surprised about that? This could be one of the most important guests our planet has seen in generations, and for whatever First Ones-damned reason we are the ones hosting her. You two do NOT have the experience to receive her, so don’t embarrass our kind! You will stay upstairs and not leave your rooms.”

Right afterward, he went back to shouting orders. Dejected, the pair left the atrium.

“You aren’t leading me to your room,” Reiykin realized after a while. “And not toward mine either.”

“Of course not”, Falpiyne affirmed with audible smugness in her voice. “Do you really want to miss this chance?”

“Of course not”, he parroted.

“Good, now better be quiet, though I doubt anyone will notice us with all of this chaos.”

She led him to the gallery where they waited for a while until all the buzzing died down. When the halls were empty again they snuck through the back entrance and, after a couple of turns, ended on a walkway that was slightly elevated from the garden. It was framed by a low balustrade that could hide them when they sat down, which was why they did exactly that. As they leaned against the stone, they could hear her.

“… that are all still very new to me. Her Highness and I are currently testing how an exchange of our admittedly very different cultures could profit all of us.”

There she was. Live, her voice was even softer than on the recording. The two barely listened to what she was actually saying, they were way too mesmerized by the mere sound. It was frustrating that they couldn’t directly talk with her, but still, Reiykin could probably just sit there and listen for hours. Falpiyne on the other hand eventually succumbed to a temptation that was foreign to him.

“I’m gonna take a look.”

“Are you crazy? What if they see you?”

“Just a quick peek.”

And so, she did. A bit away, she saw her parents, too focused on their guest to notice her. Said guest on the other hand was sitting with her back to Falpiyne, so all she could see was the long mane of the curly, silvery fur with the faint golden hue. The recording had not done it any justice. But she knew she wouldn’t see her face like this, and the longer she stared, the higher the risk of getting caught. Reluctantly, she sat back down behind her hiding spot and went back to listening.

“… on a different note, may I ask about your children?”

“We actually just have one, a daughter”, Falpiyne’s mother answered. “But we are also taking care of the heir of clan Reiylar until he is old enough to inherit his title.”

“I see. And those two… they wouldn’t happen to be close to finishing their education?”

“Well, close is a relative term. They've still got a lot to learn. But they know how to behave, so don’t worry. They won’t bother us.”

“Oh, that is not at all what I was getting at. I would hardly be bothered by their presence. On the contrary, if it is fine with you, I would love to meet them.”

“Are you sure?” her father inquired.

“Lasting friendships bridge generations, do they not?”

“Well, um, that they do.”

Falpiyne almost couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was this happening? Were they really about to meet her?

“Very well then, I shall have them called momentarily.”

We need to get back to our rooms!

“Thank you, but there is no need. They heard me.”

Falpiyne and Reiykin, who had been about to sneak back, froze.