Githaiy's office was located in the west wing of the Star Palace. It was, of course, no coincidence that it was very close to the private chambers of Princess Silgvani. While she occasionally took care of the palace's employees, she was first and foremost the private physician of Her Highness. It was expected of her not to take many regular patients, so she would always be available should an emergency arise. Also, she was a noble. Frequently tending to commoners whom she was not affiliated with was a no-go.

Of course, Githaiy herself couldn't care less about that. Since her father had only gotten his title posthumously, she was the first noble in her bloodline, and she certainly hadn't been raised as one. If it were just about her, she'd gladly help whoever came to her. However, it wasn't just about her. She was directly employed by the princess and was one of her closest aides, meaning that whatever she did would also reflect on her. Sure, one look at the princess's merits made it obvious that she would be the one succeeding the throne, but she could still face a lot of hardship if she was on bad terms with the high nobility. After all, even she couldn't govern an entire planet all by herself. Alas, Githaiy had to restrict herself to only treating political figures like nobles and foreign diplomats. Commoners, she could only tend to if they were directly affiliated with the princess, like the servants, her ship's crew, or of course guests like Nadine. Thankfully, there were enough other doctors in Calhanar.

Actually, now that she thought about it, was Nadine even a commoner? Githaiy had assumed so because of her demeanor, but that didn't need to be true. She could also be of lesser nobility like herself, and just never had many diplomatic relations. Or maybe she actually was of a higher rank, her kind simply didn't share the same etiquette as them. Both were equally possible, she knew close to nothing about her culture. She doubted it, but she had to confirm it as soon as possible, if they were to make contact with the humans and they found out they had treated a noble like a commoner, royal guest or not, it could spell a diplomatic disaster.

A knock on the door pulled the doctor out of her thoughts.

"I'm coming!"

Standing up, she unlocked the door to her office and opened it.

"Your Highness!" she greeted the princess with a surprised tone. She was back to her usual look, donning clean garments and the royal cape that showed her status. "How can I help you?"

"I wanted to confirm something. I've been reading your report about Nadine, and just to make sure: that document contains everything we know about her species so far?"

"That is correct."

"And you are SURE her kind does not perform melt-molting?"

"...um, yes. I didn't manage to go into detail with her about it, but it appears her kind does not perform any form of molting. Though, now that you say it, there should still be SOMETHING happening to dead skin... I'll add that to the list of things I still need to ask her."

The princess sighed.

"Do that, but that is not why I was asking. One of the maids just reported that apparently, Nadine had requested a box of molting tissues yesterday in the late evening."

"I apologize, Your Highness, but I'm afraid I fail to see your point. She then used them for something else, I assume. Maybe some other bodily function we found out about yet. And, with all due respect, Your Highness, why not just ask her that?"

"I did. All she said was it wasn't important and there was nothing to worry about."

"Then... everything is good, isn't it?"

The princess paused for a while before she continued talking.

"It's just... you see... I'm a politician. I can't even count how many times I've been lied to, and..."

"...and you think she is lying."

"I... it's just... I have a bad feeling about it. But... I don't know. If something really was wrong, why wouldn't she say it?"

"Because it's something embarrassing? Or because she thinks it's not a big deal, even if it actually is? I have seen people who exaggerated their health problems, and I've seen people play them down. But I was planning to talk with Nadine later anyway, I can bring it up if you want."

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"And if she doesn't tell you, either?"

"Well, then I guess you'll have to install a hidden camera in her room."

Githaiy immediately realized the blunder she had just made. If someone else had heard her last sentence, it would've been a seriously bad look. Her getting sarcastic at Her Highness really wasn't something that should happen. She quickly wanted to rectify her statement, but the princess was faster.

"Are you seeeeeeeerious??!" she snapped, apparently not recognizing the sarcasm. "She is a guest! That would be an insane break of trust!"

The doctor quietly let her finish and sat down in her chair.

"Your Highness, with all due respect... what do you want me to tell you? I want to help Nadine as much as you do. But I can only do that if she lets me. I still know close to nothing about her body, I can't interpret her symptoms. If she says everything is fine, then we either believe that, or we try to acquire the truth by other means."

Another pause followed. Githaiy could understand the dilemma the princess was facing very well. What "the right thing to do" was could be a very grey area. A lesson she had learned the hard way, shortly after she had started working as a doctor and before the princess had employed her. It was her first patient death. A soldier, the sixth child of a lesser noble, who had just joined the army. He had died not because she couldn't do anything, on the contrary. She could've easily saved him had she known the truth. But he hadn't told her the truth. Because the truth would've included him secretly leaving his post. And so, when Githaiy had finally managed to diagnose him, it had been too late.

Ever since then, she had multiple times acquired her information through some other means. Most patients being nobles made it easier because they were always surrounded by servants. And amongst those, there were always one or two that knew something. So if she suspected her patient hadn't been honest, she would oftentimes engage in conversation with the servants until one let something slip. She was, of course, always careful with those tactics, so it wouldn't reflect negatively on the princess. However, there was an obvious difference between picking up gossip and installing a hidden camera.

"I...I don't know. I just... she has lost everything and has yet done so much for us, I just want to help her wherever I can! But... surveilling her without her knowledge, wouldn't that be..."

"A crass violation of her privacy, her trust in us, and the customs of hospitality? Yes. Not to mention the chance of it coming to light. She might feel betrayed, your reputation could suffer greatly, and should her people meet ours during our lifetime, this could put a heavy strain on our relationship."

"And yet you... you think this is a good idea??" the princess asked, seemingly dumbfounded by her directness. It was strange, she normally was better at picking up sarcasm. If she wasn't, she wouldn't have become so successful as a politician. Was the current situation distracting her so much?

"No. In fact, I think it's a terrible idea," Githaiy clarified. That was the truth. The only reason why she had even brought up the topic was because she had spent a lot of time thinking about a certain phrase Nadine had used during their first meeting.

A necessary evil... what a strange saying.

She stood up and looked the princess in the eyes. Of course, she still had to look up quite a bit to do that.

"Your Highness, look, we don't even know whether those thoughts are even warranted. Maybe she just didn't tell you specifically because she thought you shouldn't concern yourself with it. People tend to tell their doctor more than their princess."

"Let... let me just make one thing clear," the princess answered with a defeated look in her eyes. "Even if she doesn't tell you, and you, too, think she is hiding something: I WILL NOT ask you to do this, not even implicitly, and neither do I want to hear any reports about you doing it on your own accord. Is that clear?"

The doctor bowed.

"Absolutely, Your Highness."

The princess looked at her for a few more moments, but then nodded and left. Githaiy decided to sort her equipment to bridge the time until Nadine showed up.

However, even after she was long done going through everything, the small alien still hadn't shown up. That was strange. It was long past the time they had agreed to meet, and Nadine had explicitly asked for an explanation of how to read their chronometers, so that couldn't be the issue.

Did she maybe misunderstand me and thought we would meet in her room?

Nadine wasn't given a datapad yet, so she couldn't call her. It would probably be best to go to her. And so, Githaiy did just that. But to her surprise, no one was there, either.

"This is Nadine's room, right?" she asked a passing servant.

"Yes, Lady Githaiy."

"Do you know where she went?"

"I unfortunately don't."

Weird, where else could she be? Did something happen?

"Then help me find her, please," she ordered. The servant bowed and went on his way. Meanwhile, Githaiy went looking through the guest wing, calling for their guest multiple times, but to no avail. As time passed, more and more servants got involved in the search, and the doctor started to grow worried. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, a maid called her out to her.

"Lady Githaiy? Head Maid Mhita found her near the kitchen," she said, holding up her communicator. "She will now escort Lady Nadine to her room."

Oh, thank the First Ones. What was she doing in the kitchen?

She went back to the room in question, just in time to meet the head maid. Nadine was behind her, intertwining her fingers in a strange way and with her gaze on the floor.

"S-sorry. I got lost."