"... meaning we now have all the ingredients save for the knvietas, which we can only procure the day before so they don't spoil. The imitation, however, is already prepared," Vassahr, the Star Palace's steward concluded his report.
Silgvani nodded.
"Good, with that, all the preparations for the visit of the Tystrie ambassador are done. All that's left is somehow getting Kiyrtin under control," she said more to herself than to Vassahr.
"Your Highness, if I may", the steward asked, "when are you planning to inform your parents regarding your... guest?"
"Whenever I deem it the right time to do so."
The steward, getting the hint that the conversation was over, took a bow and left the room, seamlessly trading places with Doctor Githaiy, who was now entering.
"Are you having a stressful day, Your Highness?"
Silgvani sighed.
"Well, the Tystrie ambassador is coming in a few days, I need to prepare everything for our new trade route with the Krsnelv, and then there is also the aftermath of the Kiroscha attack. By the First Ones, the only thing missing would be my melt-molting beginning early. But those aren't your troubles. How did your talk with Nadine go? Could you figure something out?"
"Yes, quite a few things, actually. Something you should know first: as it turns out, Nadine is a noble."
Silgvani paused. That was indeed pivotal. Sure, it didn't change anything in the short term; Nadine was already treated as a royal guest anyway, and since she hadn't said anything so far, she didn't seem to put much emphasis on her rank. However, it would be vital information should she interact with anyone outside of the Star Palace, not to mention when they would make contact with her people. However, there was a detail about this that didn't seem quite right.
"When I first talked to her, she was extremely nervous and had no idea how to address me. Even if their etiquette is different from ours, she should've still known how to address me by her people's standards. Or is she maybe a first-generation noble like you? But even then, she would've met their king when she got the title. Or is their culture THAT different from ours?"
The doctor chuckled.
"It is, yes, but not the way you think. But to answer your other question first, no, she is not a first-generation. On the contrary, she can trace her lineage back almost seven hundred years, which - assuming her calculations in that regard are correct - is equal to over a thousand of our solar cycles.
Now Silgvani was dumbfounded. Even the founder of her clan, Kiyron, had "only" risen to power around six hundred cycles ago, two hundred cycles before the unification war. And Nadine's family was almost twice as old?
"So Nadine is not only not a commoner, she is the descendant of the currently oldest noble family in the alliance? Yet she never said anything? Well then, please do tell me how their culture is different in "not the way I think", doctor."
"It is... a bit complicated. I think it's best to give you my full report."
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"Again, I'm really sorry for the inconvenience, Doc," Nadine apologized once more as the maid left and the two of them entered her room. Her face's color was fairly pale compared to before, and dark shades had appeared under her eyes which Githaiy couldn't recall seeing before. The small alien had explained that she didn't really know how this came to be but had insisted that this was just a sign of her being tired and nothing noteworthy.
"Don't worry. The palace is big, getting lost is something that can happen if you're not accustomed to it. Although you could've just asked one of the servants to bring you to my office."
"I-I thought they were busy and didn't want to disturb them."
"You are right, they are busy. Busy serving the people in this palace. Which includes you. They are expecting to get orders from you. But I just wanted to ask you some more questions, so whether we do it here or in my office doesn't really matter."
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She held up a small device.
"And should an emergency arise, all one needs to do is press the button next to my door and I'll get notified, so me being here shouldn't be a problem."
As they walked over to the chairs, Githaiy sneaked a glance at the desk. There was a small pile of sheets, the top one filled with a script the doctor had never seen. That had to be Nadine's native language. She also noticed that some words were crossed out.
Ah, yes, the pain of physical writing.
Githaiy couldn't even remember when the last time she had physically written was. Then again, their datapads couldn't reproduce the foreign script, and not being able to delete mistakes was a smaller annoyance compared to handwriting on a screen. Still, there were A LOT of words crossed out. Probably had been a while for Nadine as well. There were also some spots where the writing appeared to be slightly washed out as if someone had dribbled water onto the sheet. Had she spilled her drink?
Next to the sheets, there was a box of molting tissues. Or, to be exact, a box that had at one point contained molting tissues. Its former contents could now all be found in the trashbin below the desk.
Nadine pulled her chair away from the desk, turned it around, and climbed onto it. The things here really weren't made for her size. Some species in the alliance were on the smaller end, like male Tystrie for example, but the Human was even smaller than those. So although she had been given furniture for smaller species, she still had to put some pillows on the seat in order to comfortably reach the desk.
"I heard the dressmaker will need a few days, will you be fine till then?" the doctor inquired.
"It's quite warm, so yeah, I'll manage. Though I'm curious how the sandals will turn out, he got really eager when I described those to him. But anyway, you wanted to talk about the food issue?"
"Correct. We still have some leftover meat from the Kiroscha storage, but that won't last long. I also can't imagine that it gives you everything you need."
The alien girl nodded.
"The problem is that your list can only do so much as my knowledge is only rudimentary. Maybe it would be for the best if I simply ruled out the things that are poisonous to me, and then we just experiment. I'm not a nutritionist after all."
She isn't? Then how come she knows so much about it? The things she could tell me so far go far above what I would call "rudimentary". Well, I can ask that later, there are more pressing things I have to figure out first.
"A different question. Just to make sure, you... wouldn't happen to be a noble, would you?"
"I... well... I mean... if the options are just yes and no, then yes, I am a noble."
Oh, thank the First Ones I asked!
"... technically."
Githaiy stopped taking notes and looked up.
"What do you mean, technically?"
"Well... it's true that my family holds a title, but..."
"Did they lose it? Is one of your parents a commoner so you couldn't join the clan?"
"What? No! I meant... you know what, let's go back to start. Yes, I am a noble. No, that fact does not carry any weight. I have the same last name then some dude from the early 16th century, but that's it. The title doesn't mean anything."
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"Doesn't mean anything??"
The doctor nodded.
"According to her, being a noble only means, and I quote: "that I can write a fancy word in front of my stupidly long last name". She said they once had nobility similar to ours, but nowadays, it is mostly viewed as an archaic concept. Most countries of her homeworld have either abolished their ruling class or transformed it into something called "constitutional monarchy", which I have to admit, was a concept I didn't fully understand when she explained it. It is still an important takeaway, just a different one than we expected: should we ever make contact with the Humans, treating some differently based on their heritage is what would offend them, not the other way round."
"I'll make sure to get that noted. What about... you know, the other thing?"
"Yes, I was getting to that..."
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"Regarding those," Githaiy said, pointing at the empty tissue box. "You seem to have used up quite a lot. Is everything alright?"
"I... yes, you don't need to worry about it."
"You're sure?"
"Yes, I am sure."
"I apologize if I sound pushy, but I am aware that there are things one doesn't like to talk about. Please do remember that I am still your doctor, even if I don't know much about your kind yet."
Nadine was quiet for a while before she took a deep breath.
"Yes, I am aware. But I assure you, there is nothing wrong with me physically, and I am in no need of medical attention."
"... very well. On a different note, would you mind if I took the bin with me?"
The small alien cocked her head.
"Why would you want some used tissues?"
"To run some chemical analysis. One never knows where important information hides."
"Um, okay, suit yourself then."
"Thank you. By the way..."
She didn't finish her sentence, as her emergency alarm called her back to her office.
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"... that concludes my report. I will send you a written version later on."
"Thank you. But what did you hope to get from the analysis?"
"A lot, actually. Most of it was already dried, but it appears as though she used the tissues for two different things. One was a rather clear liquid that, interestingly, contained sodium chloride and hyaluronic acid among other things. The other was some yellowy mucus made out of some proteins as well as sodium, chloride, calcium, magnesium, and potassium."
"It's not blood, is it?"
"No, her blood is red. But whatever this mucus is, she probably needs everything in it. It is... interesting to call that a nutrient list, but we should be able to procure all of that."
"That is good news. What about the emergency?"
"What emergency?"
"Well, the one that sounded your alarm."
"Oh, that. No one was there when I returned and none of the servants knew anything, so I assume Prince Kiyrtin was just pressing the button for no reason."
Silgvani didn't answer. She simply groaned and buried her face in her hands.