Dawn had not yet come when Mhita left her bed, donned the uniform which had become like a second shell to her, and made her way toward the Star Palace. Unlike the servants working in the Sun or Sky Palace, whose uniforms were predominantly blue - the color of the king - she was donning predominantly green. As was the case for all the others working in the Star Palace. Not only was this symbolic of the fact that they directly served Her Highness, having the entire staff in the color of the princess also showed the changed power dynamic. Ever since she had been given complete authority over Hohmiy's foreign affairs three cycles ago, her word could overturn even that of His and Her Majesty when it came to this topic.

The estate housing the servants was located on the back side of the palace. It was separate from the main building, but connected via a broad, canopied pathway. Said canopy was laced with a multitude of small, down-facing lights that currently illuminated the otherwise dark route. Despite the early hour, Mhita was far from the only one up. As soon as the head maid stepped through the servant's entrance, she was immediately greeted by the familiar noises of the servants' daily business that the noble inhabitants of the palace never got to hear.

After getting the report from the night shift, Mhita dismissed them before giving the morning shift their individual tasks. The first one, of course, was to clean the palace. A delicate job since it needed to be done thoroughly so as to not embarrass Her Highness in front of her guests, quickly so they were done by the time everyone got up, and lastly quietly so as to not wake anyone up. The latter meant they couldn't use most appliances since those made too much noise. That was not to say they didn't have those too, they did, they just couldn't be used during the morning duties. And because of that, despite being headmaid, Mhita herself participated in this task as well.

Joining the group that was tasked with the east wing, she started to dust off the countless pieces of foreign art that decorated the hallways. Among them were paintings, sculptures, and statues from various otherworldly cultures that their planet had acquired, most of them being gifts from other members of the alliance. As she passed a certain door, she halted for a moment. It was the door that led to Lady Nadine's chamber. Mhita couldn't help but wonder: if the alien noblewoman could truly hear them breathe through the door, was there even a point in trying to be quiet? Then again, there was a difference between hearing something when it was quiet and waking up from something.

She sighed as she kept looking at the door. Eight days had passed since she had seen it open for the last time. Normally, caring for Her Highness's guests was just another task, one of her many duties, nothing more. But with Lady Nadine, things had grown to be... different. Since the first day, the young noblewoman had acted in a way that was completely different from what one would expect. In fact, until she learned the contrary, Mhita was convinced she was a commoner. Since her arrival, she had treated the servants with respect, always asked and never ordered, struck conversations with them, and even went through the trouble of learning all of their names. Therefore, ever since the situation had become what it was, Mhita had wanted to help her, not just because she was ordered to or because it was expected of her, but because she, by now, actually found herself caring for her. But she didn't know how.

After the cleaning was done, a quick glance at the chronometer told Mhita that there was only about one inva left until the princess would wake up, so it was due time for her next task.

Stepping into the office area, she linked her datapad to the central network and took a look at the messages that had come in during the night. As always, they mostly consisted of companies requesting certain resources or products to be added to existing trade agreements. Ever since Lady Kykla had arrived, most of the requests were about the topic of titanium and that Her Highness should try to make a new deal regarding the metal. With a sigh, Mhita quickly skimmed over everything before sorting the messages so that Princess Silgvani would first see those that actually had some form of relevance.

She encountered Her Highness on her way out, greeted her with a bow, and informed her that today, Riykan would be the one tasked with her direct attendance. Her next destination was the kitchen but before that, she took a short detour to Vassahr’s office to see if he needed help with anything. While the palace’s steward hadn’t put up any requests on the digital board, it wouldn’t hurt to quickly ask him in person, just to make sure.

Under Kahbbut’s direction, the kitchen staff hurriedly prepared the food for the palace’s employees, while the head chef himself was busy with the meals meant for the princess and her guests. Today, the schedule was completely reserved for the trade negotiations, meaning he had to make both Tystrie and Human meals. Grabbing what was meant for her, Mhita entered the adjacent break room to have a quick firstmeal. While she ate, she took advantage of the moment of quietness to make some estimations about the planning for the following days.

Today was the eighth day since the ambassador’s arrival and the sixth day of the negotiations. Under normal circumstances, she would predict the talks to continue for at least three more days, better assume five just to be sure. But considering the difficulties they expected this time, Her Highness, Mhita, and Vassahr had decided to plan for fifteen days. Meaning by now, up to nine were left. They had already prepared everything for that timespan plus four days of buffer, save for some ingredients that couldn’t be stored that long. Should it seem like things would take longer than that, they would need to rely on her Highness to make that call. Stuff acquirable on Hohmiy was no problem, but not everything was. At the current time of the cycle, it would take a fast ship a bit over a day to reach the hyperlane entrance. There was a total of three other planets where they could purchase the stuff they might need and that had the according treaties in place. However, one of them was the Tystrie’s homeworld itself. A quick glance at her datapad proved her memory correct, they were too far away from their entry point to be an option. Depending on which of the others they’d choose the jump itself would take about one more day. Assuming the relays worked, they could then send a message to the planet.

She again glanced at her datapad to look up the other planets’ estimated positions. Depending on their choice, the cargo ship would either need five or eight days to reach the hyperlane. Eight was too long, the Krsnelv’s planet was therefore out of the picture as well. Five it was, one more for the jump back, and since the transport vessel was slower, two days to reach Hohmiy. Typing the numbers in the calculator gave her a total of ten days. And if they didn’t want to do everything on the last day, the call for a new shipment had to come in three days if needed. It would probably be for the best to remind Her Highness of that.

A heavy, salty smell pulled her out of her thoughts. By now, she was able to recognize the fragrance as roasted meat, meaning Kabbut was now preparing the meal for Lady Nadine. When she had seen the blood-smeared interior of the shuttle, Mhita couldn’t understand how someone would deliberately eat something that gave off such a bad odor. Being a professional, she had obviously been able to suppress the urge to gag, but the smell was still hard to ignore. The cooked meat, however, she had to admit, smelled at least… peculiar. Nothing she would want to eat, but it resembled food much more than its origin did.

She stood up and walked to the kitchen. Another maid, Ghundiy, was loading Nadine’s firstmeal onto a tray when Doctor Githaiy entered. A noblewoman like her would usually never set foot into the kitchen, but right now, not much in the Star Palace could be called "usual".

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Doctor," Mhita greeted her with a quick bow. "Here to accompany Ghundiy, I presume?"

"Of course. I still need to examine whether the change in diet had some notable effects on her."

A short pause followed.

"You think she’ll open today?"

The doctor’s gaze fell.

"Probably not. But I’ll keep trying."

She nodded, not knowing what else to say.

As they left, Mhita went over the next tasks.

"Okay, Liyxa and Onrol, you two take care of the meals for Her Highness and the ambassador. While they eat, I’ll refill the drinks in the conference room. Nakiy… ah, is still busy. Okay, then you take care of the laundry, Essa. Forget the report for now, I’ll do that myself later."

She sighed.

"First Ones, we should have asked for more than just two additional servants."

"I can take care of the drinks if you want."

Surprised by the new voice, Mhita turned around. In front of her, holding a water canteen and wearing a blue uniform rather than a green one, was one of the maids that had been called in from the Sun Palace. For some reason, there was something about her demeanor that didn't feel quite right to Mhita. Was she nervous? No, she couldn't be.

"Kaiyla, right? Why are you here? Weren’t you supposed to attend Lady Kykla?"

"I am. She has sent me on an errand."

Mhita crossed her arms.

"Then I’d say you should probably do that."

"She is busy talking to Her Highness right now, I have more than enough time to give you a hand."

She turned to the door, but Mhita stopped her.

"I don’t know if that is how things are done in the Sun Palace, but here, we take the tasks given to us seriously."

Kaiyla scoffed at that.

"Too bad the same can’t be said about respecting your seniors."

"You might be older than me, but in case you’ve forgotten, I’m still the head maid!"

"A meaningless title, given to a meaningless plebian. I'll have you know that I carry the blood of clan Ressla, who ruled one of the largest kingdoms before the unification wars and played a decisive role in it."

Mhitas expression hardened. It was true that her being head maid was unusual. Even among servants, the head of staff was usually someone who was of noble birth at least in some way but didn’t have any real chances of succession. But that didn’t mean that she didn’t have a response to Kaiyla's insult.

"Yes, and who also birthed the infamous Duchess Mirla. What, you thought I wouldn’t look up the people who get sent here? Your family lost their title before you were even born, you are just as much a commoner as I am."

The entire kitchen had fallen silent while the two of them stared at each other. But the tension between them suddenly broke when Kaiyla took a step back and defensively raised her arms.

"Sheesh, no need to get so agitated."

She turned her back to them and placed the canteen back on the counter.

"I saw you were tight on time and thought you might appreciate some help. It was just an offer, you don’t have to take it."

----------------------------------------

Later that day, Silgvani was sitting at the desk in her bedroom. Staring blankly, she had spaced out a little while rubbing her forehead.

"SIS!" her brother’s voice shouted out of the datapad, pulling her back into reality. Right now was a scheduled pause in today’s talks, which she had decided to use to call her brother. Once he got transferred to Viyrminar, which was on the literal other side of the planet, calls like this would become difficult.

"I’m sorry. What were you saying?"

"Is everything alright?"

Concern coming from her brother, the things she was allowed to witness.

"Yes, don’t worry. Just a little headache." That was at least part or it. There were a lot of things on her mind right now, but the headaches certainly didn't help.

"Is Nadine there today?"

"Sorry, no."

"Come ooon! Is she that busy?"

"That’s not it, she…"

The princess took a deep breath.

"…ever since she came back, she has locked herself in her room and lets nobody in."

"Huh? Why?"

"She is scared. After what happened to you, she’s afraid it’ll happen again."

"… that’s bullshit!"

Silgvani blinked.

"That is… what?"

"Her word. Whatever, just let me talk to her," he insisted.

"We’ve been trying that for eight days," she answered with a sigh. "She doesn’t even answer the door."

"Have you tried the window?"

"…window?"

"Yes, her window that's facing the garden, it’s always open. That’s how I usually get in."

"Of course you do," she said sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up. You wanna help her or not?"

"…"

Since when was her brother so assertive?

"I can’t believe I’m actually doing this,” Silgvani murmured while shaking her head. “Okay, I’m in the garden. What now?"

"Go along the wall. Don’t use the path, you have to walk on the grass. Make slow, long steps, and make sure not to step on dry leaves. Once you are past the orange liysca bush, hold your breath. Mess up any of those and she’ll hear you coming. I’ll mute the call till you’re there."

"I can’t believe I’m actually doing this," she repeated quietly.

Avoiding the leaves wasn’t too difficult. However, the distance between the bush and the window wasn’t small. But for what could be the first time in her life, Silgvani was thankful for her tall body, as her long legs allowed her to bridge the distance just before she ran out of air.

"Hey," she panted as she reached her destination. Immediately, Nadine’s head snapped in her direction. Not even a tigg later she was sitting on the opposite side of the room, her back pressing against the wall.

"Relax, I won’t hurt you," she tried to calm her down. However, her joke didn’t seem to be appreciated.

"You know what might happen," Nadine answered with a tired-sounding voice.

"Yes, it may happen that I molt a bit early. I’m close, remember?"

The small alien closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Please leave."

"I will," Silgvani affirmed with a nod. She then reached into the room and leaned her datapad against the wall under the window so the video call was visible. "But he won’t."

As soon as she stepped away from the opening, she could hear some shuffling in the room.

"K-Kiyrtin? Kiyrtin! Oh my god, how are you?! I’m so sorry! Are you alright?!"

"No, I’m not!" her brother's voice answered. "I’m bored! I wanted to speak with you all the time, why didn’t you let anyone in?!"

"B-but… what happened to you-"

"Was an accident! And it only happened because I clung to you for multiple invas! Yet you act as if we’ll fall over dead just because you touch us once!"

"I-it can still happen again. I knew about my sweat, and my carelessness almost killed you! My strength is also-"

"Well, then I guess you just have to stop being careless! Problem solved! I mean, be honest, how many people have you touched since you got here?"

"Um…well, there was that one time with Liyzo-"

"And did anything happen to him?"

"I… think not?"

"See? First Ones, when did I become the voice of reason?!"

Silgvani scowled a bit at her brother’s harsh tone. Then again, maybe that helped? In any case, she had to go back now, so she decided to leave the two alone.

The sun had set and the ambassador had left the palace when Silgvani heard a knock on her door. It was Mhita, the Star Palace’s head maid, who seemed… happy, for some reason.

"Did something good happen?"

"Indeed, Your Highness," she answered and gave her a datapad. Said datapad had a video call on it, showing the face of a certain alien.

"I must thank you, Your Highness. Also, I am very sorry for the last week."

"It’s fine," Silgvani assured her, not asking what a "week" was. "The important thing is that you’re coming out again. Well, somewhat."

This time, the small alien actually chuckled a bit.

"I… just don’t want to risk it. But I agree that this can’t go on. Therefore, I would like to ask for a few things, but some of those might get pricey."

"Money is not an issue. We have a budget reserved for guests and I specifically asked you to request whatever you might need," Silgvani reminded her, gesturing for Mhita to take notes. "Go on."

"First, I would like to resume and double my language lessons."

"… um… okay." A bit of a slow start, but she said there would be multiple things, so whatever.

"Secondly, once I can read your letters, I want someone who can teach me your programming language."

With that one, Nadine had lost her, so Silgvani simply nodded along.

"Lastly, I need to speak to the dressmaker ASAP."

"…sure, why not." What by the First Ones was she planning now?