As the Star Palace drew closer and closer, Falpiyne’s nervousness grew bigger and bigger. Over the course of the last few days, it had seemed more like an abstract thought, a distant idea rather than something real. But now, with their shuttle heading straight to the centerpiece of Hohmiy’s foreign politics, it was clear as day just how real this was.

She still had no idea how this had happened. When Lady Nadine had for whatever reason told them in advance about this new project Her Highness was setting up, she had left quite abruptly shortly after. Everyone present had assumed that - even though she had claimed otherwise - Falpiyne and Reiykin had indeed offended her one way or the other and that it was simply not the human way to outright state that. After all, there was no way a rumor about some ships starting on the other side of the planet had been the reason why the foreign ambassador had suddenly decided to go. No, for her to leave so unceremoniously and without long final words, something had to have been wrong. And to say that Falpiyne’s parents had been angry at the two because of it would be quite an understatement.

But regardless, they still decided to apply her and Reiykin for this new tutelage program of the princess. Low as their chances were, Lady Nadine had given them this piece of valuable knowledge, so they were going to use it. Quite some time passed without an answer and the obvious conclusion had been that their request had been denied and subsequently ignored. When a mere count contacted someone like the princess, not receiving an answer was a common occurrence. But then, more than thirty days later, they suddenly got an answer regardless. And on top of that, it was a positive one. Things had been really quick after that. Her parents had been called for a personal meeting with the princess with only a day of prior notice and the next thing Falpiyne knew was that she was sitting in a shuttle with Reiykin.

Their vehicle slowed down as it prepared for landing. The palace was massive, far greater than the estate of clan Silpiyne, and easily the biggest building Falpiyne had ever seen in her life. She had seen it before in pictures, of course, but seeing it in reality was something else entirely. It felt intimidating to look at.

The shuttle landed and the doors opened. When Falpiyne extended her two left arms, her brother clung to them as if his life depended on it. She took a deep breath.

“Shall we depart, Duke Reiykin?” she asked him with a shaky voice. Ill-timed as may have been to use her frequent tease right now, it was the only distraction she could think of right now to calm her nerves at least a little bit.

“Y-yes, let’s,” he stammered back, not even attempting his usual rebuttal. Maybe he hadn’t even noticed what she had just called him. But there was no point in delaying it any further, so with another deep breath, the two stood up and she guided him outside. Reiykin flinched as the first waterdrops landed on him.

“Ah, right, it’s raining,” Falpiyne quickly apologized. “Sorry, forgot to tell you.”

“I-it’s fine, I should’ve known.”

Thankfully the shuttle had landed fairly close to the main gate. The doors were already open and two lines of servants awaited them. Doing her best to not pull Reikiyn with her too quickly, she stepped inside and out of the rain. From the servants, a woman stepped forth.

“Welcome. I am Mhita, head maid of the Star Palace. Please, come closer.”

Falpiyne hadn’t realized that they were still standing in the doorframe. She took a step forward so quickly that she almost made Reiykin fall, but the two managed to catch themselves and went to the center of the entrance hall without too big embarrassment. More servants came closer, two of them holding what seemed to be a green cloth. One of the others went to Falpiyne and readied a towel, and she quickly understood what they were about to do. Just as she wanted to warn her brother so he wouldn’t startle, another servant spoke.

“I’m going to dry you off now, Milord,” he said before patting him dry. Falpiye was surprised, even servants - from other clans, of course - rarely were this considerate of him.

“I’m going to put a sash on you now, Milord,” another announced, and the two got a piece of cloth wrapped around their shoulder and hip. Falpine noticed that it had the same shade of green as the uniforms the servants were wearing.

Once the procedure was over, Mhita asked them to follow her. The head maid matched their pace perfectly, always maintaining the exact same distance to them while also being considerate that guiding her brother slowed Falpiyne's walking speed. Eventually, they reached a door at the end of the corridor. On the other side was Princess Silgvani, sitting behind a desk.

“G-greetings, Your Highness!” Falpiyne said, maybe slightly louder than intended. She let go of Reiykin for a moment and folded her arms in the traditional greeting. Her brother, understanding from her shout what was going on, did the same. Once it was done, Falpiyne looked up to the princess. Even while sitting, she was huge. She gestured for the two to take a seat across from her and the Silpiyne heiress quickly guided her bother to his chair before sitting down herself. The head maid left, leaving the three alone in the room.

“Did you have a pleasant travel?”

“Yes, Your Highness!” She was still too loud.

“Good. Then let me explain some things to you. You have probably already guessed it from the sashes, but just to remind you: you are no guests here. You are here to learn and to work. You will gain insight into the inner workings of the palace and will assist me in my tasks, all while hopefully getting a better understanding of the duties you will eventually need to fulfill as heirs of your respective clans.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Falpiyne nodded. Green was the color of the princess, everyone knew that. The fact that they wearing these sashes meant they were now directly affiliated with her.

“Your Highness,” Reiykin then said, speaking for the first time since entering the palace. “Can I… I mean, my sister, sure, but… can I really do this?”

The princess was quiet for a moment.

“I will be honest with you,” she finally said. “I don’t know. This situation is just as new to me. We will have to see how much is possible.”

The doubts in her words were clear, but the fact that she was willing to consider it already said a lot. Ever since the accident, the ducal clans were all in agreement that clan Reiylar was done for, and yet, the princess herself was not as ready to agree. Falpiyne didn’t need to look at her brother to know how much these words meant to him.

“But I doubt it’ll surprise you that the two of you won’t be doing the same things, for obvious reasons,” continued her explanation. “Lady Falpiyne will stay here with me. At first, you will either watch me as I work or accompany my steward. After that, you will be given tasks on your own, simple ones at first, but gradually, you will get more and more involved.”

“Meanwhile, you will come with me.”

The sudden sound of another voice startled Falpiyne so much that she almost jumped out of her chair. There had only been the three of them in the room! When had a fourth person entered?

And on top of that, the person who had so quietly entered wasn’t just anyone; it was Lady Nadine. Falpiyne's body grew stiff as she watched the alien ambassador walk into their field of view until she stood next to the princess’s desk. Why was she here? This matter shouldn't involve her!

From the corner of her eye, she could also see that Reiykin’s mouth was hanging open a bit, though he said nothing. Right, there was no way he wouldn’t recognize her voice.

“I’m sure you have-”

“L-lady Nadine!” Falpiyne blurted out before she realized that the alien had begun to speak as well. Lady Nadine stopped and looked at her, slightly tilting her head to the side. In that moment, the Silpiyne heiress wanted nothing more than to just disappear. It had been vague what had offended the Human during her visit, but that one just now, that was an unforgivable blunder. How could something like this happen? How to hold formal conversations had been a central part of her education and yet, this situation was far beyond anything her teacher had ever prepared her for.

“M-my deepest apologies, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she quickly added and lowered her head.

“No, no, it’s fine. Go on."

Once again, Falpiyne was stumped. This wasn’t at all how she had been taught situations like this would play out. Was Lady Nadine giving her a second chance? If so, why? Then again, she couldn’t afford to not take it.

“I merely wanted to apologize for our behavior during your visit. We acted highly improperly. But I wish to clarify that I was the driving factor behind this, Lord Reiykin’s position left him little choice but to follow me.”

“What?! That’s not true!” her brother loudly refuted her statement.

“It is. I dragged you with me, you didn’t even notice until we were almost there.”

“But-”

“If I may shorten this,” Lady Nadine spoke again, “I’ve already told you I’ve taken no offense. In fact, I’m glad you did what you did.”

The stepsiblings stared at the alien in silence.

“Human culture differs from ours in many aspects,” Her Highness explained. “But let this also be a lesson for you. Responsibility is something you have, not something you can just take afterward. People see results, not what happens behind the scenes. As a noble, you must think beforehand what impacts your decision may have on others. Whatever the truth behind all of this may be matters little when it comes to such things. Fact is, you two ended up doing it together, and that’s what people see.”

“That’s also true,” Lady Nadine agreed. “Caught together, hanged together.”

“I apologize,” Falpiye said once again, “but I’m not sure I know what you’re referring to.”

The expression on the Human’s face changed notably.

“Oh, um, that’s just a saying, ignore it.”

“What do you mean with “hanged”?” Reiykin asked curiously. “Like hanging decor on the wall?”

“Err, no. Hanging is, um, well, was an old execution method. You tie a noose around someone’s neck and then drop them off a ledge or something like that.”

Now all three looked at her - well Reiykin of course didn’t actually “look”, but he had, maybe out of reflex, turned his head in her direction.

“Aren’t… aren’t there quicker methods?” Falpiyne eventually asked. Law hadn’t been the most expansive part of her lessons yet, but she knew that criminals sentenced to death were normally executed with a shot to the head.

“Well, it wasn’t supposed to be quick, at least not until the long drop was invented. Besides being a punishment, it was also meant to be a public deterrent, which is why the bodies would often be left there for days, so to-”

She then interrupted herself, as if she was only now realizing what she was saying.

“Um, we, we’re not… doing that anymore. Errm… I didn’t mean to… shit, it really need to stop using idioms.”

“Yes, while I’m sure our historians would love to hear about your people’s past, let’s get back on topic, shall we?” the princess interjected.

“Ah, yes. I’m sorry for the side tangent, so let’s just say your apologies are accepted and move on. What I was trying to say before I got sidetracked: I am sure you have many questions as to why I am here with you. And I will answer them, but there is something we need to do first.”

She put two sheets in front of them.

“It may seem strange to you, but my people give little weight to the spoken word, no matter the rank of the speaker. This is what humans call a “non-disclosure agreement”. Imagine it like a contract. By signing, you pledge secrecy about the things you’re about to hear from this moment onwards.”

Falpiyne cocked her head. When it came to commoners, sure, but why wouldn’t Humans trust the word of a noble? Was there really a need to make a contract about it? A physical one even.

“I can guess what you are thinking,” the princess quickly said, “but remember what I said earlier. Besides, if you are open to it, you might find the way Humans do certain things to be… intriguing, to say the least. I certainly did. This whole tutelage program is one such example, by the way.”

Wait, so Lady Nadine hadn’t just “heard” of this, she is the one responsible for it?!

The Human walked around the table until she stood right next to Reiykin.

“I'm sorry if I sound condescending, but can you sign it on your own?”

“Yes,” he answered. “I just need to know where.”

Falpyine drew the line crest of her clan at the end of the document and then guided her brother’s hand. Once that was done, Lady Nadine gave them an affirming nod.

“Good, now that that’s out of the way: during your time here, you will eventually learn some classified information - not just about confidential political matters of Hohmiy, but also about me and my people. Hence the agreement. Therefore, I think it’s best to clear some things up right from the start as you'll find out about them sooner or later anyway. First: while you two are here for your own benefit, Her Highness is also in dire need of some extra pairs… um, extra sets of hands. There are a lot of things going on right now, which directly leads to my second point: I am not humanity’s ambassador.”