"Are you upset with me?" Solae asked Damaris with a gentle smile. She motioned towards the table and pulled out a seat for the adolescent, waiting for her to take it before pulling out the adjacent chair and setting it directly in front of her. They sat there, knees to knees, and the marquise took her young friend's hands in her own. This was as close as she could get to being eye level with someone so many years her junior that did not benefit of genetic modification making her taller. Tychon was taller than Solae, but not quite so tall as Rene, and it was incredibly unlikely his daughter would reach ever reach their heights given Julia's contribution. Nobility argued that the stature made them more godly, more impressive, and emphasized supposed natural leadership skills. For diplomats this was a deterrent to peaceful and intimate negotiations.

"While I am gone I want you to do something that is very important," she told the girl. "When I come back we'll talk about what you've decided you most want to be when you're an adult.. and I will do everything in my power to help you. Your mom, your dad, Rene, even I didn't get to chose anything we wanted, but that's something I want to do for you."

"You couldn't chose anything you wanted?" Damaris asked skeptically. She still looked sullen but Solae's proposal was starting to inject her with hope and excitement. Nothing would completely eradicate her disappointment that the aristocrat was leaving but this future gift certainly softened the blow.

"Even a princess has things they are told they can or can't be," she admitted softly. "I enjoy doing what I do now, but there were other things I wanted to do or be that my mother and father forbid. Have you ever seen a princess getting dirty fixing a space ship? That's why I want you to pick anything. You can be a lady of the courts, but you'll have to study really hard everything that a lady must know like other languages, who the famous artists of the galaxy are, how to eat at an imperial banquet, modern politics, the history of the Stellar Empire's establishment, and business management. If you don't want that you could be a doctor, a farmer, a lawyer, a scientist, an engineer, or anything else in the universe. It is a tough decision so ask your mom and dad to take you to the library to research each profession that interests you, okay?"

Julia and Tychon did not have intimate knowledge of what it meant to grow up wealthy and privileged, but they knew what she was saying to be true. Every individual, regardless of status, had certain expectations and restrictions put on them from birth. As elite members of the upper class Rene, Solae, Lord Armon, and their peers dedicated most of their childhood to an intense education on all facets of life. When they approached maturity professional pursuits were explored but only within proper societal norms. Rene already knew that Solae had been denied several hobbies that had piqued her curiosity. She could not reverse time and change the minds of her parents, but she could give Damaris an opportunity she never had, including the ability to choose title or reject it for something simpler but still out of her reach.

"It sounds hard but... I could really be a princess if I wanted?" Damaris repeated, still rather unconvinced.

"Yes. I don't have any children, so if your mom and dad allowed me I would name you as my heir. That would mean that if I died, and I was married to Rene and he died too, you'd become the next Marquise Falia, which is pretty close to a princess. If the empress makes me a duchess, then you'd be Duchess Falia."

"What if you do have children though?" Damaris persisted.

"I'm not certain yet if that will be possible," Solae responded carefully. Her perfect composure faltered for the briefest of moments and all the adults in the room could see the pain etched into her features. There was no reason to dive into the details of the surgery that prevented unwanted pregnancy for those who could not and would not subject themselves to the scandals of peasants. It was not a topic that Solae felt quite ready to approach so early in her relationship with her soldier lover. Damaris had not been wrong to pursue her line of thinking, especially since it was relevant to the discussion at hand, but someone more mature would have known it was a sensitive subject regardless of the audience. The truth was that the golden-haired scion dreamed of a family some day, one filled with laughter and joy, with compassion and warmth, and her interactions with Damaris were proof of the maternal instincts she held.

"Before we go I also have something for you," Solae told Julia. She rose from her seat and produced a folded piece of paper out of her pocket. "If you decide to leave Panopontus for any reason, I've listed all of the Falia holdings closest to here. They are still rather far away, but if you produce this they will be able to confirm that I wrote it with forensics, and they will host you until we're able to get back into contact. Think of it as an emergency back-up plan."

"Yes, well, perhaps we'll take a vacation after this is over," Julia said, trying not to become flustered or emotional.

"Would you mind if I kept your scarf for now? I can ship it back once..."

"Nonsense," Julia stated indignantly. "You gave us enough credit I could buy a new scarf for myself every day for the rest of my life if I wanted, so you'll take this one scarf of mine and keep it. I won't take it back, Lady Solae, not now or ten years from now. Use that to remember us and everything that happened here."

"Maybe not the Vitger part," Tychon interjected sourly with a dry sense of humor.

"We should get going before it gets closer to dawn," Solae said to Rene quietly. "It will be easier to take off from the caldera and avoid being followed if they can't spot us in the darkness. Between Mia and myself we should be able to minimize most of the external lights. By no means am I saying it will be an easy or smooth ride, but we'll avoid detection until we break through the second layer of the atmosphere at least."