Rene made no attempt to dissuade Solae from changing her will. He was after all, technically a commoner, and the business of the Great Houses were not his. She also knew, as well as he did, that enforcing such a will would be a difficult and dangerous process as Solae’s cousins would go to any length to prevent it from being enforced. It was unlikely that a peniles soldier would be able to win a protracted legal battle in Imperial courts but there was no point in belaboring the obvious. It was further complicated by the fact that Rene Quentain, in an Imperial legal sense, wouldn’t offically be a person until his tour in the Marines was up.

A smart looking human of middle middle age and androguyns sex arrived within a quarter hour and took Solae into one of the casino’s glass doored meeting rooms. The spoke for perhaps a half hour before the attorney closed the expensive electronic data case they held and stood, shaking Solae’s hand. The attorney looked a little wild eyed as well they might. Solae Falia was easily the most important person on Zatis and almost certainly the most important the Attorney had ever met. As they stepped out of the door Ten, flanked by a pair of guards, appeared in the hallway. The attorney looked startled but Ten smiled calmingly.

“Im afraid I am going to need to insist on you remaining my guest Tanzen,” he said smoothly. Tanzen must have been the attorney’s name, though Rene hadn’t caught it in the initial pleasantries.  Solae gave Ten an arch look but he held up his palms in a placating guesture. 

“No harm will come to Tanzen Lady Falia,” Ten said with a shark like smile. Rene too had been worried that Ten might simply have the lawyer killed. Afterall he knew exactly who Solae was having worked on her will.

“As you intimated, it is in my own interest to have this will circulate should the worst happen. If I were unable to produce the man who wrote it, it would only serve to weaken that case.”

Rene nodded and everyone, including Tanzen seemed to relax a little and the lawyer allowed themselves to be led away without further incident. 

It had been hours since the light breakfast they had so Rene and Solae took a luxurious elevator to up into the casino.  The bar they entered probably wasn’t physically located at the roof of the casino, but it had been elaborately prepared with holographic projectors to make it appear as though they were on the peak of the building, though, impossibly, beyond the dome. Gray clouds of lightning swept gas spread in all directions, with the glittering dome spread out beneath more pristine than it must have been on the day of its construction. There was a central kiosk with a circular bar ringing it with a dozen tables radiating out from it, each commanding a view across the vastness of Zatis’ untamed landscape. Each of the tables was at a slightly different height, raised up by subtle series of steps which muted conversations between them. Rene offered Solae his arm and an attractive server saw them to their table, arrangements having already been made courtesy of Ten’s meticulous planning. 

Rene drew out a chair for Solae and then seated himself across the small table from her. The soft murmur of harp music competed for space with the gentle sound of synthesized wind. The menu was old fashioned paper, though it had been elaborately decorated with embossing and scroll work. Rene turned it over in his hand smiling slightly.

“What is it?” Solae asked. Rene set the menu down and smiled at his beloved.

“It is strange to have a moment to spend with you doing something so…” he waved a hand at the restaurant around them.

“Normal,” he concluded wrly.

“Its wonderful, but strange,” he concluded reaching across to grip her hand in his own.