"I'm not sure that we have a choice," Solae said, seeing the logic in his argument but at a loss of how to mitigate the danger. "We can't very well send Yarue and Dasin; even on a world governed by the Kalderi they are unlikely to show proper respect to either of them, and they won't take Rosaria seriously," the duchess explained to paramour in the ancient imperial language that they, as well as all the children of nobility, were required to learn. He had spoken it before so she knew he was proficient enough that they could carry on a short, private conversation in the presence of others when necessary. Rude as it was to purposefully speak a tongue in which others were not fluent in their presence, she thought it was even more cruel to spell out why only she and Rene were equipped to question the traders, and to acknowledge the discrimination of their civilization aloud.

"What about a disguise?" the teenager proposed. "Didn't you wear one on Zatis?"

Pondering it for a moment the linguist shrugged, acknowledging it had potential, though there were some complications that they had now that did not exist the last time she went incognito. "It could be worth a try, but the Kalderi are unused to deception, and it would be an imposition upon them to ask them to keep me a secret or mislead the rest. Soon news will spread of our arrival, with only the best of intentions of course, and the traders will no longer be in the dark about my identity. For all we know, they have already been made aware. It would have to be a very compelling disguise," Solae added, seeing the discouragement on Rosaraia's face. "It would have to be good enough to fool the Kalderi we met last night well enough they wouldn't recognize me."

"What would happen if you are recognized?" Dasin asked in his deep voice as he shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the next. He and his fellow Syshin had made it known they were not enthusiastic fans of the aliens' culture- they barely stood still when they were anywhere that they could see vast expanses of water since it was so unsettling to them- but they were even more apprehensive about Duke Tan. Both had heard enough about him to be wary. If his mercenaries on Zatis were any indication, he posed a serious threat to not only their mistress, but a great many lives. Any man who executed his own kind simply because they [i]might[/i] not be willing to betray their leader, or who were inconvenient obstacles, was horrifying. Not every Syshin was virtuous, but they did not even have names for the bloody ambition of someone so morally bankrupt.

"The former duke has quite the reward for my capture, and I presume any information that is sent to him will also earn generous compensation. Now that we've been able to warn the empress of his treachery and I've been appointed to his position, inheriting his holdings... I do not know him well, but enough to know he'll want to make a retaliatory gesture," she said, dropping her voice slightly as they began to make their way back towards the Bonaventure for a change of clothes. The Kalderi were almost unfailingly kind, but Ten's supplies would be more useful if they wanted to create a costume for the golden-haired aristocrat.

"I don't understand," Yarue said flatly with a hint of irritation in his voice. Whether he was annoyed at himself or Solae for being vague and obtuse was ironically unclear.

"It's all speculation," she emphasized, "but he might try to claim me as his wife to legitimize himself now that I've attained a higher status, he might want to parade me around as a prisoner as a warning to the rest of the empire, he might seek to take out his frustrations through sheer cruelty for the setbacks we've caused him. It might be worth seeing if we can intercept some communication from his loyalists," Solae mentioned to Rene the more she pondered about the issue. "He must know what we've done, so the bulletins he send out will be different, and we might be able to glean how his plan has shifted."

"What about you?" Rosaria asked the soldier in question pointedly, "Are you going to wear a disguise too?

"We might still have some of those furs that Dasin and Yarue wore back on Zatis," Solae jested playfully. Not only would they not fit her fiance, they would be far too revealing, and be distracting to the traders in all the wrong ways. Hell, she would assume something was amiss if anyone strolled up to her business with such attire. "Mia," she called out as they reached their vessel, a wonderfully familiar sight that soothed frayed nerves. "I want you to document every human ship in orbit or landed. We're going to need to conduct some interviews."