Mirror holds Matty close as the crowd parts and the sound and attention filter away toward the demesne of Zaldarian politics, leaving the pilot alone with her family once again. The younger engineer clings tight, nestling her head in between Mirror's neck and shoulder and purring out of sheer nervousness as much as excitement as much as the comfort she derives from being in this position with this woman.

For her part, Mirror wraps her arm around Matty's back and envelopes her completely as she traces one blunted claw along the length of her neck. She is tense enough to be mistaken for steady, alert enough to be mistaken for protective, strong enough to be mistaken for in control. Only a twitching of her whiskers and the rigidity around her knees reveals the truth.

Is she being that obvious, do you think?

"Yes I know," she soothes, "That was a very scary dragon indeed, wasn't it dewdrop?"

"Uhuh..."

"But also very pretty, right?"

"Y-yeah. Super pretty."

"Do you... understand, then?"

"Nnnnnnf."

"..."

There is a moment where everything almost shatters. Mirror can feel eyes on her. On her back, on her chest, on her head. She sucks in a breath through her teeth, and squeezes her eyelids shut. 

"Mattara Swimmer. Are you going to keep me safe?"

"Eep! M-mo-mommy? K-keep... [i]you[/i] safe?"

"Solarel is strong. Solarel is unpredictable. Solarel holds my heart in her hand. Solarel has defeated me countless times already."

"M-m-mew..."

"And yet."

"A-and yet?"

"I am going to win. What is different?"

Long silence. Eyes on her back. Eyes on her chest. Eyes on her head. But this time the pressure's missing. Matty's face brightens like a kitten at a tuna buffet.

"You mean..?"

"Yes," says the Whispered Promise as she boops Matty's nose, "You. You are my key. With you I cannot be defeated."

"D-does that mean that I--?"

"Yes, sweet dewdrop. It does. So then I ask of you: how shall I defeat the strongest pilot ever? What would [i]you[/i] do?"

"M-me? But I! Well I!" Matty squishes her own cheeks before she arranges herself into what she hopes is a Serious Thinking Face. But it's hard to make those when someone's clever fingers keep stroking your spine, "I guess if it was me I'd ask for help. But you're asking me, so I..."

"You know, dear heart? I think. You are exactly right."

"Sorry, I'm just not a fighter and I-- huh? I am?"

"You are. I need help. And I think... I see where I should ask for it. Stay here, kitten. Work with Slate. Work with Kiriala. Our work is beginning. Our work has begun. Are you ready?"

"Yes, mommy! I-I've got this, mommy! Just you wait, we're gonna wow you so hard you'll be speechless! Er, i-in the good way!"

Mirror simply smiles, and lets her brilliant little engineer go to stand on her own feet again. Already her gaze is tilting upwards, along the spiral. Already her path is leading her toward the smell of roses. It is nothing to slip past a pair of Empresses in the dark. It is nothing to leave Solarel to her own plans, and not tip a paw at all.

She arrives in silence. Adriana Teresio. Isabelle Lozano. And a handful of drones, blowing [Nectar] in her face. Her eyes flow like rivers as she watches. As she stares. In silence. In power. In victory.