Faction Of Heart and Mind

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

The meeting with the Silvers went without a hitch. Politically speaking anyways. But for Lori it was frought with things that concerned her both personal and political in nature.

Once the meeting was over, she requested Dorthea Dobson and Grand Shepherd Burtch to meet with her in her room. She felt like a bride getting cold feet, but she was well past that.

Lori paced back and forth in her room, fidgeting with her fingers in order to prevent herself from biting her nails. The polish helped in that regard too, but still she wanted to just get out of that dress and into her normal clothes instead of looking like a walking, talking princess doll.

Arla stood watch near the door, expressionless like always. Her job wasn't to comfort or advise but to protect. And that was what she did, especially while they were in another's territory. Spies were everywhere and yet a diagnostic sweep of the room revealed no surveillance devices. That was a good thing. It was one less problem for them to deal with.

 

[Grand Shepherd Burtch]

The Grand Admiral of the Elysium Empire Navy and the Chief Director Of Damascus Station walked together down the hall towards Loreena Arenais-Valhoun ’s hotel room. Burtch was not clear as to why they had been summoned, but Dorthea had been unusually quiet. He observed her facial expression as she walked and her vision was clouded over with thoughts. He considered asking her what was wrong, but with Dorthea, sometimes it was better to let her come to you instead of accidentally making her feel attacked. But it was clear that she had a better idea what was going on than Burtch did.

As they got close to Lori’s door, Burtch considered asking her what was going on, but Dorthea spoke up first, “Ok, I don’t have time to explain it to you, but you need to be a friend right now instead of an admiral. And let me handle most of this. Just try to be supportive as best you can.”

Burtch furrowed his brow, “I’m really confused, Comman - or, Dorthea? Why is she summoning us?”

“Of course a Chiss wouldn’t understand…” Dorthea shook her head in annoyance, “also you’re a man. Like I said, I don’t have time to explain so try to follow my lead and be a supportive friend.”

Humans… “Ok, what does that even mean?”

She sighed, “like… I don’t know… listen to her talk about her feelings and try not to hurt them or let them get more hurt. If she cries, or something, give her a tissue.”

“She might cry!?” Burtch exclaimed in alarmed confusion. Being a Chiss, even though he had been around humans for many years, they were still a challenge to understand from time to time. Captain Treyfa was much better at this…

“Oh, probably not. She’s not really like that, and I don’t really think she’ll go there. But if she does, then you’ll have your contingency plan.”

“I don’t have to do that human female thing where I wrap my arms around her, do I?”

Dorthea shook her head reassuringly, “no I’d cover that.”

“Ok, good”

“Just… pay attention to her. That’s all. It might end up being a strategic discussion and you’ll have that covered, I’m sure.” She hit the button to Lori’s door and it slid open.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori's head snapped to the door as soon as it swung open, looking to see if it was just Dorthea Dobson and Grand Shepherd Burtch . Fortunately it was. She waved them in and stopped her pacing, although she still fidgeted with her fingers and couldn't even fathom the very idea of sitting down.

"Thank you both for coming. That was a bit of a fiasco, wasn't it? I mean, at least it didn't all fall apart, but still...I just don't know how this is all going to work." It was pretty obvious to her that she was going to need to give them a bit of clarification and so Lori continued on. "Rex is supposed to pretend to be in love with me when we're at events like this, but he didn't even try. And when I touched him, he jumped as though I had just put ice down his back. And then to top it all off he didn't even listen to my recommendations at all. He had to hear it from someone else in order to consider it. It's as though I'm just some...trophy for him to have in the corner and ignore." The words started pouring out of her like a floodgate had been opened, and her pacing resumed. "I gave up the idea of settling down and having a family some day for the sake of the Empire and this is how he treats me? He won't even try! I had many offer to rescue me from this, expecting it to be something that I was forced into, yet I told them no because I thought....I thought that maybe he would grow to not find me so repulsive and maybe even learn to like me and my opinions. But he doesn't. He won't. So maybe it'll be better if we just do things on our own, seperately. Then I wouldn't be the only one fulfilling the promise to Heath."

She stopped her pacing and stood in front of Burtch. "Commenor is a good choice. Maybe I'll go there for the Embassy construction. I'd like you to come with me if you could. There's a lot that I can show you that aren't on any files or databases. These locations could become very important down the road if anything goes sideways."