Ellie got control of her emotions and looked up at Valentin, “I’m sorry I’ve ruined our dinner.”
“Why would you say that? This is our time to do what we want with. You’ve not ruined anything,” he guided her to her seat then took his own. “And you know what the best thing about Reima Two is? Besides that, I live here of course.”
Ellie smiled, feeling less embarrassed by the second, but she didn’t know the answer to his question.
“We can eat whenever we want. There are no prescribed eating times.”
Ellie and Valentin talked for the next two hours. They managed to answer almost every question about one another correctly, except Valentin didn’t know the name of her first pet, a Labrador dog named ‘Coins’.
Finally, it was time for dessert, and they were one question away from reaching the roof. Now the ceiling was glass, or what appeared to be glass, and they could see the beautiful Reima Two night sky.
“Elloisa,” the computer said, “This is your last question for the last course, what does Valentin want the most?”
Ellie was surprised by the question. She looked into his blue eyes, but they revealed nothing. Then she found her courage and answered, “To marry me.”
“Correct,” the computer said as it had said twenty times before, but this time because she had been less confident about her answer, it sounded better to know she was correct. She might have even blushed a little when the computer continued, “You now have won your final course.”
“Valentin, your final question is, what kind of marriage ceremony would Elloisa like to have?”
Valentin looked at Elloisa with surprise. He was pleased she had chosen this question but at the same time, he was unprepared.
She shook her head with a grin to indicate she wasn’t going to help him.
He said his thoughts out loud, “I doubt an Imperial ceremony and as you didn’t know about Reima Two traditions until yesterday, it wouldn’t be that, but you would have watched Chef Jade’s human marriage to Nicholas not long ago, so my answer is a human ceremony.”
“Correct,” replied the computer. “You have won the final round and now will be served a specialty Lina dessert on the rooftop overlooking our fair city. Thank you for dining at Jole Twenty Questions Around Reima Two. We hope you have enjoyed yourselves.”
Valentin looked at Elloisa in all her glory and said, “You know I want a Reima Two marriage ceremony, so we will have to compromise on a hybrid version. There are some local customs here that must be observed.”
“I’m open to compromise as long as I’m not opening my bedroom activities to my closest friends and family during our marriage ceremony,” Ellie replied feeling as if this all was becoming more real by the second. She felt both fear and pleasurable anticipation by her unknown future.
The next morning, Ellie woke up to Valentine touching her shoulder gently, “Good morning Elloisa.”
Ellie opened her eyes and looked at him. He was already dressed in what she assumed must be his formal uniform. Not unlike Imperial formal uniforms, it was black and made from a shiny material. It was also a tunic, but unlike the Imperial uniforms, his had the pattern of the Nage Horde in the gleam of the shiny material and the neckline and cuffs were lined with the gold. Ellie also noticed that his earrings and rings were now gold. “What time is it?”
“Early,” he replied while he pushed back the blanket for her to get out of bed. When he saw the holographic bearask he said, “End bearask,” to the room with a smile. He had felt it during the night when he got close to Elloisa but thought it had just been a dream. She must have woken up in the middle of the night and requested it from the bed’s computer.
“I miss my kittens,” she replied to the question he didn’t need to ask. Then she walked through the door that adjoined their rooms while she asked, “Can you come and help me? I don’t know what I should wear. I don’t want to be disrespectful.”
“Wear something nice,” Valentin replied.
Ellie stuck her head back through the door and looked at him in disbelief, “I’m a foreigner here and an alien, fresh off the starship from the Empire. I have no idea what is considered ‘nice.’ Come and help me please.”
“Sorry, my mind is elsewhere.” He followed behind her into her room and headed for her walk-in closet. “You do what you need to do, and I’ll lay out some options on your bed. Then I need to prepare. You have about 30 minutes to come down for breakfast and we will leave in an hour.”
“Where’s breakfast?”
“The Left Terrace.”
“Do you use any part of this grand house besides the Left Terrace and your bedroom?” Ellie asked jokingly.
“Not really,” Valentine answered honestly as he went further into her closet. “It’s all about status,” he said as he looked through her clothing, finding what he wanted from her Alliance section. “I’m going to set out some Alliance dresses as it would make the most sense to people and let’s not forget that the gossip columns will be covering this from the Empire and, maybe most importantly, it’ll will gain you favor with Admiral Jei.”
Ellie thought about this and then asked, peeking her head out from the bathroom, “Should I wear my Alliance ID necklace too?”
Valentine thought for a moment, “Yes and the bird necklace I gave to you.” He set two Alliance dresses on her bed and then stole a glance through the slightly ajar door. He saw Elloisa’s beautiful human body silhouetted in the morning light against the steam of the shower. He marveled for just a moment at how the simplest things in life, brought such joy, like this moment now. He watched only for another second and then went downstairs to prepare.
From the moment he left his rooms, his staff was aware and updating him on everything happening, including what was happening with Admiral Jei and Doctor James.
“But there have been no official reports yet?” Valentin asked.
“None. However, the hospital did record another life sign, but that could have been another patient lost and then returned, within the Imperial laws of reanimation.”
“Unlikely from when we started monitoring,” Valentin said, bracing himself for the tough day ahead. For now, he would concentrate on the memorial. After he would prepare Elloisa for the news her mother might have returned from the dead.
Ellie got out of the shower and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She ran her fingers through her short hair and smiled. She loved the way she looked. She used a laser to brush her teeth and then had the mirror style her hair in a very sleek way that she thought would look good with her loose Alliance dress. She agreed with Valentin that it was probably better she wore an Alliance dress especially since she had cut off her hair, which the Empire would see as a slap in the face. However, with this dress on and her ID necklace, they might wonder if she were forced to cut her hair and it might fuel some good gossip taking the spotlight away from whatever Jei was doing.
Ellie chose the plain black formal dress Valentin had laid out. She put on her ID necklace and the bird necklace, both easily seen now that her hair was so short. “Room, mirror,” she said, and a full-length mirror appeared. She looked at her appearance and was content with what she saw. She noticed how her bracelet had changed colors again and was now a jade color. She wondered if that was because of Valentin’s solemn mood about today. Not that she could blame him. She had no idea what it meant to be responsible for so many other people or what it might feel like to be responsible for their deaths. It didn’t matter if they understood beforehand what the risks would be working for Valentin, they were still dead and left loved ones behind. And she knew keenly what it felt like to be a loved one left behind.