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So far, so good.
Three royal guard postings, two infrared lasers, even a heat sensor—and Zaid had managed to slip past all three of them completely unnoticed in his infiltration of Mayet Tower.
A requested infiltration, of course—but that request was known to two parties only.
And it'd almost been too easy to carry out, to be honest. Zaid would have to talk to Pharaoh Yosira about that. Even if his current tools were top-of-the-line—beyond that, actually—he wasn't the only person in the Nile Galaxy who could access them, especially for the right price. And if the wrong kind of people could access those tools, and get to the Pharaoh of the entire galaxy just as easily…
That said, Yosira herself was a formidable quarry in her own right, especially after undergoing training from a certain battle prodigy. Therefore, even if someone could reach her, they'd had a hard time actually capturing her without a ton of backup, on her own turf, with an entire military academy next door.
(Unless someone ultra-high up within PYRAMID turned traitor and rendered all of its defenses and backup moot, but what were the odds of that?)
So, yes, Zaid tabled security talk to the side of his mind. For now, he and Yosira had more pressing things to discuss, if it could be believed. And they would do so the moment he reached her chambers across the hall.
He'd planned to politely knock upon reaching them, of course. However, the door was already open a crack as he approached, and he could even hear Yosira talking on the other side…
…if one could call what he heard "talking".
"Cleo? I-I was just… was just wondering, I mean…"
A deep breath as Yosira, dressed in her 'downtime' casual pink sweater and slacks, paced in a small circle on her carpet, gesturing in a way that screamed of an effort to appear casual and nonchalant. "So, you know how, sometimes, two people enjoy spending time with each other, perhaps on missions, or have a nice talk in their rooms, or in a random chance meeting in a hallway, and then perhaps, based on one or more of those interactions, one of them decides that they wish for them to happen more frequently, a-and I…"
Stammers and roundabout language were definitely a first for Yosira as far as Zaid was concerned. He knew her—everyone knew her—as an orator, a persuader, someone who always knew exactly how to reassure with words alone. With a galaxy under siege, it was an invaluable skill.
A skill which she may as well never have possessed, to hear her talk right now.
Though given what she was talking to, he wasn't sure he could blame her. In front of Yosira stood an azure-tinted holographic replica of Cleopatra herself, beamed from a pod on the floor that Zaid recognized from friendly off-mission talks with Brian.
According to Brian, however, it had met an untimely death, for very understandable reasons. He must have put it back together, or even made an upgraded version. A royal request would certainly be an adequate motivator.
Speaking of which…
"Courtship failed," the Cleo-hologram said in a perky monotone. "I am Cleopatra! I respond only to confidence comparable to myself, the Savior, the biggest-deal coolest in the universe! Try again, sucker!"
"Sucker?" Yosira's face went aghast. "Well, I never… fine! Fine, then! Sucker to you, too!" Yosira gave the holo-pod a dainty, yet powerful, kick into the wall, causing the Cleo hologram to vanish, then sighed. "I suppose I did ask for it to be as in-character as possible… oh, whatever." She sat on her bed, chin in her hands. "It's not as if my life allows for this sort of thing anyway."
Not wanting to go down the rabbit hole any further, Zaid finally knocked.
With an audible gasp, Yosira leapt up, darting around her room, picking up the pod, shuffling papers on her desk, and hiding the projection pod under them, before brushing herself down and answering the door. "Z-Zaid!" she said, with just the slightest waver of a giggle. "I-I didn't notice you coming, there were absolutely zero alerts… which, oh goodness, is exactly the point, isn't it?" Her uneasy small smile turned into a wider, knowing one. "I see that the first true trial of the Sneaking Spacesuit is a success," she said.
"Yeah, good thing too," Zaid said, tugging lightly at the nearly form-fitting black jumpsuit he was wearing. "Otherwise you and both I would have a lot of explaining to do to some very large and angry men." He pressed a button on its sleeve, and he disappeared from view. "Almost wish I could get more than ten minutes on this before the batteries need charging," he added, "but given that it only took me five to get up here, I'd say it more than gets the job done."
"Don't worry," Yosira said as Zaid reappeared. "The next test won't involve such scary guards. In fact, it won't involve much of anyone."
Zaid blinked. "Come again?"
Yosira's eyes twinkled. "Because it will be in space. Need to test both halves of the name, naturally."
"…yeah, I walked right into that one," Zaid sighed.
"Indeed." Yosira giggled again, hand to her mouth. "Though if it makes you feel any better, not a day goes by that the crown does not appreciate the choice you've made. You could have given up on yourself, and the Nile Galaxy…" Yosira stepped up to Zaid, putting her hand on his right shoulder and smiling as she met his eyes. "Instead, you chose the path of love for both. You may not be a part of PYRAMID anymore, but you've adopted its ideals. The universe is very lucky to have you… and so am I."
"W-wow…" Zaid looked away. "Um, thanks. Hopefully I can live up to that speech. Speaking of which, you called me here because you said you wanted to discuss a mission with me?"
Yosira nodded. "Yes, indeed I did." She walked to her desk, looking over and re-shuffling the many papers on it… revealing the slightest hint of the holo-pod in the process.
The moment she noticed it, her expression morphed. And Uneasy Yosira returned.
"Y-y-yes, well," Yosira stammered, quickly turning away from the desk, and fumbling with a hastily-fetched remote to power on a transparent holographic projection screen, built on a nearby wall. "T-the mission I-I called you into discuss is of the u-utmost importance—" She grimaced as the holo-screen showed an "AWAITING SIGNAL" prompt. "Oh, bother, where did I put my notes…"
Back at the desk again, she looked around with frantic turns of her head, pushing papers aside from her desk, grunting and breathing faster, until finally sweeping wide with her arm—and toppling the small pod back onto the floor.
Yosira shrieked, jumping towards it… but it was far too late. In under two seconds—too fast for either party in the room to comprehend the situation and react against it—the holographic Cleopatra was back.
"Courtship protocol initiated! What's shakin', your Royal Hotness?" she said, flipping her hair with one hand in a perfect replica of the real Cleopatra's confident swagger—though still in the uncanny monotone, of course.
To her credit, Yosira didn't completely break down then and there.
But, Zaid concluded, her utterly quiet, red-faced, uncontrollable trembling couldn't be much better.
"Wow." Zaid stared, eyes raised and mouth agape at the Cleo hologram. "She's… uh, she's definitely in character, at least?"
Yosira sighed, loud and long, gesturing towards the hologram. "If memory serves, Brian asked Akila to provide 'Cleo-style' dialogue under the pretense of running one of his routine science experiments. It sounds like she had… fun with it."
"That sounds like Akila, yeah," Zaid said.
Yosira huffed. "Oh well. Now you know my secret," she said, pushing a random paper about the desk with her finger. "Well, one of them. You know, just the horribly embarrassing one that I wanted no one to know, ever."
Zaid blinked. "What's so embarrassing about having feelings for someone?"
"I…" Yosira blanked for quite some time before finally answering, "It… it just isn't something that's done. Not by me."
Zaid walked further into the room. "Forgive my bluntness, Your Majesty, but I'm pretty sure I remember reading about lots of Pharaohs hooking up in the last 300 centuries."
"Not ones in my position," Yosira reaffirmed quickly.
Zaid leaned against the wall. "And what position would that be?"
"I…" For a few seconds, Yosira looked almost as if she were to get actually agitated… but upon looking at Zaid—who for his part was making sure that his expression showed zero teasing, and one hundred percent sincere concern—she relented, taking a slow walk towards the balcony.
Zaid followed as Yosira walked to the balcony's edge, and looked to the bright lights of Mayet City, placing her hands on the railing. He stood beside her, doing the same.
He watched Yosira close her eyes, and tremble—no doubt reliving, in her mind's eye, a fraction of the hardships she'd confided in him to having lived through. Hardships which, he knew, she considered to be child's play compared to what Octavian had done to those who were far less lucky—due to being in far less elevated stations than herself.
"I was groomed from birth," Yosira finally said, "to live a life where I would have to be a leader of billions of citizens, a commander-in-chief to thousands of soldiers, an inspiration to hundreds of planetary leaders, and be my own warrior… all for the sole cause of repelling Octavian from our star systems. To not merely govern, but to free our galaxy, and all planets residing within and adjacent.
"That grooming was only accelerated after the Blight—but with far less direction than originally planned. I still had to learn to do all of the aforementioned… but now I would have to do so with little to no benefit, or wisdom, of pharaohs past."
Yosira looked low and sighed.
"Zaid, I'm doing all of this by the skin of my teeth. Ruling, fighting, living. And not a day goes by where I do not consider myself anything but lacking, in all areas of expertise and skill. The only reason I have gotten this far, and the galaxy hasn't fallen apart any more than it has, is because my training and study never ends, and is never interrupted. It…" She trembled again. "It can't afford to be. Not in my position. And certainly not for simple matters such as… 'hanging out'."
A long silence occupied the space between Yosira's speech and Zaid's reply. When the latter did speak, he looked up, casting his gaze from the busy, hovercar-speckled city, to the stars, which were just as populous.
His own memories came rushing to meet him—memories which were a mixed bag on the best of days. Most of them involved running. Always running, nonstop. Into enemy strongholds, then as far away as possible once their damage was done. Running across entire worlds, across star systems, slipping away from apprehension by the slightest of chances, then going dark in the vacuum of space…
…until the day when, finally, they hadn't run quite fast enough. After which, Zaid was forced to stop running entirely, and infiltrate a military academy instead—otherwise his parents would pay the price. Every move he made was watched, and judged.
From then on out, running—the one thing he'd always been best at—meant death.
"My mom, dad, and I… we did what we did," Zaid said, "and that was all we did. Pretty much nothing but rebellious pirate-style freedom fighting. Losing your home will drive you to do that. Losing a family, all your friends, and an entire people, feeling like you're alone against the universe… that'll drive you to do it harder."
Yosira nodded. "You do understand."
Zaid nodded. "And then, when Octavian grabbed my parents and forced me to work against you and Cleo, I…" He swallowed. "Believe me, your Majesty, I understand. We've both experienced so much loss, and allowed that loss to control so many of our actions, that we start thinking we deserve where we end up."
He turned to face Yosira. "Even if that's one of the biggest lies ever."
Yosira looked back at Zaid, with raised eyebrows.
"I…" Zaid looked away with a sigh of hesitation, before facing Yosira again. "Look, this is gonna sound sappy, but being around everyone at PYRAMID, around other people my age, who had a lot of the same life goals I had, and no reason to judge me outside of how I directly acted towards them… yeah. That allowed me to hate myself a little less." He looked back out to the city again, the right side of his mouth widening into a small smile. "It was your academy that allowed me to do that. And then I met Cleo."
Yosira's lips followed suit. "She… changes people, doesn't she?"
Zaid snickered. "Without even trying. That's a good thing, though. She's a good thing. I mean, even outside of being the Savior and stuff. Just her, in general. Kind of wish Octavian hadn't made things so weird between me and her."
Yosira nodded again, maintaining her look of contentment… but Zaid heard the soft sigh she tried to hide. Refusing to harp on it, he continued looking out to the horizon.
"We tell ourselves, that if we just do this thing, then this next thing, then this other thing, keep working, bury ourselves in what we have to do… then, eventually, everything will be better, and then maybe we deserve to do what we want. But, of course, we never get there."
He turned back to her.
"You do have responsibilities. And those responsibilities do influence the fate of entire planets… but if you think about it, the same goes for every student at PYRAMID, and every person in this galaxy actively rebelling against Octavian, in large ways and small. We all have parts to play in this. But I promise you, I and every student in PYRAMID Academy found time for ourselves. To make friends, to play music, to party like crazy under a whole bunch of neon lights. Otherwise, this fight would be a whole lot more painful. To say nothing of hopeless."
Yosira nodded again—then gasped as Zaid, still with his sincere smile, slid his hand onto the railing, open and inviting. She accepted the invitation, placing hers in his, and they clasped each other in silent solidarity.
"And hope is the only way any of this works," Zaid said softly. "Hope means realizing, and reaffirming, that, even given everything that hangs in the balance, you still exist. And existing includes having people who love and support you around you, whenever you need them. Family, friends…" he looked back to the room, where the pod still lay, overturned. "…even dates, if that's what you want."
Yosira's expression scrunched into thoughtfulness. "I… I would like that… o-or rather, I mean, I'd love to at least know I have the option to try?"
"Only one person can tell you if you do," Zaid replied. "I'll give you a hint—she's the most powerful person in the Nile Galaxy. I've seen her move planets just by speaking. But just as importantly, she's also a young lady—and I'm sure if she gives it even ten seconds of thought, that young lady knows exactly what she wants."
If only to humor Zaid and herself, Yosira did take ten seconds.
To think of Cleo. To imagine what things would be like if she managed to get what she did want. The two of them, talking and laughing, wherever they wished—on Mayet, in space, amidst nature, on other planets, with none of the cares of the universe, weighing over their heads… at least for a while…
Relief, then euphoria, washed over her—unmistakable, irresistible. Her eyes widened, her nose twitched, her smile brightened—and her trembling, this time, was of a far giddier persuasion.
"I do," Yosira finally breathed, crossing her palms over her heart while looking out towards Mayet City's expanse. It looked… bigger, now. Almost endless. "I can do this. I have to… no. I want to. So much. You're right, I shouldn't stop myself." She turned around. "Thank you, Zaid, I—"
Zaid was nowhere to be found.
"Pharaoh Yosira? Are you there?"
But… Cleo was? Was that her voice just now?
Walking back into her room, she indeed saw Cleo standing at the entrance—the real Cleopatra, accompanied by a guard.
"There you are!" Cleo said. "Got a text from Zaid a few minutes ago saying you wanted to see me about something urgent. So I flew over here—like, literally, in my hover buggy? Then the guards let me in because I'm me, I guess." She flipped her hair with one hand and a cocksure grin, upon which Yosira just barely managed not to scream under the crushing weight of déjà vu. "So what's up?"
Wait.
No.
Yosira held back a gasp. This was too soon, too fast!
She knew what she wanted, but how to go about it was still the biggest mystery! She hadn't had time to think, or to research! Every single attempt to practice on the courtship hologram had crashed and burned, proving that she was nowhere near cool enough to be on Cleo's level, much less go out with her!
The course of action was clear: she should… send Cleo away. Yes, yes, just say it was a false alarm, she still had notes to gather, and she'd call for Cleo next time the both were free—
…which would be when, exactly?
When would Yosira next have the opportunity, to say nothing of the nerve? During the next battle tutoring session, when discipline and staying on-task was prioritized above all else? During the next PYRAMID mission, when their very lives would be at risk the whole way through? Who knew the next time they wouldn't be fighting, or talking about fighting, or dealing with surprises from the enemy, or being so preoccupied with making sure such surprises never took place—
No.
Yosira knew what she wanted—and now, she knew what it would require. She would have to summon a Pharaoh's courage… in order to impart upon the young lady wearing that selfsame crown what she wanted—nay, needed.
She drew herself up, back to her usual decorum, and bowed to the guard. "Thank you for escorting Cleo to me, safe and unharmed. You may leave until I have further need of your services."
The guard nodded promptly, leaving both girls in private to go back to his post. Yosira then turned to Cleo, who had somehow already gotten distracted enough to sneak in a game of Fish Kaboom! on her tab. Yosira simply stood and watched, a small smile widening across her lips—and it wasn't long before Cleo noticed, looking up.
"Gah! I-I-Ipromiseiwaspayingattentionthiswholetime," Cleo said, managing to idle her tab after a few fidgeting fumbles.
Yosira giggled. "It's all right. Thank you for coming, and for waiting. Please, follow me." She walked over to her sofa, sat within its center, and patted the space beside her. Cleo sat next to her…
…and Yosira took the deepest breath of her life. Technically, what she was about to ask carried the tiniest risk of toppling all of the goodwill she'd built up so far over the weeks. But she had to. She knew what she wanted, and if there was one thing she knew from so many diplomatic summits, never voicing your concerns or desires was akin to giving them up out of the gate.
"I've been thinking about how our last mission turned out," Yosira said, finally. "The one where you officially welcomed me to your team?"
"Oh, yeah." Cleo nodded with a smile. "I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been, either. I'm still really glad we managed to work everything out in the end. You're cool to have around. Both as an operative, and just… well, you."
"Thank you." Yosira said, warmth flooding through her, matched only by her nervous excitement. "I-I am glad we worked things out, as well. And to that end, if there's one thing that mission reminded me, it's that communication and openness are paramount—not only with dignitaries, but anyone who you would desire to be on friendly terms with."
Cleo nodded. "That makes sense. My dad would say the same thing—n-not that I'm calling you my dad, of course," she said, tittering. "I-I just mean… I need to be reminded of it, probably a lot more than you. I mean, you handle summits with world leaders. I hear the word 'communication' and my brain goes, 'okay, which end of my plasma staff lets me do that?'"
Yosira laughed, loud and long. She wanted this. She wanted this all the time. "Oh, Cleo. You would be so surprised how alike we are in that respect. You've simply had more courage to show your true colors than I have. It's one of the things I love to witness, and learn from.
"And these are exactly the sorts of conversations I would love to have with you… on a much more regular basis. Conversations about ourselves, and how we see the universe... through each others' eyes." Yosira took Cleo's hands in hers, with one final breath. "I wanted to know if you would perhaps, in the near future, care to join me for tea… a-and talking… in a manner removed from our busy lives, just the two of us?" she finished in a gasping rush.
A long silence followed, during which Yosira watched, in slow motion, Cleo's lips curl up in exactly the way Yosira was afraid of encountering—the way that would, she was sure, lead to total embarrassment.
"Why, Pharaoh Yosira," Cleo said, in the most teasing voice Yosira had ever heard, "are you asking me out?" She leaned in, and Yosira could feel Cleo's amusement. "On a date, even?"
"It doesn't have to be that!" Yosira blurted, all of her fear rendering her taut on the couch—fully prepared, nay, willing, to fall through the floor. "One-on-one sessions are completely normal between professional associates…" She counted on her fingers, except it was far more like those fingers were stumbling over one another. "…mutually respecting comrades, teachers and mentors, supervisors and—"
Yosira clamped up the moment she felt Cleo's index finger on her lips.
Cleo giggled. "Date, or whatever else," she said, "I'd love to."
Wait, what? Yosira calmed down… slightly. "You… you would?" she gasped, hoping against hope that Cleo couldn't hear her desperately clinging to hope.
"Yeah, totally." Cleo shrugged. "You said it yourself, we're busy tons. I need cool-down time just like anyone else, but I haven't really been sure where to find it here in crazy-future-land. Also, I like tea, so long as there is as much honey in the cup as there is tea. If not more. I… yeah, uh, I really like honey." Her eyes furrowed. "One condition, though? Since we're being all 'communication' and whatever."
A condition? Small spike in nervousness, but also, curiosity piqued, something fierce. Yosira nodded, keeping herself calm. "I would hear this condition."
Cleo grinned again. "No shop talk. At least, not on purpose."
Yosira blinked. "Come again?"
"It's not enough to take a break from our daily lives and all the crazy stuff hanging over us, if we're then just gonna act like we're still at work," Cleo said. "I'm always talking to Yosira the Pharaoh, or Yosira the Teacher, or heck, sometimes even Yosira My Combat Protege." Cleo sidled up next to her comrade-in-royalty. "I wanna talk to Yosira, That Girl I Always Thought Was Really Interesting, Who Also Just Happened to Be Royalty But Whatever."
Cleo took Yosira's right hand, and slowly brought it up to her lips—just as Yosira had done on the balcony, the night after they'd successfully foiled an Octavian plot to disrupt diplomatic talks by switching identities. She looked back up with a smile, directly into Yosira's eyes. "I don't get to see that Yosira much—but it's the Yosira I want to get to know the most."
By now, Yosira was about as warm as a freshly brewed cylinder of tea. "C-condition granted," she said, grasping the cushion on which she sat. "With enthusiasm. There's a bistro on the far reaches of Mayet City which I would love to show you for our first outing. If you're okay with that?"
"Sounds great to me," Cleo said, looking straight into Yosira's eyes. "I can't wait—" Her tab beeped. She opened it to see an image of a feline figure scowling beside a stack of books, and closed it a second later. "I, uh, might have skipped out in the middle of a Khensu-led study session when Zaid messaged me to come to you," she said, with a sheepish grin and hand behind her head.
"Oh, no!" Yosira said. "Cleo, please, never go so far on my account!"
"Meh." Cleo rolled her eyes. "Trust me, the only person put out by any of this is the Grumpy Cat back in my room," she said, with a toothy grin. "Zaid, though, said that I totally didn't want to miss this—and boy, was he right. But yeah, gotta go."
Yosira stayed wordless, flushing from head to toe, as she escorted Cleo to the door. Once they did, Cleo's expression sobered. "Hey, um… thanks."
"You're welcome," Yosira said, before adding, "I think? May I ask why?"
"I…" This time, Cleo's gaze into Yosira's eyes was uneasy, she opened and closed her fists repeatedly. "I was hoping we could spend more time together, too—just us. But given who you are, and everything and everyone you're responsible for…" Cleo took a deep breath, accompanied by an equally loud exhale. "…I didn't even know if it was possible, let alone whether or not you even wanted to. So I… kind of psyched myself out of asking."
"Cleo…"
Yosira really wished she could give some kind of wise, wordsmithed reply, or react with any sort of movement, or… or anything, instead of standing dumbstruck. But from the moment Cleo had walked in the door, this had all been just so much, so fast. Was it possible to be paralyzed by positivity?
"Thank you for sharing that, Cleo," she finally said. "Everything you just mentioned are sentiments I thoroughly understand, if that helps you feel any better?"
"Little bit. Anyway, yeah! Call me after classes tomorrow—we'll set up our 'tea time'. Just between us distinguished royals," Cleo said with a playful, indulgent wink, before showing herself out. "Good night."
With a quiet smile and nod, Yosira nodded, closing the door behind Cleo—then leaned with her back against it, hands to her heart…
…and spied a note on her bed. She walked over, and picked it up.
It was in Zaid's handwriting.
"Knew you could do it. Hope you believe in yourself now as much as you've been believing in me."
Yosira sat down, grabbing and holding one of her pillows tightly, finally allowing her hastily-built emotional dam to crumble and wash away. Her tears reached her cheeks in moments, as she sniffled, and rocked back and forth, no longer fighting the joy, allowing it to move her.
"It's certainly a start," she whispered.
Still, she could already feel the universe weighing on her a little less.