//------------------------------//
// 25 - Triumphant Return 
// Story: Fading Suns: A New World 
// by David Silver 
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Blueblood found them just before they escaped the castle. "I trust it went well? You look pleased."

Lyra stuck out her tongue. "He's in--"

Laud put a hand over her mouth, blocking the other words. Oh how useful it would be if one could do that around other people without being presumed to be barbaric or mad. "I have been authorized to prepare. Until things proceed, there is little need for an administrator of trade."

"Hmm, yes." Blueblood tapped his chin. "We were perhaps a bit hasty. Overseeing a lack of trade would be defeating the point. You will send word when your people arrive, yes? The earlier, the better. They should be greeted properly and with trade goods close at hoof to begin." A smile erupted on his face. "Actually, if you would be so kind as to inform me when there is a proper storage point, we can move from there."

Lyra watched him trot off before looking up to Laud. "Why'd you cut me off? Was I saying something wrong?"

Laud resumed his walk, exiting the castle and descending the stairs towards the street. "You were speaking the truth, bare and uncensored. That can be a dangerous habit to be in. He only needed to be informed of a very specific thing. More is giving a weapon. Knowledge is power, is that a saying here?"

"Yeah? I guess that's a thing." She stuck out her tongue. "This is why I put that all way behind."

"So you are of noble birth?"

Her cheeks warmed as she looked away. "I'm Lyra Heartstrings, a performer and nice mare. Isn't that enough?"

He put a hand on her back as they walked. "All fine qualities, Miss Heartstrings, but they do not preclude you from being noble as well. I ... guess..." He wanted a better word, but the one he wanted was murderously difficult to pronounce. "--you are not close to the line of--" There was another one. He frowned. "There are other people ahead of you?"

Lyra rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. My parents aren't expecting much out of me." She clopped a hoof on the ground. "Why the sudden interest? You were... kinda brushing me off before, but if I'm a noble then maybe you care?"

Laud could hear some hurt in her tone. She wasn't entirely wrong, was the issue. There was no way he would debase himself twice over with an alien that was also of common birth. A political marriage was an entirely different beast. If becoming wed to an exotic local helped secure the entire world for his house, well, that was a price he would pay. The fact that she was pleasant enough to be around was a bonus."I am thinking of the first contact. On first glance, you will appear as the last equine race we met, and they are not treated well. I do not want that."

Lyra's ears lifted from their wary position to face Laud. "And how is my being noble changing that?"

Some tension fled Laud. They were back in more comfortable standing. "If I greet them as a member of an advanced and refined culture, with titles and a... ranking order--" That was not the word for hierarchy. He'd have to keep studying, and he wondered if Starlight had had any luck with the translator. "--and this is most easily shown if I am already a part of that. With a local noble at my side, there would be less to doubt."

Lyra raised a brow as she trotted. "All I'm hearing is that you want to be able to say you're in with the locals, and hey, that pony you know has an in, and hey, doesn't she already like me? Wow, this works out."

That was a crude, but not entirely untrue, summary. "And this displeases you?"

"Yes!" she suddenly hollered, drawing peeks from other ponies of the city. She blushed and lowered her voice. "Yes... Stupid jerk. I wanted... to earn being a friend, not have it thrown at me because it's convenient."

Laud crossed his arms as he walked. "Did you only wish to be friends? We were that long before we came to this city. I had... perhaps incorrectly... thought you had desires that went beyond friendship."

"Beyond?" Her entire face began to darken. "W-what do you mean by that?!" She turned away and strode ahead towards the train station, going entirely silent.

Laud kept pace with her, taking larger steps to match her agitated fleeing. She may have been a horse, but her emotional hints were all so human. She was still interested, if confused. A political marriage was not what she wanted.

He decide to subvert the topic a little. Waiting until they were seated on the train, he let out a new angle, "So, about your other friend?"

Lyra perked up. "Wha? Bonnie?" She smiled with thought of her cherished friend. "What about her?"

"Are you two 'friends' or 'friend friends?'" He leaned back against the seat he was in. "Before you answer, know that such things are not unknown." Especially with a noble. Commoners had a harder time deviating from expected norms in that way. "I would not think less of either of you."

Lyra's eyes darted wildly. "We're friends!"

"You use that word." He rolled a hand at her. "Could you define it?"

"We... care... about each other, like a lot." She threw her hooves wide. "We have each other's back no matter what! I mean, sometimes we get on the other's nerves, but we apologize and work through it, 'cause that's what friends do!"

It was all very touching, but also avoiding the question. Laud gave a slow nod. "Admirable. Have you shared a bed?" Blunt, but hopefully to the point.

Lyra's heat grew to the point that he could feel her boiling like a lobster. "A f-f-few times, why?"

"Would you marry her?"

Lyra flopped over. She hadn't passed out, but she came about as close as one could. "She would never! I mean..."

"Do you want to marry her?"

She trembled with clenched teeth before she sat up with a sudden frown. She crossed her forehooves. "I would like that very much, but two mares do not get married. That's just not how that works. So we will be friends, best friends, and there's nothing wrong with that."

There was an angle... "Tell me, what people can marry which people?" He smiled at her, trying to give the impression that they were speaking of nothing untoward at all.

"W-well, usually it's a mare and a stallion." She brought her hooves together. "These days it's all that really. Back in the old days there were other ways." She wobbled a hoof as if she were rolling a hand, but she had no hand. "Like herds, those were crazy. A bunch of mares and one lucky, or unlucky, stallion between them."

Laud cocked a brow. "That does not fit what I know. Aren't mares in places of power more often than not?"

"You think they weren't in the herds?" Lyra grinned at that. "Poor fella, with a bunch of mares around him. I mean, good ones were like a big family, but the stallion was both the husband and the child. All the mares were the wives and the mother. They protected him. They were in charge, not him. If a stallion got out of line, the mares were within their rights to impose some discipline on him like a lost foal."

That was less appealing to Laud. He imagined the steely scowl of Bon Bon whenever she decided he was in need of correction. Still... "So... if I were to not move to be 'friends' with you, but both of you, you would say?"

Lyra looked blank all of a sudden before laughter erupted from her. She beat the cushion she sat on as she flopped  back. "You and Bonnie barely tolerate each other. I can be a little daft sometimes, but I'm not that stupid. I mean, I hope you two will make up and become buddies eventually, but friends? Friends friends? I just don't see it." She sat up and threw an arm around Laud, suddenly pulling him closer, or trying. Her efforts pulled her closer to him. "I appreciate the thought though, and what you said, I mean, about us already being friends... Do you really mean that? I mean, even if I never say yes to marrying ever, we'd still be that, right?"

That was an easy question. "Of course. I would hope we continue to be friends regardless of the other matters. You have been nothing but a good ally, an easy companion, and someone I do appreciate having around."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Except when you're talking about noble stuff to nobles."

"Except perhaps then," Laud easily agreed. "It is a delicate act."

"Ugh, you don't need to tell me that. There is a reason I ran off to a tiny little town and am happy just playing my lyre." She rolled her eyes and sat like a human would on the train couch. "It's fine. You can do better for a wife than me anyway. Hay, Rarity is practically drooling at the chance of being hooked up with real royalty. I bet she'd faint right on her fainting couch, she has one of those, you know, if you asked. She'd probably say yes before or after, even money on either."

Laud considered the sophisticated mare. She had the look, but... "Is she of... Is she a noble?"

"Rarity?" Lyre shook her head quickly. "She wishes, really, she does. Oh wow, if I could just give her mine, we'd both be better off, but no, she's as common as they come, but she acts the part and she's done super well for herself. Most everyone likes her. She's a national hero! But noble, not so much."

If she were a hero of his own people, that might fly. Marrying the common hero of an alien species lacked the right... oomph. He considered a moment just allowing her to fake it. She probably would, and perhaps be good at it, but that would create a vital weakness. Others, like Blueblood, would know the truth, and they would have power over him if he attempted to live a lie. Blackmail and extortion were not attacks he wanted to deal with if it could be avoided.

"See, she'd be the better pick."

He held up the flat palm of his right hand. "I don't think so. I will consider, of course, but..."

"Hey, look..." Lyra glanced away and back at Laud. "Look... For now, we can be friends, right?" She flashed a bright smile. "It's all I want."

Laud still was not entirely certain how Lyra used that word. Was she asking to be friends, as he knew it, or asking for casual relations of a much more intimate sort.

When did he become alright with this idea? Why was he not screaming and running, or at least making a tactful retreat, from the idea of even approaching the... Was he hit with some of their magic while his necklace was removed? Was the idea of marrying a pony some subtle suggestion planted in him? He imagined Celestia's smiling face. She said the touch of her magic would be gentle. What more gentle way than to make an alien willing to find love, physical and otherwise, with one of her subjects?

Of course, it could have nothing to do with her at all. It could just be his own thoughts, casually considering a political marriage, with horses.

"You alright?" Lyra nudged him with a hoof. "I'm gonna get a bite to eat in the dining car, wanna come with?" she hopped to the floor of the rumbling train.

"Some drink and food may be just what we both need." Laud rose to follow her with a faint frown. On the other hand, if she had enchanted him to consider the idea, why not bewitch Lyra to return the proposal? She was not even trying to defend herself. How awkward would it have been if she had tearfully accepted, only for him to reconsider the notion later?

He needed some time to think.