The royal palace still looked nice, exquisite as ever, immaculately maintained by palace maintenance. Everything sparkling, shiny, and clean so that even the ancient, expensive, artifacts tastefully distributed all across the complex to show off the Emperor's power didn't quite look their true age. Her compliments to them, they did a good job. The best she had seen, even, which was saying something. They must be paid well; or at least, she had a pretty strong feeling they were paid well. She knew first-hand that excellent work of the lower sorts like upkeep and cleaning didn't always reward the laborers who performed it, especially when they worked for a man with as much power as the Emperor. Or her mother, who always took it for granted, she thought.

But the Emperor was not her mother. Nothing like her, really. He was really quite interesting, incredibly unique, incredibly atypical of those generally in power. Well, so was her mother, but they were different in different ways. Maybe that made them alike, in some roundabout way? Hm. She might think about later, there were tiresome motions to go through at the moment.

She got knelt before the Emperor. "Greetings, your majesty," she said in as respectful a dispassionate voice as she could muster. Her face was similarly blank, her body language neutral, she had much practice going through these motions.

The Emperor smiled down at her and waited slightly less than usual before giving the command to rise. He was pleased with her, or in a good mood. Hm. "Greetings, Chume'da." He wasted no time in saying once she was fully up. His voice matched his small smile, friendly and cordial. He must be in a good mood. Hopefully she would not change that. This was her first time leading the delegation and the last thing she needed was to anger the Emperor.

"Your majesty, I come to you on behalf of all Hapes to humbly thank you for your kindness to the our people and the many years of peace and prosperity you have bestowed upon us by your benevolent rule." At least, once subjugation was complete, but she kept that thought to herself. Besides, the following years really had been peaceful and prosperous for Hapes, no matter how angry her grandmother became over their loss of autonomy and seclusion.

"What an uncommon gift you offer me. I know the proud Hapans rarely do anything with humility." It was true. They did not.

"We believe your labors uniquely deserving, your majesty." When her grandmother said it, the compliment was always the most transparent of lies and the ritual was more of a public prostration than any genuine acknowledgement of thanks. But when she said it… she didn't know what it sounded like, nor did she know how she should feel about everything. She was only fifteen, not that age was ever an excuse in her household.

"Well then, I accept your gratitude and offer my own and my future labors in kind. I do live to serve, after all." He ended with a small chuckle. Sometimes it seemed that he did. Sometimes it seemed like he didn't. It made him so unlike his predecessors, they had both been so transparently self-serving.

"Hapes thanks you, your majesty." Some of it most certainly did not, she knew he knew. He usually dealt with her grandmother, there was no way anyone could miss it. Yet some of Hapes might truly be grateful, which burned her grandmother's soul right on up from the inside, she was sure.

"Come. Let us discuss more in private." That was quick. This normally went on much longer. Maybe it was her grandmother who dragged things along? Causing a petty annoyance by dragging on diplomatic introductions for "the occupier" would certainly be in character for her. Still, she never had that idea before, the Emperor had never let on that it bothered him. Maybe she just couldn't see it? Whatever the case, she took her confusion as a reminder that she still had much to learn.

They talked business and they talked business and they talked business. There was just so much to discuss. Hapes' military quotas, for instance, apparently they had not been meeting them; the Emperor wanted his soldiers and pilots. The tax system, so that Hapes could continue to fulfill her pecuniary obligations. Her mother's administration, the Queen Mother had been in conflict with several notable officials of the Emperor. How the new shipyards her mother was investing in were going to affect the rest of the starship industry, Mon Calamari was especially worried about competition, she learned.

Some of it she was prepared for, most of it she was not. Either way Tenel Ka certainly got to put all her training in diplomacy and negotiation to very good use.

It was all she had expected, more or less—she had been doing this sort of thing her whole life after all. All expected, until the very end of the very long day.

"Oh, Tenel Ka, meet me tomorrow at 14:00. I want to discuss your accommodations while you study on Coruscant."

That caught her off guard.

"Forgive me, your majesty. I will be studying on Coruscant?"

"Yes. It's something I've been thinking about for awhile now. I want to standardize the education of the galaxy's future leaders somewhat. I believe variety important, of course, but I think a sharing an experience like education will help reduce conflict between leaders in my Empire. It'll give them some common ground to work from when they need to. Inter-Imperial conflict has been an intractable problem for so long, I'm afraid. It's time I do something about it."

"Has my mother been informed, your majesty? I'm sure she had her own plans for my education."

"Not yet, but she will adjust her plans. I intend to go through with this." His voice was cool confidence and calm command. It was times like these when he reminded those watching why he was the Emperor. The office may be hereditary, but it did have its requirements.

It was clear there was nothing she could do.

"Yes, your majesty. I will be there."

"Tenel Ka, I'll have Ben show you around the palace. It'll be a more informal tour than you might be expecting though. But he needs the practice. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not, your majesty."

Ben looked up at her, had to, really, Tenel Ka was so much taller than he was, and smiled the same bright smile he always wore around people he liked.

He liked Tenel Ka. Not that they saw each other very much, or that he knew her very well. But they had met, repeatedly. Tenel Ka always came with her mother or her grandmother to visit Coruscant for one week every year. They had to pay tribute to dad's awesomeness or something. Ben didn't quite understand and didn't really care all that much, even if he did have to become Emperor himself someday. But he kept his mouth shut and pretended, pretty unconvincingly in his opinion, like he knew what was going on. Because if he ever so much as mentioned he had no clue why the Hapan royalty came to Coruscant each year, someone would try and tell him. And, again, he didn't care. He was 10.

"Hi, Tiki!" He had heard one of her friends call her that once. And now he did! She didn't seem to mind, but Ben never knew how she felt about anything unless he asked her directly. If it bothered her she could ask him to stop. In the meantime, it was a cool nickname!

"Hello Ben." See what he meant? How could anyone tell how she was feeling with that neutral face and tone of voice?

"What're you doing here for?"

"Apparently I am to go to school on Coruscant so your father has kindly offered his hospitality while I find suitable accommodations."

"A-ca-mo-dashions," he tried to sound out, before getting bored halfway though. "That's like an apartment right?"

"More or less," Tenel Ka agreed. Ben suspected more, which probably meant it had to be super fancy. Tenel Ka's family had to be fancy—just like his family had to be fancy. Why did everyone have to be fancy? Why couldn't they be more like uncle Han and aunt Leia? They weren't super fancy and they were way cooler than all the rich people Ben knew. 'Cept maybe his dad and mom, they were pretty cool, even if they were super-duper busy all the time.

"You're going to school here? Cool!" He wished he could go to school, it sounded like more fun than his boring tutors-Wait. "Is dad forcing you to come to school here?"

"He made a generous offer." Was that an answer? Ben suspected he should probably be better at the sneaky-talk, but he was 10! Why couldn't people just say what they mean?

"Is that a yes?..." he asked, "because i can tell him to stop if you want?" Dad probably wouldn't listen but Tenel Ka wasn't mean, she shouldn't be punished like everyone else.

"That will not be necessary. I intend to accept his offer." That was relieving, Ben didn't want to piss off his dad even if it was for a good cause.

Ben gave a more energetic tour than Tenel Ka was used to. Not that she minded all that much, she tried not to let on but formal tours of palaces, and complexes, and museums were pretty boring. Here's an old rock, here's where ancient ancestor x was crowned king, here's where treaty x was signed by ancient ancestor y. It was stuff that would be genuinely interesting if she was interested in the place or culture's history but it was rare that the two aligned. Thus her view on guided diplomatic tours.

This was a little different, given that her guide had no diplomatic training, no instinctive sense of decorum, and was 10 (he made that fact very clear). Instead of showing her places of historic significance in the palace, he showed her places of personal significance, accompanied with short anecdotes explaining how and why they were important. To Ben, not to her or anyone else. It was kind of cute.

He also got it in his head to try to get her to laugh, which was frustrating and strange. She did not understand his 'jokes.' Ben told her they were to be 'funny' because they were 'humor.' She did not understand 'humor.'

"Hey! Tiki I got one."

"What is it, friend Ben?"

"Why is a gossip magazine like the Imperial Fleet?" Ben was wearing a mischievous smile and trying not to laugh.

"I do not know. Why?"

"Because, they're both filled with star destroyers!" Ben started snickering to himself. Apparently, this was considered humor. Again, she did not understand it.

"You will have to explain to me why that is 'funny.'"

"It's funny because, uh, gossip magazines have paparazzi destroy, like, y'know, holostars fi-gure-i-tively spe-ak-ing and, like, the imperial navy has star destroyers which destroy real stars literally. Sometimes. Rarely. Ok they could if they wanted."

"I still do not understand. How does that make it 'funny?'"

"Because like y'know… never mind." He said, disappointed. "And that one was a Jacen special too…" His eyes lit up. "I know! I'll take you to Jacen! I bet he can get you to laugh! He's way better at telling jokes than me!" He grabbed her arm and started running in a direction.

Tenel Ka followed along, unsure of what she was to do. The Emperor had ordered Ben to give her a tour with the unstated purpose of keeping him busy. Tenel Ka did not want to go against that objective, especially since Ben knew where he was going. That said, she also did not know what the boundaries were, and when she should stop Ben from doing something—she did not want to anger the Emperor or the Empress through action or inaction, but her directions were so vague.

Still, her instincts were telling her to let this play out and she decided to listen for now. If things became dangerous... Well, she was a warrior of Dathomir in addition to a princess of Hapes, she knew how to defend herself.

They entered the speeder bay. "Tiki, you know how to drive right?"

Tenel Ka did not like where this was going but her instincts were telling her to play along. "Yes, do you want to leave the palace?" He nodded. "Are you allowed to leave the palace?"

"I do it all the time and dad didn't say I couldn't today." Not especially reassuring, but it was not a "no, but let's go anyway."

It had not been a great day for Jacen Solo. One of his smaller critters managed to escape from its cage because someone (ahem, Jaina) forgot to plug it back in. Emperor only knows why she unplugged it in the first place, probably admiring the circuitry or something—Jaina was weird like that. Normally it was fine, she understood machines like he understood animals and she learned quickly enough so that her desire to examine his equipment didn't last long enough to become annoying. But normally the creature inside didn't escape.

Normally an escape wouldn't be too much of a problem. They happened from time to time, even to Jacen the Animal-tamer—Jacen the Beastmaster—Jacen the Creature-cuddler. And when they did, Jacen always had an eerily easy time finding them again. He could just feel them and could use that, that feeling to find wherever they had gotten off too. But normally he could feel the animal from significant distances.

He really basically given up at this point. He'd skipped school to look for his albino Coruscanti winged warehouse spider but finding something he couldn't feel if he wasn't right next to it on Coruscant was an impossible task, he'd found. And he did try, he'd never skip school for fun.

His mother wouldn't see it that way, though, so now mom was going to kill him for "neglecting his education" and he wouldn't get his spider back. At least, he'd be able to kill Jaina when she got home (and Anakin too, if he was involved).

Jacen was stewing in his anger and frustration probably more easily and intensely than he should be able to when his holo-com rang. "Yeah who is it? Oh hello Ben. What's going on? I'm at home. Yes, I skipped school. Yes I know mom will be mad, I'm not stupid. Wait. Why do I have to prepare my best jokes? Ben, what are you doing?"

The next thing Tenel Ka knew she had parked the speeder and Ben was punching in the door code to an utterly average apartment. Her heart was telling her that it was below-average (read: poor) but her mind was telling her this was where regular people lived and that her lifestyle had distorted reasonable expectations for housing.

Ben threw open the door and ran right on in inside and right up to quite possibly the most underdressed teenage boy she had ever seen. All he had on was a pair of black sweatpants and a white t-shirt. Both articles of clothing looking like they were made of cheap, common industrial textiles. He raised his head, smiling amusedly as he reclined on a well-worn brown sofa.

"Hey, Ben. What's got you all excited?"

"Jace! You know how you're always complaining about not being able to meet girls right?"

'Jace' was obviously confused. "Uh, yeah?"

"Well I found one who needs to hear some of your jokes," Ben exclaimed. He energetically gestured over to where she was standing just outside the door. "Tiki come on in."

What was she to do? The prince had given her an order? She walked on in, slightly worried. Everytime Ben used the 'super-special' nickname he had excavated from some forbidden Jedi temple in the presence of a new acquaintance, she feared that others, like this boy, would follow the young prince's example. They hadn't yet, but if they did she would die of shame. On the inside, of course. She would always keep up experiences.

'Jace' looked at her in unbidden shock, managing to keep his jaw from hanging, but only just. He couldn't keep from blushing though, she noticed with some amusement.

Ben either didn't notice or didn't care about his surprise and kept up the introduction. Gesturing to her he said: "So Jace this is Tenel Ka Ta Chume'da Djo." Then he gestured to 'Jace,' who had pulled himself into a standing position. "Tenel Ka, this is Jacen Solo. He's like my brother from another mother." That was interesting. The Empress did not seem like the kind of person to tolerate adultery. Nor the Emperor to commit it. And those were her impressions, not her mother's or grandmother's.

'Jace,' no Jacen glared at Ben, swatting him on the head. "Would you stop saying that? I've told you, that implies that I'm actually related to you." Ah, so he was speaking figuratively. Ben apologized but did not look the least bit sorry. What was their relationship? She would never consider striking the prince, even in such a playful manner.

Jacen turned to her with a sheepish smile. He had recovered from his shock quite nicely; he was still uncomfortable and somewhat awkward but no longer unmanageably so. "Uh, hi. I'm Jacen Solo. And while Ben here can be as annoying a brat as my brother Anakin, we're not actually related." He held out his hand expectantly.

She didn't know what to do with that hand so she left it alone as she gave a vapid diplomatic smile and responded: "Nice to meet you Jacen. I'm Tenel Ka." Jacen pulled his hand back, blushing and embarrassed. Oops. She would have to study Coruscanti customs in more detail.

She might have said something more but was interrupted by Ben. "She doesn't understand humor. Tell her a joke Jace!"

"Umm, okaaay… what do you call the person who brings a rancor its dinner?" He knew about rancors? Color her impressed. They were very popular as mounts on her mother's homeworld of Dathomir. Jacen displayed a surprising degree of foreknowledge about her and her culture by bringing them up. Plus, Tenel Ka was pleased with his assumption that she was knowledgeable about her mother's culture—she considered herself as much a warrior of Dathomir as a princess of Hapes, after all. She almost smiled for real, but suppressed it by long instinct.

"What's a rancor?" Ben asked, innocently. Jacen punched in some quick commands into his holo-com and pulled up a holographic display of one quite quickly.

"That's a rancor." He said, showing the display to Ben. Indeed it was. Then he showed it to Tenel Ka. "Sorry, the joke doesn't really work if you don't know what a rancor is." Her good impressions departed along with her desire to smile. Looks like he was less insightful than she assumed, but he continued talking: "They aren't the most popular animals in the galaxy. They're native to Dathomir, you see, and the Dathomiri are generally loathe to let outsiders examine them. They have a lot of cultural value to the people of Dathomir, they raise them as mounts and their warriors ride them into battle. And that is like, super cool and all, but it's also extremely impractical for regular military operations because you sort of need the Force to ride them. I think. And most people aren't Force-sensitive.-"

That… was surprising. Tenel Ka was pretty sure the only other person she had ever met who knew so much about Dathomir (who was not Dathomiri, that is) was the Emperor himself and her father, and both men had experiences there. Maybe the Empress knew some too, if he had told her about it and she listened.

"-And as far as I can tell, not even all Force users can ride them. Generally, you need to be taught by Dathomiri 'Nightsisters' the proper Force techniques. Of course that's not an absolute rule, like, the Emperor could probably do it without help, but the Empress would probably need instruction."

"Don't let her hear you say that, Jace." Ben warned good-naturedly. He turned to Tenel Ka. "So Tiki, does he have it right?"

"For the most part." Tenel Ka conceded, "though I would amend your warning to include not allowing the Nightsisters to hear you say that anyone can learn to ride rancors without their blessing."

"But dad totally could figure out how to ride rancors without anyone's help." Ben protested.

"I don't think that's the point Ben. Do you think your mom could figure out how to ride rancors by herself?" Ben shook his head. "Would you tell her that?" Ben shook his head, eyes widening.

"Ooooh, ok. Got it. Thanks Jace."

Jacen looked to her, inquisitively. "That is the point right?"

"Yes, good deduction." She complimented. It was a fair comparison, the Nightsisters were a proud people, prickly; very much like the Empress in that regard, if not others.

Jacen had another question. "So, Tenel Ka-" he began. "-how do you know so much about Dathomir?"

Tenel Ka opened her mouth to respond- "Tiki's mommy is from there! So she knows all about it."

"Oh! You're from Dathomir? My bad." Jacen gave her quite the sheepish smile and blushed again. "I just assumed. Given the clothing, you know. It's not the sort if thing I would expect a Dathomiri to wear. N-not that I really know all that much about Dathomiri fashion, mind you, but given what I've read it seemed…

"Heh, I'm rambling aren't I."

Ben gave a most affirmative nod. "Yep!"

"Sorry." He gave another sheepish smile. He really meant it, she realized. She chastised herself for her surprise, not everybody behaved like a Hapan noble; or imperial official. But her range of experience with people not of those two categories was rather sadly limited. Maybe that was why she found interacting with people so tiresome, she thought. It wasn't so bad when they were sincere in their statements. It was even sort of… fun? Maybe? She was pretty sure she was enjoying this conversation.

"And Ben." Jacen added. "You shouldn't interrupt someone when they're about to speak. It's rude." And he was considerate. Impressive. It was surprising how many of her suitors failed to understand that there was more to being polite than strict adherence to etiquette.

Ben lowered his head. "Sorry Jacen." He said, contritely.

Jacen ruffled his hair. "It's something you learn by practice. Just do better next time. Ok." Ben looked back up and smiled. There was a short pause before Jacen's face lit up, and he added. "I almost forgot! And since you interrupted Tenel Ka, you should be apologizing to her, not me."

Ben turned to face her. "Sorry, Tiki!"

"It's ok." She said. Because what else was she to say? Besides, he was adorable. (And 10! Her mind added, because you can never hear that too many times in one day.)

"So Tenel Ka-" Jacen began, one he was done teaching Ben some manners. "-since you're from Dathomir and dressed like royalty [Jacen noticed her face froze for a split-second when he said this] or something, does that mean you have any rancors I could, maybe, come see or something?" It was a dumb question and of course she would say no, it wasn't like lugging a giant animal heavier than three landspeeders from Dathomir to the capital of the Galaxy was something people did. Normally, you never knew with rich nobles with too much money and not enough sense, though Tenel Ka seemed to have sense in spades. Still, he had to ask, Rancors were, like, the coolest things ever. Well, the coolest things that were giant, bipedal, possessing various skin pigmentations, fanged, held as an unpleasant surprise in Jabba the Hutt's basement, and some other narrowing characteristics that he didn't feel like scrounging up from his memory. They were the coolest of those!

'Tiki'—heh!-heh! heh!-heh!, oh man, that nickname was great. He better not let Ben know that though. Or 'Tiki'—he!-he!-he!. Definitely not her, he resolved. He got the feeling that she was like his mother in that she would make him pay if she got the slightest inkling how hilarious he found her nickname. There were certain things you never teased Leia about; at least, if you had any sense of self-preservation. It wasn't a sure thing, of course, he barely knew her, but he probably didn't want to risk opening a can of MontlassianFire!worms to find out.

Anyway, Tenel Ka was probably about to crush his hopes. Not on purpose—probably—she didn't seem that kind of girl. Thankfully. But the way you get rejected after thoughtful reflection, like, no, sorry, that really isn't possible.

"Maybe. I will probably have to run it by my mother though." She answered, after careful deliberation. Well, it wasn't a no! Maybe he would get to see a rancor! That'd be so cool. "Let me warn you now though, you will most likely going to have to get pretty close to them. And I am told they are quite intimidating."

Jacen did a little hop-jump thing. "That'd be so wicked." Coming back down, he turned to face her, looking her in the eyes. "Thank you. Even if it doesn't work out."

She blinked once. "You are very welcome." She said.

"No animal can scare the mighty Jace! Animal-tamer extraordinaire! " Ben declared, exactly like they practiced when he was bored that one night.

"That's right." He agreed, sagely. If there was one thing he was better at than anybody else, it was animals.

"Speaking-" Ben drew out the word to get their attention. It worked. "-of rancors. What do you call the person who brings a rancor his dinner, Jace?"