It might be a stupid decision on his part, but Jim had to go over there. He didn't know why. He could leave this all under the water. Just keep apprenticing and never let Aurora know he knew of her past. Just let it all blow over, like a smart man.

Sadly, Jim happened to be slightly moronic. He marched up to Aurora's door, collecting himself enough to knock. The door was answered by Penifold in boxers. Jim blinked. "Uh, Aurora in?"

Penifold shook his head. "She's out shopping."

"Uh huh...uh...ok then I'll just c-"

"Why arncha in school?" He raised a curious eyebrow.

"Uh, got a free period. Gotta go." Jim ran off after that, glancing over his shoulder to see Penifold scratching his head. He kept running, down the street to Mrs. Jenkins house. She was a little old widow who made killer cookies and kept a lovely garden. Jim hid in one of her thornless rose bushes, finding it a good place for a nap, despite the cold. When he woke up, he got out of the bush, straightened out his clothes and hair, took the cookie offered by Mrs. Jenkins, and walked back to Aurora's. He knocked on the door. This time, she answered.

"Jim." She blinked, looking surprised.

"Ceriara LaCroiux." He said back. Baaaaaaaad word choice.

Before Jim could blink, he was being held up against the wall by Aurora, off the ground, a jewled dagger pressed to his throat. He'd never seen a look of anger like the one on Aurora's face at this moment. He gripped her arms, trying to stabilize his shaking body so the dagger didn't become aquainted with the blood his heart so fondly pumped throughout his body.

"You," she hissed, "should watch where you step, boy." Her voice lost its usually light and airy tone, replaced by a hard edged raspy growl that sent shivers up Jim's spine. He swallowed hard, feeling the dagger break his skin. Slowly, in order to cause the most discomfort, Aurora made a half inch cut around half Jim's neck. Then she put the tip on his chin and did the same cut down to the base of his neck. He felt like screaming.

"You," she hissed even more sinisterly, taking the dripping blood from his neck and drawing some sort of symbol on his forehead, "will have a horrible, horrible week. At the end of this week, you come back here."

Jim swallowed. His forehead was burning, the feeling spreading through his body slowly, agonizingly. He glanced to the side and saw Penifold, who had only a look of sympathy before turning and walking the other way. His hands felt like pins were pricking them, then his feet. This feeling, accomponied by the awful heat, ran through his body at an alarming rate. He opened his mouth to scream, only to have Aurora covered it. She looked him directly in the eye. He could see she was...enjoying this. He was terrified. She wasn't...Aurora.

"I will speak with you at the end of the week. You don't come back here by then, I will find you and take you by force." She rasped, putting him down gently. His knees felt like they might drop him any minute. "You understand?"

Jim swallowed, a hand on his neck, and slowly nodded.

"Good." She gripped him by his uniform jacket and led him to the door. There, she wiped off the symbol, making the pain go away everywhere but the burning in his forehead. "Wrap your neck and say there was an accident during training." She then shoved him outside and slammed the door behind him. Jim stood, contomplating just how much of an idiot he was. He then walked down the steps, tripped on the last one, and face planted the concrete.

This was going to be an awful, awful week.

Amelia walked into the palace with a heavy heart. The humble king sat in a simple but elegant chair at a writing desk, quill in hand, back turned to her. She cleared her throat to get his attention. He turned, and then stood.

"Madam Admiral." He greeted politely. In the time since she'd been promoted, she'd become quite aquainted with the king, as well as his children, especially his daughter, Illysa.

"Your Majesty." She gave him a slight bow. She could feel her uniform struggling against her stomach, which she guessed was rather visable.

"What brings you to the palace, Madam? Another threat from the Procyons on breaking the treaty?" He sat back down, bringing Amelia to sit down as well, in a chair on the right side of his desk. Out of respect, she never kept her head higher than her king's.

"No, Your Majesty." She breathed deeply, looking down. "I've come to request leave from duty."

He stopped his writing and looked at her, both eyebrows raised. "Why would you-" He stopped, turning his sight down to her uniform, which fit more snugly than usual. Amelia blushed at the smirk rising on his face. "Oh, I see."

"Heheh. Aye."

"I wasn't aware you were married, Madam."

Amelia blinked before taking her wedding ring from an inside pocket of her jacket and showing it to him. She tended not to wear it in uniform as she was afraid it would come off on her gloves. He nodded. "I see. Rich, I presume."

"Not that it is any of your concern, but yes, he is quite wealthy." She put it back in the pocket. "Anyhow, I'd like to take maternity leave."

"How far along are you, Madam?" The king walked to a nearby cabinate, opening it with an ornate key and taking out some paperwork.

"About a month and a half."

"Ah, sizeable litter it seems." He glanced over his shoulder at her, amused by the usually stoic womans docile smile. "Heh, yes, I do suppose so."

"Well, who do you plan to take over for you while you are absent, Madam? The Vice Admiral, or have you someone else in mind?"

Amelia thought for a moment, taking into account political views and the skills of the current Vice Admiral. This moment was one when she wished Arrow was still here. "I'm not fond of the Vice Admiral...so...I'd say my choice would be Aurora Mayflower."

The King froze. He turned his head back to her. "Miss LaCroiux is...a less than savory choice, Madam."

"No one else but us know of her past."

"Her documents are in the school library."

"I know, I just finished removing them. In fact, I've had them removed from everywhere but the Royal Archives." She sighed, thinking of Jim. "I don't even know how or why her past ended up in those files, but now no one has the chance to view them."

"Someone who has could make a lot of trouble for us both, Madam."

"I know. But, trust me, no one has read them...only her apprentice. I've got him under absolute control."

The King stared at her for a long time. Then he stared at the documents, her, documents, her documents, her, wall. Amelia sat patiently, her nerves on edge. It wasn't like the king couldn't demote her the moment she made a mistake. Slowly, the King took an average piece of parchment and walked to the desk and began writing. Amelia didn't attempt to read what he wrote, but watched his quill move. After some time, he slid the document to her side, along with the quill. "Sign."

She did so without hesitation. She rarely questioned the King without true reason. She doubted she was signing away her job. At least...she hoped she wasn't.

He put his royal seal on the document and then rolled it up and tied it with ribbon. He called a messanger boy, who took it to be filed. He then looked to Amelia. "Aurora Mayflower shall take over your position in your absence. However, she will report to you each week for some sort of guidence or advice. Instead of the usual leave, I have given you a year."

Amelia's eyes widened. "A year?"

He nodded once. "A year. As a favor for all you've done for the Terran Empire, and to annoy you to no end when you become restless after the babies are born."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I knew there was a catch." She joked slightly. He smiled humoredly and then walked with her to the door of his study. "Check in now and then, please." He got a foxlike grin on his face. "My children could use some good stories."

She smiled, bid him adu, and headed home. Soon as she sat down the communication device on the wall rung. She answered it, met with the unnaturally darkened face of Aurora. She could tell she'd been drinking.

"Aurora? What the hell?!"

Aurora lifted her lip in a snarl. "I'm about ready to kill you, bring you back, and then kill you again."

Amelia paused before realizing what had happened, her face turning pale. "I-I-I d-d-didn't say a t-thing Aurora!"

"Like hell you didn't! How else would Jim know?!"

"Your file, A-Aurora." Amelia wasn't sure whether or not she was imagining the dark energy radiating off the communicator. Aurora narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. After Amelia collected herself, she leaned forward. "You didn't curse him, did you?"

Silence.

"You bloody cursed him, didn't you! Why of all the idiotic things-dammit Aurora!" A sudden moodswing aided Amelia's bravery. "You pig brained, yellow bellied, land lubbing, necromancing, swift fingered, absent minded twat!" Aurora blinked, a bottle of whisky half way to her lips. Amelia wasn't even making sense with her insults at the moment. It kind of calmed her down.

"Weak hipped, shaky legged, jezebel, loose woman-"

Aurora sipped her whisky. She was waiting for an actual insult. Slut would do. Or whore. Whore would be better. Or maybe cougar. Then again, she wasn't old enough for that, sadly.

"Cloud eyed, stupid, neophite, robbing, hereatic swine!" Amelia finally stopped, breathing deeply. She rested a hand over her heart as she gasped. "I have no idea what I just said."

"Well...you called me a whore a couple of times...a hereatic swine...um..."

"Did I mention absent minded twat?"

"Yes."

"Brilliant, I think I covered most it all then." She leaned back with a hand on her head.

"Migrain?"

"As usual." Amelia nodded a bit, having been prone to migrains since she was a young girl.

"I'd offer help, but I feel like being a bitch today." Aurora sipped her whisky again. "Anyway, watching you loose the ability to breath trying to insult me without cursing gave me time to calm down. Yeah, I was a dumb ass. Anyway, did you tell him details?"

"I confirmed what you'd done."

"Ah. K." Aurora sighed. "Just mixed him up in something he shouldn't be."

"What exactly are you planning to do, Aurora." Amelia rubbed her temples slowly.

"Train him like I would before. Though, now I may give him some...other lessons." Aurora avoided her friend's eyes as she said this. Good thing for her, too, Amelia's look would have killed.

"Don't you dare."

"Not anything major. Just some herbs." She mumbled, swirling the whisky in its bottle. The amber liquid was firey as her soul. "Anyhow. Go lie down. I'm done here." Amelia nodded meekly and disconnected. Her outburst had brought on a migrain, and she had a feeling the pregnancy wasn't going to help it. As she lay in her and Delbert's bed she felt her stomach churn, but held back the temptation to throw up. She was worried. Not only for Aurora, but Jim.

She hoped Aurora wouldn't take much risk.