Terra sighed as she looked up into the night sky. It was a warm, moonless night with thousands of stars twinkling overhead.
Earlier in the evening, her lips had barely touched Tamerlane's before a comm unit with his datapad went off. His hands had still on her hips as a soft sound of irritation sounded in his throat. His lips had kissed her firmly before pulling away from hers. Terra had murmured he could ignore it but instead he had reached for the comm unit and answered with a terse 'what'. Someone from the palace above alerted him that Ashan was trying to contact him. Terra had slowly climbed off him and stretched out on the chaise beside him. Tamerlane had picked up his datapad and several flexis. When he was crawling over her to get up, she had caught his with her hands. When he looked down at her, Terra could see the more relaxed visage was already gone. He had leaned down and pressed a hard kiss against her lips before he had gotten up and headed back to the palace.
Terra had laid on the chaise for some time cursing Ashan for interrupting them. It seemed even miles from the main office, the male still had the worst timing. After laying there thinking of how the evening could have gone, Terra rolled off the chaise and trudged over to get her stuff. Terra had slowly made her way back up the cliff, taken a long bath before changing into a nice outfit for dinner.
Dinner had been odd in a way. She and Tamerlane had never actually dined alone. The conversation was superficial and stilted. Terra liked to think it was because of the staff continually bring food, filling glasses, taking away plates and being almost overly attentive. Terra supposed it was because there staff members were not used to serving the emperor. The main staff had remained at the main palace. There were lower level staff who normally remained behind the scenes.
The food was excellent. The wine was delicious. Dessert was the culmination of the evening. Right after dinner, Tamerlane had excused himself. He had a video comm with the marquess. Then he needed to make a few comms to the palace to his wives and children. In a way, Terra found it pleasing to know that Tamerlane was attentive to his family. In another way, she found they disrupted her evening with him.
"Hey honey!"
Terra cringed when she heard Beka's voice. Terra had been waiting on the main terrace for Tamerlane to reappear. Now they the others were home, any opportunity for a moment alone with him had vanished.
"Hey," Terra turned toward the sound of her mother's voice. Beka, Kindred and Lex all emerged from the palace onto the terrace. "You are back early."
"It is 2124," Kindred shook his head. "Not that early. Not to mention, those suppliers all closed at 2100."
"Oh," Terra frowned slightly. She did not realize how late it had gotten.
"Did you have a pleasant evening?" Lex asked as she linked her arm through Kindred's.
"It was nice," Terra replied with a shrug.
"What did you do while we were gone?" Beka asked as she looked around when Tyr appeared from the main room out onto the terrace.
"I took another nap on the beach. Thank goodness for those umbrellas or I probably would have been baked to a crisp. Then I came back up here, took a nice long bath, relaxed a little, then had dinner," Terra gave her mother a brief recap of her evening without them.
"I bet your dinner wasn't nearly as good as ours," Kindred replied before going on to describe the dinner they had at a small little eatery in town.
"We had manteg poached astaci with agaris falip and a Vognir wine for dinner," Terra replied with a faint smile when Kindred's eyes widened slightly. "For dessert, we had a simple themobroc with rubis sauce."
"Sounds good," Kindred nodded as he looked down at Lex. "I wonder if the kitchen has any more of that cake?"
"We can always ask," Lex patted Kindred's chest light before heading back toward the palace to check in with the kitchen.
"We?" Beka raised her eyebrows after Kindred and Lex were out of earshot.
"Tamerlane and I had dinner together," Terra shrugged nonchalantly. She had really been hoping to avoid the interrogation.
"You and Tamerlane," Beka's eyes moved over Terra. She was dressed in a simple yet stunning halter style dress that fit her for perfectly and bare feet. The light cosmetics piqued Beka's curiosity even more.
"Yeah," Terra sighed as she looked over at her mother. "We both needed to eat. So we ate the same meal at the same table at the same time to make it easier on the staff."
"It was a rather … upscale … dinner …" Beka began as her gaze remained steadily on Terra. "Speaking of Tamerlane, where is …"
"The chef selected the menu for the evening," Tamerlane's voice intruded into the conversation much to Terra's relief. Beka's gaze moved to Tamerlane. He was wearing a simple patterned vest made of a softer appearing material with a dark colored pair of loose, flowing pants. Beka immediately noticed that his feet were bare thus his stealthy approach. "Consistent with the upscale fare I am accustomed to being served."
"That's right," Beka nodded as her gaze met Tamerlane's. "No autochef remixes for you, Emperor."
"You know me so well Beka," Tamerlane taunted her lightly. He looked over at his father. "Viceroy Halder regrets you were not able to join us for our discussions this evening. He seems to believe you are more sympathetic to his cause."
"Your father does not treat him like an addlebrained fool," Beka replied as she looked up at Tyr. Many of the older leaders on many worlds had dealt with Tyr for years while the empire was being formed and Tyr Anasazi ruled it. Many wished for the past when Tamerlane was still too young to rule on his own.
"He is an addlebrained fool," Tamerlane replied with a faint smirk as he looked at Beka. Ever since she had come to work for the Empire instead of the Commonwealth, he missed the spirited back and forth they used to engage in.
"Condescending," Beka said the word slowly to Tamerlane. "And you wonder why many prefer to deal with your father."
"Insolent," Tamerlane replied to Beka in a similarly slowly spoken word. "Many wonder why you still have your tongue."
"You're being an ass," Terra spoke up as she looked over at Tamerlane. "If you speak to my mother like that again …"
"Tamerlane values me having my tongue," Beka cut Terra off before her daughter could finish threatening the Nietzschean ruler. "Without it I would be unable to hustle people on his behalf."
"The Empire appreciates you doing your job so well, Beka," Tamerlane replied as he looked at his father. "Perhaps you and Beka would like to join Kindred and Alexandra in the dining room for dessert. It was a most decadent delight."
"We had dessert in Alatopah while Kindred and Alexandra were meeting with the wedding coordinators to select items for the after rehearsal dinner," Tyr informed Tamerlane.
"Rehearsal?" Tamerlane scoffed softly. "I have never heard of one needing a rehearsal to marry a female. Humans make this entire event far more complicated than it need be."
"Think of a Human wedding as more of a well-rehearsed production," Beka offered as she linked her arm through Tyr's. "Instead of those spontaneous, off the cuff, shot in the dark events Nietzscheans have."
"At the end of the day, those events, no matter how simple or elaborate, all end the same way," Tamerlane offered with a slight shrug. Truth be told, all of his weddings had been much more elaborate than he cared to have. However, it was up to the female, her family and their pride as to how the event unfolded. Within the up ranks of Nietzschean societies within the Empire, the showier, the better. However, he had never had to attend any rehearsal for the events. Although extravagant in appearance, the ceremonies themselves were quite simple. "One male and one female, together, creating life and forever binding their lives."
"At least for most Nietzscheans," Tamerlane added as his gaze met Beka's.
"I think I am going to be sick," Terra made a fake gagging sound to break the tension that often appeared between Beka and Tamerlane. Terra looked over at Tamerlane. "I didn't know Nietzschean sentiments could be so syrupy sweet."
"Me too," Beka looked up at Tyr. "It had been a long day. I am ready to retire."
"Good night honey," Beka gave Terra a quick hug.
"G'night mom," Terra gave her a swift kiss on the cheek.
"Good night, son," Tyr patted Tamerlane on the shoulder as he and Beka walked by him.
"Good night, father," Tamerlane replied as he turned to watch them walk away.
"'If you speak to my mother like that again' …" Tamerlane's voice held a hint of amusement as he repeated the words Terra had spoken a short time ago. He turned slowly to look at her. "Would you care to finished that statement now?"
"Ummmm …" Terra's eyes widened ever so slightly when Tamerlane moved toward her. She really didn't know what was coming out of her mouth when she said that to Tamerlane. Her temper had flared a little at the way in which he was speaking to her mother. Apparently, the back and forth was something her mother engaged in with Tamerlane.
"What would you have done Terra?" Tamerlane's expression showed his amusement not only at her unfinished threat but also at her loss for words now.
"I don't know," Terra finally found her voice and put up her hands. "Kicked you in the nuts?"
"Such an innovative threat," Tamerlane shook his head as he reached out for her. Terra allowed his hand to slip over her hip and pull her closer to him.
"Yeah, I'm a real pioneer," Terra ran her hands up his chest. She gazed up at him for a long moment. "How are things at home?"
"Everything is fine," Tamerlane replied as his eyes moved over her face.
"You know … this is … not a good idea," Terra replied haltingly as she gestured to their closeness and the air around them.
"Perhaps we should take a walk so we can talk," Tamerlane offered as his hand slipped from her hip and he gestured with his head for her to follow him.