Shush
Min was surprised by his laugh. It was deep, booming and genuinely mirthful. She decided she liked it.
"Why do we have to go to all the trouble? I'm already Lord Marshal, I can just give you a ship and send you where you want to go."
"A ship I can't pilot and to where, exactly? Everyplace I've ever been is destroyed, the only thing I know is this..." She waved a hand. She didn't need to mention her bizarre reaction to finally hitting dirt side. "Besides, you don't want to stay here and be Marshall."
"You think you know me?" His voice, which she decided she liked too, was both full of humor and challenge.
Stop that, Min, liking him is not part of the equation.
Min shrugged. "It doesn't have to happen now. When you get bored, let me know." Her voice was lightly facetious and challenging in it's own right.
He stopped eating a moment to look at her sideways. She ignored him.
"But we should still work on building your mythology." She said finally.
"Mythology?" He sounded almost offended. Almost. Good. He might not take as much convincing as she feared.
"Mythology and power. You've already got the power. If you want to keep it you need some mythology." She was surprised that he seemed to consider this, but he made no comment. At first.
"I think being legendary isn't good for my lifestyle."
"Leaving so soon?" Min kept her voice light and her eyes on her plate. He laughed again, loudly, and she was glad to hear it. Don't be glad! What are you thinking?
I'm thinking I'm not a little girl anymore, now shush. He has a nice laugh.
Nice for a psychopath, you mean?
Shush.
"What did you have in mind?" His voice was full of amusement.
She turned to look into his face. He had his lenses up. Habit, perhaps. Or it just felt more natural to him after all these years. She decided she liked... Stop it! Don't you dare!
'In what distant deeps or skies, burnt the fire of thine eyes?'
Min only had an inkling of an idea so far. She explained her thinking to him, who they should target and why it would work. He laughed in all the right places and she nearly blushed with pleasure.
Nearly.
She thought there might be more to do later, but this would be a good start. Rumors needed time and politics was slow business. That is, when not taking power by ascension.
But first he needed sleep, and she had more work to do.
She had Furyans to find.
He never asked her why she wanted power. He never asked her what she planed on doing with an armada. She thought that might come later. Or maybe he already guessed.
That was another thing she liked about him...
Shush!