Sola waited for Teo to answer the call, still fuming. How dare he keep her calls from me? What am I, some child that he thinks he can make those kinds of decisions? Becoming a Grand Admiral is making him too big for his britches. She took several deep breaths trying to calm herself when her husband's face showed up on the telescreen of the public holonet receiver they were using.

"Finally decided to talk to me?" Teo asked. His brown hair was tosselled and his dark eyes looked tired.

"It isn't like that—" Sola began.

"What's that on your head?" he interrupted her

She felt the anger rising in her again. All she wanted to do was explain and he wouldn't even let her do that. "It's a headpiece," she said, taking the netting off.

"Those earrings and that necklace look ridiculous on you," he said. "That color makes your skin look purple."

She had trouble swallowing as she reached up and took one of the earrings out of her ear.

"You need to talk to your son," Teo said.

"What makes him my son and not your son?"

"He's gotten in trouble at school," Teo explained. "They called me. He got into a fight."

"That doesn't sound like Jax," she said, her brows drawing together. "What did he get in a fight over?"

"Something about his mother being a princess." Teo looked at her harshly.

Better than bragging about his uncle being a grand admiral, she wanted to retort. But instead, she said, "How does that cause a fight?"

"Maybe because you aren't one?" Teo retorted.

Again, the anger flared in her breast so that she had to take a deep breath to calm it. "What do you want me to do?" she asked tightly.

"Talk to your son," he answered in the same tone.

"Alright then, I shall." She paused. When he said nothing, she continued, "I suppose I shall speak to you later."

"Later, then," he replied. "Good night." His voice softened some.

The anger inside of her turned to hurt as he ended the conversation. But what had she wanted? All they did was fight when they talked now, anyway. And she didn't want to fight. "Good night, Teo."

He ended the call, leaving her staring at an empty screen. She blinked back tears, taking yet another deep breath. I am not going to cry, she told herself. She waited a moment longer before calling the Military Academy.

It took several minutes for the administration to fetch him. That they fetched him meant he had gotten in enough trouble to merit a call from his mother. That didn't bode well. Sola felt her heart sink.

His face appeared on the telescreen, and she smiled brightly at him. "Hello, sweetheart!"

"Hi, Mum!" His brows drew together in confusion. "What are you doing wearing one earring?"

She blinked and felt her face heat up. Reaching up, she removed the other earring. "Just something that your uncle gave me…" she muttered.

"It looks good on you, but it would look better with the match," he teased.

She finished taking it out of her ear and held up the match. "I have it," she assured him. "But I didn't call to talk about my jewelry."

He looked at her guiltily. "I guess Dad told you." He looked so much like his uncle that sometimes, when she wasn't paying close attention, she would call him Uri. He hated it when she did, and she didn't blame him. It wasn't his name, after all. She had teased him, however, that Uri could walk into any establishment with him, declare him his own son, and no one would question it.

"The bare minimum," she told the golden-haired boy on the other side of the screen. "That you were in a fight about calling me a princess…" Saying it out loud made it sound ridiculous.

His face scrunched up in frustration. "I didn't call you a princess. Galin Stovik called me a little prince."

Sola shook her head. "Why in the world are you even speaking to Galin Stovik?" she asked.

Sola and Gavin's mother, Arailia, had gone to University together and had never gotten along, and neither had their children. Arailia was firmly of the belief that humans were superior to every other species in the galaxy and was staunchly jealous of any personal headway that an alien made. Araila made it clear for their first meeting that Sola was, indeed, an alien and did not deserve any of the human benefits she received. Sola had reminded her on more than one occasion that all species in the Empire had equal rights and benefits under the law, and the ones she received were from her being an Imperial citizen, not half human.

"I wasn't speaking to him. He was talking to me," Jax whined. "He said that I got a good mark because I was a little alien prince and the teacher was playing favorites. I told him that it's better to be an alien prince that plain, old, ordinary him." He opened his mouth to say something, but then shut again. "Then we got into a fight. And I got two demerits."

Sola allowed a pause in the conversation before she asked warily, "What were you going to say?"

He blushed. Jax's cheeks, unlike his uncle's, did not have his Astarrax heritage bloom on them, but simply turned a lovely shade of pink. "It doesn't matter."

"It does if it caused you to get two demerits," she said firmly. "You are only allowed five, I believe."

He nodded. "He said the reason I got into the Academy was because you traded favors with people to get me in."

Now it was Sola's turn to blush. Surely she'd heard him wrong.

"So I punched him in the nose," Jax said quickly. "I got blood all over his uniform. He got three demerits, though, because I was defending my mother's good name."

She laughed, mainly because she didn't know what else to do. She'd been accused of a lot of things in her life, but sleeping her way to get what she wanted wasn't one of them. She knew of only a handful men who had ever shown an interest in her in her entire life, and she married one of them. How could she be accused of such a thing? "Thank you for defending my good name, Jax. But I can defend myself."

"Not when you aren't here," he argued.

"Don't let people get under your skin," she told him. "There will always be someone who will look for reasons why you did better than they. They'll blame everything except their own lack of effort. Fighting with them only lowers you to their level." She lowered her head and looked at him through her eyelashes. "You are the grandson of a princess, after all," she said dryly.

He leaned closer to the screen, so that it took up his entire face. "There are real princes and princesses here," he replied quietly.

"I am sure there are," Sola said with a smile. "Royalty is a dime a dozen, sweetheart. It doesn't get you any perks unless you are the Emperor. And he earned them."

The boy nodded his head.

"Stay away from Galin Stovik," she added. "And earn off your demerits."

He smiled at her, one that looked very similar to her own. "Yes, Mum."

"I love you," she said.

He nodded.

She glared at him.

"I love you, too," he whispered. "Bye!" He reached over and ended the call, his face receding until it was nothing more than a blip in the middle of the telescreen.

Sola took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She suddenly felt very alone.

A/N Thank you so much for reading this far, I'm glad you are enjoying the story! Please don't hesitate to leave a comment, good, bad or indifferent. You have no idea how much it is appreciated and keeps me writing. Also, if there is something specific you'd like to see, let me know. This is a work in progress after all.