Episode 4: Like Me

Living in a palace and being a special royal guest had its own perks, Robin realized. While he was more used to the state of the art equipment in the Tower, Shiora had taken several hours of her time to instruct him and Cyborg on how to use their Tamaranean systems. His room was larger and stuffed to the brim with anything he asked for, though he mostly stuck to training materials provided by Firid'n. He could upgrade all of his equipment in Darya's laboratory and help her in return. He could discuss tactics with Al'krr, who was brilliant after only a few years of study.

And he could ask any question he wanted and receive an answer. He was not used to this. While he enjoyed his time in Gotham, Bruce Wayne had kept important things from him. Here, though, he didn't need to go digging to find out the things he needed to know, and he liked it.

So when he, about two weeks into their stay, asked Soulfire a question and received a lie in response, he got suspicious.

"Hey, Soulfire!" Robin called to the prince as he and his bodyguard were walking toward the back gardens.

"Greetings, Robin. How may I be of assistance to you?" Soulfire replied cordially. The three continued to walk, Darya following behind, and they entered the lush green and purple jungle.

"When do you think we're going to begin peace talks with the Gordanians? We've been here for two weeks, and we need to get back to Earth as soon as possible."

"I am afraid I do not know for certain," Soulfire responded honestly, "King Daktaal has not granted any of my requests for a meeting. I believe there is something holding him back." Robin grew curious and stopped their progress. Soulfire turned to him.

"Do you know what it might be?"

"No, I do not," Soulfire lied, "but I intend to find out." Robin studied the young man. He held himself steady, his broad shoulders did not slump or twitch, and he looked directly into Robin's eyes. But Robin was amazing at telling a lie from the truth, and he could tell just by the little twitch in Soulfire's jade green eyes and the slightest tic that touched the corner of his mouth that the prince was lying.

"All right," Robin said diplomatically, "that's not very helpful of him, but we can't do anything about that. It'd be too dangerous to go there ourselves."

"Most certainly," Soulfire agreed, then suddenly changed the topic after a short reprieve. "My sister speaks very highly of you, Robin."

Robin stifled a blush and asked, "Does she?"

"Of course. She spoke of how you were her primary teacher when she came to Earth, how you were the one she learned English through lip contact from, and how you are her best friend." Robin smiled.

"I'm glad she thinks so," he said, reaching out to touch one of the plants, "She's my best friend too."

"I see," Soulfire said, also marveling at one of the plants away from Robin. He then said under his breath to Darya, "It is such a shame…" But Robin heard him.

"What?"

"It is nothing, Robin," Soulfire lied again, and Robin didn't even need his training to tell he was lying. But since he was on unfamiliar territory, he decided not to pursue it.

"Okay," Robin said, turning back toward the entrance of the gardens, "I'm heading back in. Let me know if you need me."

"I will, Robin," Soulfire responded, waving kindly as Darya stood in her militant position. Robin entered the hallway to the castle and stalked straight up to his room. First, he was going to find out what Soulfire was hiding from him about King Daktaal.

Then he was going to find out what, exactly, was such a shame.

~ insert theme song here ~

Cyborg had been delighted to learn that the royal palace had not one but three laboratories stationed inside of it. One was for Darya and her staff of scientists, who were incredibly busy trying to outfit the Tamaranean army in case war did break out. One was for scientists working on restoring Tamaran's plant life, and their research had been coming along fairly well, if slowly.

And the third housed Shiora's workshop, which had also become Cyborg's charging station/bedroom for the duration of their stay. Shiora had gladly surrendered it to him, and he'd spent the last two weeks since their arrival tailoring it to his specific needs with the different (albeit still exceptional) Tamaranean tech he had to work with.

Cyborg was working on building a security camera network when he heard a large fist knocking on the door.

"Come on in!" he called, busy coding his program and not looking at the door. He knew who it was anyways.

"Looks like you've made yourself quite at home, sonny!" Shiora boomed, looking around the room. The left half still had all her equipment for maintenance and repairs, but instead of strewn about, Cyborg had taken the time to organize it. He had hung her spare parts on the wall – four legs and five eyes neatly placed within easy reach of her stool – and organized her tools in drawers below the workbench. His side of the room was sleek and similar to his room back home, complete with a charging table and several screens along the wall, though they were currently blank as he had not installed the security cameras yet.

"Well, I figured we were gonna be here for a while," Cyborg confessed sheepishly as he turned from his nearly-finished code, "so I wanted to contribute a little. I'm going to be taking up a lot of your space."

"And I'm glad you are!" she said, clapping him hard on the back. Cyborg was not surprised that he could actually feel her hulking palm hitting his back more than he usually did. "You're really useful, Cyborg. I'm happy to give you a room that you can work with. And this 'security camera' thing sounds like a good idea."

"Works great in our tower. It's just in case the bad guys get bold enough to try to sneak into the castle. If someone trips one of the camera's motion sensors," Cyborg tapped the metal side of his skull, "I'll know about it." Shiora laughed boisterously and patted his head a little too hard.

"You're a good kid, you know that?" she said smilingly, "Do you need any help?"

"Soon. I'm almost done writing the program for the cameras. Then I have to install them. You can help me with that."

"Sounds good! Mind if I stay here for a while until you're ready?" Cyborg paused for a second; not very many people wanted to watch him work. He kind of liked it.

"Sure," he replied, and went back to his computer. She, in turn, moseyed over to her workbench and began to work on another one of her spare legs. It took her a minute to find the proper tools in the new drawers that Cyborg had put them in, but once she did, she began to carefully dismantle the leg and repair a loose wire.

Cyborg couldn't help but marvel at her. Aside from Fixit, he'd never met anyone else as close to his situation as she was. He felt a mix of sadness and relief, but he didn't say anything about it as he continued coding.

"Come, Raven! Let us train!" Starfire pleaded with her friend. She had been trying every excuse she could think of to get Raven out of her room since she had woken up, and while Raven appreciated Starfire's desire to spend time with her, she just wasn't quite ready to jump straight into the world of emotions with the most emotional person she knew. However, after rejecting her for ten days straight, Raven had reluctantly let Starfire in and she was regretting her decision ever so slightly. Starfire continued to babble, "We have not had a battle in several days, and I fear I will become covered in rust!"

"You won't get rusty," Raven subtly corrected, "And I don't need to train – I only need to meditate."

"Please, Raven, I wish to practice. I do not want to be caught in a trap again," Starfire begged, and Raven relented; Starfire had been having a rough time the last couple of weeks. The least she could do was humor her.

"All right, come on." Raven led Starfire out onto her fairly large balcony similar to the one Starfire had affixed to her own room, and got into a fighting stance. "Whenever you're ready."

Starfire eagerly stretched and matched Raven's fighting stance. Soon the pair took off from the ground and began to train in earnest. Starfire threw her starbolts at Raven, who easily dodged them. Raven then lifted up one of the benches that someone had put on her balcony and attempted to use it as a bat to swat Starfire out of the sky, but she shattered the bench with her eyebeams and charged toward Raven, arms extended and glowing with another attack. Raven put up a shield and attempted to grab her with a black energy arm, but she missed. Starfire kicked against the shield to propel herself back into the sky and sent starbolts flying back at Raven in her wake.

"Glorious!" Starfire cheered, "Your powers have regained their former strength!" Raven gave Starfire a little smile.

"I told you, I just need to meditate," Raven commented, using the shards of the destroyed bench as homing missiles. The pieces flew toward Starfire who blasted them all into smithereens with her eyebolts. "Your aim is getting better with your eyebolts."

"Wonderful! I have been trying to practice," Starfire admitted and Raven gave her a strange look. By unspoken agreement the both of them descended to the ground. Raven turned to her friend and beckoned her to come back inside. They both got into meditation positions on Raven's bed and looked at each other closely. Raven spoke first.

"Did you want to practice with me today to see if my powers were working?" she asked. Starfire blushed and shook her head no, but she quickly shifted into nodding yes.

"I offer apologies, Raven. I have not been a good friend to you of late…" she said sullenly. Raven raised her eyebrow.

"That's news to me," she said.

"It… Well… ever since the defeat of Trigon, you have been wanting 'the space.' I decided that I must to give you the space, but it seemed as though the space did not want to go away," Starfire confessed, outlining her boot with her finger as Raven listened closely, "Please do not be angry with me. I asked the others if they knew why your powers had not worked, and finally Beast Boy told me…"

"He did, did he?" Raven growled, planning a very quiet murder later that night. Starfire grabbed Raven's wrists to quell the murderous thoughts she knew she was having.

"Please do not harm Beast Boy. He tried not to tell me, but I forced him to."

Raven paused for a moment before she said, "Fine. I won't get mad at him."

"Please be mad at me instead. I have been wanting to reach you, but I do not know how without making you feel without the comfort. I am… not a good friend," Starfire finished, hanging her head low, and Raven awkwardly raised her hand. She knew what she should do – she should pat Starfire on the shoulder and tell her that she wasn't a bad friend. She just didn't know how to do it without sounding patronizing. She did the first part just fine. She reached out and stroked Starfire's bright garnet hair and Starfire whimpered in appreciation. The words on the other hand, just wouldn't come.

They sat there, Starfire sulking and Raven awkwardly petting her friend, until there was a knock on the door. The girls both looked over and Raven called, "Come in?" Firid'n burst through the door, slamming it so hard that it cracked the wall, and rushed over to Raven's bed. He then seemed to remember his place (if his suddenly panicked face was any indication) and knelt before them, his bald head glinting in the light.

"Princess Koriand'r, Lady Raven, Prince Regent Soand'r wishes to see you both in the throne room," he informed them formally. Then he looked up at them with a worried look on his face and said as an afterthought, "Um, please?"

"Of course, Firid'n," Starfire agreed, and Raven nodded. She couldn't really hide in her room from a royal invitation, much as she wished she could. Firid'n rose back to his feet, smoothed his goatee, and waited for them by the door. Then he led them to the ground floor of the palace to a familiar throne room. It had been repaired in the months since the Titans had last seen it, and Raven felt slightly apprehensive as she walked through the grandly decorated hall. She had not explored the castle for two reasons: she knew she would get lost (she dreaded to think what would happen to Beast Boy if he tried to navigate through there) and she still felt mildly uncomfortable being seen by any Tamaranean other than the royal family's staff.

Soulfire was sitting on the throne at the head of the hall, though he looked a little uneasy. Darya stood slightly behind him to his right and Al'krr stood directly to his left. Firid'n led the two girls to the foot of the throne and gestured grandly.

"The princess and her friend Raven, milord," he said goofily, making Starfire giggle and even Raven crack a smile. Soulfire nodded and rose from his seat. He looked fairly nervous as he approached his sister.

"Sister, I have a request," he said, and Starfire's eyes widened.

"Of course, Brother. I will do what I can to help," she replied, and Raven paid even closer attention.

"It would please me if you and the other Titans could include Al'krr in your training sessions and instruct him on Earth culture. He will be acting as my ambassador once this conflict is over, and any association he has with people of Earth would be good practice," Soulfire explained, and Starfire beamed happily at him.

"That would be most glorious, Brother! Al'krr is very welcome to join us. And I am so very pleased that he will be coming to Earth – it is such a wondrous place," she gushed, but Raven eyed the alien in question suspiciously. The Titans had been on Tamaran for nearly two weeks – why hadn't this been brought up before? She then looked at Soulfire with the same measure of suspicion. He looked far too nervous for this to be the only favor on his mind. But since she had no evidence and no other reason to suspect anything, she kept her mouth shut. Soulfire grinned, relieved, and gestured to Al'krr, who stepped forward respectfully.

"I am honored that you will be aiding me in learning about Earth's culture, Princess Koriand'r," he said in his deep voice before turning to address Raven, "And I am honored that you will be helping as well, Miss Raven."

"Actually, I need to speak with Robin. But," Raven said, struck with an urgent need to speak to their leader about this suspicious behavior, "I think Beast Boy would be a better choice in helping you. I wasn't born on Earth either, so he knows even more than I do." Starfire floated up and down in happiness and clapped giddily.

"Yes, that is a splendid idea! Come, Al'krr, let us find friend Beast Boy!" she squeaked, excited to introduce someone else to the wonders of Earth.

"I will join you shortly, princess. I must speak briefly with the prince before I take my leave," Al'krr dismissed gently, and Starfire flew back the way they came and out the door. Raven herself flew up to the ceiling of the throne room and phased herself through. But instead of heading directly toward Robin's room, she re-phased her ear back through and tried to catch a piece of their remaining conversation.

"…that way she will not have a problem with it when I propose the idea to her," Soulfire finished as he returned to his seat. He sounded more relaxed than he had before, and Raven realized she had been right.

"Yes, milord," Al'krr agreed, "I believe this is the best course of action as well for both aims." Raven heard someone cough and Soulfire asked, "Do you have something you wish to interject, Darya?"

"No, sir," she said immediately, "just something in my throat. But do you wish to hear my concern?"

"By all means."

"I was merely wondering, sir," she began with no hint of hesitation (a trait that Raven had found she liked about the prince's bodyguard), "if you had considered the princess's feelings about your plan."

"She seemed really excited to me," Firid'n piped up, obviously confused, though Raven didn't know about what.

"She only knows of Al'krr's future position on Earth. She does not know the rest of your plan, sir," she said frankly.

"Baby steps, Darya. We will address all of that when the time comes. But I feel that this course of action will allow for appropriate time to adjust for all involved," Soulfire replied.

"Of course, milord," Darya said, but Raven could hear that she didn't approve and liked her even more. Raven finally heard Al'krr make his way to the door to join Starfire and decided she had heard enough. Phasing easily through the walls with her worry and suspicion fueling her, she flew off in search of her leader.

~ commercial break ~

"Thanks for helping me install the cameras, Shiora. This is really helping me out," Cyborg said as he was perched on top of Shiora's shoulders. Shiora herself was hovering above the main doorway so that Cyborg could attach the necessary wires and screw the device in without the use of a ladder. (He realized shortly after he had asked for a ladder that ladders did not exist on Tamaran – who needed a ladder when everyone could fly?)

"No trouble at all, Cyborg!" she boomed jovially, shifting him slightly on her shoulders to make herself more comfortable, "Anything to help with this security system you have for us."

"It's no problem at all, girl. All part of our job of keeping the planet safe, right?" he replied, connecting two wires together. The camera in his hand whirred to life and Cyborg began attaching it to the wall.

"Very right," Shiora said confidently, and Cyborg was struck again with how positive she was. He had gotten to know her a little bit in the past two weeks and was amazed at her strength. She had not only raised the prince but her own son as well and still had found the time to become a war hero during the first great conflict alongside her husband. And in the process of saving three entire villages from destruction, she had lost her leg and her eye. When it was decided that Soulfire needed to go to the Centauri Moons, she gave up everything on her home planet to accompany him and make sure he never forgot what would be lost if he failed. And when she had returned home, she found her husband nearly dying and a wrecked palace. Not only had she made the majority of the remaining repairs to the palace herself, she had been the one to make sure her husband, the current Grand Ruler, was still able to perform his duties by carrying him wherever he needed to be and covering for him when he couldn't make it.

And now, here she was, this hulking behemoth of a warrior woman, happily being a flying stool for the outsider who had taken over her lab so he could install security cameras to keep her husband, her son, and her bumgorf safe.

As he checked the last few details on one of the last cameras he had to set up that day, he recalled what he and Robin had talked about in the garage two weeks previous. He remembered telling Robin that he had asked his dad why he didn't just let him die with his mother. Why had he given his son this body? Why couldn't he just be normal again? He didn't remember how he got through it nor how he found his way to Jump City and met his friends. All he remembered was bitterness and self-pity when he thought of his body, feelings that still hadn't gone away, though they had lessened after his confrontations with Fixit, Atlas, and Brother Blood.

But below him flew a woman who looked as though she'd never thought anything about her parts or her lot in life in a negative way at all. He could not understand how she had done it, not in the entire time he'd known her nor the many hours they'd spent either talking or in companionable tinkering silence.

Damn the torpedoes, I'm going to ask. Cyborg cleared his throat and almost lost his balance when Shiora started to descend the long way back to the palace grounds.

"All done?" she asked as she descended.

"Uh, yeah, I'm done for now. I have to go back to the lab and check them out. Want to come with me?" Shiora nodded happily, her electronic eye squinting as much as her normal one as she smiled. He sighed and braced himself for her possible fury as they walked toward the nearby laboratory.

"Hey, Shiora?"

"Hmm?"

"I was wondering…"

"What is it, ziglada?" He almost asked about the nickname but decided his question needed an answer first.

"How do you… How are you so okay with being… how we are?" he asked, and flinched a little with worry at how she would react. But when he opened his eyes, he saw her grinning happily, and she clapped him on his shoulder.

"Cyborg, I do not see any difference between myself and my people," she answered sagely, and Cyborg raised his one brown eyebrow in surprise.

"You don't?"

Shiora shook her head and opened the door to their workroom as she said, "I see none."

"But… how?" he asked, "I mean, not to be rude or anything, but you're missing a couple parts."

"I can still walk. I can still see. I do not see how that is different from any other Tamaranean's ability to do the same," she replied kindly as she hobbled over to her workbench. It was then that Cyborg noticed that her artificial leg was not moving as well as it usually did. Shiora removed the offending appendage, placed it on her workbench, and asked, "Which compartment is my oil in, Cyborg?" He reached into her second drawer and pulled it out for her.

"My thanks, ziglada," she said and proceeded to oil her leg as she spoke, "You and I have the same in common as anyone else on this planet. Including your friends. We all have the ability to speak, to communicate, to understand, to love, do we not? We can walk, run, fight, play, whatever we wish. And all life requires maintenance, Cyborg. But instead of those you call 'doctors', we must maintain ourselves."

Cyborg was struck with her logic. "Do you get weird looks? I mean… don't they notice?"

"Of course they do," she said nonchalantly, putting the oil away, "but they would stare even if I still had my organic parts. People give strange looks. This is a fact of life. Humans stare at other humans who look 'normal' on your world, do they not? They judge them because their hair is too short or their skin is a slightly darker shade. But they do not have mechanical parts. They are no different than their people, but they are still looked at strangely. People – humans, Tamaraneans, Vernathians, anyone – will always find a reason to stare."

Shiora paused from her lecture to turn and look Cyborg in his eyes. "Our job is to not let it bother us and continue to be strong, even for the people who look at us strangely. For they may have families and friends who value them or they may be hurting and we cannot see. We need only to focus on our duties, and we will be prosperous."

Cyborg's remaining organic eye began to water a bit. She gave him a little smile and asked, "You still need to check the system, yes?" Cyborg sniffled a little bit and returned to his computer, dwelling on what she said.

He thought back to what he had gone through with Atlas; he still had the ability to defy his artificial parts. And the ordeal with Brother Blood had shown him that his human spirit was indomitable and incorruptible. But while those had proved to himself that he was still capable of being human, the rest of the world seemed to miss it.

But Shiora didn't care. Neither did his friends, especially Starfire, but Shiora was different. She was just as accomplished as he – perhaps even more so – and vastly different from others on her world. Yet she lived her life no differently than if she hadn't had her eye ripped out or her leg torn off. Cyborg wanted to cry or curse himself for ever thinking of feeling pity for her, let alone for himself.

Robin, Raven's voice echoed in the Titan leader's mind, we need to talk. Without any other warning, Raven phased through the floor to his room. Robin didn't mind; he and Raven had the kind of relationship that afforded her the luxury of showing up unannounced, though God forbid he try that with her room.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked from his punching bag that he had been beating on for the last hour.

"I feel like Soulfire is hiding something. Especially from Starfire," she replied. Robin sighed. He should have expected this – Raven rarely showed up with good news.

"I do too. I was talking with him in the garden earlier, and he seemed off." Robin then continued to explain the subtle and the not-so-subtle lies that Soulfire had told him, and Raven absorbed this new knowledge in silence.

"What did he say to you?" Robin asked as he delivered one final blow to the bag. He began to towel off his face as Raven chose her words carefully.

"He asked us to teach Al'krr about Earth since he is going to be acting as ambassador once the crisis is clear," Raven said, "but that wasn't the issue. Starfire had no problem with that. But Soulfire looked uneasy until she said yes, and I heard them talking about her after she had left." Robin glanced at her, suspicion lacing his forehead. Slowly, she recounted what she had heard, and Robin's suspicion deepened mingling with a bit of anger and a deep curiosity she knew meant trouble.

"If they even consider handing her over after all of this—" he snarled.

"They know we'd come after them, and I think they may be slightly afraid of us. They know that the only one who would stand a chance against us would be Souflire himself, but Darya would never let him battle us head-on. No, that's not what they are planning, that I know for sure." Raven breathed, "But I think what Soulfire lied about may be connected to this."

"Which lie?"

"The second."

"Something to do with Starfire's feelings is a shame?"

"That's what I'm thinking," Raven agreed vaguely. She was not the trained detective that Robin was, but she could figure out a few things on her own. There was a short silence where Robin stared at his desk and mulled this new information over.

"Robin?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you want to do?" Another short pause followed where Robin formulated a quick plan.

"Go join Beast Boy and Starfire. Keep an eye on Al'krr," he instructed, and she nodded.

"And you?" Robin turned and stalked out of the room.

"I'm going to find out what's such a shame," he growled as he left. Raven quirked a small smile and flew off in search of the happy energy she knew to be coming from Starfire and Beast Boy.

"Dude, no way!" Best Boy gawked at the TV screen he had set up in his room. Mitsurugi, Al'krr's chosen character in SoulCalibur IV, had beaten Beast Boy's choice of Voldo once more, thus winning the match. Having only been introduced to the concept of video games half an hour beforehand, Al'krr was doing marvelously and Beast Boy was mildly seething with self-loathing.

"I have won, yes?" Al'krr asked, and Starfire clapped her approval.

"You have! Beast Boy may have gone the easy on you, but you have claimed victory!" Starfire cried joyfully, and Beast Boy perked up.

"Yeah, I was going easy on you since you're still learning," he said, fibbing a little (not that the Tamaraneans knew), and puffing out his chest. "Good job, man!"

"These diversions are fun, especially these battle simulators," Al'krr stated, his eyes glowing at the TV screen. "The diversion with the automobiles was not nearly as entertaining."

"Well, dude, you're supposed to go fast."

"But the sign reading 'Speed Limit' depicted that one should only go fifty-five miles for every Earth-hour, yes?"

"Not in a racing game," Beast Boy clarified. Al'krr was about to ask a follow-up question when Raven phased through the floor of Beast Boy's room and took a seat next to where Starfire was sitting on the upper bunk of Beast Boy's bed contraption.

"Hey, Raven!" Beast Boy said, his eyes lighting up visibly, "We just finished a round. Want to join us?"

"No, thank you," she said monotonously, eyeing Al'krr surreptitiously, "I was just coming to see how the Earth education was coming along. I didn't realize we were starting with the most inane part of human culture."

"Aw, come on, Rae! It's just fun! Besides, I want someone new to play games with – I know all of Cy's moves by now," Beast Boy whined. Starfire leaned in closer to Raven, their shoulders touching, and laid her head on her blue-clad friend's shoulder.

"What would you like to teach Al'krr?" she asked innocently, and Raven easily conjured a few books out of thin air. The books, encased in her signature black energy, floated easily over to Al'krr and dropped gently into his lap.

"Two books on basic Earth history, two more advanced English books, three books on Earth's foods, and A Christmas Carol," she said, separating each of the eight books into categories on the floor in front of the boys.

"A Christmas Carol?" Beast Boy asked.

"He'll learn about one of Earth's biggest holidays," she justified, "Besides, everyone should red Dickens." Al'krr marveled over the books in front of him and looked up at Raven in admiration.

"Thank you very much, Lady Raven. I shall begin studying at once," he said, flipping through one of the cookbooks she had given him – A Beginner's Guide to Cooking. He found a recipe that looked intriguing to him seconds after opening the book and pointed to the picture on the page. "Beast Boy, may we attempt to create this concoction?"

Beast Boy peered over Al'krr's shoulder and started to drool a bit, "Dude, the first thing you want to make is pizza! I knew we were going to get along! Come on, let's see what we have in the kitchen – I'm sure we can make something!" The men stood up, Al'krr gathering the books into his arms, and dashed out of the room, leaving Starfire and Raven behind. Starfire stood to follow them, but she hesitated and looked back at Raven with concern.

"Raven… I am not certain how to say this, but I feel that it must be said," she started, and Raven leaned forward eagerly. Had she figured out something strange was going on with Soulfire's sudden interest in "training" an ambassador?

"What is it, Starfire?"

"While I hold Al'krr in very high regard, and he has looked after my brother very well, I feel that… I fear that he might try to steal my friends away like my sister did," Starfire said sadly. Raven sighed inwardly; it wasn't quite the realization she had been hoping for, but at least Starfire could tell something was going on.

"I have never gotten the hang of the video games nor of the cooking, but Al'krr takes to things without trying. Beast Boy was not going the easy on him like he does with me, yet Al'krr won. I just fear… I…"

Raven slid down the side of the bed and put her hand on Starfire's shoulder. Starfire started a little – initiating physical contact was not Raven's modus operandi – but relaxed when she saw the fierce look on Raven's face.

"Starfire, I can't speak for Beast Boy or anyone else, but I know without a doubt that I'll never like anyone else the same way I like you," she said firmly, and Starfire's eyes began to water a bit. Raven withdrew her hand and started to exit the room, but she paused at the door long enough to say, "And I've never thought you were a bad friend, even when you were trying to give me space. Okay?"

Any other words she might have said were knocked out of her as Starfire tackled the dark empath from behind in a spine-crushing hug.

"I am so very jubilant to hear you think so, Raven!" Starfire squealed.

"I can see that. Could you, maybe… let me breathe?" Raven asked, and Starfire gave her friend one more quick squeeze before flying off to find Beast Boy and Al'krr. Raven sighed. She hadn't really expected either of the two to be as suspicious as she and Robin were, but she had hoped to have gained more information than the fact that Al'krr was weirdly good at Earth things. With a quick glance around Beast Boy's room, she satisfied herself with the thought that nothing strange was going on there at least and followed as well.

~ commercial break ~

Surprising only Robin and Cyborg, Al'krr and Beast Boy turned out an incredibly tasty veggie supreme pizza, mozzarella cheese sticks, and potato skins. They had made so much that the Titans and their hosts had dined solely on Earth food that night, and everyone praised the two chefs for their culinary efforts. Even Cyborg hadn't complained about the lack of meat; the abundance of cheese and butter over everything had made up for it nicely. Shiora, Darya, Soand'r, and Firid'n all fell in love with the new Earth cuisine and requested that Beast Boy and Al'krr continue cooking for them. Starfire volunteered to help them, and Robin had encouraged her to try her hand at baking desserts. Robin noticed that Raven had smiled a little at Starfire's eyes lighting up when they began to one-sidedly discuss what kinds of baked goods she should try to make, but the princess's smile faded every time she caught either Soand'r or Al'krr's eyes.

And Robin was not the only one to notice.

Darya had mainly remained quiet during the meal, as was her custom, except to request a few more mozzarella sticks. But she diligently kept an eye on the Titans, especially Raven, Robin noticed. He wondered why Raven specifically, but maybe he was missing something. Unlikely, but possible.

After a lively evening meal, the higher tier denizens of the palace scattered to their respective duties while servants came to clear the table. Somehow during the course of dinner Starfire had managed to convince Raven, Beast Boy, and Al'krr to let her "adorn their toenails with vibrant paints", so she eagerly pushed the three of them toward her room. Robin watched them wistfully, but headed to his room instead. And Cyborg, having expended a lot of his power already that day with the extensive building and system checks, went to his room to charge and hit the hay early.

Cyborg lay awake for a while that evening. He was alone in the lab, waiting for the last few updates to be installed in the security camera system, which would go online at midnight. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was… wrong. He felt more at peace with himself than he had in a long while; his talk with Shiora had been enlightening and fulfilling, most definitely, but something in the air felt strange. Glancing over at the screens on his desk, he could see most of the halls and a few of the larger rooms illuminated on the computer. The rest would be visible to him later that night when the updates to the more urgent systems on the floors with the sleeping quarters were finished. Everything looked fine on the screens and his programs weren't detecting any abnormalities.

He sighed. Maybe it was just in his head. But he couldn't shake the unease he had felt at dinner. Robin and Raven had both seemed on edge, but no one else seemed to have noticed. Except perhaps Darya. One of the first things he had learned when he had been given free reign over the technology of the palace was that the prince's bodyguard was a fierce and intelligent woman. She had amazing technology at her disposal and had the means to use it, but since her focus was usually on the prince, her problem was with time, and he had been happy to help her with this assignment. Over the last two weeks, they had become friendly, and Cyborg made a mental note to speak with her in the morning about what he had noticed. Perhaps she sensed something too.

Starfire fell asleep giggling that night, happy that she had been able to have fun with her friends. She was especially gleeful that Beast Boy had happily volunteered to paint Raven's toes and had even let her paint his in revenge. Something romantic in her heart had warmed at the sight of the small smile Raven had on her face as she peered at the slightly messy but still pretty decent job Beast Boy had done in painting her toenails a deep scarlet. Starfire had insisted that she do Raven's fingers as well, but chose black to keep Raven's pride in check. She could hide the red with her shoes, but her fingers would be visible. Raven had then coerced Beast Boy into letting her paint his toes a hot pink, and Starfire painted Al'krr's in a cool royal blue. He thought it was very intriguing that people of Earth would paint their nails just to cover them up again, but Starfire had explained that it was more about spending time with friends, and he nodded with a grin, understanding.

She couldn't help wondering why Robin hadn't joined in on the fun. Cyborg had explained that his energy was low and he needed to charge; not to mention that he didn't have toes to paint in the first place. Shiora wanted to spend time with Galfore, Firid'n had his rounds, and Soand'r said he had some paperwork he had to look over. Darya would go wherever Soand'r went, and Starfire understood that. But Robin had just smiled as she left and turned toward his room, never telling her why he didn't come. A small twinge of worry scrunched up her face momentarily before she brushed it off. Robin was her best, most precious friend. He wouldn't avoid her for no reason.

She hoped.

With a mostly contented sigh and a happy squeeze of her newly emerald green toes under her blanket, she drifted off into a heavy sleep.

Beast Boy was doing a good job of keeping his resolution to keep his room on Tamaran neater than his room on Earth. It had been two weeks, and there was no leftover food to be seen. There were dirty clothes, sure, and scattered video games and CDs (he was old school and still listened to music on CDs, refusing to get an mp3 player of any sort). But it still smelled normal.

Tired from the day's activities, he crawled into bed that Shiora had proudly provided him. It was sort of like his bunk bed in that it was nearly ten feet off the ground. But instead of a bottom bunk, there was a jungle gym that immediately made half the animals in him leap for joy. He refused to tell anyone how often he spent as a monkey, sloth, or even a snake playing or just lounging around on the colorful twisted contraption. It was like Shiora just "got" him. Heck, he'd been able to get along with most of the royal elite. Firid'n loved watching Beast Boy change into creatures he had never seen before, Shiora praised his cooking to no end and actually liked tofu like he did, and Al'krr was turning into a good video game and cooking buddy. The only two he couldn't quite get a feel on were Soulfire and Darya, but he hadn't tried to bug them much. They were busy running a planet, and he could totally respect that.

Fluffing the pillow he had brought from Earth, he sighed and lay on his side. He couldn't shake the feeling that, even though it had been two weeks since Raven woke up, she was still struggling. He didn't know what else to do about it for now, though. Starfire was still hesitant to initiate contact with her brother, but he was happy to see her trying. Cyborg had been on edge, trying to be ready to protect everyone without all the security protocols that he had on Earth and it was stressing him out. And he could tell Robin was itching to get back home.

Beast Boy didn't mind Tamaran. He didn't even mind his hot pink toes. But he didn't like how troubled his friends were. That was never okay with him.

Raven knew something was wrong. But she didn't know what. She had every intention of speaking with Robin the next day, but she couldn't shake the thought that she should be doing something right at that moment.

Relaxing into the plush bed Shiora and Darya had selected for her room, Raven took stock. Nothing had blown up that day, thankfully. Allowing herself to be a bit more emotionally invested a little at a time had been slowly working. She smiled more, letting Happy stretch her legs. She let Pride show when she had perfected a new spell. Bravery convinced her talk more with their hosts. Little things, little gestures every now and then, allowed her to reach a bit further each day. And her powers were becoming more reliable. She was still not up to the level she had been before Trigon had been defeated, but that was to be expected, even if it annoyed her.

She sighed, wishing she knew more about emotions. She was having trouble figuring out why Soulfire was antsy in regards to his sister and what his plan was, even with Darya's obvious disapproval. And she had noticed Darya occasionally staring at her at dinner, though she wasn't sure as to why. Raven's lack of emotional awareness was preventing her from being able to help Robin, and it was bothering her.

Under the comforter, she flexed her scarlet toes. The day hadn't been all bad, just ever so slightly annoying in some places.

Robin, on the other hand, was not going to sleep yet. He made his way through the halls of the palace, taking careful note of how many turns and twists he had to take from his room to get to Soulfire's. Even though by Earth standards it would be nearly midnight, he was used to staying up late studying, so his mind was still alert and racing. And just as he was when he was obsessing over Slade or planning how to save Raven from her father's influence, his determination made his mind all the sharper.

He found Soulfire's room - rather, he found Darya standing outside one of the larger doors, keeping watch, so he assumed that it was the Prince Regent's. Without moving a muscle, her eyes slid sideways to get a look at the Titan, and her mouth quirked up into a smile.

"Milord has been waiting for you, Titan leader," she said in her signature cool tone, "Please, come in." With the hands that were positioned behind her back, she opened the door and stepped slightly to the right. Robin nodded skeptically, but entered into the room nonetheless.

It reminded Robin more of an office or library than a bedroom. The walls were completely lined with bookcases overflowing with tomes in languages Robin would never be able to decipher, and in the corner to his right was what looked to be a swirling map of the galaxy, hundreds of stars and planets circling in the spiral pattern. At the very back wall, surrounded once again by books even over the headboard, was a large and plush-looking bed, bigger than any Robin had seen this far. The Tamaranian crest was emblazoned on the deep plum-colored comforter, and the pillows were properly in their place.

The main reason he had journeyed to the room, however, was sitting at a complex-looking silver metallic desk with three surfaces. In front of the prince was a book that he was reading with the assistance of some incredibly clunky-looking goggles. Each hand spread out to either surface of the desk, one typing something into a hologram keyboard in a language with double the amount of keys as an English keyboard, the other scrolling through menus with what appeared to be numbers and news articles in Tamaranean.

The door clicked behind Robin, and Soulfire's head jerked up from his book. "Robin," he said cordially, removing his goggles. He placed them on the book to mark his spot, then waved the other holographic menus back into the desk. The tall alien brushed his purple hair out of his green eyes and circled around the desk to greet Robin with a handshake that the Titan reluctantly returned. Soulfire seemed to sense his mood and motioned him hesitantly to a couple of chairs next to the bookshelf wall near the galaxy map.

Soulfire sighed, "I deduced that you would be able to see through what I told you. My sister was correct, you are an excellent detective. And it fills me with displeasure that I had to lie to you like that." Robin continued to glare silently as Soulfire continued, "I am… still uneasy, Robin."

"Uneasy?" Robin asked.

"I have trained my whole life to be Grand Ruler of Tamaran. And I am essentially performing those duties now. But I had never imagined that I would need to navigate a war," Soulfire said, looking down at his hands, "and especially not one against such formidable foes."

"I understand that," Robin said a little harshly, "but I don't understand why you lied to an ally. You brought us here. You claimed to need us. If you don't, we'll go back home."

Soulfire winced and stood, "It is not that I do not need you, Titan. It is that my efforts at negotiation have hit a… what is the word? Snug?"

"Snag," Robin corrected, and he would have smiled at the similarity of the siblings if he weren't so on edge.

"Snag, yes. My requests for parley have gone unanswered, and my spies do not return. I have received one message, though, in a language you would refer to as 'Mandarin', and I have been able to decipher some of it."

"Mandarin? How would one of your people know Mandarin?"

"The same way my sister, Darya, and I all learned English: lip contact. My sister is not the first Tamaranian on Earth. She is just the first to be there unwillingly as an escaped prisoner, and the first to draw attention to her abilities as she does," Soulfire responded as he walked over to the desk and pulled a tiny piece of paper out from underneath the book. "It has taken me these past dozen moons, but I have managed to decipher the words 'cruel new ruler', yet that is only half the message. It seems we are dealing with a larger threat than we had initially bargained for, especially if my spies have not returned."

Robin leaned back in his seat and contemplated the new information, wondering what the next course of action should be. Should he mount a rescue mission with the other Titans? Should he wait for Soulfire to finish translating on top of his other duties? He wanted to offer Cyborg's language banks, but the information was likely confidential, and Robin wasn't sure if Cyborg had Mandarin in his systems.

His thoughts were interrupted by Soulfire saying quietly, "However, I do believe that your concern is not completely with what I spoke of in regards to negotiations in the gardens. Am I incorrect?"

Robin shook his head, keeping his face as unreadable as possible. "You mentioned to Darya about something being a shame, Soulfire. I would like to know what."

Once again, the prince sighed as he walked back to his desk and gingerly placed the message back under the book. "I imagined you would."

11:55 p.m. Earth time.

A door opened to one of the bedrooms on the higher floors of the Tamaranian Royal Palace, reserved for dignitaries and people of importance.

This door belonged to one of the most important people on the planet.

Silently, a figure, tall and imposing, walked from the door to where the room's occupant slept comfortably, somehow having spun herself around so that her head lay hanging off the foot of her large purple bed. Her bare feet, colorfully painted a deep luxurious green, were tucked under her pillows.

She didn't hear the soft zing of a silenced dart gun. She didn't feel the tiny needle press into her skin, nor did she feel the gentle tug as it was removed after it had done its job. She didn't rouse herself as the figure left her room and soundlessly closed the door again.

11:57 p.m. Earth time. Mission accomplished.

"It is a shame that you hold such tender feelings toward my sister, Robin," Soulfire explained. "I am not unhappy that she has friends, far from it. But I am saddened that she seems too… attached to you. And you to her."

Robin stood from his seat and glared even harder at Soulfire, but he kept his voice passive as he said, "I don't believe I follow you."

"I have every intention for my sister to return to Earth with you all once the conflict is concluded here on Tamaran," Soulfire continued diplomatically, walking over to his bed and rubbing the bridge of his nose, "However, it comes with a… condition. An ambassador shall accompany her to Earth so as to keep communications between our planets open, and he shall marry my sister as well."

Robin's jaw dropped unflatteringly, not even caring that his poker face had broken. "Her what?!"

"Her husband. Al'krr is to act as my ambassador and will take his place as Koriand'r's husband upon doing so."