Author's Note: Some of you will recognize Count Fredericks from my other story. As a writer there are times that you come up with such a good character that you can't help but 'reuse' them. The design of Larmina's earrings can be seen on the homepage for Garrard Jewelers, in the lower left corner. I substituted turquoise for the lapis, because of Larmina's eyes.

Myra – Yes, Daniel's secret will be out soon. First though, we have a birthday party to attend!

Before the Party – Part Two

It was the night of Larmina's birthday, and she was in her room getting ready for the party. She had already had a good day, and was looking forward to the evening. The team had surprised her at breakfast with her favorite foods, and silly gifts. At lunch the castle staff had presented her with a set of ancient books that had originally been on her Mother's home planet. Larmina was thrilled, as she had very few memories of her Mother, or her history.

The day would have been perfect if she had not had to send the note to Daniel. However, she knew that she couldn't go along with what he wanted anymore. It had seemed wrong to her before, and after her talk with Pidge she understood why. When she sent the note, she copied Vince and blind copied Pidge. Larmina wanted him to know that she had put what he requested in the note. She hoped that Daniel would do the right thing, to redeem himself in her eyes.

Larmina didn't want to see what the team's reaction to Daniel's deceit would be, based on how Pidge had reacted. Keith was the most upright person, besides her Aunt, that she knew. Lance, for all of his wild ways was very loyal, while Hunk would be shocked at what Daniel had done.

She made it a point to avoid being alone with Vince, which she knew he didn't like. Larmina originally had sympathy for Vince, but had lost it after she and Pidge had talked. She knew Vince well enough to know that he had been aware of how wrong it was for Daniel to have asked them to do what he did. Larmina didn't want to talk to him, and was looking forward to seeing what Pidge was going to do to him.

Things had been calmer around the castle though, with Daniel gone. It also helped that they had received news that Lotor had been captured. He had been hiding out with his allies on Planet Tfuph when a bounty hunter caught him. Larmina had been told that he was in prison on Reglen VI, and that he would not interrupt her birthday party!

Larmina had wondered about that, at the back of her mind, since the party had gotten so much publicity. She knew it was because of Stereolatic, and Pidge had been dropping hints about the show they were going to do. Larmina had been afraid the party would turn into a formal diplomatic event, but both her Aunt, and Count Fredericks, the Court Marshall saw that it didn't. She knew that her Aunt felt bad about not consulting her in the first place about the event, and was more than happy to make it up by restricting the guest list.

The frenzy for an invitation got so bad that even Coran had remarked on how many friends Arus suddenly had. Count Fredericks had no use for outsiders, so he had enjoyed turning down the numerous requests that came his way. Larmina was very fond of the fussy old man, in spite of his prissy ways, and agreed with him about the guest list.

She had finished her shower, and was sitting at her dressing table in a robe, while her maid Anna did her hair. Allura and Nanny were also in the room, wanting to be part of the process. Nanny was rather annoyed because she had assumed she would dress Larmina for her coming out. She consoled herself with the thought that she had Princess Romelle's son to take care of now.

Nanny had retired several years earlier, when Allura had decided that Larmina was old enough for a lady's maid. Larmina had only agreed to the lady's maid to get rid of Nanny. Anna had been one of the housemaids, but with training as a lady's maid. She had filled in for guests when they didn't bring their own maid. When her Aunt had told her about the change Larmina had been sure that she was getting another grumpy old lady keeper. Anna was in fact in her mid-20s, and seemed to understand that Larmina did not want to be fussed over.

Larmina watched now as Anna did her hair, remembering how Pidge had told her that it reminded him of flames. Now it framed her face like a halo, highlighting her beautiful features. She was glad that she had inherited the gentle features of her Mother, instead of the pointed ones the Arusian royal family ran to. The back of her hair was gathered up, and then spun into ringlets along the back of her neck. Some of the ringlets fell just below her ears, and when the light caught them they glowed.

Her Aunt's gift had been a diamond tiara, from the family collection. It was very pretty, and made Larmina think someone had taken a piece of lace and reworked it in diamonds. However, she wasn't wearing it tonight, wanting something less formal. Allura had been a little disappointed, but when she saw what Larmina was doing instead she had understood.

Once Anna had her hair done she opened an old, worn purple velvet box that was on the dressing table. Inside was a set of six diamond stars that had been the wedding gift her Father had given her Mother. They represented the constellation of Seiugis, which was seen every night in the Arusian sky. The constellation was a chariot drawn by six horses, which was thought to represent the six Dominions that made up Arus.

Allura watched as Anna scattered and attached the stars in Lamina's hair. She was so relieved that everything had worked out about the party. She had truly meant to talk to Larmina about her ideas for the party, but had never found the time. Allura looked at Larmina now and wished her brother Andrei and his wife Zoya were here to see their daughter.

She looked over at the bed and saw Larmina's dress all laid out. The dress was her only qualm about the evening, but she had felt such guilt about the whole party that she let Larmina pick out her own dress. Allura thought to herself 'well guilt and relief that Larmina didn't want to wear her pilot's uniform!'

Larmina was more interested in clothes than she had let her Aunt know. Her Aunt always chose tasteful ensembles that Larmina thought were boring. Larmina knew what her favorite rock groups wore, and perused 'Terran Vogue', so she knew what was hot and sexy. Her secret dream had always been to go somewhere that she could wear something like what she saw in the magazine. She had recently updated her dream to include Pidge, sure that he would enjoy seeing her in something like that.

Once she had found out about the party she decided to push the boundaries of Arusian fashion! Larmina had seen a version of the dress she wanted, but it was black with a see through skirt. She knew better than to push the boundaries that far, but saw that the dress had the basic lines of what she wanted. Anna had steered her to a fashion designer that had just returned to Arus after a stints at the top fashion houses in the galaxy.

Allura had been surprised when Larmina had not chosen the court dressmaker, but accepted Larmina's reason that she wanted to support someone up and coming. As she looked at the dress again, she wondered what it looked like on! Larmina had insisted that she wanted to surprise everyone when they saw her. Allura did admit the color and fabric were very pretty, and hoped that some of the lectures on royal decorum had seeped into her niece's brain.

Everyone but Anna got up to leave, so Larmina could get dressed alone. The plan was for her to come to the ballroom, where they team would all be. They were going to get the first look at her, before the guests arrived. Larmina was glad to see everyone leave, because it also solved the problem of the earrings.

When she had come up to her room earlier, to get ready, she had been surprised to see a small box on her bed. It was lavishly wrapped with silver paper and ribbon, and when she opened it she saw that it was a navy blue leather box, embossed with a filigree design in gold. Larmina recognized it, from her magazine reading, as coming from Garrard Jewelers. They were the oldest and most exclusive jewelers on earth, and the best in the galaxy.

The card attached was from Pidge and wished her happy birthday with much love! Larmina's stomach did flip flops at that, and hoped he didn't mean it in a sisterly way. When she opened the box she gasped at what she saw there, and knew that he didn't mean love in a sisterly way.

It was a pair of earrings, in turquoise and diamonds. Each earring had an oval of turquoise nestled in a bed of small diamonds. Hanging from that were arcs of diamonds, curving in different directions. They reminded her of the tail of a comet or shooting stars. Larmina put them on now, and saw how they caught the light as they sparkled below her ears. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she was amazed that Pidge had given her something like this!

Anna looked at her and said "Those are beautiful! The stones are the same color as your eyes! Are they new?" Larmina smiled and said "Yes, they are! Let's get my dress on so I can get downstairs!"

Allura had left Larmina's room and headed down to the ballroom, with Nanny in tow. Nanny was muttering something about pink being so pretty, and Allura was reminded of how glad she had been to turn Nanny over to Larmina, and then to retire Nanny.

When she entered the ballroom both Keith and Lance looked at her with interest. She had on a white dress shot with gold, which made it glitter as she moved. It was sleeveless, with a discrete neckline and fit her body well. Her gold hair was up and secured with a diamond tiara; she looked every inch a Queen.

Keith noticed her figure, and thought she looked like an angel on top of the Christmas trees they had on earth. Lance also noticed her figure, but wondered what it would look like if she wore something sexy. He was willing to bet pretty damn good!

Keith complimented her on how nice she looked, and everyone agreed. Lance said "You look a little worried? Are you concerned about what the entertainment is going to do?" He made it a point of not looking at Pidge when he said it. He didn't understand the appeal of the music Pidge did, and was still amazed at how much money he made from it. Allura sighed and said "It is Larmina's dress!"

Hunk chimed up "Larmina is wearing a dress?" He had a gleam in his eye, as he tried to imagine Larmina all dressed up. "Of course she is wearing a dress, it is a party!" Lance said, and then asked Allura "What is the issue with the dress?"

"I let her pick out her own dress, and she didn't use the court dressmaker! She went to some fashion designer, and didn't want me to see it ahead of time. I did tell her it had to be floor length, but I'm worried it won't be appropriate!" Keith understood her concern, but Lance threw back his head and laughing said "Allura, she is 18! It is certainly not going to be your definition of appropriate! This should be good!" His words made her heart sink even lower.

Pidge smiled and said "Come on, she is having the galaxy's hottest band for entrainment so of course she wants to impress DJ Prong!" Allura looked at Pidge, and hoped he was joking. Hunk took a look at his friend, and remembered how girls always seemed to like the guys in the band. Suddenly he wished his friend was not DJ Prong.

Daniel and Vince were being quiet, being more concerned about the note they had received from Larmina. They had met in the Lair to talk about it, but neither came away feeling good. Daniel truly hoped that she was bluffing about telling, but a small part of him knew that she wasn't. Vince had understood the threat behind her comment about 'duty as an officer and gentleman'. He knew he would not sacrifice his career for Daniel, and he was willing to race Larmina to Keith's office if Daniel didn't get there first.

Vince had spent the time that Daniel was gone hacking into Pidge's research, and found some really promising research. He was going to follow it up, and hopefully try it out on Daniel in the next couple of days. Vince was surprised that Pidge had not said anything to the team about it, but figured he wanted to test it first.

Vince had also tried on numerous occasions to hack into Pidge's text messaging account, but had not been able to get past the firewall. Vince was still curious about the text that Pidge had sent from Green Lion after Lotor's attack. He knew it had to be personal in nature, since it didn't show up on Green's console. He had seen Pidge and Larmina exchange smiles at each other, and didn't like the conclusion his mind jumped to. Vince knew that Hunk was also interested in Larmina, but didn't see any threat from that corner.

In spite of their concern about the note, they were still capable of thinking about Larmina as a girl. Daniel thought to Vince 'couldn't you just see Larmina in black leather? Something short and tight, with some of those high heeled shoes with all the straps?' Vince, since he saw everything in Daniel's brain had no problems seeing his vision, and more! It was hard enough dealing with his fantasies about Larmina, but having to cope with Daniel's too was almost impossible. Vince thought back 'I don't think even Larmina would wear black leather to this party. Just so you know what you are thinking is not even possible, and no I don't care how flexible she is!'

Just then Larmina came down the stairs, and everyone gasped!