They did as they had been told to do. Four and a half days, fifty interviews of the survivors in the Seattle camp. Many were happy to actually be given explicit permission to talk to Yuki and Jessamine — some had been wary when the two new arrivals had come in, wearing backpacks that had UFE camouflage patterns and patches that detailed them as UFE officers. But once Tigh had announced to everyone at dinner that night after meeting with the Old Man, that they were there just to talk, to meet with the survivors and bring their findings before the actual Armistice Council, the air about most of the survivors towards Jessamine and Yuki improved drastically.

This camp was far bigger than the one in New Orleans, but it was one that was thriving in its own right. There were a pack of older men who had fashioned themselves as the hunters. Those who operated as the guards for the camp, the rest were either survivors who had their own duties around the camp, or were general scavengers who were given a place to sleep in one of the many hospital rooms because of how useful they were to keep around. There were enough people, and enough questions that need to be asked, that if Jessamine and Yuki didn't both agree to cut down on the questions that they were asking, and the amount of time they spent with each person, that they would run out of time, and not get a chance to meet with each person that was in the camp. And they very nearly weren't able to. They had wrapped up the last of their interviews the morning of the seventh day in Seattle, just in time for the two of them to be escorted by two of the gentlemen from the contingent of guards, who were by-and-large old US military, UFE reservists or militia reservists who had managed to survive long enough throughout this whole war to be useful to the survivor's camp as a whole.

The four set out a few hours before noon, one of the guardsmen leading the way, Yuki and Jessamine walking side-by-side in the middle, and the rear of the group was the second guardsman. Three weapons between them, giving them good odds if they ran into a wandering patrol of Martians on their way back to Yuki and Jessamine's airstrip, where they had arrived a week earlier.

Their walk was quiet, taking a wide berth around the old airbase that Yuki had almost been shot at. Jessamine thought that as they walked, that she could smell the scent of decomposition on the air, but didn't dwell on it long, as the winds shifted and swept the scent away with it. There was no reason for them to both cutting through that airfield, less they come across the bodies again. Yuki seemed at least a little relieved when they started to walk around the outside of the fence to the airbase, instead of crossing under the fence and going across the taxiways and the patches of grass between the runways where the bodies were just out of sight.

It took them nearly three full hours to get to the airstrip that they had arrived at. But this time, there was some intentionality in the delayed arrival of the transport as it arrived distantly in the mid-afternoon sky. The quad were sitting in the sun, backs against an old hangar that had been used in the setting up of this airstrip, all keeping an eye and ear out for anything that could be wrong, when the subtle roar of the transport's engines came into earshot. It was still miles and miles away, but it was discernible, and as the transport flew onto its final approach to the airstrip, became louder and louder.

They had been waiting for almost two hours when the transport finally arrived, taxiing along the runway until it came to a stop and opened its rear door for Jessamine and Yuki to enter through.

The pair said their goodbyes to the guards who had accompanied them to the field, and then watched as the two guards began their hike back to the camp, to try and return in time for the evening meal.

It didn't take long for Jessamine and Yuki to strap their bags back to where they belonged in the transport's airlock, and then move into the cabin, at which point the transport began its takeoff procedures. The two settled into their seats, strapped in, and ready for the slightly longer trek across the Pacific ocean, back towards Yuki's home, Shinawara. There was something sorrowful about the air between Jessamine and Yuki as the transport rumbled down the runway, and raced into the sky. Something that Jessamine couldn't help but chalk up to being related to the fact that they weren't just returning to Yuki's hometown, but more accurately the ruins of her hometown. The places that had been leveled by the meteor bombardment that had struck Shinawara, in a final show of force on the supposed final resting place of the Martian princess. No one had been entirely sure why the Martian's had decided to bombard the place, rather than sanctimoniously turn it into a place of reverence — the Martian Delegation on the Armistice Station was rather picky about answering questions regarding it.

Yuki, on the other hand, during the entirety of their flight, was doing her best to not think about the ruins of her hometown, instead trying to focus far more on the idea of being able to set foot there again at all. She didn't think, for the longest time that she would be able to return home, even if there was nothing left. Part of her mind had already consigned herself to being back aboard the Armistice Station for the foreseeable future. She wasn't sure what entirely she felt at the idea of going back home, even if there was nothing left.

During their suborbital flight, the sun began to retreat back through the sky towards the east, as they rocketed at supersonic speeds in a parabolic trajectory that would bring them back into the thicker atmosphere closer to Shinawara, allowing them to land at an airfield that had been scouted out by satellite, and seemed to be the best spot as anywhere to try and land.

Jessamine had just started to doze off when the transport rocked slightly, catching her by surprise.

"Just some turbulence." The Pilot explained from his seat, hands hovering over the controls of the transport, waiting to take over if he needed to. The rocking and jostling of the transport only intensified as they descended further and further into the atmosphere. But eventually died off once they crossed beneath a scattered cloud layer.

At that point, it wasn't much longer before they arrived on Japanese soil.

It was at this point that Jessamine figured it was time to clarify something with Yuki.

"Hey, Yuki."

"Yeah?" Yuki turns to look at Jessamine.

"I don't know what you're expecting to find, but our first priority to try and find any survivors, if we can. Otherwise, it's just us trying to find any information we can on why they bombarded Shinawara."

"I understand. It's not exactly the homecoming I wanted, but it'll have to do."

"Good. I just didn't wanna see your hopes get crushed."

"I appreciate it."

Within moments, the transport came to a screeching stop on the runway that had survived the bombardment, and Jessamine and Yuki undid their harnesses, and began to move to the back of the transport, where the airlock waited for them to exit onto Japanese soil. As they did, Jessamine synchronized her watch with the local time that the transport's computer said it was. A little after eight.

Plenty of time to scout out the city, and at least try and find a place to camp out.

They departed through the rear of the transport, and almost as soon as they were clear of it, the engines started back up again, and the transport began its roll down the runway to take off. Jessamine and Yuki moved out of the way of the runway, and watched as the transport raced down the strip of tarmac, until its wheels left the ground, and it started its climb out of view, breaking through the scattered clouds above, before becoming small enough that they couldn't see it.

Jessamine and Yuki moved across the field, headed inland towards where the ruins of the city were. Neither being entirely sure what they expected to find, or if they expected to find anyone at all in the ruins of this city.

"It used to be pretty, y'know?" Yuki says as they cross over a downed fence, and start their walk along the highway towards the innards of the city. Jessamine looks at her as they walk, attentively. "The streets used to be full of people, and tourists — even after the Heaven's Fall. People still wanted to visit Japan, because Japan had gotten through all the flooding and earthquakes pretty well off."

"So I'd heard. If I had my way, I would've tried to visit if the war hadn't broken out." Jessamine responds.

They pass a ruined building, its windows blown in, and a chunk of the roof caved in, streaming light from the scattered skies above, through the dust that hovered in the inside of the building.

"Do you think we would've had a chance to meet if things hadn't turned out the way they had?" Yuki asks, almost completely unexpectedly, although part of Jessamine's mind was wondering the same question.

"Dunno. I dunno if I'd have visited Shinawara, or if you'd come out to Denver. I imagine that the UFE might have eventually moved you from your spot here, if it weren't for everything happening." Jessamine says after a moment, the only sound between her words are their boots against the ground, crunching the tiny parts of debris of buildings and cars against the cracked pavement. "But maybe, I think, there was a chance. I don't know if I would've wished this devastation on the world in order to have met you though." Jessamine half-laughs at her statement, and Yuki gives a small smile at this.

"I don't blame you. You're an excellent partner, Jessamine, but I don't think I would sacrificed all these lives just to guarantee that I got to meet you." Yuki affirms herself.

"Well, it's a good thing we've made the best of what we have, then."

They walk another mile or so in silence, before Jessamine has a question of her own.

"Do you think that this war will ever be done, Yuki?"

Yuki blinks, but continues walking before answering. "Maybe? I think the fact that we were able to get an Armistice, even if it was an imperfect one, means that we might be able to get a full armistice. One that gives us time to properly rebuild, and maybe even heal the damage between Earth and Mars."

"You really think that? Even no one finds the Princess, and Earth are the only ones to look like we're the ones who made her disappear?"

"I think that she'll turn up eventually. It doesn't make sense for her to be in hiding, only for someone to be hiding her. That means that eventually she'll have to turn up. Its just my hope that it's sooner rather than later." Yuki explains.

"Makes sense. It just sucks a lot that she hasn't turned up yet."

"She will, sooner or later. It would only make sense for her to, either she'll convince her captors, or we'll find them out. Or both."

"You have a lot of faith in her."

"I only got to see what she could do first hand. And it's impressive what one girl can do when she holds all that power and authority."

Marito had been shocked when Marce had been the one to deliver his summons. And then absolutely astonished when he had read who the summons was from, and for what purpose he had been summoned. But he had plenty of time to ruminate about that once he was on the transport headed towards the Armistice Station, from the drydock in Low Earth Orbit where the Deucalion II had been berthed. There wasn't much to say to anyone about this, except that he was shocked that he was being explicitly summoned to meet with the Armistice Council, and a delegation of Martian ambassadors, in order to get his opinion on something that the summons didn't disclose. Which meant that this journey was for reasons he didn't understand, for a council that he was convinced wasn't doing their job, and for a peace that he was just about convinced wasn't going to come about.

Yet, he was legally obliged to show up anyways. To board the transport that would ferry him from Low Earth Orbit, up to the higher orbit of the Lagrange Point that the Armistice orbited around. It was a journey that took the better part of a day, even with the Transport's engines firing near constantly the entire time to accelerate to, and then accelerate away from the station, to get into its own synchronized orbit with the station. And once it did, the docking process took another five minutes. Meaning that Marito had been on the transport for almost ten hours by the time he was able to leave It. At which point, he realized how long it had been since he was last aboard the Armistice Station. Almost two weeks since he had left for the Deucalion II, to keep an eye on Inaho while his sister was Earth-side, doing whatever adventure she was doing with that Intelligence Officer that Marito had met for all of about twenty minutes before the two departed for their own transport, heading for Earth.

He wondered, idly, while he waited for the airlock doors of the transport to open, where the two were — they should be in Shinawara by now — he hoped that nothing had happened to them that would've caused some kind of delay. They were working against the clock to bring back information for the council to deliberate on. The sooner they got back the better.

He made his way through the landing castle turned armistice station, where there were plenty of people moving about between meetings, bustling through the corridors of the station, in order to complete tasks. Both Terrans and Martians aboard this station, walking in the same hallways as one another, as if the two countries hadn't just been in a shooting war two years prior. Something about that simple fact brought a grin to Marito's face. The ideation that the two countries could work side-by-side, putting aside their differences and work towards a common cause. In this case, that cause was peace.

Marito, as he walked, checked something on his data tablet, that was tucked between his arm and his body. The local time aboard the station meant there was only a few minutes until he was expected to report for his summons. No time to go to the lounge and get a drink, or something to take the edge off of spending the better part of the day aboard an orbital transport. He would have to answer whatever questions that were had, completely stone-face sober. The idea didn't particularly sit well with him — but there was nothing that could be done in this particular case.

He made his way to a quieter part of the station, following the instructions left for him in the summons, and stopped in front of a security checkpoint.

"Are you Lieutenant Koichiro Marito?" One of the guards at the checkpoint asked him.

"Yeah, I am." He responds.

"We've been instructed to wave you through the checkpoint. You're expected."

"So I've heard."

A side door opens, and the guard motions for him to step through it. Another guard follows him through the door — a roundabout way through the security checkpoint that means he doesn't have to go through the full-body scanner and the x-ray machine. Marito deposits his tablet in a spot that the guard points out to him, and then continues through an open door at the end of this hallway, emerging into a sizable hall that has been turned into a conference room. There were two long tables, each with groups of men and women sitting on the sides facing one another, the tables themselves were a meter apart. At the far end of the conference room, a podium stands, where the soldier indicates he should go to. Sliding the door to the hallway he had entered from, shut.

Marito walks straight down the middle of the tables, much to the grumbling and mumbling of both parties.

When he arrives as the podium, and turns to face those parties, he's immediately asked; "Please state your name, rank and affiliation for this delegation and the record."

"Lieutenant Koichiro Marito, United Forces of Earth." He speaks into the microphone on the podium.

A woman from the right side of the room, one who has a UFE insignia on her uniform, speaks up next, speaking into her own microphone on the table in front of her. "Lieutenant Marito. You were stationed aboard the UFE Deucalion when the Armistice was declared, and have since retired from the service; is this correct?"

"Yes, it is."

"Then why did you introduce yourself as 'Lieutenant'?"

"Because my summons referred to me as such, ma'am."

There are a few murmurs from the left side of the room, some of the people Marito recognized as wearing Martian officer uniforms, rather than political delegation ones. The room was obviously split between the Martian side, and the Terran side — unlike the hallways outside.

"Lieutenant," An older gentleman from the Martian side of the room speaks up, "You've been on the record as advocating for a Terran surrender, either partially, or completely — in light of the second Earth-Mars War. Why do you say this?"

"Because," Marito begins, "I saw both the First and Second wars start and end. And I know that Earth as it stands right now — is not able to stand on its own two feet in a shooting war against Mars."

"Why is that?"

"During the First War, we were trying to fight Martians with Main Battle Tanks and fighter jets. And in some sectors we had found success. But we didn't have the Kataphracts that we do now, in order to defend ourselves. Maybe if we did, that First War would've turned out differently. We were fighting a ground war, but one that was conventional, right up until—"

"Until what, Lieutenant?" Someone from the Earth side asks.

"Until Tanegashima."

"Where the Martian Kataphract Deucalion was decimated by the Heaven's Fall, is that correct?" Someone else from the Terran side asks.

"Yes. That's—That's correct." It was hard for Marito to think of Tanegashima and think of anything other than two things. The Kataphract that had wiped out his entire section of main battle tanks, without so much as lifting a finger; and the fact that he had killed his comrade and brother-in-arms, Humeray. He subconsciously gripped the side of the podium as he talked. "Tanegashima was one of the places with the singular highest loss of life in… Actual combat, the major loss of life occurred in the event of, and the wake of the Heaven's Fall."

"And your experience in fighting Martian Kataphracts during the Second War, indicates to you that the Terrans have no chance of succeeding in combat against the Martians?" Someone from the Martian side asks.

"Yes. What the Martians don't have in number of Kataphracts, they have in terms of strength. For every Kataphract taken down or injured and forced to retreat, it cost us, on average, fifty casualties of injury or complete frame totaling. Resulting in experienced pilot death, disablement, or major injury. We simply don't have enough operators, or enough frames to keep up with the Martian combat capability. Not to mention their weaponry is that much stronger than it comes to ours. During the onset of the war, initial air superiority fighters were dispatched, and had a 95% casualty rate. Meaning that most of the UFE's air-to-air capability was diminished, or taken out during the subsequent ground invasions. A lot of the opinion I hold, comes down to the fact that during this Armistice, there was no way for the UFE to properly bolster defenses, or to try and rebuild Kataphracts or make new ones, as many of the production facilities have been abandoned, or their workers killed. We don't know yet how many others died in the onset of the war, or who have died in its whole duration. But if it was anything like the initial estimations indicate, initial deaths in the billions, and further deaths in the hundreds of millions. Meaning that for every Martian killed during the duration of the war, of which I don't have a figure — it's likely that it cost thousands if not millions of Terran lives."

"And so you think that there's no real way for the UFE, or Earth at large, to continue the war effort?"

"No, I don't think so. That's why I advocate for either a surrender of territory, or a unilateral surrender. Better to not devastate the Earth and its populations any further if we can help it."

"Lieutenant Marito, you were aboard the Saazbaum Castle when the Princess disappeared, is that correct?"

"Sort of. I was aboard the Deucalion, but was part of the vanguard team that made their way to the Central Aldnoah Drive, where the Princess had been, but was nowhere to be found, and on pushing further into the castle, wasn't able to be found further in the castle. We suspected initially that someone had kidnapped her following the defeat of Saazbaum's Kataphract, and the subsequent death of him in the Central Aldnoah Reactor room."

"Do you know anything about a Kataphract named 'Tharsis', Lieutenant?" Another Martian asks him.

"Nothing if I'm being honest. I know it exists. I know nothing about it otherwise."

"I see."

"Does the Tharsis have something to do with the Princess' disappearance following the attack on Novosibirsk?" Marito asks.

"We don't know, but we do know that the Tharsis is under the control of Count Slaine Troyard, who ascended to his Knighthood following the Princess' disappearance. We were just wondering what you knew, considering that you were in the same area that the Princess was supposed to be, and reportedly didn't find her."

"If you're implying that the crew of the Deucalion had anything to do with her disapperance, you'd have to talk to Captain Magbaredge about that. She'd know more than I did. I was just a grunt that day."

"Lieutenant, we're not implying anything about the crew of the Deucalion. As soon as the armistice was signed, UFE HQ turned over all known information about the Princess' whereabouts, which was exactly as you described. So either both us at the UFE and yourself are part of the same lie, or you're just as clueless as they are."

"I'd like to think of myself as a clueless retiree, rather than someone caught up in a conspiracy… Continued war isn't good for the UFE or Earth in the long run, so why would we continue hiding things that don't need to be hidden? Things that would only hurt us if they were? The Princess is next in line for the throne. There's not much to be said about how Mars would destabilize due to her continued absence, especially if something were to happen to the Emperor. And I'll be honest, your average Terran is too busy dealing with surviving in this post-war condition, that they don't care too much about whether or not Mars has a successor to the throne. They care far more about whether or not Mars is going to bring down their full might on us, and wipe us out for good."

"Thank you Lieutenant, we'll take your advice under consideration as we continue to deliberate… With that said, we would like to offer you a seat at the table. Not as one of a delegate, but as an observer. We think your eyes and mind would be welcomed as an official civilian observer." A voice from the Martian side says.

Marito blinks at this. "Why me?"

"Because you're impartial to the whims of the UFE. You seem to have a mind that wants to benefit both sides, and that's what we're looking for, in the promise of a continued armistice following the expiration of the present one."

Rayet had found herself almost completely antsy over the last couple weeks. By and large, anywhere that she really wanted to go aboard the Landing Castle, she wasn't allowed to — and the areas that she was allowed to, she didn't find particularly interesting, or at least interesting enough to warrant staying in for any real length of time. Meaning that she was just as bored as she had been inside her cell, but without the confines of her cell. Which didn't particularly sit well with her. She'd be just as entertained sitting inside the bridge, not bothering anyone, than pacing the plethora of hallways that criss-crossed the entire Castle.

There was also part of her, that was completely disgusted with herself for ever having wished to be aboard one of these Castles, thinking that she would've been welcomed as some sort of hero, for her father's crime of bringing the justification of war to the feet of the Orbital Knights. Even if now, time had revealed that all to be a lie, one that she should have been able to see through, there was nothing to actually be done about that anymore. That time had come and gone, and now, here she was, waiting for something to happen during her captivity aboard Slaine's Landing Castle.

This didn't stop her from trying to gather as much information as she could, trying to maybe figure out a way to leverage that information for a way out of here, back down to Earth — where she could continue to live her life as something other than just a prisoner for someone else's whims. That would be the ideal, although she doubted that she'd ever be able to really actualize that. Instead, focusing more on the struggle that she had of keeping herself occupied.

Initially, in that first week, upon 'happening' on Slaine during one of his walkabouts aboard the Castle, Rayet had approached him, asking for a tablet, just something at all for her to do, rather than be bored searching for something to do. There was a moment of pondering from Slaine as he thought about this idea, before he eventually agreed to it. Allowing her one limited-access tablet, which had a plethora of entertainment, and things to do on it, so that way she would "stay out of trouble". She promised that she'd do her best. The next day, she woke up to someone slamming on her cell door. A Martian guard who handed her a tablet, and then disappeared as soon as he could once she had it in hand. She didn't see that guard in the prison block again.

The day after that, when returning to her cell for the evening, following her self-imposed curfew, as to not get in trouble with anyone aboard the ship, she had found a real cot in her cell. The couple mornings later, towels, and a note card directing her how to get to showers that she could use.

Within these few weeks, she had gone from a prisoner, to someone who felt more like a guest, with access to showers, and warm meals that weren't just pre-portioned for her. She ate alone in the dining halls where all the other guardsmen ate.

But all of that had happened in the last week, and now, she'd sufficiently run out of things to do, and had decided that she was bored with staying out of trouble, and figured that she wouldn't be bothered if she did a little bit of a 'walkabout' herself, this time with the intentionality of trying to learn the layout of the Castle more innately, and figuring out what routes would be the best way to escape to and through, should the opportunity present itself.

She found a few, and even found a locked armory that wasn't guarded, which felt strange to her. The door was sealed, but it was marked as an Armory nonetheless.

She eventually, found enjoyment in doing her best to trail Slaine as much as she could, without being caught and without trespassing in any of the areas off limit to her. On such instances, she would leave her tablet behind in her cell, so that if someone used its location to try and find her, she would look like she was there rather than following Slaine.

She was a few days deep into doing this as her primary form of entertainment, and thought that she was getting pretty good at it, when she realized that they would always come to the same junction, just before the same hallway, where the guards who were ever escorting Slaine throughout the Castle, would break off, and instead stand watch at either side of that hallway. There were no guards before that moment, and no guards after Slaine would leave the hallway again. The entire time, Rayet had no idea where exactly in the hallway that Slaine would go, as she couldn't follow without getting spotted, and instead would wait and watch, doing her best to time how long he'd spend in this hallway, tucked away in a chamber that she couldn't find. He would spend up to a couple hours there, the guards were unwavering in their duty, so there was never an opportunity to sneak past them. It wasn't until Slaine left on the third occasion of her following him, did she dare to go down that hallway after he and his guards had left the junction. And even then, upon searching the hallway, she couldn't find any indication which door she would actually need to go through to find whatever secrets that he was hiding in this hallway.

On the fourth day of her playing hide and seek with Slaine and his guards, she realized that he was headed through the Castle, to where the cell blocks was, presumably in search of her. She pursued and waited until he was about to knock on the door of her cell, before she rounded the corner and revealed herself to him and his guards — one of whom seem especially spooked by her sudden appearance. "Are you looking for me, Milord?"

Slaine turns to Rayet, and smiles. "Yes, I was, in fact. I'd ask how you know, but I suppose that since you've been following me off and on all day, that you have a pretty good idea of what I want to ask you."

"You want to ask me if I'll join you for dinner…" Rayet continues the thought, knowing approximately what time it is, while still being slightly agitated at the notion that he knew that she was following him at all today, if not in general for the past few days. It didn't sound like he knew that she was following him the entire time, at least, only part of the time. Either that, or he was trying to throw her for a loop. Either way, she didn't appreciate it. "Or so I take it, because it's what, almost the time you typically go to dinner?"

"So you have been following me the past few days." Slaine smiles at this. "I figured as such, because it didn't seem all that like you to stay put in your room all day, at all times of day."

"Well, yeah, we're not exactly buddy-buddy, Milord. I'm your prisoner, and you let me run free around your Castle." Rayet shrugs, "So either you're impeccably stupid, or trusting of the wrong people."

"Well, in that case, Miss Areash, I'll give you two options. Either come have dinner with me, or my guards here will make sure that you actually stay in your cell tomorrow, and for the rest of your stay aboard this Castle."

Rayet snorts. "And you'd be a fool to think that I'd pick anything other than the dinner with you, not that its worth much to either of us. So thanks for extorting me."

Slaine's smile deepens. "Very good." He starts to walk towards Rayet, passing her in the hallway, his guards not flanking him. "I figure you're not going to need to dress up or anything, so I figure that you're as ready as you will be." Rayet turns to follow him, and only then do the guards approach.

They walk in silence. Rayet following Slaine but not needing to hide the sound of her footsteps as carefully as she had been. Only on a couple occasions does Slaine look behind him to make sure that Rayet is still following along. Not that he wouldn't notice if the guards behind her suddenly noticed her disappearance.

When they finally make it to the stateroom, part of Rayet wonders if it's the same one that she had attacked him in, all that time prior. She had never second guessed herself or why she had attacked Slaine, but in this moment, part of her wondered why he didn't seem bothered by the idea that she had been following him around the Landing Castle, or even why he'd let her run free around the Landing Castle — despite the fact that she had tried attacking him anyways.

There wasn't anything to do, other than play along with Slaine's act — it certainly beat spending the rest of her time in the Castle cooped up in her cell, with or without her tablet.

They both took their seats at the table set in the middle of the room, where food was already waiting for them. Certainly it could be said that the smell of it was a step above what she had grown used to eating in the warm meals that were delivered to her cell, or the ones that she took in the Castle's mess hall the same as any other Martian grunt aboard the castle. There was no doubt in her mind, that these were relief rations sent from the UFE to the Martians as a sign of good will, and an attempt to get whatever long-term armistice they were undoubtedly trying for secure, and favorable for Terran interests. Meaning that Slaine was keeping all the goodies for himself, and probably whatever few cronies he had — although he did seem the solitary sort aboard the Castle, as she'd determined from the last few days of having followed him around.

Slaine settled his cloth napkin across his lap, and undid the gloves that he wore, before setting about eating. Rayet, while taking note of the lack of guards in the room, started to do the same — although she had an idea that the guards were outside the room, just in case she were to try something again.

"So," Rayet breaks the silence between them as they eat. "Why are you treating your prisoner so nicely? It's not like I have any punching power with the UFE diplomats and eggheads, so why give a shit about me?"

"Because, Rayet Areash," Slaine takes a drink from his glass of water, washing down the flavors of the vegetables and meat substitute. "You're an oddity among Terrans. A Versian girl, raised among Terrans, caught fighting alongside them."

"Because Martians stole my family from me, why would I give a singular fuck about where I come from, if that place is the reason I don't have a family anymore?"

"Because it's only natural to care about where one's from. That's all anyone from Vers sees me as, no matter how high I've climbed in this society." Slaine explains.

"Whoop-de-doo. You're a Terran raised among Martians, and you're still treated like shit. No matter how pure-blooded you are, or how loyal to the cause you are, as long as you've been among Terrans, you're scum." Rayet smiles to herself. "Whereas on Earth? As long as you do your part, no one gives a flying shit where you're from."

"Is that why you fought for them?"

"I'm not fighting for anyone. I'm fighting for myself. Down there? The UFE isn't organized. Those men and women you killed in Seattle? Those were survivors, those who didn't have orders. We were just trying to survive. That's all it was. Maybe if Mars had given me a chance to survive, rather than trying to hunt me down, I would be more willing to put up with being treated as a second-rate or even third-rate human being. But I'm not willing to put up with that, because of what has happened."

"Because you were hunted down because you knew about the perpetrators behind the Princess' assassination."

"Because I was witness to the execution of my father, who was the one who tried to kill her." Rayet barely picks at her food, a distant anger building up in her stomach in place of hunger. "Because I wasn't lucky enough to be killed just the same way he was."

"And that's why you care more about the Terrans than you do Vers. Because without Vers, you wouldn't have had to live through what you have."

"Yeah. I guess you could say that."

"Do you know why I fight for Vers?"

"Because you're a egotist and a megalomaniac?"

Slaine smiles at this, "If I was, would I have gone to such lengths to try and protect the Princess?"

"What lengths did you go to?"

"Do you remember Tanegashima? That island where the Terrans found the Deucalion?"

"Yeah. I remember." Rayet affirms.

"Then you'd remember that the Orange Devil was working with someone from Vers, who was trying to protect the Princess. Who do you think that was?"

Rayet snorts, "If that was you, you did a grand total of fuck all."

"I helped in my own way. But that was all I could do. If it meant that the Princess got to live another day, then I had done my part."

"So what have you done since she disappeared?"

"I've searched tirelessly for her, to bring her back safely to Vers, and to put an end to this war. Either through victory, or animosity."

"And do all Martians have that same view?"

Slaine smile wavers. "No, unfortunately. There are many still among the thirty-seven clans that do not believe that she can be brought home safely, and that we should decimate Earth and be done with it. But I don't hold that same opinion. I think that Earth is a thing of beauty, and that the devastation that this war has wrought has been all for naught, at the end of the day. The justification that the Knights had searched for turned out to not be true. And now there are some that believe that the Princess is being held by Earth still, and demand her return."

"And what if she never turns up? What then?"

"Then maybe those Knights may have their legal justification to go to war again, and Earth will lose, because Earth cannot stand against the full might of the thirty-seven clans."

"Even if you beat the UFE, there will still be survivors. Will you hunt them down as mercilessly as you have in the past?"

"It won't be me, but there will be many among the Knights who do. For now, however, the best that I can do, is preventing those who stand with me, from bringing about war during this armistice."

"All while searching for the Princess, I take it?" Rayet scoffs, as if the notion is completely laughable.

"Yes." Slaine answers with such sincerity that its hard for Rayet to not believe his words.

"So you you extorted me to come to dinner with you, just to gloat and say that you've done 'so much' for the Princess, all the while not having anything to show for your search for her. That's a crock of shit if I've ever been led to one. Ratty justification to ask a girl out to eat too."

"Maybe I just like the conversation that you give me."

"Not like I have much choice. You could sentence me to staying in my cell forever because I refuse to talk. So I'd rather play along with your stupid games, rather than try and fight them. Fighting them isn't gonna get me anywhere with you, considering you threw my ass in prison for almost getting you."

"You were quite close, I'll admit."

Neither of them finish their meal, having been interrupted by the conversation, which dies down to silence. Rayet crossing her arms in front of her as she stares daggers at Slaine, who simply gives a pleasant, neutral smile towards her in return.

"When are you planning on turning me over to the UFE?"

"What makes you think I have any intention of doing so?"

Rayet scoffs again. "Because you're abiding by the armistice, which includes the transfer of prisoners."

Slaine's smile doesn't change as he thinks about this for a moment. "No, I don't think I will. As far as anyone's concerned, you're of Vers all the same as I am."

"So you're going to treat me like a prisoner, while claiming I'm your guest?"

"Until I'm convinced that you're not going to try to kill me, yes."

"Tough shit for me and my cot then."

Slaine gives a small nod at this.

"How about this, Slaine." Rayet drops the use of 'milord'. "If you're going to treat me like a guest, I have a deal of my own."

"Oh? What's that?"

"You move me to a state room, and stop restricting where I can go, and I'll stop sneaking around your precious Castle."

Slaine's eyebrows raise, an indication to Rayet that he truly had no idea how much sneaking around she had been doing this whole time. "How about this instead — since you're keen on pushing the rules as far as they'll go, I'll abide by this, but instead of relieving the restrictions, you're confined to your stateroom for the rest of your stay here."

"Hey wait—!"

Slaine shrugs. "You should have better weighed the risks of letting me know that you've been behaving in such a way. You'll keep your tablet, at least. But you'll be stuck in there until I decide that you're going to behave."

Slaine makes a motion, and the door behind Slaine opens, and the two guards from before step into the room. Presumably to take Rayet to her new 'cell'.

"Well, in that case, Milord. Thank you for allowing me to upgrade my cabin."

Slaine simply smiles at the jest, before turning back to his meal, as Rayet is taken from the room, and escorted to her new one.