“She would be placed in the Unpledged Holdings, and provided with all the basic comforts and safety a human requires. At her option, she could relocate to any of the twelve vassalages by pledging to myself or one of my sisters.”

Deskyl nods, her head still curled into Devika's shoulder.

    "Thank you, Ma'am."

”May I prepare my SLAYER for departure?”

“You may. Please fly safely.”

"I hope you have a good trip, Ma'am."

Dheto nods and tries to smile.

(Emotion Read: melancholy, full of confused feelings, hoping that seeing Ladriel again will make things make sense.)

    "Go ahead, she says. You can find her again once you've thought it through. Or she'll find you, one or the other."

Oh. She was waiting to be dismissed, wasn’t she?

(Dheto exits the room.)

Once Dheto is gone, Deskyl gives Devika a squeeze, and disengages a little, ready to snuggle back up if she objects.

Though she would certainly be happy to continue snuggling right up to the cusp of their mission's Deployment Window, Devika does not outwardly object.

She doesn't really feel like she has grounds to object to anything, actually? On the one hand, she's still a little mystified by just how kind Deskyl is being to her. But on the other hand, she's well aware of her own precipitous lack of literacy in such interpersonal matters.

(Maybe this is strange, but maybe this is normal and she just doesn't know what normal is?)

    "Is there anything you want to do, Ma'am, while we wait for Shreya?"

She thinks.

”Could you teach me a few of those hand signals?”

    "Yes, Ma'am."

They start with a basic useful vocabulary - yes and no, conditionals, simple question words that combine well with pointing.

Great! This is exactly what Devika’s looking for!

(The small station shudders just slightly as the Thousand Fingers SLAYER launches from its solitary docking port.)

Artha chimes in a couple minutes later.

”Transportation is now available for the macrofabricator tour you requested.”

    "Thank you, Ma'am. Devika, would you like to come?"

Does Devika want to tag along with DZ and Deskyl, or be left alone in a tiny way station where all the (thrumming) walls have ears?

”Yeah, let’s go!”

Off they'll go, then.

There’s a small transport docked where Dheto’s SLAYER used to be. Its internal volume looks like it’s designed for cargo rather than passengers, but it’s fully pressurized.

There doesn’t appear to be a cockpit.

Understandable, given how the vassalage works. She really needs to get a ship of her own one of these days soon, though.

All aboard, anyway.

The hatch closes behind them.

“I hope this degree finds you well!”

A voice, not Artha’s, plays from a floor speaker. Beyond the hatch, machinery wirrs: audibly at first, then silently once the walkway outside fills with vacuum.

"And you as well, Ma'am."

"I'm about to fire some maneuvering thrusters! Everybody holding onto something?"