Chapter 6: Replicas

Miqol turned away from the screen he had been looking at. "Ah, Shulk, good to see you as always. Here alone today?"

Shulk tilted his head in a "somewhat" manner. "Not completely, Dunban and Riki are around somewhere. But the rest of us are helping people in Alcamoth right now. Helps us get more done to split up."

"Of course. Divide and conquer, spread your resources, all that stuff. Good to hear you're not just charging up to Agniratha without preparation. Any big news from away?"

"Not really." Shulk thought for a moment. "The allied force is coming together well last I heard, but other than that it's all life as usual."

"Good, good." Miqol appeared to remember something. "Got something I'd like to ask of you."

Shulk nodded. "Of course."

Miqol learned forward slightly. "Let's imagine that we start making a bunch of anti-Mechon weapons down here and ship them off the the allied force. How many d'you think we need to hand out for it to be worth the hassle?"

"Well...Assuming we're just talking about the front-line fighters, anyone that doesn't have one would be a burden to the rest. We can't rely on toppling the Mechon to cause damage in a huge battle. We'd need to supply almost everyone."

"Yes, of course. But what if these weapons were Monados? What then?"

Shulk tilted his head and tried to make sense of the question. "But almost no one can use the Monado."

"Don't worry about stuff like that. Let's just imagine it all works fine."

"Then...that would be huge. One Monado can Enchant a group of five, six, maybe up to eight or so."

Miqol made a fist pump. "Exactly. If we can figure out how to build some replica Monados, each one is worth half a dozen normal anti-Mechon weapons. More if you count that it powers up what people already own and like. Now I know that some of that sword's power belongs to you instead of the blade itself, so maybe it won't work. But would you agree it's worth a try?"

"Definitely." Shulk looked back towards the Monado's hilt. "Even if you can't get the Enchanting to work, just an energy blade with the same ether properties might end up being easier and faster to build."

"Our thoughts exactly." Miqol crossed his arms. "Of course, to get started we'll need to have a close look at the Monado. Give it a go-over, figure out how it works as much as we can. You should head to the lab, I've got my top engineer there."

"All right."

Shulk left the bridge room and headed down into the lower decks of Junks. He'd been to the tech lab once before, where he'd seen a few tricks for making anti-Mechon weapons.

The lab didn't look all that much different from any other room in Junks. Standing next to a row of displays was a yellow-accented Machina with a decoration on his head that almost looked like the top of a wrench.

"Ah, you must be Shulk," he said, his voice quite a bit deeper than his average-built body suggested. "I'm Qonaker. How do you do?"

"I'm fine," Shulk replied. "Miqol wants us to try and figure out how the Monado works."

"I heard. I like a good challenge. Let's see it." Qonaker indicated a workbench, mostly covered with a variety of unusual-looking tools.

Shulk carefully took the Monado and placed it in the clear spot. "Don't try to handle it yourself. It doesn't like it when people other than me try to use it, so I imagine it might get nasty if a Machina even touched it."

"That's fine, I'm just doing some scans."

Qonaker proceeded to scan the Monado with no less than a dozen different instruments, each one providing a large set of readings that he compiled into a big chunk of data on the largest display.

"This doesn't look all that advanced to be honest," he muttered, paging through the data as if he felt some of it was missing. "How many arts does it have?"

"Seven," answered Shulk. "Three direct attacks, two for defending, and two others. I'm not sure if there's anything else it might still have hidden; we thought it only had two in total before I started using it."

"Hmmmmm." Frowning, Qonaker continued to search through his scan results. "It looks like we could make a replica pretty easy in terms of the construction process. But these are some pretty odd innards we have here. The required materials won't come cheap. And I don't think we can say anything right now as to whether we'd get anything more than a fancy energy blade. We'd have to build something and try it out ourselves. Say, can we get a scan of it with an art in progress, or are none of then continuous enough?"

Shulk thought for a moment. "Most of the arts have a continuous effect, but only on the other things it targets. The Monado itself just casts the art and goes back to normal pretty quickly. So in that sense, you might be able to scan one of the weapons it Enchants."

"Worth a try. I don't have anything on me at the moment though, and I doubt anyone else here in Junks would. Any of your friends around?"

"Uh, maybe...maybe Riki is close. Give me a few minutes. I'll take the Monado with me just to be safe."

"That's fine, I can wait. Still got a lot of data to look at."

Shulk took the Monado and exited Junks, heading for the part of the Hidden Village with the shops. As he suspected, Riki was wandering around, looking for interestingly-shaped objects he could buy to possibly trade back on Bionis.

"Hello Shulk. Shulk needs Riki's help?"

"You've got me figured out," Shulk said. "Qonaker the engineer wants to see the Monado in action so he can hopefully make some copies of it."

Riki wobbled back and forth a bit. "More Monados? Riki intrigued. OK, Riki will come along."

It didn't take long to return to the lab. Qonaker eyed Riki with a mix of curiosity and leeriness; most Machina viewed Nopon as wildcards that could do anything at any moment.

"Nopon, eh?" he noted. "Interesting. All right, let's see how this works."

"Okay Riki," Shulk said, "go stand over there and pretend you're ready to fight something. But try not to bounce around too much, what we want to do is scan your weapon."

"Riki will do Heropon's best!" Riki hopped to the designated location and grabbed his biter, holding it up into the air as still as he could get it as if he were waiting to smash a bug on the floor.

With Qonaker's instruments readied across the table, Shulk took the Monado and cast Enchant over the room, giving Riki's weapon a mottled purple glow.

"Hrrm, fascinating." Qonaker glanced between the sensors. "Definitely got what I wanted here. Give me a moment to put it together."

Shulk nodded as the Machina compiled the newest set of data. Riki eventually realised he wasn't being paid attention to anymore and dropped his pose to also turn and watch.

Qonaker began by circling the centre of the screen displaying Riki's biter. "Here's the nexus of ether that powers the enchantment. It just runs until it's empty, simple enough. It's got the same waveform as the Monado's energy blade itself, so it has the exact same properties."

Shulk held his chin. "That means making one of these enchanting nexi isn't any harder than a full Monado?"

"Well, without a real emitter, the trick would be to make it self-sustaining without burning out all at once. Could be easy, could be hard, no way to know until we try." Qonaker changed screens to the Monado itself during the enchanting. "But the casting itself is the nasty part. See how the ether is flowing through all these micro-conduits inside the shell? Those weren't even there when I did the inert scan, and from the looks of it they're gone again right now. The exact path of the flowing ether is what generates the correct resonance for the art to form. The trouble is the micro-conduits fill the whole space. There's no room for more than one set to exist at a time."

"So..." Shulk paused to put it together. "So you can only build a Monado that knows one art?"

"That's option one, yes. It would have all the micro-conduits baked in so anyone could use the one art. But that's assuming any old ether-focusing material will do fine, because the stuff in your Monado can't be fixed in place. We'd have to try something and hope it works." He paused for a moment. "We do have option two, which is to just make it of the same material as your Monado. That would let it do the shapeshifting it needs to access all the arts. But we can't encode the right paths in that material without just baking them in anyway; the knowledge is in your mind, not the sword itself. You would probably be able to use it just fine, but anyone else would get nothing. Unless you could personally teach them somehow, and that's not exactly scalable."

"I see." Shulk's forehead wrinkled up something fierce; he was trying to figure out how to apply this new knowledge without being distracted by how a bunch of previous Monado-based mysteries either now made sense or now made even less sense. "Why not try both and see which works better?"

Qonaker tilted his head and half-shrugged. "Well, that's certainly what I'm going to suggest we do. But like I said, it won't come cheap, and odds are we won't get it right on the first try either. So let's assume we have to pick one option, at least to start with: which one d'you think it should be?"

Shulk stood and thought for about a minute and a half before coming to a decision. "The first option, the single-art version. You said it's less likely to succeed, but it'll be far more useful to everyone if it does. But if it doesn't work, maybe try the second option right away instead of working too hard on the first."

"I'll take your opinion as the expert." Qonaker nodded. "I'll head up to Miqol and get his approval. You coming, or you got other things to do?"

"I...think you'll be fine." Shulk have something else on his mind, and wanted to fix it before he forgot. "Can't wait for the results."

"All right then. See you later."

Shulk left the lab and began to head outside somewhat absent-mindedly.

Riki, closely following along, could tell something wasn't quite right. "Why Shulk not go to Miqol with new engineer friend? Shulk not excited to make more Monados?"

"Oh, well..." Shulk wasn't quite comfortable with telling Riki his thoughts at the moment. "I need to talk to Dunban. About the Monado. We just learned a bunch about it and...uh, I need to know what he thinks about a few things."

"Riki understand. Shulk need private talk time with Dundun." The ball of fur spun around. "Riki will go back to what he was doing. Shulk will feel better later."

"Thanks, Riki."

Shulk didn't watch Riki totter away back to the shops. Instead, he looked out across the lake, towards the island where he could see Dunban sitting.

Kallian placed his notebook on the table and leaned on the nearest chair. "What is on your mind, Melia?"

"...Many things."

Melia had not had a private one-on-one conversation with Kallian since she had left Alcamoth towards Valak Mountain, partly because he was quite busy heading the allied force and was usually unavailable during the few times she had returned thus far. But today he was open, and so she brought him to an empty meeting room to try and get rid of some of the nagging thoughts that had been building up.

She took a moment to choose which one she wanted to start with. "I must first ask about Dickson. What do you think of him?"

"What do I think of Dickson?" Kallian didn't appear to get why this was a question, but went with it. "He is a clever man with a unique collection of life experience for a Homs. I believe he is at the forefront of Homs anti-Mechon technology. We are lucky for him to hold such interest in fighting alongside us."

Melia was looking for a different kind of answer. "Yes, but what of Dickson as a person?"

Kallian looked at her a bit more intensely. "Do you not trust Dickson?"

She didn't expect him to find the true reason so suddenly, but it was probably for the better. "No, I do not."

"I do not blame you in the least." Kallian nodded with a pensive look. "As much of an asset he is to the effort, I sense he is hiding something of great importance from us. Perhaps it is with good reason, or perhaps he simply does not trust us as much as we would like. But in any case, I see no reason for such a trivial matter to obstruct our alliance. Why, what do you sense?"

"I sense..." Melia paused for a moment to figure out how to put it into words. "I sense a fearful and otherworldly aura radiating from him. It is a sensation I have not seen of anything else in the world."

Kallian's brow furrowed. "What do you mean? Are you referring to his natural ether signature?"

"Yes. It is distinctly unnatural, a pattern that deviates so far from that of a Homs that I have no idea what to make of it."

"Hmmmm." Kallian turned to pace around a bit, deep in thought. "I have no reason to doubt the assessment of a generational ether talent, but at the same time it is quite a bit too unusual to simply believe without any other source."

Melia remembered something. "Riki also feels this way. We both agreed that something felt off when we first met him." But drat, Riki is on the Fallen Arm at the moment and cannot corroborate.

"I see." Kallian thought for a few moments. "Is it possible Dickson is simply different in some way that does not affect his trustworthiness?"

"I...suppose that is possible." Melia couldn't add anything; while Dickson's aura gave her a distinctly negative feeling, never before had she seen any ether signature so dissonant with its owner, and so it could indeed be simply because it wasn't what she expected.

"Then perhaps we are worrying ourselves over nothing." He stopped pacing. "It is not at all my intention to simply ignore your opinion. But we must prioritise our issues. As it currently stands, Dickson has been a great help to the alliance's efforts. If the worst were to happen and he were to turn against us, what could he really do? The Homs hold no allegiance to him in particular, and he holds no knowledge that we cannot counter should the enemy learn it. One man will not cripple our position. So while perhaps we should be aware of the possibility, we have greater things to worry about."

"I understand." It was a little disappointing, but it was the right move. She did of course have the authority to override Kallian's opinion, but there was no need to complicate matters.

"Now, surely that's not the only thing you wished to discuss?"

Melia nodded. "Correct. I had an idea for timing our approach on Agniratha with the force's attack through Sword Valley."

Kallian appeared interested. "Do tell."

"It will likely take a few days for us to travel through Agniratha, determine where Egil is, and plan for our assault. We will keep you informed of our schedule as best we can. On the day we expect to confront him, our first action will be to return my ship to Alcamoth on a predetermined and distinctively-shaped route. This will signify that we have begun, and that you should initiate your own attack."

"Very good." Kallian wrote something down in his notebook. "I can think of no better signal. Once you have decided upon the shape of the route, we will set up a watch for it. What is your current estimation?"

Melia thought for a moment. "Agniratha is a city of similar scale to Alcamoth. I would suspect that Egil is located in the most central or most capital region, but he is likely to have erected some sort of defences against our arrival, which may take some time to capitulate. My best guess at the moment is no sooner than four days, with a week being more likely. Though I would not at all be surprised for it to take two weeks."

"That may be just as well. We could use as much preparation time as possible." He took further notes. "Anything else?"

"Yes, one more thing. How goes the public perception of my surrogate?" It was something she'd been meaning to look into for a while but had kept forgetting - she wasn't used to the idea of having someone pretend to be her while she was away.

Kallian couldn't help frowning a bit. "The general public seems content, but the underbelly is beginning to suspect something is amiss. The more time passes, the more her imperfections become apparent. It is a constant distraction to all who are in the know."

Melia nodded. "Could anything be done to assuage the discontent?"

"I'm not sure. We can't have the true you make an appearance, or it will make the surrogate's flaws more jarring." Kallian had a thought. "Tell me, have you met the surrogate?"

"...I have not. Perhaps I should."

"Indeed. She has had nothing but archived footage and her own presumptions to impersonate you by; a direct meeting could do wonders for her act." More note-taking. "Her name is Kira Lellens. She is boarded in inner guest room 3. She passed the high-security civilian screening process as we hired her; whether you trust her to see your face is your choice."

"I shall consider it." Melia cast her mind around in case she was forgetting anything. "I believe that's all I wished to speak with you about today, Brother."

"Excellent." Kallian closed his notebook and smiled. "I have a single question for you: How is your...unique condition?"

Melia looked down at Meyneth's chestplate sitting on her. Most people didn't pay too much attention to it; despite being quite large for a piece of jewelry, she had yet to meet anyone who considered it otherwise. Kallian had guessed it was something more the first time he saw it, and she had told him there was a helpful voice within, but she hadn't yet revealed it was the goddess of the Mechonis - that knowledge was probably best left hidden for now.

"My bond with the presence within has served us well in navigating the Mechonis and combatting challenging foes."

"I see." Kallian was clearly at least slightly worried, but he had no reason to believe there was a problem. "Well, I must be on my way then. Don't hesitate to ask my opinion at any time."

"Of course."

The two left the room and turned opposite directions. Melia decided to head straight for the guest rooms; there was no reason to delay meeting the surrogate.

She could sense an odd feeling of uncertainty. It didn't seem to be coming from herself, but rather Meyneth. The feeling was too weak to notice when occupied by something else, but it wasn't the first time she'd had an unexpected emotion pour over the edge between the two minds, and each time it seemed to be getting slightly stronger and longer-lasting. She strongly hoped that it would never become powerful enough to interrupt her when trying to do something, wishing that her feeling would cross back over and inform her tenant to keep quiet.

Dunban waited for Shulk to approach and sit down beside him before speaking. "I sense you didn't come over here just for idle chit-chat."

Sometimes, Shulk would jokingly complain whenever Dunban made this observation. Today wasn't one of those times; instead, he just nodded.

"Well, let's hear it." Dunban shifted his position to face Shulk a bit more.

"It's...about the Monado," Shulk began. "We just learned a lot about how it works. It looks like it's just a tool to focus the arts the user knows. But...but that still doesn't explain everything. How-"

Dunban held up his hand. "I don't wish to interrupt you, but I don't think I'm in any position to help you understand the Monado anymore. You've used it to more effect than I ever had."

Shulk didn't expect that kind of answer. "But you're still the only one who could control it other than me. Miqol is thinking of trying to duplicate it to help the allied force. I need to know what made you different from everyone else."

"You're forgetting something important," Dunban said. "Zanza said you were the heir to the Monado. And from what we've learned since, I gather that he gets to pick who that is. He probably only let me use it until you were ready."

"I...guess that makes sense. But how did we both know the same Monado Arts when we picked it up? And how did you never find any more of them?"

Dunban shrugged. "I don't have those answers, Shulk. The Monado is bigger than either of us. We may never fully understand it."

Shulk was becoming a bit frustrated; he knew it was optimistic to expect Dunban to have any answers, but at the same time it bothered him to have collected so much information yet still be so far from a complete understanding. His head drooped and shuddered a bit.

Dunban suspected that something more was up. "You're not looking for answers just for Miqol's idea, are you? You want to understand the Monado as much as you can for the sake of fighting Egil. That's it, isn't it?"

"I...well, kind of. Maybe. It's more..."

Shulk stared at some blank spot across the lake for a few moments. To his surprise, he began a pretty fluent train of thought.

"I couldn't save Fiora. I'd only been using the Monado for a few minutes. I wasn't ready. If I knew then what I did even a few days later, I could've saved her."

"Then I couldn't save the Emperor. I saw it coming but it still took us by surprise. And just seconds after that I got the power I would have needed to save him."

"And then I couldn't save Face Nemesis. I never had a vision that Egil could shut down the Monado. If I had, we could have been prepared, I could have been ready to fight it. Or even if I just practised harder or something. Everything would have been a lot easier if we saved her."

"But..." He looked back down at his newly-clenched fists, now talking to himself more than anyone. "I will save Melia. I might not be ready now but I will be. I've got to train harder than ever and learn as much as possible. I'm not going to let anyone take her away like the others."

Dunban looked worried. "What's this, now? You got another vision about Melia?"

Shulk realised that he had been rambling out loud and immediately turned sheepish. "Um, well...no. It's actually about..." He considered for a moment and decided it might be the best time. "She told me she'd kill herself if Meyneth tries to take over her body. Part of me thinks it would have happened already, but on the other hand who knows what might happen once we get to Egil." His mood turned from sheepish to hasty, tripping over a few words as his continued. "And that's assuming she doesn't get fooled by something and think it's happening when it actually isn't. But...why would she do that to herself? I don't totally trust Meyneth yet, but she can't be all bad if she's been giving us help all this time. Why deprive her of a body at possibly the most important time for her to need one? While also giving Egil an easier time by removing one of his strongest opponents?"

"I see." Dunban scratched his chin. "I can understand her mindset."

"You...you can? How?"

Dunban looked up towards the Bionis. "Before the Battle of Colony 9, I was the special one. The only one who could wield the Monado, the only one who had a fighting chance against the Mechon by themselves. But I continued to put myself in more danger than necessary despite my importance - or perhaps I should say, because of it. I wanted to be the hero or die trying. I suspect Melia has a similar desire - she would rather die than live by someone else's terms. I agree it is a foolish, egotistic mindset. But it is what it is."

Shulk considered the insight, turning from frustrated to thoughtful. "That actually makes a lot of sense. Last time we were in Alcamoth, I was reading a book for teaching Homs about High Entia culture. It said that they're really big on honour. In ancient times, knights and assassins alike would routinely kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner. Melia must feel the same way about Meyneth being possibly able to take over her body. She must feel super-conflicted about saving her own honour versus not knowing if she can gain it back by giving it up to save the world."

Dunban's eyebrows went up a bit. "Fascinating. What brought you to read this book, by the way? I've never known you to take an interest in history or culture."

"Uh...well..." Shulk had trouble finding an answer. "I guess...maybe...it's so different from Homs stuff that it's interesting?"

Dunban chuckled and shook his head, looking back to straight ahead. "They are an intriguing society. But I don't think that's why you're taking an interest. I think you're looking for anything you can find to try and save Melia from herself. Is that right?"

Shulk didn't know how to respond, but after a moment he discovered he felt relieved. "Yeah, yeah that's it. I'm sick of losing people to Egil and the Mechon. I'm not letting that list grow any longer."

"So what now then?" Dunban asked.

"I...I don't know." Shulk closed his eyes and laid back. "I feel a bit better about things, but I'm still worried."

"Don't worry about what's out of your control. Just do your best to make the world such a nice place that Melia won't want to leave."

Shulk found the comment both weirdly out of place and strangely sensible. He didn't feel an answer was necessary; he just continued to lay there, thinking about everything he had learned today.

Melia gave the guest room door a polite knock, mentally rehearsing her introduction. Part of her was worried that a professional actress would see through it easily, but on the other hand, making a living by partaking in fantasy worlds might actually make it harder to see the truth in a stranger.

After about half a minute, the door faded open to reveal Kira, the woman hired to be her surrogate while away from Alcamoth. She looked about three years younger, stood about ten centimetres taller, was a decent amount more thickset, had a significantly flatter chest and hips, and had hair cut to shoulder length. The bags under her eyes and droopy half-wings all but screamed she wasn't getting enough sleep.

"Hello." She blinked a few times, a bit unfocused. "Who are you?"

Melia took a deep but quick breath. "Hello, Ms. Lellens. I am with the imperial council. I wish to gather feedback of your experience working for us thus far."

"Really?" Kira didn't seem too impressed, but did back away to let Melia in. "Well, sure, I guess."

The guest room was decorated in a faint, neutral blue, with enough furniture and decoration to fit in a five-star hotel. Replicas of Melia's headdress, Empress Mask, and Protect Staff sat on the desk.

Melia waited for Kira to pick a seat before choosing her own. "I wish for you to speak your mind. Release whatever you desire to say."

Kira was initially slouched in her seat, but sat up a bit straighter. "Do you actually mean that?"

"Yes. Do not hold anything back. There will be no negative consequences - this is for making the experience more bearable for you."

"Well...okay." Kira thought for a few seconds before beginning.

"You probably at least guess this, since you're one of us, but it's so hard for a small-winged half-blood to get any gigs as an actress that aren't just token diversity characters. So of course I went nuts when you guys showed up and asked if I could pretend to be Empress Melia for a few weeks, starting immediately. I probably should have read the contract more carefully, but I need to do something and there'd never be a better opportunity. So I came up here and started trying to get into character, watching all the footage I could while being shown around the palace to get tailored and stuff. And then I got put into this room, which really what more could you ask for, the free room service feels like the best part."

"But then I actually started the next day, and man, I don't know how Empress Melia does it. I don't know how accurate the mask and headdress are, but sometimes it feels like I've got a big fat towel wrapped around my head that gives me sinus problems. And all the standing and sitting around in the throne is...well I can't lie, who hasn't dreamed of doing that, but it just gets so boring and stiff. The clothes were tailored to make me look the part more, but that means they're tight in some places and loose in others, which is really distracting whenever I have to move. And I can't even take weekends off, because I have to wander around the palace a bit just for visibility, and no going outside because it'll be too easy to get the secret out."

"I guess you could say the worst part is that I feel like if something big goes down, people will actually expect me to make a decision. So far I've been able to just be neutral or let Prince Kallian do any decision-making because he's the regent right now. Which I really super-appreciate by the way, maybe you should tell him that, because I don't really have a chance. But if he's ever not there I'll be in big trouble, I don't want to have anything serious be decided by some random actress who doesn't know anything. I mean, I don't really know what I expected, but I guess I didn't think the stress level would be this high for what feels like the whole time."

"Okay I'm not sure if I just changed my mind, but maybe the actual worst part is that I'm stuck here in the palace until it's over. I mean it's not like there's anything I need that I don't have, but after a couple weeks of doing this I miss just being outside. Actually, I missed my boyfriend's birthday a few days ago. I was able to tell him before I left that I might not make it but it's still depressing. He doesn't even know exactly what I'm doing because it's an imperial secret and all...man, if I could just see him again for an hour or so I'd feel a whole lot better. I almost feel like I'm in a different city because of how different everything is from what I'm used to."

"Uh, that turned into a bit of a rant I guess. But I think you get the idea. The job's way harder than I expected, and I'm unsure if the lifestyle makes up for it. But I still don't think I would have turned it down for something else. That's...that's it I guess."

Melia considered the infodump for a moment. On the whole, none of it came as a surprise; she expected a citizen to underestimate what it meant to be empress and be uncomfortable with taking hold of such authority, especially in a time when open warfare was a distinct possibility. But the part about being separated from a boyfriend carried quite a bit of guilt, as if it were her fault that this person had been separated from her own life just to mimic hers. She felt obligated to make it up to her somehow.

"I acknowledge and respect all of your experiences and opinions, and I shall act immediately to resolve your complaints. Firstly, I order you to take tomorrow off and go see your boyfriend, and the rest of your family if you so wish. I will create a suitable cover story and arrange for discreet transportation in and out of the palace. All you have to do is respect the secret."

Kira's face lit up. "Y-you can do that for me? Really?!"

Melia nodded. "Of course. I will also see what can be done about allowing you similar breaks every ten days or so. Furthermore, while I am sure you have been presented with the most important rules of the audience chamber, I refer you to this one that appears to have been missed or glossed over: in the event of open warfare, imperial business may be suspended. Should Kallian choose to lead the allied force into battle himself, as I suspect he is eager to, you need not proceed without him. You don't have to know the article number to invoke it; as long as you're sufficiently clear about it, the aides will confirm the provision exists for you."

"Th-that's..." Kira's eyes glittered. "Why was I not told this before?! This is amazing! Oh that'll take a huge weight off me, thank you so much...um, what's your name?"

"I am Melia."

Kira nodded for a moment before doing a double-take. "Wait, Melia? As in, the empress Melia?"

"The very same."

There was silence for a good twenty seconds. It wasn't an intentional silence; several syllables could be seen forming on the stunned commoner's face before being cancelled. Eventually she got it together.

"W-wwwow. I didn't...I thought you'd be...well..." Another pause, as if she'd done something wrong. "I've been playing you as kind of a no-nonsense harda- uh, I mean, no-nonsense disciplinarian. Should I soften it up a bit?"

Melia shook her head. "Oh, no. It is absolutely correct to portray me as strict and firm when in the Audience Chamber. Do not let my friendly actions towards you colour your initial impression. It is a difficult job that must be taken with minimal emotion and bias."

"Right okay." Kira was leaning side to side in her chair as if trying to get some different viewing angles. "Do...do you mind if I just...observe you for a bit?"

"Go ahead."

The next five minutes were highly awkward. Melia stood up, sat down, walked around the room, and did a few other requested actions repeatedly while Kira watched and mimicked. Melia couldn't tell if the acting was gaining accuracy, but it certainly appeared to become more fluid and confident.

The last thing Kira requested to see was a handshake. Once she had finished learning Melia's, she took one more as herself. "I can't thank you enough for coming to see me, Your Majesty. I was feeling really down and tired about this job, but you've just made it so much easier. I feel motivated again."

"You are welcome. It is my duty to serve the people as they do us."

"...sure. Hm, that's a good line, might use it sometime." An awkward pause. "So, uh, bye then I guess? I probably won't see you again?"

Melia thought for a moment. Once she returned from defeating Egil, she wouldn't have much use for a surrogate. Even if she wanted to slip out of the palace for a day or two, emperors taking trips across the Bionis on the imperial yacht weren't exactly rare, and no secret replacement would be necessary.

That being said...

"I suppose so. But in the event I hear of any filmmakers who need an empress, I will have a strong recommendation."

A huge grin appeared on Kira's face. No further words came out.

Satisfied that she had done good, Melia showed herself out. Wasting no time, she sought out the relevant people to inform them of what was to be done for Kira over the next few days. As expected, there was a lot of previously-unrealised sentiment that the surrogate was being worked too hard, alongside a renewed spirit to help her out rather than just leave her be.

It was just about time to gather the party up for dinner, so Melia turned for the nearest balcony. It was a lot faster and easier to summon her ship to her position than to walk to and through a giant hangar. And if she could do anything to see Shulk again faster, she would.

...That's an odd thought to have. Why would I be so desperate to see Shulk again? We've only been apart for a few hours. It's not even as if it's the first time in a while we've been apart at all.

Perhaps Kira's mentioning of being unable to see her boyfriend has stirred a similar emotion within me. I don't know what else could cause it.

...good grief, I just compared Shulk to someone's boyfriend as if he were mine. What's gotten into me? That is a term reserved only for mutual attraction, of which there is nothing of the sort in this case. This is merely a...an extended crush caused by a lifetime of having no romantic affection for anyone.

That's interesting. This is the first time I've thought of my relationship with him as a crush, or to even formally acknowledge it as something more than friendship. I suppose denying it was simply delaying the inevitable.

On the other hand, maybe I should have kept denying it, in the hope it would hurt less when I am forced to become secluded in the palace again.

Melia realised that she had been standing at the balcony with her ship waiting in front of her for a minute or two. She shook her head and jumped aboard to collect the others.

"She's late." Shulk was clearly on edge, fidgeting around more than usual and pacing around aimlessly as he stared up into the sky towards the Bionis' head.

As Shulk's pacing brought him further away, Riki stopped spinning around and leaned towards Dunban, speaking in a low voice. "Dundun, why Shulk so anxious? Riki was three minutes late yesterday and that not a problem. But Melly only one minute late and Shulk is worrywarting?"

"Shulk's been having a lot of deep thoughts today," Dunban replied in a quiet mutter. "He's worried about Melia and whether Meyneth can be trusted."

"Ooooh. Riki maybe not completely understand, because Riki think Meymey is too big help to hurt Melly."

"I agree, but Shulk's not so sure. He fears that Melia will do something terrible to herself because she misinterprets one of Meyneth's actions."

Riki didn't have a response. He instead sat down and slowly rolled around.

After a moment, a speck became visible in the distance. It quickly resolved into the Illustrious Alighting, landing in the plaza with Melia, Sharla, and Reyn aboard.

Sharla was the first to speak. "Sorry we're late, it was my fault. I dropped my wallet and it spilled everywhere."

Shulk ignored her and the rest of the party's lighthearted banter. He was too busy decompressing from the massive weight lifted off his mind with Melia's return. It freaked him out a little how deeply he missed having her within eyesight, knowing that she could trigger her own demise at any moment.

Melia caught that Shulk was kind of staring at her for no clear reason. It was a bit creepy. At least it gave her a solid reason to look somewhere else for once.

Reyn hadn't bothered to disembark. "So, we heading back to Colony 9 for supper then?"

Shulk realised he might be acting weirdly and decided to answer. "Yeah. I can tell you what we've learned about the Monado today. It's kind of cool."

"Only kind of cool?" Reyn pretended to not care by crossing his arms and turning his head. "Bah whatever, tell me when it's actually cool."

Everyone laughed as they climbed onboard the vessel and flew off.