POV: Lyra
The floor-to-ceiling transparisteel walls in the dining area exuded simplicity and class. The service android led us to a table by the viewing port, and I remained standing to take in the view of the city. Lyrokan architecture stretched below us—crystalline spires, floating platforms, streams of transport vessels creating light rivers between buildings. Orion's hand came from behind me, resting on my abdomen as he whispered into my ear, "Lyra, how about we order first, then take in the view?"
"Okay." I whispered back but didn't move until Orion gently tugged my hand toward my seat.
After we'd ordered through the holo-menu, I continued taking in the scenery. Orion was taking in another scenery—me across the table. I looked absolutely entranced as my multifaceted eyes absorbed the sight, my skin shifting through contented colors.
When I was done, I told him, "I never imagined coming here this cycle or even in this lifetime." I reached for his hand across the table, placing mine over it as I uttered a grateful 'thank you'.
He lifted my hand to kiss it, neural sparks cascading through me. "Anything for you, Lyra."
My flustered look made his pathways pulse with satisfaction. With a shy but affectionate smile, I began our conversation. "So, you've already told me about your parents and Granpa Brock. I'd like to know more about Aunt Reida. She sounds like a being I would've liked as a friend, being opinionated and all."
Orion snorted, amusement flickering through his pathways. "If she were functioning, you'd probably be spending more time with her than you do with me."
I smiled wider in response. Orion continued, "Aunt Reida was the complete opposite of my mother. She was different from most females. She makes herself heard. And unlike my mother, Aunt Reida bonded with her matched partner."
"Wait, what?" I questioned in surprise, my skin flashing to shocked yellow. "Emperor Lucas and Empress Vera were not bonded by the cosmos?"
"I thought you knew that." Orion's pathways pulsed with confusion. I shook my head. So he continued, "My father was all about power and influence so naturally he selected one of the Blackfur offspring to bond with. And knowing how different the two sisters were, it wasn't a difficult choice to make on who he wanted. Not that Aunt Reida would have accepted him anyway. She and Granpa Blackfur never liked him."
"But if they didn't like him..." I processed what I'd just heard. "Why didn't they stop your mother?"
Orion smiled sadly, pathways dimming. "It's like you said. She loved him. It was so clear that he never loved her to the intensity that she did him. He was there for what she represented. My mother was there for who he was."
I stared at the synthetic flora on the table before asking, "If my next question is too invasive, just tell me that it's classified data and I'll drop it." I took a breath. "Were any of them bonded to someone else?"
Orion smiled at how hard I was trying not to offend him. He stroked my hand. "Yes. They both rejected their bonded matches. Aunt Reida told me that my mother found her match two weeks before she met my father. But she rejected him as soon as the Emperor requested her bond within minutes of meeting her. Her bonded match was devastated but accepted the rejection nonetheless because my father threatened to challenge him for my mother if he didn't."
"So, her rejection came before the late Emperor's threat to challenge her match?" I asked. Orion nodded simply. "Oh." I responded meekly and muttered to myself, "That definitely recalibrates how I see things."
He asked, "What do you mean?"
My mouth opened but no words came out, so I closed it back as I searched for the right words. Understanding what I was doing, Orion said gently, "Star-heart, you don't have to filter your words with me. I told you that, and I meant it. I still mean it. Just tell me."
I took another moment before cautiously saying, "I think that Empress Vera may have been after power, too." I paused to gauge Orion's reaction.
There was no defensiveness or hurt in his pathways, just curiosity and genuine interest, so I continued, "The psychic bond... it would've only grown stronger by the second week. I mean look at us, our bond is only a week old and we already feel like this. The fact that the late Empress could just sever it within minutes of meeting the late Emperor, without being threatened beforehand..." I shook my head sadly, skin shifting to disapproving grey. "Either her bonded match was abusive, or she was after your father's position and power. If her choice was driven by a want of power, it certainly explains why she didn't take your side when it came to the Kyltons and their offspring."
Orion muttered, "He definitely wasn't abusive. Hm..." He processed my explanation. We were both quiet for a while before I said, "It's just a theory, Orion. I don't know what really went on in her consciousness. I just—"
Orion was brought out of his thought process. "But you might be right though. It does fit into something she always proudly told me since I was young."
I waited for him to continue. He said, "Since I was a youngling, she would remind me that our family is loved by all because we were the most powerful family in existence. Not because we were great leaders, kind, respectable or anything like that. But because we were powerful." Orion's pathways darkened disapprovingly. "What a disgrace."
I was shocked by his choice of words. So I stroked his hand comfortingly, sending calming pulses through our bond. "How about we stop with Empress Vera there, darling. Let's just go back to Aunt Reida."
Orion's pathways pulsed with confusion. "Why are you even feeling bad about this? You're not the one making these comments."
"Well, I'm the one who led you there." I admitted, guilt coloring my skin grey.
Orion disagreed, squeezing my hand. "No, you just helped me see. You shouldn't feel bad about giving me another perspective, Lyra, especially one that makes sense. If Aunt Reida were functioning, she would've told you to own it."
I couldn't help the upward curl of my lips at what he said.
He sighed in surrender. "Well then, I guess my parents' bond was more perfect than I thought. Both were after power and influence."
I began, "She may have really loved him in the end, Orion." He looked at me in confusion through our bond. Didn't I just say his late mother accepted an imperial proposal in pursuit of influence and power?
I proceeded to explain, "It's not the most ideal form of love for most of us but some who... choose their own match over one given by the cosmos do eventually learn to be content with the being that they are with. It could be driven by a sense of duty, or in your mother's case, power and status. It would start out... as a bit of a challenge but eventually, one will find little things to love about the other being. And with offspring, they would have another thing to love and live for. The luckiest ones even fall in love as the cycles go by. It just takes time. Your father may have never loved your mother as deeply as was ideal. But your mother... she may have liked the power but at the same time she may have fallen in love with your father, too."
Orion looked at me across the table. He smiled in awe, pathways glowing with admiration. "I lost count of the number of times I've asked you this but I still want to know: how did you know that? I mean it makes sense, too. But how did you know without having to meet her?"
I offered a small smile, my skin shifting to wise silver. "I was rejected five times, Orion. I have five sources of reference. The scenario I gave you was what I learned from the rejection with Commander Brandon. He had a duty as his station's leader to choose a partner of a Commander bloodline. It started out awkward for them but they eventually fell in love, and they're really proud of the two offspring they have together. Their love is so strong now that his partner isn't even worried when I'm around him. I would go so far as saying that she's one of my favorite beings to communicate with as a friend."
Orion gazed at me with a soft smile, pathways pulsing with tenderness, before a service android came with our nutrients. After the android asked us to enjoy our consumption and turned to leave the table, Orion got up and leaned over the table to kiss my cheek as he whispered, "You're amazing."
"You are too, Orion. Now, sit so we can consume." My hand gently pushed him back toward his seat as I started shifting to embarrassed pink again.
For the next few minutes, the only sound came from our consumption implements. Orion then said, "Oh, right. I almost forgot to mention about my father's bonded match. Uncle Conrad told me that the female had already been rejected once. After the second rejection from my father, she only functioned for another month before terminating herself."
I stopped consuming, my widened eyes fixed on Orion's unperturbed ones, my skin immediately shifting to horrified white.