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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2102087" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 174: They Think...After a two hours, just as the Empress had said, a group of attendants tracked down Akan and Shadow. They had gone wandering, with Akan amazed at just how big the ship was. It was literally a flying planet, with thousands of people on board that he couldn’t see serving any purpose beyond...living there. Just as they had found Tobias playing in a park of sorts, the attendants found them.    To Akan’s surprise, though, there were only two of them. For some reason he’d expected at least twelve. Probably what Cole had said about Shadow being watched so closely...but his thoughts were cut short as they were dragged off from the large, open park into a long white corridor.    The taller of the two other Alraxians had started talking in strongly accented Basic, “Your mother has arranged quarters for you. Since we’ll be arriving late, it will just be easier to travel to the palace in the morning.”    Shadow just nodded, for some reason not liking the sound of any of this. There was something wrong here, but she couldn’t yet put her finger on just what that something was. And then they stopped at a door and the taller Alraxian started speaking again, “The child’s room is joined to yours. Your mother has had clothes prepared for you to wear to the feast tonight. Some Needai will be along to assist you before the occasion, so make sure to be here in an hour.”    Then the cream white door irised open to show a very nice sized room with a large bed. Off to one wall, another door could be seen. Toby’s room. But there was still something wrong. They were missing a person. Biting her lip, Shadow very slowly stated the obvious, “...there’s only one room and two of us...”    And of course, the woman just laughed and patted Shadow on the shoulder, “And they say you don’t have a sense of humor!”    With that and a wink, she pushed them into the room and wandered off. Her laughing could be heard as the door irised shut again. Tobias plopped down out of Akan’s arms and charged over to the other door, which opened to reveal a smaller room with a Toby sized cot and a large collection of toys. A devious laugh escaped him and he bounded in to attack something.    Shadow was slowly walked across the large room, staring in horror as her mind started to work things out, “I think...”    But she just trailed off, deciding it was best not to think about. Instead, she looked over the very nice rug and then over to the large wardrobe and then to the bed. Her mouth opened again, “They think...”    Again, she trailed off, but this time walking over to the wardrobe, “But that’s not...and I don’t...”    Opening the wardrobe silenced her again. It was very, very full. On one side, a set of black and gold trim outfits that looked to be for her, and on the other...white and gold trimmed outfits that were too big for her. In fact, they looked like they’d fit Akan perfectly. Not only that, but there were many other things in different colours all through it.     She managed to only turn a slight pink colour before whimpering, “All the clothes are...are...mixed together...” slowly, she looked over to Akan with a wide eyed look, “And they think...”    Cutting herself off, Shadow closed her eyes and willed it all back to the way it should be. There would be another door on the other side of Tobias’ door to Akan’s room. There would be one or two outfits of hers in the wardrobe. Nothing else. Carefully, she opened one eye. Nothing. It was all the same. She managed another whimper.    Akan sighed and looked around a moment. Then, after deciding it was the root of the problem, said very slowly, “Don’t...don’t worry about it. I’ll just um...sleep on the rug or in with Toby. There’s got to be some extra sheets or blankets or something.”    “No,” she said a little too quickly, almost cutting Akan off in the process. Shadow calmed her voice, took a deep breath, and shook her head before taking a seat on the large bed, “You don’t have to sleep on the floor. They’re going to assume whatever they assume no matter what, anyway. Besides, the bed is...pretty big. There’s more than enough room,” her voice trailed off into a growl at the ceiling, “Besides, the Force is conspiring against us! I swear, if you did sleep on the floor something would go wrong. Heat would go out or you’d sleepwalk and end up in the damned bed anyway. And then they’d still assume the same damn thing they would if you sleep on the floor so you might as well take half the bed and sleep comfortably!”    Throwing her hands up in a sigh, she flopped back on the bed and closed her eyes. Fine. The Force was against her. It could be worse. Her mind ran through that a moment and found one way it could be. And if he thought she and Akan were...well...if he thought like everyone else, very bad things would happen. Hopefully he wouldn’t. But then again, Shadow knew the Empire well enough to figure out the damned thing would be across the whole Empire in a matter of hours. There were probably already stories and rumors and...and...she sighed and gave up thinking.    It wasn’t fair. This was supposed to have been simple. Go in, stop Ket and Nine, leave. But no. Of course not. Family had to step in. They had to jump in and start being...being...family! Making assumptions about things they shouldn’t be assuming! It wasn’t fair.</blockquote>

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