The leg room situation in the captain's ready room only accommodated one and a half people, and Victoria was not the sort who accepted anything less than a full share of anything, which left Josephine struggling for space. After some awkward squirming, she'd settled on draping her legs over her chair arms.

Victoria sketched in her notepad while glancing at Josephine. Her page was filled with partially completed glyphs.

"Is that all you brought me in here for?" asked Josephine.

Victoria held up a finger for silence.

Earlier, High Exemplar Liat had appeared in the berthing quarters and informed Josephine that Victoria required her presence. Josephine had been thrilled. After a day of Victoria ignoring her, she was ready to barge in and grapple Victoria for attention, regardless of her body guards. But instead, she got twenty minutes of this.

She was considering what Victoria would do if she just left when Victoria finally held up the pad.

"There," Victoria pointed out the only glyph on the yellow page that wasn't scribbled out. "Your power."

"Who are you going to give it to?"

"No one."

"Then why'd you make it?"

"So I know how."

"Do you know what would happen to the world if that got out?"

"Of course I do." Victoria darted a line through the symbol. "I like to make a glyph of my students' power at the start of every lesson. It helps them see what progress they've made today."

"This is a lesson?"

"More of an evaluation. You've come a long way with your power. Yesterday, those pilots forgot a lot more than just you. You could never have done that when we first met."

"I thought you brought me here to discuss what's going to happen next."

"An evaluation is next."

"With Alex. With your empire. With us being on board."

"You and your friends are welcome to remain so long as you obey my rules and cause no trouble. As for Alex, I will deal with him."

"And you and me? You hunted me for years over something I didn't do."

"Do you expect an apology?"

"No, I... Don't you even want to talk about it?"

"What I want to talk about is your progress. Are you still convinced that your power can only erase memories related to you? Or have you moved beyond that?"

"You're unbelievable. Can you put away the lesson and just talk to me? Human to human?"

"Josephine. I'm busy. Alexander is working around the clock devising a way to kill us. He has the advantage with resources, military, and authority. The only advantage we have is us flairs, so I must utilize that as much as possible. I don't have time to reminisce."

"And if I say no?"

"You can't."

"You're going to force me?"

"If I must. Just because I now know you never meant me harm doesn't mean you're exempt from my command. You'll do as I say for the same reason the rest of the world does. I have the power to control you. I've already described how I could alter your memories until you're absolutely loyal to me. Maybe I don't deserve this power, but I have it, and you don't. I hope you don't force me to exercise my power against you, but I will. The stakes are too high for me. Don't delude yourself into thinking that our relationship is something it's not just because we were friends for one week almost thirty years ago."

"You've turned into a pleasant lady."

"It's how the world works."

"It's how your world works."

"It's the world I learned." Victoria folded her hands before her. "If you want to dwell on the past, fine, but not today. Perhaps once I'm back on the throne."

"And what will you do with my power then?"

"I will use it as little as possible. I plan to rule a world of humans, not automatons."

"Are you going to give my power to your secret agents?"

"Unlikely. Some powers are not worth risking falling into public hands. Your power is one. Body-swapping is another. Satisfied?"

"Are you just saying this to placate me?"

"It's no less true."

There was no point to arguing; Josephine didn't have a choice. She just wished Victoria wasn't so damn cold about it. If Victoria had asked for her help nicely, Josephine would have readily agreed. She'd already been planning to offer. It had to be this though—the ultimatum. Her help had to be an act of servitude.

"Fine. I wiped those pilots minds by stretching what I consider part of myself. I'm in this orbiter. I'm part of its crew, sort of, so this ship is an extension of me. Their mission was to destroy this ship, so their mission was about me. It's the same logic you told me when you were a child."

"Have you made any other progress?"

"It's been enough. I look after Tan and the others, so they're part of my group. Therefore part of me."

"Have you tried any other techniques?"

"Like what?"

"Like, say, you and your target have both witnessed the same event, therefore it is related to you."

"That's a stretch."

"How about erasing any memory a person has ever had since first meeting you, because you've influenced everything they'll do since. Causality."

"That's an even bigger stretch."

"Stretching flairs is what I do. With proper guidance, you should be able to drop the necessity that a memory must relate to you."

"I can already take so much when I try. It's like amnesia."

"But not total amnesia. I want you able to remove any memory you want."

"Why? That could only be used for evil."

"Nonsense. You could remove traumatic experiences. Or remove empire secrets from someone who either mistakenly learned them, or lost clearance to know them. Total amnesia could be used in leu of a death penalty."

"That doesn't outweigh the dangers."

"No, it doesn't. Which is why I'll never release your power to the public, but stretching your power would also help us deal with Alexander."

"All right. So what are we going to do? Exercises?"

"Not right now. This is an evaluation. I have something more important for you. I need to know if you're able remove memories of us from any soldier or imperial official, even if they're not directly involved like those pilots were yesterday?"

"Probably."

"Good. Then you're going to work with Winnie to erase us from as many government minds as possible before Alexander gets them all shielded. I don't know how much good it will do, but we need to slow Alex down as much as possible. The next squadron he sends against us will not fall for the same trick."

"But I'm helping Winnie with Zauna and Christof."

"You will do both. I expect you'll only have a few days to do this before Alexander has everyone shielded."

"Okay. I'll do it, but only if you sit down and talk to me like a person."

"Fine, but later. I'm much to busy to do that now. Speaking of which, on your way out, let Liat know that I'm ready for Winnie."