Lakshmi gives him a nod goodbye, briefly smiling once more - and then simply, she's off, just like she came. Quietly, quickly and suddenly.
She swings down with no warning - one arm holding her weight as her feet get the perch she wants on the outside edge. Dropping with a heavy landing that springs into a running step that launches her at speed, a long-stride sprint that gains the momentum she needs so that when she jumps over the street - off and across to a nearby roof she clears it easily, rolling in a summersault to break her landing before she's up and moving again. Wasting no time in her departure - there was too much to do as she scrambled into the night over rooftops. Disappearing into the echo of street lights and neon signs of Earth.
The rest - the intervening hours - she barely gets more than a few hours sleep. Telling her people the good news, their preparations to leave in the hotel where no one asked their names and didn't bother strangers. They left there at some early hour with as little sleep as any of them got. Preparing herself in a long hour of silence that - it was coming together. This war, it might just be seen through. The blockaded might just be broken, she scarcely dare breath as she codes the message back to her father. To tell him to begin the preparations, a feverish feeling that seizes her. Bold and sharp that grips her and infects her guards. Gambling with something intangible.
Though when she is waiting for him the next morning, she's easy to spot sitting in the lobby for him and his men. A serious, darkly dressed woman, rich in fabrics. She sits shoulders back, hands in her lap, elbows on the arms of the chair. Draped to a position far greater than one she currently was. Flanked by the guards that stand either side of her. All six of them in total. Hard in the mouth, hard in the eyes. Their plasma arcs and swords were worn in even weight to each other. Serious and quiet, watching for the slightest thing that would dare approach their Rani.
Far different, to how she'd been, appearing in the dark of night. A Queen, not a woman, and she holds herself to that purpose - at least until she sees him approach, and rises to greet whoever comes to lead her away.
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She swings down with no warning - one arm holding her weight as her feet get the perch she wants on the outside edge. Dropping with a heavy landing that springs into a running step that launches her at speed, a long-stride sprint that gains the momentum she needs so that when she jumps over the street - off and across to a nearby roof she clears it easily, rolling in a summersault to break her landing before she's up and moving again. Wasting no time in her departure - there was too much to do as she scrambled into the night over rooftops. Disappearing into the echo of street lights and neon signs of Earth.
The rest - the intervening hours - she barely gets more than a few hours sleep. Telling her people the good news, their preparations to leave in the hotel where no one asked their names and didn't bother strangers. They left there at some early hour with as little sleep as any of them got. Preparing herself in a long hour of silence that - it was coming together. This war, it might just be seen through. The blockaded might just be broken, she scarcely dare breath as she codes the message back to her father. To tell him to begin the preparations, a feverish feeling that seizes her. Bold and sharp that grips her and infects her guards. Gambling with something intangible.
Though when she is waiting for him the next morning, she's easy to spot sitting in the lobby for him and his men. A serious, darkly dressed woman, rich in fabrics. She sits shoulders back, hands in her lap, elbows on the arms of the chair. Draped to a position far greater than one she currently was. Flanked by the guards that stand either side of her. All six of them in total. Hard in the mouth, hard in the eyes. Their plasma arcs and swords were worn in even weight to each other. Serious and quiet, watching for the slightest thing that would dare approach their Rani.
Far different, to how she'd been, appearing in the dark of night. A Queen, not a woman, and she holds herself to that purpose - at least until she sees him approach, and rises to greet whoever comes to lead her away.