"I hope you can join us," Fina said, looking at Anu Lili with her characteristic deliberate, earnest tone. "My Your Majesty needs more strength."
I looked at Fina in considerable surprise. This hardly seemed like something she would do. This Queen had once turned herself into a half-mechanical being, this Queen who had abandoned all emotion; even after regaining her normal personality, she had retained her lack of initiative. Aside from peacefully enjoying her post-abdication life at home and occasionally getting together with our family, she rarely showed much interest in unfamiliar people—let alone someone like Anu Lili, whom she had met for the first time today. In short, she was like a lazy shadow, and had never been this "active" before.
More importantly, she was calling me "Your Majesty." That was rare. In more relaxed settings, Fina liked to call our whole family "friends." Though that stiff form of address was a little amusing, it was also one of the signs that she felt close to someone. Only on very formal occasions did she use titles like "Your Majesty" and "Commander" for us.
"I read the newly updated material on the public Information Link and learned about the Merova People, as well as those Slave Races," Fina said apologetically to Anu Lili. "I understand that you have concerns about becoming the dependents of another powerful race. The psychological trauma the Merova People left you was too severe. But I still want to offer you some advice: don't miss this opportunity. Public acceptance is certainly important, but the survival of a race sometimes requires setting aside all emotional factors. The void is not as safe as you imagine. Races like ours must unite and form a stronger camp in order to survive. And as things stand, accepting the Empire's support