At breakfast, Thad asked, "Lady Sabrina, when are you going to end my misery and take the portfolio back?"
"Oh. I'm sorry, Thad. But I'm putting in for some leave, and I'm afraid I'll need you to stay here and tie up the loose ends."
Thad looked dismayed. "For the rest of the conference? But the repatriation...and the aid package...."
"I'm not leaving right away," Sabrina laughed. "But I don't think I'll stay for all of it. I'm still here to give you advice, but I'd rather leave everything in your hands for continuity's sake."
Thad groaned. Ranja asked, "And the prince?"
"There's no more need for a Realm observer," Sabrina said. "And I don't want him getting bored. I'm sorry to abandon you both here, but I'm afraid keeping an eye on him is the one part of the assignment I can't delegate. Stecklan will be staying with you, so you don't have to worry about your safety."
"I'm not," Thad said. "But I'm worried about yours! You should take the captain with you!"
"That's not up to me," Sabrina said. "Or you. Don't worry. Ford and I have a lot of experience defending ourselves."
Ranja shook her head. "You'd have more credibility if you both hadn't nearly gotten killed on Fiersai."
"I promise to steer clear of any coups d'état this time," Sabrina replied.
Ranja grinned. "Has there ever been any political turmoil on a planet you're currently on that you didn't get involved in, one way or another?"
"There were plenty on Earth," Sabrina said. "Stop worrying, you two. This is just a vacation trip. No diplomacy required."
"Except for the scandal at home when it's learned you two ran off together," Ranja pointed out. "What do you want us to say?"
"That it's not your job to comment on my vacations," Sabrina said. "You were the ones telling me how I needed one!"
"A restful one," Thad said. "Not trying to keep the prince out of trouble. That's not a vacation; it's another assignment. Why can't you wait and take us along?"
Sabrina gave a deep sigh. "I never realized that you both thought I was so incapable of taking care of myself."
"It's not that," Ranja said. "But I'm having a hard time with the concept of delegating my job to his royal highness."
"Believe me, you're not. The thought of Ford trying to pack my wardrobe is enough to give me chills," Sabrina grinned. "He might, at a stretch, be convinced to bring me some cocoa in the mornings, but it's likely to be excruciatingly early and because he wants to bounce ideas off me. Guys, look. I'm really grateful that you care, and I couldn't do this job without you. But this isn't an assignment. I can handle this. Really."
There was a lull in conversation, broken only by Ford's entrance. "Ah," he said. "I can see from the scowling that you've announced the vacation plans."
"Your royal highness," Thad said stiffly, "I see no reason why Lady Sabrina has to be deprived of her staff."
Ford chuckled. "As I understand it, Ambassador Meera, Lady Sabrina has no staff. The staff in question belongs to the ambassador, who is, at this moment, you. Don't worry. I have more incentive than you can possibly imagine to bring her home safe and sound. My parents and siblings—and hers—aside, I do not want a Wayship out to wreak vengeance on me!"
"Khediva would never be so obvious," Sabrina said. "Though I have no doubt she would find ways of making your life more difficult."
"I need her good graces with Homeworld," Ford said. "I would have asked you to intercede for me if she hadn't been busy coddling you like an invalid."
"Oh, she was just feeling guilty. When I first came aboard she told me I had to wait until she was finished with you. I'm sure she's fond of you, Ford. But you'll never hold a candle to me. I kept Mara and Scotty from running amok when we lived aboard her, thus earning her undying gratitude." She grinned at him triumphantly.
"Brat," he said, sitting down. "Since you're promoting your own persuasive skills, I'll leave it to you to deal with Stecklan. I'm busy arranging our transport."
"Don't think I'm going to spend this trip being your assistant," Sabrina warned.
"Oh, of course not. But you can't deny that you have a much better track record with the military than I do."
"I haven't had any success at all with Stecklan. He's made it clear I'm not in his chain of command."
"Purely in self defense, I'm sure," Ford said. "You do have a tendency to treat the rest of us like minions, you know."
"Excuse me?" Sabrina demanded.
"Father says Mother learned all her high-handed behavior from you."
"He said no such thing! Mara was high-handed from the moment we met her!" Sabrina retorted.
Ford laughed, getting back up. "Then you must have learned it from her. Be your usual efficient self and deal with our unwanted escort, cousin. I hope to be able to leave tomorrow."
He leaned down as if to kiss her cheek, and she swatted him away. "You're bad for my digestion," she accused. "Go away and let me eat. And stop trying to provoke me!"
"But it's my primary form of entertainment," he flung over his shoulder as he left.
Thad and Ranja were pointedly silent as Sabrina turned her attention back to her breakfast plate. Then she put her fork down and sighed. "Stop it. I promise, he's no more annoying than any number of Meskathans. And at least half of that performance was just because we had an audience."
There was silence for a moment, until Ranja could no longer resist asking, "And what was the other half?"
Sabrina rolled her eyes. "That was just Ford."
——————————
Sabrina sat out the morning's session so she could speak to Stecklan. He took the news more calmly than she expected, looking at her rather skeptically and saying nothing.
After a moment, she gave into the urge to fill the silence. "We really do appreciate everything you've done. You went above and beyond your assignment, I think, and I know we sometimes made it harder than it needed to be."
Stecklan grinned at her. "That was only to be expected. You both have a reputation for it. Well, ma'am, it was an honor to serve. And this assignment gave me access to the incident reports of your former bodyguards, which were, if I may say, fascinating reading."
"I can only imagine. No, don't tell me. Captain, I hope you will consider returning to the Intelligence service. I think you're wasted elsewhere."
"This assignment was presented to me as a step toward that," Stecklan replied.
"Oh? Because of the conference?"
"Because of you. Commander Mukryilla told me that if there was a galactic trouble spot within parsecs of you, you would end up in the middle of it."
Sabrina sighed. "I wish the military would stop viewing me as some kind of precocious toddler loose in the galaxy."
Stecklan laughed. "I think that's an exaggeration, ma'am. I don't suppose, though, that I can persuade you to give me your itinerary?"
"Out of my hands, Captain. Ford is in charge of travel arrangements. My assignment is to extricate us as gracefully as possible."
"Then you may consider yourself extricated," Stecklan said, bowing slightly. "Do be careful, ma'am. Whoever attempted to assassinate the prince on Meskath is still at large, as far as we know."
"I haven't forgotten," Sabrina said. "Believe me."
——————————
It took two more days for all the arrangements to be wrapped up. By that time, Sabrina was more than ready to escape Thad and Ranja's disapproval and the speculation running through the conference. When the station's airlock door slid closed behind her, she heaved a sigh of relief.
Ford stuck his head out of the ship's hatch. "At last! I was beginning to wonder if you were going to change your mind."
"And let you run off on your own? Not likely. Since when do you suspect me of breaking my word?"
"It wasn't that. You're just such an accommodating soul that I was worried all the disapproval was getting to you."
"Don't make fun of me. I just finished wrecking my reputation for your well-being. You might at least spend an hour in gratitude before you begin torturing me with whatever cover story you've dreamed up."
They boarded the small ship, a private courier vessel Ford had managed to talk the Lthosyennes out of, and went to the cockpit. "You'll be relieved to know that I've reconsidered my initial plan."
"Oh?" Sabrina strapped into her seat as Ford began undocking procedures.
"My cover is, of course, well established. However, I decided you are a bit old for whore of the week, as you so charmingly put it."
"Thank you. Might I remind you that you are three times my age?"
"Chronologically, but not biologically," Ford said. "So I've decided you are an heiress I am currently talking out of her fortune."
"So I get to buy an heiress' wardrobe? That does sound better than I'd hoped. Particularly since I assume we are spending your offworld money?"
"Unavoidably."
"Excellent. This may turn out to be a fun vacation after all."
"I'm sure you will manage to enjoy yourself. Meanwhile, you may want to sort out the galley; it's a long flight to our first destination."
"Which is?"
"An out-of-the-way shopping haven for the fabulously wealthy."
Sabrina grinned. "This gets better and better. Just for that, I'll make you lunch."
——————————-
After they had eaten, Sabrina asked, "So how long is this trip going to take?"
"A little over a day until our first stop. This is a fast ship," Ford replied. He managed to keep the irony out of his voice, but she could tell he was thinking how much faster The Adventure would have been. "But you needn't worry about being bored. I think we need to start lessons right away."
"Lessons?"
"Teaching you to block me. It's more of a refresher course; I know you must have learned to do it when you lived with Mother."
Sabrina grimaced. "Theoretically. I'm not sure how effective I ever was. I shared her dreams pretty regularly. And, of course, with Mara there was no question of keeping her out if she really wanted in. Which, fortunately, was very rarely!"
"This is a little different. For one, I'm not nearly as powerful as Mother. I haven't had much reason to practice, and it's like any other skill: practice is required for real proficiency. And you were not linked with Mother."
"As far as I understand it," Sabrina said, "it's more like you're linked with me. I'm not anchoring you; you're powering the whole thing yourself."
"You are anchoring me, a little bit. Otherwise the link would have been broken."
"But I have no telepathic ability."
"Manifestly not true. Even if you had none when you met Mother and Father, over the years you have had enough dealings with telepaths that you have developed some ability. Probably the potential was always there, just not used in your life on Earth. You had enough ability that you had formal training along with Mother."
"On Allyria, yes. The Héliros. But it was very little; they said we weren't capable of any but the most basic things. Shielding our thoughts, mostly."
"I think your time in proximity to Mother and the Crystal, and aboard Khediva, may have expanded your range. Not to mention being linked to me. You may surprise yourself."
"I really..." Sabrina stopped and sighed. "Even on Allyria I had trouble letting someone access my mind without struggling. And that was before people started doing it to harm or control me. I'm not sure I'm capable of letting you in willingly."
"I know. That's why I want to go over the shielding techniques with you. Once you know that you can keep me out, you may learn to trust me a little more."
"It's not a question of trust, Ford—"
"It most certainly is. And I understand; possession or not, it was my mind that invaded and influenced yours after Pharo. Naturally you have an instinctive resistance to it now. I'm not an expert, or a teacher, but you already know how to shield. You're just out of practice, and you need to learn to do it against a link, not an external force." He paused. "Or would you rather skip this trip and go to Allyria instead?"
"I want to get this price off your head. And I'm not sure we could keep a trip to Allyria secret. If it got out, we'd be in trouble. What possible reason could we have for going there if our link isn't intact? Mara would figure it out in a heartbeat."
"True. But that is a complication we may have to face sooner or later. It's far more important to me right now to make sure we both learn to deal with this link so we can be comfortable together again."
Sabrina gave a rueful half-smile. "I want that too. I miss you. I just want all this crap between us to go away."
"Exactly. Well, a point of agreement is an excellent place to begin."