It was an odd moment at the colony's shuttlebay as they made their farewells, the diplomatic maneuvers continuing on right up to the final moments. "He never gives up, does he?" Hilde murmured, her short hair ruffled by the artificial breeze. "Father is quite stubborn that way," Releena agreed, her long brown hair flowing away from her face. She smiled wryly at Hilde as she gently said, "I wanted to say thank you for all of your help, even if the others forget." Hilde shrugged slightly, "Just doing my job, sorta." She studied Releena a moment before dropping her voice, "Have you decided what you're going to do?" Releena felt her fingers go to the rose signet she now wore on a chain around her neck. "I don't know," she admitted, "whatever seems necessary at the time." "Good enough," Hilde smiled slightly. She looked over to where Juri and Une stood stiffly, staring at each other with deadly intensity. "Hope you don't have any trouble with them on the way home," she said wryly. Releena rolled her eyes as she sighed out, "I just pray that they have seats on opposite sides of the shuttle home." Juri's orange hair flowed free, the curls flowing around her face as she studied the military officer in front of her. "Are you going to keep our agreement?" she asked softly, all of them waiting uncomfortably for the signal to board. Colonel Une nodded jerkily, her glasses gleaming and her hair pulled back in a ruthless bun. "Releena will be protected, Arisugawa," Une pushed up her glasses with a white gloved hand as she agreed irritably, "though I promise nothing in regards to you." "I wasn't expecting anything else," Juri answered her mildly. She paused a second, "When you're ready to face me again, I'll be waiting." Une met her eyes, her glasses glinting in the reflected light. "I'll be looking forward to that," and there was a odd gentleness in Une's voice. Juri watched Une walk up the boarding ramp before shaking her head slightly, wondering where that came from. From just behind her a grim voice said, "I hope you'll be ready to take responsibility for what you've done." Turning Juri saw the Ambassador standing there, his suit as crisp as when they first came there. "How so?" Juri asked mildly. Dornlan frowned down at her as he said accusingly, "The colonies seem far closer to adopting a military posture than ever before." "If the words of one young woman can sway the leaders of the colonies that easily," eyes flashing Juri shot back in a rare display of anger, "then they must have been damn near to making that choice anyway." She paused before a final cut, "Especially considering the actions that your own government has taken with them." The older man sighed, seemingly unable to reply to that statement. "The only chance we have for peace is for both sides to talk," Dornlan said tiredly, "and the way things are going we'll not be talking any time soon." Walking in a loose group Juri, Releena ad her father went into the shuttle, taking seats in one side while Une and her assistants took another. The baggage was stowed away and with a surprising degree of gentleness the shuttle was launched from the colony. "But maybe," Releena offered softly, "the time for talking is over?" "You too?" her father smiled wryly. Releena shrugged gracefully, her eyes gentle as she looked up at her father, "Daddy, I know you believe in what you're saying... but the world may not be ready for peace." "I'll never believe that," Dornlan said honestly. Juri bit back the first reply that came to mind, choosing something a bit more tactful. "I honestly hope you're right," she said calmly, "but I don't think so." After a while the ambassador moved off, choosing to set a seat back and try to rest up as they headed back towards the Earth. "What would you do," Releena asked softly, "if you found out something... disturbing about yourself?" Juri blinked in surprise, looking at Releena and wondering where that question had come from. "It happened to me once," Juri said, remembering how frightening her early attraction to Shiori had been, "I learned to accept it, eventually." "I'm not so sure how easy this is going to be to accept," Releena murmured. She looked up at Juri, her expression oddly lost, "Someone has claimed I might be adopted." Without thinking about it Juri let a hand rest on the other girl's arm. "Do you believe him or her?" she asked gently. "I shouldn't believe it," Releena said, "I don't really know anything about him." "But it bothers you?" Juri asked quietly. "Hmm," Releena nodded reluctantly. "It's not that my parents have ever treated me with anything but love," she explained, "but I've always felt slightly... apart, somehow." "Being adopted wouldn't necessarily do that to you," Juri mused, "I felt apart in my home and I knew we were related by blood." Releena smiled faintly, "A good point." Juri studied Releena, trying to read the thoughts behind that attractive face. "Do you want to try asking your parents?" "God no," Releena visibly shuddered. "I don't know what would scare me more, their answering no... or yes," she sighed. Seeing the girl's distress Juri hesitantly slid an arm across her shoulders, drawing her close. "Whatever you need to do," she found herself saying, "I'll be here to help." "Thank you," Releena sighed, laying her head on Juri's shoulder. Colonel Une watched from across the aisle, observing the two women sitting together. 'I can't believe that they're doing such a thing inn public,' was the first thought, then she almost had to laugh at herself. 'There's only us on the plane, after all.' A soft chirping sound brought her attention to her waiting laptop and she opened up her military email program, reviewing her newest files. Treise had sent her a short missive, saying that he was looking forward to her coming home. There were also updates on several projects she was involved with, one of which caught her eye. Clicking on a message titled 'Tallgeese' Une smiled slightly, running through the update that Sally Po had sent her. "We've prepared a modified Tallgeese as per your instructions," Sally wrote, "in your personal colors. We'll need you there for the debut in a few weeks." Une quickly composed a reply, "I'm returning to Earth now, Sally. The diplomatic mission has been a bust, but on the plus side there's more ammunition for the public relations corps." In a chatty, friendly tone that would have surprised those that knew her she summarized the public aspects of the mission even as she considered what was coming. Une, Noin, Zechs and Dorothy were so far the pilots in the Tallgeese corps, intended to serve as a public counter to the Gundams that were attacking OZ. Personally she had doubts about the antiquated technology, but both Treise and Zechs supported it. 'Which means I had best go along,' Une thought. The difficulty was not going to be finding a fifth qualified pilot but instead choosing from the many Oz pilots that could do the job. More importantly the pilot would have to be able to work with the wing, coordinate smoothly in attack and defense. 'Noin has taken Sally on as her wingman,' Une thought of an earlier message Sally had sent to her, "I wonder if our good doctor would be interested in piloting a Tallgeese as well?' More importantly Une tried to keep any speculation as to anything else Sally and Noin might be doing out of her racing thoughts. The hero worship in Sally's last letter had been almost unmistakable, and the frank adoration that the normally controlled doctor had shown towards Noin was nearly sickening to Une. Looking up Une saw Releena and Juri still sitting so closely together and had to look away. 'Why does this bother me?' she wondered.
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