“You will call me 'Ma'am'.” she said rather coldly, “You may get your robe and leave now.”“I... yes, Ma'am” I replied. I admit, my feeling... were a bit hurt by her change of attitude.I picked up my robe, put it on and started towards the door.“Girl...” she said, not even looking up at me, “Tell your master that you have pleased me. Tell him that I agree to the alliance.”“I will tell him, Ma'am.” I replied, opening the door to leave.“And girl...” she said, looking up at me, “Thank you.”“You're. Tommie grabbed me and hugged me, and then drew back as if she had done something terrible. I realized that she was still uncertain of her role. I pulled her close, and told her that emotional displays were not considered to be appropriate when I was in uniform. She broke out with the first real laugh I had heard. I told Tim I was going to have a long talk with him later about professionalism, and he looked like he had just eaten a toad. A very warty, lively one. We headed out to lunch. I took. Oh boy, think Chris, think fast! "Well, I had great company with a beautiful lady, how could I not have fun" "uh huh, okay, if you say so!" "Tell me, with all the pretty girls in the party last night, why did you stay so CLOSE to me?" silence.... again! "Why are you putting me on the spot like this? I don't know what to tell you, I just liked being with you, you know, dancing" "There were plenty of girls that you could have DANCED with last night, why did you only dance with me" "You know. But if that fails..." The High King looked very, very bleak."I have ordered men into battle; I've watched my wife giving birth. I've given many difficult and dangerous orders, including orders that have caused thousands and even hundreds of thousands of deaths. I watched someone I love more than anything else risk her life bearing our children. Nonetheless, the orders I will give the captain of that ship trouble me as much as anything as I've ever done."I have ordered my captain to kidnap one.