"I shouldn't think a lover would need to be ugly to be so abandoned," the answer began, Daga's lips curling back into something like a smile. For the first time in their short conversation, though, the strain leveled by her inquiry was not entirely hidden. "Where would one even hope to find arms more fine than they?"<br/><br/>In truth, the situation at home had been deeply enviable. The seed of young, exalted Nellens men was cherished within the house in ways experienced among outsiders only by those whose exceptional breeding bordered on the legendary, and the options that presented themselves "in service to the future of the house" were attractive enough to offer an exceptionally soothing balm to even the egos most badly bruised by condescension from the better-bred and more "respectable" Princes of the Earth found among better-pedigreed houses.<br/>The fact that said options were largely mortal and almost never well-bred by Terrestrial standards did little to make them less appealing, and Daga himself was a fine example of why: his features showed his poor breeding -- too fine and delicate to reflect well on the marriage of his blood and aspect -- but they flattered him by most other measures.<br/><br/>Yet there he was.<br/><br/>"Once again, the general has the right of it: I am here to preserve the law. When the Empress returns," and he made no mention of any alternative eventuality, "she will find that Nellens has continued to serve ably and loyally in her absence. To that end, for my House and for my Empress alike, I must cleave first to my duty to the Realm."<br/>His gaze had gradually found its way back to the courtesan, but he flicked his eyes away again without summoning her, giving his attention for a moment to Tepin Arisu's cigar and then to the formidable officer herself. "There will always be other bedrooms, but there is only one Empire."