In the darkness of the room, the vivid, flickering glow of holovid feedback gleamed brilliant blue against the angular planes of Analysse’s bronzed features. Golden eyes were rapt on the screen before her, coppery hair tucked back out of her face and tucked behind the point of a delicately shaped ear. Although the apartment was empty save herself, she carefully kept the volume of the video low, as if to make the experience more personal.
Spread out before her stood a sea of people dressed in garb from ages past, their hands raised in cheer. Military banners embroidered with the sigils of the Commonwealth flew on either side, snapping in the wind. Beyond the crowd stood a quartet of Mechari gleaming a brilliant chrome, but it was one alone she focused on. Cresting from the elegantly curved slope of his crown extended too-smooth crystal in alabaster so pure in its pigment that it glowed beneath the light of the midday sun. Crimson, gold, and white splashed across his chassis in perfectly angled alignment of plates. Tall, noble, and lauded as the children of Gods, the Mechari stood in formation draped in fine silks bearing the colors of Dominus.
She could spot him easily, in the draconic molding of his face to the confidence in his stance. By now, she could remember the rise and fall of the crowd’s cheering, could recount when he would turn his head to throw attention to the Mechari beside him, painted in mimicry and bearing the same gleam of crystal.
But none were as beautiful.
Slowly, Analysse tucked her legs up to her chest as the video went dark, and she braced the tablet upon her knees with a soft sigh. Beneath the tip of her finger, she could feel the lightly textured metal of her datachron’s edging as she traced its side, and the Swordmaiden hooded her golden eyes as a digit hovered above the glass.
After a moment, she tapped the touchscreen and flopped onto her side on the couch, scooping the device up into both hands and rolling onto her back. The Highborn lady lifted the datachron above herself, unable to help the twitch of a grin on her lips as once again the screen flickered to life and she extended her legs across the leather upholstery.
