The Meaning of Us

    The throne room was lavishly decorated.     It's not a throne room, Alcyone's father would say. She could picture him now, All stern and hoity toity on his high goddamned horse.     It's a lounge. A foyer. It's where you receive guests, the home of first impressions. Go off, old man. Yap about whatever your dad told you that his mom told him, or whatever.     You must make sure every word you speak counts. Bold of him to say that, as the one spewing hot air.     But today was not a day for resentment, try as she would to put down her father at every chance. Not when he was off slowly dying somewhere.     Alcyone rose from her chair, the very picture of nobility. "So, my good citizen." Horrible start. She didn't even know the guy's name. "Tell me why you think you deserve compensation."     The mechanic - engineer, whoever he was, really - was quaking in his boots anyways. So no small matter. She strode over to him, hand at her hip, other hand stroking her chin. "You could have easily disposed of the fire starters yourself. Who knows? If I decide to compensate you for the damages, every arsonist in the Citadel could be coming here to claim compensation in a week's time."     Ooh, smooth. Reuse that line sometime.     He stammered(stuttered? Alcyone never knew what was up with that) something that sounded like an apology, and reached out to touch her gown, only to be slapped away.     "Don't act like you're worthy of my sympathy. Guards!"     The guards at the door jumped to attention and levelled their stun guns at the engineer(mechanic?). He scurried from the throne room, and Alcyone sighed in relief once he was gone. One down, fifty million more to go.     Well, not fifty million. More like fifty thousand. She wasn't sure how many people actually lived in the Citadel.     The next visitor was ushered in, a small girl that couldn't be any older than Alcyone herself was. She walked silently, stopping only a few paces away from the soon-to-be Administrator, and gave a short bow.     "Hello, Alcyone Pleiad. In line to be the Administrator of Citadel Q. It is my greatest pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Lyra. I am sixteen, a taurus. I work at the monorail, my favourite fruit is blueberries, and I quite enjoy long walks on the beach."     Unbelievable. Was this girl trying to romance Alcyone on the job? Even if she was, she was taking an awfully long time to get to the point. Time that could've been spent doing other, more valuable, things.     "And today, your Duteous, I shall kill you!"     Huh. That bit was new.     Laura(Elirah?) leapt forwards in a blur, and everything went black.