"...the fuck is a 'Publica'? You use words the same way that Ember does, all of that Elysian dreaming stuff. You call yourself a knight and it doesn't sound a thing like when Her Ladyship the Crystal Knight made us do it. You even manage to say my name like you give a shit about it. That's a funny magic trick from someone I was taught was my inherent superior. And you put yourself at [i]my[/i] service? HA! I haven't even gotten off the ground yet and I'm already learning more than I thought there was to know!"

Mosaic's grin is exhausted, but delighted. She has just been given an incredible treat, the kind of thing that makes it easy to keep her proud posture even in the face of a ship's worth of problems all begging for her attention when all she wants to do is sleep for a week. Or more. But who could rest in the face of something [i]this[/i] entertaining?

Lips press together to cover teeth. Eyes flutter half shut. She sniffs at the air again, particularly around Ember, and reaches out to squeeze the top of her head. For as crushing as her grip is the pressure is shockingly light. She simply does not have the strength in her body right now to hold her knight as tightly as she normally would. 

She licks her lips. Her eyes open and flash in gold and purple with such supreme confidence that it seems more like a choice than weakness. Is she strong? Is she weak? It doesn't matter, she has the answer to the riddle now.

"Head back on the ground with me, Beloved. I know you're excited, but I can't have you flying off the stars before the rest of us. It wouldn't do to leave me behind, would it? I need you here. You are the one who will light the engine. I can't trust anyone else with it. I can't..." she seethes, hissing through her teeth. It's one thing to understand what needs to happen, but it's another to admit she's actually incapable of something, "I can't do it myself. Not now."

Her grip slackens. Her fingers press through Ember's brilliant golden hair with the precision and gentleness of a comb made for royalty. She grasps the Ceronian girl by the neck and pulls her in for a kiss. She parts reluctantly. She parts with a sigh. She parts with a smile. And she turns, putting all the pressure of her stare back on the Publica Knight. Whatever that meant.

"Now, you. Dy. Sssi. A. I need a teacher. I would like you to be my first. I spent five years of my life working for the Crystal Knight because I thought it was all that I could do to help the village that took me in and celebrated me as a demigod, who gave me a place to care for my sisters. Just look what that came to. Stupid. But what am I supposed to do, even now? Should I just flit about, stealing star ships until everyone I meet is safe and loved and happy? Is that even possible? I have questions, Dyssia. Questions I don't even know how to ask yet. But you fell from the sky and fought the invincible Crystal Knight to a standstill like it was the most natural thing in the world. I don't care if you can give me the answers I need or not, you know the words I need to ask them."

She sighs.

"But right now what I need more than anything is a grav rail expert. Vasilia is good, but she'd be even better with someone to help her out. You mind? You said at my command, right? Then please stop the mountain from taking revenge on me for stealing so much of it."

Mosaic's head is pounding like the tides. She can barely hear the responses of the people right in front of her for all the voices shouting, echoing throughout the entire ship. If nobody did anything the whole place would fall to shit before she even made it far enough to see what another planet could be like. But nobody had the respect and authority to knock all of the needed heads together and get things working smoothly. Nobody but...

"Oh, fuck me." she mutters.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid. What the fuck did she know about setting up a village? What did she know about captaining a ship?! She didn't even know what most of the rooms were even supposed to be [i]for[/i], what was she..?

She presses the tips of her fingers into one another until she feels the pressure start to drown out the noise. Help. She needs help. Gemini could gather everyone to a place where she could speak to them, but that did no good until she had a plan. She could ask Vesper to-- no. A puzzle that complex might kill her outright. She had to rest until Mosaic could finally find medicine for her. No. Someone else. Someone or something that already knew the ship. Someone to take stock of who [i]could[/i] go where. That's the only way this could ever work.

Her footsteps join the echoes of burgeoning arguments as she walks deeper into the place Ember had deliriously called a 'pleasure-palace'. Doorways glitter when she looks upon them with her gods' eye. No better plan: she follows, and she sees what she sees.