Selene's heart slowed down as she held her wrist up against the scanner installed in the palace gates. She'd gotten an identity chip installed as soon as she started negotiating this alliance with Earth, and she had been secretly admiring the system since she was crowned queen. It was so efficient and effortless, she almost envied it. Identification and ability to buy anything with a simple scan of the wrist? It was one of the most ingenious creations the Earthens had ever thought up, in Selene's opinion.

She guessed the gate swinging open at her wrist's verification was enough proof for Peony and Iko that she at least belonged there, even if they didn't believe her when she told them her name, because the hover slowly turned around and started back along the winding road, back to the massive city. Selene sighed, the sound a nervous rattle, and started climbing the rest of the hill to the palace.

She probably shouldn't have done that. No, she shouldn't have done it. There was no question about it. Peony seemed like a nice enough girl, but even the nicest people might sell their story of meeting Luna's queen to the media, especially if they seemed as hungry for fame, or at least attention from a certain someone, as Peony did. Selene had a sinking feeling that she was soon about to be exposed to a hungry crowd of angry Earthens by the hands of an exaggerated article; something as big as this couldn't possibly be ignored by a teenage girl like Peony. All Selene could do was hope that she wouldn't go blabbing to the media as soon as Selene had turned her back.

Selene had already heard from Winter about online forums pondering the amateur video taken in the marketplace of their crash on Earth, some users questioning the news site's credibility and others crying out against the arrival of Lunars on their beloved planet. She didn't feel like thinking about the Lunar refugees already populating many areas on Earth. After all, they'd been let free in the first place by Selene's mother to spread letumosis on Earth, and letumosis was one Lunar mistake Selene was afraid to start acknowledging. The fact of the matter was, though, that she and Winter were the first Lunars to legally arrive on Earth in decades, and she didn't see where the logic was in so many of the Earth's people's outrage at the thought of an alliance between Luna and Earth. She understood the stigma and distrust of the Lunar people, but why can't they just take this alliance as a sign that Luna is changing for the better?

Unfamiliar guilt washed over Selene. She was kidding herself. She hadn't changed, and neither had Luna. She was still using Earth, whether she liked the idea or not anymore, and she and her mother had still done so many horrible things to the Earthens, things the inhabitants of the blue planet didn't even realise were the fault of the Lunars. What would happen if they discovered of the creation and spread of letumosis, and the consequent deaths of billions of people?

And then there was Kai. Innocent and naive Kai, who seemed to fancy himself liking Selene. She was using him too, and it was like she couldn't stop. She couldn't, really. Nothing had changed. Her life was still a lie. She was still a lie. And she was down here in the first place to make this alliance happen, whatever it took.

Then why had she started feeling so guilty about manipulating him and so damn depressed at the thought of using him any longer? Why couldn't she just get this alliance over with through any means? Selene didn't know what was happening to her. She was afraid of what she might do next.

Selene slipped around to the servants entrance to the palace, stepping into the empty elevator and scanning her wrist for clearance to the guest quarters level. She pulled her hood tight around her face, drowning in its suffocating warmth. She was so tired. Her innocent outing had even turned into a political problem. Where could she go to escape it all, if not away from the palace?

The elevator finally stopped to pick somebody up. A maid carrying a massive bouquet of flowers in her arms stepped into the elevator, juggling it while pressing the button for her floor. Selene slumped against the wall and released the drawstrings of her hoodie, avoiding eye contact with the maid as well as she could.

Selene's floor finally came around, and she slipped out of the elevator as quickly as possible before the maid started getting suspicious. With any luck, no one would care that she'd left in the first place and she's simply resume her day's activities normally. Somehow, she knew that Winter was not going to be happy, though.

Selene pressed her thumb against the button to open her chamber doors and entered to find Winter slumped, exasperated, in a poufy chair in the rooms corner. One hand massaged her forehead and the other gripped the chair's arm like a lifeline.

"Winter," Selene said hesitantly as she ripped off her sweatshirt, "what a surprise."

Winter sighed. "I could say the same to you, Selene. I'm glad you were finally able to join us back here again."

Selene grasped for words but could find none, tramping into her bathroom with her sweaty clothes still on, stripping them off and stepping into the massive shower. She heard Winter's chair creak as she stood, but turned on the water before her head thaumaturge could say anything. The cold embrace of the water rushed over Selene and she inhaled deep breaths of the cool, humid air.

"Selene, I don't know what's going on with you," Winter started from the doorway to the bathroom. "Randomly crying on me, mysterious trips into the city... You're acting very strangely. Is something going on, and is it going to affect your ability to serve as Queen of Luna?"

Selene closed her eyes under the water. She contemplated her response for a long moment before finally responding. "No. Nothing's going on with me, Winter, and nothing is going to affect my abilities as queen. If you have any misgivings regarding my behaviour of late, you're welcome to express them. This morning I was seeking a break. I've been feeling some strain lately, but I can tell you that it's nothing too bad and nothing that would hinder my abilities to serve." Selene ran her hands through her hair. It was getting long.

"Are you sure, Selene? Because leaving as you did is negligence of your duty in itself," Winter snapped, and then immediately sighed. "Selene, I care about you. You're like a sister to me, and I need to know when something's wrong. Just a few days ago you were weeping on my shoulder and now you're trying to tell me that it was nothing. If something's going on, you can tell me."

Selene exhaled heavily. She knew she couldn't. She couldn't tell Winter anything. Winter wasn't someone she could tell everything to anymore, but it wasn't her. It was Selene.

She had changed since the time when she and Winter were as close as they once were. Sometime while Winter had slept after the crash, Selene had changed. She'd started encountering these new emotions. Guilt. Regret. This depression that came with everything she did. And she'd become more sensitive, more reckless, more stupid. This wasn't good. This was changing her, and not for the better.

Or was it?

Selene couldn't even tell anymore. She didn't know. All she knew was that Winter could not be trusted with these new secrets and new emotions Selene had started to experience. Winter was starting to think something was happening already. If she knew about this new sensitivity and weakness that Selene hated acknowledging the existence of, she would think Selene unbefitting for Luna's throne. Selene knew it, and she hated it.

"To be honest, I've been feeling some strain about this alliance. I had been from the beginning," Selene admitted, shampooing her hair. It wasn't exactly a lie. "First it was an old man, and I'd just adjusted to the idea of marrying him when he contracted letumosis. And now I have to negotiate marriage with his son and readjust to it all over again, if we don't get the antidotes in time. It's just a little stressing, is all."

Selene could almost hear Winter relax. It was docile enough to be what she wanted to hear, Selene supposed.

"Oh. Well, if it's any comfort to you, Selene, I've been strained, too, while starting the initial negotiations. I'll be here when you're finished, and we can discuss what has happened while you were gone." Winter paused. "Hurry up, too. It's quite urgent."