Previously, Galatea hadn't had the time or opportunity to really appreciate Prekan. She'd been too focused on getting into the castle, the fight, making sure June and the others were fine.

Not that she had missed very much, she mused now as she looked down at the castle and the city beside it. It wasn't a particularly large city, or particularly well-kept. She'd seen worse, but it wouldn't win any beauty awards. Not that there were such things. Galatea supposed it did have a certain charm. The architecture was similar but subtly different to Cernlia, their roofs were a little more peaked (more snowfall, she wondered? Or just a matter of culture?), there were a lot of poplar and chestnut trees that seemed popular here, and people decorated their homes with little carvings or even statuettes of monsters.

Fortunately, she was not here to admire the architecture or culture. Strictly speaking, she had little business here, but Galatea was curious. She'd seen the Empire's military in action before, but it had been a while, and it hadn't really been the Imperial military back then, at least not like it was currently. And now it occupied a human town, not a gnomish one, and Regina's conquests in Nerlia had been with the Hive almost exclusively.

Besides, she felt a little obligated to stick around and keep an eye on Lianne. She had brought the psychic here, after all.

It was a little funny how no one really seemed to know what to do with her. The local leaders of the city, mostly lower nobles and merchant guild heads, that the Imperials interacted with treated her with cautious respect. As if they were unsure of her position but trying not to offend just to be safe. The Imperial officers weren't that different. Lianne probably didn't help her case by hanging around and listening to conversations almost at random. She'd spoken to June before the young princess had been sent back, and with Tim a few times, but didn't seem to be doing much otherwise.

"Are you bored?" Galatea asked her straight-out.

Lianne raised an eyebrow at the question. She'd wandered up to join Galatea seemingly on a whim. They were standing on what used to be the roof of a building in the inner yard of the castle. It had suffered some in the fight and was now little more than a skeleton with one wall mostly caved in. It didn't bother Galatea, but organics might risk a collapse by going up here.

"You're the first person to ask," the woman said. "Well spotted. Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. I might just go challenge the soldiers to arm wrestling if I don't find something else soon."

"You could always go back and go do, well, whatever you usually do," Galatea pointed out.

"Not everyone has a convenient teleportation spell," Lianne answered. "I'd have to get back the hard way. And besides, I can't just leave. I helped the Empire take this city and its people, I should at least be here to see what they are doing with their spoils. And I did say I would consider whether I will further aid your empire."

"Still not my empire," Galatea murmured. "But yes, that makes sense. It's good that you want to assure yourself of what's going on personally. Though you could always go and ask Tim for some task to stay busy. Or he could ask Regina for you."

"First names, hm? I wonder," Lianne asked, stepping closer with light steps. "Is it strange to be living this close to royals? You are not one of them."

Galatea didn't turn. "I am not one of any group."

"True," Lianne mused. "Is it not lonely?"

Galatea tried not to get angry at all the pushing. "You seem to think I share human frailties; what makes you think loneliness is universal?" she pointed out a bit more coldly.

"'Human frailties', huh?" Lianne chuckled shortly. "Must have touched a nerve. Alright, if you say so, Lady Galatea. I'll stop asking."

"Was there something else you wanted?" Galatea asked, still a bit curtly.

The psychic actually took half a step back this time, inclining her head. "Actually, I was going to ask for an introduction to the dark elves. Or tips for approaching them."

Galatea frowned. "I'm afraid I can't help you with an introduction," she said. She was going to go talk to the local dark elves, but she hadn't been focused on that. "Aren't you an associate of Madris', though? Just introduce yourself with that, I'm sure they'll be happy to talk to you."

"Alright," Lianne nodded.

"And you could take a gift to be polite," Galatea added. "Just please don't use classified information. Some wine or imported food would be fine."

"I'll do that. Thank you."

Galatea turned back around, absently watching as Lianne hesitated, then started to leave. She frowned. She was in a bad mood, but maybe she'd been taking it out on her a little.

Sighing and watching the air pressure fluctuate around her, Galatea moved, floating down the abandoned building and then further towards the city. She was going to talk to Tim, or maybe find a few other people.

She didn't have to be a psychic to sense the tension in the air, the anxiety of the populace. It had eased slightly, though. People were filling the streets again, going about their business; perhaps a little more hesitantly than before, but they were doing it. The Imperial army had moved in quickly, after most of the fighting had taken place in the castle, and they'd established control without any burning, looting or any atrocities. There was a curfew and the occasional patrolling group of soldiers. While the locals kept their distance from them, they'd clearly stopped being too afraid that the soldiers would act out. Galatea would bet many of them had hidden their valuables somewhere, and were slowly returning them now.

There had been a little discontent among the soldiers, but Tim seemed to have stamped it out quickly. The Imperial army was a new thing, and they had higher standards for discipline than most would be used to, but they were all professionals now. Galatea knew how hard Ben and the others had worked to ingrain a certain spirit in them; pride connected to serving their nation but also serving the people, protecting the helpless, acting with honor, all that stuff. Many of them might not even realize how much their own conceptions of 'honor' had shifted.

Galatea glanced at the soldiers as she passed. Unsurprisingly, she caught a few laughing with young locals. They seemed more wary of the sapient drones here, but those weren't the majority, and they had made an effort of being approachable. The humans were probably helping the economy in other ways; it was still not that late, but she could already hear the music coming from a nearby tavern and sense the number of people gathered there.

Stolen story; please report.

She paused as she neared a square shortly after the tavern. The city was just big enough to have more than one gathering place, so while this wasn't the main town square, it was a plaza large enough for a crowd to form, which it had. Interestingly, there appeared to be a mix of locals and Imperials. And as she watched, Tim appeared, striding through the men who parted for him and talking to several of them at the front. There was a soldier with a bloody nose and who was missing his jacket, another group of soldiers milling around close by, and several civilians, by their dress, along with a few officers.

Curious, Galatea walked through the crowd, smiling at the gathered people as they parted to let her through. She examined the scene, starting to suspect where this was going. Tim was not wearing his uniform or a crown, but he had changed into more elaborate attire, this time a richly decorated tunic with a gold-lined half-cape that left his blade-arms free but looked suitably dramatic. There was no doubt who was in charge as he talked to the officers.

As Galatea approached, they stopped and turned, and Tim nodded at her. "Hello, Galatea. I don't suppose you caught what happened?"

She shook her head. "I was elsewhere, I am simply here out of curiosity. What did happen?"

Tim glanced at the disheveled soldier she now realized was guarded by two others. "It appears to be a case of attempted assault, and we must pronounce justice."

Galatea looked around again, stepping closer. "This requires your personal presence?"

"I was around, anyway." Tim sighed. "I was hoping we would be able to make it without one case like this."

That made things clearer; it was probably a case of sexual assault. Galatea glanced at the locals again. One of the women and one of the men were clearly shaken, most of the rest of the women and all of the men looked angry. If she recalled, the Imperial army's regulations considered rape a capital offense, punishable by hanging, and they didn't distinguish between attempted or otherwise.

"I understand your wrath, good people," Tim called to them, turning so he could be heard by the crowd. "I promise you that justice will be done. The Empire does not condone its soldiers acting like brigands, and crimes committed will be punished harshly. But we are also dedicated to upholding law and order, and we do not condemn someone without hearing evidence. This man will be tried by a military tribunal. If he is found guilty, which I think likely, he will hang. I will oversee it personally."

There was some muttering from the crowd, but they seemed reasonably content with his declaration. Or at least reserving judgment.

"Wha' about the assault on me?" The soldier asked. He tried to step forward, but the other two soldiers grabbed his arms. "Prince Tim — I'm innocent, I swear I didn't wan'to hurt anyone. But I was hurt, too."

Tim briefly glanced at another soldier. It took Galatea a moment to realize this one was probably a woman, since they wore their hair short and a masculine-looking uniform. While the Empire of course allowed women to enlist, there still weren't that many, and they were actually more common among the officers. This one wore the chevrons of a sergeant, same as the accused soldier. Looking closely, her knuckles were slightly red.

"You were arrested, and were belligerent instead of coming quietly," Tim said dismissively. "For any bumps and bruises you sustained in the process, you only have yourself to blame."

"Citizen's arrest has a long tradition, and arrest among military personnel is explicitly covered in the regulations," one of the other officers added. She recognized him as a major Tim had taken along who'd been on the southern expedition.

Without further ado, the enlisted soldiers who'd been holding the accused started to take him away, and the officers went to disperse the crowd, calling them back to their duties or to their work. Galatea stepped up to Tim, who was faintly frowning into the distance.

"I take it this isn't the first time an issue came up?" she asked. "I thought your soldiers were well disciplined."

Tim sighed. "We've had to punish several people for looting," he said. "Including two female soldiers. It is hardly a problem limited to one demographic. Although I suppose former adventurers might be more prone to it. This was something else, of course. But I'm sure it's not the last time we'll have to judge violent crimes against people."

"Just make sure these cases are investigated and proper punishments given," Galatea said. "That's all you can do. Plus making sure they don't feel they need to resort to violence for other reasons like getting enough money or food. There's no point expecting everyone in any large group to act morally, especially not soldiers when violence is their trade. But you can shape standards and behavior of the group as a whole."

"Yeah …" Tim shifted, his blade-army sliding against his shell with a low sound. "Those who live by the sword …" He trailed off. "Right? Do you ever wonder why people would, well, do, all this?"

"All the time," Galatea said a bit drily. "Or at least I used to. I've decided it's just a part of life now. There are a lot of sociological or anthropological theories about violence. Or psychological theories, or others. That doesn't mean violence always has to have the same prevalence or play the same role, or that it's always unjustified."

"Hm, I guess," he said.

"You can't imagine committing a violent crime against another Hive drone for no reason, or for selfish reasons, because that's not how your society works. And that's admirable, of course. But most other people don't have the psychic link to get to feel others they've hurt, and it's not like the Hivekind are exactly pacifist, either."

"True. I wouldn't really feel bad about hurting other people if Mother wanted me to. I guess I'm being silly," he sighed. "I should be old enough not to ask stupid questions."

"There are no stupid questions, Tim," she said, shaking her head. "And you're never too old to think about life."

Galatea did wonder a little what had brought this on, and she suspected it was more than these incidents or having to keep the discipline among the troops. It was probably a positive sign if Tim was thinking about the war and what it meant to people.

It was one of those things no one really wanted, at least on their side — and she was quite sure the majority of people on 'the other side' wouldn't really want what the war meant either — but it was happening anyway.

"Thanks, Galatea." Tim glanced around and shifted, standing up straighter. "I should make sure everything is going well here. The artillery slated for us is arriving today, I need to make sure everything is prepared."

"Sure," Galatea agreed, accepting the change of subject, and glanced at the soldiers. "You should probably give that woman a commendation. At least, I think it was a woman?" She hoped so, it would be embarrassing to get it wrong.

"Yes. I might assign her to Lady Marianne. It will be interesting how the locals deal with her."

"Do you anticipate trouble?"

"Not really. They know they can't risk pissing us off too much, they wouldn't stand a chance in a fight." He shook his head. "The real threat is from Esemen. At least June got home safely."

"She did?" Galatea asked.

"Yes, she just arrived, along with Edmund and the others. Kiara is happy, at least. Ira says she wanted to give them a big welcome, but had to scale it back because of the war."

Galatea hummed. "How do you think the Empire is reacting to being at war again?"

Tim hesitated for a moment. "From what I can tell given what the others say … not many people actually care much? I mean, it doesn't affect most of their lives. They might be concerned about hostilities with Esemen, but that's not exactly new, either. The Empire has been at war on one of its borders before and it didn't really touch people. The government has disseminated the news of what happened and there's some outrage on June's behalf, but they seem happy it's being handled."

Galatea nodded. She supposed that made sense. June was popular enough, and most people cared more about their own concerns than international politics. Maybe that would change if the war got worse.

"Can you go talk to the dark elves and see how they're feeling?" Tim asked. "I've met with their local leaders and there don't seem to be any issues, but it would be nice to get a second opinion."

"Of course. I've been meaning to do that anyway. How is it going with the tunnels?"

"We've collapsed a few and started putting traps and guard posts in the rest." He shrugged. "I'd rather not do more without getting word from their central government."

"That'll take a bit," she nodded. "But I guess that's good enough. I'll see what they say, then." Galatea paused. "You're doing well, Tim."

He smiled slightly. "Thanks."

If she didn't miss her guess, he was also glad to be away from the capital and doing something. Something important. Well, if that was true, he certainly wouldn't be lacking for excitement in the coming months.

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