Twenty minutes of speaking, correction, and direction drained Diana of her mental stamina, however the results quite literally spoke for themselves. The group consisted of fifty-seven people, ten brought from the Sanctum, twenty Holifanian volunteers, and twenty-seven of the earlier Nekh arrivals who displayed an interest in the language. All of them performed roughly similar in her eyes, some of the later introductions taking in advice given to those earlier in the session and applying it to their own, making the whole ordeal easier as time went on. It might have been nothing more than rote memorization and recitation at this point, but that was a step in the right direction.

"Now, I would like all of you to go outside and divide yourselves into groups of three. Introduce yourselves to each other, first in English and then the way you normally would, seeing if you can identify discrepancies in either your own understanding or your group members. After you've done so, I would recommend splitting up and forming into another group with different members and doing it again. Your priority should not be speed, but substance and smoothness. Your end goal is to not need to think about these 'words', and it starts now." Diana dismissed the class with an activity, instruction, and an objective. "Oh, and could one of you inform the two ladies waiting outside that they can come in? I fear I've left them waiting far too long."

They responded with various forms of thanks or gratitude, already forming into groups on their way out.

"I do apologize for hijacking your lecture, Scholar."

"Please don't! The fault is mine for not visiting you first!" The Scholar bowed once again. "So, um, what have you come here to discuss?"

"A few things, your progress as an educator among them." Diana smiled, indicating further that she was pleased with his efforts. He could do with a bit more confidence. "The most pressing matter aside from that would be the establishment of some sort of . . . educational body. Let's call it an association of educators. I'm not talking about one for teaching English, though I would like you to develop one as time goes on, I am more referring to the establishment of educational processes and training regimes that prepare individuals for specific jobs and tasks. Included in this would be, of course, the education of those who would educate these people. 'Teaching teachers', so to speak."

"You want me to start organizing this?"

"I would like you to act as the overseer, ensuring that everything is proceeding as planned. As it stands the Holifanians are the only people who can communicate with Arc besides you, but we have a much greater degree of trust in you and knowledge of your capabilities. Donovan and I will be providing most of the top level direction, Arc will hammer out the details, and you will relay these plans and ensure they are being carried out. Honestly, the most important thing you need to do is inform us of how things are moving along. An hour or two a day meeting with the heads of these various departments should be all you need."

"But won't I need to teach them what to do?"

"Not at all." Diana turned to look at the door, Petunia politely closing it behind the hobbling old lady. "We are planning to make use of existing experience."

"Good evening, sir." Petunia bowed respectfully to the Scholar as Diana gestured back towards her. "My name is Petunia. I serve as the maid and retainer of Queen Titanyana."

"Ah, a pleasure to make your formal acquaintance. I recall you were quite despondent when last we met."

"I, um, apologize." Petunia's ears flattened, slightly embarrassed.

"No worries! It is to be expected given . . . well. And who might you be?"

"Chershei, just an old lady." She tried her best to bow, however her back prevented a dip of more than a few degrees. "I do apologize for the lack of courtesy."

"No need for that, madam. As I hail from the Sanctum, I hold no status over you." He offered a handshake to her instead. "Am I to presume you are the 'existing experience' Lady Diana speaks of?"

"In matters of midwifery, perhaps. I vaguely recall a mention of an education program?"

"Yes. I would like you to act in the capacity of headmistress of such an institution, specifically regarding fertility, birth, and childcare. Do you think yourself up to the task?"

"No."

". . . what?" Diana froze practically on the spot. A flat 'no' was not the answer she had been expecting, especially given her apparent eagerness and confidence. "Why not?"

"The position you wish me to fulfill involves the education of women on fertility, birth, and childcare correct?" Diana nodded, still silently dumbfounded. "Well, I've never been pregnant, never given birth, and never raised a child. If experience in these areas is what you are looking for, then I am simply the wrong person to be speaking to. My expertise, as I am sure I have told you, is in the delivery of children and comfort of the mother in the days leading up to said delivery. I can offer precious little outside of that. As such, I can only recommend you find someone else."

"Really?" While she had jumped the gun a little bit, Diana assumed that Chershei would be willing to take this position given her behavior. Even if she wasn't perfect, speed was of the essence in getting this program started. Being good enough was just that, good enough.

"I may misunderstand the urgency, but I fully believe someone younger would be best for the position. It bears no repeating, but I am an old woman. I have very little time left, and I think you will find me stuck in my ways. Having a younger woman, one more receptive to change and with time to grow accustomed to their role, would serve everyone's interests much better. Even more so one about to go through the experience of motherhood herself."

"I get that, but we do need to get this going as soon as possible. The sooner the first wave of women is taught these lessons, the sooner those women may educate the next wave, and so on. Even if the woman we select to lead this effort isn't perfect, it will be better than none at all."

"Even so, I insist that I would be among the worst candidates." She shook her head. "A woman selected at random would be a much better fit, I am afraid, though I do wonder if we already have this perfect candidate on hand . . ."

"What do you mean?" Diana had already given up on Chershei as the candidate of choice at this point. There would be little use in convincing someone who viewed themselves as unsuitable. "Surely you don't mean me? I'm going to be far too busy to handle this matter."

"Petunia. You're pregnant, aren't you?" Petunia froze, shocked by this conjecture. "Old though I may be, a fool I am not. You can try to hide the belly behind thicker clothes and couch your questions with mention of the queen, but I can see through it."

"Y-yes, I am with a child . . ." Caught in the headlights, she could only confess. "He is the son of the last king, Titanyana's uncle."

"Oh." Chershei seemed slightly taken aback. "Unexpected, but I believe this makes you that much better for the job."

"You're pregnant?! Congratulations!" The contrast in reaction to this information was comical, especially considering Chershei should be the one with reason to be ecstatic.

"Th-thank you. I've been doing everything I can to keep him healthy but-"

"And you needn't do anything more!" Diana put a hand on her back, sensing growing instability in both her emotional state and physical posture. "Chershei, she won't be able to manage people with a baby glued to her chest. We need someone different."

"To the contrary, the act of nursing will be critical to this management by way of an example. There are precious few women who have given birth among the Nekh, fewer still who have been brought here, and even less who have raised a child through infancy. I do not know how it is for your kind, but midwives are generally those women who have gone through the pains of birth and childcare before and know what to do to make everything comfortable. That experience is something I do not have and will never be able to fully understand. I cannot imagine that anybody else has become pregnant in the short time since we have arrived, and if they have they would not be anywhere near as far along as Petunia."

"I understand that, but she also needs to act in the role of Titanyana's maid."

"Not with a Strapper in her belly." She shook her head. "We can't afford to lose the royal bloodline. The Grandmasters could swallow the pain of sending Queen Titanyana somewhere they could not protect her given the alternative would ensure her eventual death, but now that our survival is all but assured we cannot afford further risks. Having a successor, even if this successor is not her child, should be enough to convince the Grandmasters to swallow their objections in favor of her autonomy and development."

"I won't be allowed to stay with her?!" Petunia's ears and tail flared out, hair standing on end. "How am I, her maid, supposed to care for her if I cannot be at her side!?"

"You will not be able to do anything with a child in your arms. For the sake of everyone involved, baby included, you will to stay behind."

"But-"

"That's enough arguing." Diana clapped her hands, sighing at the outburst of the otherwise reserved Petunia. "I'm not entirely convinced of the argument that you are perfect for the job, but I think she's right that you are our best bet."

"Huh?!"

"I know your personality and temperament, I can trust you to follow through on my instructions, and you have started to learn English already. Even if you haven't raised a child of your own yet, I think having you act as the organizer would be beneficial given your unofficial status as a dowager queen." Diana brought a hand up to her chin. "Do you think you can do it?"

"I don't want to!"

"That wasn't the question, Petunia. If Titanyana asked you to stay here and organize the education of future mothers, would you be able to do it?" Diana wasn't particularly fond of blackmailing those she saw as friends, but if that was the only way she could get them to do what was necessary then it was a fait accompli. "I don't think it would be a good idea to bring you back to the Sanctum either. You need to devote time to the baby, and you won't do that if you are tending to Titanyana."

"I don't . . . I don't want to be left behind." Ears, tail and shoulders all drooped as Petunia realized she wasn't going to have a say in the matter. Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes, shimmering drops of sorrow growing larger as her emotions set in. "I've already lost so much."

"And I don't want you to lose any more." Diana hugged her, suspecting more than just a desire to serve her Queen was at play. Pregnant women were susceptible to mood swings from hormonal imbalance, though she wasn't entirely sure if this held true for Nekh as well. "Besides, it isn't like we'll be leaving immediately! We've got a few months before we need to head back, more than enough time to spend with her."

"And depending on when exactly the child was conceived, she should be there for the birth as well!" The Scholar jumped in on the conversation in a somewhat inappropriate fashion, leaving the three women moderately perplexed. "Oh! That reminds me! Diana, will I be able to take a tour of that ship?"

". . . when Donovan gets back. Let's focus on this for now."

- - - - -

Diana rubbed her temples on the way back to the car, the headache a result of the Scholar's unending enthusiasm for just about everything. He was a smart cookie, the type of person Diana wanted as a subordinate, but he didn't know when to stop. Productive though their conversation might have been, more than a third of it had been spent exploring needlessly intricate and complex organizational ideas for a bureaucratic entity that didn't even exist yet.

"Would I be permitted to ask a question, Empress?" Chershei's words escaped through slight gasps as she struggled against the gentle slope. Age and the intensity of the prior conversation had not been kind to her endurance.

"Go ahead." Diana turned to face her, the act allowing her to catch her breath.

"Why are you so invested in this?" Chershei rolled her shoulders, an audible pop coming from somewhere in her upper back. "I don't mean to say I'm unappreciative of the effort, but I just don't think the matter of motherhood warrants so much investment. I don't think the people need to be told how to have children, the young folk are eager enough to experiment on their own, and some of the older women know enough about delivering a baby as is. It doesn't seem smart to use so many resources on something that will happen naturally when we need to do so much other stuff."

"If I were worried about the short term, I might agree with your assessment." Diana sighed, this conversation was going to start happening more and more. "The short term problems are not mine to solve, though. More importantly, most those problems already have a known solution, so we just need a little bit of time to get everything sorted out on our end before we can implement them. My concerns are the long term problems - the biggest of which is a lack of manpower."

"Manpower?"

"I do not intend to label you as a tool, but the means through which we intend to derive power is built upon a large population base. We will be able to evacuate an amount of people in the millions, but we require a population base in the billions to enter an order of operations we consider to be normal."

"I see."

"We need to start the process of growing this population early so that when we are ready to do something on the scale we want to we will have the manpower available for it. To that end, we need to minimize complications during pregnancy and delivery as well as ensure that the children are raised properly." Diana paused, considering if she should reveal further plans adjacent to this population growth scheme.