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in being at the bottom, looking up. You can always push on, and always rise. Granted, if you are at the top you can see all around you… but up there you are seen from all around, and there is next to nowhere to hide. If you try to escape, you tempt fate and gravity. And the resulting fall would hurt horribly.
    That was my main reason for not having tried to contact either of my parent’s families. The Foréss family may not be in the imperial branch, but they are distantly related. And the Raven family may not be anywhere near the imperial throne, but they are still ruling nobility. Would either accept me? Would where I was raised keep them from acknowledging me? Did I really want to put myself at their mercy? I wasn’t a big family kind of person, having lived only with my aunt most of my life. The Street Wolves were probably the largest family I had ever known, and they numbered thirty all told… but I was only close to ten of them. From my researching, I had discovered that the Ravens were the same size as the Street Wolves and all were pretty close. My immediate family on my mother’s side was smaller, but there were all the relatives… one branch being the imperial family. Not intimidating at all, I thought, glancing about me as we entered the great hall.
    I’m pretty sure the great hall was large enough to fit the entire Academy’s administration building inside of with a little room to spare, and that building is at least five stories tall, one of the larger buildings on campus. So yes, the hall was plenty big enough for all available members of the Legion Fleet to attend. It was crowded, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.
    Jason took one look at the crowded hall and shook his head. “We will never get close enough to hear what is going on at this rate,” he muttered.
    “We are just crewmen,” Westley replied.
    “But they have that screen so we can all see what is happening,” I added.
    Jason rolled his eyes before gesturing us to follow his lead. Sharing a look, we trailed right after him. After many ‘excuse us’s we made it to the wall.
    “Now we are even farther away,” I pointed out, looking back toward the dais where the Imperial Throne sat, empty at this moment. The Empress’ Throne next to it also sat empty, but the advisor’s chairs behind them were occupied. All but one, of course—that was the one they were seeking to fill tonight.
    “Just follow me,” Jason said, and began to walk along the outside edge of the room. Surprisingly, this was easily done as everybody else was pressing closer to the center to get a good forward look at the thrones and soon to be occurring events. We ended up near the side of the dais. Imperial Guards posted there kept us from getting too close, but at least now we could ease our way through the thin crowd to stand near the dais. From here, even short as I was, I could see those upon the dais very well. I would also be able to clearly hear what was going to be said. Already, I could hear some of the admirals whispering. I just couldn’t make sense of the words.
    Admiral L’Seral caught sight of us and winked. She seemed to be eagerly awaiting the ceremony. I caught her glancing at her watch. Admiral Bieri also noticed, and placed a slender hand on the older woman’s arm. Admiral L’Seral glanced at her, and the beautiful red-haired admiral whispered something. Admiral L’Seral grimaced slightly and sat back in her chair. I could tell she was trying hard not to fidget. I fought hard not to smile, and Admiral Bieri caught my struggle and nodded with a small smile of her own. I grinned as I couldn’t hold it back after that.
    Moments later, the emperor and his wife appeared at the doors leading into the room. Everyone bowed at the waist, except for the guards who placed their right fist over their hearts and bowed their heads. I had discovered the reason for the difference from Marius. The guards (including Shades) and ruling family members put their fists