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A shadow passed in those gray eyes and Julie nodded in understanding. She'd seen that look on<br />
every Tiri she'd talk to about their war against the Bak'ra. They all carried survivors' guilt, in one<br />
form or another. Having witnessed the destruction of your entire Empire does that to you, I<br />
guess.<br />
"Wow, you've been an Honor Guard for over sixty years?"<br />
Holding the same job for that long was something most human's pre-Tiri wouldn't have<br />
understood. For the Tiri, who thanks to their Regeneration treatments, could live to a<br />
comfortable three hundred, it was just a fraction of their lives. Humans would start to think like<br />
that eventually, but it would take time. For now most of them hadn't grasped the fact that with all<br />
the Re-gen Centers that the Empire had opened, they could live to nearly three hundred and fifty<br />
if they were lucky.<br />
"I've always been satisfied with my job. It's a great honor to be chosen to protect the First<br />
Guardian."<br />
Clarice correctly interpreted Julie's puzzled glance towards her rank symbols.<br />
"If I had been promoted past what is now called a Lieutenant, I'd have had to take on other<br />
duties."<br />
"Do you mind being assigned to me then?"<br />
If the Marine wanted to go back to her duties with the First Guardian, Julie would take it to<br />
Emily herself if need be. She wasn't going to be stuck with a ba<strong>by</strong>sitter who didn't even want to<br />
be there. The answer though, surprised her. Shaking her head, Clarice straightened slightly in her<br />
chair.<br />
"No, Ma'am. I believe that protecting you," she stressed the protecting part, "serves the First<br />
Guardian just as much as if I were to be at her side."<br />
Julie stared at her in confusion, scrunching up her nose in thought.<br />
"What?"<br />
"She cares for you, Julie, if she didn't you wouldn't still be a Guardian."<br />
The redhead's green eyes darkened and she pushed her chair back from the desk. The fact that a<br />
Marine was telling her how the First Guardian felt was enough to make her feel uncomfortable<br />
enough, but on top of everything else, it just left her feeling angry.<br />
"You can't know that, Clarice. If she cared for me she wouldn't have pretended I didn't exist for<br />
the last four days!"
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