That was an interesting question to ask right now. By all accounts she should have known. But let's step back a few months.
***
Maolong was the third son of a merchant's family from Hanxin Prefecture. Being the third son, nothing much had been expected of him. His parents had been distantly delighted when he had hit upon the idea of joining the Fleet. His father had even found funding to purchase his way into the Admiralty Officer Academy. Everything had been going smoothly.
Then had come the accident. And regardless of what the Auditors had said, it had been an accident. They had taken every precaution...
***
"Ow!" She had nicked herself in a sensitive spot with one of her nails. She needed to be more careful. Where had she been...
***
Right, the accident. What had the auditors said? 'Excessive lack of caution leading to unfortunate consequences'. Excessive lack of caution fiddlesticks. They hadn't known that water was the triggering mechanism. No one had told them. At least, he hadn't remembered anyone telling them at the time, and none of their teachers had come forward to say they had provided that information during the investigation. It had seemed entirely natural for their cadet commander, Jun Jeifu, to direct them to spray the fire with water...
Poor Jun Jeifu. He had lost his position, his commission, and his right arm. Gone home in disgrace after the Audit. Lucky not to have been executed, according to the Military Procurator.
Maolong had been lucky. For a given value of lucky. He had only cracked three of his ribs and suffered burst eardrums. Not that he remembered any of it. Just the sound of the explosion and then blackness. He had come to in the Hospital, confused and deaf. It had taken weeks for them to restore his hearing, and his own commission had been revoked by the Auditors as part of the clean-up process. Not that he had argued overmuch. At least they had left him his honor as a Fourth-Class Veteran. But it had been a cruel end to his hopes.
And then they had come. From the Seers' Guild. "We have a recruiting shortage," they had told him. "Are you still willing to do your part for the Empire?" It had seemed preposterous at the time. He had rejected the idea utterly. His parents thought otherwise, though. Seers received the benefits of a First-Class Veteran, and their families were granted the rights of of the minor nobility. His mother had requested the pamphlet be left at his bedside table, where he had read it three times.
Maolong didn't know why he had finally agreed. Perhaps it had been family pressure. Or perhaps it had been his desire to serve the Sovereign (Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years!) in the Fleet, even in a different capacity. But things had happened quite quickly once he had agreed. He had been (carefully) transported from the hospital to the Crystal Grotto, where he had been taken in hand personally by the Mistress of the Guild. They had gone over the whole thing with him five times. Asked him five times if he was comfortable with the sacrifice he was making for the Sovereign (Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years!). And truth be told, he hadn't been.
***
She ran the soap over her breast. She was still fascinated by them, especially by the rouged tips that led her way. And by the blue crystal that sat above and between them, resting on her collarbone, etched in silver. She touched it, and... mmmm... the energy that passed through her, the life energy of the ship and all aboard it... was like a massage.
***
His last night as a man had been incredible. Each of the Seers' Matrons had been to his room, to show him what he was giving up and what he was gaining. It would have been a night to remember, had the morning not been what it was.
They had led him, naked, to the grotto, and presented him with a crystal. He had been the only man there, but that hadn't lasted. He was asked one last time if he was willing to devote himself and all he was, and he had agreed. And then it had happened. They had told him where he could put his crystal, but he had always known. In the movies, the seers always wore their crystal at their collarbone, and that was where he had put his.
She didn't remember the next few minutes as more than a range of sensations. Her body changing, softening, shrinking, developing. Again, blackness and awakening in a strange bed. With a new name, 'Maofeng, and a new body to match. Sensitive. Highly sensitive. It was a day before she could leave her bed and join her new sisters at classes.
There were fewer classes than she had expected. At least, fewer classes for becoming a seer. She had had other classes. Classes the other girls had gone through, but she hadn't. She was a good student, though. And she quickly learned all that was expected of her. By her second month, she had unlearned her male education and was fully confident of herself as a woman. Her mother had been so proud of the new daughter, and she had been so proud of herself.
Becoming a woman had been easy. Becoming a seer had been easier. There was little to be taught to her, who had already been through the academy. The rest of her job would come when she bonded with the ship's crystal, and the ship would teach her what it needed from her.
She had graduated, finally. And that was where she had met him.
***
He had been an officer from the Eridani Imperium, a naval exchange officer. Taking command of the 'zho quán de dí rén de yong héng hé píng', a cruiser. Handsome (she had not expected herself to feel that way, but she had. The sight of him had sent fire burning through her body), strong, confident. Halfdan had walked along the assembled ranks of the girls, ready to choose for his first command, and stopped in front of her. There had been a conversation.Between him and the mistress. No doubt discussing her past.
"Min svass," He called her. "Are you ready?" His voice had been like butter. She had not expected her body's reaction; as if it knew him already, as if it wanted him already. She had fought it down and agreed that she was prepared to serve the Empire as his Seer. The decision was made. She would be his. In more than one way. That had been obvious to both of them.
He waited for her now, on her bed. She peeked out the door. He was reading reports, but he was waiting for her. It had been a long journey to this moment for Maofeng, but the next steps she would walk side by side with him.