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Serena cautiously, but elegantly led Princess Irene down the palace’s exterior stairs to one of its many driveways. The summer sun still stood high in the sky even as evening approached. The maid was still adjusting to the added 40 kilograms of weight from the ‘real heels of doom’, but she was handling it much better than yesterday. Irene was thankfully behaving and had only run off twice today, and had yet to attempt to do so again in the last hour. Serena naturally kept a tight grip on the child’s hand, not even allowing the chance of another chase sequence.
Her task for this evening was simple: guide Princess Irene to a formal function on the far side of the city by Pegasus-drawn carriage. What kind of formal, and even its name, was unknown to Serena as Aphros refused to go into detail. The maid’s best guess was that it was pure political fluff to distract people from the power station incident.
On that note, as a security precaution in light of last week, all three princesses would be transported to the event at different times and in different vehicles. Atlanta’s carriage had left a little under twenty minutes ago, followed by the Second Princess ten minutes later, and now Irene’s would be the last to leave. That’s what brought Serena to this rarely used side driveway, where Orpheo, the royal valet, and his assistant were bringing out the carriage.
“Greetings, Your Highness,” Orpheo approached the two with a bow. “We are ready to leave at a moment’s notice.” Irene was distracted by a ladybug on the lawn and didn’t hear a word the man said.
“Ahem,” Serena tried to get Irene’s attention.
“Whazzup?” Irene looked up at Serena, her eyes alight with youthful wonder.
“Princess, please remain present,” the maid whispered to her ward.
“Present? Where?” Irene looked around for the supposed gift.
‘Why do I even bother?’ Serena sighed. She looked to the carriage, not looking forward to the bumpy trip ahead of them. Regular carriages were bad enough, but one that flies? Guaranteed bad time. At least Orpheo’s assistant looked like he knew what he was doing. The pair of Pegasi looked ready to roll over like lapdogs as he tended to them.
“Let’s just secure the Princess, Orpheo,” Serena stated. “Does it have those double-secure child safety seatbelts?”
“Installed them myself this morning,” Orpheo nodded. “Although seatbelts on a carriage are quite unusual, I understand that the young Princess requires the exception.”
“Thank you, Orpheo,” Serena bowed before taking Irene to the carriage. One comical scramble to get the child buckled up later, Princess Irene was safely secured inside the carriage. Even she would struggle to escape this miracle of traffic safety. “That takes care of that.” Serena wiped off her hands as she closed the carriage door.
“Ready to fly, young lady?” Orpheo joked as he approached Serena.
“Just give me a moment to steel myself.” Serena took in a deep breath, but her moment was interrupted as her danger sense went off, and the threat felt unfortunately familiar. “Oh no, not him.”
“Hi ho, Alexander!” An obnoxious voice shouted from above as a figure riding a Pegasus rapidly approached the carriage at speeds that a diving falcon would find dangerous.
“It’s Bellero, duck for cover,” Serena warned the other two workers as she threw herself to the ground. Bellero swooped down on his steed, grazing the carriage before pulling back up into the air to start hotdogging. After a few mid-air loops, he landed his mount with a graceful thud.
“My dearest Princess Atlanta, I have returned to grace you with my presence once again,” Bellero shouted as he whipped back his silver-black mane of hair as if he were starring in an artsy deodorant commercial.
“Bellero, you moron, Princess Atlanta has already left,” Serena yelled at him.
“Ah, the jealous fair maiden from before. I’m sorry, my heart belongs to Princess Atlanta, but do feel free to swoon,” Bellero remained in his own little world.
“You remember the last time we met very differently than I do,” Serena shook her head. “I’m warning you right now, Princess Atlanta and Aphros herself have both given me permission to violently subdue you if you ever came back to start this nonsense again,” the maid threatened.
“Princess, why ride in that drab carriage when I could fly you to the formal in style?” Bellero reared up his steed.
“The young lord Bellero is back, I see,” Orpheo came up to Serena’s side. “It’s strange to see him, rumor has it he wasn’t invited to this formal. One can only wonder why.”
“I’ll deal with him. Just get the carriage ready,” Serena assured. “Bellero, I’m going to give you to the count of five to get lost.”
“Do please count your blessings, young maid,” Bellero creatively interpreted her words, “but I must warn you, in my presence they’re endless.”
“One! Two! Three! Four!” Serena counted, knowing it was futile.
“Perhaps another trick will grab your attention, Princess?” Bellero ordered his mount to rise. “Or maybe you’re canoodling with that butler boy in there? In that case I’ll just blow the top off that dinky little carriage and carry you out myself.” The noble directed his mount high into the sky, preparing to loop back around at full speed. To make matters worse, he pulled out a small handle, which, with a click of a button, magically folded out into his lance. Now armed and dangerous, the noble pointed his weapon right at the carriage.
“To heck with it,” Serena gave up counting and prepared to leap onto Bellero as he swooped down. Knowing him, the first pass would be a deliberate near miss for style points before coming around for the real hit the second time.
“I’m coming, my love!” Bellero dive-bombed the carriage. Just as Serena predicted, he deliberately missed the first time, giving the maid ample time to jump onto the Pegasus at the low point of the dive. “Gah, young lady, while I’m flattered by your bold approach, you seemed to have gained considerable weight since we last met.”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” Serena grumbled, being reminded of the ‘heels of doom’ weighing her down was not what she needed right now. Still, it was nice that they were serving a practical purpose today. “Oh wait, no I won’t,” Serena grinned maliciously, because she knew his weakness. By unbuckling his saddle, the flamboyant noble was bound to throw himself off his own steed during one of his needless mid-air tricks. That’s how Orion beat him last time. “What the?” Serena froze as she found not only were the saddle’s buckles reinforced, but it looked like Bellero’s legs were bolted into the saddle itself. Nothing was removing him from the back of his mount.
“Ah yes, the saddle, I have learned from my previous failures, me and Alexander are joined at the hip, our bond is unbreakable!” Bellero declared. It was no empty boast, so hopefully he didn’t need to use that bathroom anytime soon because he wasn’t being removed by anything short of power tools or amputation. Unfortunately, Alexander still couldn’t cope with Serena’s added weight and began to falter and fall to the ground.
“We’re going to crash!” Serena’s danger sense went wild. Bellero became silent as he failed to right his steed. In his panic, he kept treating the situation as simply regaining control of his Pegasus. The noble didn’t think to compensate for the added weight. “Get out of the way!” Serena spotted Orpheo’s assistant, who they were on a collision course for. But then Serena blinked and…
“Easy there,” the assistant appeared right in front of them, moving so fast Serena almost didn’t see them move. Suddenly Alexander went from a panicking animal back to a well-trained mount and gently landed. Orpheo’s assistant, meanwhile, hopped off and gently floated to the ground, clearly through magic.
“What was that?” Serena jumped away from Bellero and landed beside Orpheo’s assistant. This was the first time she got a good look at the young man. They were about the same age as Caenia, with sky blue eyes and short light-brown hair that bordered on blonde, with a kiss of blue at the tips. They wore a dark blue coachman uniform, albeit not a very fancy one, which struck Serena as a little odd for someone working for royalty. But most importantly, they were a tall young man, taller than Caenia, taller than Bellero, and almost as tall as Lady Ze herself (and she was pretty freaking tall).
“Apologies, I should have stepped in sooner, but I couldn’t risk stopping the Pegasus too far from the ground,” he said smoothly. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine, but Bellero might still try to change that,” Serena replied.
“Alexander, what’s gotten into you? You’re only supposed to listen to me and maybe Princess Atlanta down that line if we can get that whole shared bond thing going,” Bellero exclaimed. “And I guess you listen to dad too…and the trainer…and the guy who feeds you on weekends…and mom…and Aunt Betty…and um…Ahem, regardless, charge!”
“…” Orpheo’s assistant held out their hand and silently mouthed something Serena didn’t hear. Bellero’s steed came to a dead stop as if its life depended on it.
“Alexander, again?” Bellero could not regain control of his mount.
‘Now’s my chance,’ Serena slipped behind the confused noble. “Special delivery, for young lord Bellero.”
“What delivery?” Bellero turned around.
“A knuckle sandwich!” Serena clocked him in the jaw, knocking the noble out like a light. “That felt better than I thought it would.” Serena dusted off her hands and walked away. “Should probably call the palace medics, tell him he got into a riding accident.”
“I’ll do just that,” Orpheo nodded and stepped away to make the call.
“Thanks, um,” Serena turned to Orpheo’s assistant.
“Astor Vassos,” the young man replied. “And I already know you’re Serena Diane. Everyone in the palace has heard of you by now.”
“I was afraid of that,” Serena looked away in shame, “but thank you, Astor. That guy was going to be a whole day’s worth of nonsense.”
“It’s no big deal. I just do what I can to help. Especially for pretty young ladies like yourself,” Astor smiled. Despite the cheesy pick-up line worthy of Bellero, Astor’s words just came on smoother.
“Abababa,” Serena sputtered, “t-th-thank you.” The maid turned to hide her blush, and Astor walked away with a chuckle. ‘What is wrong with me? Since when do guys like that get me flustered? So, what? He’s incredibly hot and,’ she glanced back at him, ‘has a nice ass and dynamite glutes and…STOP IT BRAIN! We talked about this back at the beginning of high school. Letting those thoughts take over leads to nothing but trouble. Remember our first two exes? Yeah, besides, I’m not into guys like that no matter how charming and…STOP!’
The maid slapped herself a few times to bring herself back to reality before sighing and moving back for the carriage. This was going to be a long enough night, and she didn’t need fantasies distracting her. Those could wait for her day off.
‘On a related note, with how fast that guy was moving, he definitely could have handled Bellero by himself. He just didn’t have the permission to beat his ass,’ Serena noted. ‘Something to address later, I guess. But what’s wrong with me? Am I so starved for reasonable people that the first time I share two words with a guy who isn’t trying to kill/maim me and/or isn’t crazy like everyone else here, that I go weak in the knees? I mean that was the cheesiest line ever, I’d punch Bellero or Jace in the mouth if they said that to me, so why’s Mr. Handsome…I mean Astor different?’ The maid stepped towards the carriage and opened the door. Thankfully, Irene was still in her seat and had somehow fallen asleep during the chaos.
‘Brain, we’re going to have a long discussion tonight about controlling impulses,’ Serena thought to herself. ‘It’s not like I went gaga over Bellero when I first saw…Well, I did think he was a looker, but then he opened his mouth, and I came back to reality. Hmm, maybe it has nothing to do with looks, and I’m actually attracted to reasonable and helpful people. That makes for slim pickings around here.’
\\~~~\\
II //~~~//
Despite the former’s eagerness to leave, Serena and Irene’s trip from the palace was delayed as the carriage had been damaged by Bellero’s attack. As Astor led the unconscious noble and his steed to the care of the palace infirmary, Serena stayed behind with Orpheo to make the minor fixes to the carriage.
“I see you’ve finally gotten to meet the Vassos family’s rising star,” Orpheo commented to Serena. “He’s quite the accomplished young man.”
“Certainly, a lot nicer than some other people I could name.” Serena’s thoughts drifted to her new ‘assistant’ who was currently absent on the pretense of a stomach ache. “But I can tell you’re hinting at a bigger reason.”
“You noticed the gradient in his hair? It’s completely natural and signifies a great destiny,” Orpheo explained. “A huge deal for any family, noble or worker, and doubly so for the Vassos.”
‘Well, since the only people I’ve seen with gradient hair are the royal family, I can see why it might be considered a desirable trait,’ Serena considered. “It’s strange, I can’t remember the last time I ran into a Vassos worker. I used to see them all the time when I was younger, but ever since I started working at the palace, I don’t think I’ve run into a single one as far as I’m aware.”
“That’s because working at the palace is a rare honor for the Vassos and an incredibly profitable one,” Orpheo smiled proudly. “I bet Astor is supporting his entire immediate family and then some off the back of his humble work in the palace stables, and if he continues to perform such exemplary work, he’ll only have more to look forward to. Maybe even a chair at the Vassos family council.”
“Sounds good for him,” Serena nodded before processing an early part of Orpheo’s statement. “Wait, supporting his family? They don’t have enough money? How? They’re workers, they all have to be working that’s the whole point.”
“Ah, Serena, you’ve been spoiled by both life as a low noble and a Diane,” Orpheo shook his head. “Life for the Vassos is different, even from other workers. The family is so big that the resources invested in them are often stretched thin. And when things are stretched thin, there’s always someone who gets noticeably less than the others.”
‘I guess I’ve never had to think about my pay before, and whether or not it would be enough,’ Serena thought. ‘I know workers are the exception to the universal income and have to work for a living. But ever since I became a worker, my pay and benefits have been generous enough that I have plenty of money (not like I have the time to enjoy it, but that’s another matter).’
“I know it might come as a bit of a shock, Serena, but it’s okay. Most Dianes your age have the same reaction, let alone low nobles,” Orpheo assured her.
“When you say supporting the family, do you mean his folks desperately need money now or for something in the future?” Serena inquired.
“I’m not privy to the details, nor is it my place to share them,” Orpheo answered, “but to put it in perspective, the Diane family and even the Regas, to an extent, practically live like nobles compared to the Vassos. They are already a large family, and as the needs of the kingdom grow, so does the size of the Vassos, and the money to support them doesn’t grow nearly as fast. It could be quite the problem one day in the future. I hear Lady Aphros frets about it frequently.”
“That makes sense,” the maid acknowledged. ‘You know, I’ve never thought of myself as privileged, especially not after being conscripted to work at the palace, but maybe being a worker just sucks in general. Then again, I’ve seen how poorly people treat Vassos workers out in the city. Heck, I can imagine a few workers I know personally who’d treat them just as badly. And I don’t want to think about this anymore because this whole realization is starting to disturb me. If only I had someone to talk to about this who shared my perspective…wait…duh.’
\\~~~\\ //~~~//
A little while later, Serena and Irene were well on their way to the formal, with the princess and her maid seated comfortably inside the carriage while Orpheo and Astor were at the reins. While it was a somewhat bumpy flight, Astor’s skills at animal handling demonstrated themselves again, as it was the smoothest carriage ride Serena had ever been on. So much so that Irene still hadn’t woken up and Serena had time to call Caenia through their communicators just to have idle conversation. A rare privilege during working hours.
“…And then I knocked him out, and we sent him off to the infirmary,” Serena finished relaying the recent events.
“Lord, that could have been me if he were ten minutes earlier,” Caenia sighed. “Well, at least he’s out of our hair for the night, but wait how did you stop the Pegasus again? You’re not the type to throw yourself in front of a charging animal.”
“Oh, it was Astor Vassos, Orpheo’s apprentice,” Serena answered.
“Astor’s going to be here? Finally, some good news on this crappy night,” Caenia laughed.
“I take it you know him?” Serena narrowed her eyes.
“Know them? They’re one of the few cool people around here,” Caenia explained. “I’m glad those idiot nobles haven’t managed to chase Astor away like they did me. Plus, I’ll finally have someone intelligent to talk to again.”
“Wow, you really think highly…hey, wait a minute!” Serena snapped.
“I wish I could see the look on your face, kid,” Caenia chuckled. “It’s too easy sometimes.”
‘You’re like two years older than me. I’m hardly a kid compared to you,’ Serena huffed. “Just laugh it up while you can,” Serena retorted before pausing to think. “Hey, Caenia, have you ever had to think about not having enough money?”
“And where is this coming from?” Serena could practically hear Caenia’s eyebrow raising. “Wait, it’s because Astor’s a Vassos, isn’t it? Finally realizing what life is like outside the ivory tower?”
“I’ve been to the old city, Caenia. That’s literally where we met,” Serena reminded her. “I know what the ugly side of the kingdom looks like.”
“No, you don’t. You only saw the fumes coming off the real nasty crap,” Caenia countered. “The people down there are not hard up for money. They’re a bunch of spoiled nobles and disgruntled workers hiding in the basement because they don’t want to face the consequences of their actions.”
“Uh huh,” Serena gave Caenia a look that could be seen even through a voice call.
“Yeah, I know exactly what face you’re making. Don’t give me that look,” Caenia snapped. “There are some obvious exceptions: a few people who got screwed over and need to hide. I was somewhere between groups A and B.”
“So, what’s your point?” Serena sassed her senior.
“My point is that you didn’t see the ugly side. You saw the sad and pathetic side,” Caenia explained. “The Vassos, that’s one of the ugly sides. They say we live in a world where no one struggles to live, but that’s only 90% true. In a world where almost everyone is a have, even many workers, the Vassos are the have-nots.”
“So that’s it? That’s just their lot in life? Everyone else prospers, and they struggle because they were born into that family? That doesn’t seem fair,” Serena pointed out.
“Do I sense a budding activist?” Caenia commented. “Maybe even a little projection?”
“No, it just bugs me, and I don’t know why specifically,” Serena tried to backpedal.
“Listen, Serena, take my advice, fretting about it won’t do anything but make you feel like shit,” the elder maid advised. “It’s not fair, and the more you dig into this issue, the worse shit you’ll find. You’ve got enough shit on your plate that you don’t need to worry about this right now.”
“So what? Just pretend this doesn’t exist?” Serena tightened her fist.
“Well, to phrase it in the worst way possible, yes,” Caenia answered. “But if I were to sprinkle on a little nuance, that isn’t your battle to fight today, Serena. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
“What?” Serena was taken aback. She never pegged Caenia to be the kind of person to fight for others’ rights, but how much did she really know about her relative?
“Basically, what I’m saying is, get through this stupid formal tonight and save your concerns for the wider problems of the world when you have the time and energy,” the silver-haired girl advised.
“And when will that be?” The younger maid pushed back.
“Who knows?” Serena could sense Caenia shrug. “Just practice some critical thinking and watch out for shady assholes who realize what you’re thinking and try to sell you shit.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Serena questioned the increasingly specific advice.
“You’ll understand, probably sooner rather than later,” Caenia said with exasperation, the kind that only comes from experience. “What’s gotten you so tied up with these big issues anyway? Have you been listening to Aphros or Aré’s speeches? Or,” Caenia took a dramatic pause, “is it something a little more…hormonal?”
“Blach!” Serena sputtered. “Of course not,” she lied.
“I know, I know it’s a really nice ass, but you can only look, Serena, not touch,” Caenia snorted. “We must remain professional, don’t you remember?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Serena’s eyes went wide as she realized what she sounded like. “I mean, I wasn’t trying to stare at his ass…It was an accident…this is all coming out wrong…shut up!”
“I was just guessing, but I do love being right,” Caenia laughed. “Oh, look, it’s the venue. I must go and attend to my ward as we arrive. Please remember to control yourself tonight, Serena. We don’t want a social faux pas, do we?”
“I’ll get you for this,” Serena muttered.
“I’d love to see you try,” Caenia hung up, leaving Serena to stew in her embarrassment. By some miracle, Irene had not woken up during the conversation, so at least there were no other witnesses to her shame.
‘Sometimes she drives me batty, and what’s with that weird advice?’ Serena huffed. ‘Whatever, she was right about one thing: I should just focus on the night ahead and leave my concerns for the big problems for the future…or preferably never.’ The maid resolved. ‘Besides, it’s not like the financial problems of the downtrodden will ever really be my responsibility, right? Wait, since I might be tied to Irene for the rest of my life, what happens when Irene grows up and gets a real political position? Will she actually be responsible for stuff like that, and, by extension, so will I? What a terrifying thought.’ In the end, Serena concluded it was best to end this train of thought before she started to ask the really scary questions.
>>>~~~~<<<
Your coworkers can come from anywhere, but no matter how different you may be on the surface, you're all here to accomplish the same job so you should coordinate as needed.
Author's Note: And thus begins the next chapter, and only a couple months after the last one this time *Pause for applause*. Anyway the next few chapters will be character introductions, starting with this one, which will be building up to the next two volumes as their stories will require a larger cast. As for this one, we have Serena back to her daily grind, being attack by crazy people while trying to do her job. I'll have more to say in the following parts as all my thoughts on this chapter involve spoilers. Look forward to the next section which will hopefully be out next week, if not the following week.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
