Enigmatic Fantasies - Maid in Fantasy Part IV

Part I|II|III|IV

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            Serena’s first week in the palace went about as well as expected. Not for struggles as a maid, the young girl managed to move with the dignity and grace expected of her position. It also helped she rarely interacted with any higher nobles outside of Lady Aphros, Ze, and the princess. Honestly, the palace was so massive that she could go hours without seeing so much as a guard or another servant. Alas, her real problem was the youngest princess.

           Irene had no patience for anything, perhaps expected of a small child, but not for a princess. The youngest princess was nothing short of chaotic, sometimes waking at 7:00 am sharp to run around the palace in pajamas. Other times she’d sleep until 2:00 in the afternoon…just to run around the palace in her pajamas. Worse yet, such examples were only the start of the princess’s day.

           Serena struggled to keep up with the ball of energy, both figuratively and literally. The young woman didn’t know how Irene managed to sprint at speeds that’d make world-class track runners blush. Especially since she almost exclusively wore those impractically long dresses that the royal family favored for some reason. Despite having only inhabited the palace for a week, their hourly chases had become almost routine.

           It was on one such chase that Serena followed the youngest princess into the palace garden. In line with the rest of the structure, the gardens were tremendous, as though they were cultivated by literal giants. Several of the plants towered over the young maid while the trees dwarfed some buildings. However, the most impressive of all was a single massive tree at the center of the garden, and perched atop one of its thousands of branches was Princess Irene. This wouldn’t be too concerning if it weren’t for the fact that said branch, despite being among the lower ones, was three stories high.

           “Princess, you get down from there this instant!” Serena yelled, dropping any and all pretenses of formality and the supposedly large social divide between them.

           “Don’t wanna,” the princess shouted back.

           “Don’t make me call Lady Ze again!” Serena threatened. It was a hollow threat, as Ze had left the city yesterday on important business and wouldn’t return until next week.

           “Look how high I can go!” Irene began climbing higher up the tree.

           “Princess, no,” Serena scrambled after. However, she stopped immediately as she realized the distance between her and Irene was three stories of sheer wood with no handholds. “How’d she even get up there? Is she half spider? Can she fly?” That wasn’t the issue though, the real one was how she would stop the princess from hurting herself. Serena didn’t feel like having her head on the chopping block only a week into her employment because the princess got hurt; or, heaven forbid, died under her watch.

           “Cool, there are birds up here,” Irene’s voice began more distant.

           “Dammit,” Serena kicked reason to the curb and decided to scale the tree anyway. Thankfully, the past two months of painful training paid some dividends. Even in her maid outfit, Serena managed to scramble up the tree in record time. The adrenaline certainly helped. Alas, the princess had a three-story head start, and only Serena’s longer limbs could hope to close the distance.

           “Wee!” Irene played among the branches like a monkey. By some miracle, her long dress hadn’t managed to catch itself on one of the branches…yet.

           “For heaven’s sake, princess, stop that before you hurt yourself!” Serena closed the distance between the two.

           “You sound just like Victoria. She never climbed up the tree, though,” Irene commented as she hung from one of the branches like a baboon.

           “Princess!” Serena scrambled across the tree branches with a level of agility she didn’t know she had. If she had paused to think about what she was doing, she likely would have fallen flat on her face.

           “Yay, Victoria never played with me like this,” Irene monkeyed across the tree and tapped Serena’s shoulder. “Tag, you’re it!”

           “Princess, this is no time for games,” Serena grabbed for Irene’s ankle.

           “No tag backs,” the princess spun atop her branch like a world-class gymnast, effortlessly dodging Serena’s grab. With inhuman dexterity, she continued to scale the tree like a gibbon.

           ‘Dear lord, I hope Orion’s having a better time,’ Serena mused as she renewed the chase.

~--~

           “Achoo,” Orion sneezed. He stood alongside Princess Atlanta in a large grassy field at the opposite end of the palace. Several targets were set up across the area, and each one was placed at various distances away. The blonde-haired young man had an eclectic set of ranged weaponry shoved into a bag slung over his shoulder.

           “Coming down with something?” Princess Atlanta inquired.

           “No, my princess. Just a tickle in my nose,” Orion assured. “Now, would you prefer the bow and arrow or the throwing knife?”

           “The 12-gauge, Orion,” Atlanta ordered with her back turned.

           “Aw, but wouldn’t my princess prefer a more elegant weapon?” Orion proposed.

           “The 12-gauge, Orion,” the princess didn’t even bother to look at him.

           “As you wish,” the blonde pulled out and loaded the shotgun.

~--~

           “Got you, princess,” Serena exclaimed as she finally successfully captured Irene.

           “Aw, you caught me…My turn to be it!” Irene never missed a beat.

           “Princess, perhaps we should continue this game on solid ground,” Serena proposed as she gestured to their position. The two were tangled in a mass of branches. Serena dangled upside down by her legs while holding the princess in her arms.

           “Okay,” the princess reluctantly agreed as she realized being trapped in the branches made it hard to play.

~--~

           After, by some miracle, Serena managed to get herself and the princess down from the tree without hurting themselves. The maid led the princess back inside the palace to get them both cleaned up. Serena didn’t know what her and the princess’s dresses were made of, but whatever it was, it was tear and dirt-resistant. Irene’s dress was completely unblemished, aside from a few more wrinkles. At the same time, Serena’s uniform only had the most minor bits of dirt and scratches.

           Running the princess through a quick bath and the like was surprisingly painless. It helped that Irene actually held still while getting clean. Of course, the second they finished with the bath, the princess tried to run off naked. Serena only managed to catch her on pure instinct.

           As the two exited the bath, freshly cleaned and redressed, they ran into Lady Aphros. The blonde beamed with a whole new kind of excitement on seeing them. Aphros was a sight for sore eyes in Serena’s case, but nothing more than a mild curiosity for Irene.

           “Ah, young princess and Serena, how goes your day?” Aphros asked. Irene made no effort to answer the question, so Aphros turned to the maid instead.

           “Exhausting. We were supposed to be at an etiquette lesson two hours ago,” Serena admitted while she maintained a tight grip on Irene’s arm. “I only just now managed to keep her at my side.”

           “Better than your cousin, at least,” Lady Aphros stroked Serena’s shoulder. “She spent most of her days here chasing Irene from dawn till dusk.”

           “If I may be so bold as to ask, how long did my cousin last here?” Serena addressed the obvious question.

           “Well, that’s a complicated question,” Aphros admitted. “Technically, she worked in the palace and in service to Irene for a couple months, but as Irene’s personal attendant, she lasted about three…” The noblewoman trailed off.

           “Three whole months? That’s impressive,” Serena replied.

           “I’m sorry, I didn’t finish,” Lady Aphros’s discomfort was evident. “I meant three days.”

           “Oh,” Serena looked down at the princess, who was clearly tuned out of their conversation.

           “I guess, after ten years of her life went into training for this, she couldn’t…” Aphros began. “You know what, I shouldn’t speak of that. You’re doing a wonderful job, Serena. Why don’t I treat you and princess to some lunch?”

           “Is that really okay?” Serena inquired.

           “Well, technically, a servant shouldn’t eat at the same table as their employer,” the blonde explained. “But I’ll let it slide this time. I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.”

           “That would be lovely, thank you,” Serena bowed. “Shall we go, princess?”

           “Food?” Irene made puppy dog eyes.

           “Yes, food,” Serena nodded and led the princess as they followed Aphros.

~--~

           Serena didn’t expect much when Lady Aphros offered to treat them to lunch. In fact, she thought it’d be as simple as ordering a meal from the palace’s cooking staff. What she didn’t expect was being led back into Aphros’s hovercraft and flown to a nearby high rise with a restaurant on top. The building was an impressive tower constructed of yellow topaz, while the restaurant itself decked out in further shades of yellows and whites. The three were the only patrons, giving Serena an idea of how exclusive the place was.

           “Is it really okay for me to be here?” Serena gulped.

           “It’s fine, just stay with me,” Lady Aphros assured. “Around this time of day, nobody comes to this place.” Serena nodded as the three sat down. Immediately a waiter appeared seemingly out of nowhere to deliver three menus, three glasses of water, and an iced tea. “Why thank you, Sebastian,” Aphros received the ice tea. “Now, please give us a moment.” The waiter bowed and disappeared just as quickly as he came.

           “I don’t even know where to begin,” Serena admitted. Even the menu felt incredibly rich, as though it was woven from velvet. It was filled with intricate dishes that the young woman had only vaguely heard of or were completely alien to her.

           “Just ignore the first six or seven pages. That’s all the fancy stuff people order to make themselves look classy,” Lady Aphros explained. “I actually made up half the dishes on page four. Sometimes I order them to test the other nobles on their honesty…and to mess with them.”

           ‘Sounds about right,’ Serena kept her opinion to herself. “So, this is your restaurant then?”

           “Yep, yep, yep,” the blonde beamed. “Skip to the last few pages. That’s where the food you should be familiar with is.” Serena nodded and flipped through to find the fancy names, and long lists of ingredients gave way to more traditional meals. Albeit expensive ones like filet mignon and lobster, but a few things like burgers, pasta, and the like were snuck in there too.

           “I see, but I still don’t know what to-” Serena began.

           “Just order whatever. I won’t judge,” Aphros smiled. “They take requests. If you want your steak in a blender, they’ll do that.”

           “I think I’ll just order a burger then,” Serena said sheepishly.

           “Burger? I wanna burger!” Princess Irene finally piped up, having been mesmerized by whatever drawings were on the kid’s menu until now.

           “I don’t know, princess. Remember what happened last time?” Aphros commented.

           “Nope,” Irene replied.

           “Okay fine,” Lady Aphros shrugged. “I think I’ll just have my usual then.”

           “Of course, my lady,” the waiter appeared out of nowhere again, jotted down their orders, and disappeared.

           “Was he there the whole time?” Serena exclaimed.

           “There always there, at the ready. It’s that kind of place,” Aphros explained.

~--~

           Lunch went by quickly as Serena ate the most wonderful burger she ever had in her life. The only thing marring it was getting the princess to eat hers with some dignity and grace (as much as one can have while eating a burger, at least). By some stroke of luck, Irene didn’t make a complete mess of herself, and Serena got to enjoy her meal. She didn’t quite know what Aphros had ordered. It was some kind of meat and vegetable dish, but as for what meat and what vegetables, Serena couldn’t say.

           “What a wonderful meal, wouldn’t you agree?” Aphros asked the two.

           “Mmhm,” Irene chewed the last of her food and didn’t reply.

           “It was amazing, Lady Aphros,” Serena bowed.

           “I’m glad,” the blonde beamed.

           “Making friends with the help again, Lady Aphros?” A stern voice asked from nearby. Serena turned to see a tall, albeit slender, man with long cream-colored hair. He wore a similar uniform to Lady Aphros. However, the emblem on his chest indicated he stood but one step below her on the hierarchy. Still, he wore his station with obvious pride; the flowing cape certainly hinted as much.

           “Lord Adonis, what a pleasure it is to see you,” Aphros replied. Serena had been given a crash course in noble etiquette and manner, so she could sense a subtext to their conversation. Alas, she couldn’t tell if Aphros was being genuine or not. “Since when do you come here for lunch?”

           “Ever since I heard you spirited off the third princess and her new maid,” Adonis stepped closer. “I’d thought that you’d want to have a spirited discussion about the current state of affairs.”

           “I’d love to, but I must take these two back. Princess Irene has an etiquette lesson,” Lady Aphros quickly stood up and shepherded the two younger girls away.

           “Very well, I’ll make conversation with you later, my lady,” Adonis bowed. “Do be careful. I think there’s a loose panel on the landing platform.”

           “Certainly,” Lady Aphros waved as she left. Once out of earshot, Aphros sighed, “the nerve of that man.”

           “Is there a problem, Lady Aphros?” Serena inquired.

           “Nothing you need to worry yourself with, for now, Serena,” Aphros assured. “Let’s just say Adonis, and I met over sharing a few political views. He took that to mean a little more than I intended.”

           “I understand,” Serena wisely stopped her line of questioning and returned her focus to keeping the princess at her side.

           “It’s really nothing grand,” Aphros continued and leaned up to Serena’s ear. “The two of us just favor the second princess as the heir rather than the first.” Serena paused, wondering why Aphros would tell her such information. However, before she could ponder that further, a shiver went right up her spine. Something was wrong, but what?

           The maid’s eyes glanced across the landing platform. Nothing seemed off except for the single loose panel Adonis warned them about. However, it was off to the side and would only be a danger if one chose to walk closely to the edge. An edge that went right out to a several stories long drop to street level.

           Upon second glance, Serena noted she could see right through the platform in the place where the panel was loose. Immediately below, a balcony to their right jutted out further than the landing platform. It was mostly full of plants, a few crystal benches, and a single person. Serena’s focused on the person, the one thing out of place. They looked vaguely like the waiter from earlier in that they wore a somewhat similar outfit. Yet, something about the person gave Serena pause and flared up all her mental alarm bells.

           “Is there a problem, Serena?” Lady Aphros inquired.

           “N-,” Serena almost said no, but knew better than to dismiss a suspicious figure. “Lady Aphros, the figure below us…”

           “Aw him, I thought he might be one of the waitstaff at first too, but I doubt that’s the case,” Aphros put her hand on Serena’s shoulder. “Move the princess between us. I’ll handle this.” Serena obeyed and moved the princess to her left, between herself and Aphros.

           “Wha’s the matter?” Irene asked, looking up at Serena with her puppy dog eyes.

           “Nothing, princess, it’s nothi-” Serena tried to assure until a surge of instinct kicked in. Every fiber of her being went from warning her something terrible was about to happen soon to something terrible was happening right now. Without thinking, she pushed the princess to the ground as a gunshot rang out through the area. Serena only heard the bullet whizz by, thankfully she and the princess were unharmed, yet Aphros was nowhere to be seen. “Lady Aphros?” Serena called out.

           “I’m fine, just taking care of business,” Serena hazarded a glance and saw Aphros had at some point moved from their position to the balcony below. The figure from before, or rather the would-be assassin, had been subdued by the blonde. “Serena, be a dear and move the princess to the hovercraft, in case there are more. Then could you call up the palace and ask for someone to come pick up our little assassin?”

           “Yes, my lady,” Serena exclaimed, picked up the princess, and raced to the hovercraft.

To Be Continued…

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Every workplace is at risk for a sudden, dramatic event throwing everything into chaos. What's important is being able to detect such problems ahead of time to either prevent or mitigate them.

Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy

Enigmatic Fantasies - Maid in Fantasy Part III

 Part I|II|III

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           ‘Training with Lady Ze is something else,’ Serena thought. She’d had vaguely known of the captain of the royal guard and had seen publicity photos. Still, none of that would prepare her for meeting the woman in person. Ze wore a black and emerald metal armor straight out of a fantasy novel, covering her head to toe. The woman’s figure was so obscured and her voice so muffled behind the armor one would struggle to determine anything about her physical appearance. Except for maybe one thing, she must be in the best physical shape humanly possible as her strength was unreal.

           Their first lesson was firmly etched into Serena’s mind. She joined her new peer Orion out in the fort’s courtyard, where Lady Ze awaited. Ze laid down the law immediately, promising to break them both down and rebuild them better than ever. It began with a demonstration of the guard captain lifting one of the base’s hovercrafts half a meter off the ground, like a couch.

           “By the end of this month, you two will perform a similar feat of strength,” Ze barked. “If not, you will train every day, from sunrise to sunset until you can. Do I make myself clear?”

           “Ma’am, yes ma’am,” the two servants in training replied in unison.

           “Good, then let’s get started,” Lady Ze’s tone became much warmer. Alas, it was a deceptive tonal shift, as the training that followed would have made most grown men cry. The multi-kilometer runs, numerous obstacle courses, and absurd weight training would certainly be substantial and intense workouts under any conditions. However, in Ze’s regiment, that was just the first two hours of the morning, nothing more than a morning jog in her eyes. Although it had accomplished one thing, it had undoubtedly broken down the two servants in training.

           Serena and Orion limped back to their quarters. The day’s training had run a little late, but by the grace of some higher power Lady Ze gave the next day off to recover. Which was welcome, as Serena had almost dislocated her shoulder during halberd training. The duo split as they approached their doors and dragged themselves into their individual adjacent rooms. Serena collapsed on her bed, a real one this time, not a cot. Her new quarters were certainly better than the closet she was stuck in for almost a month. It was a touch spartan, but that was expected for a bedroom in a military base. At least there was room for a small dresser, desk, and chair.

           “I don’t know how much longer I can take this,” Serena moaned into her pillow. The past month had been way worse than anything she encountered in her brief stint in basic training. Lady Ze was certainly nicer than any drill instructor, but she made up for that by working you ten times as hard. From dawn till dinnertime, with only a brief break for lunch, the captain of the guard had worked Serena and Orion to the bone. It was so bad Serena spent half the first week paralyzed from exhaustion. If it weren’t for the miraculous medicine of her time period, she could have been crippled for life.

           “Now I understand why Orion was so tired all the time,” Serena commented as she laid limp on her bed. “I guess Lady Aphros was too hard on the poor guy.” Aphros hadn’t given the two breaks either. On weekends or the rare day Lady Ze gave them off, Aphros trained the two in “etiquette, grace, and manner.” It started off simply as a crash course on their duties as servants to the royal family. Although, that part was mostly review for Orion. Then it moved onto their expected manner and actions. Their posture, their speech, and even the slightest gesture were important. Although the truth of the matter was, Aphros skimmed over those parts and went straight into parlor tricks. The blonde insisted that pouring tea from a kettle into a cup over half a meter apart or cleaning a hallway in a single swift motion were far more important.

           “My life is growing crazier by the minute. I haven’t even had time to contact to mother,” Serena scolded herself for neglecting her simplest task. She could count the number of times she’s spoken to her mother since she started training on one hand. The young woman hadn’t so much as called her in the past three weeks. “I’ll do it…In the morning,” Serena closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

           Despite her exhaustion and complete absence of energy, Serena struggled to fall asleep. The young woman still hadn’t grown used to having sore muscles all the time, and that bizarre sensation still bubbled beneath the surface of the aches and pains. Unable to sleep and unable to focus on much else, Serena rolled out of bed and knocked on the wall dividing her and Orion’s rooms. The young man replied with two knocks, meaning he was still up. Serena gathered up what little energy she had and dragged herself out the door and into Orion’s room.

           “Can’t sleep. What about you?” Serena asked as she waddled into the room sluggishly. Orion’s quarters were a mirror of her own, equally spartan and differentiated only by a few personal possessions.

           “Same,” Orion nodded. “I think I sprained something this time.” He clutched his ankle.

           “Oh, you’ll be fine, you big baby,” Serena joked as she collapsed into a chair. “I want a bath or at least a shower. Heck, I’d even settle for skinny dipping in a shallow lake.”

           “Stop with that,” Orion muttered back. The blonde put on a smile, but he was so exhausted he struggled to keep it up.

           “I don’t think I can keep this up. If this goes on another week, I feel like I’m going to keel over,” Serena admitted. ‘Then there’s that weird feeling, but just thinking about that makes me queasy.’

           “Don’t be like that. We’ve got another month or two tops,” Orion tried to comfort her.

           “Then we’ll be onto the palace, with real responsibilities,” Serena pointed out. “If the training doesn’t kill me, the stress will.”

           “Hey, you lasted this long. Lady Ze said most people would have died by now,” Orion tried to look on the bright side.

           “That doesn’t make me feel better,” Serena sighed. “I just don’t-.”

           “What’s going on in here?” Lady Aphros burst into the room, startling the duo. “Oh, you’re just talking?”

           “W-what did you think we were doing?” Orion asked genuinely.

           “I just thought…Sorry, that was my mistake,” Aphros apologized.

           “Do you honestly think we have the energy to do something like that?” Serena muttered, earning her a surprised glance from Aphros. “Did I say that out loud?”

           “What are you two going on about?” Orion asked, earning a pair of surprised glances.

           “Ah, poor, sweet, innocent Orion,” Lady Aphros said under her breath, just loud enough for Serena to hear. “Anyway, I came to give you two some good news.”

           ‘Dear lord,’ Serena bit her lip.

           “I managed to work out a deal with the folks in the palace. You’ll start working there a little earlier than expected.” Aphros beamed.

           “Let me guess, in a week’s time?” Serena inquired.

           “Correct, you’re getting sharp Serena,” there was a bit of pride in Lady Aphros’s eyes. “Oh, I can’t wait for you to meet the princess.”

           “What about our training?” Orion asked. “I’m almost done, but Serena still needs to catch up ten years’ worth.”

           ‘Don’t remind me,’ Serena sighed.

           “Oh, we’ll sprinkle that out through the next year or years in Serena’s case,” Lady Aphros dismissed their concerns. “Think of it as on-the-job training. Do people still say that?”

           ‘Must I keep asking? Why me?’ Serena complained internally.

~--~

           The following week came far too quickly for Serena’s taste. Before she knew it, she and Orion were shuttled to the palace. It was a grand building of pure crystal, towering over all others in their fair city. It was so massive Serena guessed the structure amounted to 10-15% of the entire city. The young woman wondered what they could possibly need all that space for. Even factoring in luxurious living spaces for all the highest nobles and quarters for guards and servants. Reasonably speaking, they would only need a structure half that size. Wisely, Serena decided not to question it.

           Upon landing, Lady Aphros led Serena and Orion through a series of grand halls before passing through what appeared to be the servant’s quarters. They stopped in a modest wardrobe filled with sets of identical uniforms. Aphros smiled as she picked out an outfit for the duo and handed them out. The blonde quickly shuffled Serena and Orion into a pair of dressing rooms to change.

           “Is this really the royal servant uniform?” Serena inquired as she exited the dressing room. “It seems a little…”

           “Retro?” Aphros smirked as she observed Serena’s new look. The young woman was garbed in a long black dress with long sleeves, adorned with a white apron, cuffs, and bonnet. The dress was so long one could barely tell she also wore long white socks and pitch-black shoes. She almost appeared as though she walked out of a Victorian-era period piece, albeit one with some creative liberties taken. Notably, the royal seal, a yellow gibbous moon backed by a sword, was etched into the collar, adding a splash of color.

           “That’s…an accurate way to describe it,” Serena admitted.

           “Well, the Queen is into some…old-fashioned things,” Lady Aphros explained. “Of course, if I had it my way, I’d hem the dress to be a touch shorter, right-” Aphros ran her finger up Serena’s dress, stopping just below knee height, “-here.”

           “Right,” Serena swallowed her next comment. ‘I’m starting to formulate an opinion on Lady Aphros, and it is not an altogether positive one.’

           “Hmm, Orion’s taking a long time,” Aphros turned towards the other dressing room. “You okay in there?”

           “I think it’s too small,” Orion squeaked, clearly struggling with the outfit.

           “No, no, it’s supposed to be like that, just suck in your gut it’ll slip right on,” Aphros assured.

           ‘That poor man,’ Serena sighed and brushed her hands over her new uniform. The young woman didn’t have the easiest time fitting in her outfit either. She noted it felt soft at some points and not so much at others. At those points, it was very thick and inflexible, and what was with all the oddly shaped pockets? “Lady Aphros, why is there a pocket in the-?”

           “Oh, don’t worry, Lady Ze will get to that in training soon,” Aphros winked.

           “I got it on, but it’s still a little tight,” Orion emerged from the dressing room. To match Serena’s stereotypical maid, Orion was the stereotypical butler. He wore a white shirt, black waistcoat, black tailcoat, long black pants with black shoes, and topped off with white gloves and bowtie. “Lady Aphros, if I may boldly ask, why is the waistcoat made of-?”

           “Don’t worry about it,” Aphros deflected the question and stepped in closer to inspect the young man. “One last touch,” Aprhos slicked the blonde’s hair back, only allowing a single strand at the center to dangle forward, “perfect. Now that you both look the part, acting the part should come naturally.”

           “Of course, Lady Aphros,” Serena humored the blonde’s logic.

~--~

           In their complete garb, Serena and Orion were again guided by Aphros through the palace. Serena began to note that the many grand halls looked eerily similar, and all seemed to blend together. She shuddered at the embarrassing thought that she’d get lost in these halls one day. Before she had a chance to dwell on that idea, they all arrived at a small, at least relatively, sitting room. Waiting there were three individuals, Lady Ze standing in her full armor and two young girls.

           The first girl looked Serena’s exact age, maybe a touch younger. Her hair was a silver lilac that turned pink at the tips and fell to her waist. The other girl looked no older than nine and had blonde hair that turned lilac at the tips but only came to just past her shoulders in length. The first girl sat poised and refined, slowly sipping a cup of tea. The second was bouncing in her seat. They both wore the same long and flowing silver dress, but the second girl’s looked fairly wrinkled.

           “Sorry to keep you waiting, princess,” Aphros bowed deeply to the older girl, “and you as well, Lady Ze.” The princess did not respond.

           “It was…no trouble at all,” even beneath her emerald armor, Ze’s aside glance towards the younger princess couldn’t have been more obvious. “Shall we move onto greetings then?”

           “If we must,” the elder princess huffed and stood up. The younger princess followed with a spring in her step.

           “Just like we practiced,” Lady Aphros whispered in Serena and Orion’s ears.

           ‘Okay,’ Serena took a deep breath and curtsied, her head bowed and eyes closed. Orion followed suit with his own bow.

           “First Princess Atlanta,” Lady Aphros gestured to the older princess, “this is Orion Diane. He shall serve as your personal attendant from here on out.”

           “Whatever, hope he lasts longer than the last one,” Atlanta rolled her eyes. Orion bit his lip to keep a straight face.

           “Third Princess Irene,” Aphros turned to the younger princess, who had already grown bored of the exchange and was looking the other way. “Princess Irene!” Aphros snapped, earning the young girl’s attention. “This is Serena Diane. She shall serve as your personal attendant from here on out.”

           “Okie dokie,” the princess giggled. “Wha happened to Victoria doh?”

           “Victoria had to go back home. Serena will take her place,” Lady Aphros explained, a pained look in her eye.

           “Okay den, let’s play!” Irene ran up to Serena, “tag, you’re it!” The princess smacked Serena’s side before darting out of the room at a speed that shouldn’t have been possible for a girl her size in such a dress.

           “What just happened?” Serena broke character in shock.

           “Aphros, you were supposed to warn them about that!” Lady Ze exclaimed.

           “Oops, I knew there was something I forgot to do,” Aphros made a ‘silly me’ gesture.

           “Serena, with me, we’ve got to catch the princess before she hurts herself!” Ze charged out of the room.

           ‘So, this is why my cousin quit,’ Serena realized as she raced after.

To Be Continued…

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A new job often comes with unexpected challenges. A problem well known to the workplace may take an outsider by complete surprise, that's why it is important to outline such things in orientation and training.

Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy