Story Hub: [link]
\\~~~\\ 0 //~~~//
In a possible future, in a world not
unlike our own, one single kingdom rose as the dominant and only power. It was
an ethereal realm with castles made of gemstone and technology so great it was
indiscernible from magic. A land where humanity had advanced so far that to
live in comfort and excess was the standard, and a life of hard labor and
servitude was a rarity. It was known as the kingdom of Celene.
To be a worker, a servant, or a
laborer in this kingdom was seen as a mark of honor. They were the 1% who
slaved their lives away so others may prosper. Alas, to be a worker was not a
simple choice but a burden granted at birth. Grand worker families spread their
branches across the domain. To be born in one meant a life of hard work and
labor, no matter your personal opinion.
However, their best and brightest
were chosen for the highest of honors. To be personal servants for the eternal
royal family that ruled this ethereal kingdom. Among those best and brightest
exists one family, the Diane. For generations, the Diane has held the grandest
honor of being the only ones allowed to attend the Queen and her daughters.
However, such an exclusive honor can create odd results in exceptional
circumstances. Such abnormal results greatly influenced the life of a certain
young woman who knew naught of what her family history truly meant…
\\~~~\\
I //~~~//
Ares 25th 758
Lady Aphros’s hovercraft zoomed over
the endless countryside, the forest-covered mountains disappearing into the
horizon behind them, the city of New Celene shining in the distance ahead. The
hovercraft’s four passengers were firmly planted in their seats and in
disparate moods.
Lady Aphros was humming along to a
song on the radio. The tiny beads of sweat on her brow were blown away by the
vehicle’s air conditioning. Orion sat in the passenger seat. The blonde youth
sat up straight in his chair, shooting the occasional uncomfortable glance
toward the clock on the dashboard. Serena was seated in the back. The
raven-haired girl rested her head on the back of her hand as she stared
intently out the window, pausing only to glare daggers at Aphros. Princess
Irene was fast asleep, cuddled up on the seat next to Serena, the latter’s
jacket thrown over her like a makeshift blanket.
“All in all, I’d say that was a
lovely hike, wouldn’t you agree?” Lady Aphros broke the silence.
“It was certainly an experience,”
Orion commented. “Although it’ll be good to get back. I must attend to Princes
Atlanta. Starting…ten minutes from now.”
“We’ll make it, don’t you worry,”
the blonde noble assured. “What about you, Serena?”
“I’m just glad Irene is safe,”
Serena answered. ‘To hell with this day. I get enough exercise from Lady Ze’s
multi-kilometer runs during training. This impromptu nature hike was a waste of
time and energy.’ The maid silently fumed, but she didn’t need to speak for her
emotions to be felt.
Sensing Serena’s foul mood, Aphros
put on her best winning smile. “If you’re worried about getting in trouble,
don’t be. No one knows we left, and we’ll be back soon with everyone none the
wiser,” the noble assured.
“How relieving,” Serena put her best
effort into being sincere and failed.
“I really feel like I should be at
the princess’s side already,” Orion admitted.
“You two worry too much. Just
appreciate your little walk with nature,” Aphros affirmed right before a
disturbing sputtering came from the engine. “Uh oh.” As the minutes ticked by,
the noises made by the vehicle became progressively worse, and an alarming
amount of smoke was emitted from the hovercraft’s engine.
With little option, Aphros made an
emergency landing below, parking on an old asphalt road surrounded on both
sides by a seemingly infinite cornfield. Their final landing was heralded by a
nasty clunk and hiss. Aphros immediately hopped out of the hovercraft and ran
in front to check the engine. The hood popped open, revealing a massive cloud
of grey smoke and a clearly ill engine. The mechanism was a series of steel
cylinders embedded with bright red, yellow, and green gems. Several of the
jewels were now cracked, and the engine seemed to have formed a few visible
faults of its own.
“Whelp, I can’t make head or tails
of this,” the noble admitted. “Where are Herme or Chrona when you need them?”
“Wait, I thought Lady Herme studied
gravity and physics?” Serena peeked out her window. “Is she an engineer too?”
“No, that’s Chrona,” Aphros
explained. “Herme’s into biology and medical stuff, and Chrona is all about
gravity.”
“Then why was Lady Herme doing a
demonstration on gravity?” Serena inquired.
“Because she’s a scientist,
obviously,” Aphros explained confidently.
“But she’s not the right kind of
scientist,” Serena pointed out. “Not for gravity and not for fixing a
hovercraft.”
“There are multiple kinds of
scientists?” Aphros seemed genuinely surprised.
“You just said Herme was a
biologist, and Chrona was a physicist,” Serena reminded.
“No, I said Herme was into biology
and medical stuff,” Aphros clarified, “but those are just her favorite
subjects.”
“But that’s…you know what, forget
it. What do we do now?” Serena asked.
“That’s simple. I’ll just call up a
friend of mine, and we can have this all sorted out,” Lady Aphros pulled out
her phone. “Or we would if my battery wasn’t dead. I swear, I just charged it
before we left.” Serena chose not to point out that Aphros had used the phone
heavily throughout the nature hike. “Well, I forgot my charger. We’ll have to
use one of your phones.”
“My apologies, Lady Aphros,” Serena
grumbled, “but our expedition was so sudden that I didn’t have time to grab my
or Irene’s phones before we left.”
“Darn. Well, it’s all on you,
Orion,” Aphros turned towards the young man in the passenger seat, a sparkle in
her eyes.
“Well, I…” Orion sheepishly looked
down, “I don’t have a phone. I don’t even know how to get one…”
“That can’t be right. You’re
supposed to be given one by your…” Aphros started. “Oops. I knew there was
something I forgot to do…two…three…five years ago…”
‘What do you mean, oops?’ Serena
almost yelled but managed to keep it internal. “Wait, why don’t we use the
hovercraft’s built-in communicator?”
“Um, we can’t do that,” Aphros began
to sweat, “because it’s, uh, broken, because the engine is broken…yeah…”
“Can’t or won’t?” Serena called her
out.
“Serena!” Orion was shocked at the
maid’s lack of tact towards a noble.
“Well,” Lady Aphros glanced away,
unable to meet Serena’s gaze, “if we used it, it’d run through official
channels. There’s a certain someone who’d be informed immediately if, say… we
were stranded hundreds of kilometers outside of the city with the princess,
alone and undefended. I’d rather not have that happen.”
“Why, because you’d get in trouble?”
Serena inquired.
“Now, now, Serena, there’s no reason
to throw out such wild statements,” Aphros rolled her tongue. “In any case,
we’ll have to hoof it back on foot,” she declared. She pointed toward the city
in the distance, emphasis on distance. Like the noble had said, they were
hundreds of kilometers away, and it would all be done on foot. That was a tall
order, even with Serena and Orion’s superhuman physicality. And that’s before
factoring in their biggest potential problem.
“Dear Lord, guiding Irene through
hundreds of kilometers of farmland on foot!” Serena exclaimed, “Are you
insane?”
“No, I’m supposed to be attending to
Princess Atlanta right now,” Orion freaked out. “I still need to sort out her
day planner, prepare tomorrow’s clothes, brush her hair, alphabetize her
wardrobe, guide her through the palace garden, color code her socks, and…”
“Orion, priorities,” Serena grabbed
her friend by the shoulders. “We’ll unpack your bizarre compulsions towards
attending Princess Atlanta later. For now, we have to get home, which means
using the communicator despite Aphros’s objections and-.”
Serena’s words were cut off by a
sudden and loud electric crackle. The two servants turned to see Aphros had
summoned her chain whip and shattered the hovercraft’s built-in communicator.
“Whoops, I broke it,” Aphros made a
‘silly me’ gesture.
“Oh Lord,” Serena tried to keep a
handle on her emotions.
“Are we there yet?” A sleepy Irene
poked her head out of the hovercraft.
“Oh Lord,” Serena’s head slumped as
she tried not to cry.
\\~~~\\ II //~~~//
The four travelers trudged along the
lone asphalt road, with only corn for kilometers in two directions and an empty
road in the other two. During the three hours they had walked, the group had
not encountered another living soul or even a road sign. Serena had only read
books and seen movies with such roads from back in the day when most vehicles
traveled along the ground.
‘The fucking stone age is what it
was,’ Serena thought. ‘How did anybody get anywhere without hovercrafts?’ The
maid chewed on this thought for a while before discarding it and refocusing her
energy elsewhere, namely, on the princess, whom she was currently giving a
piggyback ride.
Lady Aphros, meanwhile, was sweating
buckets. Yet, she was still chipper as ever. Already being dressed for a long
hike helped. The only thing that seemed to slow her down was the low grumble of
her stomach. That and the sun beginning to dip over the horizon was also
concerning.
“Hmm, we may not make it back to
town tonight, but we’ll hopefully find somewhere to stay before sundown,” Lady
Aphros tried to lift the group’s spirit.
‘Lovely, lost in the countryside and
the dark,’ Serena seethed. ‘And the people at the palace damn well know we’re
missing by now. I wonder how panicked they are?’
“Princess…princess,” Orion mumbled,
the heat having thoroughly baked the youth.
“Oh, pretty,” Irene observed the
setting sun, sparkles in her eyes. “Come back, Mr. Sun!” Irene hopped off
Serena’s back and darted into the cornfield.
“I was wondering when that would
happen,” Serena sighed and chased after her ward, disappearing into the
cornfield behind the princess.
“Shouldn’t we go after them?” Orion
asked, turning to Aphros.
“They’ll be fine. I trust Serena to
look after her princess,” the noble assured. “We need to stay on the road.
Going out into that field is the quickest way for all of us to get hopelessly
lost. Besides, this road must exist for a reason. Someone must be using it, and
that someone is our ticket to getting home. After that, we can go back for
Serena and the princess.”
“If you say so,” Orion stared back
at the cornfield, debating whether he should go in anyway.
\\~~~\\ III //~~~//
The stalks of corn towered over
Serena and especially Irene. The latter found this fact a perfect reason to
play a game of hide and seek inside the field. The former rolled her eyes and
played along.
“Can’t find me,” Irene playfully
danced among the corn, seemingly disappearing and reappearing randomly.
‘How is she still so energetic? We
haven’t eaten since that small lunch at eleven, and we’ve been out here for
hours since then,’ Serena wondered. The maid tried to track the princess’s
movements through the field but soon realized it was a fool’s errand. The
little girl’s movements had no rhyme, reason, or physical sense. At times, it
appeared like she teleported from place to place, but that seemed almost
ridiculous to the young maid. Almost because Serena knew that such a thing
would be quaint compared to the odd things she’d encountered recently.
“You can’t catch me,” Irene sang as
she disappeared further into the field.
“You think so?” Serene replied
before dashing through the corn towards the sound of the princess’s voice. The
maid bolted through the field at speeds that would make a career sprinter
blush, but as she reached forward to grab what she thought was Irene’s prone
form, the maid found only a stack of corn.
“Can’t catch me!” Irene jumped out
from behind Serena, apparently having hidden atop the stalks of some enormous
ears of corn. In fact, as the two had ventured deeper into the field, Serena
noted the vegetables had only grown in size.
‘Jeez, some of this must be bigger
than my head,’ Serena noted. “No, wait, focus. Princess, stop running.”
“Tag, you’re it,” Irene slapped
Serena’s back before running away again.
“Oh, D-darn it,” Serena censored
herself before racing after her charge. The usual song and dance continued for
tens of minutes until Serena finally lost track of the princess. ‘Damn it, damn
it, damn it,’ the maid swore internally until she heard the sound of a soft
landing. Like someone jumping into hay. ‘No prize for guessing who that was.’
Serena
climbed her way to the top of one of the giant corn stalks, now the size of
small trees. Her eyes scanned the area and quickly locked onto a large wagon
full of hay resting on a small raised hill. Atop the haystack was the sleeping
form of Irene and a large bearded man in a straw hat chuckling to himself,
watching her.
‘Oh, thank god, a local. Maybe he
knows how to get out of here,’ Serena bounced across cornstalks before landing
on the hill softly.
“Ha, I was wunderin’ what all the
racket was,” the bearded man chuckled as he greeted Serena. His black hair was
balding and graying, most of it centered on his bushy beard. The straw hat
frayed slightly at the edges, while his faded blue overalls and red checkered
shirt were dirty and well-worn. The man practically towered over Serena, being
at least 2 meters tall and broad as a bull. “Your little sister is a
troublesome tyke, ain’t she?”
“Yes…yes, she is,” Serena played
along, not wanting to tell this random man that it was a princess he was
talking about.
“Haven’t seen you two round these
parts before,” the man continued.
“Yeah, our hovercraft broke down a
few kilometers from here,” Serena explained. “You wouldn’t happen to know the
way to the nearest city? Or nearest phone, at least?”
“I’d say you better start walkin
'cause that’s the only way, and that’s the only city,” the farmer pointed at
the outline of New Celene in the distance. “As for the phone, that’s closer,
but still a lot a walkin.”
“There’s nothing out here? Not a
town or rest stop? Not even a hoverbus or train?” Serena inquired.
“Nothing but farm and animals out
here, little missy,” the old man shook his head. “We ain’t got no need for
hoverstuff or restin places. Not exactly a touristy spot. That’s the other side
of the big city, if I’m rememberin right. We’re uh, what’d the city folk call
it? Flyover land?”
“So, you don’t have a phone on you
then?” Serena asked.
“Can’t, always gets broken out in
the field. Gotta leave it at home,” the farmer answered.
“And how far is your home?” The maid
felt her heart clench.
“I’d say a few hours walk,” the old
man replied. “Faster if you had something to ride.”
“Lovely…But wait, how’d you get out
here then?” Serena pointed out.
“Well, I was haulin some vegies, it
was gettin to midday, and I decide to take a nap,” the farmer recalled. “When I
woke up, I dun forgot where I parked the thing.”
‘Just my luck,’ Serena sighed.
“Well, I guess it’s back to the road then. Maybe we’ll finally run into
somebody.”
“You’ve been following that ol’
road?” The farmer asked.
“Yeah, why?” The raven-haired girl
felt a pang of concern.
“You won’t find nuttin' followin'
that old thing,” the old man shook his head. “It’s from way back in the day. We
only keep it around cause it makes things easier a few times a year. Y’all got
no guarantee to find nothing or nobody going down that. It don’t even take you
all the way to the city.”
“Oh, perfect,” Serena sighed again.
“Don’t you be worrying yourself,
little lady. I ain’t gonna leave a couple youngins out in the middle o'
nowhere,” the farmer assured. “As soon as I find mah tractor, I’ll take you
back to my place, and ya’ll can make a call.”
“Oh, thanks, Mr…uh,” Serena realized
she didn’t even know his name.
“Gregorius,” the old man introduced
himself.
“Serena, and my, ahem, sister’s name
is Irene,” the maid nodded. She could feel her muscle memory urging her to
curtsy but stopped herself from doing so. ‘Don’t think I need to do that.
Unless I want him to think I’m weird.’
“Now then, where did that there
tractor disappear to?” Gregorius scoured the area for his lost vehicle.
“I have a hunch,” Serena hummed. ‘It
can’t be far if he chose to nap here, and knowing the kind of people I’ve been
running into recently, it’s probably hiding in plain sight.’ The maid scanned
the area until her vision was blocked by the brightness of the setting sun.
Walking toward the light, Serena ducked into a patch of the giant corn stalks.
She found a large something, partially sunk into a patch of muddy ground. “Is
this it?”
“Well, I’ll be, no wunder I couldn’t
find it,” Gregorius chuckled and walked over to Serena. He grabbed the back of
his vehicle with one hand and hefted it right out of the muck as though he were
picking up a small log, startling Serena.
‘That’s…jeez,’ Serena’s mouth was
agape. ‘You know, I really should stop being surprised. This is hardly the
strangest thing I’ve encountered. Plus, he’s obviously a worker, and we’re all
superhuman for some reason.’
\\~~~\\ IV //~~~//
Aphros collapsed on the side of the
road. It had been nearly an hour since Serena and Irene had left, and now
sunset was rapidly approaching. The noblewoman’s stomach growled loudly as she
writhed dramatically on the ground. Orion watched her with a mixture of
confusion and concern.
“This is the end. I’m so hungry I
can’t walk another step,” Aphros proclaimed in the same tone as a fainting
southern belle. “I knew I should’ve eaten a larger lunch, but I thought we’d be
home by now.”
‘I’m starting to feel a little
hungry, too,’ Orion admitted to himself.
“Orion, attend to me in my final
moments. There’s a pen and paper in my right pocket. Please help me scribe my
final thoughts,” Aphros asked as she dramatically splayed the back of her right
hand over her face.
“Please, Lady Aphros, it’s not that
bad,” Orion pointed out. “We can go much longer without food, and I still have
plenty of water from our hike.” The butler revealed a small portable cooler he
had been carrying, filled with cold bottled water.
“Uh, so weak,” the blonde coughed
and writhed, but she earned no extra sympathy from the servant.
“Lady Aphros,” Orion was at a loss.
Before the scene could continue, they were both startled by the sound of an
approaching vehicle.
“Salvation,” Aphros sprang to her
feet and looked up the road.
“Umm, it’s over there,” Orion
pointed towards the cornfield. Emerging from the field was an old man driving a
massive hovertractor pulling a wagon. Riding in its passenger seat was Serena
carrying a sleeping Irene.
“Told you she’d be fine,” Aphros
beamed with pride.
“What happened to starving?” Orion
pointed out.
“Uh,” the noble sweated. “Hey,
Serena, where have you been? Who’s your friend?”
Serena jumped off the tractor and
landed before Aphros, “That’s Gregorius. He’s a farmer around here…I think.”
“A farmer?” Lady Aphros’s eyes
beamed. “That means he’s a member of the Filo family. Those guys live and
breathe the farmlands. He should know this place like the back of his hand.”
“Well, ma’am, I’m sorry to burst
your bubble,” Gregorius began, “but that ain’t exactly true. Endless corn looks
the same no matter where you be going. Y’all can’t exactly find your way
through that, no matter how long you’ve been livin' out here.”
“Oh,” The blonde noble deflated.
“Like I told your little friend,
don’t you be worrying now,” the farmer assured. “I’ll have all y’all back to my
farmstead once I dun drop off these vegetables.”
“Hooray,” Aphros did a triumphant
backflip.
“What vegetables?” Orion pointed to
the tractor’s empty wagon.
“Darn, knew I shouldn’t have taken
my eyes off um,” Gregorius cursed.
“What now?” Serena exclaimed.
“Oh yeah, I remember now,” Lady
Aphros tapped her left palm with her right fist in realization. “They were
runnin…ahem, running experiments on the crops and cattle out here. Makes them
bigger and self-harvesting, among other things.”
“Self-harvesting?” Serena questions
the blonde.
“Well, I’d explain it, but I think
it’d be better to see for yourself,” Aphros pointed back in the direction
Serena and Gregorius came. The ground began to shake a little as a distant
rustling out in the field started to race towards them. Emerging from the corn
was a small stampede of giant, animate vegetables with big cartoonish eyes that
looked more like stickers than natural parts of their body.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,”
Serena yelled as she jumped away, guarding Irene against the rampaging plants.
“Lady Aphros, get behind me,” is
what Orion intended to say, but the vegetables just ran him right over. The
butler was left in a comically stepped-on pose on the ground.
“Back, back, I say, back!” Aphros
drew her sword to fend off the vegetables. Alas, while it proved effective in
damaging them, there were so many, and her blade was only so big that she could
barely clear out a small safe zone for herself.
“Get away,” Serena kicked over a
giant carrot, which rolled back over and leaped back up to continue its
rampage.
“I got-Bfff,” Orion stood up, only
to be smacked in the face by a giant cabbage. Despite the other three’s panic,
Gregorius remained calm as the vegies raged around him. The old man took a deep
breath and pulled out a large farmer’s sickle. With machine-like focus, he cut
down all the rampaging plants with a few quick strokes.
“Oh, that was impressive,” Aphros
complimented.
“It ain’t that much different than
harvesting them normally,” Gregorius explained. “Only change is they be movin',
just got to account for that.”
“Oh Lord, I’m glad that’s over,”
Serena wiped the sweat off her forehead.
“Did those vegetables look panicked
to you?” Orion dusted himself off, “Like they were running from something?”
Everyone else looked at him in a mixture of confusion and slowly dawning
concern.
“Darn,” Gregorius muttered.
The next moment, a massive cow burst
out from the field, an ear of corn caught in its maw like a lion eating its
prey. While certainly a cow, the beast looked far more bull-like and incredibly
muscular. Its expression was of barely contained fury, a beast one would not
want to lock horns with.
“How did that sneak up on us?”
Serena pointed out.
“Is something fun happening?” Irene
finally roused from her slumber. “Oh, cow.”
“Go back to sleep, princess,” the
maid whispered.
“Nah,” she replied.
“Now, now, ol’ Bess, you settle
down,” Gregorius moved to restrain his cattle, but the beast merely swatted him
aside. The farmer flew out into the field and disappeared into the corn.
“So much for that,” Serena sighed.
“Orion, let’s go for the eyes,” the maid proposed.
“Okay,” Orion agreed and moved into
position.
“Stay here, princess,” Serena placed
Irene inside the hovertractor before moving to engage the beast. The two
workers jumped in unison and tried to kick the beast in each eye, but the beast
simply adjusted its head, causing the two to crash right into its thick skull.
“Go for the belly,” Orion stated.
Again, the two dashed in unison and tried to punch and kick the creature’s
belly, but their blows bounced off its leathery hide. With little effort, the
beast swatted them aside, sending them both crashing into the dirt.
“Well, I guess it’s up to me,”
Aphros stepped forward. The giant cow looked down at her with a bloodthirsty
glare. “None of that now. It’s time for a rodeo,” the blonde shifted her sword
into its chain whip form, which lassoed itself around the cow’s neck. The noble
jumped atop the creature’s back and wrangled the beast.
“Is she really?” Serena picked
herself up, wincing from the pain.
“Get along, little doggie,” Aphros
channeled a yellow energy through her whip, which caused the rampaging cattle
to slow down. “There, there, let’s calm down now,” she patted the beast’s head.
The fury and rage in the animal’s eyes evaporated, and it became calm. Alas, it
was too late for the ear of corn, which was dropped from the cow’s mouth and
clattered lifelessly on the ground. “Stand for applause,” Aphros struck a pose.
Irene was the only one to oblige.
“I didn’t realize it at first, but
Aphros can be quite competent when she wants to be,” Serena commented.
“Yeah,” Orion agreed.
“Alright, Bessie, ready for
round…oh, y’all figured it out,” Gregorius emerged from the cornfield with a
big rock. He dropped it to the side and went over to greet Aphros. “You must
got the magic touch, ma’am. Ain’t nobody got control of Bessie that fast
before.”
“It’s a gift,” Aphros beamed.
“Well, since we got them veggies now
and Bessie under control,” Gregorius began, “I’ll take y’all straight back to
town if you want. Least I could do for your help.”
“Yes, thank you,” Aphros instantly
accepted.
“What happened to just using his
phone?” Serena commented to Orion.
“I guess Lady Aphros has a plan?” He
replied.
\\~~~\\
//~~~//
An hour or so later, as sunset began
turning to twilight, the four travelers were sat in the wagon hauled by Gregoris’s
hovertractor. Their destination was New Celene, although it would be some time
before they arrived. Lady Aphros beamed with pride as she snacked on some
vegetables gratefully provided by Gregorius.
“This will take forever to get
back,” Serena pointed out as she took a bite of a carrot. “They must be in an
absolute panic back at the palace.”
“Don’t y’all…ahem, don’t you worry,”
Aphros assured. “We’ll ride on until we’re about a kilometer outside the city.
Then we’ll sneak back into the palace, and I’ll spin a story to the Queen, and
all this will be brushed right under the rug.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just use
his phone?” Serena inquired.
“Too late for that,” Aphros shook
her head. “If I called my friend now, they’d be obligated to tell that certain
someone where I’ve been. Don’t wanna get us all in trouble now.”
“If you say so,” Serena leaned back.
Irene was currently sleeping on her lap. Orion sat off to the side, trying
desperately to stay awake.
“Get some sleep, you two. It’s a
long way back,” Aphros laid down on the floor of the wagon. “Jeez, this is
uncomfortable. There’s no way I’ll fall…Zzzzzz.” The blonde immediately fell
asleep.
“She’s got the right idea,” Serena
felt her own eyes beginning to close and let herself slip into sleep.
\\~~~\\
V //~~~//
Ares 26th 758
“What is that noise?” Serena
suddenly noticed a massive increase in the ambient sound. Last she remembered,
they were in the middle of nowhere with only the crickets and the sound of the
hovertractor. Why was there so much talking and engine noise all of a sudden?
“Wait, what?” The maid bolted awake. The first thing her eyes saw was the grand
crystal building of New Celene. As well as many of its citizens who were
staring at her. Or rather, they stared at the tractor she was riding on. The
maid looked to her side to see all her companions were still fast asleep.
“Lady Aphros, wake up,” Serena shook
the noble.
“Haha, you’re a funny one, Celly.
You can’t eat that,” Aphros muttered sleepily.
“Lady Aphros, seriously,” jabbed the
blonde in the cheek with her finger.
“Wha…? Oh, and good morning to you,
too,” Aphros said, annoyed. “What’s this all…about…Oh…” Aphros realized where
they were and how many eyes were upon them. “Darn.”
\\~~~\\
//~~~//
After bidding farewell to Gregorius,
who didn’t see any problem driving them straight through the city. Aphros then
took Serena, Orion, and Irene through a few secret tunnels to return to the
palace. The noble watched every corner like a hawk, desperately trying to get
them back in as quietly as possible. Once they were merely a hop, skip, and a
jump from the palace itself, she turned to address the three.
“Alright, from here, we can sneak
into the back of the palace,” the noble explained. “After that, we’ll split.
I’ll make it to the Queen’s chambers and devise something to have this whole
situation written off. You two get cleaned up, drop Irene off at her room, and
slip back to your own. If anyone asks, you don’t know anything.”
“As you wish,” Serena rolled her
eyes.
“Alright team, break,” Aphros opened
the last door to the palace, but instead of the empty path she expected, there
was someone waiting with a squad of guards. The woman was dressed similarly to
Aphros, in the same noble garb that resembled a military uniform, but hers was
colored much darker. The woman’s hair was short and a very dark red bordering
on black. The air around her appeared to warp and twist as though she radiated
heat. Her green eyes glared straight at Aphros, and if looks could kill.
“Aré? What are you doing here?”
Aphros tried to be nonchalant.
“I have a better question. Where
have you been?” Aré roared. “You and the third princess have been gone since
yesterday. Suddenly, you show up riding into the city on a hovertractor?”
“There’s a reasonable explanation
for this, I assure you,” Aphros put her hands up.
“Who is that?” Serena whispered to
Orion.
“That’s Lady Aré,” Orion answered.
“She Lady Aphros’s virtual equal and the Queen’s closest confidant.”
“I assume she’s the one Aphros
didn’t want to know about this?” Serena inquired.
“That would be a safe guess, yes,”
Orion replied.
“Is there a reasonable explanation
for the now missing hovercraft?” Lady Aré continued her rant.
“Aré, the important thing is that
the princess is safe, see?” Aphros gestured to Irene.
“Hi, Aunty Aré,” Irene waved.
‘Aunty?’ Serena felt like she heard
something she shouldn’t have.
“Irene, look how filthy you’ve
gotten,” Aré noticed the princess's disheveled state. “You two,” the noble
pointed at Serena and Orion, “take the princess and get her cleaned up this
instant.”
“As you wish,” Serena bowed and took
Irene away alongside Orion. ‘I like her already.’ The maid thought
“As for you,” Aré turned to Aphros.
“We’ll have a long, long talk about your behavior,” she grabbed Aphros by the
ear and dragged her away.
“Aré! Aré please, that hurts. Come
on, it was just a little hike. I didn’t mean to do anything,” Aphros pleaded.
“Aré, we’re friends, aren’t we? Ow, stop that…Aré!”
“Shouldn’t we do something?” Orion
asked as he watched Aphros be dragged away.
“Nope, the way I see it, this whole
situation was Aphros’s fault,” Serena commented. “You reap what you sow.” One
last thought crossed Serena’s mind as the two workers walked away from the
scene. ‘Now I just have to avoid that happening to me, but what are the odds I
manage to piss her off?’
May This
Fantasy Continue A Little Longer…
Next Time: Serena
pisses Aré off in Chapter XIV: Heavenly Hotcakes Part I
>>>~~~~<<<
Unexpected difficulties, like vehicle troubles, are always the worst on
trips, even short ones. You must always be prepared for such an event,
even if the chances are slim. Being caught unprepared is the quickest way to start a very long day.
Author's Note: Now we move onto the completely comedic section, at this point we've pulled far away from the political intrigue of the first arc and will only continue to do so for the next two chapters before we hit a more dramatic story again.
Homeward Rebound itself existed as just a funny idea I had, and an excuse to introduce both what the world outside New Celene's walls looks like (or part of it at least) and a member of the Filo family (since the servant families will be a bigger deal in the stories near and far future).
Personally, my favorite part of this story is Aphros's bits (even if the whole story is her fault and she has no one to blame for her suffering but herself), especially her picking up that country soundin' speech pattern.
Of course, the most important part of this story is the introduction of a certain other noble who will grow to be very important for the next several chapters. I'll speak more on Lady Aré in the next couple of chapters, but for now I'll saw she exists as a foil and counterpoint to Aphros.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
