The Royal Capital of Fychia was far grander than Nia had expected. Having lived in her small village for her entire life, she assumed that the Royal Capital would simply be a larger version of it.
Instead, she was met with buildings that stretched as far as she could see. In the open spaces between the buildings, there were countless people rushing to their unknown destinations, dressed in fashion that she had never seen before.
“Want to sit on my shoulders and sight-see, sweetie?”
“Yes!”
Nelson crouched down to let Nia climb on, grunting a bit as she hopped on.
Fortunately for Nelson’s stamina, the capitol building wasn’t very far from the teleport. Unfortunately for Nelson’s stamina, the crowd of people prevented him from quickly accessing the building.
Nia was too enamored by the unfamiliar smells and sights to notice her father beginning to slightly tremble beneath her weight.
The interior of the capitol was even more impressive. The white marble floor was beautifully inlaid by the resin-coated dark oak patterns and painted by the glittering rainbows cast by the sunlight shining through the stained glass windows. The walls and ceiling were made of black marble with veins of gold, broken up by silver chandeliers and lamps.
To Nelson’s relief, the guards at the entrance asked Nia to get off his shoulders, so that she would not accidentally knock into any of the ceiling fixtures.
Annette’s office was in the west wing of the capitol, which was where the military administration was located. Many uniformed employees greeted Nelson as they walked past, recognizing him from being dragged around by Annette. Nia cheerfully greeted them too, as they patted her and remarked on how much she reminded them of their superior officer.
The halls of the west wing were made of a simpler stone. It was said that the first commander of the army was an extremely simple man, so the architect decided to honor his simpleness by using the common stones that littered the kingdom.
The only decorations that adorned the walls were plain windows and a few rows of photos that detailed the history of notable military individuals in the kingdom’s lifetime.
Well, that was until Annette’s office was near.
“Ah, we’re nearly at Mama’s office.”
The smell of vintage clothing wafted into the air, as Nia noticed an abundance of bizarre clothing begin to decorate the hall.
“Papa, isn’t that Mama’s Barf Scarf on the floor?”
Nelson turned to look at the gaudy purple scarf that was spotted with bright brown polka dots.
“It is. It doesn’t seem used, I wonder how it got out here.”
Nia gingerly picked up the scarf with a nearby clothes hanger and put it on her father’s shoulder.
While most of the random articles of fabric were haphazardly placed on coat racks or thrown into bins, there were plenty of notable accessories lying about. These discarded items were tastefully placed on Nelson by Nia as they came across them.
Despite the steadily increasing weight and clutter, Nelson expertly navigated the maze of coat racks and bins to the door of Annette’s office, which had the sign, “Knock first before entering!” hung precariously from a nail.
Nia let go of her father’s hand and did a few quick knocks against the door, excitedly shouting “Mama!”.
There was an equally excited clatter from inside, and soon after the door swung inwards, revealing Annette’s beaming face.
“Nia!” Annette picked up Nia and gave her a long hug. She then looked at her husband.
“Oh. That’s all of my stuff, isn’t it.”
“Yep.”
“You… don’t look half bad in it.”
“That’s because Nia dressed me up, of course I look good.”
Nelson strutted to show off the various clothes as he walked into Annette’s office, a few of the looser accessories flying off him. Nia and Annette giggled at the sight.
Nia took a closer look at her mother while Nelson cleaned himself up to go back outside for a quick tour around the capital.
Her mother’s normally straight blonde hair was tied up into a tight bun, accentuated by a crimson red pin that kept its shape. Instead of the various grey uniforms that she had seen on the people in the hallway, Annette was instead dressed in a well-fitted black uniform trimmed with the same crimson red of her hairpin.
Nia recognized the crimson red from the various demonstrations of Seeing Eyes that her mother had shown her and her friends.
Wonder if everyone’s fancy color outline is based on the color of their Seeing Eyes.
Her parents chatted about the minor changes to the cityscape and how negotiations with the neighboring country went, but it all flew over Nia’s head as she explored her mother’s office.
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“An exchange program with Dionmar? How’s that going to work?”
The inside of Annette’s office was way cleaner than Nia expected it to be. Her mother’s room at home had to be tidied up whenever she left home, but the office was immaculately clean and organized.
“You know I didn’t listen too hard during the meeting. The only thing I listened to was when they brought up the new teleportation connection with our village. Remember Cohen, that old man? He randomly brought up the idea that we should hire you as an overseer of the network and asked me to add on my recommendation. I obviously declined and asked him to submit a formal request, but he seemed pretty determined this time.”
Nia went behind her mother’s desk and sat on the large leather chair. She saw two picture frames -- one that had the whole family in the frame, and one that was her and her mother playing around in a tree.
“Chief Cohen did? He sends me letters fairly regularly asking me if I’m interested in being his assistant. I guess he’s finally upping the amount that he’s willing to give me.”
There were a few official looking documents lying on Annette’s desk. Nia could read “OFFICIAL STUDENT APPLICATION” across the one on top, with the other papers below having fancy words and graphs that she couldn’t figure out.
“If you end up taking the job, I could tell the head brass to move my office next to the Transportation Wing. It looks way nicer than this drab place.”
Nelson tossed the final beret from his head onto Annette’s desk, startling Nia.
“That would be nice. Anyways, let’s get going. We skipped breakfast for this wafflehouse that you mentioned in this letter.”
This time, Nia got on Annette’s shoulders to ride on as they exited her office. The guards that originally requested for her to get off simply nodded at her when they passed by. Nelson gave them a funny look as he passed, which they ignored.
The line for the waffle restaurant looped around the block. Nia was again starstruck by the various assortments of people and fashion as they walked along the crowd of people.
Feather hats, berets, casual caps, and no hats. Trench coats, windbreakers, and cardigans. There was no shortage of outfits and combinations that Nia was still having troubles with processing. Especially since she had seen many of them tossed aside to the ground in her own home.
“Is that THE Annette?!”
A few girls in brown school uniforms turned their heads towards Annette, their eyes giving away how starstruck they were. Annette took one of her hands off from Nia’s legs and waved at them.
“Should I ask her for an autograph?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, she’s out with her family. We can’t bother her right now.”
The girls started arguing amongst themselves, as the family continued along the line. A few more gasps of awe popped up as they approached the entrance, but Annette didn’t bother stopping to wave. When they got to the entrance of the restaurant, a small gathering had formed behind them. Most of them weren’t aware of what was going on, but joined the crowd anyways just to be a part of something.
“Mrs. Annette? Your reservation is available. Please follow me.”
One of the hostesses was waiting for them at the entrance of the restaurant. As they entered, a few of the guests near the entrance grumbled about celebrities getting unfair treatment.
Thankfully for Annette, breakfast itself was much calmer and relaxed than the outdoors.
“Ahhhh, this is why I hate getting medals and articles written about me.” Annette angrily stuffed a few layers of syrup soaked pancakes into her mouth.
“I told you back then that you should’ve stayed anonymous. At least we get to skip lines whenever we go somewhere.” Nelson sliced a chocolate pancake into 8 pieces, and handed the plate to Nia, who excitedly helped herself.
“Mmhmh!” Nia mumbled through the delicious bread in her mouth before swallowing, “You have so many fans, it’s weird. No one at home looks at you like that!”
“Well, that’s because Mama doesn’t act weird in public.”
“That’s true! Mama was really normal to those first few girls!”
“Can you two shut it and enjoy the pancakes before I stuff them in your mouths?” Annette reached over for a stack of wheat pancakes and glared at her husband, who was sharing a laugh with Nia.
The pancakes were as good as Annette advertised, and before long, the three were stuffed with sugar and carbs. Annette called over the owner and thanked her again for the meal, and asked to make another reservation for the following weekend.
“Will your family be with you again?”
“For sure, although next time I definitely won’t be in uniform.”
“That’s fine. The staff will be able to recognize your husband and daughter.”
“Thank you, Phyllis. I appreciate the hospitality you always offer me.”
“That’s the least I can do for someone who gives us so much business.”
Annette handed the owner a well-worn and tattered stamp card, which began to flow after she waved her hand over it.
“By the way, Mrs. Annette, there’s one person who has recently passed the 1,000 stamp mark.” Phyllis, the owner, conjured a few light green orbs of energy that she pushed into Annette’s stamp card. The stamp card exploded into a fireworks of green sparkles, which spun inwards, back into the card.”
“Ohh! What was that?” Nia was bedazzled by the brief lightshow.
Phyllis turned to Nia.
“That was my stamp card magic! Do you want one too?” Phyllis pulled a sleek and laminated stamp card from her pocket and handed it to Nia, who gleefully accepted it.
“Oh, before you put it away…” A single gentle green orb appeared on Phyllis’s fingertip, before floating to the stamp card and sinking in.
Instead of the explosion that occurred for mother’s stamp card, Nia’s stamp card shot a single spark.
“For each time you come here, one more spark will come out. That’s why your mother’s stamp card was so spectacular.” Phyllis smiled and patted Nia on the head.
“You have a long road to travel, young one.” Annette triumphantly said as she waved her worn stamp card around like a trophy.
Nelson simply sighed and shook his head.
The family went out to the Royal Garden to walk off the meal they had. Since she was still in her uniform, Annette simply pointed at her favorite trees and rocks to climb. Nia would immediately hop to it and climb them to see the view.
Occasionally, Nia saw officially dressed people swiftly walk towards her, but they would silently turn and sneak away after noticing her mother. Nelson eventually noticed and pointed them out to Annette.
“Oh, those guys? I’ll just ask some of the military boys to run some errands for the garden tomorrow. I’m sure they won’t make a stink.”
When the family was done touring around the garden, they routed back to the capitol building. Annette had a meeting to attend, so Nelson planned to take Nia to the Royal Academy to introduce her to the teachers and faculty. After a quick goodbye, Annette disappeared into the central chambers of the building.
The Royal Academy was near the edges of the capital, so Nelson decided to hail a carriage to avoid more exercise. Nia noticed sweat stains beginning to slowly spread around her father’s shirt, so she went along with it.
Also more importantly, Nia had never ridden on a carriage before. She had seen a few wooden and worn out carriages traveling in and out of the village, but the ones in the capital were once again much sleeker and shinier. The toll of the culture shock was beginning to wear on Nia, so she curled up by her father’s side and took a nap.