The sun streaming over her woke Kiera up. She basked in the sunlight, letting out a soft sigh of comfort until she realized that the sun never woke her up. Her commpad showed it was half past eight in the morning, a full three and a half hours later than she normally woke up. There was only one reason for that. The eighteenth of Solas, the exact date of Mid Summer on Orlan, her birthday. She climbed out of bed and left her room, heading for the bathroom. She had insisted that Emily take the master bedroom with its personal bathroom including a jacuzzi tub because she would be living in the condo after she and Kinsley left. It had been an hours long argument that Kiera eventually won, despite both Emily and Kinsley ganging up on her.
Sitting on the table was a special souffle that Kiera absolutely loved, but was only served on Imperial Holidays or birthdays. No matter how much she argued that traditions made no sense, the Kitchen staff refused to break tradition. Emily followed it as well, if only because she had been threatened to lose her kitchen access if she gave into Kiera’s demand. Her handmaiden stood by the table, dressed in a simple yellow sundress.
“Many happy returns of the day,” Emily greeted, a wide grin on her face, “Just when I thought you couldn’t get any more beautiful, I’m proven wrong.”
“Thanks, Em,” Kiera said, “Is it that noticeable?” she glanced down at herself but didn’t see much of a difference.
“Your bust seems more firm; you look like you’re gliding when you walk. Your eyes are practically sparkling and your voice sounds like music, ” Emily said dreamily, “Even your smile seems brighter and there’s this scent about you…I can’t describe it. It’s like summer had a scent.”
Kiera laughed and hugged her handmaiden,”You have a dreamy look in your eye, Em,” she teased, “Is it the same as when you look at mother?”
“More intense,” Emili said, returning the hug and blushing fiercely, “You’re Radiant while she seems to shine. Like comparing the moon and the sun.”
Kiera closed her eyes and breathed slowly, her mother had told her that her first few days after maturing would need to be spent mastering her aura or it could overwhelm even her closest friends. There were no exercises, no special techniques as the aura of each nymph was subtly different and very personal. People could be charmed, enthralled, or infatuated by a nymph’s aura. She could feel it as clearly as she could feel Emily’s emotions.Reigning it in wasn’t terribly challenging, she visualized it exceeding inside her, her Radiance. The piloting, the swordsmanship, ballet and all her other training made her disciplined, and all it took was to apply that discipline to this new aspect of herself. “I’ll have to work on that, please, have a seat.”
Once Emily sat, Kiera took her seat, “Kinsley already off at work?”
Emily shookher head, “Her leave request was granted but I haven’t seen her yet this morning.”
“Maybe she’s still sleeping,” Kiera said, serving the breakfast dish to Emily and then to herself. She savored every spoonful, while it may not have had the emotional impact the Saturnian food had, but Kiera was on cloud nine.
Emily refused to let her help with the dishes and sent Kiera off to shower and get dressed for the day. She almost didn’t recognize herself in the mirror. Her hair had a sunlight luster, golden with platinum and copper highlights. Her amethyst eyes sparkled, her teeth were full of luster, her sun kissed skin showed no flaws, not a single scar, stretch mark or pimple. She had always found her mother to be breathtakingly beautiful, but she never imagined that she would ever match her looks.
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A spider silk dress, silver with a hem of purple and red, had been laid out for her. It had no soldiers or back, sticking to her torso and letting the rest of it flow over her, showing a tasteful amount of cleavage. There were amethyst and ruby earrings, bracelets, a necklace and rings, along with soft slippers. Emily came in and did one other favorite activities; styling Kiera’s hair. She made two small braids starting at her temples and joined together by another braid that went the length of her hair; the rest of it lay free. Emily called it the “princess braid” and it was her favorite way to style Kiera’s hair. The platinum and copper highlights gave it a ribboned appearance.
Once they were done Emily changed into a silver sheath dress with a red and purple hem matching Kiera’s colors and wearing similar jewelry on Kiera’s insistence. Kiera also put Emily’s hair in the same braid, ignoring her dearest friend’s protests. When they were finished the doorbell rang.
Jac was at the door in his red Imperial Navy dress uniform wearing a purple sash,“Many happy returns of the day, sister,” he said, removing his hat and kissing each of her cheeks in traditional greeting. “Thank you, Jac,” Kiera beamed.
He didn’t comment on her aura or her changed appearance. It would have been strange to hear her brother describe her the way Emily did; no, not strange it would have been creepy and unsettling, she wouldn’t be able to even look at a picture of him if he started describing her bust and looking at her dreamily. Fortunately for the both of them, the bands of blood eliminated any romantic attraction between them.
“Your carriage awaits,” Jac said, offering his arm.
Kiera took it and let him escort her out of the condominium. Outside of the condominium was a white limousine accented in reds and purples. The driver was dressed in imperial livery of red and purple, only his gloves and hat had any black on them. He opened the door, bowing low to her and the trio climbed in.
They reached the space port faster than they had before, but the limousine didn’t stop. It drove onto the flight field where an Imperial cruiser was waiting, the loading ramp already deployed. The limousine drove right up the ramp and into the hold before setting down. The driver opened the door allowing Kiera to exit followed by Emily and Jac.
They walked through the hold into the cabin where several couches were arranged in a “U” shape. A viewscreen was on the wall opposite of the center couch. There was also a throne in the middle of the room; it wasn’t as orange as her father’s but it was on the fancier side as far as chairs went. Jac escorted her to it. Kiera barely felt the ship move when it lifted off, the only indication was the rapidly disappearing landscape, the blur of clouds and then the blackness of space.
Kiera turned her head to the windows, admiring the planet she had spent the last two years on before turning her attention to a screen that appeared in front of her, the image of an Imperial Star Gate. Each system had one near the outermost planet to facilitate trade and travel. Albion was the fourth out of ten planets from its star. The gate activated and with it came the familiar rush as they passed through the gate and came out the other, hundreds of thousands of parsecs away, traversed in an instant
Exiting the gate they were greeted by a dozen ships from the Imperial navy creating a passageway. Imperial Mecha floated above them, using beam lances to create an archway that her ship passed under. Kiera couldn’t keep the grin off of her face and a red light appearing on the viewscreen told her that she was being broadcast. She waved with practiced grace, an act that seemed so much smoother than the dozens of times that she had done before. Once they passed through the archway the planet of Orlan floated in front of her.
She was home.