“I’m telling you!” said Angie stretching across the table nearly knocking her glass of wine over as she slurred through her story, “The whole planet is on fire, okay, Pillars everywhere, the whole thing is a bloody disaster, and there he stands as bold as brass,” she stood with her arm outstretched as though holding a sword pointing towards an unseen enemy. Meno and Paba were wrapped in hysterical anticipation, “and he says…he says, For Locne!” she roared with her eyes closed,
“And then what?!” squealed Paba, unable to contain her excitement,
“Then he smashes down on the detonator!” she said throwing her hand into the air, “And the building behind us explodes!” the room erupted, and Paba fell straight off of her chair, struggling to breathe through the laughter, Meno had tears running down his cheeks and Angie was banging her fist on the table reaching with laughter. Eventually, Paba made her way shakily back to her seat trying to regulate her breathing,
“That was him, that was Lor Dimitri, the bravest man I knew, always had a plan, and each was worse than the one before it”. Angie had been telling them stories from her days during the war when she was a lieutenant in the service of the army of Locne, the fabled ancient King's forces. Meno had only found out earlier that evening that she had only received a promotion after the war, to Captain.
The three of them had got into the booze behind the bar counter shortly after Harold had left the apartment, he had sent some food up from the street soon after he left, and Meno had naturally been beyond words at this, there had been meats cooked on sticks, fruits and vegetables of all shaped and colours, he didn't think that food could taste this good, that such textures had existed. It had even been better than the food that he had eaten on the ship on their way to Yeley. He had been told by both Paba and Angie to slow down, as he wanted to taste everything at once. They had been sitting at the finely polished wooden table for some hours now, and as the drinks began to flow, so did the conversation,
“Did you ever meet him, King Locne?” said Meno after they had caught their breath again, Paba snorted,
“He’s not real, Meno, he’s like a legend that they follow, like an…idol, a symbol,” she said hiccoughing.
“No, I never met him, but he’s real,” she said pointedly at Paba, who shrugged it off. Meno closed one eye to focus on her,
“Maybe once upon a time” said Paba pouring herself another drink, “His story goes back thousands of years, he started the Hulfean House, that’s too far back, even age extending…” she paused to hiccough again and then continued as nothing happened, “Doesn't get you that far”,
“I don’t know,” Angie replied with a smile seeming to decide that the old-aged question of whether Locne was real or not should be debated tonight, “The highest ranking person I met was Commander Godrey Reyes, he always seemed that he was running the show, but even he would say that we do it for Locne”
“See?” Paba said to Meno waving her glass around the table, as though Angie not arguing gave her victory “For Locne, the symbol,”
Just then there was a strong knock on the door, they all stopped and looked at each other, their eyes large and terrified. Paba straightened up and shook her head side to side, nearly falling over as she did so, Angie placed the bottle down and Meno walked to the door not really noticing the other's adverse reactions. He opened it only so that a crack of light from the other side was let through,
“Hello?”
“Ah, Meno you have a guest” said Harold peering through the door. Meno saw that he was accompanied by two guards and a woman, though he couldn't really see them and so closed his right eye again to focus, “May we come in?” Harold said now smiling broadly. Meno swung the door open realising that he was being rude and nearly came off his feet.
“Please welcome to our home…your home…the home” Meno just closed his eyes in embarrassment, in a strange bow. He had never drank before, and now suddenly felt very conscious of everything he was doing, with no real control of how to change it. He could hear Harold, the guard, and the woman snigger at him, and his eyes tightened even more.
“May I introduce, Lady Olivia Traes?” Harold said to the room. Meno opened his eyes and took her in, she was younger than he had first thought, in her late teens if not early twenties, she was tall, slim and held herself very elegantly, though there was a sense of mischief in her eyes as she looked at them. They were grey, and they stood out on her tan skin and dark hair that hung loosely, though somehow styled in a way to look as though there was nothing done to it. She took them all in with great interest. Behind her stood the guard that had been with Harold when they were brought to the apartments.
“Lady Olivia” Angie said bowing, Meno noticed that he hadn't stopped bowing and therefore stayed in the same position, Paba seemed only to bow because the other two were, nervously reacting.
“I have been very eager to meet you all,” she said brightly,
“We thank you for your hospitality,” responded Angie again, showing more control than Meno would have thought she was capable of after drinking, he imagined that she was better at this than he was, as his head was now swimming at dropping it to bow. Angie subtly wagged her hand at Meno telling him not to bow anymore, he rocketed up and saw that unfortunately, lady Olivia had seen this.
“I apologise, we should have let you know that we were coming, I see that you have, uh, had the chance to unwind after your long journey” said the old man, looking at the bottles that lay strewn across the table. Angie started to speak in explanation but Harold held up his hand and smiled that big smile again, “It is our fault, as Lady Olivia said, she was very eager to meet you and bid you welcome”
“Yes, we are very happy that you are here,” she said smiling, “I would to invite the three of you to join me tomorrow as I will be going into the city,” It seemed that this had not been discussed prior and the two guards looked to Harold nervously, though he merely shook his head. Meno could see that Angie was taken by this and that Paba immediately looked to Angie as well for an answer.
“That would be amazing, Lady,” said Meno who got an excited look from Olivia, but noticed that Paba’s eyes went wide and Angie dropped her head, but he didn't know what was wrong, “We have spoken about the city, we looked at it,” he slurred without thinking,
“Fantastic, I have some duties tomorrow in the city, and I thought it would be an excellent excuse to show you our beautiful Det’em,” she said, Meno noticed that the guard behind her looked as though something awful had just happened, and saw that Harold was now chuckling,
“Ah, that’s the best, we had some of the food today and it was amazing, but we haven't been into the city, we just flew over it, it looks amazing, and the fields, and all that green and the mountains, and if we can see all of that, with the statue and the tree’s and some of the food, we had some today but…” he stopped thinking he may have already said that. He once again felt very conscious of himself.
“Please forgive him, it’s his first time drinking,” said Angie who passed a stern look at Meno, who shrank under her gaze.
“My Lady I dont think that this is the best idea” said the male guard leaning towards her,
“Well I think it’s a fabulous idea, and I will show you whatever you would like” she said looking at Meno, “Tomorrow then” she said with a little jump and then turned to leave the room. Harold kept looking at them, he waited a few moments before addressing them and once Lady Olivia was through the door, he stated,
“There will be guards, of course, please do not be alarmed when they arrive in the morning. She’s very used to getting her way, and very good at getting it” he said almost proudly, in response to Angie’s puzzled expression. He looked at the three of them, Meno only now realising that he was not as stable as he thought he was, “Get a good night's sleep” he finished with a wink and too left the room.
“What…the fuck is happening,” Angie said, the booze seeming to catch up and the situation cursing her head to spin even more. Meno didn't blame her, “Honestly, I don’t understand this place but, he’s right, we should head to bed” Paba nodded, and turned to Meno,
“You shouldn't answer for other people, you know” she admonished swaying, “What if I didn't want to go?”
*
The next morning, after being woken up by Angie, very much the same way Mr. Dimitri would have woken him, with a shout through his bedroom door, Meno ran through their apartment trying to get ready, his head spinning and his stomach feeling on the brink of being sick, the light was so… potent. He had looked over to Paba once in the living space who seemed to feel the same way. She was clutching a large glass bottle of water like her life depended on it.
They were greeted at the door by five guards, one of them, the guard that had been in the room last night, as well as Lady Olivia, who was kept behind the exo-suited entourage. It seemed as though she had compromised on this, as she didn't look happy about it, but complied, giving him a small wave as he poked his head around the guards to look at her.
They made their way to a glider in the basement once more and then flew through the city. Meno took in the city once more in all of its splendour, though it looked different to him in his current state. The stalls were being erected and the people were bustling through the streets already, all seeming to be in varying degrees of rush. Olivia had been speaking the entire trip, and though her company were not necessarily in a position to hold a conversation, they tried their best. Meno was honestly struggling to keep up with it.
‘So where are you all from?’
‘Why have you come?’
‘Will you be here long?’
They had tried to answer as vaguely as possible, well, Angie had, not to say that Meno didn't try but Angie had pushed her elbow into him every time he tried to speak clearly worried that he would spill too much. She managed well and seemed to give just enough to get to the next question. Olivia had accepted this, but Meno could also see that she was not getting all of the information that she would have wanted.
She was rather interesting thought Meno, and he struggled to pull his eyes away from her, she was, after all, the first person he had met around his own age, and she was to Meno, quite beautiful. She had an energy about her that was infectious, a curiosity for everything about them and a wealth of knowledge about the city pointing out statues of her grandparents that they passed and telling stories of how they managed Yeley and what they were like.
All in all the Traes family, while clearly very powerful, seemed good people, they cared about what happened on their planet, a planet which was dedicated to feeding not just themselves, but the other planets within the region as well. She spoke of committees that had been put together for the farmers so that they may have a voice, and interventions by the family when those committees were turned into figureheads,
“Some of the ministers try and turn them into big black holes of complaints with no end dates to when decisions get made and it just gets stuck in the process, that’s when my mother and father get involved and veto certain things”
It seemed as though the Traes had a close connection to their people, far more than what Meno would have expected considering everything he had learned about powerful people while he was on Gol. Swan had always shown a distaste for people like the Traes, stating that their sole goal was to remain in power, and whatever needed to be sacrificed in order to achieve that, would be sacrificed. He would continue to ramble about how their sacrifices would usually include people's freedoms and free thought. Meno usually tuned this out, not wanting to rest in the negative, but he thought he had understood the principle of it. He had always wondered why people like that didn't just do a good job, surely that would secure them in their power anyway? That seemed to be what the Traes did, and from what he could see, they had been in power for generations now.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Here we are,” said Olivia, again with a little jump as she sat in the glider. Meno looked outside and saw that they were at a larger building than the ones around it, with tall pillars reaching some twenty meters holding up a great triangular roof, and steps rising to enter the building. “I thought we would start with something fun,” she said eagerly as she made her way out.
“Oh no,” said Paba, still clutching onto a water bottle as she looked outside, it seemed that Angie agreed with the sentiment. “Kids…”. Meno looked out of the window and saw that the stairs in front of the building were being flooded with tiny bodies, all screaming and shouting and rushing the glider.
“Kids dont like you either?” Angie said nervously, as Olivia and the guards started to make their way out of the glider.
“They love me, I look like them, it’s me, I dont like them, they spew stuff” Paba said, still with eyes fixed on the screaming children, “And my head Angie” she pleaded.
“Come on!” Meno said rising, in an effort to start feeling better after the car ride which brought questioning looks from Paba and Angie, he now suddenly felt rather excited. He had never really seen children, as he was the only one that he had ever known, so in fact, he had never met one, really.
They made their way through the chaos, the children gathering around Olivia as she made her way up the steps, a tiny child in her arms as she spoke to one of the matrons of the building. They were greeted by a library with books reaching to the ceiling, the room was comfortable and well-lit with bright skylights in the massive ceiling. Bright colours were thrown through the beautiful hall. There were soft couches all around and small toys that Meno was fascinated with. Hellen had tried to make him toys when he was a kid, using old shirts and trousers to sow together little figures that Meno had played with, and Mr. Dimitri had on occasion brought Meno a well-shaped stick, which he would wave and fling about under the careful direction of his old Mentor.
He allowed himself to get lost in thought for a moment, thinking of them for the first time since landing. He knew, through the timeline that Paba had given him that Mr. Dimitri would surely have fallen now, but he didn't want to let his mind wander to that point just yet.
“Bit on the nose, dont you think?” said Angie leaning over to Meno as they stood on the far side by a bookcase as Olivia stood in front of the children asking them questions, laughing and cheering when they answered,
“What do you mean?”
“Bringing us to see this, her with all of the children. Trying to prove that they are good people”
“That’s what I was thinking,” said Paba, who had gripped her water bottle for dear life as the children had swarmed them as they entered the building, “Like, we get it, you’re a good person, you don’t need to prove it,” she said sourly. Meno chortled at this and continued to watch Olivia and the children. They were all so happy to see her and all called her by name. After some time, Olivia waved them all over, introduced them to the children by stating their names and then telling the children to say hello which they all did in concert,
“Hello friend Meno” They had been assured by the guards on the glider that nobody would know who they were and that flight plans for foreign dignitaries had been made to provide them cover. Nobody ever paid them much attention, so it provided a good cover.
Eventually, they were each given a book and told to take an individual group to go and read to, Angie looked horrified but took her group, Paba looked terrified but Olivia said,
“Just say anything, they will love it”
“Maybe not anything, Paba,” Angie said before being pulled by the children. Olivia walked with Meno to a seat where he was going to also read to some children,
“So these are all orphans, eh?” he said taking this as a given.
“Orphans? No” said Olivia looking at him strangely, “No, these children belong to some of the farmers who need daycare services for their kids, they are all too young to be in school so the libraries around here offer daytime care for them. We read to them, let them play around and sometimes take them on tours through the city” she said cheerfully and then looked at Meno for a moment seeming to decide to ask the question, “So I take it that you are an orphan?” she said tentatively, “I only ask because that’s where you gravitated to”
“Ah, no, well, yes. I had people that cared for me, but they weren't my parents, so, yes?” he ended it with a question, and he knew that if Angie had heard it he would have received another stern look. It was difficult to keep up with the lie.
“They were then” she said with a broad smile, ignoring his mishap “I didn't know my birth parents either, but I am a Traes nonetheless,” she said proudly, and Meno for the first time recognised her dark hair and features in comparison to holograms of her parents that he had seen, both had been blonde and fair. “Okay, here we go, read this and then we can move on to the next thing”
Meno sat and read a story about a great ancient tree that gave shelter to the plants around it during the hot season and protected the smaller plants during the rainy seasons, ensuring that everything was able to grow the way that it should, and the plants thanked the great ancient tree for allowing them to grow,
“But then the great ancient tree’s leaves started to fall, and the ancient tree looked to the maple and said, ‘It is your turn now’ and the maple rose and rose, spreading to make sure that all below it were covered by its arching branches, and when the great tree’s leaves had gone, the maple supported it, taking on the role that would protect the forest below”
Meno had to admit, he was enjoying the story more than they probably were, and on a few occasions the guard that had been tasked with watching over him had cleared their throat through their mask and Meno realised that he had not been telling the story out loud but had rather just been reading. For some reason, the children seemed to find this very funny.
He finished his story and one of the matrons gathered the children and he made his way to the rest, seeing that the guard who was tasked with Paba was reading for her as she sat grumpily in the corner, still clutching her bottle.
“She tried to tell them a story herself” said Angie who had been closer to Paba than Meno had been, “The Jinn comes at night with a ghost, a giant, a vampire and a hag” Angie said mockingly as Paba approached, “And he comes for your soul!” she said with a laugh.
“They’re soft” Paba said brattily, “I was told that story as a kid” she mumbled.
After leaving the library, cries of goodbye from the children, they made their way further into the city where Olivia met with some stall owners, some merchants, and others, she shook hands and discussed how they were doing, during these meetings, the three were not introduced and kept behind the guards.
He spoke to the guards as they made their way through the city, finding out from their perspective about how the city worked, and also, in a slightly more unsavoury line of questioning around the protests that they had seen the day before. It had been brought up the previous night by Angie as she expressed her concerns, though admittedly after a few drinks, about the political tensions that may arise from it. Shilu, Harold's guard, the tall strong looking woman answered him more than Efreet, who was diligently standing by Lady Olivia during her duties. Meno thought about Harold and imagined that he would have advised this, as they were after all, under protection and they weren't even meant to be seen when they first came into the city.
“The group is becoming more popular, there is no denying that, but we have our eyes on them, so no need to worry yourself about it,” she said with a warm smile. Meno naturally found the answer dismissive but received a nod from Angie who was behind Shilu, listening in to the conversation. Perhaps the deflection told them more than they realised.
Though it may have not been the rumbling tour through the city that Meno had hoped it to be, as it ended up being just following Olivia around as she did diplomatic duties, but being within the city itself even seemed to turn Paba’s head and she cracked a few smiles. They watched the people moving in and out of alleys, meeting each other and living their lives. It was strange for Meno to see, having never experienced a city before, and often found himself wondering where all of these people were going, and what they did and how they lived. Paba pointed out the giant domed buildings outside of the city, that they believed were trading ports and silos that kept the food before transport.
After three stops Olivia suggested food to which Meno nearly jumped and they made their way to a place that Olivia had mentioned was her favorite. It sat on the banks of a river within the city, a large rounded patio that hung over the water, where Meno could see down the river that was lined with beautiful architecture and among the boats that crossed it the fields of the great farms of Yeley in the distance. This truly was a paradise. Meno hung over the patio and looked into the waters of the rivers below, seeing the shimmer of fish as they made their way through the clear blue flow of the river.
“So” Olivia started as they sat in the empty restaurant, even though it was midday and should have been bustling by all accounts. The restaurant had clearly been emptied on their behalf, and it showed that Olivia had planned to stop here to get to know them better, thought Meno. “I know that you aren't able to tell me everything, so let me tell you what I do know and then you can add whatever you would like, how does that sound?” she said as though proposing a friendly game. Meno was starting to understand what Harold had said the night before, though his memory of it was rather fuzzy but he thought he had said something about her ‘always getting her way’. He looked to the old man who was doing that thing where he pretended that he didn't know what was going on around him. Meno figured that he wasn't nearly as senile as he pretended to be.
“You…know about us?” asked Paba tentatively,
“Of course, Harold did his homework on you naturally” The old man seemed to be pretending to be preoccupied with one of the boats on the river. “So, Angie, from what I have been told, you were a soldier during the last war, under the Hulfean empire, correct? How did you meet up with these two?” she asked energetically not letting Angie answer the question she had originally asked.
“Ah…” Angie started. Yesterday before they started to drink heavily, Angie had prepared them for this and began developing all of them a short backstory that they could use and explain why all of them were together. It now seemed like it was a very good call. “I was sent to a small moon by a private security company, tasked with looking after Meno after his town was attacked, and Paba here was my pilot. We made the decision to leave the moon once we realised that there was nothing for us there, luckily, your man Worrec was able to provide safe passage for us here” she finished, a near-perfect recital of what she had said the night before, thought Meno, she didn't give too much away but plotted a realistic view of why they would all be together.
Meno’s backstory was simple, he had a wealthy caregiver who had called for support but unfortunately didn't make it through the conflict. Angie had said that keeping it as close to the truth was the best way to do this. Somehow though, it didn't seem that Olivia had bought it as she looked a bit annoyed, and she also did not at all acknowledge the name Worrec when Angie had given it, Harold didn't react either, though he had heard the name previously. Meno suspected that Olivia was expecting more detail than what was offered.
“I see, and you Paba, you are a pilot, yes, but from what we have gathered you studied at Manin University of Seviv, forgive me but I couldnt remember all of the fields that you researched but they seemed to deal with neural computing, correct?” Paba froze solid, only her eyes moving eventually to Meno and Angie as they stared at her.
“It wasn't really like I was studying those things, I…I was just an assistant to the…to…”
“You needed to leave there though, what happened?” she said caringly but Meno could tell that she knew she now found a weakness, and she was going to exploit it. Paba was nervous, and Meno could see how uncomfortable she was as she started thumbing the pendent she held around her neck again.
“Bad relationship” Paba mumbled as she shrank, “He got me into some trouble with the university, so I decided to leave before I got into any more” she said now holding the pendant. Meno suspected that all of them knew this was a thinly veiled lie, and was merely being said to end the inquiry.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Olivia said with genuine affection, “Are you still in contact with?” she allowed the question to sit, it seemed that while she may have felt for Paba, she would risk pressing forward if it meant that she could get more answers out of her.
“Hal” she said, feeding Olivia what she wanted to hear, “And no, I havent heard from him” Meno placed his hand on Paba’s arm and surprisingly she allowed him to. Angie was looking at Olivia strongly, realising herself that this was turning more into an interrogation more than anything else.
“I’m sorry Paba, that sounds awful, but we really do hope that you can feel better here” she said, seeming to realise how far she had pushed. She looked at Paba with deep care and Meno decided to pull the attention away from Paba,
“As Angie said, I was on a small moon, our town came under threat and we contacted Angie’s company for protection. Things went bad and we needed to get out of there, that’s when our pilot Paba helped us get off the moon. As Angie said, we were lucky to have the help of Worrec, he is one of your men isn't he?” He pressed combatively. He liked Olivia, but she had pushed a bit too far with Paba who was now looking at the guards that were admittedly, protecting the restaurant, but also surrounding them. Olivia seemed to realise her mistake and leaned back and pulled her hands away from the middle of the table.
“I don’t know Worrec, probably one of yours?” she said to Harold, who nodded courtly, “I’m sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable, this isn't a…I just wanted to find out more about you,” she said looking between the three, “I can get like that”
“If it’s just a conversation Lady Olivia” started Angie, “Then perhaps you can answer a few questions of ours?” it was Olivia’s turn to look nervous now, and Harold had picked it up, but Angie continued, “There seems to be a lot of chatter about Yeley being in some kind of trouble, politically I mean, we saw those rallies while we were going through town, maybe you can shed some light on that for us?” Olivia seemed to relax after this and nodded as though ready to explain it all.
“It’s nothing that hasn't happened before, and it’s not something that you should worry about either” she said trying to put them at ease, “Father said that they are merely looking to drive our prices down and because we couldn't do that, they are adding extra pressure on us. Yeley is a place that exists because of our agriculture, so our entire economy runs off of it, there is no way that we would ever jeopardise our relationships with the other planets or the Houses to do that. The people are just venting their frustrations” she said, as though it had been rehearsed. Meno imagined that this would have been something that she had been told, and therefore relayed it out the same way.
“Those riots seemed to be a bit more than just frustrations”
“I wouldnt call them riots,” she said exasperatedly, “The rally’s have become a bit more frequent, and admittedly, Professor Grasci has gained some support, but he would never want to harm anyone, he is an academic, he just wants the people of Yeley to have the highest standard of living” when she finished this time, she didn't seem as confident. She, perhaps personally, had some reservations on Professor Grasci herself.
“What is this planet's relationship with the Houses?” Angie continued, seeming to have a list of questions that she wanted to ask,
“We are independent, but we do still have relationships with some of the Houses, mainly the Artelis and the Dorlec, but that is purely business. Politically they do not get involved with the planet”
“The Professor” started Meno, “He’s in charge of these rallies?”
“Well, they host the rallies in his name, whether he is running them directly I dont know. He is a very influential character, being a very popular professor, he lectures economics at our most prestigious university you see” she said but looking at their faces and realising that they were looking for some more information than that decided to continue, “He’s concerned that we are not taking the situation seriously enough, that we are allowing more and more regulations to be added without any response, but we are responding” she said strongly, “My parents will not let Yeley be diminished by political threat, we offer food to those that need it, those planets know that and the Houses know that”. The rest nodded, perhaps, like Meno, they felt that they were not going to get any more information out of her than this, with her answers around Grasci being somehow prepared. Harold had merely nodded not offering anything else that needed to be said.
“Thank you for being so candid with us, Lady Olivia”
“Liv, please,” she said smiling, trying to lighten the mood, to which Harold turned but then stopped himself and rested back into his chair with a smile. “Now what is it that you would like to do here, not today or as a place to go, but what do your normal routines look like, perhaps we can accommodate some of your hobbies into your routine?” Meno saw that the other two were not too sure how to answer this so he answered in their stead,
“I’m used to training quite a bit, my old mentor used to have me run through exercises on a daily basis and to be honest, I am feeling a bit restless not doing that” he said hoping with all hope that she could do something for him on this,
“That is perfect,” she said brightly looking at Harold who nodded, “I will arrange it, you could perhaps even train with the Traes guard if you prefer, we have excellent facilities” Meno could not help but smile at this and felt excited that perhaps with this, he could bring himself to settling a bit on the planet, he looked at the other two who both were not sure of what to ask, Paba had somewhat returned to the conversation after slinking down. Liv told them that it would be no problem at all and that whenever they thought about it, they could bring it through to her. With the conversation turning far more pleasant than it had started, and the food being brought out which was of the highest standard that Meno had ever tried with an enormous spread of fish, meats fruits and vegetables, they enjoyed the rest of their day soaking in the sunlight upon the riverbank.