Iona stayed close to her tall mother as she escorted her daughter throughout the garden. The garden boomed with such an abundance of life that Iona pondered at how long her mother had this piece of creation.

"Mother, can I taste a star blazer?" Iona showed no fear as her confidence returned. However, she reminded herself not to be sassy.

"Take one and tell me what you think about it. I grew it myself so any type of flattery will be appreciated." The Queen said as she winked at Iona.

Iona reached out to a spherical-shaped fruit with her mind. Curse the stars, she hasn't been practicing, and now it would show. Before she could even take it off the branch, it flew towards her like a football and hit her forehead.

"Ow, that was fast." She stated as she picked up the radiant fruit.

The Queen chuckled at the display of psychic power.

"You need more practice Iona, and that is why you need to join a guild. They can help you with your gifts. After all, you share both mine and your father's power."

Iona nodded at the statement and bit into the fruit. Flavored juices rushed down her throat as she widened her eyes in astonishment.

"By the stars, what is this mother? It is too good, no way you grew this naturally." Iona barely swallowed before eagerly going for more bites.

"Slow down Iona, you don't want to choke." The exact moment her mother said that Iona coughed as the last piece of the fruit went down the wrong way.

"The star blazer is a piece of fruit from the Summerlands. I would have told you before when it was being served at dinner but you never asked. Now take your shoes off, unless you are fine with your shoes getting dirty."

Iona was quick to remove her shoes and socks as this was one of her favorite pairs of shoes.

Her mother opened a hole in reality and peeled it back like a banana. "Put your shoes in there my child."

Iona threw her shoes and socks in the pocket dimension and her mother closed it shut.

"Do you want to start with sunflowers or the roses?" Asked the Queen with a hint of glee in her voice.

Iona's mind was as chaotic as the universe itself with thoughts running in her brain every millisecond. Being modified to live forever did not help with her creative mind at all. Sunflowers were beautiful, but roses had an aesthetic that put sunflowers to shame. She did not care that much about the act of gardening itself, but this was her punishment and a light one at that.

"I would like to start with roses."

"Good choice Iona, when I was young I was fond of roses." Iona's mother rambled off like she always did.

The princess rolled her eyes as if her mother was the annoying brat.

After her rambling, the two walked through the lush vegetation till they were on dry brown soil.

The soil was floury under her feet. It was a strange feeling as Iona rarely walked on the soil. No, she walked on velvet, gold, and even emerald but not soil. Thank the stars I took off my shoes. She thought as she looked at the soil.

Out of the soil, worms emerged like a child waking up for school on a Monday. The worms were a reddish brown and wiggled their way away from the giants that were Iona and her mother. However, Iona moved back as if the worms themselves were a bomb.

"What's wrong Iona? Don't tell me you are afraid of little Earthworms." Her mother barely kept a straight face in saying that.

"Mother, worms are so disgusting."

The Queen's eyes widened for a millisecond as a bright idea formed in her mind. Psionic energy surrounded a singular worm and as if gravity decided not to work, lifted the worm.

"My dear starfire, these worms are useful to the ecosystem of my little project. One day when you're as old as me, you will understand. My plants are mortal unlike us who can live for millennia: they decay, rot, and even curl up and die. This cute little room eats the dead roots and plants. When this little guy dies, he will give back to the garden in nutrients."

"Mother, you do like gardening a lot."

"Of course I do, what did you think I do outside of my royal duties?"

"Um I don't know, maybe go on raids, burn worlds, or kill some fae."

The Queen exhaled in a sign at the statement." Daughter, how come you view me like that?"

"You are called the Butcher of worlds mother."

Her mother chuckled at that title." My reputation does precede me. Iona, I have to be like this as it is necessary. Xenos like the fae don’t understand peace, progress, or understanding. They only understand violence and carnage. Let me give you some information, your father wiped out the Unseelie court when they tried to kidnap you." She paused as if the memory was painful as a sharp knife that pierced the skin.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Wait, the fae kidnapped me? I thought it was a dynasty." Iona's jaw dropped at the revelation.

"It was when you were just a baby. I never saw your father so enraged. Even your brothers and sisters and the rest of the royal household met his fury. I could barely recognize them in their crusade. The reason I am called the Butcher is that I burned their cities, slaughtered their wildlife, and I unleashed my champions on them." The Queen paused as tears formed in her eyes. Iona never once saw her mother cry, and it tugged at her heart.

Iona hugged her mother which she had not done in a long time. Her wings were soft along with her arms when she wrapped her arms around Iona.

"You are a good daughter, never forget it, now let's get started." The worm fell to the soil as mother and daughter planted roses.

Hours later, both mother and daughter's hands and clothes were covered in soil. Iona didn't care at that point as she enjoyed her time gardening as much as she wouldn't admit it.

"Now Iona, we go to the Summerlands. Certain magical fruits have properties that help in my alchemy." Magic in the solar empire was confusing to all but a select order. Sure the arcane science of humanity could be seen as magic, but only the primitive would believe so. There was no order to magic, no equations, no logic.

"Mom, you do magic? How do you even understand it?"

"Absolute focus Iona, people like me spend centuries practicing this field. The incantations require precision, even a mistake can be fatal. For example, you do equations when using your cube of Olympus as it is a representation of our advancements, and one error can change the answer. Similar to science, if I mess up an incantation then I may cause an explosion."

Iona was somewhat offended that her mother compared magic to science but she dared not to argue.

In a violation of any natural laws, Iona's mother tore a hole in space. This tear was violent like a man who murdered his fellow man. Unlike the arcane sciences, this magic had no respect for the laws, no care, and no form. The tear was screaming as if it was a newborn baby.

"If you want I can teach you several spells, but that is for another time and after your studies." The Queen said while dusting off her hands.

She grabbed Iona’s hands and went into the portal.

The fae realm was beyond beautiful, it is an array of glowing trees that towered the clouds, and the ground vibrated with each step the two took. Iona looked at her feet and observed a small rolly polly rolling across the top of her feet. Its shell was colorful like a rainbow and if she was right, it waved at her.

"Mother where in Ares are we!" Demanded Iona, this place was so alien.

The Queen, ignoring her tone snickered like a child. This place was bringing out her childlike wonder to Iona.

"We are in the part of the Summerlands that we own. The first stop will be the remains of the winter court."

"Why are you telling me this mother, why do we need to see it?"

"As future Master, Mistress, or even Lord of the solar empire, you must see that not everything is all good." Her mother almost yanked Iona as she walked through the beautiful landscape.

In an hour, the two arrived in a land overrun with dust. There was nothing here as if existence or evolution never occurred. No signs of any geological change were apparent to Iona. She had no words to describe what she was saying.

"The Winter court were cruel and dishonorable Xenos. They cared not for human life and saw us as insects. Once they dared to attack the seat of our empire and paid the price. This landscape was once their home, please take it in."

Iona reached down to grab the dust, but immediately the dust faded away as if it was an illusion.

"What happened?" Despite all of her intelligence, she was baffled.

"Antimatter weapons and entropy, we used weapons that broke apart their physical form molecule by molecule, atom by atom. Any signs of their culture are lost and can never be recovered. Some are still living, but they are beasts whose purpose is to be burned when found."

"Can we go now mother, this scene is disturbing? I hope I never have to result in genocide of this magnitude."

"Neither do I, but let's go." Before she could turn, a flying Xeno with a primitive iron spear rushed to the queen. In a display of speed never once witnessed by Iona, the queen flapped her once and gave the alien one roundhouse kick to the neck, shattering the bone. The creature fell on the ground and twitched.

"Stay by my side now." Shouted her mother as she manifested a sword that vibrated with afterimages.

Several flying elves descended to the rescue of their fallen ally and roared at the two.

Iona summoned her cube and solved the strength of Ares and the lighting of Zeus. Superhuman strength and lighting filled her small body.

Using her mind, she conjured a bolt of electricity and fired one of the elves a crisp. However, her mother was handling most of them. She was like a goddess of war, with a spin, her wings disembodied one of the larger winged faes.

They were surrounded, and Iona exhausted her lighting by overextended it. The lighting of Zeus required care and years of practice. Iona could only do one bolt at best. "What will we do mother?"

"Don't be afraid my child, you will be fine." Said her mother as she sliced one elf in half which caused it to cease to exist across all dimensions.

Immediately the shadows of one of the fae extended and black swords pierced it. Out of the shadows came the onyx royal guard ready for battle.

A light appeared beside Iona and her mother and large humanoid machines armed with anti-matter weapons appeared out of the light. They fired a volley of green energy which broke apart the atoms of the remaining fae.

"I apologize for the delay princess, and your royal majesty." The AI said through one of the machines.

Immediately after the onyx guard dealt with any elves that the machines missed, they all bowed before the queen and the princess.

"Forgive us, we were late, please forgive us."

"No stop, be quiet and listen to me," Iona spoke before her mother could and her mother decided to stay silent, curious of what her daughter would say.

"You made a mistake and that is okay. Even though all of your augmentations, you are still human. The best you can do is do better, practice so that you are on time."

"Thank you, princess, your words are kind."

"You heard my daughter, do better, now my child let us collect the ingredients I need."

The two returned to safety after getting the ingredient.

It was about nighttime and the moon was quite beautiful to Iona.

"I enjoyed this time with you Iona, we should do this again. However, you must prepare for the princess ball that you will host. Princesses and princes will attend the ball and will give you gifts to honor the host. I will offer advice but I will not help directly, this is all on you."

Iona sighed," Yes mother, can I go now."

"You may go, and I love you."

Iona teleported back in her room.

"I hope you enjoyed yourself Iona, but I believe the princess ball will be quite eventful."

"Stars no, all of those yucky girls and boys kissing each other. It makes me feel ill if I can be honest."

The AI laughed and showed genuine emotion that was not sass. It could not stop laughing at the young princess." Good night princess, have dreams." The AI could barely form those words as it kept laughing. Eventually, it stopped and Iona went to close her eyes for a good rest.