Nerves For The First Day
POV: Alexandra
Given what Enzo said to me about our first day on the job, I figured the rest of my day would best be spent doing something relaxing. This thought ran through my head over and over as we met up with the rest of our group. We stepped into the registration office for the school and they were more than gracious enough to register Lucy under the Batiste name. We discussed what happened during the meeting and I received a lot of congratulations for my position. It’s funny how I didn’t want it before because I didn’t want Lucien to think I was trying to flirt with him. Now I want to do everything I can to keep any other woman away from him. I sighed as I looked out the window which prompted Jess to ask, “Is something wrong?” I looked across at her, “It’s just the council thought it would be a good idea to send Rayla and Melody on dates with Lucien. They think because a few of us went on dates with him at the retreat that it would be fair for him to go on a date with those two. Of course, I’m not worried about Rayla but the blonde jerk is who I worry about.” She nodded, “That is a reason for concern but you can trust Lucien for sure.” I smiled at her, “Oh I do trust him but I don’t trust that Melody won’t pull something nefarious.”
I felt a tug at my sleeve, “Momma Lex? What is nefarious and why does the mean lady need to be that way?” This was the first time she referred to me as mom in any fashion and I just knew that was Derek’s influence because she called me Lex. I put my arm around her and she wrapped hers around me to snuggle against me, “Nefarious is another way to say she will do something wicked. Do you know what that is?” She nodded, “Like that mean lady that came to the Glades and probably caused the shaking.” I nodded, “That’s right. Well, she thinks the best way to get what she wants is to do wicked things.” The child squeezed against me, “What does she want?” I sighed, “She wants to marry the King?” She scrunched her face, “I think that would be bad for us all. I was talking to a friend that visited me and she said that the mean lady was yelling at everyone about how they should be happy and grateful she even bothered to help us in the Glades.” I pulled her in closer, “That is awful.” She nodded, “I’m surprised my friend didn’t say something to her because she is the bravest person I know. She scared my friend which is why I call her mean.” Derek laughed, “That does sound very much like Melody. I don’t know why I used to date her.” Jess rolled her eyes, “Because you used to be shallow so only looks mattered to you.” Derek leaned back in his seat and started to pout, “Well, you can thank Lex for my change of mind. I might have married some babe somewhere instead.” I gasped, “Derek! I know for a fact that you are lying. You told me that you’ve always had a crush on Jess.” He sat up straight, “How are you gonna rat me out like that Lex?” I shrugged, “Best gals before pals. Sorry to say but I was best friends with Jess first so I will always have her back. Still platonically love you though.” He chuckled, “Fine, I got called out. I just wanted to tease my beautiful girl.” He threw his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek, “You’re far more beautiful than Melody anyways. Her personality makes her really ugly too.”
We finally rolled up to the house and I turned to Teddy, “What do you think we are going to be seeing tomorrow?” He shrugged, “I imagine since we have a guest coming, it is very likely to be someone important to the other realms. I know we have been negotiating for quite a while with leadership factions from Terre. Perhaps it is one of them. I can’t imagine it would be anyone from Seely considering you recently went through a diplomatic mission there and it would seem silly for them to come here right now.” I shrugged, “You’ve never met King Renier, he absolutely would come here after my visit. His ego wouldn’t allow me to forget him or his son. Not that I could forget either.” Derek leaned forward, “Ohhh, does our poor King have competition for your heart yet again?” I raised an eyebrow at him, “Yet again? You imply that I had been conflicted before.” He looked at me smugly, “I mean, you had to have been with me around. I’m every woman’s dream.” I picked up a stuffed animal from the bag next to Lucy and chucked it at his head. I bounced off his face with a squeak and landed on top of his head. Jess busted out laughing and shortly all of us joined in, even Derek when he processed what I had done. We all piled out of the carriage and Lucy ran ahead with her new toys in hand to her room to put them away. I called after her, “Don’t let Grammy catch you running up the stairs, not that I disagree with her.” She waved back, “I won’t run up the stairs, Momma Lex.”
The rest of the items from the trip would be taken up the stairs to Lucy’s room. I climbed the stairs to my room and went into the trunk that sat at the foot of my bed and pulled out a medium-sized case and walked out of my room. I walked out of the back doors to the garden and sat down at the black wrought iron patio table. I pulled the case up to the table and pulled out thread and needles and I began to work on my craft, having a thought in my head that I could sell the lace that I was making and sending the proceeds to the orphanage to help them care for the orphans of the Glades. With this thought in mind, I worked for what felt like hours to make all the loops and curves that would make the beautiful lace that I had taught myself to make in high school as stress relief. A shadow fell over me as I was working, I looked up and smiled at the figure who had sat across from me. Tyleesh was leaning his head on his hand smiling at the lilac-colored lace in my hand, “What is this craft that you are doing called? I have never seen anything like it but it looks very pretty.” I laid the lace out on the table with the long needle beside it, “It’s something we did in Terre called needle tatting. I learned it to relieve stress and pick it back up when I want to relax a little.” He smiled at it, “What do you plan to do with the lace after?” I ran my hands across the lace, “I am going to try to find a way to sell it so I can take the money to the orphanage in Tarn. They are woefully underfunded and I hear it has a lot to do with the Elder Council’s in-fighting about it. They recently got a small influx of children from the earthquake in the Glades. I want to make sure I can help in some way. My Lucy would have ended up there if we hadn’t taken her in.” He nodded, “Do you mind teaching me? I would like to help you with this task.” I looked around my case and asked him what color he wanted and he asked for white so I pulled out a needle with the thread and began to teach him.
We practiced for a while until Lucy came skipping outside, “Uncle Tyleesh! How is Sunny?” He smiled, “Oh yeah, she is well now. We got her all fixed up. If you want to see her, I made a little pen that she could run around in the greenhouse.” He turned to me, “I’m going to take her inside and let her have a look at Sunny.” I tucked all the supplies away and said, “I’ll go with you. I’m curious to see how she’s doing now.” We all stepped into the greenhouse where there was a door off to the side to a room that my grandfather had built years ago which was Tyleesh’s room. A large patched-together pen was placed in the middle of the room. Lucy speed-walked over to it, “Sunny, how are you today?” She smiled up at me, “Doing much better as Uncle Tyleesh said.” She turned back to the bunny and asked, “I have something I want to ask you Sunny.” She nodded her head and her eyes widened, “She said she knew what I wanted to ask since her lord sent her to me. She said that it is her duty to stay here but even if it wasn’t she would be honored to stay by the daughter of Solamor’s side.” She looked up at me confused, “Who is Solamor?” I blushed at the mention of the name, “Solamor is me, little one. That is the name my soul parents gave me. You see when I die, I will become a Goddess and that will be the name that will be worshiped and prayed to. I didn’t ask for it but here we are.” She put her thumb up, “I think that’s cool Momma Lex but now, I’m gonna go ask Grammy for permission to keep her.” She hopped up and ran out of the greenhouse and I giggled. I excused myself from Tyleesh and took my case upstairs since the sun was starting to go down.
The rest of the day was uneventful. We all had dinner except for Jheelis who still had not appeared. I noted to Ny that I was worried about him but she said not to worry. He had apparently run into Vanessa in the woods as she had just stepped out of the portal. She offered to let him stay with her until he was set to leave for Seely. He had sent a message to Ny that he was going to take the potion and stay there until it was time for him to leave in the morning. He wasn’t in the mood to be at the manor since he wasn’t really allowed to talk to Tyleesh though I’m unsure of why that was. I made a mental note to talk to Ny about it the next day but I wanted to go to bed early since we had to be at the castle early. We were supposed to get a small orientation from my cousin before we set upon the important task of the day of helping the King entertain his guest and help with paperwork. I couldn’t wait to see Lucien again and with that, I melted into sleep.
The next morning I woke up and my mother was running around my room making sure I was dressing appropriately for my apprenticeship as well as the guest. She said she knew who it was since the Queen Mother had revealed it to her guests but she was not allowed to tell me. I sighed at the thought that my mother was forced to secrecy when she usually would share. I was stressed that it could be King Renier and I would have to put up with him for duty’s sake yet again. I dressed and then did my hair and makeup quickly since my mother was stressed out about being earlier than punctual. She made sure I was fed with a muffin and I was eating it alongside Teddy in the carriage as we made our way to the castle. Malinus was waiting outside and brought us in to show us a few of the things he does in the morning and how things operate with Lucien. He had two small desks set up outside of Lucien’s office with our nameplates on them lest anyone forget that Teddy and I were selected for these positions and all of Vellum would know by now. Malinus explained that normally Lucien would be in his office by now but he had to greet his guests. I looked up at him “Guests?” He nodded, “There is a small delegation here, yes. They are to stay up until after the announcement of the Queen competition selection at the Fall Masquerade Ball.” I sighed and muttered, “I was afraid of that.” He brought us downstairs to the throne room where Lucien was ready to enter. He turned and smiled at us, “Lord Theodore and Lady Alexandra, it will be a pleasure to work with you for the next couple of weeks. I would like to inform you that at the end of this one of you will be selected to serve the Queen.” I looked at Teddy hoping that I would be the Queen he was serving. Teddy blurted it out though, “So is it safe to assume, Your Majesty, that I would be selected to serve Alexandra?” Lucien chuckled and winked at him, “Gods willing.” We all walked into the hall and Malinus instructed us to stand to his right as he stood to the King’s right. The doors opened at the other end of the hall and the herald announced, “His Majesty King Renier and His Highness Prince Calypso of Seely.”
