Raife: An Aquadomina Novel (6 page)

Everything started simply enough. She followed Allie into the great room
where the rest of her staff was waiting for her.

“Chosen this is your staff.” PAC did the introductions. “First is your
gardener.” A woman stepped forward as PAC talked. “Patell this is The Chosen.”

Sophie held out her hand and the woman just stared at her. Realizing that
she didn’t know what a handshake was, Sophie pulled her hand back.

“It is an honor to work on your gardens.” The woman did the salute and
bow, remaining bent over.

“You may stand Patell. It is nice to meet you.” Sophie smiled when she
was standing straight again. “What I was able to see of the landscaping on our
arrival yesterday was amazing. You are doing a great job.”

“Is there any particular scents you prefer, or colors of plant you want
in the gardens?” Patell asked her.

Sophie thought for a moment. “I will leave the decisions on those things
to you. I don’t know anything about the plants that grow here and don’t want my
ignorance to impact the beautifully landscaped grounds. As time passes if I
think of anything that might work, I will talk with you about adding it.” She
shrugged, “Until then just keep up the good work.”

“You may return to your duties.” PAC spoke into the silence. As Patell
bowed and then backed out of the room, the computer introduced the next person,
“This is Viella. She is your housekeeper.”

The woman in question moved forward, did the salute, bow, and waited.
Sophie didn’t waste time in telling her it was okay to stand up.

“It is an honor to work for The Chosen.” She spoke softly, kept her eyes
lowered and didn’t make eye contact.

“It is nice to meet you Viella.” Sophie spoke softly to match the
housekeepers demeanor. What Sophie had seen of the Castrum she knew that this
woman had done an excellent job as well, and was quick to tell her, “The
Castrum is immaculately clean. I think I could eat off the floor.” She joked.

The poor housekeeper gasped in horror, her eyes flying up to meet hers.
“You mustn’t do that, you could get sick.”

Sophie put up her hands, “No…not that I would eat off the floor.” She
tried to explain, “I was just saying you do such a good job of keeping them
clean, I could eat off them.”

The computer intervened for her, “It is an attempt at a joke Viella. You
are excused to go back to your duties.”

The woman gave her an odd look and then bowed, backing away as PAC
introduced the next person, “Your personal Chef, Maureen.”

“I am honored to cook for The Chosen.” Sophie wondered at how the food would
taste that this stick thin woman was the Chef. Didn’t she eat her own food? Now
that she thought of it, all of the women she had been introduced to both
yesterday and today were all smaller than she was, in both height and girth.
Not one of them was taller than five foot and all were stick thin.

Pulling herself out of her musing she hurried to smile at the Chef. “It
is nice to meet you Maureen.”

“I will bring you breakfast in your private nook when the introductions
are over.” Maureen assured her. “I am not sure what foods you used to eat, if
any…but everyone on Aquadomina is vegetarian. We don’t believe in eating living
creatures.”

 
That mind clean-up really worked
overtime when Sophie heard that. She was a carnivore of the first order on
Earth, so when she shrugged off the “no meat” policy of Aquadomina she knew it
was the “helping her adapt” part of whatever they had done to her.

“Thank you for informing me Maureen. On the planet I came from, we did
eat solid foods and drink liquids. There were some of the population that
didn’t eat meat, and there were some that did. I was told that when I came
through the wormhole my body was adjusted to life here. I will assume that not
eating meat is one of those adjustments and I am okay with it.”

PAC called out, “You are excused to your duties Maureen.”

“I will get to work on breakfast then.” Maureen bowed and left the room,
leaving her alone with her guard and the last female standing.

“Chosen, this is Debb. Your personal assistant.” With those words, the
last female stepped forward.

“I am honored.” Debb’s voice was best described as haughty. “My family
line has been working for The Chosen or The Three since the beginning of
recorded time. I will strive to keep you to your schedule to the best of my
ability.”

“Thank you Debb. I’m sure that you will do a satisfactory job.” Sophie
had never had a personal assistant and wasn’t sure what this person’s duties
entailed. She wasn’t going to worry about it though, PAC could always tell her
later what she was supposed to expect from all of her staff.

“I will provide The Chosen a full week’s schedule at a time. In the event
that we have travel plans and extended trips away from Aquarian, I will
of course
give you the entire
itinerary.” Debb pulled something from a case she was holding. “Since I was
unable to see The Chosen yesterday, this is your schedule for the next seven
suns. I kept your first three suns with minimal excursions out of the Castrum.
I was told you wanted to see the Halls of Science. You can arrange that with
PAC for any time today.” She continued on looking at her papers. “You will note
that we are to leave for Kingdom Two in six suns for a Welcoming Ceremony
there. You will find that itinerary in this packet of papers.” She handed the
stack to Sophie, “If The Chosen would like to request any changes, please
inform PAC a sun cycle in advance of any plans you may have.”

Sophie looked at the pages Debb had handed her. Just as Debb had stated,
her schedule was fairly clear until three suns from now. Holding up her hand
she asked, “What happens if something comes up that I don’t plan?”

Debb looked at her like she said she ate baby seal for fun. “Why would
The Chosen not
plan
an event in
advance?”

Sophie blushed and mumbled, “You know…if something came up spontaneously?
An emergency?” She looked at the remaining people in the room.
 
All that remained were her guard since Allie
had hurried off to eat. Looking closely at Raife she swore his shoulders were
shaking suspiciously. Was he laughing?

“Something spontaneous?” Now Debb was looking at her like not only did
she eat baby seals, but she enjoyed hunting them down and clubbing them
herself.

“Well, yes.” Sophie could feel her cheeks burning. “Something I’m invited
to on short notice?”

“Short notice—?” The look on Debb’s face had turned downright bewildered.
“Is this another attempt at a joke?”

Sophie was relieved when PAC interrupted. “The Chosen needs to eat.”

“Yes. Of course.” Debb went to walk ahead of Sophie.

“You will not leave the room ahead of The Chosen without permission.”
Raife called out to Debb. His voice was soft, but there was a bite to the
words. “I did not hear anyone give that permission.”

“What?” Debb stopped short. “Of course.” She bent at the waist in a
mini-bow and waited for Sophie to pass.

Sophie hurried to go into her private dining room. As she passed Debb she
heard Raife say sharply, “You need to practice if you call that a respectful
bow.” When she looked back, she saw Raife standing in front of Debb with a
sharp look of disapproval on his face. She moved to sit at the table and eat so
she could look over her schedule. When she saw how many entries there were she
almost cried. How was she supposed to do all of those meetings? The itinerary
for the Welcome Ceremony alone was almost three pages. The only consolation was
that the first three days were open. Today she was going to the Halls of
Science. At least there, she would be able to get some answers.

She ate slowly and the food was so good, she was embarrassed to say she
ate a lot of it. When she was done, she asked PAC, “Could you inquire at the
Halls of Science when would be a good time for me to visit.”

“The honor of The Chosen visiting would make you welcome at any time.”
Debb was staring at her funny.

“I just don’t want to interrupt anything important they might be doing.”
Sophie argued back.

“Nothing they could possibly be doing is more important than a visit by
The Chosen.” Debb argued right back.

Sophie glared slightly at Debb then informed PAC, “I would like to see
the grounds of Castrum. Then I will be ready to eat lunch.” For some reason her
stomach felt empty and she was hungry for more of the Chef’s vegetarian food.
“Then I will be ready to go to the Halls of Science.”

PAC informed her that notification had been sent to Director Jollier of
The Halls of Science to expect her trip this afternoon. Sophie was done eating
and stood to go outside. The only problem was, she didn’t have the first idea
how to get outside. Looking around her eyes landed on the ever-present
Commander of her guard.

“Raife.” She hurried over to him, “Can you please show me how to get to
the ground level?” Seeing that Debb had her nose buried in her work, he seemed
the likely person to help her.

“It is easy.” He motioned for her toward the entry; Sophie took the liberty
of hooking her arm through his and ducked her head so he couldn’t see her smile
at his look of discomfit. “All of the balconies act as elevators. Even the one
in your quarters. All you have to do is ask for a level.” They had made it to a
balcony off the great room. He inclined his head for Sophie to ask where she
would like to go.

“Ground level.” Sophie sated and the balcony moved with effortless
fluidity downward. She didn’t even lose her balance it was such a steady drop.

“The balconies will always reset to the penthouse level.” Raife warned
her. “If you return to this location and the balcony is not waiting for you
just ask PAC to lower it for you.” He turned and she saw the other guard behind
him. “I will leave you to explore while I have a word with the Protectorate.”
Breaking eye contact and going into a bow, she knew when she had been
dismissed. Turning away from the bent form of her guards she called over her
shoulder, “You can stand up now.” Then hurried along the paths.

There was so much to see. The plant life was not so far from what she had
seen on Earth. Patell found her wrist deep in dirt under a tree sometime later.

“Chosen.” Patell was looking at her horrified, “Is there something you
have lost?”

Sophie jerked her head up, “What?” Seeing Patell eyeing her like a giant
slug in her favorite plant she laughed. “No. I just wanted to get a feel for
the soil.” She scooped up some more and brought it to her nose, “I was over by
those lovely flowers just across the way. They are gorgeous by the way. They
remind of a specimen on Earth called an Iris.” She was getting away from her
topic and turned back to the subject, “Anyway. I saw that the soil over there
is much lighter in color than the soil under this tree and I wondered at it. So
here I am.” She held up her hands smiling.

“You have a very keen eye.” Patell gave her a small smile. “The flower
you spoke of needs lightly acidic soil, this tree requires heavy. That would
account for the color variation in the dirt.”

“Ah.” Sophie nodded, “I thought that might be it. My second guess would
have been water content.”

For the next few hours, Sophie and Patell worked their way around the
grounds of Castrum. She knew the garden master thought her behavior odd. She
didn’t care though. It was time well spent getting to know the grounds and the
gardener. However, she had learned much more of the prior than the latter. All
she could get out of her was the fact that she was from Kingdom Three and had
no family to speak of.

Coming around a corner, Sophie held her breath. It was a flowering plum.
At least this planets version of one. It was in the middle of a gated courtyard
and it was beautiful. At least two stories tall, with small pink blossoms all
over it.

“This tree…” Sophie asked, “Will it bloom like this all the time?”

“Yes. The tree re-blooms after dropping its blossoms every ninety suns.”
Patell went into the cycle of the tree’s life and Sophie just nodded every few
seconds.

She had only asked to get Patell’s attention off of her for a second. She
needed to regain her composure at seeing this tree. It was identical to one she
had played in as a youth and any time she thought of her childhood she
remembered her brother. He had chased rings around that tree trying to catch
her. She had goaded him into climbing it one time, and when he had fallen out
and hurt himself, she had gotten a paddling from her parents. That hadn’t
stopped either of them. They were constantly on the move, playing and trying to
stay one-step ahead of their parents.

Silently shaking herself out of her memories, she figured it was time to
go back inside. She was a mess and would need Allie to bring her a clean dress
for her visit to The Halls of Science. “Where is the nearest balcony?” She
turned to Patell, “I almost forgot my meeting with Director Jollier.”

“Of course.” Patell gestured straight ahead on the path. “This is your
private courtyard and the balcony to your quarters is right along that path.”

Sophie hurried to thank her and stress again, how lovely the grounds were
and that she hoped to talk with her again regarding the plants. Then she walked
along the path to look up at her balcony.

“PAC, lower the balcony to this location.” She asked and saw the movement
as the balcony lowered. When she turned it was to see her constant shadows
moving along the path. “Do you need a ride on this balcony?” She called out to
her guard.

“That won’t be necessary Chosen.” She didn’t know which guard it was that
called back. She thought it might have been Willem. “We will make our way back
to our posts.”

“Penthouse level.” She called out, “PAC inform Allie I will need a new
dress. Have her make it deep purple.” Then she had to wait for her stylist
since she had no way to get out of the corset.