For Chapter
Words: 2043
"Just...a little tighter," Marine huffed. Aqua stood behind her younger sister, chewing her nails nervously.
"Be careful," Aqua squeaked behind her hands. "You might break the string." Marine ignored the girl and put a foot against Maya's back to create a tougher pull.
"Watch what you're doing," May snapped. But before she could continue, her breath was strangled and she felt her lungs tighten.
"I think...that'll just about do it." Marine finished tying the corset and turned Maya to face her. Perfect. "There we go, you look fantastic."
"I look like a prostitute," Maya complained. She tried to pull up the dress but before she could really try, Marine slapped her hand away lightly.
"No you don't. You look sexy. Ignore the little chipmunk laughing in the background," Marine said sternly with her hands resting on her hips. At being found out, Aqua blushed and looked at the floor where her feet began to shuffle. "It'll be just enough to attract the attention of men."
Maya looked at her reflection in the mirror and twirled to get a better view. With a sigh, she added, "Lord Lokar will hate this. He'll get upset just like the time I wore that bright dress with all the glitter and sparkles."
"Lord Lokar is a party pooper," Marine snorted. "And I already thought of that. A lot of men will approach you for sure, hell you're the freaking princess for crying out loud, they're going to go up to you for the crown on your head more than the skin you show. Anyway, you get to know the ones you fancy and if they try to take advantage of your stuff then cross him off the list. You know...after you kick him in the-"
"Marine!" Aqua squealed. "You must think of the princess' comfort. Look at her, she can hardly breath! If she collapses at the ball Lord Lokar will have our heads!"
"You're being ridiculous, Aqua. Maya can breath just fi-" But when she heard a moderate thump from behind her, she sighed impatiently, her confident demeanour faded. "Call on the Court Physician. And don't run into Lord Lokar or anyone that might ask what you're doing and then tell Lord Lokar." Aqua nodded nervously before she started to run out of the room. Marine looked at her mistress and breathed out deeply. "Maybe I should loosen your corset just a little."
Aqua tried to rush down the hallways as quickly as she could without looking like she was running. Which was a lot harder than it sounded. The hallways were packed with nobles and servants alike, all preparing in their own way for the ball that was taking place later that evening. It was going to be a grand event, but with all those people crowded together Aqua was silently glad that Maya had given Marine and herself the night off.
As she rounded the final corner to the court physician's quarters, she ran straight into someone. She automatically started to bow lowly on the ground in apology but when a firm hand was placed on her shoulder she stopped. Looking up, she saw brown eyes looking down at her. She examined the boys face, looking at him in awe, and noticed that there were scars and dirt mucking up his probably handsome face. Realizing what she was doing, Aqua looked down at his offered hand with a blush.
"I-I'm s-s-sorry," she stammered quietly.
"Nah, it was my bad," he replied with a wave of his huge hands. The two stood in front of each other awkwardly for a moment before Aqua jumped up and ran into the room that was on the other side of the brown-eyed boy.
"Glais," she called frantically through the door. The old physician looked up at her from examining one of the servants and knitted his eyes together.
"Yes, what is it Aqua?" he asked with a soothing voice.
"Marine tightened the corset too much so Maya couldn't breath and now she''s passed out and...could you come quickly please? Before Marine does something wrong again, like leave the curler on too long and then burns herself," Aqua rambled. The old man sighed in exhaustion but gathered a few bottles anyway.
"I thought we agreed that you were to deal with the dangerous equipment from now on," Glais shook his head.
"Yes, we did. But I didn't know dressing her was that dangerous and I can't take away all her duties," Aqua looked as if she was going to fall over in a panic. Glais came up to the young girl and placed a calming hand against her wrist, pulling her hand away from her teeth.
"It is fine, my dear. I will go and see the princess right away," he turned to the two boys, "and you two should get back to work before Lord Lokar discovers you're still here."
The physician left quickly and Aqua finally took a deep breath.
"Something happened to Maya?" the blue haired jumped at the sound of the masculine voice and had to grab her chest to make sure she was breathing right.
"I-I-I...you two are the new servants aren't you?" she said before immediately looking at her feet.
"How did you know?" Boomer replied.
"All new servants have to check with Glais to make sure that they are healthy enough to serve the Lord and the Lady. Unless you are sick or hurt you will not see Glais as a servant, and you don't seem to be ill," Aqua explained.
"We aren't servants; we're slaves-" Ky yelled but was then interrupted.
"Why aren't you scared of us? Haven't you heard, apparently we're abusers and traitors," Boomer asked while crossing his arms skeptically. "Is this some sort of test for Lokar, trying to find a reason to kill us?
"What? Oh no, absolutely not. I am not afraid because you do not appear to be scary." After waiting a moment so she could contemplate her next move, she asked, "is it true? That you and Princess Maya were in love?"
Suddenly Ky looked very sad. His shoulders sagged and his head started to bow. Realizing her mistake, Aqua awkwardly put a hand against his right shoulder. "I'm sorry," she muttered. "I understand why you fell for her, however. She is very beautiful. She has done a lot for the kingdom." She started to walk away slowly but motioned for them to follow her.
"It's weird to think that she's going to get married soon," Boomer said while catching up with the short maidservant. "As long as I can remember, Ky and My have always had thing for each other. I can't think of her with anyone else." Aqua shook her head with a faint giggle at Maya's nickname.
"Lord Lokar sets up some balls every now and then for Maya to find a husband, but she never finds anyone," Aqua explained. "I do not believe that tonight will be the night she does."
"He sounded pretty serious though," Boomer contradicted. He sent Ky a worried glance, but his best friend just looked to the ground, seeming to be lost in thought. "Isn't he going to force her to chose someone?"
Aqua tilted her head as if she was scanning her brain for a proper answer. After a couple silent seconds she finally replied, "he might try. I still believe that Maya will not commit to someone that she does love or believe that she may love in the future. She is very strong willed and stubborn; she does not want to disappoint her grandfather but while her future companion will be at her side for most likely the rest of her life, Lord Lokar is getting old and will eventually be forced to leave his grand-daughter no matter what they want. But I must admit, he does seem to be more persistent this time."
"How's that?" Ky finally said after he looked up. He looked at Aqua pleadingly and she found that she could not refuse even when she was biting down on her tongue.
"He does not usually partake in the plannings of events, that is usually Princess Maya's responsibility."
"She does a lot around here. What does Lokar do?" Boomer snorted. The girl looked at the boy with a hint of warning.
"He is the Lord of Kairu, I would watch your tongue in his kingdom or you will in fact lose your life." She sighed "He has many duties." She held her head high up and gave no more answers.
The three continued to walk down the hall. Ky was once again deep in thought and Boomer watched him from the corner of his eyes. With a deep sigh that Aqua found sickening down to her core, Boomer asked for Ky, "why do you think that Lokar is trying to have Maya marry so quickly now?"
This made Aqua stop walking. She turned to the boys but only looked at Ky. Her intense turquoise eyes seemed to pierce his very soul and even through his discomfort he gladly met her eyes. "She did not allow you to die," she said simply without breaking eye contact. "You are here and bonded contracts do not shatter easily." Without offering any explanations, Aqua looked away and started to make her way down the hall once again.
Ky and Boomer looked at each with a hint of confusion but not wanting to loose Aqua, in the loud and crowded hall they ran after her. "I don't get it," Ky asked as they reached her." Aqua looked at him and waiting for him to expand. "That doesn't explain anything."
"Lord Lokar is very wise; he knows better than to let loose ends fly. He knows that he has to tie them before the whole string unwinds. I do not know for sure, I have spoken very few words to my lord, but I believe he is doing everything he can to avoid loosing Maya. She is the very heart of the city and he knows that without her Kairu would quickly fall apart." Aqua's words seemed to confuse them even more."
"You make her sound like a saint!" Ky yelled. The motions in the hallway stopped and Aqua's usual calm face hardened in impatiences.
"A year ago, when she had just escaped you and your masters, a young boy of around seven was very sick. He was surely going to die and there was no known medicine to cure the boy. She employed scientists of the highest skill to find a cure and spent every moment, ones she could spare and ones she could not, at that family's side to help with anything they needed. In three days she hardly slept or ate. She did whatever she could for the family, all the chores too, so that they could spend time with their son in case the worst happened. She even spent her nights with the boy so that they could rest and that he would not be left alone.
"The boy died on the fourth day. She planned the funeral and wake for the family so that they could mourn and paid all the expenses. She was sick for weeks afterwards. All this for a family that she did not know. All this while ignoring her needs. All this only days after she escaped the torture and pain you put her through. Saints are not real, Princess Maya is."
The boys stared at Aqua with their mouth agape. Not wanting to remember that unfortunate tale, the rest of the hall's occupants continued whatever they were doing , ignoring them, though some did glare at Ky.
"People do not change so drastically, Ky Stax. Their situations do," Aqua said, emotionless. She then bowed and when she lifted her head, she said goodbye, "if you will excuse me, these are Princess Maya's quarters." The young girl turned around on her heels sharply and left without another word, leaving the two newly employed to be even more confused than before.
Boomer: *stares at me for a long time* I've never seen a ghost before *eating popcorn*
Me:0.o what? I'm still alive! Hello, I'm not even transparent.
Boomer: *shrugs shoulders* You've been gone a long time so...
Me: I know! I don't even want to think about how long that was. *shivers* But hopefully I can update more since it's summer.
Boomer: You should. The readers deserve it.
Me: I know they do. My readers are wonderful and patient. I really appreciate them. I'm glad that I can give them this longer-than-usual chapter. I didn't do that on purpose, because I don't just write my chapters to be a certain length, but it turned out pretty nice that it was at least 2000 words. I hope I can write you all longer chapters again. Do you think there was something wrong with this chapter?
Boomer: Don't ask me, I'm bias.
Me: What about you my lovely readers? Was it too rushed? Too much dialogue? Too much explanation? Too confusing? Too boring? Too...something? Please tell me if I did something wrong so I can fix it!
Boomer: You are really freaking out...let's change the subject to something other than this story. Oh yeah, I heard that you started watching season 2 of Redakai recently.
Me: Way to change the subject away from this story, a REDAKAI fanfic...but yeah! I am so lucky that I found it. I was just looking around for something redakai and BAM I found it and I am PUMP! I just started like two minutes after writing the chapter and thought, hey, why not mention something that happened in the first couple minutes that bothered me in this author note thing at the end.
Boomer: *crosses arms* What was wrong with it?
Me: Oh nothing really, I was just a little upset that Maya had told them about Lokar being her grandfather already. I wanted to see the scene when it happened. Oh well. I am so excited though! I love the theme song/intro. Makes me laugh. But I've hardly watched any of it yet. I hope it has some great Kya scenes (love that ship name, so pretty).
Boomer: I have some news on that, by the way. I mentioned the name to My and Ky.
Me: *jumps up and down* ...and?
Boomer: Sorry, I'll be right back. This popcorn isn't salty enough.
Me: ...
Me:WHY?! I will get him back, so he must tell us! Next chapter for sure! *runs after Boomer*
Ky: *walks in with Maya* Why did we only show up at the end?
Maya: *in a whisper* Does it matter? At least she isn't talking to us.
Ky: I guess...
Maya: Gloxinia does not own Redakai: Conquer the Kairu *cough* thankfully *cough* And she apologizes for not updating in so long. She hopes that you all will still read this story and that you enjoy it! Please review! Now let's go before she comes back! *runs away while pulling Ky with her.*
