Sage sat, quietly nodded to Sofie's rambling. Her favorite parts of the day were when she could simply listen. It used to be that she would be the one doing the talking, but since the accident, she'd felt as though she needed to remain quiet for a few years. So she'd become adept at listening, and listen she did as Sofie described the particulars of her date with Eli.
"And after the movie, we walked around the palace grounds for at least half an hour," Sofie gushed. "It was almost as though we were by ourselves. I had Cole stay behind, and the media were too obsessed with some wildfire out down south that burned down Beverly Hills."
Wincing, Sage said, "Don't you have family down there?"
Sofie flipped her perfectly curled hair, and replied, "Well, technically, yes, but they were on vacation in the Western Isles. Their house was damaged, but they'll be able to repair or even replace it."
"Maybe you should donate some money to help those that can't," Sage suggested.
With a snort, Sofie giggled, "Sage, you are so funny." But her laughter trailed off when she looked at the other girl's face and realized she was serious. "Oh. You meant it? Well….I suppose I could, perhaps….yes. That's an excellent idea. The media will be all over it."
Sage's heart sunk. She loved her new friend, but Sofie had a long way to go when it came to the public eye. "Maybe you could donate anonymously," she said, but it came out sounding more like a question than a suggestion.
"Sage, Sage," Sofie said. "I adore you. But if I donated anonymously, how would the people know who to thank?" She made it seem ridiculous, as if it were Sage who was being stupid.
"Ladies," Sara called. Sage and Sofie looked up, then smiled. Sara had taken a shining to their little friendship. Called it the "S Sisters," and included herself in the mix. The three of them had gone out to have a picnic in the garden, along with Cole. Sage found herself growing fonder and fonder of her little group of friends. It had been a while since she had surrounded herself with people that she actually enjoyed the company of. Well, since she'd surrounded herself with people in general.
"I'd like to announce a special challenge," Sara said excitedly. "The Queen has said that all of you will be participating in the care of one child from the visiting politicians today. They will arrive in one hour to participate in the Annual Illean Pollution Committee. All in all, there will be 33 children, so we're asking if any of you would be willing to take on more than one."
"I will," Sage said, before she knew what she was saying. As soon as it registered in her head, she felt her stomach drop. Children? She hadn't talked to a child in months. It would be too much. It would be entirely too much.
Before she could rescind her offer, though, Sara was beaming and saying, "That will definitely be noted, Sofie. Thank you so much."
As others raised their hands and volunteered, Sage couldn't help but grimace at the sense of foreboding that grew in her stomach.
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Their big brown eyes looked up at her inquisitively. There was a tall, lanky 10 year old girl with long chocolate hair and skin that looked like the desert sand. She didn't speak much, but smiled softly at Sage. The littler girl, her sister around the age of 6, chattered endlessly.
"I like your dress, Lady Sage," she giggled, "It looks like a cloud. Except clouds aren't purple, they're white. So maybe it's a grape juice cloud. Do you like grape juice? I drink it every day except sometimes my mommy says I need to stop because I get too much energy."
"You certainly do have a lot of energy," Sage said. "What's your name?"
"My name's Cecilia," the girl said proudly. "And this is my sister Holly. We came from a long way away in Paloma. We got to ride the airplane here, and I ordered some grape juice except they said they didn't have any, so I had to get some apple juice instead. Do you like the Prince?"
The change in conversation startled Sage out of her listening phase. "Hmm?" she asked. "The Prince?" To be honest, she hadn't thought much about the Prince. He was nice, if a bit stuffy. He hadn't really spoken directly to her since their first conversation, though she'd noticed him watching her every once in a while. He'd tried to ask her out right after the Report yesterday, but had gotten cut off by his father.
"He's quite nice," she responded truthfully. "I do like him. Don't know if he likes me, though. He hasn't really talked to me."
"Not talked to you?" came a voice from behind her. Whirling around, she came face to face with Eli's smirking grin. "We'll have to fix that, won't we? Why don't you introduce me to your little charges for starters? We can go to the stable tomorrow. You are a vet, right?"
It took a moment for Sage to respond. "Y-yes," she replied. "I am. And that would be lovely." She turned back to the girls. "This is Holly and Cecilia Morse, the daughters of Lady Christina Morse of Paloma."
Eli bowed low and took the hands of each girls, placing a gentle kiss on their knuckles. "It is my most humble pleasure to make your acquaintances."
They giggled, and clutched at Sage's skirts. "I like him, too, Lady Sage," Cecilia laughed.
"You have quite the way with children," Eli said, standing. "These Ladies seem to have really taken to you. Tell me, do you have any little siblings?"
A wave of panic crashed over her, covering her bodies in a layer of numbness. The images of their broken bodies scattered through her mind, fueling the tears that she thought she had cried out so long ago.
"Had younger siblings," she choked.
Eli's face turned ghostly pale. "I'm sorry," he corrected, frantic to fix his mistake. But it was too late. The damage was done, and now Sage was subject to the humiliation of crying in front of everyone. Just her luck.
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Lia watched Sage start to cry, watched Eli wrap his arms around her. The girls she was watching grabbed her legs and waist as well, their inquisitive faces buried in her dress.
Not wanting to be caught minding others' business, Lia looked away and instead focused on the sleeping baby in her arms. Well, not quite a baby. Jackson was a year and a half, and so far, a perfect angel. Lia assumed it was because he'd fallen asleep as soon as he'd been given to her, but she wasn't complaining.
"Are you any good with kids?" came a voice from behind her. Lia tilted her head to see a red headed girl clutching a squirming toddler, with a raucous six year old acting off behind her.
Shrugging, Lia replied, "I'm pretty good. I have a little brother at home." She eyed the girl. "Do you….want my help?"
"That would be magnificent," the girl said, visibly losing stress. "I took on two because I wanted to impress the Queen and Eli, but they've turned out to be more than I can handle."
Lia laughed, standing up with the baby. "I'll come help you. Why don't we head down to the kitchen and get them a snack." She looked at the girls crowded around Viv's ankles. "Are you guys hungry for a snack?" she asked energetically.
"Yeah!" Came the duet of voices. The two kids hopped eagerly to their feet and chased each other out the door. Viv smiled gratefully, and together, she and Lia followed the kids.
It was a struggle getting the children to listen to their directions, but eventually, all five of them were down in the kitchen, ready to get started. Viv had grabbed a few spare ingredients from the cupboards, and the maids were all in the lower part of the kitchen preparing dinner. Lia pulled down a book and flipped it open.
"You guys want to make Brigadeiro Cake?" Lia asked. "My stepfather makes it sometimes. He spent a year and a half down in Brazil about 10 years ago. It's really good."
The kids (and Viv) nodded enthusiastically.
Lia grinned. "Alright, if we're making Brigadeiro Cake, we have almost everything we need. There's the eggs, butter, cocoa powder, baking powder-"
"You're missing the sweetened condensed milk," came a kindly voice from behind them. Viv and Lia, turned, faces white, to face the familiar sounding intruder. Queen Georgianna was standing in the entrance her petite frame seeming to take up the entire space. There was no getting out of this one. "Dahlia Ramirez and Viviana Ebony."
"Your majesty," Lia said, stepping up to her smoothly. "We were actually just about to come find you and ask your permissio-"
"No you weren't," Georgianna sighed.
"No we weren't," Viv agreed. When Lia shot her a look, Viv just shrugged defensively.
"You girls aren't going to be baking your cake," the Queen ordered. For a moment, Viv and Lia shrank, and the kids began to pout.
"Not without my help, anyway."
As they pushed the cake into the oven, Queen Georgianna smiled. "Thanks to both of you," she said. "It's been awhile since my daughters have done something like this with me. And longer still since I've had such fun young friends to play with," she finished, ruffling one of the little girls' hair.
"What was Eli like when he was younger?" Viv asked, her expression faraway. Like she was hopelessly lost in a train of thought.
"Very similar to what he's like now," the Queen admitted. "He's always been able to cheer up a room with just a few sentences. When he was around 12 years old, he was invited to his first real sort of meeting. It was a heavy subject, all the stuffy old officials were talking about the death of the Treasurer, the late Mr. Barry Dunder. And at the last second of the meeting, Eli whispered to me, "Looks like he's Barry Dunder the ground now." Except he doesn't really have a quiet voice, as you've probably come to tell. The officials didn't find it funny, but King Hanson and I were laughing for weeks," she recalled, her expression wistful.
Lia laughed, and was about to ask another question, when a palace guard slammed the door open. His eyes widened when he caught sight of the group. "Just my luck," he muttered, "The Queen and two Selected?"
"What can we help you with?" the Queen asked, her forehead creasing.
The guard gestured for them to come with him. "A threatening note has been found in one of the Selected's rooms, and we have reason to believe that there is an intruder in the building."
He didn't need to say another word. Georgianna took one girl's hand, Viv took the other, and Lia cradled the baby in her arms. They filed quickly through the door, and let the guard take them down the hall.
"What's happening?" asked the little girl clutching Viv's hand. She was only a couple of years old, 4 at the most. Her curly brown hair was pulled up in a high ponytail, allowing her big blue eyes to gaze up at Lia intensely.
"We're going to go and...hide away for a little bit. There was an accident and we don't want to get hurt," Viv explained.
The little girl pondered this, then exclaimed, "Like in hide and seek?"
Despite the situation, Lia let out a brief chuckle. "Sort of," she admitted. "And in this game, we don't want to get found. So you guys have to be very quiet."
Finally, they filed into the safe room, not much larger than a closet. The guard nodded and saluted at the Queen before ducking out and shutting the door closed. Then the 6 of them were left in the dark solitude that consumed the room as well as their minds.
The baby in her arms started to fuss, and Lia pulled her closer to her chest. She remembered being scared of the dark when she was younger. The ocean had chased that fear away, but there was no ocean here to calm the child. Just a dark chamber, the sounds of footsteps, and 3 scared women.
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This author's note is going to be a bit rushed bc I have to go to a Christmas party, but thanks for reading, this storyline will be followed up in the next chapter with some angst from Eli, and please leave a review, follow and favorite, dOnT fOrGeT tO sUbScRiBe To My ChAnNeL. Just kidding, I'll see y'all on Wednesday!
EDIT: I realize that I accidentally called Sage "Sofie" at one point. That has been fixed!