It seemed like the rush of the Selection had settled in. The maids scurried around, making sure everything was perfect. The Selected—both male and female—were coming in soon. A dread of panic settled in Aria's stomach, she had to make sure everything was perfect.
Aria hadn't been around the place everyone was staying, only catching glimpses of photos that Soraya showed the twins. The images didn't do the mansion justice, everything was just as glamorous as the palace was, before the attack that is. The chandelier glimmered from its position above the marble staircase. They seemed to be a lot of stairs, but Aria stayed rooted to the middle of it all. She watched as a maid—whose name she couldn't recall—placed a smaller vase of pink roses next to the towering vase with orchids.
She couldn't see why anyone would want to give her job up, like the last person had done. Being surrounded by chaos wasn't all bad, it reminded her that it was all real. Besides, it was definitely an improvement from her previous job. When you've hit rock bottom, the only was to go is up, I suppose.
With one last glimpse of her surroundings, Aria headed towards Isaiah's room. He would be the easier one, out of the twins, to talk to.
When she arrived to Isaiah's room, Aria smiled at the sight. Isaiah was going over the notes Soraya had given him for The Report, and occasionally lifted his eyes to watch the next scene of his movie. The background music giving his room a comfortable atmosphere.
"Oh, hey, Aria," he greeted, a smile on his face. He set down the flash cards as Aria sat down next to him. "Would you like some snacks? I could always ask someone to go get you some, or I could go and get some."
"No, thank you Isaiah," Aria smiled, he was always so sweet. She paused for a second, "You're adorable, you know that right? Any girl would be lucky to have you."
He blushed, the red heating up his cheeks. He averted his eyes back to his notes, Soraya wanted everything to go perfectly, even going as far as to make sure that The Report host, Kurtis, and everyone knew exactly what they were going to say. Though, Isaiah seemed more nervous than the others.
Aria's eyes followed Isaiah's to his flash cards. "I actually need to talk to you about The Report," she started and Isaiah looked back to her, his signal telling her he was listening. "Soraya wants this to go perfectly, so the Selected have been chosen already."
"But that's not fair!" He interrupted, all the girls in Illéa—who wanted to apply—should have an equal choice of getting chosen.
"It was a lottery, they were chosen randomly. The only difference was that it didn't happen on The Report," she told him before he could jump to any conclusions. She grabbed his flash cards, muttering about how stupid they were, before pulling out some forms. Only Isaiah would actually read those notes, and Aria was certain that no one else would read them.
"Here," she pushed the forms into his hands, "these are the forms for the girls. I admittedly removed some information, so you didn't have to act like you've never seen some of them before. Yes, some you might of heard of some of them—Eira, for example—but not all."
He took the forms, a little wary if he should read them. Ignoring how he felt, he spoke, "Thank you, Aria. I appreciate it." And he did, Aria was, after all, only looking out for him.
As she left, Isaiah couldn't help but think how Aira was easily growing to be one of his favourite members of the staff. She didn't scare him, so that was a plus.
Isaiah sat nervously, The Report was starting soon. While he seemed to wrapped up in his bundle of nerves, his sister sat beside him bored. The staff did the last minute check ups, and Soraya stood at the side of the camera for 'moral support'. Isaiah had changed from his previous clothes, and was now supporting a navy blue suit. A smile used to cover up his emotions.
Nevaeh glanced at her twin. He never made much appearances on The Report, and she was there usually. Leaning towards him, she whispered, "Don't worry about it, Isaiah. They're going to love you." As soon as she spoke, she moved back, her brown eyes focused on the cameras. To be fair, she was picture perfect at the moment. Her brown hair was curled, and her silver dress gained everyone's attention, the sparkle not going unnoticed. Not to mention, the silver crown on her head.
"How are you so sure?" Isaiah questioned, both his twin and Aria told him the girls were going to love him, but as far as he knew they weren't the Robinsons, so they didn't have a chance of knowing the future, or travelling to it and letting him know what was going go happen.
"Because," Nevaeh answered, "you're Isaiah, and everyone loves you. And if they don't, well, it's their loss."
Isaiah smiled gratefully at his twin before Soraya shushed them, so The Report could start. The cameraman started the countdown until they were live, and both of the twins adjusted their positions on the whire couch.
"Good evening, Illéa," Kurtis' cheery voice rang through the studio, a bright smile on his face. "Today we have both of the royal twins: Queen Nevaeh and Prince Isaiah!"
After the cheers of the audience died down, Kurtis turned to Nevaeh, "Your Majesty, what do you have to say on the recent attack in Sonage? Especially since it's so close to Angeles itself."
"The Southern Rebels are restless. However, focusing on the negative won't do anything, we need to carry on," Nevaeh answered.
Kurtis frowned, "But the attacks-"
Nevaeh cut him off, "We have to start somewhere, right?" With a nervous laugh, she added, "There's no flowers without rain."
"Right you are, Your Highness," Kurtis smiled. "We must get onto the more exciting news: The Selection!" He turned to Isaiah, "How do you feel about the Selection, Your Highness?"
All of Isaiah's knowledge flushed down the drain as he hurried to remember something. After his sister shot him a quick glance, he spoke, "It's a new thing for me, for the two of us. We have to start somewhere though, and a Selection could be helpful."
"Right you are, Your Highness!" Kurtis exclaimed, and Isaiah let out a breath of relief. "Now, do you two have a 'type'?"
"No," Nevaeh cut in sharply. "All the Selected have an equal chance, and we aren't biased."
If Kurtis was shocked he didn't seem to let it show. However, Soraya stood at the side, sighing at her goddaughter's choice of tone. This was supposed to distract people from the chaos brought upon Illéa.
"Well, let's get on with finding out who's going to be going us at this lovely place!" Kurtis turned to Isaiah again, "Your Highness, pick a province."
Isaiah's heartbeat sped up, which to choose? Which to choose? "Err, Tammins."
"Queen Nevaeh?"
"Waverly."
"Okay, so this is for the female Selected. The male ones will be next," Kurtis explained as the technitions started getting the picture ready, Soraya standing anxiously next to them.
"From Tammins, Eira Juliette Griffiths, Caste Two!" The camera focused on Isaiah's smile, ready to catch anything. Isaiah was too busy trying to calm his racing heartbeat to notice the girl on the screen. From the looks of it, her hair was a dark blonde colour with a mix of brown. Her eyes seemed to be blue, though they couldn't make sure with the image changing back soon. It was refreshing to see another eye colour than the dull brown the walls of the palace were used to.
The audience erupted in cheers, and Nevaeh recalled that she was a professional skier, which would mean that she would already have supporters in the selection by her fans. Isaiah didn't seem to notice anything, and Nevaeh squeezed his hand for a second, but as soon as it was there it was gone.
As the cheers started to quieten, Isaiah smiled. One down, and it wasn't that hard. Besides, Nevaeh seemed to be fine with it. She sat with a smile on her face, though both Isaiah and Shai—who was in the audience—were almost certain that if was fake. Her posture, however, never faulted.
"From Waverly, Emerson Haleigh O'Kelly, Caste Two!"
A girl with strawberry blonde hair filled the screen, accompanied by ocean blue eyes. Isaiah remembered from a glimpse of their forms, while they were both Two's, Eira was a skier and Emerson a runner. Apart from the eyes, both girls seemed different, but the again, Isaiah was never a good judge of character.
"Isaiah?" Kurtis asked, needing the next province.
"Calgary, please," Isaiah didn't recall seeing the girl from Calgary's form, so he was looking forward to it.
"From Calgary, Aurora Everly Travers, Caste Three!"
Isaiah perked up at the name 'Aurora', Disney never failed him, and a picture of a girl with fair skin appeared on the screen. Her fiery red hair a clear contrast to her skin. Her eyes were an amber colour, but Isaiah didn't get to focus on her when Nevaeh coughed and muttered under her breath, "Ariel," causing Isaiah to frown a little.
Isaiah vaguely heard Kurtis mention that the Selected from Honduragua was called June-Claire, but Isaiah started zoning out. The Selection was definitely going to be something.
A/N: Hello, everyone. Hope you liked the chapter, and if you did, review! They make my day! Also, if you haven't submitted a character, please do (preferably, male as I need more of them).