Hey guys! i'm back! And as a special New Years Eve treat i bring you another chapter!
Enjoy!
~*~H~*~
Cinder folded the last shirt in her pile and shoved it into her bag. She was only going to be spending about a day on the ship but she decided to bring some extra clothes with her so she would have something to wear around the palace until she could buy some more.
The door to her room opened and the guard stared ahead at the wall behind Cinder. "Your Majesty, I present Her Royal Highness, Princess Winter, Sir Jacin Clay and Miss Iko."
"Thank you, send them in." Iko was the first to walk in, followed by Jacin and Winter. He had his hand on the small of her back, gently guiding her. She had her bioelectricity security chip installed just a couple weeks ago and she was already almost healed of the Lunar Sickness. She rarely had visions anymore.
Iko peered in my bag just before I zipped it closed. "I cannot allow you to bring military cargo pants with you and wear them in the Palace. A queen is expected to wear beautiful dresses wherever she goes, especially when she is visiting a palace."
"Then I guess, it's a good thing I'm not expected to be Queen for very much longer."
"Selene?" Cinder had gotten used to Winter and almost everyone else in Artemisia calling her by her royal name. "Why is it that you fought so hard for your throne only to give it up so soon?"
"I'm not a queen. I never was. My first real memory I can remember is putting Iko together for the first time. I never wanted to be queen but being queen was a responsibility I was born with and I couldn't ignore that while Levana was killing innocent people on Earth and oppressing her own citizens on Luna... I was literally the only person on Earth and Luna who could end her reign. And even I couldn't do it on my own."
The guard opened the door again, "Your Majesty, your royal ship is in the docking area and ready to take off."
"I'll be out in a moment." I turned to Iko. "Don't ever be afraid to comm me if you need any help with anything, ok?"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Winter and the thaumaturges will help me. You just need to go and have fun and relax with Kai." Iko was practically shoving Cinder out the door. Jacin carried her bag as Cinder's guards led them down to the docking area. The ships door was open and there was a ramp leading up to the Captain who was standing at attention with his fist clasped over his chest. Once Cinder was close he bowed respectfully. Cinder bowed back. She had grown used to the customs of Luna.
"Your Majesty, the ship is prepared and ready for takeoff at your command," the Captain said.
"It will be just a moment." Cinder turned to her friends and Winter's arms wrapped around Cinder's midsection.
"I'm really going to miss you. Hopefully our separation wont be quite as long as it was last time."
"I promise you, Winter. It won't. It will only be for a few weeks."
Iko wrapped her arms around Cinder. She blew the synthetic blue hair out of her face. "Comm me as soon as you arrive at the palace. I want to talk to Kai!"
"Don't worry, I will." Jacin held up Cinder's bag of clothes and Cinder took it. "Thanks."
"I'll see you all soon." Cinder walked up the ramp with her guards following her and the Captain bowed as she passed him. Cinder had been in the royal ship once before. Winter wanted to show her around Luna and see all of the sectors. Cinder also had blueprints downloaded in her brain so she knew where everything was. She walked into the Queen's Quarters where there was a room with a large bed, a comfy looking chair with a netscreen and a large bathroom. Most of the time the Queen didn't stay on her ship for long periods of time but Levana had wanted every luxury possible while traveling.
Cinder's guards waited outside the door and she put her bag on the foot of her bed.
She decided to send a comm to the Palace to let them know she would be arriving very soon. Once that was done, the netscreen was still on so she decided to comm Scarlet and Wolf. She hadn't talked to them in so long and she missed them so much.
After a few moments the screen brightened, revealing Scarlet. It took her a moment to recognize who was there. "Oh my goodness. Wolf get over here! It's Cinder!" He soon appeared just behind Scarlet.
"Hey guys!"
"Where are you?" she asked.
"On my way to Earth."
"What happened?" Wolf asked, assuming the worst since I'm going to the Eastern Commonwealth about two weeks early.
"Nothing. I got all of my Queenly-" I said the word in disgust "-duties done early and I'm taking an early vacation. Are Thorne and Cress still there?"
"Yeah, they went out for a walk a few minutes ago."
"I can't wait until the Ball is over. You have no idea how bad I want to see the Rampion again." Scarlet thought for a moment.
"Hold on a sec." She got up from wherever she was sitting and Cinder could hear an old screen door open and shut before she turned her port around and the gleaming Rampion was shown sitting in the late evening sun on Scarlets front lawn.
"You have no idea how bad I miss that hunk of metal." She turned her port around and Cinder could see the two of them. "So what's new with you guys?"
"I'm not sure if you heard but Wolf proposed and were getting married next summer." Cinder hadn't heard but she was almost sure that Iko had.
"Wow. That's big. Congratulations... What about Thorne and Cress?"
"I think they've just reached boyfriend/girlfriend status... What about you and Kai?"
"Oh... I don't know... We haven't seen each other in months... I guess he could be considered my boyfriend... but we really haven't talked about it in such a long time..."
"I understand."
"Have you gotten your invitations for the Ball?" Cinder asked, desperate to change the subject.
"Yeah. We got them a long time ago. You?"
Cinder rolled her eyes. "Who do you think he sent the invitation to first?"
"Right." Scarlet laughed a bit and Cinder noticed a glint in Wolf's eyes.
"Well... I guess I'll talk to you guys soon."
"Bye," they both said.
The screen went black with green text that said: "You're comm has been disconnected."
~*~H~*~
"Excellent. I was beginning to worry we wouldn't have a pilot foe when it's time to take Kai back to Earth. Now I just have to worry about having a competent one" -Cinder, Winter
