"Prince Kai!" Cress fell into the deepest bow possible. "I knew I was staying in the palace, but I didn't know–wow! I actually got to meet the prince!"
"Hey, Cress." Kai chuckled. "And, uh, it's Emperor Kai now."
She straightened from her bow and looked at him, gathering up all the sadness in her heart and pushing it into her eyes. "Oh, oh, Your Majesty. I'm so sorry."
He waved her off. "It's all right. And of course you met me, we were allies during the war–friends, even!"
There was that word again. Friends. People threw it around so much that it was as though they didn't understand what it meant for her now.
Cress grinned. "Friends."
The emperor shoved his hands in his pockets. "Uh, so, Cinder said you lost your memory from before you turned sixteen. Exactly what year do you think it is?" Before she could speak, he added, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be so forward, I've just been so curios to ask you about it."
Her grin turned into a shy smile. "I feel like it's still last December. So, I've lost a whole year, it seems."
He frowned. "You've missed a lot. Don't worry, though. We'll catch you up."
Her chest warmed at his kindness. Having friends was great.
Not fifteen minutes before, Cinder had come to collect her from the research wing, when Cress was finally permitted to leave by the doctor. Then, Cinder had told her that she had a meeting with Queen Winter, but Kai was free and would show her around the palace. She could stay there, Cinder had said, until she got her footing and figured out what she wanted to do, where she wanted to go.
She just couldn't believe they were willing to let her go out into the world alone. Oh, the things she would go to see! What had been restored after the fourth world war, if anything was left after the recent revolution, what ruins still existed after a hundred years, the museums all over the world that held so much history inside of them, but part of her also had an insatiable need to just settle down. Find somewhere permanent, and go from there.
Emperor Kai pulled her from her thoughts. "Would you like to see the gardens? There's a pond with koi in it. You can feed them, if you'd like."
She could practically feel her eyes light up. "I'd love that!" she said, clasping her hands together. Apparently, she had seen trees and flowers and bushes and animals, but she didn't remember, and so this was going to be lovely.
As they made their way through the palace, Kai glanced at her. "Have you thought at all about where you might want to go? If you haven't, that's fine. We'd be glad to keep you as long as you'd like to stay."
She shrugged. "I'm sorry, I haven't. I'll start thinking about it. I don't really know anyone, though. Should I really be going out on my own?"
The emperor grinned at her. "You're an intergalactic celebrity. Believe me, you'll be just fine."
"I'm not sure," she confessed. "It's a little scary."
"No matter where you go," he continued, "you will be protected. I will make sure of it."
Her shoulders suddenly felt a little lighter. "Th-thank you, Your Majesty."
"Stars," he muttered. "Call me Kai, please. I get enough of 'Your Majesty' from everyone else."
They walked through double doors that lead to a lush garden full of greens and pinks and reds and whites and the air smelled exactly what Cress imagined that flowers smelled like. There was a small, man-made pond in the center, with a bubbling stream feeding into it from a water filtration unit. Orange, gold, and white fish congregated at the edge of the pond when Emperor Kai bent down to get a closer look at them.
He craned his neck to look at her, and then shot a meaningful look at a wooden box attached to a post. "There's food in there for them."
"Oh." Her voice was small, shy. "I actually get to feed them?"
"Well, yeah."
She carefully stepped over to the box and opened the top and grabbed a handful of pellets. "Is this enough, Your Ma-Emperor Kai?" she asked.
He looked back over. "That's perfect. Just don't toss it in all at once. They might tear each other apart."
Cress knelt down next to him and sprinkled a few pellets into the water, and the koi sucked them up quickly. She giggled. "They're so cute!"
Emperor Kai smiled. "They're wonderful, aren't they?"
She could almost feel the stars sparkling in her eyes. "They're beautiful. And the trees, they're so… so green! And the flowers! They're very vibrant!"
She sprinkled the rest of the pellets over the school of fish before rising to her feet and dusting her knees off. She twirled around, viewing the gardens around her. "It's so serene out here! The weather is gorgeous and the nature is just so…." Her voice trailed off as she failed to find a proper adjective to describe it. "I'm speechless!"
He chuckled. "It's my favorite place in this entire palace. Well," he amended, "besides my bed. But that doesn't count. The gardeners and androids really do a great job taking care of this place."
She nodded enthusiastically. "Thank you for showing me this, Emperor Kai! I'm so happy."
"And I'm happy to do it, Cress. I'm glad you like them."
"I really do," she said. But all it took to kill her mood was Thorne's face in her mind. Cress wasn't sure why he had come up at all. She looked up at the emperor. "C-can I ask you a question?"
"Anything," he promised.
She chewed her lip before saying, "Do you think I could love Thorne again? Even if I never get my memory back?"
He seemed to be confused by such an abrupt change of subject. "I'm sure it's possible."
"How can you love someone you don't know?" she asked, head down.
He shrugged. "I can't say that that's impossible. I fell for Cinder before I really even knew her." He sighed. Contentedly. Nostalgically. She wasn't sure. "I don't think I loved her. Not necessarily. I did feel something for her, though. But that isn't to say that you should try to force yourself to have feelings for Thorne. He's a good guy, and you two were great together, but you can't force love. Believe me, I know it all too well."
She thought she might cry. "I broke his heart."
"In this situation, it was unavoidable."
She looked to him. "He'll be okay, won't he?"
"Of course. You don't have to worry. You've nothing to feel bad about." When she met his eyes, they were so intense. Full of reassurance and support.
He'd be okay. And so would she.
Cress decided she was done with the subject. As she swiveled her head again to take in the scenery, her gaze caught on a small group of trees off to the side. "What are those?" she asked, pointing.
"Palm trees. Not indigenous to this area, but we've managed to keep them alive thus far without disrupting the rest of the garden's ecosystem."
She furrowed her brow, studying them. Something was tugging at the corner of her mind, and a strange feeling disrupted the joyful warmth that had reappeared in her stomach.
Shaking her head, she turned back to him. "I've never seen those before."
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah. It was just… nothing. It's nothing. I'm, um, kind of hungry."
He nodded. "Right! I'll show you to the kitchens." He headed back towards an entrance to the palace. "I've got to get back to work, but I'm sure Iko will hunt you down. The rest of the crew are leaving tomorrow, so don't be afraid to say goodbye if you see them loitering around, all right? I promise they will love to see you before their departure."
She opened her mouth to speak. Closed it again. Trying to find words, to find an explanation. The thought terrified her. She wanted to accept that they were her friends, that she should at least put in an effort to keep it that way. But, really, they should know that she wasn't ready. That she was so used to solitude, the idea of having friends was simultaneously wonderful and gut-wrenchingly horrifying.
Cress forced a smile. "Yeah, yeah. I'll… see them before they leave."
The rest of the walk to the kitchens was awkwardly quiet. Neither of the said a word, uttered a sound.
When they arrived, he turned to her. "The chefs will prepare you anything you want. Don't be afraid to ask for whatever."
She bit her lip. "I… I don't know much about earthen food, outside of the food they gave me in the research wing. It was delightful, but I don't know what any of it was. And there's so much I've always wanted to try…."
Emperor Kai laughed a bit and turned, approaching one of the chefs. The woman bowed to him and he leaned in close. She sent a furtive glance over to Cress before turning back to him. When he stopped speaking, she was beaming and nodding excitedly.
He came back to her. "She's going to prepare you a few courses. I told her you'll be in the dining room."
He led her to an large room with a fourteen-person table taking up the bulk of the space. A large, crystal chandelier hung directly over the center of the table. There was a red tablecloth covering the table with gold-thread placemats set before each chair. Silverware was arranged perfectly on each side of the placemats, enough room between the two different sets for a plate or bowl to be placed in the center. On the left, on the outer edge of each arrangement of forks, set a pair of chopsticks.
The red cushions on the white wood chairs matched the tablecloth, an intricate design embroidered in gold into each of them, and it seemed to pull the entire look together.
Cress wet her lips. "Wow."
"And this is just our private dining room," the emperor remarked. "You should see the one we use when we dine with world leaders." She heard a ping and after a moment, he cleared his throat. "I have a meeting to attend. So, just sit anywhere and someone will be in. Do you need anything?"
Because she still had the portscreen the doctor had gotten a hold of for her, she figured she was set. "No," she said. "Thank you for everything, Emperor Kai."
"It's just Kai," he reminded. With a parting grin, he slipped out the door, and she was alone.
Cress was full within ten minutes of having the five plates in front of her. She had only managed to eat a quarter of each plate, she had enjoyed every bite. She had been given a red curry over rice, something called a gyro, escargot over pasta–which, apparently, was just snails, ratatouille, and steamed pork dumplings.
The chef had said that she wanted Cress to try all kinds of world foods, but had not wanted to overwhelm her. Though each plate was so much different from the rest, it had not been a bad mix, and Cress was nothing short of satisfying.
She was going to love living on Earth, and she was so looking forward to trying every type of food each culture could offer.
Her stomach full to the brim, she wasn't ready to move yet. Cress slumped back in the chair and started hacking into the EC's files again with her port–just to check for updates, of course. Nothing sinister.
Then, she heard voices and two people entered the dining room.
The voices immediately stopped.
"Cress!" A troublingly tall, muscular man with scars covering his olive-toned skin and messy brown hair approached her. "I'm Wolf. How are you?"
She blinked up at him. It took her a few moments to form words, but the man didn't seem bothered by her pause. "I-I'm okay. You're… Wolf? I think they told me about you. Scarlet did. Something about the palace security system."
She was scared of him, but she wouldn't admit it. He was rather intimidating, perhaps two, maybe three times her size. He could crush her.
"You were amazing!" he said, his smile as wild as his hair. "I didn't know anyone could knock out a government-level security system so fast."
Cress shrugged. "I imagine it wasn't too hard. I hope they've improved it by now."
She was taken aback by his easy laugh. "I believe they were discussing it just the other day, actually."
Her eyes flitted past him for the briefest moment, and she discovered the source of the other voice she had heard before they entered.
Thorne.
Of course.
He was already watching her, sadness in his eyes.
"Hi," she said in a small voice.
He did not reply.
Wolf looked a bit anxious now.
She coughed to fill the silence just before she spoke. "I, um, I'm going. I hope I'll see you before you leave tomorrow, Wolf." She turned to Thorne. "Goodbye."
His eyes fell away from her and when she looked back just before exiting, his back was still to her. He had not turned to watch her leave.
She wasn't sure what that meant. All she knew was that it hurt.
Author's Note: I haven't slept yet so technically, it is still Sunday! I'm sorry for the late update. I've had three days off this weekend, but life is a little hectic right now! I can't promise when the next chapter will be up, but it will have more angsty interactions (I hope), so prepare yourselves! Have a lovely week!