A Paradise Lost

Change Is Coming

Everyone was excited to wake up the next day. They came inside the conference hall so early in the morning. They made sure that their secretaries had enough pen, paper, and ink ready to make sure that they would not miss any information from Queen Raya. They couldn’t wait to hear the knowledge she’s going to share to them. They could feel that change was coming.

“Good morning! I hope everyone is well.” Queen Raya greeted who looked so gorgeous in her ponytail.

Everyone stood up.

“Good morning, Queen Raya.”

“It seems like everyone is so excited for today! That’s great! It only proves that everyone is eager to learn new things and everyone wanted to improve the quality of lives in their respective kingdoms. We will have our conference outside. Don’t worry, I already prepared a chariot that will bring us to our plantation. Let’s go.”

The kings and queens of Maharlika were amazed by the chariots that Queen Raya prepared for them. It was the first time that they saw a chariot.

“This is called a chariot. The Romans use a chariot in battlefield and in traveling. I prepared one chariot for each kingdom. At the end of our conference, each of you can bring one chariot to your respective kingdoms. I will also give each of you a copy of the blueprint on how to build a chariot.”

Everyone clapped their hands.

“Thank you, Queen Raya.” King Magiting said.

“You’re welcome! There is a book written by our scholars inside your chariots. We wrote down the blueprint on how to build electricity and basic machines inside the content of your books. We will show you the source of our electricity and how our machines are run by it.”

Queen Raya led the kings and queens of Maharlika to their farm.

“Are you still using water buffalo to plow your fields?”

“Yes.” Apo Lakay answered.

“Don’t you think it’s time for you to up your game? If you keep on buying slaves to do our work, time will come that they will outnumber us and they might stir a revolution against us to steal our land. To avoid that from happening, we invented a plowing machine. This machine helps us plow our fields efficiently and effectively. Ever since we started using electricity, we stopped buying slaves.”

Queen Raya discussed how they got the source of electricity from the sun and sea waves. She taught them how to set up their sources of electricity that helped run their machines. Their conference for the whole day was focused on how to build hydroelectric and solar energy. Their one day discussion was not enough, so she only focused more on the basics. She gave them a manual anyway.

“Let’s call it a day!”

“What you just taught us is a century’s worth of advance wisdom! Thank you for generously sharing your knowledge to us.” King Magiting said in a filled admiration with Queen Raya.

“As the oldest king alive in the kingdom of Maharlika, I’ve never seen a technology so advance as the one that you just introduce to us. I also travelled a lot. I’ve been to Egypt but I never had a chance to ask their pharaoh about the knowledge of electricity. I regretted that I only travelled for leisure without bringing new knowledge to my country.”

“Thank you! I am glad that you learn a lot of things today. See you again tomorrow.”
Queen Raya was so tired. She didn’t join the kings and queens in Maharlika during dinner. She slept immediately after she took her dinner on bed.

At dawn, Felipe opened Queen Raya’s window slightly from the balcony. He looked at her with a deep longing. He missed her so badly. They hadn’t talk ever since the conference started. He opened her window quietly to avoid waking her up. He put one dozen of red roses, a short love letter, and a cup of coffee prepared in a clay cup on her vanity table and left.

Queen Raya woke up to the smell of red roses. She went to her vanity table. She smelt the freshly picked red roses, picked up the small paper, and read the short note.

To the Queen of my Heart,

How are you? I hope you’re feeling well. I miss you so much. I prepared a cup of coffee for you. These are the coffee beans that your merchants brought from Ethiopia. I want you to be the first person to taste the very first coffee beans that your island had harvested.
Enjoy the smell of the roses.

Love,
Felipe

Queen Raya commanded her servants to bring Felipe in her presence.

“Good morning, my queen!”

“Good morning, Felipe. Thank you for the coffee and the red roses. I love the taste of the coffee. I don’t know how you prepared this potion that it makes me so alive and alert after I drank the whole cup.”

“There’s no magic in it. That is simply the quality of a coffee. One cup of coffee is already enough to energize you. It will make you alert and nervous at the same time.”

“Right. How did you prepare it? Can you teach our servants on how to prepare it so that we can serve it to our visitors?”

“Of course. I will teach you everything I know on how to prepare a coffee. The taste of coffee is bitter. So, I added milk and sugar to make it sweet and creamy.”

Queen Raya was impressed and kissed Felipe’s cheek.