Chronicles of the Soveriegn

Chapter 5: Dreams

 I awoke to a sliver of light that crept from a small slit in the curtain, over the floor, and onto my face. I sat up and let my feet find the floor as I looked over to the egg in anticipation to find out what had happened to it over night.

It was still there on the bedside table where I had left it, completely untouched and unharmed. A glimmer of disappointment confronted me as I wished blissfully that the egg would have hatched and a dragon would be sitting by my feet. No such thing had happened though, and I had to get ready for my first day of training in a boring silence.

“Ari,” Máe’s voice sounded from the door a few minutes later, “may I come in?”

“Sure, the door is unlocked.”

Máe stepped in, looking like she was going to burst.

“I am sick of Tulus and his rules, and I just got here yesterday! I can’t put up with this any longer. I’m marching over there right now to give him a piece of my mind!”

“Goodmorning to you too.”

“He can’t fire me," she added defensively. "I work for Zaphod, not him. I should be treated as a foreign diplomat,” she said jokingly and turned up her nose a little bit.

“I don’t think he’ll go for the idea,” I giggled.

“If he doesn’t, I think I might quit,” she said somberly.

I sobered myself, “Are you sure about that? You can’t live with no source of income.”

Máe waved her hand dismissively, “I’ve lived longer than you have and have had more than enough jobs to have a rather large sum of money stored away. Of course most of it is in Erca, but I have enough money in Alarka to survive until I find a new job.”

“I would never let you do that.”

“You can’t tell me if I can or cannot quit."

“True, but I couldn’t let you move around looking for another job. You can stay here as my guest. Tulus can’t say no to me. I’m royalty.”

Máe smiled, “I’ll let you know if I decide to quit. Until then, he’s still providing my meals and board, so I suppose I might as well act like one of those mindless servants. So, Lady Palay, I am here to escort you down to the dining room for breakfast,” she said properly.

I laughed and grabbed the dragon egg, placing it gently in my bag so I would know if it was going to hatch, and then followed Máe down to the dining room.

An array of breakfast foods awaited me as I sat down at the large table in the palace's magnificent dining hall.

“Good morning,” said Cedric through a mouthful of food. I looked at his plate to see it piled high with food, more than I could ever eat in one sitting, and he seemed to be gulping it down like a starved dog. He reminded me of Tristan, which made me a little bit sad.

“Remember your manners, my boy,” Tulus reminded him gently as he glanced at his nephew’s plate.

“Sorry, I haven’t eaten like this since I was at home.”

“You can’t expect to ride Alvar on a full stomach, you’ll throw up.”

Cedric shrugged as he buttered a roll and shoved it into his mouth, “I’ve got a tough stomach”

I sat down and slowly ate a roll.

Cedric looked at me and shook his head in disapproval, “You’ll have to eat more than that for training today. You need a lot of energy or you’ll get tired out quickly.”