Elements: The Chronicles of Katerina Starling

Chapter 19: Hell in Helen's Kitchen

"Jesus fucking Christ Kat, just because you're the fucking queen, doesn't make it okay for you to sleep in later than the rest of us!" Ruby boomed as she charged into Kat's room, loudly as usual.

Kat sat up from her desk where she realised she had been leaning against. She rubbed her eyes and scanned the room where her best friend was looking at her, clearly annoyed.

"What were you doing last night?" Ruby asked as Kat glanced down looking a the pitch black covered book in front of her.

"I was looking for a book" Kat replied calmly.
 
Ruby glared at her as if she was deciding whether Kat was lying or not. Exasperated, Kat held up the book and passed it to Ruby and ran up to her bathroom to get changed.

Inside layed out in a perfect fashion was a violet dress with short sleeves with a white velvet collar and a pair of black stockings. Helen had the liberty of choosing Kat's clothes for the day as Kat almost always ended up choosing the clothes she would have worn back at home. It felt alright though as Helen's choice of clothing was far better than Kat's mother's choices as Kat would find herself suffocating under the tight, extremely bland clothes that ended up looking exactly like her mother's.

After she had gotten dressed she raced back to her room where Ruby was lying in Kat's bed completely engrossed in the book she had thrown at her.

"So did you just decided to find this book in the middle of the night?" Ruby looked up from the book.

"I couldn't sleep so I went to the library" Kat shrugged as she reached for her thick, warm coat. Elementian mornings were cold no matter what time of the year it was but as the day dragged on the sun would cast a glaring heat across the kingdom.

Ruby still had a look of confusion on her face. "And you came back once you found the book?"

Kat recalled retrieving the book, she remembered searching through the forbidden files and leaving the vaults to go to the outer section of the library. She tried to remember coming back to her bedroom but there was nothing. It was as if she had grabbed the book and then was somehow in her desk only to be awakened by Ruby.

"I guess.....yeah" Kat replied. She must have been tired so she couldn't remember what happened. "Why do you care anyway?" Kat asked Ruby.

"I was just concerned" Ruby sighed; she stretched her hands and jumped up from the bed. "One of the guards said they saw two figures leaving the palace in the middle of night. The description matched our new besties. Vithros and Sathvira" Ruby said casually.

"If they are gods, can't they just, you know, vanish?" Kat chuckled.

Ruby scowled. "Kat.... you don't believe them right?" She looked concerned as if she was worried that Kat was going crazy.

Because she didn't want to spark a fight or give her friends any more reasons to worry about her, Kat said "No, I just wanted to hear what they had to say. Now come on, I'm starving" Kat forced a laugh and dragged Ruby out of the room.

When Kat and Ruby had arrived to the dining room, Kat couldn't resist the urge to laugh.

The palace was huge and with it, were huge dining rooms fit for nobles. With chandeliers on the ceiling, paintings and mosaics on the walls. Deep velvet cushions on chairs and a beautiful mahogany table stretching forever underneath marble tiles. It was grandeur and with it a lot of responsibility. It was beautifully nevertheless if it weren't for the constant neglect of not being used unless her family wanted to impress someone.

However her friends had other plans. Through a wooden door near the back of the palace kitchens were a series of tables obviously not as grand as the oak one but in a way, just as nice. The windows were open therefore letting sunlight pour into the room. Out of the windows were the rolling hills behind the training fields and the pine forests. It was a lovely sight, especially to eat breakfast at which was why Kat loved it.

Ruby, with Kat trailling behind, strolled into the rooms laughing. It took a while to reach the kitchens as Kat's room was in the upper levels of the palace while the kitchens were at the bottom. But the walk was worth it as she arrived to see her friends laughing their heads off at one of the tables.

Scott was soaking wet and his hair was dripping. She turned her head to the other side of the table where Tyler and Brad where giggling like maniacs.

"YES, THIS IS WHY I'M MARRYING YOU" Brad yelled after kissing Tyler on the cheek.

Tyler laughed as he formed another large drop of water with his hands before flicking it towards Scott soaking him completely once again.

"Fuck you Brad. Are you marrying Tyler just so you can exploit him for being Elementian?" Scott asked, wiping his face with a napkin.

Brad put a hand over his heart and feigned dramatically. "How dare you accuse me of such a thing? Tyler is my lovely accomplice."

"Besides we all know that's not true. Considering I have the powers, I get to be the villain. You can be my glamorous assistant." Tyler chuckled quietly.

"Villain or not; all three of you are going to clean this mess up." Helen walked into the room carrying a mop, broom and a piece of cloth to wipe the wet table.

"Nice one Aquaman" Scott muttered only to get another water droplet flung at him from Tyler.

Kat and Ruby elegantly strode into the room just in time to glimpse the embarrassment on Scott's face as soon as he had registered the dripping water from his hair and the water staining his clothes.