Butterflies

Chapter 28 - Calypso Wave

Chapter 28 - Calypso Wave

At breakfast she ate the same amount as she had the day before and soon it was just Nanuq and Olivia alone. Olivia inwardly sighed. She had a feeling today wasn't going to be as fun as the day before. At least she had remembered his name.

"I thought I'd show you my skills today. We'll start with archery, then swimming, then fencing and then lunch." He said making Olivia's heart sink even further. All that before lunch, she thought. This was going to be a long, painful day... "We continue with a few surprises and then a quick tour of Aqvenuo."

The archery was set up in a huge field full of targets. One of the people from the stables was holding a synth for Nanuq whilst he practiced on a few targets, and Olivia was feeling very annoyed and irritated. "That's perfect!" he said after trying nineteen bows. "Now for the arrows..." Olivia was getting very impatient so glanced over the arrows. She registered what the best to go with the bow was going to be and walked over to stand next to Nanuq.

"I think you should choose those ones. That's what I would do. Try it." As soon as she finished talking she waited three seconds. When he made no move to do as she had said and completely ignored her, she grabbed a bow and one of the arrows and shot an arrow straight at its target. "Try it." she said more firmly. She turned around and sat back down as she waited. After lots of 'mmm' and 'what about...' he finally gave up and tried a single arrow. It hit its target, slightly off, but it still hit it. He mounted the synth and the person holding it walked back in the direction of the stables. When he finally gave up at trying to get a reaction to his average shots from Olivia, they rode and walked back to the stables. Leaving the synth there, Olivia followed Nanuq to the lake by the northern part of the castle walls.

"And now you're going to spend just as long swimming, aren't you?" she said, not bothering to hide her boredom. Nanuq look upset for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders.

"You don't like swimming? Or archery?" he waited a moment for an answer so she shook her head. "You probably don't like fencing either. How about we go to lunch early and spend longer on the tour at the end of the day?"

"That sounds like a great idea." She smiled gratefully and turned away to go as he muttered something about not being able to come to lunch, so she asked for her lunch to be brought up to her room.

She sat on her bed and thought about what her options were - no matter how much the Queens said they would accept any King, she knew they wouldn't really. A knock sounded on the door so she got up and opened it. Stood in the doorway was Cecilio.

"Hello Cecilio," she said. He didn't say anything, but just stood there for a second. "Here for the view?"

He shook his head. "Not at all. Here." He passed her the lunch and she set it down on a table. "I got promoted to errand-er! Ella wanted me to tell you that a new council will need to be chosen and the Council will want an answer soon after the King is chosen. She said you just need to 'start thinking about it'? Something like that. Bye." He Travelled and Olivia closed the door, wondering why his speech had sounded weird and disjointed.

She thought for a moment as she sat to eat her lunch, and then the pieces of the puzzle in her head fitted together. That was exactly how she would do it, she thought. She would get whoever didn't become King, to become part of her Council. That would mean she would have to deal with Nanuq because he wasn't going to be King any time soon, but she could manage for the peace of Earth. The two remaining from the two other planets of three - two; plus Gareth and Jarod was four; then Melissa, Rita and Cheryl - seven; Ella, Cecilio and Clarissa - ten. She still needed eight more. Finishing her lunch, Olivia left for the stairs. At the bottom of the staircase, Nanuq was already waiting. She was late.