Finding Time

Chapter 11 - Nova Planet Oshir

The sun woke at the dawn of the day. Nova woke up, brushing her hair quickly. She brushed her teeth, and then she hurried into the kitchen where her adoptive mother, Silvia, had waited for her. Silvia had adopted Nova when she was just a baby, left on the castle's front steps. It was from then on that Silvia raised her as her daughter.

Silvia eyed Nova.

"You spent the night reading again my love?"

"Yes mother."

"I got you this job for a reason Nova, because there are prospects in being the Queen's handmaiden. You know that right? The life of the streets of the village is rough. I don't think you would like it there as much as here" said Silvia.

Nova nodded.

She turned on the stove and made two fried eggs, putting them on toast spread with avocado. Chickens and avocados were not native to Planet Oshir, but they had come from the human settlements of long ago.

Nova loved to read the stories about the origins of the human race - how they came from a planet galaxies far away that sent their embryos, those of animals and of plants to survive long in the universe past their extinction. It was those of Earth who had been responsible for the creation of the Sapient Galactic Federation, a group of planets around the galaxy that had shared in resources and in trade.

Yet it conflicted with her job. Her mother was right. She could read about the kingdoms of old in the middle of the night, kingdoms that nobody has heard from again in millenniums, and yet she would still be thrust back into the economic system that keeps many in the peasant class working for the Ashanti Empire.

Smile, Nova told herself. If you act really pleasant, she thought, you may be able to break through the Queen's hard exterior. She may even consider you her ally.

Pouring creamer into Queen Opal's coffee, she grabbed the tray and headed into the Queen's chambers.

There the Queen was still asleep. Her long silver hair clouded her eyes, fraying in several directions.

Begrudgingly, Nova opened the curtains. She knew that Queen Opal would rather her sleep, but she simply could not allow the Queen to rest when his majesty would want her to make her many rounds to the children's orphanage, the food kitchen and to the factories downtown. It was Queen Opal's responsibility to assure to the people of Corina that the Royal Family were ever-concerned for the conditions of those living within the empire and that the Royals were making an effort to improve economic conditions.

Opal slowly opened her eyes.

"Gods. This business again. Why did I ever decide to become Queen?"

"Cause you were in love with his highness and cared about the people of Ashanti, your highness."

"Absolutely not" laughed Opal. "It may not be in my best interest to ruin your reputation of me, but I have little care for this marriage. It was more exciting when I was younger that I could be married to someone so important, so that I could show off to my sisters that I would marry someone with so many connections and have so much power. However, I regret it. I could have easily married a successful merchant that I could have learned to love and easily avoided the responsibilities brought on this marriage."

"Don't you love his highness?" asked Nova. "Hasn't he been kind to you?"

"My dear girl" laughed Opal, "Marriage is little like what you read in fairytales. The King had put in little effort into our lovemaking. He is grumpy all the time and getting older everyday. Often he finds concubines in the village and doesn't even see me. I haven't talked to him truly in years, only in passing."

"That sounds awful" said Nova.

She removed the Queen's nightgown. Queen Opal stood up, her breasts perky and full from her recent pregnancy. Nova put on a bra, then a corset. Finally she brought three gowns for the Queen to try.

"That one" said Opal, pointing to the emerald green dress.

Carefully making sure not to tear any of the fabric while fitting it around to Opal's incredibly large curves, Nova finally succeeded in getting the emerald dress onto the Queen.

Then, standing in front of the Queen's long mirror, she grabbed Opal's hair and twisted it into a tight bun. Then she fastened butterfly pins into the Opal's hair so that it looked as if it glowed with gold.

"There" said Nova, fitting in the last golden butterfly. "You are beautiful."

Opal smiled.

"I knew Silvia was not lying to me when she told me about the skills of her daughter, but I can't help but be incredibly impressed by you. You are attentive, caring and charismatic."

"Thank you my Queen" said Nova.

After attending to the Queen, Nova went out into the hall where she saw the paintings of Monarchs past. She passed by a photograph of them all standing together in a circle posing.There were so many of them, all wearing crowns on their head.

The Queen stopped when she saw Nova staring at the painting.

"What is this?" asked Nova.

The Queen sighed.

"Long ago, before the Ashanti Empire, there was a Galactic Empire. Each monarch couple you see there is representative of a confederation of people throughout this galaxy that lived on multiple planets. There were 12 empires in total, including the Ashanti Empire. Only the leaders gave way to greed. They did not only want to control their planets but control other planets, and it's because of the war that we are in the dark ages. We haven't heard from the other planets in years."

"Maybe they are still out there" said Nova.

"Probably not. Even so, why should we worry about space travel? We are happy here on this planet, so there shouldn't be a reason that we would want to leave a place that is so happy."

Nova nodded, though she was not convinced. She absolutely wanted to visit the other planets. She was not the kind of person who believed easily what other people tell her, but nevertheless she pretended to go along with the rest of her duties throughout the day and make the Queen happy.