(Hiatus) Sword of Ideals

Chapter Four

They said even the shadows quivered before her. Not in fear, of course, but admiration. Totally. Why else would the people in the castle hide before her eyes?

She stood tall and walked purposefully, making all jealous of her majesty. She was strict but also cared for all those under her. Mother Esmerelda was a striking woman. It was no wonder that she raised the Muse of the next King.

"Good morning, Lady Aisling," she said in her stiff voice.

"Hello there, Mother Esmerelda," she sang back like some odd disney princess.

"I pray I find you well."

"Hmm... yes, very," Aisling said, playing with her hair.

"How can you be!? Your hair's a mess! Please Aisling. Now that the King's gone and you'll be the front in the castle for now, please just look decent."

"I know... I'm going to do that now."

"Good. Now how's that architecture project going?"

"The new armoury is looking good so far. I'm trying to reschedule the stained glass though. We're not ready yet," she said.

"Very well then. I won't keep you," Mother Esmerelda bowed before continuing to walk in the opposite direction as Aisling.

"Peckscilla, help me out here," Aisling said, putting a few papers in the bird's bag. She cooed softly.

"Thanks!"

The pair walked down to the north hall, which was blocked out by yellow construction tape. They ducked under it, and pushed open the door at the end of the hall. They were greeted by a grand skeleton of a rppm, with wooden beams exposed. The floor and some of the walls had been filled with bricks, but most were empty. On the floor some blueprints were pinned down with rocks to stop them flying off in the wind.
"Alright," she said, trailing off, "we gotta look at these more thoroughly."

Peckscilla dropped her messenger bag on the floor, right next to the papers.

"Right, right. We gotta get this done before everything gets crazy, you know?"

"Coo."

"Exactly. And after this, we got a meeting about... um... strategies. And something about reputation? No, Public Relation, right. Posters, posters, movie sponsors? More posters. Good PR leads to success... successful plans."

She took out the pen and scribbled something across her notepad. She put down another note on the blueprint, and beckoned the pidove to follow her.

"Come on, Peckscilla. After this we can call him, okay?"

Peckscilla sang a little song, before gliding after her.

~ + :. ------------------- .: + ~

After a rather boring meeting, it was getting dark. The stars cast the halls in an interesting colour, almost as if it was from an old movie. Younger members ran around the hall, holding their skirts so they wouldn't trip, as the senior plasma grunts tried to calm them down and into their rooms. A few waved to Aisling as she walked back to her room, but she didn't appear to notice. Peckscilla, on the other hand, appeared to love all the attention, swooping and chirping at all the snacks she was given.

Aisling dramatically threw open the doors to her room before flopping on her bed. It had been a long day. She pushed herself back up, fixed her hair, made sure Peckscilla was in the room, then closed the door.

Her room was rather bare. The walls were painted dark, while all the furniture were white. Her closet and dresser were in a corner opposite her bed, and her bed was an oval shape with many pillows piled around the centre. Surrounding the bed were cascades of blue curtains embroidered with a golden thread.

Aisling then sat herself down in a small chair, and the small pidove joined her. Perching on her shoulder, Peckscilla peered down at the device in Aisling's hands. It was an X-Transceiver. She kept flipping through her contacts then going back to the home screen.

"It won't be long now, Pecks," she said, "He'll call soon."

Peckscilla didn't seem to care.

The phone then rang, playing some oddly religious organ music, and displayed a photo of a green haired man and a zorua. Aisling quickly pressed the 'answer' button. The screen filled up with the image of both N and Aisling.

"Hi N!" she chirped.

"Hey Ai, hi Peckscilla!" he said.

Peckscilla chirped happily.

N laughed, "Yeah Peckscilla, I'm happy to see you too. Well, how's life?"

"It's good, good. Tiring, but good."

"Good."

"Yeah."

"Well I met some people today, sadly. Pokemon trainers. Their Pokemon seemed to like them though..."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. Oh right! Got you a souvenir. Should probably come tomorrow, so look out for that, okay?"

"Will do!" Aisling said, making a peace sign with her hands, "I better head out now... so goodnight! See you!"

"Okay, bye guys!"

The X-Transceiver clicked off, and Aisling flopped back on the bed with a sigh.

"What even is life anymore, Pecks?"

(806 words)