by Wolf Golan
“You okay Max?”
Max nodded holding his mouth. He turned and drooped, moaning at the sight of the grand staircase. He then turned to Holt and cracked a gentle smile.
“Thank you for showing me your place of wonder, dear Elf.”
“Remember,” Holden said lifting his finger and staring at Max from the shadow of his hood. “Tell no one.”
“Yes sir,” Max said bowing sarcastically.
Holt whipped his praide and went rolling off down the street. Max turned and started up the stairwell. “Damn, stinking stairs!”
Despite the hard climb, he eventually summited the stairs and made his way into the entrance, trying not to wobble. There was hardly anyone around, but a few Noblewomen in the distance talking to a room.
A Nobleman manned the rectangular table to the left, Max walked up to him. His attention was on a parchment, as he studiously wrote on it.
“Hi,” Max said down to him.
“Good Night to you!” He answered gleefully and then resumed writing.
“Is there another room I can stay in tonight?” Max asked feeling awkward.
The Nobleman raised his head and looked at him for a moment, not knowing what to think.
Just then Max turned and saw Alex walking up from the South stairwell, appearing angry with her arms crossed. She was in her shorts and bedroom slippers as well as her dark yellow t-shirt.
“Ah oh,” Max said barely standing still. “I’m in trouble.”
“What are you asking him?” She asked annoyed.
“Nothing,” Max said slipping his hands in his pocket.
“You’re freakin drunk?!” She snapped.
“Just a little,” he replied.
“Come on!” She gestured him over in anger.
“Yes mam!” He said following her.
She made her way back to the stairs and he slowly followed, looking behind at the Noble as he continued to write. Max thought the walk to the room was awkward, tense.
They reached the bedchambers and entered. Alex kicked off her slippers, slipped into bed, and turned away from him in anger.
“Do me a favor, sleep now!” She said from her back.
“Yes mam!” He saluted.
Max sat down, barely pulled off his boots, and dropped down falling asleep instantly.
###
Max slowly came to and opened his eyes painfully. He felt Alex gone and Max sat up and groaned in pain from a very sore body. He took off his clothes and stepped into the shower. The water splashing against his face felt good, as he rubbed the soap over his sore body.
He opened his eyes and saw Alex's angry eyes peering at him like daggers leaning on the stall.
“JEEZ!” Max jumped, holding his chest.
“I don't appreciate being called a `bitch'!” She replied sternly.
“I'm sorry! Can you wait till I’m done?” Max yelled, shriveled up.
She blinked her eyes in anger and walked away.
Max continued but with great unease.
He finished, dried himself, and put on his clothes, slowly walking out. Alex sat on the chair at the other end and stared at the wall with her arms folded. She had her legs crossed and wagged one in anxiety.
“Hi!” Max said awkwardly. He slowly walked over to his boots and picked them up.
She turned to him angry.
“Max I want to talk about last night.”
“Okay.” He nodded his head and pushed his bangs aside, sitting down.
“First off! You were a prick! You have no right to speak to me like that! Secondly, you are continuing to be a control freak. This is why I left you on Shin Bay! Thirdly, I don't appreciate being called a Bitch. You’re not respecting me!”
“Okay! You win! I'm sorry okay?” Max calmly replied.
She got back into her original posture with her pouty look.
“How do you really feel about me Max?” She sneered, staring at the wall and not at him.
“Well,” he said slipping on his boots. “Frankly, I'm tired of chasing you Alex.”
She turned to him, a little sad this time.
A heavy silence befell the room, as Max put on his last boot.
“Then don’t chase me anymore.” She finally replied.
Max stared at her. “No use chasing a woman across the universe, if she’s just going to choose a primitive over you.”
“Who Prince Cornigan?” Alex yelled in anger. “Nothing happened you brainless Flyboy! I don't even like him!”
Another heavy silence.
“You can't just insult people and expect things to be alright!” Alex said still looking away upset. She got up, stormed past him, yanked open the door and stormed down the hall.
Max sunk his head in utter disappointment, even in a fairytale kingdom, we’re still fighting.
Chapter 16
There were times when Alexandra Parks loved being in a real-life fantasy. Being in a Fairytale Kingdom was living out every little girl’s dream. The type she downloaded and read in Middle School.
Then there were other times it sucked. She was 26 now and not a little girl anymore. The peasantry reminded her of the dire poverty she endured for her first nine years in the ghetto of her Native town, before her mother went to college and her father quit drinking.
She felt a little safer with Max in Chandeera with his high military skill. She thought the safest place in the universe was right by him, but she also loved him.
He fascinated her by his crazy adventures chasing her, his surprises. However, he got too controlling and needy and was simply a jerk at times. She left him on Shin Bay and wanted to start over, but he followed her. She gave him another chance, but was it the right?
He was now practicing swordplay and it made no sense to her.
She shook her head and thought of something else.
Thanks to Jenny's connections, there was the day job of assisting the Baelyin Merchandisers with their accounting, clearing up and organizing their market revenue and supply costs. Underneath it all, Alex's only wanted the ship repaired, so they could go home.
This morning after Max left, Alex thought back on the event that led to their latest fight- the meeting with Prince Cornigan Redoren. She found the Prince handsome, interesting, and charming, but she was loyal to Max and wanted to be with him. However, as Max grew more distant and mean, she began to like Cornigan's company better. But we’re only friends.
Three years ago Alex worked for Konic Corporation and had met Max when their businesses did a joint venture. She had to work with him and he started calling her, coming by, sending flowers. Eventually, they started dating. They had grown so much together Off-World.
Being on a new world never discovered by any major Alien Race was strange, it threw her off. Alex hated being thrown off. She liked things predicable and simple. She was out of her element and it was frustrating.
Alex has been afraid since landing on Chandeera. When the Modas found them, she got frighten of the Tall People, but reluctantly went with them. When they arrived at camp, the Baelyin Knights met them and quickly took them to Yems. She decided to wait for Max.
Alex continued to soak in her thoughts, as she walked out the entrance toward the grand stairwell.
She thought back on the day she met Prince Cornigan.
Alex walked out the side door of the castle the first early morning at Densmere. She cornered a hall and came to the Great Hall, then outside. She decided to take a left down hillside below the castle. She took Max's gun and shouldered it for protection. He had taught her how to use it on Shin Bay.
She descended the hill on the northside and passed a horse stable, then down into a beautiful spruce forest. She walked under the green branches and soon saw a fountain in a clearing between two trees.
When she reached it, she looked into the pond and saw tadpoles. Could they have evolved on this world too? This led to the question she had pondered a couple of times, were the Baeylins from earth? Did they come here from earth?
She heard someone approaching, spun, unshouldered Max's PM-10,and aimed. She had the sights on a handsome young man with short black hair. He smiled at her in a way that relaxed her trigger.
“Who are you?” She asked.
“When you are about to destroy someone you have never even spoke to, you have already made your message clear.” He answered.
“Do all bozos on this planet speak in riddles? What's your deal pal?”
“Royalty and its inescapable entourage,” he pointed to a few men following him. She heard bows stretching from behind her and saw men with bows aiming at her from behind him too. She was surrounded and outnumbered, so she slowly lowered the gun.
“Royalty?” She replied.
“Yes, but you needn’t be concerned about that. You needn’t be concerned at all. You will accompany me today on my forest walk.” He said bowing to her.
“No I'm leaving.” She started towards the castle pass him, but the guards closed her off. She turned to him. “Can you tell your freaks to let me through please!”
He waved them away and they cleared a way, as she walked back to the castle.
On another day, Alex decided to take another walk. She came out the main entrance and Prince Cornigan came up to her with his small band of guards again.
“Alexandra,” Cornigan said.
“It's just Alex.”
“Alex,” he bowed. “Would you accompany me?”
“With my great apologies, I will have to say no.”
She attempted to walk away.
“Okay,” Cornigan was about to walk away when he turned.
“You don't want to see the Enchanted Fountain?”
Alex stopped, folded her arms, and turned with a sunken head.
“I see no matter how far a woman goes in the universe men are the same everywhere.”
Prince Cornigan smiled and held his hand out. She stood hesitant, but he seemed so welcoming and charming, she slowly but gently, reached out and grabbed his hand.
It all started from there.
They went to the Fountain in the clearing below the palace. A Raidin Boy Guitarist sat on the fountain playing for animals, but he vanished as Alex and Cornigan approached.
“His name is Pucco, a Raidin Boy who disappears back into the Netherworld when we approach.” Prince Cornigan explained. “If one is quiet enough, one would get to see him.”
The next day, Cornigan and Alex snuck up and got to watch him play a little more.
Afterward, Alex agreed to go with Prince Cornigan to a couple of his outings and be treated her as the Princess of Densmere. The Creatures and Baeylins would bow before them as they walked into the city, all during the days Max was at the training ground. Was she cheating on him? She debated the question to herself many times but felt otherwise.
Alex started to shy away from Cornigan and wanted to go home.
Her life was on earth with Max.
She remembered the day Prince Cornigan expressed his desire for her to stay. It was their second trip to Pucco’s Fountain. It was a beautiful day in the sunny forest at the Fountain. Cornigan and Alex leaned on the white marbled ledge, when he said:
“I dreamed of you the other night and haven't eaten since. I would like to share my Kingdom with you Alexandra.” Prince Cornigan stared at her intensely.
“You can be the Princess of this world.”
“I want to be friends and only friends.” Alex replied bluntly.
“I want this,” Cornigan tried to kiss her, but she yanked away, got up, and walked away.
She tried to stay away from Cornigan from that time on.
Alex snapped out of the memory, as she leaned on the ledge of Freena's statue and tossed a coin in, wishing for her troubles to end. She got up, brushed herself off, and started down the main street.
I stayed loyal to that jerk and this is the way he treats me, she thought.
Alex's daily routine was taking an evening shower and getting into bed to read another scroll for the merchandiser. They paid her in coins. Alex would buy fabric, make her own clothing at Mrs. Wang’s shop, and sell it too. She had learned to make certain Chandeeran apparels. She also bought bread and basic food commodities to cook in the kitchen once or twice.
After tea with the Wangs and working a little on her fabric, it grew dark, so she started back to the room. Max was not back, so she worked on some accounts and then brushed her teeth and sat on the chair at the far end of the room, knitting a sweater.
The next night around 10 PM Earth time, Max staggered in exhausted.
He took off his armor, sat his sword aside, plopped down on his chair, and kicked off his boots. Alex glanced at him then continued her knitting. He collapsed on the bed with a huge sigh. He picked up a Quick brush gum and threw it in his mouth.
“How is the training going?” She asked still focused on the sweater.
“Good.”
“Good,” she answered, still knitting.
Max fell asleep and Alex got annoyed, she wanted to talk to him. Nevertheless, she finished her net and slipped into bed beside him and fell asleep.
The next day, she awoke to find him gone. She got up, tidied up the bedroom, and went for a jog in the forest. She got back, took a shower, and decided to sunbath.
She put on her tank top, shorts, sunglasses, flipflops, and walked out to the south wall to an open area. She and Jenny previously staked it out. It lied right outside the South Dining Hall. Guards and Nobles were scarce, so it was quiet and peaceful.
Alex got there to find Jenny already sunbathing. Jenny had a brown tank top on, shorts, held a glass of wine, book, and headphones. Alex laughed and shook her head at the sight. Jenny looked up and took off her headphones.
“Oh! Hi!” She said smiling. “Good company!”
“Well, I thought I had first dips on this spot, but guess real estate is hard to come by.” Jenny smiled in return.
Alex dropped a small square gadget by her and a long chair exploded. She lied down on it. “I'm glad you have wine.” Alex said smiling over at her. “I was thinking of going to the Seller.”
Alex slipped on her sunglasses, opened a Galactic Vogue Magazine, and started reading.
Jenny continued relaxing with her sunglasses, enjoying the sun. They both put on their headphones on, relaxing.
Jenny took it off and turned to Alex:
“Alex?”
“Yeah?” Alex replied taking off her headphones.
“I'm curious. You don't seem like a Finance Officer for a mining company.
You're too nice to be corporate, how did you end up there?”
Alex smirked before answering:
“Well, I wanted to see the galaxy and I wasn’t going to do it with non-profit work, so I started my own Feasibility Assessment Company and freelanced, visiting many worlds for different companies, until I got hired at the Interstellar Mining-Inspection Guild. They had claims in most of the Outer Rim worlds I wanted to see, so I left to work for them.”
Alex squinted turning forward, disconcerted. “… I'm questioning it now… it's not my cup of tea. Shin Bay was my second mining job and I wanted to quit.”
“Huh,” Jenny said through her glasses.
Alex smiled and continued reading.
A couple of hours drifted by until they decided to pack up and leave, Alex went back to her room and took a nap.
Later in the evening, Max came home late at night, tired as usual. Alex lied on the bed with her eyes closed, pretending to sleep. She heard him stepping into the shower.
When he got out and started drying his hair with a towel, Alex came up to him in the bathroom, “Max why don't you talk to me?” She stood before him half-asleep.
He wrapped the towel around his waist.
“What do you want to talk about?” He answered.
“Well?” She looked to the side.
“Can I please get dressed first?” He interrupted.
She turned and made a space, He walked by.
/> Max leaned against the bed and Alex started talking about her day and many other things. She could tell Max was attempting to keep his eyes open, but couldn't so she let him sleep, but not without reservations.
The next day they had the same routine, Alex would sit in bed reading a scroll when he got home, and she would put it aside to welcome him. He would reach over and kissed her, then fell asleep immediately.
Alex awoke the next day and saw Max jumping up and down doing warm-ups. She rubbed her eyes and stretched. He grabbed his pants and started pulling them on.
“Practice again?” She asked.
“Yeah,” he said buckling his pants and putting on his shoes. “What's your plan for tonight?”
“Being a Taylor with the Wangs,” she said reaching for a cup of water and drinking it. She got up with a T-shirt and trunks and walked to the bathroom to get her toothbrush.
“Look I got to go, okay?” He said standing up.
“Oh okay,” she said looking at him. “I'll see you, have a good training.”
“Thanks.” He replied. He put his things down, walked over, and kissed her. Alex kissed him back. They parted, and her eyes were still closed as she swooned.
“Okay, I’ll see you later.” He grabbed his things and left.
Later in the afternoon, Alex slowly made her way into Densmere Square. She figured she'd put in hours at the stall, so she manned the Wangs’ stall. Later, Igenor took over and she retreated to the Wang’s residents and had dinner with them.
Afterwards, she decided to check in on the repair, so she ventured into the city and searched the South Section until she found the barn.
She stood in the huge doorway.
A dozen people were all over the ship repairing it, some suspended by ropes attached to bolted rings in the ceiling. The ship sat nestled on a raised platform.
Alex looked for Dallas and J.T. and spotted Dallas' blue wranglers and black boots, sticking out from under the ship door. J.T. on the other hand, stood away from the ship speaking to a Blacksmith and going over schematics.
J.T. saw Alex at the door, finished up his talk, ran down, and threw his gloves aside. He came up to her smiling and panting.