“Rosalina...what did you do now? Are you still angry about not being chosen as Sasha's lady-in-waiting?” The memory of the innocent, baby faced girl, pleading with Countess Liana to be allowed to become a lady-in-waiting, but being denied because of her history of dishonesty. The woman was a vulture, acting kind to whomever she met, but gossiping and stabbing them in the back at the first opportunity; a perfect traditionalist noble.
“I didn't do anything besides spread what I'd already heard!” Rosalina shouted, hatred filling her every word.
“So it's not because of...” Vickie whispered, Tiana guessing she thought herself responsible.
“Ma'am?” The battleguard restraining Vickie looked to her companion, who was listening carefully to the conversation.
“Ladies,” she held up her hands, “I see there is something beyond my pay grade going on here...but let me remind you, any fighting outside the arenas is strictly forbidden...do I make myself clear?” There was no room for debate. Tiana nodded, followed by a reluctant Vickie, who was then released. Rosalina looked at their faces in turn, fear now evident in her eyes.
“Can I leave now?” she asked, edging closer to the door.
“Yes...but please, Rosalina...do not keep spreading these hurtful rumors. I'm more forgiving then most...but if Sir Seb'Losh or Sir Trent find out you're responsible for these detestable rumors about Grand Duchess Sasha Alutia,” she explained, raising her voice to drive home the point, “then you may have wished that Vickie did, indeed, knock you senseless.” Rosalina’s eyes went wide as she nodded vigorously; exiting the changing room with her two terrified friends in haste.
“Thank you, Tiana...I had thought...” Vickie seemed shaken.
“I would have thought that too...and it may be part of the reason,” Tiana allowed a hint of playfulness to return to her voice. “So remember that, next time you try to steal someone's boyfriend!” she scolded halfheartedly, the normal fire returning to Vickie’s gaze.
“But I still haven't had a chance to steal yours....my sweet Tiana,” she felt her jaw fall agape at the thought, trying to ignore Vickie's snickering.
“Ladies...if you don't mind, we were actually planning on going another round and were wondering if you'd like to join us?” the battleguard who Vickie had taken down asked politely, seeing that the tension had cleared.
“I'd love too. I'm guessing you would like me to teach you that little trick? If so...I will require...payment...” Vickie licked her lips as the two battleguard's looked at each other, their eyes skeptical, but still nodded in agreement. Tiana sighed, knowing they would probably regret it later, and followed the three ladies back into the battle arena.
Chapter 3
Brilliant emerald green swirls weaved through the vibrant violets and muted reds of Alutia'Earth's alien surface, making it look like a beautiful marble gem floating in the speckled darkness of space. Trent fought to take it all in, silently, like Sasha who stood nobly beside him. But he found himself fidgeting, unable to fully contain the anticipation growing within at the sight of an alien planet rising before him for the very first time. A planet that he could only think a home of dreams, of hopes, of a future, months before, never imagined. Sasha pushed closer, sensing his cresting anxiety, gently rubbing his back to help calm his nerves. He glanced thankfully into her eyes, shining brighter even then Alutia’Earth in the darkness of space, full of concern and caring, while her tender smile showed nothing but her unquestionable love.
“We will be landing in 10 minutes, Your Grace. The royal biological architectural core has constructed a temporary landing pad on lower level palace annex 32. Heavy traffic has been reported in the area, so it may be prudent for you and Sir Trent to return to your seats,” Knight Captain Eru explained from the elevated captain's chair, just to the left of where they stood.
“Of course, Knight Captain, we would not want to be in your way during landing operations,” Sasha responded politely, as always. They exited the bridge, finding their way back to the passenger compartment on the NHA Shuttle ABF Xelifis.
The Xelifis, as he’d learned during his studies, was a standard NHA Emperor Class shuttle, standing 50 meters long by 25 meters high and wide, with a noble passenger capacity of 100, not including crew and servants. In the first of the four passenger compartments, with Sasha's entourage, sat the assorted Tidelia nobles who had accompanied them onboard the NHA Super-Capital ABF Alutia, whispering with excitement born of greeting a new planet. The noble seating was setup similarly to the executive sections of the mass transport systems of Earth, with pairs of oversized seats lined in rows on either side of a wide aisle, with plenty of space reserved for stretching your legs. At the rear of the section, behind the nobility, could be found the standard seating area that Trent had been much more familiar with during his life on Earth, being small and uncomfortable, reserved for servants and any other non-noble passengers. The other three sections of the passenger compartment were setup similarly, but now only occupied with ABF Battleguards, reactive combat armor at the ready. They had been assigned as temporary replacements for the majority of the Alutia Guard, Sasha's protectors, whose numbers had dwindled quite drastically of late.
“How much longer, Sasha?” Vickie questioned through the murmurs and laughter of the other nobles. Trent couldn't help but smile as he took his seat beside Sasha, knowing that something had changed with her ladies after the strange ceremony with the hairclips.
Vickie, who always seemed the naughty older sister, had suddenly became motherly, spending the last few days of the journey in the constant company of Regalia and Tiana, abandoning her nightly conquests of the crew. Tiana, who still teased Sasha incessantly, beamed whenever her eyes caught his, all signs of the disgust that were previously present, washed away. Trent was even willing to go as far as saying she held genuine affection for him; he shook his head at the thought. Regalia, the ever serious, had started to smile, all the time, and began to remind him of a normal 10 year old girl, not the 50 year old woman she seemed to act before.
“Ten minutes...till we reach our new home,” Sasha responded to Vickie, her words masking a trace of sadness. He squeezed her hand in concern. She looked him in the eye, surprise evident in her own, then suddenly seemed to realize her tone, sighing deeply. “After everything that happened, this all still feels like a dream.” she explained, her gaze drawn to the viewport projected on the wall of the windowless shuttle, displaying the fading stars. “And when I think of home, Tidelia appears, not Alutia'Earth.” She turned back to Trent, then past him.
“Tidelia will always be your home, my dearest Sasha. But as time passes, and you create your own family, form new memories, Alutia'Earth will appear when you think of home...and Tidelia will eventually be forgotten,” Countess Liana told from her seat across the aisle, a tinge of melancholy creeping into her words.
“Liana! I'll never forget about Tidelia!” Sasha shouted in response, causing many of the surrounding whispers to fall silent.
“You think that now, dearest, but in the end, we all do...” Countess Liana's voice trailed off as she turned back to her daughter, Tiana, who dabbed a tear out of her mother's eye. Trent turned to Sasha, whose face couldn't mask her own disquiet.
“It's alright, my love. Tidelia will always be your home...as will Alutia'Earth, and any other place we might live together during our lives.” He fought with the words, hoping they didn't sound hollow. She stared at him for a moment before the tension in her eyes eased. She turned forward, releasing his gaze, and let her head fall upon his shoulder, letting escape another sigh.
“You are right, my duke, plus I have you...” Her weary words trailed off, her eyes slowly falling shut.
A few shudders, plus a rainbow of colorful plasma erupting around the viewport, told him they had entered the upper atmosphere. He watched as the curve of the planet appeared, then gradually started to flatten, the landscape becoming visible in the distance horizon. He gently shook Sasha, who moaned a complaint of being
interrupted while snuggling deeper into his side.
“The surface is coming into view, my love,” he whispered into her perfectly shaped ear. Her head shot up and almost caught the side of his.
“Sorry,” she whispered without remorse before they peered out the viewport together, and took in the wonders of Alutia'Earth, their new home.
The large areas of swirling emerald greens he'd assumed to be dense pockets of vegetation, were actually seas and oceans, with rolling waves covering their vast surfaces. The purple, red, and orange hues, which he suspected to be mountainous regions, appeared to be the native vegetation and plant life, growing sparsely on the shores of the immense oceans, then thickening into dense jungles as they spread further inland to vanish over the distant horizon.
His breath caught as an orange moon, barely visible through the bright, slightly bluish-green sky, slowly rose over the same horizon, appearing to be born from the unusually colored forest. The moon’s speckled surface of blacks and grays, blurred mysteriously with its orange glow, made him think it an abstract painting from Earth. The thought tumbled deeper, calling forth images of his destroyed childhood home, which he quickly suppressed, the despair that always accompanied such memories threatening to sullen his mood.
As they continued their decent, Trent glimpsed a sign of native life. A flat, undulating, purple and red bodied bird flew in a way that was definitely unnatural. He couldn't make out the size at first, but it soon became apparent it was quite massive.
“Look...it split...” Sasha whispered, having followed his gaze. Trent observed with fascination as the bird undulated wildly, then split into two, then three, then four. Realization struck him like a laser bolt. The massive bird was actually made up of millions of tiny, flat, roundish birds flying in a flock.
“Amazing,” he whispered, wondering if it was some sort of defense mechanism meant to scare off predators. As the flock fell out of sight, he sent a request to the shuttle’s BAP for a list of species native to Alutia'Earth, his curiosity running wild, and was greeted by the annoying beep that always accompanied a request that could not be fulfilled.
“Is there not a list of wildlife for this planet?” Trent asked, the excitement of moments before threatening to wane. Sasha turned away from the viewport, her eyes going distant and face tensing, a sign of her being “node locked”.
“There is...but it's incomplete and restricted,” an evil grin crossed her lips. “I may even let you see it...after we are married, of course,” Trent laughed, pinning her to the side of the compartment with his body, wrapping his arms around her so she couldn't escape.
“I thought we were already married,” he whispered in a way that he knew would get her riled. A noticeable shiver flowed over her flesh like a wave, leaving goosebumps in its wake. But she kept her composure.
“Of convenience, my duke...not elevation...” Sasha's stuttered response showed that she hadn't kept all her composure. Trent smiled, grinning mischievously while he went on the attack, nibbling her ear, then kissing her check.
“Trent...not now,” she giggled, feigning resistance. He kissed her one last time, then reluctantly released her, knowing she was right, but left his arm draped over her shoulder all the same.
“What's the difference between convenience and elevation?” he asked, his mind returning to the issue at hand, having little idea of what she was referring.
Sasha took a few deep breaths, curiously reluctant. “Convenience is the most common type of marriage between ruling and non-ruling nobles, my duke. Basically, it restricts all authority of the marriage partner...an unequal union,” she paused when she noticed what must have been his baffled expression, pursing her lips in thought, before her eyes flashed. “Regalia's family is a perfect example. In a marriage of convenience, the non-ruling noble, like Regalia's mother, does not inherit in case of death and the son or daughter does not become the official heir until the age of 26. Unless, the ruling parent has no immediate relatives in succession,” she stared at Trent, asking if he understood with her eyes.
“Seems awfully confusing and I don't really see the point,” Trent rubbed his jaw, trying to wrap his head around the foreign concept.
“Well, it is actually quite simple, my duke. You have firsthand experience with seedy nobles,” Trent nodded, pointing at Sasha with a smile full of delight. She slapped his hand away, feigning hurt. “If you mean lovely and honest nobles, then yes, I am one. But seriously, Trent...nobles would do anything to get their hands on a claim. So to keep marriages from ending suddenly in the death of the ruling partner, which happened quite often if the history lessons are to be believed, almost all political marriages are of convenience,” Trent nodded, thinking he understood.
It was simple, the majority of nobles, as he'd grown to suspect, were pompous and power hungry. So it was no surprise that protections were in place to guard against abuse of the marriage system. Another thought appeared into his mind, causing a smirk of relief to pass over his lips. Sasha must have caught the change in his mood and nudged him lightly with her elbow.
“I will support all your decisions and do anything in my power to assist you in ruling “your” duchy....my love.” A wave of relief followed alongside Trent’s words. Not from the fact that he now understood how the NHA handled marriage, but because his major fear was ruling at Sasha's side and making a fatal mistake due to his ignorance.
“Oh...it is our duchy, my duke. We may be in a marriage of convenience now, but the official ceremony will be one of elevation.” Sasha turned back to the viewport as she responded, making him unable to see the expression on her face. But he thought he caught a hint of humor in her voice. He exhaled deeply, wishing the Eye of the Emperor worked on Sasha.
The shuttle continued its descent and the tallest of the vegetation started to come into view; they’re huge, he realized. What he could only speculate passed as trees on this planet, stood hundreds of meters tall, with smooth, clear trunks speckled with different shades of purples, reds, and oranges. At their peaks grew a single gigantic leaf, unusually prismatic, extending from a narrow branch to sway gently in the wind. The sight made the forest look alive, like tiny waves rippled across its peak. The single leaf branches continued down the trunks, but grew smaller as they approached the ground, as if the trees were shaped like upside-down triangles. He couldn't tell if they ran all the way to the surface, since the trees were so densely packed that the ground appeared hidden from view.
“Do you think anything grows on the ground?” Trent whispered to no one in particular, but since Sasha's head was so close, she must have thought it aimed at her.
“Yes, actually, the initial studies showed that almost all the plant life is symbiotic. Those leaves are particularly transparent, and the ground is almost as bright as the tree tops...or so I have been told,” Sasha seemed amazed by her own words. Trent nodded, amazed as well, concentrating fully on the forest as they slowly broke through a gap in its canopy. Though the light did dim slightly, he found it almost as bright, but with a multicolored hue of purple, red, and orange.
The flat, undulating birds that he had seen earlier littered the tree tops, seeming to nest in the upper branches. Other native animals and critters of various sizes started coming into view, scurrying around the enormous trunks, too nimble for him to clearly observe. Occasionally, he witnessed a blur fly or float between the leaves, then vanish, the coloring of the creature providing perfect camouflage. He caught a glimpse of a peculiar, ball-like animal that tumbled down the side of one of the trunks, appearing to have numerous suction cups, or its biological equivalent, covering its body.
“Trent, look!” Sasha pointed excitedly. He followed her gaze to a large, but almost completely transparent animal, that was flat, with a dark green strip down its back, and hundreds of little legs extending from the edge of a body shaped similar to the manta rays of Earth. Without warning, it jetted across a giant leaf, catching one of the ball-like animals unaware. When it moved again, the anim
al was gone.
“The mouths must be on the bottom,” he whispered in awe, Sasha only nodding in response.
As they slowed for their landing, Trent continued to discover numerous native bird and animal species, and he’d come to fully realize that this world, his new home, was alien; very alien. All the animals appeared to be either flat or spherically shaped, the majority being flat, while most seemed to be herbivores, sucking nutrients from the trunks of the trees, leaving tiny holes in their wakes. Some, like the manta ray-like animal they witnessed earlier, were obviously carnivores, scurrying around the trunks at lightning speed, hunting the slow and weak.
The whispering voices surrounding them rose to a clatter as the shuttle vibrated, informing the passengers that they had landed.
“Stay in your seats,” Sir Seb'Losh instructed sternly while rushing down the aisle, Alutia Guard Commander Usa’Pol at his side. A few minutes passed in silent anticipation, before the impatient nobles again started to whisper, wondering why they were being made to wait. Trent, however, was quite certain he knew why. The same reason they were accompanied by a platoon of combat armored ABF Battleguards, with a full battalion circling overhead in assault shuttles; Duke Zehman.
The Duke of Hulk'Zif had discovered this planet, and from all reports, had appointed the administrators and guards who were responsible for overseeing the initial survey and planning the construction. This had been of great concern, but from what Sasha explained, the biological architects responsible for growing the colony buildings were appointed by the crown, having arrived only a few periods prior. So the problem would be separating out those who supported their enemy, from those who just happened to be unlucky enough to find themselves assigned to Alutia'Earth. He smiled to himself without joy, already prepared for what was to come next.
“My Duke, what is-,”
The Noble Petty, Complete Edition (Alutia Rising Series, Book 2) Page 10