Stories Around Xelha

Posted here will shorts of random, everyday Xelhans who may or may not be affected by the world around them.  Looks at Umbral and Esdragon......

What A Difference An Expresso Can Make.

The sun had not yet peeked over the horizon, though its faint rays could be seen starting to dispell the darkness in Eastern skies.  The Thora suburb was still and quiet, aside from one brick house at the end of Pictou Avenue.  Emerging from the house was Mina Oerstead, her hair still slightly disheveled, wearing a black skirt and flats and a white blouse.  She stifled a yawn as she clicked her car to unlock, causing it to beep once and flash its lights.

Her car was a small blue sedan which she had brought earlier that year when she moved out from her homestead.  She opened the door and plopped down in the drivers seat before engaging the ignition.  She rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock when the engine turned over to see just after 5am.  "I've got time for a coffee," she grunted as she sat up in her seat and buckled in.  As she drove off, she was regretting staying up late the previous night.  Her friends didn't need to wake up for a few more hours and as she pulled out of the driveway, the only thing lighting the street was her car's headlights and the street lamps, though they were turning off as the bands of reds and yellows pushed the purple and black out of the night sky.

"I could probably do this commute in my sleep," she mused, "though my parents and driving instructor would be mortified if they knew I took a nap at the wheel.  Not to mention Red Rock doesn't cover my damage for falling asleep at the wheel.  Their 'not an accident clause'... though it was a great deal cheaper to take it than to get full coverage from XF and M, and they still do cover damages to other people.  Not that anyone else is on the road right now..."  She put on her indicator to turn right into the Knight's Koffee Drive Thru.

"Good Morning Knight's Koffee," the greeting was interrupted by a yawn.  "What would you like to order?"

"You sound almost as bad as me, but I need an Expresso ***Triple, Triple."

"Will that be all?"

"That's all."

"Alright, that will be two Lumis.  You can pay at the window when you get your expresso."

Mina followed the bend around to the drive thru window.  A young woman opened the window, her uniform was freshly pressed, but her eyes and face seemed to droop a bit.  "That'll be two Lumis."

Mina handed over a Two Lumi bill, which the woman took a minute to process before handing over the cup of expresso.  As she did, a breeze came through, and pages fluttering could be heard, resulting in an audible sigh from the cashier before she caught herself, "Thank you for your patronage."

"Stay here long enough and you'll see me regularly," Mina chuckled before pulling away.  Though there was almost traffic on the road yet, she stopped at the intersection and took a sip of her expresso.  "Not bad, the poor college student has probably been practicing all night drinking the stuff to stay awake while studying.  Though she was probably at the tail end of the energy boost and probably getting ready for a shift change to go home."  She continued down the road, slowly sipping on her hot beverage as she finished driving to work.  Slowly, ever so slowly she felt the warm, liquid elixir slowly bringing life to her mind and soul.

At about 545, she had reached her destination, XBS Thora.  After putting the car in park and disengaging the engine she pulled down her sunshade which had a mirror tucked underneath that she used to reapply some lipstick and brush back her hair.  After puckering up and having a giggle, she packed it all away, grabbed her purse and got out of her car far more gingerly than she got in.  She stretched and quickly crossed the five marked parking bays and entered the building, drinking the last dregs of her expresso.  Her editor passed her some bullets as she made her way to the desk which until about a week ago she shared with Kara Salo.  Kara had retired and they had not yet promoted anyone else to the Early Morning News so she had it all to herself, at least for another week or so.  She rested her now almost empty cup next to the bulletins given to her and her make up artist came to touch up her cosmetics so that her face didn't glare with the studio lighting.

"Who ever invented Expresso should get a medal, because I don't think I'd be able to do my job without one," she told her make up artists as she got a touch up before the cameras started rolling.

The make up artist laughed.  "Is that your trade secret?  I'll have to try it for winter when we're here and its still dark outside."

"Ok, you're on in thirty seconds!" one of the camera crew yelled out and interrupting the conversation before counting her down into being on air.  Mina quickly shuffled her papers and made sure her shirt was straight.

"Good Morning Thora, this is your host Mina Oerstead coming from Studio 1A in Thora with your morning news, weather and traffic!" she beamed as the cameras came on and the "on Air" sign lit up.


*** Translator Notes: Numerical adjectives that follow drinks imply the number of sugars and milk respectively.  A triple triple means 3 sugars and 3 milks.  A quadra, double would mean 4 sugars and 2 milks.

It had been a cold day as Leona sat at the kitchen table looking outside at the people scurrying hither and yonder below. Most wrapped in coats , tightening their scarves as they made the short dash between the clinic and their cars. She had made herself a cup of hot lemon honey tea and was sipping on it to combat her sore throat. Next to her lie her Immunology Textbook and a notepad scrawled with notes on one side and her own hand drawn diagrams on the other. A grey pencil lay in the center of the book, next to a box of coloured pencils and a fine point red pen. Her blue pen was in her hand, top on, creating imaginary doodles of what she saw outside.

The door flew open with a bang, nearly causing her to spill her tea and drop her pen.

"Leo!" a woman of pale complexion and long, flowing red hair cheered her name in a singsong voice. "Just the woman we were looking for!"

Leona groaned as she put her tea cup down and two others filed in behind the redhaired woman. The redhaired one was named Charlie. One was a much taller brunette they called Jessie and the other was a blonde they called Georgie. The group were all roommates living in the apartment, splitting the costs while in school to allow them to have a bit more spending money and not completely cut corners on things like nights out. Not that Leona had many of those. She had taken up Nursing and had started to down in notes and deadlines. Charlie was a chemical engineer major, though she didn't take studying nearly as important as the rest of them, and preferred nights out to nights in. Jessie, actual named Jessica, was taking up finance. She was probably the quietest of the three who just walked in, meekly surrendering to whatever whims the other two had in store for her. How she ever thought she'd make out in business was beyond Leona, but to each their own. The final roomie was Georgie, actual name Georgina, who had taken up Computer Science. She had been christened apartment mother due to being often times the one who kept order in apartment. The three had all decided to shorten their names to male versions for times they may have been in trouble, they could call each other and it sounded like they were talking to boys instead of another girl. Not that any of them were overly concerned, but Peruna had had its fair share of missing university students over the years. Not to mention the creepy old men at the bars who thought they were still young.

"Leo! We're making a cake, so you're going to pack up your books for thirty minutes and help out," Georgie demanded as she shut Leona's book. Leona sighed and looked at Georgie who wore a smug grin on her face. "You've been studying all day and need a break. And since we're not going out, you're going to help us make a cake."

"Do you even know how to bake a cake?" Leona asked.

"Nope! That's why we're drafting you in to help us!" Charlie chimed in as she went around behind Leona. "Besides we know you didn't get these from eating angel foods," she added as she reached around and groped Leona.

Leona clamped her arms down on Charlie's hands, yanking Charlie towards her so she got the full effect of the ear piercing scream in her left ear. Once the scream had been delivered, she released Charlie's hands and let her stagger backwards a few steps before picking up her tea cup. "Do you even have all the ingredients for a cake?"

Georgie nodded and showed her the recipe they had found on Gelgoogle Search. Leona put down her cup and looked over the recipe. It was a plain cake, a little lacking in ingredients to be a pound cake, but a bit heavier than angel cake. Leona returned the phone back to Georgie and started clearing the table. "I'll pack up, get everything ready and we'll see how good you are at baking when I get back."

"Ok," the others answered almost in complete unison. Leona left the room and rubbed her forehead as she moved her books to her room. What had she just agreed to? Aside from Georgie, the other two couldn't be trusted to make rice in a pot without burning it. She sighed again, this will either be a really good experience or a really bad experience. She was hoping for the former, but preparing for the latter and she took a paracetamol and drank some water she had resting on her nightstand next to the bed. Mmmm, that felt a bit better. She left the room and headed back towards the kitchen.

To her pleasant surprise they had gathered all the ingredients next to a mixing bowl and had a wooden spoon ready to go. Charlie had designated herself the mixer and had the spoon in hand, while Georgie and Jessie were preparing to put all the ingredients together and measure them. Everything went smooth, except for the cracking of the eggs and the addition of the flour. As they were cracking the eggs, they wound up putting half the shell in the mixing bowl and had to fish out the pieces. Though somewhat clumsy about it, Leona couldn't help but chuckle a bit at them and remembered her first egg, which she had the misfortune of trying to mimic her mother and crack it on the side of the bowl instead of using a knife. Promptly spilling the bowl contents on the floor. She showed them how to use the bowl's edge to crack the egg and they applauded at the skill and not even losing a single shell fragment into the bowl. The addition of flour brought with it the infamous cloud. Jessie had tried pouring it into the measuring cup and it came out in a bunch, with some portion missing the cup completely and the rest creating a thin cloud of flour. Leona showed Jessie that the bag curved into a funnel and made it easier to pour. She was then going to say put it in bits to the mix, but before she could Georgie had grabbed the cup and dumped the whole thing in on Charlie, who coughed through the resulting cloud as did the rest of them. Charlie also complained she was unable to mix it without furthering the mess. Leona took the spoon and did quarter turns, then half turns, then a slow full turn, slowly, ever so slowly, mixing the flour into the batter. Soon enough was mixed in that she was able to hand it back to Charlie to finish stirring it all in.

The mix went into the cake pan and then popped in the oven. Leona sneezed a few times from the remaining flour in the air as the others began to wash up the dishes. "What do you think it'll taste like?" You think it'll taste good? I bet you it'll be almost as good as Leo's!" "We can open our own shop and make more money!"

"Whoa, whoa, lets not get too far ahead of ourselves," Leona said after getting some tissue to blow her nose. "Do you have any icing?"

"Uhm...."

Leona shook her head and pulled out her phone, "You guys are hopeless. Here use this," she added with a chuckle.

"A recipe for icing!" Charlie shrieked, nearly repaying back the favour from Leona earlier as she hugged her roommate.

"Yes, icing sugar is on my shelf in the cupboard and you can use the baking cocoa," she said as she tried to stop the ringing in her ears.

The trio gingerly retrieved the additional ingredients from Leona's cupboard. This time lessons learned from the flour were not repeated with the icing sugar, though to Jessie's credit, she scooped it out with a spoon into the measuring cup. Charlie once again mixed it and then offered everyone a taste. "Pretty good," Leona admitted.

"Hells yeah! It has Leo approval gals, we're on our way!" Charlie cheered as she highfived the other two. Just then the timer went off for the oven and they took it out. It was a nice golden, yellow look to it but Leona produced a knife.

"What's that for? You're cutting it already? While it's still hot?" Charlie asked

"No, silly, you stick a knife in the center to make sure its cooked." She jabbed the knife in the center of the cake and then slowly withdrew it, "The more cooked it is, the less liquid the knife comes out with. If for instance you put the oven too high, the top cooks like a shell and the inside is still liquid." Leona noticed the others intently watching as she paused a moment. "You guys can breath still you know."

"But the suspense is killing us!" Charlie added.

Leona grinned and pulled the knife up a little more, some crumbs were sticking to the blade, but no liquid. A collective sigh was heard as the knife fully emerged, with almost nothing on it. "Congratulations, your cake is fully cooked. Now put on the icing and we can consider it done."

Georgie needed no further invitation and had the icing in a flash with another knife to spread it across the cake. Leona set about making another cup of tea while they did that. Chuckling to herself as they debated on how much icing was too much icing and attempting to spread it out evenly. As she was about to sit down at the table with her newly heated cup of tea, a small plate landed next to her with a fork. "It's only proper that you get the first slice for helping us out," Georgie grinned.

Leona looked at Georgie and then back to the plate. It certainly looked and smelled lovely. The other two gathered around as she put her tea cup down and grabbed the saucer and drew it near to her. They all once again seemed to stop breathing as she took a piece and put it in her mouth and started chewing. She wanted to remind them to breath but remembered she couldn't with the cake in her mouth and simply decided to swallow it without further commentary.

"Well? How was it?" Charlie asked as Leona put the plate back down on the table and picked back up her tea cup.

"Pretty good," she responded after taking a sip of her tea. "A little dry, but that's probably for us overcompensating on that flour storm we had."

"WOOO!!" Charlie cheered. "We're bakers now! We should do this every weekend!"

Leona choked on her tea at the suggestion. However the choking turned to laughter with the rest of the group. Maybe once a week wouldn't be so bad, after all, she was stuck with these people for the rest of the year and might as well have fun with them instead of isolating herself. Afterall, isn't that what university is for? Meeting and enjoying the company of different people? "Sure," Leona wheezed at the end of it all. "Once a week we can have apartment baking. By the time exams roll around we'll be able to make our own comfort foods." The women all laughed as they all part took in a slice of cake and tea

Aron Snow leaned back in his seat as the subway pulled out of the Melita Street station.  He tried focusing on the ceiling as he tried to fight the nauseous feeling in the pit of his stomach, but it simply would not go away.  He had been feeling this way since he had left his house and it hadn't subsided.  What if he messed up?  What if something went horribly wrong?  Center stage wasn't somewhere he wanted to be.  All his friends and family would be watching, and having an opera singer for a mother and a father, whom had spent time in Arion, hence my name, was a military Trumpeter, didn't make his nerves subside anymore.

"You'll do fine..." a girl leaning on his shoulder said, though he was unsure if she was still asleep or actually awake.  He brushed gently rested his head on her auburn hair.  The smell of her shampoo still resonating to his nose.  Was that pomegranate he smelled?  Or the vanilla?  He should really know what brand his mina rataska* used.  He closed his eyes and let the scent distract his mind.  Oh, it was that spring fresh aroma that Life Line Home was pushing out.  He remembered her buying it because they had it on sale if you tested out the corresponding skin moisturizer.

Though they were both musicians, only he was playing today.  Hers had been broken during transit back from a performance in Helidara.  Ice Bird Airlines graciously paying for the repairs as it happened on their craft.  She never seemed to have stage fright from what he remembered, which was how they met.  It was during a band camp with the Moana Troupe**.  She had belted out an entrance far too soon.  Loud enough that it surprised the conductor and she went on to even argue with him that she counted right.  What followed was him assisting her with learning how to count and follow the conductor in 6/8 time and proper note articulation.  Something that took him well over a month to do, he had to teach her in less than a week.  Yet on the day of the performance, he remembered well, she didn't show any real nerves and played almost as well as if she had always known.  She had nerves of steel that night and then asked him out the next day, which completely blindsided him.

"Now arriving at Sapphire Way Station," the automated voice on the train spoke, breaking his reminiscence.  He felt her head move under his, and had he been a few moments later on moving his head out of the way, she'd have probably knocked him out when she jerked awake.

"Had a good nap Selbina?"

She nodded and smiled.  "Mhmmm.  It'll even be better once Aron Snow takes his first bow and wins the Forte Music Cup."  Though I had my doubts, her smile reassured me.  It gave me some confidence as we got up to get off the train.  The strange part is, had she been taking part, she'd probably beat me, though she'd just as likely still support me, with a few minor jabs of competitiveness.  But for now, she looped her arm in mine and leaned on my shoulder.  "We're gonna do good and while moaning about how many mistakes you made, they're going to crown you the winner and I'm going to say 'told you so!'."  She seemed particularly giddy with that last bit, giggling as she finished up.

As we entered the Sanson Music Hall, she let go of me and held my hands, "You'll do great and we'll all be proud of you!"

"Thank you," I said before stealing a kiss and letting her go towards the audience entrance.

I walked towards the contestants entrance and went into a waiting room.  Some of the contestants I knew from previous contests and performances.  Millia Santos was a piano prodigy, Theo Felana was a well known drummer and even had his own garage band, Jai Taru was an operatic dynamo, and Gertrude Mint was somewhat of a wild card with her unconventional use of music.  All of them were off to one side, dead serious as usual, getting their minds into gear to prepare to play.  There were two others chatting away, neither of whom I recognized.  They waved to me as I entered before going back to their conversation.  A third was staring intently at sheet music.  I assume it was his performance piece.

I took a seat in the corner of the room away from the others.  They turned on a TV in the room to show the live show.  The hall was packed!  Not a single seat looked empty in the entire building.  Not only that, the camera panned to some Xelhan music royalty in attendance.  The members of Oleander and Tekau Iwi bands were in the front row, up on one of the balconies was blues singer Altana Mint and next to her was his childhood idol Lux Fenrain who was a singer/pianist.   That alone almost scared him more than the judges who were from the Xelha Philharmonic and Choir Societies.  He started feeling sick again as he thought about performing in front of such a group of A-Listers.

The order of performance was drawn and listed.  He would go last.  And so, one by one, each candidate performed.  The performances seeming to get better and better as the night went on.  The group seemingly unphazed by the crowds they were playing in front of.  Each candidate getting a loud round of applause as they finished and walked off the stage.  Finally, it was his turn, and the MC, solo guitarist Blueshawk, called him out.  Slowly he got up, feeling empty in the pit of his stomach as he followed the MC out to the stage.  This was it.  The moment he had been dreading as he heard his name called out on the sound system.  He walked to the middle of the stage, the blinding lights gave him a momentary reprieve.  He had never played before so many people, but the lights prevented him from seeing exactly how many that was.  As he was about to turn, he thought he heard "Go Aron!" from the crowd.  He turned around and for a moment, he thought he could see Selbina through the lights.  Her happy smile, freckles and all, with a few stray strands of her auburn hair fighting with her eye lashes.   He smiled as he took his seat and placed his hands on the keyboard.  Yes, he knew what song he'd play.  It was the song he had played countless times for her.  The song they first played together when learning 6/8 time.  The tune he had named after her.  The Selbina Jig.  He hit the first key and focused on playing the tune as he did for her.  As he always did, the speed and accentuated notes all meant to reflect her random, yet quick witted personality that he had fallen for.   The girl he loved to play for and the girl who loved to listen and encourage him.  Though it was a night in front of thousands of people, as he played, it was as it always was, just him and her in his room, playing music for each other and appreciating each other.



Culture Notes
*Mina Rataska or Rataska is used to refer to ones significant other.
**Moana Troupe is the Naval Band/Choir

Leona unbuttoned the top button on her light blue and black St Synelia Ambulance polo shirt. She had agreed to help cover a swimming event in Tivana, but the weather had been unseasonably hot. She was fanning herself in the back of the ambulance when another man came around with a cup of red drink.

"Here the organizers said have some so we don't drop. Not that we've had much to do, its been really quiet--"

"Shhhh," Leona put her left pointer across her lips as she accepted the cup from her male compatriot. "Please Kira, don't jinx it. We don't use the Q-word here."

"But it's so quiet! Why are we even here if nothing is happening!" Kira complained.

"I know you're excited to put your skills to use, but it doesn't help for you to be wanting someone to be injured."

Kira moved onto another woman sitting next to the ambulance and handed her a cup as well. "You want something to do too right Mahtab?" Mahtab nodded with a bit of hesitation as she accepted the cup from Kira.

"Maddy, don't let Kira get to you," Leona said as she sipped her drink. "Appreciate the down time while it lasts, because some days you'll never get to sit down." She paused and smiled at Mahtab, "And don't worry about being nervous. Just remember your training and you'll do fine. I have faith in you and your assessors do too, otherwise they'd not let you out here."

Mahtab sighed, "I know, but its still nervous to have all of this responsibility."

"You need not do it alone. Unlike your assessment, we're a team here. Even Kira over here," he said as she motioned to Kira who was checking the first aid kits for the tenth time in the past five minutes. She then paused and stood up, "I think Kira is going to get his wish."

"Are you su--" Mahtab didn't get to finish her sentence as a person ran up to the group.

"One of the swimmers have cut their foot and need help!" they said, slightly out of breath.

"Alright team, lets move out," Leona said as she took one last gulp of her drink and tossed the cup and the remainder of its contents into the trash bin.

"You're just going to toss it like that?" Kira asked.

"Tick tock, health waits for no one. Not even you trying to finish your drink off," Leona said as she grabbed a medic kit and tapped her watch. The trio raced out, Kira grabbing a clipboard with some papers and a pen, whilst Mahtab wound up with the radio. They didn't need to go far as the cut victim was a young girl sobbing and the event organizers had placed her away from the water.

"Hi, we're from St Synelia, we're going to make you feel all better alright?" Leona said to the child as she knelt down at the child's foot and put on her gloves. The child nodded, through her tears. What appeared to be the child's mother was standing nearby, pacing back and forth. At least Leona thought it was the mother, or some other close relative as they shared similar brown eye and hair colour.

"Oh that looks pretty bad," Kira said before Leona gut checked him with her elbow. He looked at her and received a very sharp glare in return.

"Not in front of the patient," she seethed. But the damage had been done and the child burst into tears.

"Is it really that bad?" the mother echoed.

"Not really," Leona said as she tried to refocus on the laceration. It really wasn't too deep, the cut had not penetrated much past the skin and no bones or muscle were showing. But the pressure of the gathering crowd and the fumble from Kira were taking her slightly off her game. She made a mess of trying to clean the wound of sand before fumbling a bit to get out the gauze and bandages from the kit.

"It's going to be alright," Mahtab said softly to the child. "We'll get you up and ready in no time at all."

"Promise?" the child whimpered. Their eyes now firmly fixed on Mahtab.

"Promise," Mahtab said with a weak smile. "Leona is really good and fixing things, so you're in good hands."

"She can fix things?" the girl seemed perplexed by the statement, tilting her head as if taking a moment to analyze the comment. The child then went wide eyed, as if a lightbulb went off in her head. "Can she fix Auntie Cleo?"

Mahtab was stumped for a moment. She looked over to Leona who was by now preparing to apply the bandage on her foot. She wanted to nudge Leona to confirm how she could answer, as no training manual ever prepared her for the precociousness of a child. She looked back at the child, still eagerly awaiting her answer, small hands near their mouth, flinching at the pain on her foot. Hopeful? Maybe that she could have something better to look forward to. She then remembered what Leona had told her earlier that day, and so she reached out to pat the girl on her head and smiled, "Yeah, I'm sure Leona probably can help with that too."

"Really?" the girl's eyes widened even more.

"Really," Mahtab smiled.

"And we're done!" Leona announced almost right on cue. "Your foot is fine, I'm going to talk to your mum about what she should do." She then spoke to Kira and Mahtab. "Kira, don't forget to stow that in the folder. We had to use a couple of the gauze and sterile water baths, and stores is going to absolutely love us if we don't tell them what we used." She handed the kit to Mahtab, "Maddy, help him restock it properly. You can also radio in that we're not transporting, patient seems well enough to move on their own and advise getting their doctor to look at it ASAP for infections and possible mild antibiotics."

She nodded and the two returned back to the ambulance station while Leona talked with the child's mother for a time.

A short time later, Mahtab was about to sit down and reflect on what had just happened when she felt a wet hug. The child they had treated before had come up to personally thank her, "And when I grow up, I want to help people just like you helped me!" she beamed.

"Awww, you're welcome." Mahtab smiled as the child then bounded back off towards her mother and the two left the area.

"Remember that feeling," Leona said as she returned to the ambulance area. "When you're having your hardest day, or the patients absolutely don't care about you or you feel as if you're not doing anything. Remember the feeling you just felt and know that you impact many by just being here and doing what we do. That days like today, are the days that you live for."

Mahtab nodded and smiled. She looked out towards where the child had been and laughed to herself. It had been an unforgettable day. One that she'd always live for.

"Yes, I'll be sure to include that on the meeting notes," Faro quickly jotted down something as he ended another phone conversation. He glanced at his watch, it wasn't even 11am yet, but it felt as if he had handled a million calls for his boss Sera Orstead. He looked at his screen and let out a long exhale. Due to the opening up of markets and the division of Kasva to handle local flights, the airline had been busy negotiating and renegotiating routes. Every airport in the world seemed like it wanted some of the company's time, there were meetings almost continuously up until Xelhan New Years (25 January). However, if they made it through to the other side of New Years, performance bonuses would be handed out for non-management, for which he qualified. Not that the regular pay was bad, but the bonuses did give incentive to remain at the company.

"Hey Faro," one of his coworkers yelled out to him, breaking his concentration as they came up to his desk. "Already thinking about what you're going to do with that bonus?" he chuckled before adding in a lower voice, and leaning towards Faro, "Going to ask your boss out for Kasitsys?"

"No, Malik" Faro chuckled weakly. "If I wanted to get classy, I'd go all the way."

"Oh?" Malik raised an eyebrow. "How much classier?"

"The queen," he said without missing a beat, almost causing Malik to choke on his tea.

"That's, a pretty lofty goal there, I think you'll need more than just this years bonus, even if Ice Bird is doing as well as they say it is," he wheezed.

"Well they say aim for the stars," Faro chuckled for a moment before stopping and looking very serious. "Yeah..."

"Whoa, don't tell me you were serious?" Malik blinked. "I mean sure she lives about an hour away and isn't very hard to meet at the square's Knight's Coffee. But that would be way out of any of our leagues."

"You say that, yet I knew her in secondary school, and they often say you never forget the people you met in high school. Xelha is a strange place, I guess. It's the only place were a normal person like me can even think of being in the same school as someone with such a lofty status. Like the Bells never go to the normal schools, always like the girls's schools or the gifted schools. It's like the normal system isn't good enough for them. But Tsuyu went school with us. Her name was one of the first on the roll call so she often took roll while the teachers would set up class. I've heard her call my name multiple times! I have had her sing less than a couple of meters from me, and I've seen her in a PE kit. She has angry, embarrassing and happy moments, and gets up to mischief just like any other career student," he added with a chuckle. "She's not really that different than the rest of us. What's to stop a man from dreaming that he can pursue a woman from the same school he attended?"

"Realism in the form of HRH behind her name, because right now I think you're being a little idealistic here," Malik said in a deadpan tone, finally having fully recovered from wheezing. "The queen probably has suitors much better off than anyone in this building except maybe your boss. You can't just go up to her and say, 'Remember me, we went to high school together, want to get together?' She's bound to probably laugh you to scorn, that's if she remembers you at all."

"Is that a bet I smell?" Faro interrupted. "The usual wager?"

Malik stopped, mouth agape, blinked at Faro before shaking his head and laughing. "I don't even know if this is a fair bet. As another person I'd happily take the odds, but as a friend that would be just taking advantage of you."

"Scared to lose... again?" Faro smirked. "You haven't won a bet in a long time, I suppose it's only right that you'd be scared," he added with a shiver.

"Hey now, I won that bet on the XHL All Star Game! And that was a payout equal to all the little ones that you've had in between," Malik sniffed.

"Oh come on! That was almost a year ago," Faro snorted. "They're preparing to announce the rosters of a new All Star Game, and you haven't won anything since. You're stalling and refusing to take this one so you can continue saying the last couple were lucky." He then added waiving his finger and a sly smile, "because a wise man once said, 'It can't be luck if you do it more than ten times in a row.'" Malik groaned as Faro continued, "Besides, like I said, she's a queen, but she's still one of us. It's not like she's a snobby royal like what they have in Ruzenia or Carida. And her dad married a commoner."

"Her dad married a childhood sweetheart. You may have been in her childhood, but she went to Botany School and you went into Bookkeeping. She hasn't seen you for at least six years and only god knows how many teenage crushes she's had in that time."

"None of importance to her if she's still single," Faro said with a wink and finger snap. "That means I still have a chance right? Not Zero percent means not impossible."

"Fine, fine! Since you seem so intent on embarrassing yourself in front an old classmate, the usual wager that the queen doesn't laugh you out of Knight's Koffee."

"Excellent," he smiled as they shook hands. "Remember this handshake, it will be the first of your future king."

"King of fools may haps, I don't know about King of Xelha," Malik grinned as he reciprocated the handshake.

It all started during one of our family reunions. Us children were busy playing around, the adults were chattering as they prepared the food and tables for dinner. Auntie Azura had just been elected in as one of the Blizzaria House of Lords representatives. Her name had been forwarded as Minister of Defense, but she rejected the nomination and it fell to Vera Soldana. I remember asking her, innocently, why she hadn't taken the post.

She was drinking a cup of NesHeli. She always seemed to have a cup in her hands. Maybe time in the snow made her hands cold and she used the warmth to warm them up. She alone paused at my question, turning from whom she had been conversing with and knelt down to my level. "Sweetheart, Blizzarins don't become Minister of Defense. We are far too crafty and we get bored very quickly."

"But wouldn't you want the Minister of Defense to be crafty?" I asked back.

She chuckled, "Yes, of course, but at the same time, we need to be reserved. Blizzarins are forever playing with spies and the like. Getting a message across Blizzarins is a family past time."

I didn't understand what she meant, and my face probably conveyed that message to her faster than any words could. She stood up and chuckled before handing me a piece of paper, "Here take this to your cousins and try figure out what it says. It's written in plain Xelha, so there is no code or figurative language in there. Once you ad your cousins figure it out, come back here and let me know what it says."

"It can't be that hard auntie," I spoke as I unfolded the paper. My mouth gaped as upon unfolding the paper completely, there was nothing on it. I flipped it over several times. Nothing. "Auntie! There's nothing here!"

"There most certainly is," she cackled. "Go find your cousins, I'm sure they'll be able to help you. A couple of heads are better than one."

I looked at her again as she took up her cup of hot cocoa, cupping the bottom and resumed talking to my other aunts and uncles. If she thought some cheap trick was going to keep me occupied, she had another thing coming. I ran off to find my mother who was helping to organize the tables.

"Mum! Auntie Azura is trying to trick me with a lie!" I blurted out to her.

"Auntie Azura has always been the crafty one, but to accuse her of lying is a serious offense young lady," my mother lightly scolded me. "So what has she done that you believe her to be lying to you?"

I handed her over a piece of paper. "See it has nothing on it! She wants me to take it to my cousins to keep us occupied and out of her way so she doesn't have to answer my questions!"

"Oh? And what questions are those?" my mother said as she glanced over the paper, running her finger through as if reading through something.

"I asked her why Blizzarins can't be Ministers of Defense and she said solve this and you'll find out."

"Ah," I'm not sure if she sighed or lightly chuckled. "Then there is a message on there, what it is, I can't tell, but if you asked her that, there is indeed a message on there," she said as she handed me back the paper.

"Clues?"

Mother shrugged, "She could have written anything, but it's likely only a couple of words. Take it to your cousins and I'm sure you'll all be able to come up with something." She then motioned for me to go outside and find my cousins. Still puzzled over the message, I found Ryo. He was the smarter one of us younger cousins. He was working on trying to break the record for fastest Rubix Cube completion, and so was the obvious first stop. I showed him the paper and he looked over it.

"Hmmmm, if there is something there and we cannot see it, maybe it's invisible?" he said after a few moments. He took the paper and put it on it's side and attempted to see if there was another layer. After a few moments of trying he gave up, "Nope, not double layer. Maybe invisible ink?"

"Oh! That could be it!" I snapped my fingers. I pulled out my phone and together we looked up invisible ink on Gelgoogle. One of our other cousins, Nuka came over during the search. She was a bit older than us. When you began talking more about boys than actual schoolwork.

"Whatchya doing?" she asked.

"We're looking up solutions for invisible ink!" I responded.

"Eh?" she seemed confused.

"It's for smart people," Ryo quipped.

She shook her head, "No, I know what invisible ink is silly, I don't know why you'd be looking it up. Most of it is like... really strange chemicals."

"Then how are we going to look at this?" I demanded as I shoved the paper in her face.

She flipped it over a couple of times before going, "Oh. Maybe you should return to sender and tell them it'll be too complex for Elementary Schoolers to try figure out."

"Hmm, that was an option..." I mused for a moment. I glanced at Ryo and he too seemed to nod in agreement. So the three of us returned to Azura. She was sitting at the islands, drinking yet another cup of NesHeli as she looked over the Blizzaria Gazette's post election results and punditry. "Auntie Azura, it's too hard. We can't get the chemicals you'd need to reveal the invisible ink."

She looked up from her reading and over to us. "Maybe you need some brain fuel. Want a cup of NesHeli, get the glucose flowing?"

"Yes please!" we all echoed in unison. Now, while Auntie Azura has no children, she certainly makes the best cup of NesHeli of the entire family. Though, that could be just because most of the family drinks hot tea and not NesHeli. She rested her cup down on the paper as she went to boils some more water for our cups of cocoa.

"I'm impressed you figured out it was invisible ink," she smiled. "You're very close to the right track."

The words encouraged us and we decided to have another look while we waited for the water to boil. We moved Azura's cup and found a single stroke had started to show. It wasn't a letter, but something was starting to be shown. Azura's cup was warm to the touch. It had been sitting for a while. Was the heat what we needed? Azura took up her cup and was content to watch us all discuss about the newly revealed line while we waited for the water to finish boiling. Once the water had boiled and the mix had been stirred, we all got our cups and put them around the paper. Some lines began to show. Slowly. Here and there. Azura had made another cup for herself with the remainder and walked over to our spot on the table.

"Can we use your cup?" we asked her.

She shook her head. "Here let me show you the easy way." She folded the paper up before instructing me, "cup your hand like a soup bowl." I followed her instructions and she put the paper in my hand. She then rested my cup in my hand on top of the paper. "Now push the paper up towards the bottom, and count to sixty." I thought her strange, but she smiled and nodded. I grabbed the cup handle with my other hand before pushing the paper up on the bottom and counted to sixty. At first a little fast, though Azura didn't seem to correct the speed. Maybe she had already accounted for it. Once I reached sixty, I put the cup down and hastily unfolded the paper. There spread in large letters was 'You Win!'

"Whooooaaa!" the three of us cooed as we looked to Azura.

"And that's why a Blizzarin can never be Defense Minister. If you know how to both write and decipher that, you've joined the Blizzarin Family Game, Nagaro. Once in, you never get back out, and you're forever stuck sending and receiving messages like this. Reports, family letters, updates, challenges to paintball, the list goes on and on. And as Minister of Defense, you're more primed to use it. Extra messages hidden in plain sight. But as Defense Minister, you'd have to disclose this to a large portion of people outside the family. And so, we keep it to ourselves by not entering the Ministry of Defense. My messages become harmless political banter that no one other than my family will read about. And likewise, my family can send me things I might otherwise not be able to detect, and forward it onto the Foreign Ministry or Defense Ministry. That way, the source stays secret, but the secret it uncovers does not."

And ever since that day, every time I see a clip of Auntie Azura sipping her cup of NesHeli. The reporter or random bystander will always comment on how many cups she's had by the time the camera caught her. Yet all I can think about is how many messages she's deciphered and read, in plain sight, without a soul ever knowing.

Leona was preparing to spend another day studying her notes. The weather had been unusually warm, probably from all the rhetoric floating around. Political hot air. Maybe they contributed to global warming the most, she chuckled to herself. Her giggle was cut short by her phone buzzing. She looked at the number as she wondered who could be calling her so early on a Saturday. More puzzling was that it was from her younger sister Moke. What on earth could she want?

“Hello, Leona,” she answered a bit curt. Her sister was not known for early morning calls, usually because she believed in getting ready and being fully dressed even for something as mundane as a phone call. Perhaps it was her husband, trying to

“Auntie Beoa!” came the excited response, which cut her thoughts short. “I mean, Good Mornin Auntie Beoa,” she corrected herself.

”Oh, it’s you,” Leona groaned as she rubbed her nose bridge. She took in a deep breath and spoke in as cheerful voice she could muster before the breakfast sugars had fully circulated, “Hi Keo, does your mother know you have her phone?”

”Auntie Beoa are you in skool?” Keo asked, completely ignoring the question asked of her. “Mommy say you in skool.”

”Yes Keo, I’m in school.”

”But you can’t be in skool. I dont see you in skool on Monday. And there is no skool today! It a weekend!”

”Keo, I go to big people school. You won’t see me at your school. Your school is for fun.”

”But it Saturday! You should be here. There is no skool on Saturday!”

Leona chuckled, “Keo, in big people school, you work everyday. There are no classes, but i live in a dorm at the school.”

”What dorm? Is that a speshul class?”

”No, no Keo, it’s like a house but near the school,” Leona chuckled. “So I live at school and don’t need a long drive everyday to class.”

There was a short silence, yet Leona knew it was only a matter of time before her inquisitive 5 year old niece would assault her mind with another barrage of questions .

”But why you not home? I am at home and you not heyar.”

”Keo, I’m never at your home. I need a flight from Selena to Stella to visit you.”

”I will tell mommy to pick you up at airport! We can come get you!”

”Keo, that’s not how travel works. I need money to buy a ticket and...”

”We coming to get you! Dont worry, I get mommy!” Keo cut off her auntie and Leona held her head in her hands as she heard the rustling of a five year old dashing through a house yelling “mommy” at the top of her lungs.

”What’s wrong Keo?” she heard her sister eventually ask.

”We need to go get Auntie Beoa! At the airport! I told her to come and we meet her there!”

”Hello?” Moke came on the phone.

”Hi sis. Your child has decided to interrupt me at 8am on a weekend to demand my presence.”

Moke chuckled, “That’s no fault of mine. Maybe you should have not been the nice auntie and she’d not miss you so much at reunions.”

Leona groaned. “Well if you want to do my work for a week we can exchange.”

Moke laughed again, “I know better than to leave you two alone for a week. But do make time to see your niece. She does miss you. And the demands will only get more the longer she misses you.”

”Fine, I’ll plan a visit for the summer.”

A shriek was heard. “ Yay summer with Auntie Beoa!” And then running off into the distance.

”Sorry speakerphone, but now at least nothing til summer. But you better keep it.”

”Of course,” Leona grinned. “Of course.”

   Freya was holding her dad's left hand as they rode along on the subway.  It was sweltering hot outside still, but she was wearing a cute ice blue shirt with a football that had a pathway traced into a capital C on the front.  On the back written in black was the name Fiora and the number 24.  She wore white shorts and shoes.  Her dad was wearing a similar outfit and carried a flag in his other hand sporting the same design they had on the front of their shirts.

   It was standing room only and Freya stuck close to her dad, looking around at all the people.  Most were wearing a similar outfit to her, but with different names and numbers.  A few had an older motif, while there were a few she could spy in the other car wearing light green and yellow.  Aleksi was supposed to come, but he had caught a summer cold and it was mum's turn to miss a game, according to her father.

   "Stick close," her dad said as the tram slowed to a stop and the doors opened.  Freya nodded but felt the surge of bodies, almost like a river as everyone rushed to exit the train, but she gripped her father's hand tighter as they moved out with the crowd.  They stood up next to the wall to allow the flood of people to move by.  There were all sorts and ages, some with streamers and most with some form of either the blue and white motif or a green and yellow.

   "Alright kiddo, once we get in, you're to take this and make as much noise as you want," her father said as he handed her a mini version of the flag he was holding.  "And I mean lots of noise, like the levels your make when you and your brother are chasing each other and the neighbors tell you to keep it down.  It's very important."

   Freya nodded and her dad grinned as they moved up the stairs and through a glass door labeled 'Blizzaria Sports Complex South Entrance.'  As the door opened, the gush of cold air enveloped Freya, but also she heard murmurs of people.  While she was adjusting back to the cool air, her dad scanned his wallet near a turnstyle before guiding her through.  As they moved forward the noise volume steadily increased until the re-emerged near a field.  The seats were at the halfway line, about midway up.  They sat down next to another family who were frantically waving their flags around.  Freya's dad seemed to know them and the fathers exchanged pleasantries.

   "Showing your daughter the ropes today?" the other man spoke.

   "Yeah, gotta start them young so they know who to support," her dad chortled.   "I never thought we'd have to close the dome for anything other than snow."

   "Indeed, and the AC bill must cost a small fortune."

   "Guess we can expect the prices to go up for next year's tickets."

   While the adults were talking, Freya inched closer to the other kids who were already watching the people on the field.  Every time someone in blue touched the ball they screamed and jumped up waving their flags.  Freya joined in with them, though sometimes to Freya it felt like they were cheering alone.  That was, until one of the blue people kicked the ball in the net.  Then Freya couldn't even hear herself think much less scream.  She turned around to talk to her dad, but he couldn't hear her and he gave her a thumbs up.  After sometime had passed ((45 minutes plus injury time in the event you don't know)), the players walked off the field and the crowd cheered as they disappeared below them.

   Though it was air conditioned, Freya found her throat a bit dry and was a bit hungry.  Her dad however, was ahead of her and gave her an orange drink and a hot dog.  The neighboring kids had a hamburger and popcorn respectively.  Freya offered them a trade, to which all three agreed and soon all three had a bit of hamburger, hot dog and popcorn.  All food was eaten by the time the players returned to the field.  This time the blue players seemed to be going the other way, but it didn't matter, so long as a blue person had the ball the cheering continued.

   At about the 55th minute of the game, Freya's dad complained about a call made by the referee and accused him of cheating.

   "I don't think the referee can hear you daddy, but...." Freya said as she suddenly bolted from her seat and down towards the field.  She wound up behind the Blizzaria Team benches and yelled out to the fourth official as he passed by, "HEY! STOP CHEATING!"

   The official paid her no mind, but members of the teams turned to see who was screaming at the official and gave a chuckle.  One of the game marshals approached her, but was intercepted by one of the players.

   "Let the child yell, she's not hurting anyone, and at some point I'm sure all of us on the benches can agree to having had that sentiment at one point or another to a referee," the player said which caused the marshal to step back into place.

   By now her father had caught up to her and apologized to the player who shook their head and laughed, "It's alright.  I remember when my dad brought me to the games when I was little and did the same thing, except I actually jumped the fence and directly spoke to the ref.  Do what my dad did for me, give her a whistle or a megaphone.  She'll be too exhausted to be running up and down the steps."

   "I'll keep that in mind," Freya's dad nodded.

   "You're a cool player!" Freya added with a thumbs up.  "That's why you're going to win!"

   The player chuckled, "I sure hope so, Raine City isn't letting us walk away that's for sure.  Maybe sometime you can join the team and make sure we keep the cool players going and winning," she added with a wink.

   "You bet!" Freya giggled.

   "Fiora, we're subbing you on," the coach ordered.  "Get ready."

   "That's my cue," Fiora nodded.  "keep up the volume, let us hear you want us to win." Freya nodded and returned with her seat to her dad.   She spend the rest of the game jumping up and down making especially loud screams whenever Fiora got the ball.  The girls in blue went on to lose the game 3-2, not that Freya saw it.  By the time the last goal was scored deep into injury time, Freya had already exhausted herself.

   "Hey wake up champ," her father nudged her with a smile.

   "Oh... hey dad.... did we win?" she asked as she rubbed her eyes.

   "You sure did," he said with a smile.  He pointed to her shirt which now had something written on it, 'to the Capitals' new cheer squad leader, thanks for the support' and it was signed 'FI'.

   "Uh-oh, mum isn't going to kill me for this is she?" Freya asked her father.

   "That's a hard call," he laughed.  "Not for it being dirty, but out of jealousy that you got her favourite player to sign your jersey."  He then helped her out of her seat, "Now, lets pick up your garbage and dispose of it properly, so that the team can have a nice clean stadium for the next game they play."

   Freya nodded as she picked up her drink bottle and plate her food had been in.  The stadium now was much emptier and quieter than when they arrived, but she still heard the echo of the noise of the crowd, the movements of the players, and the excitement of telling off a referee and meeting a player.  She looked down at her shirt one more time to look at the writing.  Today, had been an exciting day for her, and she already couldn't wait for the next one.