A warm stream of honey sunlight splashed against Ellowyn’s face, nudging her awake. Her eyes blinked open and stared dazedly at the ceiling, only there were no ceiling. It was as if the walls of her room were gone. She watched an ocean of twinkling stars slowly fading away, making room for daylight, as herds of clouds moved languidly on an endless field of ember grass. The sky of dawn stared down at her, belittling her wispy existence with its vastness.

She simply laid there, for how long, she did not know, mesmerized by the golden abyss. To her surprise, when she reached out, the tip of her fingers brushed against the orange veil. So this is a globe like projection of the sky.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Startled, she jolted her head towards the source of the voice. There stood a maid holding a bundle of towers.

“Sorry for surprising you.” She chuckled. “I tried to enter quietly and clean the bathroom, but you were already awake and I thought it’d be awkward if I don’t say anything.”

“It’s alright, I was just awake myself. Though you should knock next time.”

The maid gave her a warm look. “I was just like you when I first came here. The projections were so alive and vivid, I just sat there until my eyes hurt from the bright sunlight.”

Ellowyn giggled and watched as the maid continued her daily work.

“Are you feeling well? Breakfast will be ready in a few”.

As if to answer, her stomach gave a loud growl. “Um, thank you.” She could only look down and blush.

“Alright, I’ll tell the chief.” The maid did nothing to hide her mischievous smirk.

“Wait! When do I need to get ready to greet Tom, I mean dad?”

“You don’t have to really meet them today, Bob said you looked exhausted and should spend today resting. If you need any help, just pop that call button next to your bed.” She gave a quick curtsy and left, only to return moments later, pushing a large, hovering food cart.

The cart proceeded to split into two, one part unfolded itself 3 times into a long table while the other opened its lid, revealing various trays of food inside.

Suddenly assaulted by the enticing scent of numerous exotic dishes, her stomach couldn’t help but grumble some more.

“Hmm, this is the life!” She mused, staring at the now empty plate. She briefly pondered whether it was really possible for such a large quantity of food to disappear into her tiny body.

“I’m glad you enjoyed the food.” Laughed the maid as she looked at the satisfied Ellowyn. “You should eat a lot, your body is so thin and frail!”

Ellowyn could only nod in agreement, a sick body and a life of imprisonment didn’t give her much of an appetite, but all of that was gone, she had then a new life and a new family.

“I’ll take my leave now, take care Miss Ellowyn.”

Glancing at the back of the leaving maid, her lips parted into a warm smile. To her, the maid was rather mischievous, but she seemed kind too. Maybe this life would work out after all.

Before she had the chance to enjoy her leisure day however, a soft chime echoed throughout the room. She guessed it was the door bell the maid never bothered to use. She tapped a glowing bell-shaped button next to her bed. The TV came to life and displayed a familiar face.

“Morning Ellowyn, This is Alice, may I come in?” Alice’s baggy shirt and jeans did little to hide her Aphrodite figure.

“Ah, sorry Alice, I didn’t know you’d come here. Would you mind giving me a few minutes to tidy up?” Her voice a hint of panic, as she was in her disheveled pajamas and her hair was a jungle of a mess.

“Its fine Ellowyn, there’s no need for formality, I just want us to have a chat, that’s all.” Her silky voice was hinted with concern.

“Okay”

Despite wearing such casual clothes, there was a noble air surrounding Alice, her strides were quick and yet both stylish and graceful. Her sharp cinnamon eyes showed their serenity, but within those irises surged intense fiery embers. Ellowyn stared dazedly at the surreal scene. It was as if someone dressed an Amazon warrior in baggy clothes and bunny ears, give her a righteous goal to save her tribes from terrifying dancing cat monkeys and then release her out into the world. A hot Amazon warrior. Ellowyn thought, shortly before shutting her eyes and disintegrating the train of thought that had long lost its tracks.

“First I want to apologize for Tom’s behavior until now. Putting you into this mess and even scheduled a practice raid on the night of your arrival!” The look on her face was quite apologetic.

Just before Ellowyn could say anything, Alice looked into her eyes, her determined but pleading gaze had a tinge of sadness to it, making Ellowyn gulp.

“Are you scared, of all of this? Of how you’re forced into our family, having to face danger at every moment?”

“But I’m not in dang-”

“I know about the shopping incident, it was idiotic of Tom to try and hide it from me.” She sighed. “Just tell me, please, do you fear this way of living? I really don’t want you to keep all that fear inside of you and spend your time with us in misery.”

“No, I’m not really scared, just a little overwhelmed by all this.” Ellowyn shook her head in a daze. She had to admit, everything was rather overwhelming and she really did not know how to feel about them.

Alice’s shoulder relaxed and her expression softened. “How about you get dressed and we’ll take a stroll in my garden?” Her lips curled into an alluring smile.

Ellowyn was completely befuddled, she walked dazedly while gaping at everything. The garden Alice mentioned wasn’t a garden at all, as giant trees lined her vision. Trees so big and tall their canopies hid the sky completely from her view. Despite having almost no sunlight reaching below the canopies, thick blankets of colorful plant life layered the ground between those giant trunks.

Mushrooms of varied color, from palm sized to soccer ball littered the place like pebbles on the sand. Interweaving between them are patches of flowers, nodding gently to the wind.

What impressed her the most though, were the dozen miniature floating suns that provided artificial light that these smaller plant had desperately needed. Floating seven feet above their square metallic pads, these orbs produced light but not so much so that they hurt her eyes, but enough for the plants below them to strive.

The lights themselves were of different colors, perfectly complimenting those of the plants below them. Light blue lights on dark blue and yellow mushrooms and flowers, purple lights on pink and white...

“Impressive right?” Alice gave a satisfying smirk.

“I... ah, yes.” Ellowyn still hadn’t come out of her stupor, the entire scene was so dreamlike her subconscious simply couldn’t accept it as reality.

“Don’t be ashamed, most people had the same reaction as you did.” Alice took a small device from her pocket, detached a small pin and took a sample from a nearby mushroom. The device hovered quietly next to her.

“Sometimes I also wonder if everything here is real myself.” Alice took the pin and reattached it into the device, a faint smile outlined her lips.

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Alice said, “if someone were to say I have the most doting father in the world. He made all of this -” she waved to her surroundings, “just because five year old me wanted to have a colorful garden.” Her smile turned into a chuckle.

“It was then that I realized how important I am to him, that we desperately needed each other after mom’s death. Did you know it took him two years, one hundred legislation presentations and almost a billion credits to make this garden a reality?”

Ellowyn gulped. Must have been a whole lot of work.

“The only thing I could do was to care for this garden myself to show him how I appreciate it.”

“But isn’t it a little too much, taking care of this whole place by yourself?”

“We have gardeners too, they do the physical work and repair the equipments. My work is anything but simple, mind you. I’ve had to spend the last twelve years of my life studying genetic engineering so I can check the genetic impurities, make observations on the balance of the eco system and modify genetic components where needed. I also want to impress dad by introducing a new species or give more features to existing ones.” She talked while typing into the holograph screen of the device.

“Are you going to follow your, I mean our dad’s footsteps and run the company?” Ellowyn said, her voice was mixed with awe.

“I’m considering it. But we are sidetracked. Let’s get back to the point here.” Alice made eye contact as her tone turned serious. “When it comes to my well-being, dad tends to do some very unreasonable things. Such as taking a stranger young girl and making her live with us, despite knowing all of the dangers and mental stress that comes with it. You’ve already know well living with us is unlike any other adoptive families. Again, I’m deeply sorry for dragging you into this mess and endangerin-”

“I’ve told you that I’m already fine with it. Let bygones be bygones. Besides, I feel strangely comforting around you, in a sense you very much resemble the me of the past. To be honest, what I’m more worried about is whether you and Tom would truly accept me into your, our family.” Ellowyn knew revealing her deepest worries at such a time wasn’t a good choice, but she desperately wanted Alice to understand how much she wishes to be accepted.

A smile bloomed on Alice’s face so bright Ellowyn almost had to squint. Her eyes were kind and her expression softened. “While I can’t say for sure you’ll be apart of our family in the near future, I will do my very best to give the support you need. I have to admit, you are the strongest girl I’ve ever met. But you have to be truthful to yourself, the warehouse explosion, the attack at the shopping mall, those things can’t just be ignored. I know it's been hard on you so please, if you need someone to talk to, I’m here to give you a shoulder.” She flew into a tight hug.

Ellowyn could only nod dazedly, the grueling events replayed themselves in her mind as Alice spoke and she had to admit, they were terrifying. The only reason why she wasn’t loosing her mind was because everything happened so fast she hadn’t the time to look back.

“Ah sorry I got a little mushroom sample on your shirt there.” Alice said in a panic.

Ellowyn broke away from her trance as she too, started giggling. She considered her current situation, a new family, a new mischievous but kind pair of father and daughter. It might not be safe, but at least its going to be fun.

“Say, are you any proficient with computers?” Alice said

“No, um, not really.” As much as she wanted to flaunt her technological achievements, they weren’t made during her current life. The only experience she had with computers in Liona were her time spent reading the ebooks on her tablet during her ‘captivity’.

“I overheard Bob on the phone about getting you a ‘monster’ of a computer. Why in the world would he get you such complex machinery when he just got you here?”

“Its probably because he knows I have a knack for technology. But I really think he’s overdoing it, getting me such fancy equipments.” Ellowyn shook her head.

“Well, they should have it ready in your room now, you might want to check it out.” Alice smirked as Ellowyn’s excited expression did not go unnoticed, “I might not be a computer wiz but I do know quite a bit still, if you need any help, just ask me.”

“Alright, I’ll be in you care then.” Ellowyn said hastily and headed back to her room in fast strides.