‘What’s just happen?’ Sophia thought, still confused about the event that just unrolled, it was logical to assume that she would be executed for the thing she did, but she wasn’t. He even granted her a pardon. But why would the supreme leader want this dirty thirteen-year-old girl in his castle?

One of the guards nudged her forward with his solar gun when the entire escort had gone passed. Sophia considered making a break for her home, but decided against it, as they were both armed and she did not trust her speed. So with her two new friends, she began her journey to the last stronghold.

They went up the Tiffan Street, through the trading square and then the Donel Street, which led to the gathering plaza and the main gate. In their walk, Sophia could saw that the city seemed to be near-deserted, which did not surprise her; this was the coronation day, after all, most people who had seen the escort passing them will most likely follow it to the hall of leader to watch the ceremony unfolded. Though there were some people who lingered, and they watched her and the two guards. Sophia felt almost amused, what a strange sight she would seem to them, a girl half-covered in dirt being escorted to the Last Stronghold by two guards like some kind of prisoner, even though not wearing any handcuffs.

The main gate seemed like a castle of its owns with its stone wall, watchtowers, balconies, and a gigantic metal double gates. One of the guards who were escorting her pressed an earpiece on his helmet and muttered something into it, contacting his overseer, most likely, and a minute later the gate started to swing open.

They gave her another nudged with their guns and they all went in. Inside was a garden, or in noble’s term, courtyard, filled with flowers of many different colors, beautiful sentinels and bushed cut into a shape of an animal, for no particular reason than to look pretty. A few servants tended the plants, a gardener, people who were trained for these specific tasks.

A moment later, two young women in colorful gown dashed out into the courtyard, they took a quick look at Sophia and talked to the guards.

“This is the girl?” One of the women asked, and the guards answered with a nodded.

“So his leadership wanted to…” The other woman continued.

“Probably” Replied one of the guards, who gave her a quick side glance “though why would he want that is beyond me.”

The first woman nodded “She is skinny and flat as a boy, but regardless, we will quickly prepare her for the supreme leader.”

The guards nodded and gave Sophia a final nudge and sent her over to the two women, who took her forcefully by the arm into the castle.

“There had been a large decrease in our workers recently, with the last supreme leader dying and all.” The woman explained as they walked through the painted stone corridor of the castle “Including me and Betha over here, there were about 30 of us left and too many noble’s needs to attend to. So no wonder the supreme leader wants someone fresher, but putting you through the courtesan training first would be a much kinder fate.”

Sophia nodded, but not of understanding. Even though the words were left unsaid, Sophia had realized what would happen to her, he did look at her face for quite an uncomfortably long time, after all. The prospect did not frighten her though, which she did not know why.

The two women took her to the place they called the courtesan quarter, which was airily empty, and took her to its bathhouse. They pulled off everything she was wearing, hoodie, jeans, and even underwear, and dumped her into a tub of water that was so hot that it made her nearly scream from the heat, but she managed to hold her tongue. The two then used a pair of matching brush and started scrubbing her skin to remove the filth which covered her body. When her skin turned pink and the hot water turned cold and grey, did they let her left the tub…

…to be dumped into another tub of warm water mixed with perfume, smelling of many different flowers and started drenching her body and hair with it over and over till the sweet smell sunk into her skin. Repeatedly, she had complained, repeatedly, she was ignored.

They finally pulled her out, for real this time. They covered her in a towel that though was elegant, was oddly small. Then they took her to the dressing room, where the real nightmare has begun.

After drying her entire body, the two women argued on what style of hair should they gave Sophia, for her shoulder long curl had limited capability in that sort of art. Finally, they decided on a small braid around her head and left it at that.

Next came the gown, they had found the one her size, a green and blue flowing velvet fabric, with yellow bows tied on the chest, the wrists and around the skirt. Accompanying it was a pair of the heel made of glass and long blue silk gloves. They tied a pearl and Sapphire necklace around her throat, punched a hole in her earlobe with a strange machine and attached a pair of dangling earrings in a shape of a golden star to her ears and finally, a tiny chain of gold chained with a giant chunk of emerald was woven into her hair.

Last came her face, many layer of powders was dumped onto it, resulting in her having several coughing. They pressed a red stick onto her lips that seemed to leave a large mark, and around her eyes were stabbed with black paint. After the task was all done, they brought Sophia over a mirror, and the sight that stared back half surprised and half shocked her.

They made a pretty girl out of her, it would seem. All her freckled and scars on her face were all covered, and her lip was dyed bright red and turned plump. Her hair which seemed like a fade straw most of the time had been turned into a beautiful golden curl; a long braid went around her head like a crown of sort. The bare shoulder gown they gave her hold loosely on her chest with its complex design of blue, green and yellow, its lower part reached the ground, covering all her legs, which reminded her that the two women did not even bother giving her any underwear. She was utterly astonished, and utterly absurd.

Her mind wandered to Lana, and wondered whether or not she would like the outfit if it was her who was here. Sophia had a feeling that even the more feminine Lana would also dislike it.

“You are the prettiest girl I ever seen” One of the women complimented, of which Sophia was not flattered.

“My old clothes…” Sophia suddenly remembered, Lana’s doll was still in there.

“You will get it back when the supreme leader decided what to do with you.” One of them replied sharply.

Sophia bit her lips, and nearly cough at the taste of the paste covering her mouth, then stiffly nodded.

“Good, now let’s get you to your destination.”

So up they went, through more corridors and more stairs while Sophia attempted to find balance on her glass heels and the gown that it kept sticking on, till in front of them was a door that was more elegant than others around it. A servant who had joined them along the way circled through his keys and unlocked the room, and then the two courtesans shoved her inside.

“Wait for the supreme leader here, and don’t touch anything!” One of them warned and locked the door.

Sophia decided to touch everything.

The first thing she noticed was how small the room was, sure, it was bigger than the room that Ren, Lana and she shared, but only by twice. A large feather bed dominated one side of the room, a closet and a simple work desk another, a large shelf of some kind the third and the last a small balcony.

“Too small and too simple.” She muttered on the state of the room. ‘Why would an heir to the city sleep in something like this? A rich commons had better room than this.’

Sophia shrugged on the thought away and turned to the bed, then jumped down on it. It was softer than anything she had ever laid on, she started rolling around on it, purposefully ruining her hair and her stupid gown, which did nearly nothing to them.

After she was bored with the bed, she got up and spied on the desk. It was made of plain black wood, and the stuffs on it were neatly arranged, and one of them was…

“Ohhhh” Sophia found herself said; she climbed out of the bed and grabbed the thing she saw. It was what looked like a spherical plastic ball the size of her fist, but she touched the button in the back and it started to shift

“As I thought, a Stalus.” Sophia spoke out loud, a device that could display hologram; contact other people and many more. She had seen it with her classmate, more specifically the one with rich parents, as it was too expensive for nine tenths of the common to buy. This one seemed to be even more high tech than that. It had a movement tracking, quadruple projectors, and something called game.

She put the Stalus back on the desk, as she felt like she was being too absorbed by it, its bottom opened up to balance itself out. Sophia then glanced through the desk again. She pulled out one of the drawers, which was packed full with belonging and paper, and hiding deep inside it all was the last thing she would think to find in a supreme leader’s room.

‘Now why would he hide a jar of fucking cookies in here?’ Sophia pondered as she pulled the glass jar out from the drawer and gave it a good shake. Then decided that he wouldn’t notice a few missing.

She took a big bite of one, and the sweetness poured over into her mouth, it tasted better than anything she had ever eaten, better than even…the honeyed bread.

The memory turned the cookie’s sweet taste into a bitter one. The powder they put on her face must be wearing off too, for she found herself wiping her eyes with her gloved hand. She ate the rest of the cookie, and then carefully put the jar back into its place.

She tried to light up her own mood by spinning out off the desk’s chair and took a look at the large wooden shelf. It was filled with…books.

“Weirder and weirder,” Sophia muttered, and pulled a few out; she did not recognize any of their names at all, even though she believed that she had at least took a quick glance over half the books in the public achieve. The covered was very strange too, some of them were made with the simple art of shape arranging into different things, some with a single item over a plain background, and a few of them had what looked like a teenage boy/girl standing over scenery in an awkward pose. Sophia opened the page, and the feeling of the paper was just wrong.

“Never seen a book before?” A voice suddenly ringed up.

“Well yes,” She replied, out of instinct “All the books in this city were in data form.”

Then her eyes followed the voice, and it was the supreme leader, standing over the door. His voice just sounded so casual she couldn’t help but answer in the same casual way.

He eyed up and down her cloth, then shifted his gaze away “What are you wearing?”

“This is what they gave me.”

He shook his head and sighed, then went over his closet and pulled out a black jacket and tossed it to her. Sophia nodded in gratitude and wore it over her bare shoulders. The supreme leader then gestured to the servant outside, who handed him a bottle and a pair of wine glass.

“Fancy a drink?” He asked her as he filled both glasses with fresh purple liquid.

“I’m thirteen.” Sophia pointed out.

“I pick out the one with the least alcohol.” He said, as he handed her the glass anyway “And besides, I myself started drinking at ten.”

Realizing that she didn’t have much choice, she took the glass and gave it a small sip, he was not lying, the wine tasted more like a glorified grape juice.

“Why am I here?” Sophia asked bluntly, remembering.

The supreme leader put his half-drank glass on the desk and sat on its chair, then gestured for Sophia to do the same on the bed. She then noticed a gold pin in the shape of a smashing fist on his chest, a symbol of the coordinated supreme leader, but that couldn’t be, for the ceremony lasted until sunset, and it was only a few hours after her encounter on the street.

“Sophia, that’s your name, right?” He asked, as if to check.

“Yes,” She replied, then realized that she should be adding something to the back as she was within his grasp figuratively and literally, so being respectful would be wise “…your leadership.”

“Just calls me Gorbach.” He said in such an informal tone that it surprised her “As to answer your question, I had already told you back at the street.”

‘I took a liking of you’, Sophia remembered, but what did that mean?

“Did you notice the three advisors who rode in front of me?” He asked suddenly.

“Lord Corlius, Lord Ptis and Lord Rubos.” Sophia listed, recalling their name.

“When I took over, my thought was that ‘Oh, these people are the one who led my father astray, I better be careful.’” He said in a voice that sounded like half a compliant “But now that I spent quite a significant amount of time with them, I tell you, they are fucking unBEARABLE!”

Sophia startled at the shouting word, the supreme leader, no, Gorbach faced shifted into a snarl “All they did was complain over and over about the same darn thing, vying for my favor, licking my feet in every opportunity. ‘This family held too much power’, ‘Mine holds too little’, ‘Your cloak is so nice today’, ‘This guy is plotting against you’ and on and on and on and on! It is so hard to keep a straight face when you know that despite all this, they are probably plotting something behind your back themselves.”

“So what does this had to do anything with me?” Sophia asked when he finished.

“Well, as it happens, this morning I was in quite a foul mood.” He explained “The preparation for the funeral and coordination ceremony had taken frankly too much of my time for the past week. But as I was lightening up my own mood by musing on the fact that I had at least reduce the resource and time that is used on the ceremony itself, so it could be used at other times, a ball of dirt landed at my face.”

A small smiled form on her face, then realized what she supposed to say “I’m sorry.”

He lifted his hand “None need. The things you said, it was something that I am screaming in my head for the last few years. It took both wit and bravery to speak that sort of thing, and to the supreme leader’s face too.”

Sophia suddenly eyed the man in front of her in confusion. In the past, every time she spoke on and on about the supreme leader and the city’s corruption, the typical reaction she received was disbelief, horror or disgust. But now, someone was agreeing with her, and that someone was the supreme leader himself, no less.

Gorbach shook his head “Sorry that was…uncalled for. I had been penting my emotion for quite a while. I was usually more collective than this.”

Sophia grinned “None need.”

This time it was the supreme leader than gave out a smile.

“Your leadership…” Sophia said with the genuine tone, as a realization hit her.

“Gorbach” He corrected her.

“I first thought you are just another corrupted dictator, here to continue his father vile reign, but I couldn’t be more wrong.”

He chuckled “Are you saying that just to please me, or are you actually believe in what you said.”

“The latter” Sophia replied quickly “You are nothing like your father.”

He nodded, took a sip at his wine “Not a corrupted dictator” He mused “That is good, but I aspire to be more than that.”

Sophia raised an eyebrow, what could be better than that?

“Let’s me tell you something, I want to make changes. I had seen the wrong, not just in my father, but in this city itself. I don’t want to be just another good supreme leader; I want to be the one who made the city itself good.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Sophia asked him.

“Because you are just the person that I need,” He told her “You are smart for your age and braver than anyone had a right to be. You point out my father’s wrong, I want you to do the same to me.”

Sophia raised an eyebrow; she had never seen anyone wanting to have other people pointing out their mistake before, let alone the most powerful man in the city.

“I am only one person; I need someone to tell me when I go too far. I need someone I can share my thought to, discuss plans with and running important errands.”

“But why me?” Sophia asked once again, why would a supreme leader need a 13-year-old girl to help him on his work “Why not anyone else older, or one of your nobles…”

“I had already voiced my concern with my current advisors.” Gorbach told her “I had a few young nobles who I trust and grow up with me, but that’s the problem. They will hesitate before pointing me out for certain.”

“But you and that tongue of yours that will mostly get you executed are perfect for it. Not to mention, you are a common, it is past time we had someone outside the Last Stronghold advising me.”

Sophia nodded, he did seem to be inspired to make a change, only nobles were allowed to aid in the supreme leader’s rule for many centuries.

“So what do you say?” He finished “Will you become a Watson to my Sherlock, a Sam to my Frodo, and an Egg to my Duncan?”

“What are you even trying to say with that?”

He shook his head, “It doesn’t matter. What I’m saying is that I want you…to help me on my task, making the world a better place.”

“In your image” Sophia pointed out, still doubtful.

“In our image” He reassured her “And soon, in everyone's image.”

Sophia stopped for a moment, the supreme leader himself is asking her to help him make a change, and he seemed very genuine about it too. Her hand reached for her sister’s doll, but it was not there.

‘This one for you, Lana.’

She smiled “When do we start?”