As Elijah suspected, L6 was indeed in the eastern wing of the palace though nowhere he’d usually have any business going to. He meandered his way up flights of stairs, through hallways lined with portraits, past shut doors inlaid with gold and precious stones. The palace was a relic of some warlord or other in the time before the Glorious Era and rumor had it that the warlords head was preserved in a jar somewhere from when the Al Aziz family rose to power and had him executed. All the ostentatious fittings and décor were apparently leftovers from that warlords rule. The palace guards eyed him with disdain as he passed them by whether it was because he was an outsider or because he’d been tracking grease and sand everywhere with him he couldn’t say.

Eventually he made it to his destination, two enormous doors both tall and wide enough to accommodate a Vain Glory with ease. The wood was a beautiful dark red with the royal family’s crest engraved in the center, a hyena with its front leg firmly pressed into a lions throat and a snake clamped in its snarling jaws. On closer inspection he realized that a method to open the doors was nowhere to be seen. He attempted to give them a firm shove but quickly abandoned the idea. Would anyone even hear him if he knocked? He was interrupted from his musings by a clearly fake cough off to the side.

Turning to face the sound he was greeted by the familiar sight of Saif, bodyguard and general servant to the princess. He didn’t take the deadpan stare she leveled at him personally, he’d never seen her with any other expression after all. He did notice that she was only wearing a sleek black body suit rather than the usual exo armor she favored when he’d seen her out and about.

“Leaving little to the Imagination today Saif.”

“Just the type of comment I’d expect from someone with such little imagination, Winter.” She quipped in her totally flat tone of voice.

“Odd to see you unarmed, seeing as you’re the one who’s out here greeting me I assume it’s Evona who wants to see me?”

He ambled over to her as he spoke, and noticed for the first time just how small she was. He doubted that she broke 150cm though he knew better than to underestimate her.

“I am never unarmed Winter. Give me the tool belt.”

“Fiiine, need me to strip too?”

“I Can frisk you through your clothes just fine you degenerate.” she said as she thoroughly searched him. In the end she left him with his radio, his Babel ear piece and the knife in his boot. “Don’t think I’m unaware of the knife. You are permitted a blade for self defense because of the laws of this land, Regardless of what I would prefer.”

“Great, so what’s the deal with these doors? Remote control? Purely decorative? Sliding rather than pushing?” As he asked his questions he noticed the more normal sized door open behind her. “Oh, that’s much less exciting.”

Saif raised an eyebrow in his direction before closing the door behind her and walking to the spot Elijah had tried to shove open earlier. Then she wordlessly placed both hands on the doors and seemed to simply walk forward, the doors soundlessly opening. Elijah was certain that if her face ever moved there would be a smug smile plastered on it. He settled on just imagining it for now. Her task complete she stood to one side arms clasped behind her, his tool belt slung over one of her shoulders.

“Was that exciting enough?” She asked.

Elijah just pouted at her before walking into the room. It was impressive, even considering all the things he passed on the way there and he took moment to take it all in. Whatever purpose the room normally served, it currently stood empty. The walls had swirling patterns in silver and gold that he was sure gleamed with the sunrise. The floor to ceiling windows supported by gleaming columns had an amazing view of the coast, or they normally would if wasn’t for the scaffolding typically used to show off Trophy Mechs. The floor was a deep red and unless his eyes were playing tricks on him he could see facets within like a fine cut gem, though much larger than any he had ever seen before by several orders of magnitude, and there in the center of the room was a white lattice work table that seemed to be weaved from some unknown material with two matching chairs. It had a tray of various delicate snacks and a white porcelain teapot with matching cups and saucers on it, and of course seated in one of the chairs was the Crown Princess of the Holy Republic of Varalfa.

Evona Al Aziz was dressed downright scandalously for a young woman of her position and Elijah immediately turned his head aside. Of all the things he could have expected, a Forrest-green pilot suit wasn’t one of them.

“Elijah look!” He heard her exclaim. “Isn’t it just marvelous? It feels like I’m wearing nothing at all!”

He could feel the blood rushing to his face against his will and just knew that with his pale complexion there was no hiding his atomic blush. Giving in to his instinct he turned to face her. She was standing now and the only thought in Elijah’s head was that she filled out the suit very well.

“Sit sit, there’s so much we have to catch up on!” she said waving one hand in the direction of the chair across from her. “How do I look?”

“I guess we do.” He sighed, taking his seat. “You look amazing of course, the green really brings out your eyes. Like C-beams glittering in the dark.”

Evona gave him a flat look before breaking and giving off a girlish laugh. “You are an absolute dork.”

“This room is amazing by the way, what is it normally used for?” He asked.

“Oh, this is the throne room.” She casually replied. “As the sun moves across the sky it hits the ruby in the floor and that casts different shades of red light in the audience chamber below. One ancestor or another commissioned it but no one is sure how anyone got a synthetic gem so large or kept it in one piece.”

“Damn, so that is a big ass ruby?” He could feel Saif’s irritation with his lack of formality and felt it strengthen his spirit.

“Mmhmm, but enough about the palace, why aren’t you staying for my birthday?” she pouted at him, reaching up and absently toying with her long braid.

“It’s my first official tour with the company, you know? Can’t exactly rock the boat or it looks like Ma is playing favorites.”

“But you are her favorite! More importantly you’re my favorite!” She said. “You’re family owns lands and titles here, no one would bat an eye if you stayed.” She crossed her arms and leaned over the table. “You’re practically a Prince. No one would fault you for acting like it from time to time.”

“Solstice Security Solutions was granted land and titles, Not Elijah or anyone else in the Winter family.” He said. He knew that what he was about to say would crush the mood but the argument was an old one and tact was not a tool in his arsenal so with a deep breath he continued. “And Dad absolutely would have judged me, and rightly so.”

He saw Evona visibly deflate before she waved Saif over. Without a word Saif proceeded to pour them tea, it was a pale pink so Elijah was almost certain that it was already mixed with milk and honey and would probably be much too sweet for his tastes. With the poise and grace of someone who grew up with an older and younger sister he took a delicate sip from his teacup. His fears were confirmed, it was sweet enough to set his teeth on edge.

“Drake held a higher standard than most.” Evona said softly, delicate fingers trailing the edge of the saucer. “Is it a cliché to tell you he’d be proud of you?”

“Probably, but they say clichés are cliché for a reason.” He set the teacup down and decided to change the subject. “So, did they put the hole in your head?”

Evona blinked at him twice over her cup before setting it down.

“Of course they did, I can’t exactly pilot without it can I?”

“So you gonna get some practice in your shiny new VG before the big day?”

“Not at all, I am positive that I’ll be a natural at it.” She stated.

“Oh really? I’ll be sure to remember those words when Lumi sends me the video of your first crash.” He said with a smirk.

“Your sister hates me, I don’t doubt that she’ll go out of her way to do so.” She paused to take another sip before continuing. “It’s not new by the way, at least the core’s not.”

“Oh, are times a little tough miss thirteen million carat floor?”

“Of course not, the VG is a gift. Giiiiiift. I’m not about to complain about it.”

“Is there even some sort of tactical advantage to a new core over an old one?” His index finger and thumb went to his chin unconsciously as he thought it over.

“Not that any of the manuals I’ve read yet have mentioned. You should have seen the size of the tomes, when stacked they almost matched Saif in height! I doubt I’ll have finished them all by the time I’m shipped to the Academy let alone by my Birthday.”

“Oh, you’re going to the Academy?”

“Of course, did you think people just flew about willy nilly in war machines without so much as a license?” She playfully chastised him.

“Well excuse me for not brushing up on a machine I cant use.” He threw his head back and adopted a haughty expression. “Not all of us are so gifted.” He said, fully realizing the irony.

“Well, it’s not like you didn’t have the potential right?” Evona said. “I mean your mother is a rather talented Psychic isn’t she, and that’s usually hereditary?”

“I guess. I’ve been tested though not a drop of talent as far as telepathy or telekinesis goes.” It was rather fortunate that his gifts were tailored to no selling the detection equipment. “And it’s not like the payoff is at all worth it, she can talk to people without using her mouth, big whoop. Not worth having to wear a gaudy purple collar in most major cities in my opinion.”

“Life is full of ups and downs I suppose. Wait, how do you not know about the Academy? What did your sister do after getting Frozen Apollo?”

“Beat an instructor to test out, obviously.” He shrugged.

“Of course she would. I thought being able to do that was a myth.”

“So if you need a License or whatever to Pilot a VG where do all these terrorists get their hands on them and how do they use ‘em without proper book learnin’ and such?”

“How would I know? The black market? Piracy? Social-Cannon? And as far as using them goes most of them tend to die rather quickly. I suppose the ones that survive are the talented.”

“Yeah I guess that makes sense. So did you get to name it?”

“Actually yes, I think I named it something rather dashing.” She said with a smile.

“Oh did you? Lemme guess… Scheherazade?”

“No, far too common. Try again.”

“Djinn?”

“Nope”

“Alright I give, what’d you name it?” He asked, slightly exasperated.

“You were on the right track actually, I named it Falak.”

The lighter mood persisted a few hours more but soon enough it was time to say his goodbyes and head back to his room. On his trek back he noticed a shipping container in the courtyard with the image of a woman with long brown hair and an enormous pair of glasses taking up a good third of their face smiling and giving a double thumbs up. He recognized her of course, most people alive today would. Doctor Gloria Vain had seemingly printed her image on the container. With a disbelieving shake of his head he continued the walk back to his quarters, the day had been long and he still needed to pack. He looked forward to finally heading home.