Empires of Saturn, Part One

Chapter 12, Beach Brand

Chpt. 12 Beach Brand

A knock on the door woke Alpha up, and he looked at the clock on his nightstand, which told him it was morning. Despite Titan being in late dusk in its orbit, the Standard, 16-hour day schedule was still what people used to dictate when to sleep and when to be awake. Out his window, he could see Torhindred getting further away from Titan, Alrotha nearly directly between Titan and Saturn, and Eympas just past Alrotha, also on its way to the other side of Saturn, away from Titan. Lyriptus was in the other direction, with Titan between it and the fatherworld, at the moment.

Groaning tiredly, he sat up in his wooden bed, pushing the green blanket and white sheet forward, saying, "Come in."

The door opened, and his father walked in, carrying a plate of toast in one hand and a glass of milk in the other, smiling. "Yer mother made ya this, but ya never came down."

Alpha looked at him in confusion for a moment, taking the plate from him, Draconis setting the glass on a coaster on his nightstand. "She didn't tell me she made that." Alpha said, wondering what his father was talking about.

"Yes she did, and ya told 'er alright. Check yer phone if you don't believe me."

Alpha did just that, and sure enough, there was a message from his mother about 10 minutes ago telling him she made him toast, and then him acknowledging it. "...I 'ave... no recollection of that 'appening." Alpha said. "But regardless, thank you."

His father nodded, saying, "Yer welcome. Now, off to work for me. Oh, and please go talk to Jeiko when yer done. From the redness in 'is eyes, I'd guess 'e's been... cryin' a lot, and... when we tried to talk to 'im, 'e just asked us to leave, and to let 'im know when you were up. Wouldn't really say why though."

"Well, go tell 'im then." Alpha said obviously.

Draconis replied, "I figured I'd let ya tell 'im yerself, but... alright."

He left as Alpha began eating his breakfast, in bed, and a few moments later, a sad-looking, red-eyed Jeiko appeared in his door, his hair a mess and his wings dragging on the floor behind him. "Prince?" He asked, requesting permission to come in.

"Come in. What's the matter?" Alpha asked, chewing another bite as he looked on the miserable Rimir empathetically.

Jeiko walked in and closed the door, and oddly asked, "What do you do when you have bad dreams?"

Alpha raised an eyebrow, tilting his head. "...What?"

Jeiko looked self-conscious, shifting on his feet slightly.

"Come 'ere." Alpha said, patting the end of his bed. Jeiko obliged, walking over and sitting on the end of it, looking at the prince for guidance. "First of all, they're just dreams Jeiko, not real experiences."

"I know." The Rimir replied. "But sometimes... they're memories, that feel so real..."

"You 'ad e dream about bad memories?" Alpha asked, taking a drink from the milk glass.

"No. I had a dream about good memories with people that I'll never see again." Jeiko explained miserably. "A few years ago, my brothers and I had a big party day with all of our friends while my parents and sister were at a wedding. My best friend and I were teaching everyone how to make skylights and sparkle bubbles, and all kinds of other flashy, colorful forms of party tricks. Later that evening, my oldest brother got me an amazing present- though I doubt you'd understand it, being human- and my other brother played games with me and my friends for hours. We were so happy, but now all of that is gone for me."