Drone

VII

VII

It took awhile after Phoebe woke up to understand where she was.

She just laid there for a moment, watching the clear butterflies fluttering across her ceiling. They played amongst the flowers that dangled down. Every now and again, petals would drop from them and land all around her room. They littered across her bed, her, and her floor. The sheer curtains over the wide windows that doubled as balcony doors seemed to let it just enough sunlight to wake her up but not enough to burn her eyes.

The room was incredibly similar to the one Wasp created for her at Second Point. It even had the waterfall. But this waterfall fed into a reflecting pool and the balcony that looked out over the entirety of Nest was new.

She sat up in the bed, the silk of the sheets caressing her skin along with the silk nightgown Wasp had provided. He had created an entire wardrobe for her. The man had impeccable taste.

As she was sitting up, a flower petal drifted down from the ceiling and landed on her head. Filled with wonder at such a simple thing, Phoebe reached up and grasped the petal between her fingers. She couldn't help but smile at it.

A magical flower from a magical palace set in a magical valley; how did things like this happen? How did they happen so quickly that it took Phoebe's breath away? She brought the petal to her lips and kissed it gently.

The action reminded her of Wasp. They had kissed on his bridge until Phoebe had been dizzy with wants and feelings. Then Dorone had come through the gates calling Wasp to some trouble the farmers were having at the plant farm. There was no disease here, no pests. This place was a paradise. The problem had been simply that some of the magic in the area had warped the fruit and made it too small.

Energy, Wasp told her, could be warped or damaged. It just happened naturally in the course of manipulating it. It was a very easy thing to fix most of the time, he just needed to be certain to make sure he caught it early. It wasn't a big deal when the fruit would shrink on the vine but if the problem was left unchecked it could lead to the people working on it shrinking where they stood or worse.

So he had given her permission to explore the palace, to do anything she pleased, and he would be back later.

Phoebe had eagerly done just that. The palace, though there were no speakers anywhere, seemed to have gentle music coming out of the air. It wasn't overpowering, sometimes she had to listen for it to even notice it, but it was there. The entrance hall had a great chandelier that Phoebe, having seen what Wasp had done with the gem in her pocket, was pretty sure was made of pure diamond. Everything was constructed of some kind of precious stone or metal. Be it marble or diamond or gold even platinum. The softest silks she had ever touched decorated the furniture. Pillows were made of incredibly soft feathers, the windows were all wide and allowed in sunshine to brighten every room, and the wood of the different tables or chairs was all shined to a brilliant finish.

She found the dinning room by following her nose. It was enormous with a long table filled with food that all steamed as if it were freshly made. Chicken and ham and greens and pies and cakes and wines from every country of every flavor. While sampling the wide range of selection, Phoebe accidentally spilled some cream from a puff onto the elegant red rug that ran under the mahogany table. Before she could search out napkin or a rag to wipe it up with, it simply vanished from the floor.

No matter how much she ate – she kept picking at each plate she came to sample all of the delicious foods laid out there – the food on the table never really lessened. She took a small sliver of a a mouthwatering strawberry pie and, when she walked by it later, the sliver had been replaced.