6:30 pm
Alex's cheeks throbbed with the effort of smiling, and she glanced sideways to see the quiver in Dix's cheeks as she struggled next to her. There was a large camera standing before them, with an extremely loud and bossy man operating it. He was constantly moving, fidgeting with lighting, the camera lens, buttons, their hair, dresses, the people. The boys stood behind the camera, massaging their jaws and loosening their ties, done with pictures for the moment.
Alex longed to relax her face, but anytime she moved even a muscle, the cameraman hurried over and adjusted her back. Her feet were killing her, the heels not her favourite footwear. Dix, standing next to her, eventually sighed and looked at her parents. "Mum, can we please be done already. Surely one of the thousand photos you've taken is good enough!"
The queen laughed and turned to the bossy man, "You heard your future queen, I'm sure that is enough". Alex relaxed and let her face revert to its usual vaguely downturned expression. She turned to Dix and whispered, "Thank goodness, I thought my lips were about to fall off." The sheer effort of speaking made her exhausted face hurt and she sighed, Dix laughed at her discomfort. Alex stepped towards her friends, who had made their way to sit beneath a large tree, bottles of water and snacks in their hands.
Dix walked to Jordan and plucked the bottle from his hand, grabbing a biscuit from the box he had already half-devoured and sat next to him, head on his shoulder. Declan and Bear stood to the side, nudging each other gently, trying to not draw attention to their flirtation. Alex took the bottle of water and packet of chips from her boyfriend's hand and leant in for a soft kiss. She turned to stand in front of him, allowing his arms to wrap around her waist as she took a large gulp of the water.
Alex laughed when DC tried to steal some chocolate from Jordan's stash, she knew how much her friend loved it. Jordan smacked his girlfriend's hand away, instead scooping up his stash and leading her in the direction of the RecRoom. Bear and Declan had mysteriously vanished when no one had been watching, they'd been doing that a lot lately. Alex had a suspicion that her friends planned to leave her and Kaiden alone for a bit, which Alex was extremely grateful for. She leant up and kissed him, savoring it. His steady hand on her back and gentle fingers tilting her face toward his, helped to block out the wolf whistles erupting from the crowd. She knew everyone could see, and her face wasn't hiding her embarrassment as she felt the hot blood slowly creep up her neck. But standing there, in Kaiden's arms, she didn't care, she was just happy to be done with school and, hopefully, the memories of Aven forever.
A few moments later, everyone started to converge in the dining hall for the celebrations. Decorations filled the room, the mismatched tables and chairs pushed back to the sides to make room for a dance floor. The banquet immediately caught Jordan's attention and he dragged Dix from talking with one of the parents to go check it out. Bear and Declan suddenly appeared behind Alex and Kaiden, their faces expressing some shock at the suddenly formal dining area. Silver and gold decorations hung from the ceiling and a banner stretched from one corner of the room to the other, with "CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2023" elegantly painted in shimmering silver and gold paint. Many of the decorations looked almost Meyrian in nature, so it was only a little surprising to see Roka, Kyia and Zain standing in the corner, trying, and failing, to look inconspicuous. Zain smirked at Alex and whispered "hello little human", which Alex's Meyarin scenes picked up on.
Alex turned to Kaiden and whispered, "Give me a second, I see some friends." Kaiden glanced up from his conversation with Bear and Declan to see Zain staring at him and laughed. Kaiden nodded towards the group, and turned back to his conversation with his friends. "Hey, guys! What are you doing here?" Alex questioned as she approched.
"We're here to wish you a happy graduation!" Roka smiled at Alex, one of those dazzling smiles that all Meryians seemed to possess.
"Your friend, Kaiden, invited us. Congratulations!" Kyia drew Alex in for a quick hug.
"Yes, yes, good job little human on not dying," Zain grunted, but there was a slight smile in his eyes and a pull at his lips.
"Seriously, still with the 'little human'? Actually, I'm not going to bother." Alex rolled her eyes in Zain's direction before turning back to see Kyia's hand in Roka's an expensive ring sparkling in the light. "Oh yes, how was the wedding, Queen Kyia?!"
Zain muttered "Not this again" before rolling his eyes and going to inspect the platters of food.
"Sorry about him, but I think living through the wedding was 'romance' enough for him, not even counting the many times we've been asked to talk about it." Kyia and Roka began the story, sparing no detail. To sum it up, it was an extravagant wedding with hundreds of guests and lots of dancing, the only reason why Alex was not able to go was because the unfortunate timing - the wedding had been directly in the middle of her exam period.
"Sounds amazing, I'm glad you had a good time. I would have loved to see Zain in his formal clothing." Alex could hardly picture Zain standing in such fancy clothing, and laughed even at the idea. After a few more minutes of chatting, during which Zain came back over and mocked Alex some more, she excused herself and joined back in with the group of her friends. Her cheeks began aching again from grinning, but this time it was a true, genuine smile and the pain was a reminder of how much love there was in the room for her.
Dix came up to her and took her arm, attempting to lead her to the banquet hall but with little luck, after excusing themselves from one conversation, someone else would come over to introduce themselves to the future Queen of Medora and to the women who saved all mortal lives. Though Alex was unendingly thankful that the war had been one and was in the past now, she still felt uncomfortable with all the praise she seemed to constantly be enduring. After all, it wasn't just she who had saved Medora. With out the help of all her friends, teachers, and even the people she barely considered acquaintances, she never would have survived long enough to even consider winning the war. The worst part about it was that, with every smile, every tear and every hand gripped in thanks, Alex was reminded of the pain that had occurred, and the amount of people who had had to die because of Aven and his followers.
After what felt like hours of nodding and smiling and awkward laughter in response to the unending flattery they finally made it to the table. Piles of food spilled over the large plates, a range of dishes from mini pizzas, to nachos, to chocolate mousse, to fruit salad. Anything anyone could possibly want was there, including the chocolate the Dix was immediately drawn to. Alex started piling her plate with food and dove in, shoveling pizza and nachos into her mouth and taking big gulps of the soft drinks that repeatedly filled up her cup.
Just as she moved onto the dessert portion of the pile of her food, Kaiden's aunt, Nisha approached her. Quickly wiping her mouth on a napkin, she looked up, smiling at Nisha's warm eyes. "Congratulations Alex, you did amazingly."
"Thank you, Nisha. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed learning here, but I don't think I will miss the constant reminders of Aven. Honestly, your nephew is one of the few reasons I've stayed sane!" Alex laughed lightly, and looked across to where her boyfriend was politely talking with a large group of important business people. Nisha, who was leading them towards a less crowded section of the room, glanced between Alex and Kaiden and a smile began to pull at her lips. Moving on from the moment, Alex continued, "So, what did you wish to speak to me about?"
"Well, I was wondering what you have planned for your career and was going to offer my help. I assumed you were planning on finding a career in some form of combat centered environment, based on your apprenticeship at least." Nisha stopped at the edge of the crowd, turning to face Alex, "I also wished to offer you a job opportunity. There is an opening in my team and I believe you would be well suited to it. No pressure of course."
"Oh... well, um... thank you." Alex was shocked. She obviously had considered her career, she had in fact spent many hours pondering that exact question but had never come to an answer. The obvious choice was to take a job exactly like the one Nisha was offering. But, whenever this thought arose, Alex always had a feeling of distaste. She had never been someone who loved violence, and her time preparing for the war and fighting in it had taught her that, as good as she was at it, and as much as she knew it was her job to protect her friends, it was not something she wanted to surround herself with for the rest of her life.
Nisha, noticing Alex's expression of concern and confusion, spoke up. "Take some time. A few days, a few weeks if you need it, there is no pressure. Just let me know when you have reached your decision." Alex looked back up at her and heaved a thankful sigh. Nisha smiled softly, her eyes warm and comforting, kind. She placed her hand on Alex's cheek, in a gentle, motherly way and spoke again, this time softly. "I want the best for you Alex I really do, and I am glad to see how happy you make my nephew. I just want you to know that I am always here for you to talk to about anything, especially since I know your parents are not as familiar with this world as you are." She dropped her hand and grinned, like her nephew the smile reached her eyes and immediately cleared the slightly intense atmosphere. Glancing over Alex's shoulder at someone who had called for her, she went to leave, but paused, laying the palm of a hand on Alex's arm she said, "And do not worry, even if you do not choose to take the job, I will not be offended."