Sorry it's been so long since my last update, I've had so much going on. I've been busy with work and I just haven't had the time or the energy recently to even consider writing. I had part of this chapter written out already so all I had to do was finish it off.
Hope you enjoy it :)
Rae' Rae x
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Laylah's POV
*The Royal Tour: Day Five*
It was day five of the Royal Tour and maybe I was being naïve or maybe I was just clueless, but I thought it was going rather well. Surprisingly.
It's not that I expected it to go badly or anything like that, but I wasn't expecting it to go as well as it has been. Everyone was super friendly, and I mean super friendly. Friendly to the point where I didn't even know if it was genuine anymore. It could very well be that that's how they were. Maybe they were just naturally super friendly to everyone. Regardless of that fact though, my guard was always up. Brooklyn was the one that told me I couldn't afford to be caught off guard and while it was her job to protect me, I also needed to protect myself if the need for that ever arose. I understood that of course.
Brooklyn.
She was, simply put, a difficult person to get through to.
We'd be on the road for five days now and I still knew nothing about her. Literally nothing. I've asked her multiple times to tell me something about her, but she refuses every time. She said, me knowing about her life wasn't relevant to this tour and while she was right, it was still frustrating. It was like I was talking to a brick wall most of the time and no matter how many times I tried to knock it down, she just kept reinforcing it further.
I wasn't a quitter though. I vowed I would get through to her by the end of the tour and I'd be damned if I didn't follow through with that.
I heard someone clear their throat, removing me from the little daydream that I was in. I looked to my left and saw Brooklyn looking at me, her eyes narrowed slightly, a sign that she was definitely not impressed with me right now,
"My apologies." I started, "I seemed to have tuned out a bit there." I turned my attention to the other two people in the room, who were also staring at me. We were joined by the two Generals of Avanos, Johan and Serena. They were the only people we hadn't had time to sit down and talk to. That's mainly because they've been busy the past few days and now is the only bit of free time that they have to talk to us and Brooklyn said it would be downright ridiculous if we didn't take this opportunity to talk to them,
"What is it that you were saying?" I finished. Serena gave me a smile and Johan chuckled lightly,
"We asked how you've found our realm. Understandably it must be very different to what you're used to back home."
I smiled and nodded, "That's true. It's... big. I mean, Selestris is pretty big but Avanos is way bigger. It's fascinating really."
"I hope General Myers has been good company so far." Johan asked. I spared a glance at Brooklyn who had a very blank expression. She was hard to read sometimes,
"We're getting there." I replied. I couldn't say she was good company, but she wasn't bad company either, so I couldn't complain really.
Brooklyn tugged at the end of her sleeves briefly before speaking, "Indeed we are, however, this conversation isn't about me Generals. I have advised the Princess to use this opportunity to gain insight into how you run things over here. I know first-hand, it's very different to how I run things back home, but she does not."
Serena nodded in agreement before looking over at me, "What would you like to know?"
I thought to myself for a minute, what would I like to know? I knew the basics to the role of a General but where I had only been with Brooklyn, who is General by herself, I guess it would be interesting to find out the difference in dynamics when there's two Generals,
"How do you delegate the tasks between you when there's two of you?"
"Priority and safety" Serena replied, prompting a look of confusion from me before she continued, "We first deem what is and isn't a top priority. Once we determine that, we then grade them from most to least dangerous. Whatever is the most dangerous, is handled by Johan and the rest is handled by me. If in the case it's something that has to be handled by the both of us, it is put to the side until later, unless it is of the utmost priority."
My ears twitched slightly at the sound of footsteps passing outside the door behind us. While the people weren't exactly close, my ears were very in tune to sounds, even the faintest ones,
"I spoke to Commander Lewin on Monday and he told me that there hasn't been a new training regime for the past twenty years. Why is that?"
I could see in the corner of my eye, Brooklyn raise an eyebrow at that question, but I also knew that she thought it was a good question to ask by the way she did it,
"There's no need for it." Johan replied. I furrowed my eyebrows at that response,
"No need? It's twenty-nineteen General, times have changed. While I know that your military is one of the best, don't you think it could be better? I mean, you're still using weapons that were made by Reylar Enterprise almost five years ago. There have been at least seven new models since then. Have you considered that?"
They both nodded, "We have, but we know what we're used to, and we know what we're working with. We'll change it when we see the benefit of changing it. As you said, our military is one of the best and we intend to keep it like that."
I looked at Brooklyn who gave me a small nod. She knew I wanted to continue and that was her telling me that I was okay to do so,
"I should've rephrased my sentence General. What I meant to say was, your military is one of the best for now. While I don't know what every kingdom is doing yet, I'm sure they're well on their way to updating their regimes, including their weapons. While you are correct in saying that your military is one of the best, it is only one of the best for now, until everyone else surpasses you, which might be a lot sooner than you think."
In the corner of my eye, I saw a small smile come across Brooklyn's face. While she was smiling now, I knew I was going to get grilled for it later. Hopefully that tiny smile meant it wouldn't be too much of a grilling though.
Jonah and Serena looked at each other briefly before turning their attention back to me,
"Luckily for you, you're a Princess." Johan stated.
Brooklyn leant forward in her chair and placed her palms on the table, "Is that a threat?"
"Merely a fact. If anyone else had spoken to us the way she just did, this conversation would be going very differently."
"I'm sure. Just as you were stating a fact, she was merely stating her opinion and there's nothing wrong with that. She is entitled to that. There was nothing wrong with her tone but there was a lot wrong with yours. I'd watch it next time."
Johan stared down Brooklyn, who was not backing down. I felt my ears twitch again, but it was a lot more than the last time, letting me know that someone was literally outside the door,
"Whoever is standing outside the door, you may come in now." I spoke loudly enough for them to hear.
Everyone else turned towards the door alongside me and we came face to face with one of the guards.
He bowed to all of us first before speaking, "Apologies for the interruption Generals. Princess. We have an intruder on the premises. The situation is under control but I wanted to inform you of what's happening."
"Princess, maybe this would be a good opportunity for you to observe the lock up process when it comes to an intruder."
I nodded at Brooklyn's suggestion before looking over at Johan and Serena, who nodded in agreement,
"Bruno. Show them the process please."
The guard, who we now know is named Bruno, nodded and bowed and Brooklyn and I stood up from our seats,
"Generals, thank you for today, hopefully we can talk again soon."
They both bowed to us. Whether that was a sign of agreement, I had no idea. After what I said, it was highly doubtful though.
Brooklyn and I turned to face the guard and followed him out of the room towards what I assumed would be the dungeons. Ours was fairly small because we never really had that many intruders. I mean, the only real intruders we got were people on the outside trying to get a glance at our world inside the walls. Other than that, the dungeons were mainly reserved for criminals. I imagined after this tour though, all of that was going to change.
I looked over at Brooklyn to see her surveying the area, which was nothing new. She tended to do it every time we walked in and out of a room. Sometimes she tried to do it subtlety, but she was far from subtle, as much as she'd like to think otherwise.
Once we reached the dungeon entrance, Brooklyn silently asked me if I was okay, to which I nodded in reply. She really needed to stop treating me like I was a child. We were the same age.
The guard entered in a security code and the metal door opened up in front of us. I was curious about something though,
"Bruno. Who has access to the security code?"
He briefly turned to face me before continuing to walk ahead, "The King and Queen, the Generals and all of the guards."
My expression changed to one of surprise, "All of them?"
He nodded but didn't say anything else. From what I had read in books, it was extremely rare for more than four people to have access to the security codes of the dungeons. Now, in other circumstances, there would be an exception. Take Equanoras for example. The only people that know the code are apparently, the two Queens, along with their royal guards, Tatum and Sasha, alongside their commander of training Drayton. Whether that has changed now, no one really knows but even if it did, it probably hasn't changed by much.
The fact that over thirty people, if that, knew the security code here in Avanos, was both shocking and worrying. However, it wasn't my place to speak up about it. It was bad enough I questioned their choice of regime and weaponry, I wasn't about to push my luck any further,
"Here we are. Prisoner number six-two-nine-zero-one. Brought in today for intruding. Held here until questioning."
I walked up to the door slowly and looked over it. The security was solid, but anything can be broken into,
"Open the door please."
Bruno looked at me before looking over at Brooklyn. He went to open his mouth, but I cut him off before he could speak,
"I know I'm not your Queen and I'm also not your General, but I am your superior in this situation. General Myers was not the one that asked you to open the door, I was. So open the door. Now."
He bowed to me and stepped forward to unlock the door. Once the door swung open, I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion at what I was seeing in front of me,
"You do understand you're holding a teenager?"
Bruno nodded, "An intruder is an intruder, regardless of their age."
I walked into the cell and looked down at the female intruder. She was cowered up in fear in the corner with her head down. As I took another step forward, she tried as hard as she could to move away from me, but the wall behind her was preventing her from doing so. My heart broke at the sight of it.
I started to crouch down to her level, when Brooklyn placed a hand on my shoulder, "She may look innocent, but innocence can be deceiving. Just remember that."
I nodded in reply before I bent down to the girls level. She didn't raise her head but that was okay,
"Do you know why you're here?" I asked, to which she nodded. At least she understood what I was saying,
"Can you tell me why?"
She lifted her head up slightly, "It was a dare." She whispered.
I felt for her, I really did but she seemed old enough to know right from wrong and I knew that she knew what she did was wrong,
"What's your name?" I asked softly,
"Emilia."
I sighed and stood up to my full height, turning to face Bruno, "What is the punishment for intruding?"
"The final decision is down to the King and Queen but it can vary. It ranges from community service all the way to death. It honestly depends on the severity."
At the word death, Emilia let out a little whimper. You could tell she was regretful but I was taking Brooklyn's words into account. Innocence could indeed be very deceiving and I didn't know the full story of the intrusion.
"Do let me know the outcome of Emilia's case."
He nodded and I gestured for Brooklyn to follow me out. She started walking behind me as we made our way out of the dungeons. Once we got back above ground, we silently started walking back to our rooms, until I decided to ask her something,
"General. If you were in charge of handing down a sentence to Emilia, what would be your verdict?'
"She's young but it also seems like she's easily manipulated. She said it was a dare but she should have known better. Avanos is a major kingdom and to intrude here as part of a dare is just incomprehensible. However, like I said, she's young and I'm sure she has learnt her lesson. With that in mind, I'd probably give her a few days in the cell to think about what she's done, followed by community service."
I hummed in agreement, "I agree. She reminds me of myself a tiny bit. Rebellious. I would've done a lot of things a few years ago just to piss off my parents but intrude on another kingdom? It is, as you quite rightly said, incomprehensible. Let's hope she learnt from her mistake."
She nodded, "I'm sure she has. Have you learnt from yours?"
I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to face her, "Excuse me?"
"While I was extremely proud of your confidence earlier regarding Avanos' weaponry, do not let that happen again. This tour is to gain knowledge and insight, not question the current regimes."
I raised an eyebrow at her, "Correct me if I'm wrong General but I don't recall you stopping me. I looked at you and you said nothing."
"It would have been rude of me to interrupt you Princess. I agreed with everything you said, their weaponry and their training regimes are outdated and you might be the first person outside of their kingdom to say that straight to their face. However, you need to understand when to sometimes keep things to yourself."
I stared her down for a few seconds before I slightly narrowed my eyes, "May I ask you a question General?" She nodded, "Are you with me or are you against me?"
She straightened up her stance at that question, "My job is to protect you throughout this Tour-"
I raised my hand to cut her off, "That isn't what I asked. I didn't ask what your job required. I asked if you are with me or against me. Your job role does not define you. Your job does not speak or act for you. You are your own person and it's about time you started to come to that realisation. Now let me ask you again. Are you with me or against me?"
She stared at me, never wavering her eye contact. Her hesitation was expected, considering the fact that we hadn't known each other for that long,
"I am with you."
I gave her a small smile, "Good. Let's keep it that way shall we? You are here to escort me, not question me. It would be wise of you to know the difference."
She bowed her head, "Of course, Princess. My apologies."
I gave her one last looked before I turned around and continued walking to my room. Wherever she went was up to her, at this point I didn't care.
For her to keep silent earlier and then question me about it, wasn't a surprise but it most definitely wasn't appreciated.
It made me wonder whether there really was more to her than what meets the eye. I said I would try to get her to open up to me as the Tour continued but I now knew that was going to be way more difficult than I first anticipated.