Wardens of Elysia

Chapter 22 ▪ The New Preceptor

Tierra awoke to the sounds of Maizy talking through a mouthful of toothpaste, Karys dragging the dresser chair to don her curls, and Serin opening the closet for her socks.

Maizy was mumbling about waking Tierra up now because apparently, they tried to do so several minutes ago but to no avail. So the heavy sleeper had to do all her morning preparations in a flash.

The first bell rang to call for breakfast and though Tierra instructed them to go ahead, Karys insisted on waiting for her.

A few minutes while in the shower, Tierra heard a knock on their door. Someone opened and a familiar voice introduced herself. It was Lucie! There were squeals from the girls in the room.

Tierra had to skip a body scrub or two to get back into their bunks right away. She dried herself and saw her friends huddling over food trays. The melons looked extra juicy.

"Tierra, we met Lucie!" Karys announced, her face as animated as a toddler given sweets.

The princess grinned and ran to hug her handmaiden, still on her bathrobe, "Lucie, I missed you so!"

"She b-brought us our breakfast!" Maizy told, munching on a yellow corn cob.

"Straight from the kitchen!" Serin added, biting on a sausage.

"Now just to remind you, that's only for today. Tomorrow and for the rest of the months, you must go mingle with the other academics," Lucie said, a finger raised in the air.

They pretended to complain while giggling.

"You must be trained. I went through this myself," the handmaiden kept saying, fixing a plate for Tierra.

The girls exchanged glances. Karys found the guts to ask, "How does it feel Lucie...not having been charged?"

There was a sudden silence, but Lucie smiled at the plate she held.

"I've always wanted to be a watcher." She looked at them, grinning. "I think all teenage girls want to..." and went on to adding fruits to the plate again, "But when I wasn't charged and the queen herself asked me to be her first daughter's handmaiden, I knew I wouldn't exchange it for the world."

Tierra's face softened and she hugged her faithful helper. "You're bluffing, Lucie."

"Oh no, no, it's true, my Princess," as she turned to stroke the teenager's cheek, "It became my single joy to attend to you growing up." She served the plateful to Tierra.

"Now up, up you go. And get your butts moving before you'll be late for class!"

--

When Lucie denied seeing any book from her favorite robe after she sent it to the washers, Tierra got the more curious.

She eyed Eros who was laughing about something with Reed. What secret has this sword that we can't seem to find out?

Tierra's thoughts were disrupted by the sound of Maizy's pen. She was writing speedily, like an introduction of the day.

"A hefty morning, class!" came Miss Deci, wearing knee-high boots, a navy blue skirt, a white ruffled top and her dark hair gathered to a bun.

"Everyone ready for today's activities?" Miss Deci piped as the class straightened up.

"Now where did we leave off yesterday," she placed her handbag on her desk, "Questions, yes. From our station trip," and before she could look at the crowd, several hands shot up. "But we will have to make this quick. Yes, Miss Fummel?" Tierra noticed that Miss Deci wasn't even looking at her list. She must have memorized their names overnight.