35. Earth Visit
1980 Words
We grab some lunch and go to the planet. We get announced to Dipak's office again, and he meets us on the 5th floor. He's very green. His color is off.
"I'm sorry about the brains."
"Nonsense," I smile. "We are grateful you allowed us to use them to fix our ship. Seeing as the ship is fixed now, I figured you would want them back. It also appears that I stole 1 of your shuttles. I apologize for that. They are alike, and I believe I used the wrong 1. But we did bring it back as well. There was no damage to it."
"Thank you. I didn't even notice that."
"Neither did I. They are identical. I believe I took the wrong 1 to my ship once."
"Do we have any of their shuttles?"
"There is 1 on the ship."
"Bring it down."
"Yes, sir."
I laugh. "I'm not the only person who did it."
"Could have been any of us. I don't think we were paying attention to that. We're in the arena now. I'll show you how to get over to our royal boxes."
"Thank you, sir."
Alden puts his arm around me, and we go with Dipak to a royal box, as they call it. There's plenty of seating, fans, and servants. It has a nice view of the event floor below. Luke sits in the back of the box playing with some of his animals. Nadine's mates are randomly around the box with a few other members of their table. I also see a few extra princes that are visiting. I look to the side and see 2 other boxes like this 1. The middle seems to have the older generation of table members and their mates in it, as well as a few visiting kings and queens. The far box is full of girls. No doubt Nadine's friends and her. I sit beside Alden on a couch and watch the event. But nothing is happening there.
"Would you like something to drink sir, ma'am?"
"I'm fine, thank you."
"Some water please."
"Of course, ma'am. I'll get that right away for you."
Omar sits in a chair and faces us. "So the magic box that shows up when people play the game. You believe it could show up without the game?"
"Of course," Dipak, Mason, and Nik tilt their heads to hear me better. Assholes. Alden sees it too. "I think you could build it with 7 or 8 powerful magicians. You would need 1 per side, 1 top, 1 bottom, they would hold it all together and bind it magically, while the last 2 would essentially program the box. Add its magical abilities and things like that. It would not be easy, but it is possible."
Alden smirks. "But they had better be some damn good magicians. Say you summon a massive snake into the box and a side comes down. That snake is now your planet's problem. So make sure you trust the magicians who build that box, and they know what they're doing."
Victor laughs. "Kind of like how the ice giant was our problem."
"Exactly."
"What happened with that?" Tobias stares at him.
"I was playing my game and summoned an ice giant. The box came down as I killed the villain. The ice giant was then throwing ice at me. I couldn't undo the magic while I was continuously blocking, so I announced there was an ice giant in the ballroom and assistance was needed."
Omar nods. "Our game seems to safe guard against that. Which is nice. I'm not sure what I would do against an ice giant."
Tye walks by. "I would piss myself."
We laugh.
Victor chokes out. "Well, if you got close enough and pissed on him, that would at least melt a part of it."
"No way in hell. I'm going the other way. Dipak and Marcus can deal with it."
We crack up laughing.
Marcus rubs his eyes. "What the hell are we gonna do?"
"I don't know. Not my problem. I didn't summon it."
Victor tilts his head at Marcus and gives him a dumb look. "Blow warm air at it. It'll melt. Fire would be best against it, but hot or warm air would kill it eventually. It would just take a couple extra minutes."
Alden nods. "Not too hot though. You don't want to cook everyone in the ballroom. And for some reason it's always in the ballroom."
"Can we build a room for my game? Big like the ballroom but seating down the sides and a permanent area for the game on 1 end."
"We can check into it, baby. That would be fun. Everyone likes watching the magician matches."
I snuggle into his side. "I love you."
"I love you too." I get a kiss on the head.
Victor nods. "That would be safer than the ballroom. Since the classrooms are above it."
"Yea, we'll figure out a place for it."
"The race is going to start."
I go to the rail with Alden. He keeps a tight grip on me. I glance over and there is about a 20-foot drop. That would hurt.
I snuggle him and there's a loud bang. People on horses take off running as fast as they can. I point at them and jump up and down. "MY TURN."
"No baby. They know what they're doing. Maybe we can get you a ride on a horse later. We'll see if they do that."
"Ok."
They run in a couple of circles and then stop. I don't get it. Alden leads me back to our couch. "Some people like watching races baby. They see who has the fastest horse."
"Oh. I would be ok with a slow horse too."
"I would be ok seeing your smile if you got to sit on it."
The brains announce "Cinderella Snapped." I guess that's the name of the horse that won. 3 seconds later Nadine, Thora, and a few other girls get up on the rails and sing a song though. They seem to like it and the crowd loves it.
Luke sits on the other side of me. "I'm bored."
"I bet. Are you the only kid in the castle?"
"Yea. Sometimes I get to bring friends up here for these, but everyone was busy today."
"I'm sorry. I don't know how to make this less boring though."
Victor sits. "This makes me want to go to a concert."
Luke sits straight up. "Can I come?"
"I don't think your planet does them yet. Maybe someday you can come visit ours. I'll take you to a concert then."
"Dad, don't let me go anywhere else."
"It can be dangerous out there."
"He won't let me have a birthday party either. He says we don't do them here. But I bet you a whole gold bar. They do them for their babies."
Alden smiles. "Next time we come, we'll have a little party for you."
I nod quickly. "He is my nephew, he needs things."
"What are you into? You like camping, fishing, hunting, painting, swords, dancing..."
"Ew no."
"What do you like or do you need anything?"
He shakes his head. "I like fishing and animals. I can read now."
"Good job."
"I like boats."
Alden shakes his head. "You're young for us to be giving you your own boat."
"Maybe not," I shake my head and Luke gets the biggest smile. "They have a river here. Maybe a little river boat. He could go out on it and fish."
"We would have to talk to his dad about that. Putting a kid on moving water does have risks."
"That's true."
"My dad would say no."
"You said you like animals?" Victor gets his phone out while Luke jumps up to see what it is. He is all over that phone. "I took Kehlani to a carnival awhile back. She got to ride this." He plays the video of the bird. "That's a bird on our planet."
"Can I ride it?"
"We might be able to borrow 1 and bring it for you to ride on, but we couldn't keep it or move it to a different planet permanently."
"I bet you have so many different animals than we do."
I smile. He's tired. "All planets have different animals. And there are so many planets. I'm sure you'll have an amazing time exploring when you get older."
He yawns and lays down on the seat. But he does not touch me. I reach down and rub his hair. He scoots closer and lays his head in my lap. I keep rubbing his hair, and he goes to sleep.
"You're going to be an amazing mom someday, baby."
"I'll try not to mess them up too badly, love."
Victor cracks up laughing. "As long as they don't turn out like Alden, we'll be alright."
I smile at Alden. "I think your parents did a fine job."
"With me, yes. But I don't know what the hell happened with Victor."
We laugh and Marcus picks up Luke. "I'm sorry. I didn't notice he was sleeping on you."
"He was fine. We were talking about animals and exploring. He's a good boy."
"Yea he is." Then he carries him off.
Dipak jumps up on the rail. "The concludes the races for today. Everyone enjoy your night. Carnival and concessions will be open until 2am."
Tye yells, "ALL ROYALTY AND ADVISORS WILL BE IN THE BALLROOM FOR DINNER."
I sigh and snuggle into Alden.
"What's wrong baby?"
"I was hoping to have you for dinner."
His eyes flash dark. "You can be my dessert."
I get a little kiss from him and Victor pushes him. "Walk." Then he looks at Tobias. "I swear they get stuck everywhere."
"They're in love. It'll probably happen forever."
We stop walking. I check the bond. Sure enough, the in love bond is connected on both sides. He spins me towards him and picks me up. I hook my legs on his hips, and he gives me the deepest kiss.
"NO. WALK. I swear. The only thing I advise is for them to knock it off and move."
Tobias cracks up laughing.
We get seated in the ballroom and we're snuggly. Dinner is decent. It's some kind of pasta. Then Nadine dances with her mates. Not sure why we have to watch this. I sigh again, wondering if we're ever going to get out of here.
Alden kisses my head. "Don't worry, only 6 more."
I spit out the water I was trying to drink and we laugh. Dipak comes over, "Did you want to dance?"
"Sure, we can dance a song."
I give him a dirty look. We're never getting out of here.
He winks at me and helps me up. He leads me to the dance floor and the music starts. It's a nice slow song. He twirls me a couple of times and spins me.
"You are a good dancer, sir."
"You're amazing. Let's see if you can do this." He changes the music to something faster and spins me fast. Then he dances sexy with me. He lifts me up and gives me a kiss, then spins me as he's setting me down. I've never seen anything like this but it's so fun.
The song ends and I jump up and down. "Again."
Then I get hit on the side. "MY TURN." It was a bad angle. I drop to the ground.
Alden helps me up and Tye is checking on me. He checks my elbow and heals it, but there's nothing wrong with me. "I'm not hurt guys. I'm fine."
Alden glares at Tye. "WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING?"
"I don't know. She gets excited."
Alden picks me up and carries me out. We go up to the ship.
- Writer
