A normal life

Close encounter

I got back quite a bit later than I originally intended. Only after it got dark. Not that it ever gets that dark with two moons lighting up the night sky. It’s less dark than Earth, for example, less morbid.

The sky has a green tint to it at night and our days themselves consist out of 42 hours. By that math being 16 cycles old on my planet should mean I have lived the same number of hours as a 28.3-year-old on earth. That is terrible. Thank heavens I am not there. I am still a teenager and loving every minute of it. Our second moon will be a red moon soon.

That is when we have our annual festival. This happens when the volcanoes on the moon start erupting due to the gravitational pull caused by the first moon. It is quite spectacular. I have a lot of preparation to do before then.

Unfortunately, I must lock up all my pets. They can get rather paranoid and aggravated when this occurs. The volcanic rock that shoots down to our planet looks similar to millions of shooting stars. Luckily they all burn out before they can enter the atmosphere, so it is not dangerous at all, but it is breath-taking. Everyone, whether you attend the festival of stars, as we call it or not, stood outside to appreciate the beauty.

The only animals that do not seem to be fazed by this are the dragons. That is a particularly good thing because keeping something like that locked up in a confined space is never a good idea. They tend to get rather destructive when this happens.

Anthony: “Hello, are you still here? I thought you would have headed inside by now.”

“Not yet, I still have a ton of work to do before I head inside. Might go faster if I had a pair of extra mussels around, but I guess I will settle for your help if you are willing?”

Anthony: “You seem to be doing alright by yourself. I doubt that I would have the strength needed for the job in any case. Plus, it has been a long day. I will be heading in now. See you tomorrow.”

He turns around and walks away slowly with a grin on his face.

“Hey asshole, as I am your princess, I hereby order you to help me.”

Anthony turns around.

Anthony: “My princess? Did I just hear you correctly? Did you not mean to say, The princess? Then again, I like the sound of what you said so much more, my princess!”

I can feel my heart pounding as he walks up to me. Closer and closer. He is standing so close I can feel the heat of his breath on me. He reaches forward placing his hand behind my head pushing up against me.

I think my heart just stopped, or it is beating so fast that I cannot hear it anymore. I close my eyes. Is this really happening? And then it happens.

He grabs the hammer behind me and walks towards the bench where the nails are.

Anthony: “Are you ok?”

I open my eyes and give him the best death stare I know.

Anthony: “Where do you need me to start my lady? Oh my, I don’t think I have ever seen your eyes this shade of grey before.”

“It feels like, when you leaned in for the hammer you bumped my back against the table. I had to close my eyes to endure the extreme pain.”

Anthony seemed sincerely worried by the expression on his face. As he opens his mouth to undoubtedly apologize, I burst out laughing. He joined in and we stayed up most of the evening fixing the kennels. Joking and laughing and unfortunately just that. I started to wonder if he even liked me in that way or if it was just all one big joke to him.

The next morning at breakfast Nessy is already enjoying her second cup of coffee. I don’t care what planet you live on coffee is still coffee.

Nessy: “Morning sleepy head. Did you have fun last night? Anthony sorry Anthonieos said he was going to see if you needed any help and you did come in quite late.”

“He did, and we worked.”

Nessy: “You don’t need to bite my head off; I was just making conversation. So, there is nothing between you two?”

“Nope, He is all yours if you want him. And may I apologize, I just didn’t sleep well.”

Nessy: “Good, not about the sleep. I meant it is a good thing about Antonius because he is so hot and I don’t want to intrude, come to think of it, we could make this more interesting.”

“What are you talking about.”

Nessy: “Let’s make a bet. The one he asks out first wins. No rules. We get to flirt any way anyhow but as soon as he asks the game is over. The loser can have Drikust. It is an incredibly good prize for second place.”

“Whatever. Fine but only on one condition.”

Nessy: “Anything. He is worth it”

“I need you to take me somewhere today. To the den of the beast. The white dragon. I just need to make sure he is okay.”

Nessy: “It’s a deal but only to see if he is okay. You know how dad gets, but I trust you. You are really good with stuff

like this. Please it is our secret and if dad asks, I was never there.”

Let the fun times roll as she would say. After breakfast, we jumped in her car, and off we went.

Nessy: “Wow, look at those eyes! You must be really excited about this dragon. Please do not tell anyone I brought you here. You know you are not allowed close to those things. Especially this one.”

“He is not a thing. He is a beautiful misunderstood creature.”

Nessy: “Spare me the lecture. We’re here. Now, do you need me to come with you?”

“No, I am alright, I think. You know what? Yes, if you don’t mind. I would appreciate it. I am a little nervous. It is my first time you know. I don’t really want to go alone.”

Okay, so this is it. Strangely enough, I did not have to sneak in or lie about what I was doing there. Sometimes being a princess has its perks. This feeling inside me was strangely calm. Anxious but calm.

As I walked up to his enclosure it was like my eyes were being opened, for the first time after being blind for many moons. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Watching him fly so freely was like seeing magic. Other elves might ask how I could possibly see so much beauty in something so fierce. My question is, how can you not?