A knock called her attention from the territory management. She thought it was Hawk who came to report the update from Sparrow's investigation, so she immediately went ahead and opened the door.
However, who greeted her with a smile was Emma, who was standing with Eric and Ethan. They both have an amiable expression on their faces, without waiting for her to speak, Emma said. "Hi, Ms. Aldens! Eagle led us to our rooms earlier and told us to go directly to you to know our post." Emma had an indescribable feeling swirling in her eye and she kept staring at Kisha's right jawline.
Kisha was confused by her emotional gaze, then she minced Emma's words and thought that it must be because she was worried that she'd have to do heavy work, it is indeed worrying for someone who grew up in an affluent family to suddenly start working around the base. She sighed.
Before she stepped out of her room, she glanced out the window and realized that it was dark outside, which meant, she spent at least a couple of hours fiddling with her territory and missed checking on Keith. Knowing that her little brother would be fine, she faced the task at hand first.
"Hello, Mrs. Evans. I apologize for the delay, I was supposed to be the one to call for a meeting for the work allocation the moment we arrived, instead, you even came to remind me. Please forgive me." Kisha said neither overbearing nor humble.
Visibly flustered, Emma answered without knowing where to place her hands. "Wha-what are you talking about Ms. Aldens?! We heard that you had an important matter to attend to earlier, besides, we were able to rest because of it. So you did us good." She knew that her actions of staring could make anyone uncomfortable that's why she was feeling a little embarrassed.
She knew that it was weird for her family to easily accept what she said about Kisha being their missing daughter without prior investigation or proof, but that's how desperate they were. They've been looking for Eve for 16 whole years without any result. All they knew was that she was kidnapped from the school gate, and every trace was wiped clean.
They used all possible means to look for her but still, everything was for naught. They almost lost all hope, until she saw Eve, she had an uncanny similarity with her and her husband as well as the three little star birthmarks on her jawline arranged in a triangular shape. If only there was a way to do a paternity test, they would do it right away so they could easily explain it to Kisha. But until then, everything is just their speculation.
But Emma was so sure that Kisha was Eve, her maternal instinct told her, and because of this little hope she would sometimes get overwhelmed by how much she missed her little princess. She wanted to hug her, spend time with her, and do other things like a normal mother and daughter would do. That's why she would always look at Kisha with longing and pain which she knew could make Kisha feel uncomfortable.
Emma was pulled from her trance by Kisha's cold and indifferent voice. "Thank you for your understanding, Mrs. Evans."
Emma controlled her pounding heart to calm down and repeatedly told herself to approach Kisha little by little and let her feel comfortable in her company. "Just call me Auntie."
Kisha neither agreed nor disagreed and just smiled a little. "Please call everyone and head to the conference room, I'll be there in a short while."
The quiet Ethan found a chance to speak. "Where are you going? Would you like me to escort you there?"
"No thank you, I'll just check on my little brother."
Ethan's smile froze and turned into a depressed look, he also wanted Kisha to call him brother affectionately but the last time he did, he was shot down right away. He is eager to spend time with his little sister however, he is also afraid to scare her away and thinks that he's a weirdo.
Ethan was in a dilemma for the first time in his life, he had never once felt the need to please anyone before, so he was unsure of what to do to get closer to Kisha. He was racking his brain for an answer when Eric stepped in with a smile, enough to ease the little awkwardness in the air. "We'll wait for you in the conference room then." He then nudges Ethan to leave with him while supporting his mother to follow them.
Kisha somehow finds Ethan's fidgety look a little cute and an unconscious smile surfaced on her lips.
After the trio disappeared in the corner, she launched the territory interface, zoomed in on where she was standing, and started searching for where Keith and her grandparents were.
'This feature is really cool, I can see the miniature version of all the people inside the base and see what they were doing....'
An image flashed in her mind the instant she finished her sentence. And she then slapped her forehead, this is clearly stalking, and doesn't that mean that she can see what everyone's doing, including their private affairs?
Kisha's face heated up in embarrassment the moment the thought hit her. 'This feature is banned!'
Kisha decided to only use this feature when absolutely necessary, or else, she'll see something unmerited. Her hair stood on end and felt like something was crawling on her skin. 'This is kind of scary!'
After composing herself and putting the embarrassing thought in the back of her mind, she went back to her business. In order not to spend too much time checking each person's identity and whereabouts, Kisha clicked the search bar on the upper right corner of the map and typed Keith's whole name, and an arrow appeared on the holographic map which was also displayed in real life, so she directly minimized her map and just followed the arrows around the building.
This conveniently helped her locate Keith, and soon she was standing in front of the door. Just before she opened the door, the doorknob turned and her grandpa stepped out, followed by her grandma. She craned her neck to peek inside but the room's dark so she could only see Keith's outline and hear his even breathing through her heightened senses.
Grandma Martha held Kisha's hand in a comforting manner and said softly. "You don't have to worry dear. Keith's fever has died down and he was just sleeping now. Your grandpa also helped him change to a new set of clothes."
Kisha smiled. "I know Grandma. I was just here to check on him and to call you guys for a meeting."
Grandpa Victor saw his granddaughter's calm demeanor, and he smiled as he urged them. "Let's go then."
Not before long, they arrived at the conference room, everyone was present aside from Hawk and Duke who were busy at the moment. Kisha observed that the spacious conference room was halfway full, with the attendance of the Evans and Blythes families. She walked straight to the very front where Eagle was standing guard, her grandparents sat at the very back of the room.
She first introduced herself and her position in the base and asked everyone to introduce themselves, right, the very typical first-day class introduction if you must say.
After figuring out their previous jobs, she decided on their positions, Ethan was obviously placed to train the newbies and guard the base's perimeter alongside her Grandpa Victor, Elios was tasked to work in the mini hospital, Eliot was in charge of cooking together with Mrs. Evans, Eric together with Mr. Evans would be in charge of supply distribution and allocation And last but not the least, Grayson, Anna, Gretha and Melody will be working on the livestock.
But of course, Kisha would still need to overlook their jobs through her system interface which was connected to the territory. This reminded her of a game she played on her senior year where she could slowly build her village and turn it into a city through repetitive upgrades and commanding each person to do certain work or task to increase the city's exp.
"What was that game again? Right! Medieval Dynasty." She thought and continued with the discussion.