Sarah was sitting on her rocking chair staring at her flowers and the little lake in the garden thinking about what could be wrong with Riley when he appeared in the garden with fiery red smoke surrounding him which soon dissipated and he went to meet Sarah. "Hello mother" he said and kissed her on the cheek "welcome back son, how are you now" Sarah asked her son "I'm fine mother, is anything the problem? You look so down" he inquired "I was worried about you. I was wondering why you couldn't tell me whatever was on your mind that you needed to clear off" Sarah said "I am your mother and I can very well lift off any burden you have on your shoulders, I don't understand why you had to go the mortal realm for that" she added with a displeased look and Riley's heart hurt to think that his mother was sad because of him.
"It was nothing much mother, I didn't want to bother you about it that's all" Riley said smiling widely trying to lift off the negative vibe while squatting in front her chair "okay, I believe you son" she said and returned her son's smile. "I've got something for you mother" Riley said "what is it" Sarah asked eager to know "guess, mother" he said winking "I'm not good at guessing, so just give me" she said pouting like a cute little girl and Riley couldn't help but give in "okay fine, you're too cute for me to resist" he said and brought out the rose he bought from the mortal realm. "I thought you might like it since it looks a lot like a Vivory rose, and you could replace your withered one with it" he explained "I love it Riley, thank you" Sarah said and kissed his forehead while cupping his face in her hands "let's have dinner" she said and stood up from her chair and Riley also rose from his crouching position then Sarah went ahead to put the rose in the same pot the withered Vivory rose was and the both went to have dinner.
...….
FLOWER REALM
"Wake up Maya" Ava said for the umpteenth time while shaking Maya trying to wake her from her deep slumber, "we don't want to be late on our fist day as Princess Elena's handmaids" Ava added but Maya didn't respond and Ava had no other than to trick her friend to wake up "I think I would have to summon one of the Chief's then, or maybe Chief Diana who gives the harshest punishments" she said and Maya instantly shot her eyes open "no, don't" she said and stood up from her bed. "You don't have to summon anyone, I'm up now" she said and went to take her bath and get ready to leave. "I'm here now, let's go" she said and they both teleported to the palace leaving only pink and purple smoke behind.
They reappeared in front of the palace and slowly walked in towards the direction of the princess's chambers where they met two guards guarding the door to the chamber "we are the princess's new handmaids" Ava said and the guards made way for them. The hallway leading to Elena's bedchamber was brightly lit with fire lamps on both sides; flower vases stood on tall stools on one side and flower made curtains graced the floor to ceiling windows on the other side. The wall was painted yellow with little shades of grey.
When they got to the entrance of Elena's bedchamber, a maid was already waiting for them there "I guess you must be Ava and Maya" the maid said to them "yes we are" Maya replied "I am Esther, you can meet me if you need anything. I control the entire princess's maid" the maid whose name was Esther said "the princess is waiting for you inside" she added and ushered them both in.
Elena was sitting on her canopy bed in her nightgown staring down at her feet when the trio walked in "your highness, the handmaids are here" Esther said and Elena looked up toward the door. Elena was a stunning beauty; a blonde with blue eyes who had a gentle smile plastered on her face, her thin red lips complimented her face more. The second flower princess was a beauty but still couldn't compare to Maya who looked like a goddess.
"Greetings your highness"
"Greetings your highness"
Ava and Maya chorused bowing their heads before the princess and she nodded to accept their greetings "introduce yourselves" she said to them "I am Ava, your highness" "I am Maya, your highness" they introduced themselves respectively "you both are welcome to be my maids, I hope we do get along well" Elena said to them still smiling "thank you, your highness" they both said "her highness would be having breakfast with her majesty and the first princess, get her ready in time. You don't want to keep the Queen waiting" Esther said to them "of course, we would" Maya said and Esther nodded then turned to Elena "I will take my leave now your highness" she said and the princess nodded as permission and she left the room.
"Maya, if I'm not mistaking, you worked in mother's chambers before, I saw you there a few times" Elena said once Esther left "yes your highness, but I merely worked as a cleaner" Maya replied "but from now on, I would style your hair and dresses" Maya added "that's good then, let's get started. I don't want to be late for breakfast with mother and my sister" Elena said and Ava immediately went towards the bathroom which Elena had signaled to her so she could prepare her bath. Maya on the other hand went to the wardrobe room which was on the right side of the room to pick a dress which was perfect for a family breakfast and she picked ornaments that would go with it from the hundreds that were there.
After a while, Elena was dressed in a red gown with white stars design on it which exposed her shoulders making her upper chest bare, and the skirt of the dress was floor length. She had on matching red hills and her hair was tied in a big bun and a few strands were curled at the front, different kinds of hair ornaments were clipped to the bun and hair golden tiara graced her head complimenting her gold hair. Elena looked herself in the mirror and smiled satisfactorily "Maya, you've indeed done a nice job with my hair. You both are wonderful" she said to them "thank you your highness" Maya said and she nodded. "Let's go now, mother must be waiting" Elena said and they left the room with Maya and Ava walking two steps behind her.
...….
MORTAL REALM
The rays of sunlight that penetrated through the opened space between the curtains of the room Stephanie had rented in the inn woke her up and she could hear voices of people walking up or down the street, she got up from bed and yawned a little before taking a shower and leaving the room to venture deeper into the kingdom. She had to accomplish her goal of finding even the tiniest weakness of humans so she could defeat the Heavenly Emperor alongside his son, Dylan. She remembered the promise she made to Riley and was stuck between fulfilling her promise and fulfilling her duties.
While observing, she saw men who were promiscuous, she met starving people whom she could just pretend to help but in reality, she would lace their food with poison spells that would put them in really critical conditions which would force the Heavenly Emperor and his son to drop their guards while helping the mortals and then she would attack and finish them off. After thinking what to do for a while, she decided she would go to the King of Selona; the kingdom she was currently in and tell him negative things about the neighboring kingdoms, so he could instigate war on them and she would do the same with the other kings as well.
'If I do that, the heaven realm would be focused on stopping the war between the human kingdoms and that way, she can catch them unaware' she thought with a wicked smirk "as for my new friend Riley, he'd have to forgive me for failing the first promise I ever made to him" she said to herself and headed towards the King's palace.