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Balls were the worst. Balls, meaning dance parties in the palace, of course, but the other kind were also bad. Each party was just another reminder that she was part of a legacy—one she could never seem to get close to fulfilling.
“The universe is falling back into chaos,” Queen Anne had told Saira when Saira was six. “Unlocking your Labrys will calm the uncontrolled magic building up in the Gaylexy until your own kids are able to do the same.”
Saira remembers having thought at the time that she didn’t want an axe. She’d thought that swords, bombs, and tazers were a lot cooler. She also thought that the whole universe is in chaos and that depending on her thing is stupid. She still thinks that. Staring out her window at the stars, she reminds herself how little she is.
“That’s right. I’m just one, tiny speck in the Gaylexy. My having or not having the Labrys can’t affect the whole universe. I’m tiny and insignificant. I’m nothing special.”
Saira tightens the laces on the back of her corset dress. The gown is plain yet elegant. It is a floor-length, lavender-purple silk chiffon gown with a built-in corset and intersecting lace-up detailing down the front that cinches at the waist. Semi-sheer sleeves roll off the shoulders. The sleeves create the effect of both showing off and hiding her arms at the same time.
“It’s comfier this way,” she thinks to herself, pulling on her Cerise pink boots.
With her outfit completed, she poses gracefully in front of her mirror. Well, she attempts to anyway, before tripping on the edge of the gown and falling backward and over a cushioned stool.
“Saira, come on! You’re going to miss the ball!” Queen Anne calls up the stairs to Saira’s room. Saira pushes herself off the ground in a hurry (which is actually harder than it sounds in such a long gown) before facing the mirror one more time.
“It’s just a party. I’ve been to hundreds of them. This isn’t anything special.” The dark void of space outside seems to trickle into her windows, enveloping her reflection in darkness. “I’m nothing special.”
“I’m nothing,” she thinks to herself.
Saira leaves her room and sees the two queens of Clitopolis waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. They’re two queens who also happen to be her mothers.
“This could be the ball where you get a girlfriend!” Queen Anne says to Saira in an attempt to be supportive. Saira stares at her silently. She really wants to remind Queen Anne that everyone at these parties already has a partner or some partners.
“Oh, Sedna. What did you do to your hair?” Queen Leanne critiques. Before Saira gets the chance to speak, Queen Anne opens her mouth.
“Oh, I get it! Sweetie, look,” she says, getting Queen Leanne to look closer. “She’s doing reverse psychology! You know, since having her hair neat hasn’t gotten her any girlfriends yet, she must be having it messy to see if it has an effect.”
“Well Sanna, why didn’t you say so sooner, Saira?”
“Let’s go!” both queens sing in unison, not waiting to hear Saira’s answer, as each one grabs one of Saira's hands. Saira is whisked into the crowded ballroom.
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It’s only now, standing between the two queens, that Saira remembers how truly unremarkable she is. Compared to the queens, that is.
Queen Leanne wears a dark, modern opera-noir dress that contrasts confidently with her pale, mint-ice-colored skin. The top half of her dress features a form-fitting matte black bodice with sculpted shoulders, fitted long sleeves, and a high mock neck adorned with a black nautical star. This is all highlighted with a single line of white retroreflective piping trim running asymmetrically across the torso. The sleek top structure gives way at the thighs to a voluminous, cascading, tiered, ruffled skirt. Reminiscent of an elegant Flamenco style, each individual layer of the heavy, flowing skirt is edged with matching retroreflective piping. The overall effect is confident, modern, and powerful.
Queen Anne wears a pretty minimal monochromatic black tailored suit shirt, adorned with gems and crystals along the chest and collar. The shirt is tucked into black, slim-fit trousers. This is paired with high-gloss black leather dress boots and a cape that looks like space. The wide-spanning cape is a thin, semi-transparent black fabric, hand-embellished with sequins and crystals, as if to mimic stars in space.
“How do we look?” they ask Saira in a singsongy voice.
“Like two stars in the gaylexy,” Saira tells them honestly. “What about me?” She asks them back, hoping for a little confidence boost before heading out into the crowd.
“You’re as beautiful as always,” Leanne tells her.
“You look on fleek!” Anne adds, rubbing Saira’s head.
“Thanks, moms…”
“Don’t let us keep you from the fun!” Anne says, pushing Saira onto the dance floor. Before she even has a chance to steady herself, the crowd erupts into cheers. Straightening up and turning around, Saira sees that this is because the partygoers finally noticed the queens. The two queens laugh and sing and wave to the crowd, Saira already forgotten from their minds.
Gripping the edges of her dress and holding it up to keep from tripping, Saira eventually manages to make her way to the balcony of the ballroom. Not many people who come to the palace know there is a balcony in this room. It is kind of hidden by plants and blocked by curtains.
She slips onto the cold, stone balcony, grateful to be away from the party. Stepping up to the elegant balustrade railing, Saira nearly gasps. Clitopolis stretched out before and below her. Saira thinks how it’s incredible how a city so large can become so small. Wind sweeps up and whips her dress and hair around almost violently. She begins to shiver and wraps her arms around herself, looking up at the sky now. The night is beautiful (as always). A glowing nebula shines above. It’s ethereal and massive and lights up the night sky, so that even the darkest areas of the planet are still lit up enough to see. A shooting star races across the sky.
“It’s such a shame,” a voice to her left says, “to have this view and keep it blocked out.”
“Um, yeah,” Saira answers, assuming they were talking to her. She turns and sees a stranger cloaked in shadows sitting on the balcony ledge. She can’t see who was talking.
“I guess everyone’s usually too busy partying or fangirling over the queens to even think about the view outside. I never realized either. I also never realized how lame this place was alone, though.”
“You’re here alone?” Saira gasps, basically shouting the question at the stranger. “Sorry,” she adds in a tiny voice.
“Yeah. Girlfriend dumped me after we got here. Something about communication and lack of empathy. I don’t know,” she finishes with a shrug.
“Well, I’ve never even had a girlfriend,” Saira replies, snorting an awkward laugh. “Which is a surprise to everyone because everyone wants to be my moms’ girlfriends.” Saira walks back to the entrance, peels back the curtain, and peeks at her moms, the queens, as they prepare for another one of their orgies. She lets the curtain drop, not wanting to see that. “Sorry for sharing that…”
“Nah, don’t be sorry. I was the one spilling my thoughts to you,” the stranger says as they step off the ledge and walk into the light. She holds out her hand to Saira.
Saira is immediately stricken. This person is probably—no, definitely—the hottest person she’s ever seen. She’s only about a foot taller than Saira, but she holds herself so much more confidently. That, and she has a decent amount of muscle. Her skin is dark khaki or kiki khaki color. Her hair is short, but it puffs from the top of her head in sharp, pink wisps. From her head sprout two thin antennae and long, thin, and slightly pointed ears. Each ear appears to have at least three piercings, which is three more than Saira has. She’s dressed in a high-collared, very (very, very) dark blue jacket, which appears to double as a cape (“awesome,” Saira thinks). It has two ocean-blue clasps, and the edges of the jacket/cape have the same blue colored trim. Underneath the cape, Saira can see a dark purple sports bra. The loose shorts this stranger wears are the same color. The shorts reach almost down to the nearly knee-high, very (very, very) dark blue, cuffed boots. Despite the chill and breeze outside, Saira feels warm.
“Kiki. Kiki the Destroyer,” she says nonchalantly, shaking Saira’s hand with a firm grip.
“Awesome,” Saira breathes.
“Your name is awesome?”
“What? No, no, no. My name is Saira. Um, Princess Saira of Clitopolis.”
“I kind of gathered that last part,” Kiki says with a grin. Saira giggles, covering her face with her free hand to hide her blushing cheeks.
“Huh, you’re kind of awkward,” Kiki comments.
“Yeah, I get that, uh, sometimes.” Saira blushes.
“You’re kind of cute, too.”
“What?” Saira asks, surprised.
“Want to be my girlfriend?”
“What?” Saira says again, shocked.
“Oh, sorry. Or should I say, I humbly request of thee to think about my offer of being girlfriends, oh Princess Saira,” Kiki says in some old European accent, finishing it with a bow.
“Um,” Saira starts. Say yes, say yes! her mind tells her. Her mouth begins to ramble otherwise. “I— you wouldn’t like me. I’m weird, I don’t know how to do magic, and I can never do anything right and—”
She’s cut off suddenly when Kiki grabs her hand, cups her face, and kisses her. It’s the best kiss Saira’s ever had. (It’s the only kiss she’s ever had, but the first point still stands.) Kiki’s one hand lets go of Saira’s hand and finds its way around her body, grabbing her back and pulling her close. Everything feels warm. Despite Kiki having only two hands, Saira felt as if she were being held everywhere. Her mouth was wet, and so was Kiki’s. And the two of their mouths together felt really strange. Like what licking a frog might feel like. But it didn’t feel bad. Saira leaned in, holding Kiki back, taking in the moment.
Suddenly, the warmth is taken away. Saira opens her eyes to see Kiki pulling away and stepping back. She wonders if she did it wrong. Kissing, that is.
“Come on,” Kiki urges, pulling Saira’s hand. “Let’s find somewhere more comfortable.”
“Sure!” she agrees, flustered, but wanting to be accommodating. “There’s the lounge, the living room, the library— the couch in there is super soft. Um, the other living room—”
“You do know why we’re moving rooms, right?” Kiki interrupts. Saira pauses and thinks. It dawns on her what they’re going to do.
“Copulation, right?”
“What?”
“Uh, you know… Coitus.”
Kiki laughs. “Well, I normally just call it sex, but sure. Let’s ‘coitus’.”
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End Chapter One
Characters (so far):
Princess Saira
Queen Anne
Queen Leanne
Kiki (Kiki the Destroyer)
Vocab:
Sedna: Goddess of the sea and marine animals. Used instead of “God”. This is because some stories had the Goddess Sedna in a relationship with another female underwater, so she would basically be a lesbian God. “Oh my God” will be “Oh my Sedna!”
For more about Sedna:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedna_(mythology)
https://teaandbannock.com/2018/09/16/the-story-of-sedna/
Sanna: an alternative/romanized name of Sedna. Used more like the word “gosh”.