Memory of You

Chapter Twenty Nine: The Dance of Masks

Checking the hall as he walked down the corridor, he saw the young lord coming towards him.

"Nick, have you seen Alexandra?" Valek asked. Mark had told him to pick her up from a meeting with the Medical Association of Seraphine in the Throne Room, but when he went there she was nowhere to be found, meaning Mark had probably gotten her. Unfortunately, he had yet to spot Mark.

"No, I haven't seen her. But I had food delivered to the King's Quarter's, she's in there with the Engineer's Association. Aram said her meeting's overrun." He told Valek with a smile.

"Oh...that explains a lot." Valek mumbled. "You two alright, then?"

"We're fine, thanks." Nicholas replied, as they stood across from each other. "How about you, are you okay?"

An outsider would have thought of it as a simple question, but having known Nicholas for so long, Valek knew the underlying meaning. The grey eyes watching him carefully, it wasn't a question about him, it was more of a question about them...if their friendship was okay. For quite sometime after the chef had started to court Alexandra, Valek had the role of playing the over protective guard, which wasn't exactly hard to do.

At first it had been hard to see them together. Having spent so much time watching over her, Valek knew he would have had trouble no matter who was courting her. That man being Nicholas had been a difficult pill to swallow. With his life's mission to protect her no matter what even if it meant giving up his life, Valek wasn't thrilled knowing he couldn't protect her from heartbreak, he had usually compensated for it by glowering at her suitors, even David had feared him; and now with Nicholas in the mix, he had known things would change.

He wouldn't be able to intimidate his best friend. Gone were the days he was simply looking out for Alexandra; this time he was going to have to watch over Alexandra and Nicholas' relationship without meddling, all while making sure he didn't lose perspective when it came to his and Nicholas' friendship.

He may have been put out for a while, but having thought about it with Mark's insight, and after last week, Valek had come to terms with this new addition to their lives. Nicholas and Alexandra were good for one another, and it was clear that they were serious about each other.

"Never been better, Nick. You?" He smiled, walking over to his best friend, putting an arm around his shoulder.

"Never better." Nicholas grinned.

"So, what's for lunch, Nicky?" He asked as they started to walk towards the kitchen.

"Your favorite, chicken roast with stuffing and cranberry sauce."

"Excellent..."

...

"You want computers and digital cameras? Fine, I'll allow it." Alexandra said, tired of hearing the engineer's complain about how far behind they were of the Isle. Those gathered in front of her, looked ecstatic.

"But if our youth start turning into idiots, I will hold each of you accountable." She warned, with a stern tone. "For now, we'll have public access computer labs in the state run universities, and libraries, after a period of time I will decide on whether we should allow home access. As for the cameras, I was already on board. It's about time we brought those in."

"Thank you, Majesty...but what about cell phones?" Asked a keen man wearing spectacles.

"My answer is no for now. The more we give access to these technologies, the more we risk losing our cultures and traditions, I've seen some of the extensive research done before the war. For now, I'm willing to settle for balance." She said, having read studies of the technologies the association in front of her wanted to implement. Even Polaris was hesitant about bringing in too much.