Her Palaedian side wasn’t something she thought about often. She had learned bits and pieces about the place from her father, but she would’ve been the first to admit that she tended to tune him out when he launched into one of his tirades. The conversation she’d had with Hisa as they made the trek back to her house was therefore illuminating, to say the least.

Palaedia was once a mighty land, Hisa had explained. Made up of five united states, the queendom had enjoyed prosperity for thousands of years. Its citizens had been happy, content, and thriving. That was the case until about twenty-two years ago, when the former King of Orion assassinated the former Queen of Palaedia. Although the Orionese ruler was killed at the scene thereafter, the damage had been done. With the most important figures of each nation slain by the other, a bloody war began. And decades later, Queen Piyumi of Palaedia had become the latest casualty in the ongoing conflict.

Frankly, Piyumi couldn’t get her head around the fact that Palaedia existed at all. She obviously knew it did, but there was a part of her that had written it off as a thing of fairy tales, a product of her father’s booze-fuelled ramblings. The day’s events, however, made it clear that Palaedia was very much a real place.

And that meant…

“I’ll be back soon,” she said. Yeah, right.

Piyumi sighed, turning her attention back to the open kitchen cabinet. She was suddenly struck with a foreboding sense of doom. The two dozen or so cups of instant noodles jammed inside the cupboard looked like they would collapse if she so much as looked at them the wrong way. She clicked her tongue, feeling irritated. That was what she got for just tossing things into her cupboards without a second thought. In her defense, she had never imagined that an actual, real-life Palaedian would pay her a visit.

Piyumi pinched the bridge of her nose as she felt the beginnings of a headache setting in. She still couldn’t believe what was happening. Actually, no, that wasn’t true. She could believe what was happening, but she couldn’t believe it was happening at that moment. Why couldn’t it have happened when her father was still alive, before things had started to go to shit? It would’ve saved her quite a bit of pain and heartache.

Piyumi groaned inwardly and began the painstaking process of taking the noodle cups out of the cupboard one by one. That actually might have been for the best. Nothing would’ve fueled Miyuru Perera’s alcoholism harder than learning that the woman he constantly referred to as ‘his love’ had up and died.

“Here kitty, kitty…”

Piyumi paused, glancing at the small living room behind her. Hisa was crouched to the floor, cooing softly at Yuu, whose bright green eyes were appraising her curiously. The black cat slowly approached, seemingly receptive, before—

Hisa only just managed to save herself from a faceful of claws by catching the lunging feline in the nick of time.

“Okay,” she said nervously, holding Yuu at arm’s length as the cat gave a succession of loud, indignant howls. “I will be putting you down now.”

Classic Yuu, Piyumi thought, rolling her eyes before turning to the cupboard again.

With most of the noodle cups out of the way, she could see what she was searching for. Gleefully, she reached over the remaining containers to grab the single juice box that stood innocuously in the corner. Her upbringing hadn’t exactly been conventional, but even she couldn’t ignore the age-old, Sri Lankan tradition of offering guests a drink. That shit was probably baked into her DNA.

“Sorry about my cat,” she said casually as she walked into the living room and tossed the juice box to Hisa. “Yuu can be temperamental, especially when it comes to strangers.”

Hisa snapped up to her feet and bowed low.

“No need to apologise, Your Highness,” she said, somehow managing to catch the airborne drink without raising her head. “It was my fault for provoking her.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say you ‘provoked’ her. You were just trying to play! I get it. Despite her bad attitude, she’s pretty darn cute.”

“Of course, Your Highness.”

A beat passed. Then another. It finally dawned on Piyumi that Hisa was probably planning on keeping a perfect ninety-degree bow until ordered otherwise.

“Uh, at ease,” she said awkwardly. “Please, um, take a seat.”

The absurd picture of the otherworldly Hisa perching herself demurely with one graceful leg swung over the other on her ratty, peeling couch nearly made Piyumi’s head spin. The lieutenant’s commanding presence seemed far too large for her humble abode.

“It’s apple juice,” Piyumi supplied helpfully, plonking herself down on the armchair opposite Hisa as the Palaedian squinted at the juice box in her hand. “It’s not my favourite flavour, to be honest, but you might like it.”

“Apple…” Hisa murmured. “Your land carries juice in boxes?”

“Yeah!” Piyumii nodded a little too enthusiastically for her excitement to be genuine, but she didn’t care. At least they were having a somewhat normal conversation.“All you have to do is stick the straw into that silver part at the top and you’re good to go!”

Hisa hummed curiously, tentatively stabbing the plastic straw through the box. She brought the straw to her lips slowly and took a sip. All her hesitance vanished as soon as the first bead of juice hit her tongue. Her eyes lit up, and she began to down the whole box almost feverishly.

“This… is… amazing!” She gasped between hurried gulps. It was as if she was afraid the mystical beverage in her hands would sprout legs and run out the door. “It tastes a little like ringa fruit, but sweeter!”

Piyumi blinked, surprised for a moment at Hisa’s unexpected vigour. Then a toothy grin spread across her lips.

“Ah, but you see, apple juice isn’t even that great,” she said sagely, holding up a knowing finger. “Just wait until you’ve tried our soft drinks. That, my friend, is where the true magic lies.”

“Soft… drinks?” Hisa repeated.

“You know, things like Sprite, Fanta, Coca-Cola and stuff.”

“Coca-Cola?”

“Is… is there nothing like Coca-Cola in Palaedia? Or like, at least Pepsi?”

Hisa just tilted her head, seemingly perplexed. Piyumi might not have been a drug user, but she did have a Coke addiction of sorts. If her hunch as to the reasoning behind Hisa’s visit was correct, she worried that she may have a bit of a problem on her hands.

Speaking of that….

“Well, now that we’re comfortable, I think it’s time we talked,” she said, leaning forward so that her elbows rested on her legs. “Is there something you wanted to ask me?”

A shadow fell over Hisa’s face. She placed the now-empty juice box on the chipping coffee table between them. “I know this is an incredible ask, Your Highness,” she began. “But as Queen Piyumi’s sole heir, you are next in line to inherit the throne. I have come to the Other Realm to see if you would be interested in doing so.”

Piyumi smiled derisively. “So, you have a queendom without a queen, a land without a ruler. Funny how, after twenty-two long years, it’s only now that I’m remembered.”

Hisa stiffened even further, as if ramrod metal piping had replaced her spine. “It is really not like that, Your Highness. Until Queen Piyumi’s passing, no one had been aware of your existence. That is, except the queen’s right-hand general, and once she informed the Council of Lords, I was sent to make contact.”

“She didn’t even—”

Piyumi felt her heart pang, but she quickly brushed it aside. She rested a hand on her chin, giving Hisa an even look.

“What about my aunt? Thatha* mentioned that the queen has—had—a sister. “Couldn’t she ascend the throne?”

(*Father in Sinhalese, a Sri Lankan language)

“There are… a number of reasons why Princess-General Sharn may, uh, not be the best candidate,” Hisa looked distinctly uncomfortable. “In any case, she is already a decorated leader of her own subset of the Palaedian military. Your Highness, I know this situation is a little unorthodox, but I am more than happy to give you a few weeks to think it over and explain further—”

“Relax, mate. I’ll do it.”

Piyumi gave a crooked smile when Hisa made a startled, strangled sound at her sudden acceptance. She had a feeling the lieutenant rarely let herself get caught off guard.

“Your Highness, this is not something you have to agree to right away,” Hisa coughed as she tried to collect herself. “You saw what happened tonight. The woman who attacked you was Orionese military—a Sniper of the Swan, judging by her weapon of choice. Although I admit her fighting style was a little strange for a Swan Sniper, that is what you will be up against, possibly for the rest of your life.”

Piyumi eyed the gun leaning against the end of the couch that Hisa was sitting on. The ice had begun to melt, feeding into the growing wet patch on the carpet. It wasn’t as if they could leave the gun in an alleyway where anyone could stumble upon it. And handing it over to the police wasn’t an option either. She’d have a field day explaining how and why she came into possession of it, and coupled with her history…

Well, that isn’t to say the gun won’t have its uses later.

“At any rate, Your Highness, while governing a nation is already not an easy task, governing a nation at war is another thing entirely,” Hisa continued. “I must implore you to give it more thought.”

“Huh. If I didn’t know any better, Lieutenant, I’d think you didn’t want me as queen.”

It was honestly impressive how Hisa’s face managed to turn red, then green, and then sheet-white all in the span of a second.

“No!” she cried, then looked mortified at her outburst and lowered her voice. “I mean, that is not what I meant, Your Highness. I simply wanted you to make an informed decision. I would be honoured to have you become my queen.”

Piyumi felt a peal of laughter bark up her throat, but she pushed it back down to wear thoughtfulness on her face instead. “Wow. Your queen. Message received.”

“I…” Hisa looked horrified for another moment, then stopped and narrowed her eyes to fix Piyumi with a scrutinising look. “Your Highness is having too much fun.”

Piyumi couldn’t help the chuckle that broke through her lips that time. She got up from her chair to walk around the coffee table and placed a placating hand on Hisa’s shoulder. “I’m just being cheeky.” The redhead winked. “The guest bedroom is down the hall. Why don’t you get some rest, and we can talk some more in the morning?”

The raven-haired woman gave a slight nod, but her gaze remained firm. “And you are certain about your decision, Your Highness?”

“Positive,” Piyumi said with a sunny smile, guiding Hisa into the hallway with a hand on her back. “The room comes with an ensuite so you can wash up in there. Enjoy!”

After Hisa turned into the guest room at the end of the corridor, Piyumi took a few slow steps back until her feet hit the living room’s shag carpet again. She pulled the door dividing the two areas of the house shut, and then she fell to her knees. A sound halfway between a sob and laugh bubbled up her throat, but she bit it back with a hand clasped over her mouth. An abominable combination of sadness, anger, happiness, and relief gushed through her chest like floodwater.

This… this is it, isn’t it? This was what I’ve been waiting for.

After twenty-two long years, finally, finally, it was all starting to come together. She would no longer need the six months she had bartered from her friends. She would no longer float through her days like a ghost, counting down the hours to something that didn’t exist. She would no longer wake up every day wondering why she even bothered to do so.

Just two measly hours ago, she’d had nothing. All of a sudden, she quite literally had everything.

Yuu pawed at her knee, but the cat’s concerned meows didn’t reach Piyumi’s ears.

Her eyes drifted to the framed photograph of a young woman resting on the mantle of the fireplace at the back of the room. The woman with hair as red as blood looked down at the newborn in her arms with an unending amount of fondness, an indescribable amount of love. No matter how fleeting it may have ultimately been, the look captured on her face in that moment said it all.

She would spend every second of her life trying to make her child happy.

How ironic, Piyumi thought. Queen Piyumi of Palaedia going ahead and getting herself killed might’ve been the best thing she had ever done for her daughter.