Zenora

I have been trying to read the minds of others all morning, but it seems to be quite difficult to do. We had breakfast in the large dining room and I focused really hard on the minds of the servants, my dad and Anna. But nothing happened. So far, it only worked with Brock and only when I really needed it.

Brock and Archeops, went to the dungeon again but I wanted to do something else for a moment. I had been with them in the dungeons every time they went as well, but it was getting really depressing. Markus was determined to not tell anything and I felt of no use there, as I still couldn’t read his mind.

I decided to go to Natalya, as I had a small gift to give her. I hadn’t seen her all this time and I was starting to wonder how the ‘gift’ that my dad gave me, was progressing. I also wanted to ask her about Tom of course. I walked outside the castle and went through the front gates. Then I had to go around the outer walls and walk over the fishing docks towards the land between the castle and the vast ocean. It took me about twenty minutes and I wondered if there was no faster route to get there.

Hmm, yes there was… Stupidity filled me with shame. I looked around to see if anyone was watching me, wondering why I took the long route. As on the side of the castle, a door was made for the servants to get in and out the castle faster.

I sighed in relief, no one was looking in my direction.

From the door in the castle to the servant's house, I saw men walking back and forth with wooden beams, carrying loads of stones and other supplies.

The ground floor of the building was complete and they were working on the floor above it.

Natalya was in front of the building with her back towards me and I sat in the grass for a while to watch her orchestrate some balance in all the chaos. She was clear in her instructions and everyone followed her directions. I never doubted her for a second, she was the right person for this job.

Tom came walking towards her from inside the house and he saw me sitting in the grass. He gave Natalya a kiss on her cheek and pointed towards me. I stood up and walked over to her, while I shook the grass from my but.

“Good morning Princess, I didn’t notice you were here.” She said to me.

“That’s a good thing, I wanted to see how you were doing, and I wasn't disappointed. You're doing great.” I said to her with a smile. “Tom, could you take over her tasks for a moment? I want to have a word with her in private please.” I asked Tom and he took the clipboard from Natalya and nodded in agreement.

We took a little walk, towards the ocean and sat in the grass, looking over to the beach.

“So, how are things progressing?” I asked her, breaking the silence.

She started talking about the house and how far they were on schedule. They had to change some things during the build as they came across some problems, but like the good supervisor she was, she had handled it together with Tom. I had advised to ask Anna for help as well, as she has some technical insight for the electrics in the house and she nodded. She thought it was a good idea.

But when I had asked her about the progression, I actually didn't mean the house.

“As much as I like to hear you talk about the house, I can see that you do a great job already at that. I was referring to you and Tom actually. I remember seeing you two together in the hallway.” Natalya got red cheeks when I said that.

She had told me that he was a true gentleman but she had doubted their relationship a bit, knowing that Tom was twenty-five and she only sixteen, almost seventeen in a few months. The age difference was quite big. And she was still young, but I told her, that if the love is there then age shouldn’t be a problem. Brock and I shared an age gap of seven years, but I am twenty-one now so it is a bit different though.

“Miss Emily, when did you know that Brock was the one for you?” She said softly, with her head down, almost ashamed of what she had asked me. I lifted her chin and looked her in the eyes.

“I couldn’t explain it to you, even if I wanted to. love is a feeling, not a given fact to get an instant answer about. You have to experience it yourself. If you can’t stop thinking about him all day, if he is treating you, like you are the only thing in the world that exists in his mind and you get butterflies in your stomach every time he touches you… That’s when you know he is the one.” I said to her and she smiled. I could see in her eyes that she wanted to ask me more, but she was afraid to.

“Have you laid with a man before?” I asked her gently, at which she shook her head vividly in denial.

“Why don’t you wait, until you turn seventeen, before you make a decision about that?” I said to her and she agreed to that.

“Oh! I almost forgot, I have a gift for you Natalya, to help you manage your work.” I didn't forget about it, but I wanted to change the subject as she was sinking in her own thoughts.

Her eyes got really big, when she saw the watch I handed to her.

From the moment she was appointed to do this job, I knew that I wanted to give her my old watch. I don’t need it right now as I don’t have to manage my time. Luckily, I had put a new battery in it a few weeks before we went to Zenora, so it should last a long time.

The watch had been carefully packed by Dennis, in one of my bags, which were still unpacked standing in my room. All I did was take out the clothes, but my other belongings were still in there as I didn’t have the time yet to get through all of it.

Natalya had asked me what it was and I had to laugh a bit. Even though the castle had electricity, toilets and some proper medicine, some things were still very different than on Earth. I explained to her how it worked and how to read it properly. Luckily the days here on Zenora also counted twenty-four hours otherwise the watch wouldn’t have any use here. I had tested that over a few days and I didn’t have to change the setting, after the first time adjusting it.

“You can use this also for the servants as they can work in shifts now. So, you count the hours and when shifts need to change you can tell them. That way everyone works the same amount of time, shared during the day.”

“This is such a magnificent gift Emily! Thank you so much! This will indeed help me a lot!” She gave me a hug and she didn’t even think about saying ‘Miss’ or ‘Princess’ to me. She kept looking at her wrist and smiled from ear to ear.

Natalya is becoming a wonderful woman and I think that she would be very happy, together with Tom. I felt like I was a big sister to her and felt the need to protect her. We had walked back after our little talk and when I saw Tom, I could see that he was looking at Natalya like she was an angel. I tried to read his mind and saw in his head, that Natalya had this amazing glow around her and there was no single bad thought roaming through his mind.

“Be gentle and patient with her, if you don’t, you will have to deal with me.” I whispered to him and his eyes grew large.

“Y- yes, yes Princess, of – of course!” Tom said and I had to laugh as I knew he was never going to hurt her.

I was proud at myself, I managed to read his mind! Yay! I sat in the grass for a little while longer as Natalya and Tom continued their work.

All the workers were walking by and I wanted to see if I could read some more minds. Too bad, it didn’t work.