49...50...51...52...
It hadn't even been an hour since this ship left port in Suez. True to myself, I couldn't sit still for a minute. Truth be told I wasn't in the most relaxed state either. I didn't expect to be pushed into such an important mission so soon. Being exposed as a prince wasn't something I was prepared for either.
Truthfully, any mission or assignment I received I planned on earning respect by just my talent and plain hard work. That never failed when it was time to earn respect. Having that option taken away from me is less than ideal. It puts me at a deficit when working together with my colleague.
Speaking of my partner, I didn't know what to make of her. After hearing about my true origins, she didn't even react. She never said a word during or after the briefing on our way to Suez. All I could observe from her was that she was inwardly analyzing things constantly.
Her eyes never stayed in one direction very long. Unless her eyes were closed which she did for the entirety of the drive to Suez. Her eyes would jump from area to area, always getting a feel for our surroundings. It's only when we got on the ship did she finally take a look at me in the eye and speak to me.
Even then, all that was said was that she was going to her quarters to get situated and would catch up with me later. I couldn't help but wonder if she had not known my true identity that she would treat me differently. I've never met someone that behaved the way she did.
Deep in my thoughts, I continued my workout with my back to the door. I was doing pull ups, facing the tiny porthole window when I heard a dry cough behind me.
I turned around to find that my partner had entered the room. She wasn't the typical woman as far as looks you would find in the empire. She had light beige colored skin. She had her hair styled back in a military bun but you could still observe that the texture was extremely curly. Her roots were brown that naturally shifted into red.
That's not to say she wasn't extremely attractive. She was probably in her early to mid-twenties, despite her uniform I could still identify her athletic build and sprinters body. She was tall for a woman, maybe around 5'9. Her eyes were the most peculiar because they gave away her East Asian lineage. Her gave me a studying gaze as she examined me from head to toe.
I saw her eyes settle a little as she got to my sweaty midriff and her eyebrows raised giving me a critical look. I rushed to grab my shirt and hurriedly put it over my head. The last thing I wanted to do was give her the impression that I wasn't being professional.
"Is there something you need me from me Miss....?" I decided to initiate the conversation to obtain some sort of control. If I wanted to respect me, first I needed to set the groundwork.
"It's Commander Stevens, Commander Nakia Stevens. For this mission, we are equals cadet." her soldiers lost their tension, and her tone switched. She seemed to relax. "Just call me Kia from now on."
She dropped to the floor and took a seat, crossing her legs Indian style. I crouched down to the floor as well and mimicked her. She leaned back with her hands behind her keeping her up. The switch off from soldier to civilian really surprised me. I took at face value. I never imagined that her demeanor before was just her doing her job.
"Wow, you seem a lot more approachable now, you looked like you were a person overly serious about their job." Kia scoffed and lightly chuckled at my observation.
"Well, from someone who hasn't spent a lot of time with regular people or the military, I guess it seems like that." She smiled as she spoke, she wasn't particularly looking at me. More just looking forward more in her head than anything.
"The truth is the way I behave is normal especially in the military. We take our jobs seriously because it's how we've been trained. Always be vigilant, always be ready. When we're off duty, we're ourselves and not the machine we're expected to be."
It was an interesting life to live. I've never had to be anyone but myself my entire life. That has never hindered with what I wanted to do. Every person is unique, so it makes sense that different personalities don't suit a certain profession.
It wasn't ideal for a person who's goofy by nature to be running military operations. Unless he knew how to turn it on and off. This must be true in every profession. I should keep this in mind as I interact with more and more commoners.
"You must not be the biggest fan of a job that dictates how you can act." I was probing for her real thoughts. I sometimes heard that commoners were never happy about working conditions. I doubt she would be honest with me. She'll try gaslight me by proclaiming her extreme patriotism.
Despite my expectations, she cocked her head to the side and gave me a confused look.
"Are you really that out of touch with your own subjects?"
I gave her a defeated look. She reversed that back on me beautifully. During my fellowship like the one my brothers were on right now. I had the freedom to mingle with citizens and understand how regular people lived.
As royals we were raised away from society, given a completely different education from the masses. The proper education to lead an empire and not be a part of an empire. I learned that one of the aspects of the fellowship was to add on to that education. How can you lead something you were never apart of.
Regretfully, I didn't surmise the purpose of it all while in the fellowship. The only thing I took advantage of was the freedom to party with regular citizens. Not understand their daily life.
Not wanting to reveal my failure to her, I kept silent at her question. Though she waited for my response, when it never came she continued like I did.
"Though this may be a job, it's the job we chose. If we didn't want to switch up or be our natural selves 24/7, we would have taken jobs that would allow us to that. I don't mind switching because I know what is required for me to do my job. I must say i do it well."
Did she lack humility or was it confidence?
"You talk a big game Commander, if you're such a badass why were you still at the base in the North? Someone as valuable as you should be on the front lines, right?"
She gave me a sinister smile; I could tell I hit a sore spot.
"For your information 'cadet' not only are there some absolutely amazing operatives, I-" She stopped abruptly and turned her head towards the door. Her posture returned to her military standard and what happened next made me choke on my own spit.
Her eyes glowed royal blue but her Focus aura wasn't visible. Even if I couldn't see it, I could feel it expand quickly from her body, envelop me, then the whole room, and beyond. I was floored.
To my knowledge, Focus was exclusive to the Royal bloodline. Did that mean that she had royalty in her blood? When and where did she learn to control it? Was she apart of the Northern line? I've only heard of Zalika.
"We have intruders on board we need to get down to the engine room immediately." She turned to look at me and noticed my surprise and hesitancy. Her eyes were still burning royal blue.
"What is your problem? Form up cadet, we have a directive and it's time to execute, don't tell me you're freezing up on me." She gave me a moment to respond, when I didn't respond straight away she scoffed. She jumped up to her feet and bolted out the room.
I snapped out of it and ran after her. Thankfully I was faster than her, so I was able to catch up with her and follow her down to the lower levels.
"Sorry, I was surprised that you activated Focus, I didn't know you were royalty as well. I wonder why King Bis didn't mention this as well. He told you I was the first prince." She kept running but looked back at me incredulously.
"What are you talking about? I'm not royalty! I grew up in Casablanca begging for rotten fish to survive. Not living in ignorance, in an isolated palace! Who the hell told you Focus was exclusive to royalty? If that was true, why the hell have there been different royal families over the years in different regions. The only constant family has been Askiya's yourhighness."
She rolled her eyes at my ignorance and I face palmed my face when I realized my blunder. Come to think of it, Queen Mariam specifically told me that we weren't special. We only had luxury of education not the exclusivity of manifestation. The road to master her powers must have been exponentially harder than mine.