ADVICE

Fennel returned to his home from the palace as quickly as he could, riding his hoverboard through the fast lanes of the bridges that connected the towers of Rossmaria. The sun was still above the horizon, and he wasn’t willing to waste a single minute, if that meant he could increase the chances of succeeding on the audience with the king.

He arrived at the entrance of his home, which was a single, small tower, that was connected to the center of a large bridge between two imposing buildings of the white district. This small tower wasn’t connected to the surface of the sea, like most of the others. It was more like a single cylinder supported from its center, by the larger structure of the bridge.

Fennel could hear lively and harmonic music coming from inside his home. It wasn’t music he had heard before, but it was played in a style he was very familiar with. It was the sound of her mother improvising melodies as she was writing songs, like she did every now and then.

He rushed to his room, avoiding any loud noises that could disturb Anise's work, and sat taking out his notepad, to start developing his ideas.

Many ideas of how to approach the audience came to Fennel's mind, and he could intuitively predict many scenarios that might occur with each one of them. The first step was to write everything down, so he could take the ideas out from his head and look at them from a distance.

He was very used to this methodology, and as always, his concentration was so intense he completely neglected everything else that was surrounding him and losing track of time. Because of this, he didn't notice that the instrumental music had stopped, and that now Anise could be heard singing out loud across the house, repeating the syllable "na" to form melodies.

When Anise walked next to Fennel's room, she noticed he was absorbed into his notepad. She leaned against the open door, and stopped singing, wondering how long it would take him to notice she was there.

Fennel kept on writing for a while, and once he finished an idea, he looked up and started to take a deep breath in frustration.

"Boo!" Said Anise loudly as Fennel was halfway through his breath.

"What the-!!" Jumped Fennel. "Mom!! You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days!"

"Hehe... You're too young for that." She replied with a smirk. "It's nice to see you early Fenn."

"Yes, I have a lot to do, so I got here as soon as I could."

"I can tell... Is there any way I can help?" Asked Anise as she got closer.

"I'm not sure. Things got very complicated." Said Fennel, obviously stressed. After a thought, he seemed to change his mind. "In fact, yes. I could really use your help this time."

"Well, that's unusual. But calm down first." She said as she picked a chair to sit closely. "What's going on?"

"Aelia... Lady Aelia might be relieved of her duties as a guardian. She told Lord Ataoro she didn’t care about protecting Rossmaria, and since she hasn’t made any progress in months, her training might be halted for good." Rushed Fennel, trying to be as concise as possible. "We have one week before an audience with the king, to prepare a defense for her to stay as a guardian."

Anise, who was sitting in front of her son with her hand on her chin, took a few moments to recreate Fennel’s words in her head, since they were so fast, she couldn’t process everything immediately.

"Well, that does sound like a problem." She said with a relaxed expression, as she seemed to lose herself on her thoughts. "It’s not common for you to ask for help, so it must be really complicated." She continued. "But that’s not everything, right? Is there anything else on your mind?"

"To be honest, I think Aelia wasn’t built for the strict hierarchical methods used to train guardians inside the palace." He said. "But that doesn't mean she's useless as a guardian... Maybe, a different method would work better for her." Continued Fennel untangling his thoughts as he spoke." I'm sure she could show progress with another approach.

Anise just looked at Fennel with her full concentration, trying to get as much information as she could from him, before saying anything.

"However, she’s completely isolated from the exterior and only wants to be treated without all those formalities… I’m sure that’s a big part of the reason why she lacks motivation." Continued Fennel, and took a moment to gather his thoughts. "But neither Lord Ataoro nor Miss Elia care about what she thinks or has to say. If she made a closer connection with the people of the kingdom, instead of being caged in the palace, she would be more than happy to fulfill her role as a guardian... I believe."

Anise stayed looking at Fennel for a few seconds to see if he wanted to develop any further, but since he seemed to be now lost inside his thoughts, she decided to speak up.

"I understand." Anise took a pause. "How can I help?"

"Well, since you worked in the palace and knew Aelia, maybe you could help me come up with ideas in how to defend her case."

"I’m honored my dear." Said Anise with pride in her eyes, from seeing her son’s commitment. "However, I don’t think I can do much. You already seem to have enough ideas inside your head... and on that notepad." She said as she looked at the chaotic diagrams Fennel had drawn. "So why the frustration?"

"I do have ideas… but I think I might end up breaking the rules of the palace with all of them."

Anise stayed silent for a few seconds, as she thought about Fennel's struggle.

"Are you sure those rules are from the palace? Or are they rules from Eli and Ataoro?"

Fennel didn’t know how to answer to that question.

"Eli is your boss, so she has power over you and over Aelia. But that doesn’t necessarily mean she, or Ataoro, invented the rules of the palace, or that whatever they say is the law." Said Anise without a hint of worry in her face.

"Do you mean the rules they are enforcing are fake?" Asked Fennel in absolute confusion.

"I haven’t said anything like that." Replied Anise as she closed her eyes and faced slightly up, in a gesture of negation. "I’m just saying, that rules are no more and no less than what’s written. Maybe they are only following the rules in the way they interpret them."

Fennel stopped for a second to think, as if his world had been just turned upside down.

"Have you read The Code of the Royal Palace, or The Guardians’ Mandate?" She asked.

"I have not. Where can I find that?"

"Probably inside the palace, where the nobles gather. But that might be hard for you to access." Said Anise as she looked up trying to recall more information. "There's also an old library close to the palace I used ages ago, that had texts such as those."

"A library?"

"Yes, it's right next to The Keep. It’s from way before I came up with the Chrysalis Treatment, so there are many antiques inside there." Said Anise as she stood up. "I’m not sure if it’s still open to the regular public, but my researcher pass should still be active. Let me get it for you, in case you need it."

Anise went to her room and came back with a small white handbag made of rubber. From inside it, she took out a platinum badge with her name engraved in it.

"If you show this to the librarian, I’m sure he'll let you look into all the collections." Said Anise as she handed her badge over to Fennel. "You might find some useful information over there. If he asks about me, make sure to tell him I said hi."

"Th-thanks mom, this might be really helpful."

"It’s just the starting point Fenn. But I’m glad I managed to be useful in some way." She said with a sweet smile on her face, just before Fennel stood up. "Will you go right away?"

"Yes, I have no time to lose." Said Fennel in a reliable tone that filled Anise with pride.

"Good luck then." Said Anise as she stretched against the chair.

Fennel was about to leave, when Anise called him once more.

"Fenn?"

"Yes mom?"

"No matter what you do, or what happens next." Said Anise with a serious but caring expression. "As long as you work hard, think things through, and act with good intentions. You should always feel proud of your choices. So make sure to embrace them with pride, even if things don't work out as you wish."

"I will." Replied Fennel with a smile. "Thanks mom."