Cockroaches infestation

Karaza checked the maintenance list Patitcha provided her. The current colonies were doing relevantly well, not enough to produce commercially yet but the place didn't look abandoned anymore.

'I wonder what honey harvest feels like.' She thought while some bees flew around her.

She did harvest some small samples at the training but a true harvest must be different, as all tasks have been so far.

She looked around the place, the land was almost a perfect square. The hives were in a row on one side opposite to the entry gate, so when one enters the apiary the hives are the first thing they see.

A tool shed in rough shape was right to the hives. She was itching to fix it but she wasn't sure about permissions yet.

'What's gonna happen to this place though? Patitcha has been quiet about that...'

As she opened the door to her flat, she saw the lemons hiding inside the charcoal bag, pieces falling as they shiver.

The white cockroaches were distressing the lemons even though they were translucent, visible ghosts if you will. It's been a couple days since the chat with Natasha, doesn't look like she made her wish yet.

'Must be another person thinking about wishing, the white bugs don't appear for one person…'

She thought while washing them in the sink, she dried them with her dye stained towel and turned them into their miniature form.

They relaxed in the fresh air, dangling from her hexagono.

'Where should I eat today? I ate Indonesian yesterday. Maybe I should go to a local restaurant in some neighborhood?'

In an Iraqi restaurant she enjoyed some dolma until her hexagono made a noise, Yasmin from the community warehouse sent a message asking her if she was available.

In her way she tinkered with the hexagono to know how to send massages, fully comfortable with moving her eyes to maneuver the screen's magnetic powder.

Her legs stopped automatically near the warehouse, raising her head to see a camel near the door.

She and the camel blinked at each other in confusion.

'It's probably a normal occurrence I don't know about...'

Some newcomers were fortunate enough to manage to ship their belongings from other nations but all belongings were meshed with one another in a messy pile.

She and Momo carried heavy things around, dividing things into categories in an attempt to untangle the mess while some newcomers looked and called if they found a belonging of theirs.

"How did this happen?" Yasmin complained about the mess.

"It was like this before it passed the boarder." Momo justified.

The ex mercenary eyed the belongings. Some old heirlooms, day life necessities of pots, pans, wheelchairs, and a kid stroller. Someone even managed to ship a sofa somehow.

The teller of the land's reputation was the boxes of food that almost everyone shipped.

"This place is organized...? And the streets are so clean!"

Newcomers chatted among themselves. Some shared quenchy, teasing it for the first time.

Karaza glanced at the people with skin conditions and relatively nice clothes.

'Separating everyone's clothes is the real nightmare...' She thought.

'I was right. I don't even like organizing my own clothes.' She exited the warehouse at sunset, not in all of her days oflabor heavy volunteering did she feel this drained.

"And the vending machine is still probably broken. And if I went home the lemons gonna make a mess." She sat on the next bench, some reflection dawned on her.

'Wow, once I was stuck in a desert with no food and three lions chasing me and I didn't complain this much.'

'Am I getting soft?'

'But isn't that the road to being a proper citizen?'

She took a deep breath.

"I wish some tobacco would fall from the sky..."

A fancy cigar was placed slowly on her head. She looked to her right.

"Oh, hi. Young master."

"Sorry, it was funnier in my head." The man in disguise said.

"Sure you don't want one?" He offered the cigar, sitting next to her.

"Nah, this is too strong. I want classic balanced tobacco."

"Yeah, yeah sure."

She glanced at him twice before asking.

"Shouldn't you...be preparing for the wedding?" She asked hesitantly.

"It got postponed. Count Alseter II died. We are still in mourning." He stated the facts.

"I see." It dawned on her that she's no longer a part of his world.

"Anyway that gave me needed time here. Your friend is fabulous, I'm almost done with finalizing an importing company for this land's goods." He proudly waved some thick files of papers.

"A businessman like your father- WAIT who are you calling my friend??!"

She looked away, offended while he tried to bribe her with the cigar again.

"Say, Cherry. If I could come back would you?" He asked after the childish banter died down. He didn't look at her, and neither did she, they just gazed at the round stones the ground was built from.

She looked at the random buildings in this random street, for some reason at that moment she felt strangely clingy to them.

"I don't think I want to." Her voice wasn't loud enough, but it was clear enough.

"Yeah, figures...Forgive the unnecessary question." His formality put distance between them. She knew she was the only one who saw his almost crass, relaxed, informal side. Perhaps she won't anymore.

Yet that doesn't have to change her.

"Now I wish for anything to cut this tense air." She joked, knowing it might not land. But it was her way of telling him she still had a soft spot for what was and may be between them.

His lips curved upward for a moment, successfully holding a chuckle back.

"Hi honey!" The familiar voice chimed. That good mood tone did indeed cut the tense moment.

The nameless surgeon waved at her with his head department, Khadijah, nodding at her.

"Wish me the crown! Wish it now." Antonio shook her shoulder like a nagging kid brother while she greeted them casually.

He noted how she didn't tense up or stand while she greeted them.

He also registered something else. Looking at the man with the long braid, spotty scrubs, and smoky gray eyes.

"Honey?! You dog! I knew you had it in ya!" He nudged her proudly with his elbow.

"He calls everyone with a skirt, that and this is not the dukedom young master."

Which meant you could sit next to someone from the opposite sex without needing to marry them afterward to save your honor.

Yet he eyed the casual convo between the two half albinos like a housewife watching a soap opera.

'Looks like you're doing better, Cherry.' He thought while Khadijah greeted her before leaving quickly as her medical hexagono pinged, giving a medical bag to her subordinate.

"Cool cigar." She said with a nod to Antonio before leaving.

"Wish everyone agreed with ya!"

He looked at the darkening blues of the sky.

"Ah damn, the carriage's last trip! Bye, Cherry." He gave the other man a nod and a studying glance before running to the station. The surgeon waved back.

'He needs a secretary and a bonk on the head.'

"So that's your young master?" He asked curiously.

"Yeah, the man himself."

His eyes moved as he thought deeply for a second.

"I thought nobles and political figures of other nations weren't allowed to enter the land?" He murmured to himself.

"Don't think much about it."

"Yes, ma'am."

'The spies of the sick people know about a nation more than its own ruler.'

Karaza remembered the old saying.

'They probably know about his true identity. Or he might have made a deal with the authorities of the land, he's bringing a lot of money in the end.'

'He liked risks but he wasn't reckless.'

The next morning in the lavish mansion Antonio puts on his contact lenses, wet hair stinking to his forehead.

Dozens of white cockroaches were roaming around.