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 has been so far.

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

A tool shed in a 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 quite about that...'

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

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

'Must be another people 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 eat 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 massage asking her if she's 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 neat the warehouse, rising 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 and 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 their's.

"How did this happen?" Yasmin complained at 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 pot, 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 almost everyone shipped.

"This placed 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 cloths.

'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 and labor heavy volunteering she felt 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 at 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 be a proper citizen?'

She took a deep breath.

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

A fancy cigar was placed slowly on her head. She looked at 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 tabaco."

"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 still in mourning." He stated the facts

"I see." It downed 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 file of papers.

"A business man 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 so 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 new 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 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 is 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 clocked how she didn't tense up or stand while she greeted them.

He also registered something else. Looking at the man with 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 can 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 sob 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 agrees 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, curious.

"Yeah, the man himself."

His eyes moved as he thought deeply for a second.

"I though nobles and political figures of other nations aren'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 knows about a nation more than its own ruler.'

Karaza remembered the old saying.

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

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

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.