Chapter 178:

A Blue Princess Sets Out 2

The Nonpareil of Resh (Act 1)


As soon as the train tracks for the south were opened, a short ride from the center of Nun brought the trio to where the Ali had been stored. Liv and Felix stood staring at the transport which had brought the team across a large chunk of Resh.

“It’s kind of ugly,” the Hobusian agent said with a frown.

“I… I have to agree with Felix on this one,” Liv added.

Fiona wanted to argue with the two agents, but she was not particularly fond of Ali’s aesthetic design either. She let her head hang and unlocked the doors. While navigating to the seat, the blue Aqueenian realized she did not know how to drive the vehakul.

She had spent most of her life in the castle or using her Needaimus to teleport where she needed, and Aqueenian royalty was always chauffeured if the need arose. Though she knew the basic driving principles, she had never been behind the wheel of something before.

To make matters worse, Odell had spent a fair amount of time modifying the vehakul during their trip. The dashboard was littered with several new buttons and dials, which were set with different colors but had no labels indicating what they did.

The team had noticed the increase of buttons during their trip but didn’t say anything as they thought it would never be relevant. Now Fiona stared and racked her head for which button was supposed to start the hovering transport.

The eye’s focused on her from Felix, and Liv only made her more nervous than Fiona would have liked to be. Both agents had decided to sit in the back seats and stared at Fiona from behind. She pressed her back into the seat harder as her purple eyes darted around to take in every button. It seemed like sweat was beginning to bead up on her forehead as her heart began to pound in her chest.

“Is something the matter?” Felix asked in a gruff voice.

Fiona took a deep breath and selected a button that seemed like the best guess. The vehakul roared to life and began to gently hover over the ground.

“None at all,” she replied. Her voice came out weaker than she would have liked. The blue princess shook her head as she tried to shake the feelings away. She didn’t like thinking so much about things.

Slowly and steadily, Fiona moved the vehakul forward. She tried her best to hide her inexperience with driving and moved as carefully as possible. The blue princess had no intent to let one of the agents take control; she thought it impractical. More importantly, it stung her pride to think about giving in that easily.

She managed to get out of the parking lot and onto the street with relative ease. After which, she slowly accelerated through the Nun roads.

“Take a left here,” Felix gave directions from the backseat.

Getting from the southern section of Nun to the north would take about half a day, even if they sped, and Fiona was driving much slower than either of the agents would have liked.

“Princess Fiona, dear, you can go faster in this section of the city,” Liv said politely.

“Step on it, girl! We’re not getting any younger!” Felix added.

“Speak for yourself, Felix,” Liv added.

Fiona tensed up as they got on the Resh equivalent of a highway. The road was open, inviting her to go faster, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to.

“You need to speed up!” Felix hollered from the backseat.

Fiona finally took a deep breath as she pulled off the ramp and into the lanes. She pressed the petal, and all inside the Ali felt a jerk as they rapidly began to accelerate.

She had decided she didn’t like worrying, and there wasn’t anything important enough to think about. The blue princess pushed away the thoughts without dwelling on them a moment longer, and a smile came across her face. There was bliss to be had in being careless, and she preferred that way of being.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get there in no time!” she happily said as the vehakul raced down the road. Several other vehakuls came into view and quickly left as they sped past them.

“Slow down!” Felix quickly changed his tune.

His words didn’t reach Fiona as she began to feel what driving was like. She silently planned to scold Odell for not telling her sooner.

They continued down the long stretch of highway to the north part of the city. None knew what awaited them at the end of the road.   

Momentie
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