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Luna Ambassador and former Queen of Luna, Linh Cinder and Emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth Kaito’s first anniversary is next week! And oh my goodness! Everyone is excited! Our star-aligned lovers tied the knot last year after announcing their beautiful courtship and us shippers couldn’t be happier! Linh Cinder, as you know, overthrew the previous Queen Levana of Luna and after turning the monarchy to a democracy, she willingly abdicated.
Can you imagine though! Emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth and the Queen of Luna? Happily married? A true fairytale of the ages, and this time, there’s little to no riots. The letumosis vaccine is being spread and all is well.
It was raining, the sun was nowhere to be seen and the air tasted sweet.
She smiled to herself, it’s been nearly four years since then, since Levana’s fall and her ascension to the throne. “Are you alright?” Kai breaks the silence and she looked at him. He was as handsome, no, he was even more handsome than when she met him at her old booth in the market. And he was hers. It still felt surreal even after this long. “Yeah, I’m alright, Cress and Thorne say hi from the European Federation.” She blinks at the comm page with Cress disappears from her eyesight.
“Oh,” and Kai’s face breaks into a wide smile, “Say hi back to them for me, and pictures, I want pictures.” He leans onto the seat and lets out a groan “I wish we could go on holiday.”
“Yeah…” Cinder laughs “I guess we have to let Cress and Thorne live out our fantasies for us.” They hardly get a break nowadays, running a whole commonwealth after all is busy work. And while Cinder is now only the ambassador, there is a great load of paperwork to be filled between the two nations.
So that leaves both Kai and Cinder buried deep in work. And Thorne and Cress were off somewhere prancing about in grass fields and flying in air-balloons. They started dating again a year ago, just after Cinder and Kai’s wedding in fact. Cinder had pushed Thorne to ask Cress out. They were good exes, better friends, and once they both had grown, they were the perfect match. Wouldn’t be surprised if one of them pulled out a ring one of these days.
Cinder could see New Beijing Palace up ahead, still beautiful. Kai lets out a sigh as the hover stopped and both of them climbed out and entered the Palace. “Cinder!” a voice called out and Cinder smiled and ran to her, wrapping her in a hug. “Iko! You’re back!” she grabbed her best friend by the shoulders “You should’ve told us you were coming
Kai walks up to her and wraps Iko in a hug as well “Iko, it’s great to see you!”
“Of course! And I’m sorry, me and Kinney can’t be here for long -- it’s whatchamacallit? A spontaneous visit!”
“Well we just got back as well, you should visit more, and not disappear from the grid! Where were you this time?”
Iko winked “Top secret your majesty~”
Yes, she smiles, everything is well. To imagine, all those years ago, Iko was only a droid and they had a foolish and silly dream to drive away. Away from Linh Adri and New Beijing -- and here she was now, the Empress of the Eastern Commonwealth. She and her step-mother now possess a civil relationship. Neither of them really tries to makeup and most of their relationship are formalities.
Pearl, on the other hand, basked in the glory of being the Empress’s step-sister. Cinder didn’t really mind, after all, Pearl stopped being so cruel to her. Out of fear or out of kindness? It’s not very clear. But they have a somewhat sense of friendship. A month ago, Cinder and Pearl had taken a trip together, to where Peony was resting, perhaps it brought them closer. Cinder didn’t know.
She blinks, there was a comm from Scarlet and she opens it, a picture and a small caption underneath ‘We picked some apples today’ . Scarlet and Wolf still live in Rieux, France and they had two adorable children. Fraternal twins, a girl and a boy. The picture was taken under Scarlet’s apple tree, fresh with fruit and the two children were on Wolf’s shoulder. “Hey, when we’re on a proper break” Cinder nudged Iko “Let’s go visit Scarlet and Wolf, it’s been a while hasn’t it?”
“Oh yeah! I bought some presents for the little dumplings and well I was going to ship it to them but I think delivering them in person has a little charm, doesn’t it?”
Cinder smiles. From the corner of the hallway, a tall man appears and Iko runs to him. Kinney gives Cinder and Kai a wave before devoting his attention to his partner.
Cinder looks at Kai “So, a trip to France huh?” he asks,
“Well if the Council agrees that is, we are quite busy.”
“Yes we are” he reaches out a hand, and Cinder takes it, Metal against skin. She isn’t ashamed anymore, and while it’s slow going, the rights for Cyborgs are getting better.
“Maybe we should schedule it after the Luna trip, Winter is begging me to go visit her.”
“Sure, that sounds lovely, let’s go to Artemisia,”
“Yeah” Luna has changed, no longer just far apart sectors, no longer a tyrannical monarchy. It’s beginning to look inhabitable, like a place Lunars can call home. And Winter and Jacin are the leading the rebuild.
At the start, Cinder stayed on Luna for months at a time, and now, her duties are shrinking little by little and she couldn’t help but feel a little sad about it. “Hey Cinder?” Iko said,
“Yeah?”
“You and Kai go on ahead, I need to talk to Kinney about some things” she winked and Cinder got the message. She grabbed Kai and pulled him away from them “Hey- wait-” she didn’t stop until she was at least three hallways away from them.
Kai pouts “What was that for?”
“Iko and Kinney have some things to talk about.”
He squints “Oh- OH! Well good for her, I’ve been wondering how long it was going to take.”
“Yeah” Cinder laughs “Though I don’t think they’ll get far along, both of them are too stubborn to admit anything.”
“Poor Kinney, Poor Iko, Poor both of them really”
“Agreed,” she pauses “Were we ever like this?”
“I-- I’m not sure, though Jacin says we were, I mean, he was there at the Ball.”
“That’s embarrassing” she grins, Kai grins back.
“Not as embarrassing, If I was with you, nothing is embarrassing enough.”
Cinder raises a brow “Are you sure about that? I remember a certain boy stumbling over his words when a certain fugitive pointed a gun at him.
“I didn’t stumble on my words, I certainly do remember a certain fugitive coming to my rescue though, saving me from an inescapable marriage”
“Mhm sure.”
Kai’s netscreen buzzed coincidentally at the same time a notification came into Cinder’s eyesight. Cinder let out a groan, it was a comm from one of their governors. A call for Cinder and Kai to return to the council room to discuss some laws.
Kai turns to look at her “Now,” she says “Your Majesty, are you ready to dive headfirst into a big pile of documents?”
Kai lifts her hand (which he hadn’t let go off yet) and kisses it.
“My Queen, do you even have to ask?”
“No I suppose not,” she replies “and Kai?”
“Mmm?”
“When this is all over, let’s go on a trip far far away.”
“Okay.”