In Service of the Queen

In Service of the Queen

by Davina Lee

An alternative future of women and their adventures

*

Author's Note

At the end of the last chapter, Adelaide had fallen asleep on Friend Beatrice's sofa after learning of Beatrice's work to squirrel away books for safekeeping as a favor to the librarian... just in case.

Cosette and Tiara and the other international visitors have all been deported. Vivienne's got a job as a pastry chef at the café to keep her busy and distracted, but it seems all Adelaide could find was a third shift job scrubbing floors.

What's going on in Empyrea, friends?

* * *

Chapter 14: Cream Puffs and Coffee

Adelaide and Vivienne's apartment

Adelaide burst through the front door, pulling the scarf away from her neck. She flung her scarf at the coat hook on the wall while pushing the door closed with a kick of her heel. Adelaide dashed down the hallway, tugging on the button at her waistline as she went. She dropped her trousers and sat down on the toilet without bothering to close the door.

As the rush of spray echoed in the enclosed space, Adelaide finally let out her breath.

"I never thought I'd say this," said Adelaide, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, "but I kind of miss having Cosette watching me pee. Not that I'm incapable of peeing by myself, but..."

Adelaide leaned back. "I don't know. It's weird, but it's cute. I can't imagine ever doing it for anyone else. And I can't think of anyone other than Cosette asking me to. You know what I mean?"

Adelaide reached for the toilet paper. "Viv?"

When no answer came, Adelaide stood up and peeked her head around the doorframe before turning on the tap to wash her hands. "Viv? Are you...? Oh, no! You didn't oversleep, did you?"

Adelaide flicked the last droplets of water into the basin and rubbed her hands over her pants to dry them. She walked three steps and turned the corner to stare through Vivienne's open doorway. "Viv? It's almost seven-thirty, hon. Shouldn't you be...?"

Adelaide let her words trail off as she settled her gaze on Vivienne's bed, with the covers shoved off to one side and no Vivienne anywhere to be seen.

"Viv?" Adelaide muttered, as she wandered down the hall. "Where are you off to so early?"

As Adelaide approached the front of the apartment again, she let her gaze fall to her scarf, now lying in a heap on the floor. "Guess I missed the hook," she chuckled to herself, marching over to pick it up.

When Adelaide turned around, she stared for a moment at the kitchen table, devoid of anything but the single piece of paper that caught her eye, situated directly in the center. She picked up the paper and read the words written in Vivienne's hand.

Went in early. Cream puffs are a big hit. Training some of the others how to make them. Stop by around 15:00, if you can. Promise I'll save you a custard one.

Adelaide smiled as she let the note fall from her fingers, back to the table where she found it. Pausing for a moment, Adelaide reached up to wipe at her eye with the back of her hand. "I'm happy you've got something to keep your mind occupied, Viv," she mumbled.

Adelaide shuffled off to her room and flopped onto her bed. She didn't bother getting undressed.

* * *

Seven hours later

Adelaide woke with a start, latching onto her pillow for a moment with both hands, and then shoving it aside. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and sat up with her head in her hands.

"Mm-ugh," she muttered, looking down over her rumpled trousers.

Adelaide stood up, tugged at her waistband, and let her pants drop into a pool at her feet. She stepped out, one foot at a time, and shuffled out into the hall. Adelaide had her shirt off and flung to the floor before she reached to twist the tap in the shower.

* * *

Empyrea City Café, one hour later

Adelaide burst through the door of the café, breathing heavily.

"Hello, friend," said the hostess standing just inside the entrance. "Will you be joining us for late lunch or early dinner?"

"Huh?"

"Would you like a lunch menu or are you in the mood for something more substantial? I can give you the dinner menu, if you'd rather."

"Vivienne," said Adelaide.

The hostess knit her eyebrows as she cocked her head. A split second later, she straightened up. "Oh, you're meeting someone. Would you like to have a look around to see if she's here?"

"She works here," said Adelaide. "Vivienne. She's a pastry chef. She's been--"

"The cream puff goddess." The hostess threw her hand up over her mouth as soon as the words left. "Sorry. It's just how I think of her. You must be Friend Adelaide."

Adelaide nodded.

"She said to expect you. Sorry, but that was almost an hour ago. I didn't know if it was--"

"The trolley's not running. I had to walk."

The hostess nodded. "Follow me," she said, guiding Adelaide to a large, round table.

With a nod from the hostess, a server came over with a stack of six dessert plates and an equal number of forks and napkins. The server laid these out around the table, one in front of every chair.

"Um, it's just me today," said Adelaide. "I don't really need all these plates."

The hostess didn't seem to hear. She turned to Adelaide, leaning in. "You don't happen to know if she's seeing anyone, do you? Friend Vivienne? Sorry, I know it's forward of me."

"Sorry, friend," said Adelaide. "She's got a girl. They've been together for a while."

The hostess shrugged. "Story of my life," she muttered. "The cute ones are always taken."

As the hostess marched back to the front of the café to greet someone else, the server returned juggling half a dozen empty cups and saucers along with a small stack of paper cocktail napkins. She placed these around the table alongside the dessert plates.

"It's just me, friend," said Adelaide. "And maybe Vivienne."

"She told me six," said the server. And before Adelaide could ask who told her, the server had scurried off again.

While watching her go, Adelaide happened to glance at a familiar woman, dressed in the blue uniform of the Air Self-Defense Force. She was sitting at the bar with her hand on the knee of a blonde who looked to be busy twirling her hair around one finger. The blonde woman's severe stilettos accentuated her calves, and her long, shapely legs were visible well past mid-thigh, put on display by the high slit cut up the side of her dress.

Adelaide averted her gaze, instead concentrating on her own hazy reflection staring back from the gleaming white of the dessert plate on the tablecloth in front of her. "Oh, dear friend. Please don't let her come over here," muttered Adelaide. "Please. I just want to--"

"Hello, friend."

Adelaide didn't need to look up. She could see the woman's face in the reflection behind her own--her hair pulled back tight, up and away from the collar of her crisp, blue, military uniform.

"Look, um, Captain," said Adelaide, not bothering to turn around. "I don't understand it. You've got yourself a girl. She's very pretty. I can see that from here. Much prettier than me, so--"

"Group Captain," said the woman, reaching around Adelaide to pluck up a single cocktail napkin from the table.

"Sorry, what?"

"Group Captain," repeated the woman, now pulling a pen from her pocket. "You can tell by the number of stripes on my shoulders, if you'd bothered to count."

"Oh," said Adelaide.

"Group Captain Thorne. That's what my subordinates call me. The blonde with the legs, she calls me Miss Ilsa. But only when she's in the throes of orgasm. That's the only time I allow it."

"Um..."

Group Captain Ilsa Thorne leaned forward, her arms closing in around Adelaide's shoulders as she gripped the pen in one hand and held the napkin flat with the other. Thorne began writing.

Klagshamnsvägen 44, Bunkeflostrand

Adelide said nothing, even after Group Captain Thorne straightened up again, putting the pen away.

"It's the emergency contact for your girlfriend," said Thorne. "Listed when she applied to live at the youth hostel. I understand your letters aren't getting through."

Adelaide swallowed hard. She said nothing. She didn't even move from her hunched position until long after Group Captain Thorne's reflection had vanished from the dessert plate.

When she finally straightened up enough to look around the café again, Adelaide saw Thorne had taken up her familiar residence at the bar. She was whispering something into the blonde's ear as she slid her hand up under the slit of the woman's dress.

Adelaide shook her head.

"Addie! You made it," exclaimed Vivienne, hustling over wearing a white double-breasted coat and black pants. She was carrying a plate piled high with cream puffs.

"Viv. Hi."

Vivienne set the plate on the table. "You have no idea how hard it was keeping people's grubby little mitts off these for the past hour."

"Friend Vivienne," said Adelaide. "I appreciate the fruits of your labor. You know I do. But I don't think I can eat..." Adelaide stabbed her finger in the air about the plate as she counted. "I can't eat six of these. Two? Easy. Three if I really apply myself. But six?"

"Addie, control yourself. You only get one."

"Viv?" Adelaide scrunched up her mouth and chewed at her lip. "Control myself?" she muttered.

"They're not all for you."

"Oh," said Adelaide, looking around at the five other dessert plates arranged around the table. Adelaide's mouth suddenly dropped. "Oh, for friend's sake. It's not...? Not...?"

"Not what, Addie?"

Adelaide leaned in. "That cringy woman at the bar, Viv. Did she set this up? Is she inviting herself over here with her blonde girl and...? And three friends?"

Adelaide shivered.

"What? No," said Vivienne. "Why would she do that?"

"She came over a minute ago," Adelaide said, sliding the cocktail napkin over to Vivienne. "She gave me this. Said it was Tiara's emergency contact address."

Vivienne studied the napkin for a moment and shrugged. "I don't know," said Vivienne. "I've been in the kitchen all day. And you're late."

"Trolley's out."

"That's okay," said Vivienne, looking up from the table, toward the café entrance. "They're late too."

"Who?" asked Adelaide, following Vivienne's gaze. "Oh. Oh!" Adelaide smiled.

* * *

"Pretzel girl," said Camina, raising her hands to chest height and then leveling both index fingers toward Adelaide. Flanking Camina on either side were Daphne and Chloe, neither woman wearing much more of a skirt than when Adelaide had seen them backstage at the concert, but they had piled sweaters on top against the chill.

Stepping around to stand beside Camina and the gals doting on her, Danielle and Taylor both offered a smile and a wave.

"Hi. Oh, hi," said Adelaide, standing up, moving her gaze from one face to the next. "This explains the six plates."

"We were told to keep it a secret," said Danielle, reaching out to wrap Adelaide in a hug.

"Friend Vivienne said you were missing Tiara pretty bad," offered Taylor, stepping in to hug Adelaide next.

"We miss her too," said Danielle.

"And misery loves cream puffs," said Camina. And while Camina was reaching in to sock Adelaide in the shoulder, Daphne and Chloe each took one of Adelaide's hands and squeezed.

Adelaide turned to Vivienne, her face beaming. "Thanks, Viv," she said. "You're the best."

"I'll see if I can find someone with coffee," replied Vivienne, flashing a tight smile before hustling off.

"It's good to see you," said Adelaide, finally pulling out her chair again to sit, as the five women around her did the same. "I wish it... I wish it were..."

Beside Adelaide, Danielle reached out to offer a quick squeeze of Adelaide's shoulder. "I know," said Danielle. "We miss her too."

"Do you have her home address?" asked Adelaide.

Across from her, Camina shook her head while reaching out for a cream puff. She put the pastry on the Daphne's plate before reaching out for another. While Camina delivered the second cream puff to Chloe, the café server was back with a pot of coffee.

"As far as I knew, she only lived at the youth hostel," said Danielle. "I mean, obviously she lived somewhere else. But that was before we met her."

"How long have you been playing?" asked Adelaide. "As a band, I mean. I thought...? I don't know..."

Taylor shook her head. "We all met up at the music school. They have a bulletin board there. Sort of a help wanted for musicians. Taylor and I had played together a few times, but not as a band."

Adelaide leaned back so as not to crowd the server filling her cup. "You never knew each other before that?"

Taylor shook her head.

Adelaide picked up the napkin with the address written in Thorne's pen. "So you don't know if this is her hometown?"

Taylor picked up the napkin. She showed it to Danielle, beside her. "Bunkeflostrand. Isn't that near Malmö?"

Danielle shrugged. "Could be. I don't know. I grew up in Empyrea City." She turned to Camina. "You've known her the longest. She never mentioned it?"

Camina shook her head. "We mostly talked about music and getting our next gigs. Where'd you get that address, anyway? From Friend Vivienne?"

Adelaide shook her head. "Unfortunately, no." She raised her gaze to Group Captain Thorne at the bar. "From her."

"Throw it away," said Camina. Daphne, at her side, turned to stare.

"She's a predator," continued Camina. "That address is probably some house of ill-repute, where they kidnap young, doe-eyed girls and enslave them into a life of prostitution."

"Camina!" said Danielle, glaring.

"What? Look at her. And look at the blonde with her. Tell me that's not the vibe they've got going on over there."

"I don't trust her either," added Taylor.

"She's cringy, sure," said Adelaide, "but she's not a predator."

"I'd stay away," said Camina.

"She's got a girl now. She didn't even try to hit on me."

"Leopards don't change their spots, hon," said Taylor to Adelaide. "I know. I've dated a few."

"Why are we even giving her a single minute of our attention?" asked Danielle, looking from face to face around the table. "We came here to remember Tiara."

"You're talking like she's dead," said Camina.

"You know what I meant," said Danielle, drilling her eyes into Camina. "Reminisce. Is that a better word for you?"

"Sorry," said Camina, "I didn't mean..."

"I know, babe," said Danielle. "I'm sorry."

After a moment of strained silence, Adelaide spoke up. "Friends," she said, "How did you meet? How did you decide to form a band with Friend Tiara?"

"Oh, that?" said Taylor. She looked at Camina. "Do you want to start?"

Camina shrugged. "Sure," she said. "Friend Tiara and I just sort of ran into each other one day. It was at the music school. I was heading out. She was heading in. I think so anyway. She was just kind of standing there with her bass case in her hands, staring up at the front of the building.

"She's a big girl, Tiara. I mean, I didn't know she was a defensive midfielder then. Didn't even know she played football, really. But if she'd told me, I wouldn't have been surprised. She's tall. She's solid. She doesn't look like she'd take any crap off anybody. But that day, she's standing there looking small. Like a lost little girl on her first day of kindergarten.

"I kind of felt bad for her, you know. She just stood there, her mouth hanging open a little. Initially, I breezed right by her. The momentum of heading down the steps, the rush of getting to wherever it was I was going next, I don't know. But after the look on her face registered, I stopped. Right there, in the middle of the stairs, I stopped.

"Hey, I said to her. You know me. I'm not usually one for words. So that was it. Just hey.

"

Is this the music school?

She asked me.

"And I'm thinking, like, duh. But I realize all I've got on me are drum sticks and those are zipped up in a case, so how would she know?

"

Yeah,

I said to her.

You taking classes?

"She shook her head.

Just trying to meet people,

she told me.

"So I took her inside and showed her the bulletin board where people would post about their bands and side projects with any positions they needed to fill.

"When she told me she played bass, I took her by the hand and led her over to the board with the studio schedule. We found an open one and just sat down jamming. It was something like two or three hours. Her chops were solid the whole time. After that, I gave her my address."

"Like you were dating?" asked Chloe, smirking.

"Or hoping to," added Daphne.

"No, you derps," said Camina, digging her elbow into first Chloe's ribs, then Daphne's. "What part of

scared little girl on her first day of kindergarten

did you miss?"

Chloe grinned and elbowed Camina back, while Daphne leaned in to sock Camina on the shoulder.

"She needed a friend was all," said Camina. "I'm glad I was there that day."

"Me too," said Taylor. She tilted her head toward Danielle. "Dani and I, we had just started playing together. Little acoustic sets. Mostly busking on corners, not really any gigs. Just us on guitars and vocals. We'd been doing it a while. Maybe six months."

Beside Taylor, Danielle was nodding. "Mostly it was Taylor singing and me strumming. Though Taylor played sometimes too."

Adelaide turned to Danielle and then to Taylor. "Like when you did the ballad at the Mabon concert?" asked Adelaide. "The one friend Tiara wrote?"

"Yeah," said Taylor, "except we weren't writing our own stuff at that point."

"It was all cover tunes," added Danielle.

"But when we met up with Tiara and Camina," said Taylor. "That's when the magic happened."

"The girl actually knows music theory," said Danielle. "Like solid music theory. That's what we'd been missing. Taylor and me, we could sing along to somebody else's tune no problem--"

"But any time we'd try to write something," interjected Taylor.

"It was a disaster," they said, together.

"But Tiara," said Danielle. "She'd just sit down and scribble out some chord notation.

Stay in this progression,

she'd say, and then she'd start laying down a groove."

"And Camina over here," added Taylor. "Her timing with Tiara's licks... ooh."

"It was like..." Danielle looked over to Adelaide. "Uh-oh," said Danielle.

"Oh, honey," whispered Taylor, swooping in to wrap Adelaide in a hug. "I'm sorry."

"No," said Adelaide, sniffling and wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's okay. I'm just a little verklempt, that's all."

"You want the other half of my cream puff?" asked Danielle. "Might make things better."

Adelaide shook her head. She reached out for a sip of coffee before dabbing under her eyes on more time. "I'm fine. Keep going. I like hearing about her."

"Okay," said Danielle, reaching out to slide her hand over Adelaide's shoulder, briefly. Danielle looked to Taylor.

"See, we thought we were pretty good," said Taylor.

"You are," said Camina.

"Yeah, but... well, we didn't have the songwriting down. Camina and Tiara. They were an unstoppable duo in that respect."

Camina snickered.

"What?" said Taylor.

"That's not what you said in the beginning."

Beside Taylor, Danielle began smirking as she shrugged.

Camina continued, "I believe the words were--"

"You're too damn loud," said Danielle, breaking out in a full grin.

Camina nodded.

"You were," said Danielle.

"But then we got some amps," said Taylor. "And Dani switched to an electric."

"And it was all downhill from there," said Camina.

"Yep." Taylor grinned. "See, Camina's got this old farmhouse. Except it's right in the middle of town."