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Mark asked, "How many assistants do I get or need?"
Angela said, "Most monarchs have an entourage of friends and family, but they usually start with one personal assistant just to bounce ideas off of, but your assistant should be someone that's with you most of the time and they should know the workings of the government. You can always add more if the workload is too much."
Mark said, "Liyana!"
Angela said, "There you go, you're all set. The highest ranking official of Security, Medical, Emergency, Legal, Education, Infrastructure and Finance are your advisers."
Mark said, "That makes sense, I should probably arrange meetings with most of them in the next week or so."
Liyana then said, "If we're going out to the islands, I would recommend packing something to eat. I think some of the islands have a picnic table and drink dispensers on them now, but I'm not 100% sure."
Mark then asked, "Who all is going?"
Annabelle, Angela, Laruun, Rayven, Solara, T'Soona, Liyana, and Gyges all put up their hands. Maren was going to fly home to surprise her parents and Candy was off exploring the countryside with one of the security personnel from her planet.
They all went in to talk to Jeff about making them some lunch for their picnic outing and Jeff said they would deliver the picnic to the boat house when it was ready.
The group walked down to the boat house and saw there was a selection of life vests in various sizes as well as 10 pedal boats, a few canoes, a couple of ocean kayaks, a bunch of paddle boards and even a couple of windsurfing boards.
Angela said, "There are nine of us, so someone is going to be alone in a boat."
T'Soona said, "Actually I don't need a boat, I can fly, plus my legs would probably be too short to pedal anyway."
Angela said, "We'll need 4 boats then."
They each paired off, Liyana and Gyges, Solara and Laruun, Annabelle and Rayven, leaving Mark with Angela. They then all found vests that fit them and within a few minutes a man showed up with a hover cart containing 4 picnic baskets.
They boarded their boats and each boat took one picnic basket as there was a little spot behind the seats to store stuff, then they set off toward the first island. The boats weren't speedy by any stretch of the imagination, but they were faster than Mark and Annabelle ever remembered the ones on Earth going.
Within about 10 minutes they had reached the first island. It was a pretty big island and, due to its proximity to the palace, it was probably the most heavily used island. It had a dock, several picnic tables, a couple of cabanas with patio furniture and even a washroom.
They wandered around the island for a few minutes, until Angela said there were only three islands with docks, picnic tables and washrooms, this one, the crater island at the end, and a scenic skinny island about halfway. Most people went for the crater island and stopped at the skinny island for a break. It was a group decision to go to the crater island today, but to stop at the skinny island for lunch. So off they pedalled.
They reached the skinny island in the middle, where the lake narrowed, this island had less tall trees than the other islands. Likely due to the reduced sunshine as a result of the shear cliffs on both sides, the lake itself was maybe 25 metres across at this point. It was very scenic though, as there was a natural arch bridge that spanned the lake above the far end of the island. As Angela had said, there was a dock, a washroom and 2 picnic tables on this island. Otherwise it was just grass, some hedges and a few small trees.
Lunch was a selection of sandwiches and they got drinks from the drink dispensers near the picnic tables. Jeff must have guessed they would go to the crater island as there was enough food for two meals. Everyone ate, then rested a bit, to let it settle then returned to the boats.
There were less islands on the latter part of the lake. A few of the islands couldn't have been more than 15 square metres in size.
The end of the lake doglegged right and once you got around the corner, you could see the crater and the big island in the middle. The lake here was probably close to two kilometres in diameter and the island was probably just under a kilometre wide itself.
This island was still mostly mountain and very rocky, although there were large trees, shrubs and grass around the base and it looked like several bushes that had grown up the sides. It had three floating docks as it was probably one of the most popular destinations on the lake. They all tied up their boats and moved the picnic baskets to a shaded area so they wouldn't warm up, without realizing the baskets were temperature controlled. Then they went off to explore the island.
There was a picnic table near the docks, just off a path that circled around the entire island. Along the path there were a few trails leading up the hill. There was more vegetation than they expected, but everything was lush and green. There were several picnic tables on the perimeter path, scattered around the shoreline.
They took one of the paths that went up to the top, which had numerous large trees, surrounding an open grassy area and providing shade to several picnic tables. There was also a covered cookhouse, complete with a food synth and washrooms. Obviously a popular place for parties or events.
T'Soona came flying up to them, "I think I found something, you guys need to come check it out! Go down that path over there!" She said as she pointed toward the path that led away from the rest of the lake.
T'Soona fluttered ahead of everyone as they scrambled down the path. The incline was steeper on this side so he doubted many people would use it, with much easier paths leading towards the various docks.
T'Soona landed at a spot in the path where it turned to traverse the slope and stopped about halfway, where the right side of the path was a steep cliff. She just stood there beside a tree with a grin until everyone had arrived.
Mark asked, "What did you want to show us T?"
T'Soona smiled and stepped behind the tree and disappeared.
A collective 'Whoa!' was said by everyone, then T'Soona popped back out, "I found a cave!"
Mark went to stand beside T'Soona and you couldn't see anything, it just looked like a shadow behind the tree. He stepped behind the tree and disappeared, one by one they all followed until they were standing in a dark gloomy cave.
T'Soona pulled Mark over to the side of the cave. "It doesn't work for me, put your hand here!" As she pointed to a flat spot on one rock.
Mark placed his hand on the spot and a door opened up, followed by a collective gasp as they entered the door and found a secret hideaway.
Mark asked Angela, "Did you know anything about this?"
Angela said, "I've been to this island 3 other times, but I've never found this cave."
They looked around and found 4 beds, two virtual reality setups with suspension harnesses, food, drink and clothing synths. There was also a table and chairs.
Angela said, "I bet this is where the Prince and his buddies come to hide out."
Angela went to the headboard of all the beds and hit a button on the side of the headboard. The bed immediately made itself.
Annabelle was shocked, "Do all beds do that?"
