Tenet 88
Keep an open mind.
- Dr. H. VynFleet, 132 Tenets of Childcare & Maintenance
Emilia
Six months later, Emilia stood on the grounds of the Ulfgardian Palace, unable to believe her eyes.
“It’s incredible, isn’t it?” Ra’as asked her. “Seeing your work come to life for the first time?”
She nodded slowly. Incredible didn’t begin to describe it.
Her dreams were all coming true. It almost hurt to look.
“Emilia, that was your idea,” Mimi squealed.
The little one let go of her hand to point at the massive ironwork structures, covered with ivy, that provided privacy for the first-floor rooms of the palace.
“Every growing thing you see was in Emilia’s mind before it was here,” Ra’as said proudly.
He was right.
Emilia had learned after the fact that the sudden business trip he’d taken with his flirty colleague had been to speak with the palace officials about the natural screening. Ra’as had also asked them to sign a contract, hiring Emilia to complete all unplanned landscape designs for the grounds.
They liked the idea of the screening so much, that they had done him one better, and scrapped the existing plans, allowing Emilia to have free rein over the entire design.
The last six months had been a heavenly tornado of finding their footing as a couple and a family, while Emilia took on her first professional design project.
So much had happened in such a short time. The first thing was that flirty colleague no longer worked with Ra’as. She’d suddenly accepted an offer at a much less prestigious firm. Ra’as never admitted having anything to do with that decision, but Emilia had a pretty strong suspicion he was behind it.
The kids also got a much more friendly archery instructor, and Emilia had even started participating in the lessons herself. It was a great way to relieve stress after a long day. Mimi had already won the first of what Emilia expected would be many archery trophies. She currently slept with it, but promised she would put it on a shelf as soon as she had earned it a friend to keep it from being lonely up there.
In a surprising turn, Ra’as had decided not to pursue any legal action against the school for Dyrk’s bullying incident. And completely coincidentally, that very same week, the school received an anonymous donation to start an agriculture club, which Dyrk quickly became president of. He was a natural leader, and often invited his new group of friends over after school to hang out in his own garden.
And of course, Emilia had spent much of the time working harder than she ever had on the palace landscaping project.
But those many hours of love and hard work had paid off.
Here they were, together.
And here was this shimmering palace Ra’as had built, set in her lush landscape.
She had spent half her contract budget on consultants and sunlight studies. Both the scope of the project and the location on Ulfgard were too new for her to risk doing it any other way.
But the result was something she was incredibly proud of - beautiful, local plantings in a pleasing arrangement, accentuating the beauty of the palace and providing fresh, fragrant air and abundant shade. It would only become more functional as the plantings matured, with fresh fruit trees and even a large kitchen garden, each having their space on the emerald acres.
“Dad,” Dyrk said quietly, jutting his chin toward a Bergalian woman in a dark suit who was fast approaching.
“So, Emilia, we wanted to surprise you with something,” Ra’as began.
“Emilia Robbins?” the woman interrupted, reading from her clipboard. “I’m Shyrele Playns, from the Sector Groundskeeper’s Guild, here to judge your work.”
“Wh-what?” Emilia stammered, taking a moment to find the meaning in the words.
“For the contest…,” the woman added.
She glanced up at Ra’as, but he only winked and walked away with the kids.