2298
Gertok Galaxy
Planet Celestine
The Celestine Kingdom
The Castle of Dragons
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"Chenoa!" Solana's shrill voice exclaimed, drawing out the syllables in the young girl's name for three seconds each. She pivoted on her heels, whipping her head around and narrowing her fiery orange eyes. "Will you cut it out?"

Chenoa groaned loudly, throwing her head back and her hands in the air. "I'm trying to help you! You're not exactly the brightest light bulb in the box right now, Princess Solana," She snapped, condescendingly saying her name.

Solana frowned, narrowing her eyes as she clenched her fists at her side as if anger was radiating off her. "I beg your pardon? Do you know who you are addressing? I will not tolerate your condescending tone," She snapped right back.

Chenoa sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm herself from insulting the Solari Princess. "Princess Solana," She slightly hissed, not caring how she addressed her. "I'm trying to code a VPN so you can continue to contact the Galactic Alliance or whatever."

Solana moved her hands to her hips and rapidly tapped her foot on the floor impatiently. "I do not know what a VPN is, but I certainly do not need that." She adamantly insisted, her tone forceful.

Chenoa scoffed, running her hands through her hair out of exasperation. "A VPN stands for virtual private network. It protects its users by encrypting their data and masking their IP addresses so that their browsing activity, identity, and location are hidden." She exclaimed, lacing her fingers in her hair and groaning.

Solana shook her head and swiped her hands in front of her. "That is ridiculous! I do not need that. I am perfectly fine with how things are right now. Forget your little VPN and get out of MY system!" She yelled, pointing to Chenoa and then to herself.

Chenoa sucked in a deep breath and held it for a moment. "You're poking around sending signals out into space! This planet has been dead for 10,000 years. What would the Cerkoik think if there were suddenly signals coming from this planet? They'd pop over, see us and that would be the end. We'd all be dead." 

Solana shook her head as her long ponytail swished back and forth. "You do not know that for sure. You can not say one way or another. You have never been in my spot before, therefore, you have no idea what could happen -" She said, moving her arms back over her chest.

Chenoa quickly quipped, cutting her off. "Oh, on the contrary, I do know for sure. It's only reasonable, considering what little we know about them." She put her hands together and rested the tips of her fingers against her lips. "Just let me do this so we can take extra precautions."

Solana clenched her jaw, not wanting to admit that she was right. "Just do it quickly so I can go back to finding some aid." She forcefully said through her gritted teeth as her fists clenched at her hips.

Chenoa rolled her eyes, mumbling some insults under her breath so that Solana wouldn't hear it. 'That girl is going to be the death of me.' She thought to herself, bobbing her head and facing various expressions on her face.

General Nox strolled into the room just as things were getting heated between the two. "How are things, Princess Solana?" He asked, nodding to Chenoa was also in the room since Solana was in his view first. 

Solana sighed softly, moving her hand to her cheek. "Not going as well as I hoped. I can not do anything until Chenoa, over there, finishes coding a VPN to protect us." She bobbed her head towards Chenoa as Nox turned his attention to the younger girl.

Chenoa clenched her jaw and removed her hands from her keyboard. "You make it sound like it's a bad thing! It's a good thing because then prying eyes can't find us, considering how unprepared we would be if we were attacked." She passive-aggressively explained through gritted teeth.

Solana pressed her fingers into the bridge of her nose, taking a deep breath. "I do not think we will be attacked since I doubt the Cerkoik would care about a long-destroyed plant. For all they know it could be space pirates scavenging for goods." She forcefully said, trying to remain calm but her voice strained.

Chenoa pressed her lips into a thin line before taking her eyes off her screen and towards the yellow-haired girl. "Hypothetically, if we were space pirates, I'm sure the Cerkoik would still love to check things out since your IP address is clearly saying "secret castle-ship weapon that houses the Celestial Dragons which are, hey, totally real and just waiting for your attack!"."

Solana blinked, stunned at Chenoa's remark. She quickly shook her head, gaining her bearings. "How in the galaxy does that even sound remotely possible?" She asked, her tone snappy and her brows furrowing even more than they had been.

Chenoa held a groan and also did her best to remain calm. "Because a quick hack of the system can give them the whole plans to the whole castle-ship!" She passive-aggressively explained the latter of her sentence. 

Solana scoffed, shaking her head and leaning back against her chair. "That is impossible -" She began to deny, crossing her arms over her chest as she was cut off by Chenoa.

Chenoa turned around her screen and showed Solana the plans for the castle-ship via being inside the network. "See? That's us right now. Every little part of this place is vulnerable, including the weapons this baby has and I do not think you want to be on the receiving end of them."

Solana opened her mouth for a quick quip but closed it, relaxing there was nothing she could say against it. She had been proven wrong, so, she simply frowned in disappointment she had been outfitted by a mere child.

The tension was so thick that General Nox felt suffocated standing between both girls. 'I have never seen Solana clash this badly with someone before. Not even her mother and she was not always respectful to her.' He thought to himself, furrowing his brows.

He clapped his hands together. The sudden sound startled both girls. "I'm sure you will come to an agreement," He turned towards Princess Solana. "Your Highness, I do think you should, perhaps, listen to the young one."

Solana deeply frowned, narrowing her eyes annoyed at General Nox's words. "Pardon me?" She asked offensively, turning her back. "I do not need to listen to her," Venom laced in her voice as she spoke of Chenoa. "She does not belong here meddling in my affairs."

Nox approached the Solari Princess, reaching his hand out and placing it on her shoulder. "I know it is hard to accept help, and I may not be a Solari, but I know your mother would be open to the mere idea of outsiders." He tried to kindly reason with her.

Solana's annoyed expression fell and was relaxed by a crestfallen one. She uncrowded her arms and relaxed her body at the mention of her mother. 'Mother would be open . . .' She shook her head, casting those thoughts away. "She is not here, now is she? I am in charge as the heir."

Nox sighed softly, a slight, half-cocked frown appearing on his face at her stubborn nature. "I understand, Your Highness," He bowed his head out of respect for the princess. "Is there anything I can help with?"

Solana turned her body towards General Nox, a thoughtful expression appearing on her face. "You can put away the weapons in the training room, fix the broken robots, and fix everything Logan had messed up." She replied, recalling how she mentioned that to the two Desert Sands Prep Academy students.

Nox furrowed his brows as soon as those words left her lips. "Pardon?" When he realized he was not getting an answer he sighed softly. "Of course, Your Highness, I will get right on that." He pivoted on his heels and briskly walked out.

Chenoa glanced up from her screen, her fingers still coding away. "You could be a little nicer to him. I don't think he's very happy you've been treating him like your own personal servant since he's come out of the pod." She prompted gently, trying to not poke the proverbial bear.

Solana sucked in a deep breath, digging her nails into her arms that were crossed over her chest. "I do not need you to tell me how to treat someone. I could say the same about you and your sister since it is clear neither of you get along." She offhandedly said, turning her back towards Chenoa once again.

Chenoa decided to take her words with a grain of salt but still felt the need to clarify a little. "That's different. She's my sister, we're supposed to be at each other's throats, it's a given. But being that way with other people, especially people in authority, it's disrespectful towards them."

Solana could not believe she was getting a lesson on how to treat someone from a mere child, a human child nonetheless. "Finish your VPN so I can get back to what I was doing before you unkindly interrupted me," She sidestepped from where Chenoa was going and on to a different subject.

Chenoa clenched her jaw, wanting so badly to make a snide comment but she held back and simply sighed. 'How am I going to handle living with her for who knows how long until we can go home.' She thought to herself as she typed away at her keyboard.

☀️〰️🌑

Chenoa didn't know how long it had taken her but she had finally finished coding the VPN which took longer than expected, considering she was still getting familiar with alien tech.

She closed her laptop and stood up from her chair. She ran a hand through her hair, temporarily getting it out of her face. "Princess Solana," She addressed the Celestine heir, gaining her attention. "The VPN is coded." 

Solana wasn't about to thank Chenoa for delaying her important work since she didn't need a VPN. "You may go," She dismissed the young girl, turning her back and tapping away at the holographic keyboard.

Chenoa sucked in a deep breath and made her way out of the bridge. She walked through the open doors that seemed to be censored and down the hall towards the elevator. 

'Solana is going to be the death of me,' She thought, walking into the elevator and pressing a random button. She leaned against the wall as the elevator moved down. 'I don't know whether Solana is worse than Varian or not. They're both peas in a pod, add a little Malyla in and you've got trouble just waiting to happen.'

She sighed and pushed off the wall as the doors opened. She was immediately eloped with the sweet inciting smell of baked goodies coming from the kitchen. 'What smells so good?' She asked herself as she walked down the hall and into the kitchen.

Her eyes landed on various trays on the counter with various mixing bowls and unidentified ingredients mixed about. "Wow," She commented, walking over and inspecting the food before her. 'Pancake-like food - is that pasta-like food? Why is it black? It looks like licorice and I hate licorice.' She fake gagged, sticking out her tongue.

"Ooh," Her eyes stopped on a bright orange-colored muffin-like food dusted with a sparkly yellow powder. She reached for the muffin and gently pulled it out of the muffin-like tin.

"Stop!" A young voice suddenly cut through the air, causing Chenoa to jump out of her skin in the middle of trying to take a bite of the muffin. "Put that muffin down!" 

Chenoa looked up towards the voice and furrowed her brows. "Sammy?" She inquired,  withdrawing the muffin from her mouth which turned into a frown. "What are you doing with all this food?"

Sammy took off his oven mittens and set them down on the counter. "I'm experimenting with authentic Celestine ingredients Luna brought me. It's taken quite some time to figure out the ratio of the ingredients I need because I can't read Celestine. It is a bit similar to how they are to ours back on Earth: trial and error. I've tried to recreate some of the desserts Luna remembered from her childhood." He replies, placing his hands on the counter. "I haven't had time to taste it yet."

Chenoa, with the muffin in hand, nodded slowly. "Ah, I can taste it. I need some food to put me in a good mood because Princess Solana socks the life out of you." She groaned, setting the muffin down on the counter.

Sammy picked up a bowl and a spoon, mixing the contents. "She's that bad, huh?" He inquired, rhetorically since he continued. "Well, I suppose you can taste it. I won't be held responsible if it turns colors or gives you superpowers." He warned, dipping his finger in the batter and giving it a taste. "Hmm," He shrugged, continuing to stir. 

Chenoa shrugged her shoulders, that was the least of her worries. "Maybe I'll get, like, cool powers or glow," She commented, picking up the muffin and stuffing the whole thing in her mouth.

She slowly chewed the muffin, its texture was light and airy, and the flavor was indescribable: crisp clean flavor of like watery like a cucumber, cooling and sweet, with a hint of nutty flavor due to what was sprinkled on top. "Wow," She mumbled, putting her hand over her mouth.

"You like it?" Sammy asked, perking up at her reaction to the muffin. He felt his heart leap in his chest at how she was enjoying the muffin. "Luna said it was called a Sunniane, a treat given to Solari for special occasions, mostly birthdays. It sounded cool so I tried to recreate it. Maybe you can give it to Princess Solana as a peace offering."

Chenoa snorted, picking up another muffin after she had finished the first one. "Yeah, not gonna happen. I don't want to somehow offend her more than I've already done." She explained, taking a bite out of the muffin.

Sammy set the bowl on the counter and scooped some dark purple batter into some trays. "How did you offend her?" He inquired, glancing up at Chenoa in between pouring.

Chenoa sighed, sitting down on a bar stool. "I might have called her not the smartest light bulb in the box." She admitted, tapping her index fingers together. 

Sammy's jaw went slack and his eyes went wide at Chenoa's reply. "You did what?" He asked, setting down the spoon and giving her his full undecided attention. "Why did you call her that?"

Chenoa groaned, tipping her head back, and looking up at the bright ceiling lights. "She was upset I was coding a VPN for her! She was sending signals into space that gave away our location and the whole plans for the ship, including the weapons." She replied, looking off to the side after straightening up.

Sammy shrugged his shoulders as he listened and went back to pouring the batter into the trays. "What type of weapons does this castle-ship have?" He inquired, his eyes flicking between Chenoa and his batter, his voice seemingly excited.

Chenoa's eyes widened as she placed her hands on the table. "You would not believe it! This thing has two ion cannons! Long rage ion cannons that pack a punch! It's got some other weapons that I will have to see in action because I couldn't possibly explain their complexity. That's more Hara's domain." She exclaimed, excitedly explaining to him. 

"Wow," Sammy marveled, setting down the bowl and picking up the tray. "Ion cannons! Isn't that like Star Trek/Voltron-type stuff? Is it even possible?" He asked, opening the door to the oven and pushing in the tray, closing it afterward.

Chenoa shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows? We're on an alien planet with mechanical dragons mirrored after gemstones! Nothing about this is remotely realistic, but you know, what's not realistic to us is realistic to others." She replied, picking up another muffin.

"Drop that muffin, you need to save some for others," Sammy scolded, pointing to some green jiggly goo. "Try that. Luna says it's traditional jelly for when someone's ill." 

Chenoa pulled the bowl of green giggly goo in front of her. "It has the color of peptic syrup, just green?" She fake gagged as she picked up a spoon and poked it. "It looks like something the cafeteria would serve and classify as a mystery." 

Sammy picked up the bowls and silverware he had used, putting them in the sink. "It smells like sour grapes and licorice." He noted, going back and forth between the counter and the sink.

Chenoa pushed up the bowl and wrinkled her nose, sticking out her tongue. "Yuck" She shook her head, shuddering. "I hate sour grapes and licorice. There is no way I'm trying that." She reached for a black cookie. "Is this burnt?"

Sammy's eyes trailed the cookie she had picked up. "No, it's made with black flour, I forget the name of it, but it has a tart flavor to it." He replied, bending down and opening up the cabinets under the counter. "Ooh, they have Tupperware!" He gleefully exclaimed, pulling out a square container. "I like this place already!"

Chenoa skeptically nibbled on the cookie. Sure enough, it had a tart flavor, like the tart of raspberries but mixed with green apple. "Yeah, maybe Logan might like that." She pulled the cookie away from her lips and set it on the counter.

Sammy set some containers on the counter. "Do you need something to drink?" He asked as Chenoa nodded. He walked over to the fridge and opened it up, pulling out a glass bottle of water. "Here, it's from the Celestine springs, Luna says she'll show us one of these days."

Chenoa took the water and opened it quickly, chugging the whole thing down in a matter of seconds. "Tastes clean and clear." She mused, setting the glass bottle on the counter. "Well, thanks for the snack."

"Do you want to stay and help me?" Sammy asked, putting away the deserts he had baked. "I was going to try my hand at making some meals and I wouldn't mind some help." He flashed a smile towards her.

Chenoa tilted her head back and forth, debating. "Okay, fine," She agreed, walking around the counter. "But I get to be the taste tester!" She added, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sammy grinned and nodded. "Of course. Of course. If you could wash the dishes real quick that'd be great." He asked, turning back to putting away cookies in a flat container. 

Chenoa nodded, giving a two-finger salute and starting on the dishes. "I'm a master at dishes. I find it relaxing and I will make sure they're cleaner than you've ever seen before." She randomly said, beginning to scrub some muffin trays.

🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑☀️🌑

A/N: 
I am trying to establish character connections and interactions, also learning more about Luna and Solari's world while learning about the characters.

Also, I've been super busy, we got another kitten so it's crazy. I haven't forgotten about this and have been working as best as I can.

Chapter Talk: 
I loved the latter part of the chapter, Chenoa and Sammy's first interaction. I enjoyed writing about the food and took some creative liberty in trying to describe the tastes which is harder than you think.

Thanks for reading!