“Where am I?” Claudia asked herself. She glanced in each direction, and stood in a rococo-style room with light pink walls that were sectioned into vertical panels with white trim in between them. Purple curtains draped over the windows. A round white table, a white couch with purple cushions furnished the room. 

Along the bottom of the wall were white panels decorated with gold trim. Golden swirling, curving shapes lined the inner edges of the panels, accented by Calla Lillies and Crown Imperials. The panels in the upper portions of the walls also had various gold, swirling shapes with floral and foliage motifs that glistened in the sunlight shining through the windows. 

“I don’t know, but this place is soooooo gorgeous!” Chelsea said excitedly when she approached Claudia. 

“I need to sit down.” Claudia said, stumbling in her steps. She walked to the couch along one of the walls, and felt the plush cushion sink a bit when she sat down, and the arm of it felt smooth when she rested one of her hands. The arms and legs of the couch curved in elegant swirling shapes similar to the shapes on the walls, with hardly any straight lines in its design. 

“I will too!” Chelsea announced, and sat on the other cushion. 

Claudia looked towards the patterns on the walls, and ran her fingertips along the edges of the bow in her hair. “From the time rift and now this…” She thought to herself. Just a few moments ago, she and Chelsea were in the time rift when a mysterious, winged woman appeared, who was wearing a cape and a rococo-style gown. The woman had light blue hair in a ponytail, and glowing, ethereal blue wings. She held a long regal staff that had a golden handle, and a large glowing blue orb with gold accents that surrounded it that resembled a gate. A pair of glowing light blue streamers extruded from the back of the staff just below the orb. Pockets of space-time bent and fluctuated around her. 

“I have a better future for you!” The mysterious woman said, and used her powers to levitate Chelsea and Claudia away from the vortex. “Why me?” Claudia would’ve asked, but she and Chelsea were escorted into another portal in a few seconds, there was a moment of darkness before they were in this room with no explanation. 

They looked at the patterns on the walls, when there was a recurring motif that caught their curiosity. A golden circle with a gear in it. The gear had a heart shape cut out of it in the middle, and below it were a trio of Crown Imperials. 

A woman appearing to be in her late 20’s, and wearing an elegant military uniform with a muted fuchsia coat, a black skirt and boots entered the room. She was tall, about 5’10” and had dark skin with silver eyes, and long, plum-colored hair. Gold buttons and trim on her sleeves accented her coat. “Are you the new recruits?” She asked, and sounded a little concerned. “I wasn’t aware you’d be here just yet.” 

“We weren’t recruited for anything, and we don’t know how we got here!” Claudia nervously said.

“We were in a time rift when someone took us out of it into another portal, and we’re totally lost!” Chelsea added. 

“Oh. You’re the recruits. Pardon me. I should introduce myself.” The military uniform-clad woman said. “My name is Monica.” 

Claudia and Chelsea greeted her, and noticed that her uniform had the gear, heart and Crown Imperial motif that Chelsea and Claudia spotted on the walls. 

“I’m not the leader, but I’m one of her friends, and her first recruit, though that’s a story I’d need to save for another time.” Monica cheerfully said. 

“Where is she?” Chelsea asked.

“We’ll meet her in a few minutes, if she’ll permit it.” Monica said. 

“Are these the new recruits?” A mechanical voice said. A blue-haired, pageboy wig-wearing robot with a boxy TV-shaped head and a boxy chassis that was a metallic mauve with gold buttons on her front panel approached Chelsea, Claudia and Monica. The robot looked up at them with a flat screen panel for a face. Orange eyes, as two oval-shaped arrangements of glowing orange dots on the screen looked at them. 

They looked back at her. She held a large tray of fancy cheeses, meats, fruits and crackers in one hand. 

“Hello— We don’t know what we’re being recruited for, but Monica said that’s us.” Claudia said with a nervous smile. 

“Are those for us?” Chelsea cheerfully asked.

“If you are the recruits.” The robot sternly said. “Your attire is not fitting for a formal event. I will notify the leader.”

Claudia looked concerned. “Awww… I would’ve packed all of my fancy dresses with me if I knew our field trip was going to send us to the past!” Chelsea wept.

“They are.” Monica said assuredly. 

“Very well then.” The robot presented the tray to Chelsea and Claudia, who took some snacks from the tray. While they ate the snacks, the robot introduced herself. “I am Roberta, a killer robot by design, but I am skilled in several disciplines.”

“Pardon me for asking, but will we be having the meeting now? Where’s the leader?” Chelsea asked. 

“Before we commence, and she meets you, you need fitting attire for this formal event.” Roberta sternly commented. “You… cramp her style”. She added. 

Chelsea was taken aback by Roberta’s suddenly casual insult.

“She was prepared for this, and made outfits for both of you. Follow me this way.” Roberta said and she walked down the hallway. Chelsea, Claudia and Monica followed her. 

——

They approached the room. Chelsea was eating another snack from the tray when she looked in awe after Roberta opened the door to a small studio room. There were two dresses on mannequins. 

“Is this one for me?” Chelsea looked in awe of the floor-length mauve and pink gown with pink puffy sleeves, pink frills down the middle with white buttons, a lighter pink underskirt, and gold trim. 

“Affirmative.” Roberta said. 

“It’s perfect! This makes up for not going to the mall!” Chelsea said in excitement before she paused. “Do those exist here?”

“Malls… A large building that’s a gathering of several stores. We call them department stores.” Roberta answered. 

“This one is my style!” Claudia said with a smile. Her dress was a little simpler, but that’s how she wanted it. It was light mauve with a pink vest. Around the dress collar was a green bow that matched the bow in her hair. The skirt was mid-knee length, with brown boots that were visible under it. 

——

Claudia and Chelsea followed Monica and Roberta into the meeting room, when they saw three women waiting for them. They were seated at a large ornate table. A pale young woman of about 5’1” who looked to be about 19 years old with short orange hair, large yellow eyes, and was wearing a white and orange dress approached them. 

“Please, seateth yourselves.” She said. Her large yellow eyes looked towards the arrivals before she turned and gestured towards the open chairs. 

While they walked to the chairs, another person waved, and greeted them. “Hi!” She said. She had some resemblance to the first and had short orange hair, but was much taller at 6’4", had blue eyes, looked to be in her mid-20’s, and was wearing a yellow and white gown with black bows. 

Chelsea and Claudia waved back to her, and sat down in two of the open seats. 

Another woman who also looked to be in her mid-20’s, and had light blue hair in a ponytail with a large red ribbon with lace trim. She briefly looked Claudia and Chelsea in the eyes, and nodded. 

“That’s her, from the time rift…” Claudia thought, and wanted to whisper to Chelsea, but they weren’t seated next to each other. The blue-haired woman was wearing a hat with gold trim and the golden gear and Crown Imperial motif in the center of it, a purple cape, and a rococo-style dress. 

“Hello…” She said with a smile. The meeting was about to begin…

——

“This is based on an account of Claudia’s and Chelsea’s arrival to the palace, and their introductions to the other elite officers of the League. I didn’t tell them how I got here to not confuse them any further. This new timeline is bizarre for all of us!”

“Claudia was one of my students… one of my apprentices… in my writing class at Capital Remedial, but in this timeline, she surpassed me, and became one of the top reporters in the country, and head of the communications department! The tables have turned, and I report to her!” Paige typed in her journal in a hallway of the palace after the meeting was over. She sat on a white ornate bench with a purple cushion, and she was wearing a black and white rococo-style dress with striped bows. “Would she be more confident with her role? Surpassing a mentor would be exciting, but perhaps that was lost in the confusion of this new timeline!”

“My job at Capital Remedial lasted for all of a month and a half before the space-time incident, but I immediately found work again as a freelancer, and my first client was none other than the League!” She continued typing when Monica approached her. 

“Hey. Was the meeting exciting?” Monica asked. Paige looked up and answered. 

“Yeah!” Paige said with a chuckle. “I would’ve gone back to my old job, the one I had for only a month and a half, but you were among my first clients in this timeline, and how could I pass that up?”

“I used to do freelance work, and Our Fabulousness was one of my clients!”

“Did you get your big break from her?”

“Yes!” Monica cheerfully said, but then she glanced at Paige and her computer with a bit of concern. “Do you want to go to the cafe room?” She asked. 

“I didn’t know where that was. I just got used to this.” Paige said with a chuckle before she closed her laptop, picked it up by the handle and hauled it with her while she followed Monica to the cafe room. 

“If you stay a while, you can get promoted and have your own office.” Monica said. Paige contemplated the idea when she arrived at the cafe, which was the most upscale one that she had seen. The League are the new establishment, and one that the Academy for Time Travel fears since not even they could stop the rogue time traveler who caused the space-time incident, and took over the S.O.C! 

As a graduate of the Academy, Paige obliged to be neutral as a time traveler who documented the events of the new timeline, but was swept up in a deal with the League, though she still admired the Magical Renegades…