Chapter 25: Wild Scarlet Oasis

Leona wasn't one to let nerves get the best of her. She had no qualms performing in front of people but meeting someone with such notoriety in the music industry as Edric King was a little bit nerve-racking. She had taken a taxi to the Wild Scarlet Oasis where she was to meet the singer and his manager.

The front of the adobe building was covered in dry ivy and the area around the front was beautifully landscaped with a variety of native desert plants. She couldn't see the actual oasis due to a large white, garden wall blocking the view.

Inside, Leona came upon a reception desk. There was new-age synth music playing softly in the background with an upbeat rhythm and sounded like a zen fiesta. Leona didn't think was an actual musical genre but it was the best of her ability to describe it.


"Hello and Welcome to the Wild Scarlet Oasis, do you have a reservation?" A cheery blonde looked up and asked with a smile from behind the desk.

"Edric King is expecting me," Leona felt a surge of pride and pleasure saying such a phrase as if though she was a very important person.

"Your name?"

"Leona Hillenburg."

The receptionist seemed to look over a list she had in front of her and then nodded to herself, "Mr. King and his party are with the masseuse presently, would you like to check your bag?" She held out her hand and indicated toward Leona's purse.

Leona hesitated, wondering if she should trust the employee with her bag, but decided it was acceptable. This wasn't a place that fit with the rough-and-tumble reputation Pandora had. It was classy. She didn't see why she would need her purse if she was just eating lunch with them anyway. She handed her purse to the receptionist and asked where the masseuse could be found.

"Go through the sunroom, out the double doors, through the open cantina and they are in the cabana on the right," she instructed, "and please enjoy your visit to the Wild Scarlet Oasis."

Leona wondered where the 'wild scarlet' part of the name came from as she walked through the double doors to the backside of the oasis. What she saw, immediately answered her question. The oasis was surrounded by lush plant life, palm trees, and a multitude of red-blooming flowers. Only red flowers.

She followed the path around the oasis to the right and found the masseuse's hut.

There was an audible crack as the masseuse worked and the man on the table shouted, "Orange Plumbobs man, I'm paying you for a massage, not a broken back!"

The Masseuse apologized profusely and mentioned something about a lot of tension in the lower vertebrae. Two additional people were lounging in outdoor chairs and watching the display. One was a blond man in a suit and the other, a woman with abundant braids.

Leona cleared her throat to get the attention of someone in the entourage.


The man and woman looked at her with puzzlement before Leona said, "I'm Leona Hillenburg and I believe you were expecting me."

They still seemed confused as they looked at each other and back toward her so Leona clarified, "I'm here to do backup vocals for Edric King."

The suited man stood at once and held out his hand, "Ah yes, Miss Hillenburg—my apologies for the slow reaction—it's quite hot out here and I'm afraid we are starting to suffer from heat exhaustion."

She took his hand and shook it, a bit concerned at his statement. Wearing a suit like that in the desert probably wasn't helping. But it was clear the blond's statement was meant as a poke to the man on the table—presumably Edric King—because he replied, "You can go inside if you can't handle the heat, Zeigler."

He ignored Edric's remark and said, "I'm Luke Zeigler, Mr. King's manager. He will be done in a few minutes but I can offer you a seat in his private cabana until then," Luke motioned toward one of the huts further across the walkway. Leona was a bit put off that she had to wait on him, she was on time for the meeting so why couldn’t they extend the same courtesy? She held her tongue and nodded, following the manager’s lead.


"I'm so glad you were able to make it. It's been hell trying to find the right voice to match Edric's singing. My team was impressed with your range on the tape your agent submitted to us," Luke said as they walked down the path.

"Thank you," Leona said and felt humbled.

"No, thank you!" Luke smiled and gestured toward the opening to the private cabana which Leona followed and took a seat in one of the chairs, "Mr. King should be in shor—"

"Helluva day to be wearing that stuffy suit, eh Zeigler?" they heard Edric King as he walked up behind Luke and slapped him on the shoulder.

He turned his sight to her and smiled. She felt her breath leave her for a split second; by the Great Green Diamond, the man was attractive.


Antoine was handsome but Edric King was on another level. He had a very ethereal type of aesthetic—soft lips, sculpted cheekbones, and piercing eyes that could be seen through the sunglasses he wore—it was a type of male beauty that could leave a girl without her wits if she stared too long at him. Luckily, after her initial internal swoon, Leona was quick to gather her senses.

"You're the back up singer?" Edric King raised a brow and looked her over from head to toe with a slight smirk. There seemed to be something akin to doubt in his tone.

"We went through hundreds of auditions to find the perfect harmonic match to your voice, and this is the one person who could handle keeping up with your insane key changes.” Luke seemed to be chiding the singer but Edric paid no mind until the last part about his ‘insane’ key changes—he promptly threw a glare at his manager in offense.

"Once you two are done chatting, please join us for lunch at the cantina," the woman said with a smile as she held a clipboard to her chest. Luke turned to depart and she followed, leaving the two singers alone.


"So, have you performed professionally before?" Edric sat on the arm of the chair across from her and crossed his arms. He had a heavy Quincian accent, where his spoken o's sounded more like a short 'a'. Quincy was a region on the opposite coast from Kashmire's

“You mean publicly?”

“No, have you ever been paid to sing,” he clarified.

She was about to say yes but then remembered that the Battle of the Bands, the event that had boosted her reputation as a singer in Kashmire—she technically wasn’t paid to sing at that. She did win money from it though.

She shook her head, “Not really. A band I sang in won a regional competition—”

“So, I’m supposed to trust that you can be my backup vocalist at a live concert when you have no professional experience?”

“Yes, because I have performed in public numer—”

“Do you even know my songs?”

The way he said 'my songs' came off a bit pompous but he had the right. They were in fact, his songs. He could afford to be arrogant, but that didn’t mean she had to like it nor stand for being interrupted so much.


Leona felt a bubble of agitation rise within her and stood abruptly which caused Edric to flinch and cease his rapid-fire questioning. She pantomimed holding a microphone and belted out the intro to a song of his that wasn’t on the charts, in fact, was buried in the number 10 spot on his album before the most recent which contained these ‘insane key changes’ his manager had mentioned.

She pointed at him while continuing to sing and stared at him with a fire burning in her eyes, rasing her voice, turning up her stage performance even though they were in nothing but a small outdoor space.


They didn’t take their eyes off each other as she continued to sing. He seemed to be searching for a weakness and she was trying to prove that he wasn’t going to find a better vocalist than her. She couldn’t get a read on what he thought of her impromptu performance but at least he wasn’t interrupting her anymore.

She finally concluded the song and to her utter relief his lips quirked up into a smirk of a different caliber and he gave soft, slow applause, “Well that answers that.”

"What kind of vocalist would I be to come here unprepared?" Leona raised a brow and dared him to interrupt her again.

He paused, “That’s a rhetorical question, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Is this interrogation over?”

He sat back and looked her over again and made a small laugh at her annoyed tone, “How long have you been singing?”

“I’ve practiced every day since I was a little girl. Singing is my passion.”

“Mine too, so I guess we have that in common,” he stood up and stuck out his hand, “I look forward to working with you, Leona Hillenburg.”

“Ditto,” she replied and gave it a firm shake the way her father always told her to when on job interviews.

“Anyway, I’m famished, let’s get lunch,” he said and led the way to the cantina. They emerged back into the bright sun. Leona wondered how Edric was not suffering the same as his manager in a black leather jacket.

“Aren’t you hot?” Leona asked, referring to his attire.

“Nah, this isn’t real leather. It’s a synthetic blend that looks like leather but it actually breathes really well—kind of like cotton,” Edric held out his arm and indicated she could feel the material.

It was soft, not slippery as she imagined it would have been. Well, that was a new fact she had learned.

“Besides, it’s not like I’m outside much to get too overheated.”

“Your concert tonight is outside,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, but it’s at night. The desert during nighttime is actually quite cold,” he explained—and that was one fact Leona had forgotten from her climate science class in high school.

The cantina was a short walk away and it was shaded. There were a few tables and a bar. The woman and manager were already seated and chatting but stopped as Edric and Leona entered the vicinity.

“You’re just in time,” Luke waved them over. They sat down and a waiter served them plates of hamburgers.

As soon as Leona bit into it, she realized something was different. Edric watched her face with some sort of smug pleasure and said, “It’s vegetarian. The ‘burger’ is actually made of beans.”

Well, that wasn’t so bad. She liked beans. She took another bite, chewed, and swallowed before asking, “Are you a vegetarian?”

“I’m a pescetarian,” he replied.

“Is that a religion?” she looked to Luke and asked.


Edric King belted out a genuine laugh and Luke smiled with humor. It made Leona feel like she was missing out on something.

“It’s a type of diet,” Luke responded.

“Yeah, it means I don’t eat meat except for fish. Red meat is kind of bad for you, you know?”

Leona was raised on meat. She was a very steak-and-potatoes type woman. But she figured to each his own. The burger wasn’t ‘bad’ per se just unexpected. She ate it heartily since she too, was famished. She hadn’t had much to eat since waking up before dawn for the long road trip to Pandora.

“So the schedule after lunch is to get you a space to warm up with the band. We’ll run through all the songs on your set, then your opening acts will take the stage and you both go to hair and makeup. After you are presentable, VIP fans are allowed backstage before the concert for autographs. At 9:30 you take the stage.”

“Sounds good,” Edric said. Leona blinked, catching only half of what Luke had rattled out on the agenda—it all seemed so fast! Technically they had eight hours until they took the stage but that was a lot of stuff to do!

“There’s a private after-party at the nightclub that’s optional but all the bands are invited. Antony Biacotti arranged it,” the woman added.

“Is Biacotti actually going to be there?” Luke asked, his interest piqued.

“No, I’m afraid not. He is in town though. I was just given a memo about it through his assistant this morning.”

“Well, I guess we can make an appearance,” Luke decided.

“It’s free booze, so we’re definitely making an appearance,” Edric amended.

Leona sat silently, wondering if this was how it was to be a famous singer—going through agendas and receiving invites to exclusive parties. She had finished her food before the rest of them which left her awkwardly sitting there and listening to the conversation. She didn’t know anything she could contribute. She didn’t know who Antony Biacotti was, though he sounded like an important figure. She didn’t even know this woman’s name who was a part of Edric’s entourage.

“I’m sorry but I didn’t catch your name,” Leona leaned forward and said.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I never introduced myself. I’m—”

“Caroline, she’s my personal assistant,” Edric interrupted her. Caroline didn’t seem ruffled—as if it was a common occurrence. “She gets me coffee, tells me I’m pretty, makes me sign paperwork—”

“and I actually have some paperwork for you to sign, Miss Hillenburg,” Caroline ignored Edric’s interruption for the most part and said before bringing out her clipboard onto the tabletop, pushing it toward Leona.


“What is it?” Leona asked, flipping through the pages.

“Your agent negotiated a compensation of 600 simoleons for vocal services for this concert. Your signature initiates payment, nothing more,” Luke explained. “However, if you prove to be a good fit we can work out a contract for more of a long-term situation after the concert.”

She already proved to Edric that she was a good fit but his manager had the final say. Leona didn’t worry about impressing Luke though, because from their short conversations so far, she already had the distinct impression he thought she was the best fit.

Caroline handed a pen over and Leona tapped the back of it against her lip as she read the paperwork and a set of numbers caught her eye, “How many hours am I lending my vocal talents to Mr. King today?”

“His set is an hour and forty-five minutes and practice should be two hours,” Caroline answered.

“The amount in this paperwork indicates I will be paid 215 simoleons per hour,” Leona pointed at a line on the second page, “The overall compensation of 600 simoleons isn’t correct because the performance set at an hour and forty-five minutes plus the practice set of two hours equals a total of three hours and forty-five minutes that you need my vocal talents. Take that time multiplied by the amount per hour in this paperwork and the compensation would be rounded up to eight-hundred and six simoleons.”

She glanced up and all three were staring at her. Edric looked confused, Caroline looked embarrassed, and Luke looked impressed.

“It’s basic arithmetic,” Leona shrugged and scooted the clipboard back across the table to Caroline without signing.

“I’m so sorry Miss Hillenburg. I will correct those numbers as soon as possible and print out fresh paperwork,” Caroline looked genuinely apologetic and took her clipboard back, looking through the papers at what Leona had pointed out.

“That..was a very good catch,” Luke noted, “You did that math all in your head within a few seconds?”

“Like I said, it was basic arithmetic,” Leona repeated. She didn’t like making a big deal of her talent with numbers because then people just expected her to be a calculator and asked her stupid math questions like it was some sort of novelty.

Edric was finished eating and stood from his chair, “Well Miss Arithmetic, shall we?”

Leona cringed at the new nickname. Caroline followed Edric; she had taken her clipboard back. “We’ll take the limo to the theater and get you started practicing with Mr. King and the band so that you can perform your best tonight.”

Leona felt her heart flutter with nervousness again. She had to remind herself this shouldn’t be different from any other public performance and if she pulled it off then the rewards would be worth all the effort.

“Good luck out there tonight,” Luke said and smiled with reassurance.

Leona swallowed her nerves and returned the smile—she was one step closer to making her dream come true!