Broken Glass - Taekook

36

We stand there for a few minutes, just taking in the atmosphere of this place, and then the creatures around us lower their heads, as if bowing. I turn around, and my eyes widen. Queen Arlayna stands before us, exactly as I remember her, with one key difference: where once she was smaller than my little finger, now she is human-sized. 

She's also wearing a different dress. The skirt looks like a collection of lily petals, edged with pure white, the inner parts fading into a deep pink. There are flecks of various shades of pink on the white sections, and flecks of white on the pink sections. The skirt is kept in with the belt she wore before, the same small bone sword hilt strapped to the braided leather. The bodice is woven from a mix of grasses and reeds, like the other dress we saw her wearing near the Cursed Tower near Hazelpoint. The neckline dips to a triangular point, just below her collarbones, and appears to be edged with a faint line of gold. 

She wears the same jewellery: the green rings on her fingers, the golden bracelets of wire that curl up the forearms to the elbow, the twisting wire diadem with an emerald in the centre on her head, and golden anklets around the lower legs. Her braided black hair is held back slightly, with a pink beetle-shaped clip, so that it doesn't fall in her eyes. Her dark skin appears far more alive here, somehow, and even her expression is brighter, as if the cleanliness of the energy within the earth also affects her as much as it does the land. The same beautiful golden dragonfly-like wings stretch out behind her back, though they're much bigger to match the larger form she takes here. 

As my friends and I kneel down in some version of a bow, she inclines her head at us, saying something in her low, musical voice, in Eithyrian. I glance over at Taehyung, who just smiles warmly and lifts back to his normal height alongside the others, gesturing for me to do the same. He greets her quietly, respectfully, and she responds, and they have a quick conversation in quick Eithyrian that I can't hope to understand. He twists his hands in a familiar gesture of respect that the rest of us quickly copy, and the welcoming gaze in her eyes turns to joyful surprise at my successful attempt to perform the complex movement. 

Aphelia comes out of her little pouch in Namjoon's bag, of her own accord, and the friendly glow she gives off brightens for a moment in greeting, as she floats in the direction of the ground, before rising back up to shoulder height. The faery queen watches with a knowing smile, and then turns to me, speaking quietly and then glancing over at Namjoon expectantly. 

He nods respectfully at her. "The queen is welcoming you to Mavathyr, the faery capital of the kingdom of Eithyr. It may be on the very edges of the territory, but right now that is the safest location for it, given the situation in the centre." I nod a little. 
"Can you tell her that I'm truly honoured to be given a chance to see this place? It's beautiful, and incredible. There's so much to see, so many different types of Eithyrians that I could never have even imagined I'd see." 

The mage smiles, speaking to the queen, who regards me for a moment before asking Namjoon something. "She wants to know why we came here. She is happy to see us, and will welcome us for as long as we need a place to be, but she would like to know what we have come searching for," he translates. 

"Well...the river brought us here. I was given a dream, in which a stream of light lead me in the direction of Mavathyr. I heard a song as I walked, one that told of the story of how Karulian magic came to be. I don't fully understand what the golden river believes we will find here, but I would like to understand the story of the king, if I may. I would like to learn how to fight, how to be the right kind of Saviour for the benefit of this entire kingdom. And I think this is where I needed to come in order to achieve that." 

Namjoon turns, and is about to translate it, and then Aphelia flashes gold, and my friends all jolt at once. The queen glances in her direction, inclining her head slightly, and then back in mine, a small smile passing across her face. She speaks in Eithyrian to the Gaklea, who then flashes again, and Arlayna's voice is replicated within my mind somehow, with words I understand.