Something Beautiful

Chapter Six -- Part One

Chapter Six – Part One

(Will)

   The Marisian Council is the primary form of government here in Maris. The council is a group of people who work and vote on important national issues and laws, along with discussing matters the council considered important. It consists of the king, queen, and an elected representative from each of the twenty regions. I was invited to attend the council meetings to see how they work and what is discussed, because as a future king, I will have to know how to run the meetings once I come of age.

   The Marisian Council was the most vital part of our country’s success, but it was held in a simple, yet elegantly furnished room on one of the upper floors. The door was never left open, as to keep the meetings private, and to prevent any non-council member from swaying council members’ votes.

   “Attention, attention!” my father exclaims, and the whole council takes their seat at a long, rectangular table that ran down the center of the room. I sit in the corner of the room, just to observe, because I wasn’t an official member of the council yet.

   “Our first order of business today is how the general produce sales are doing in Grent,” my father says. Grent was a town that, three years ago, had probably been the richest in all of Maris. However, it was in a desert-like area that didn’t really get much rain. The traditional irrigation methods would have worked normally, but their recently elected mayor tried out some new techniques last spring. They didn’t work at all, so they’d had a lack of water for the past few months. Thankfully, the Grent representative had been given a voted-on amount of money to return to the old ways of getting water. Things were starting pick up again, and if the produce sales were doing well, my father would be extremely pleased.

   “Yes, Your Majesty,” the Grent representative says, showing my father the records that had been taken from the Grent accountant and money-counter.

  The meeting continues on like this for another hour or so. It was very boring, and although I knew every prince had to do this, I wished that I could be practicing my sword-fighting or archery, even talking to Maria! Anything was better than listening to the recent produce sales of Grent, or whatever the hell they were talking about now. Finally my father brings up the issue everyone actually cared about: the matter of war against Casida.

  Casida is the country nearest to Maris. Nobody in Maris likes Casida, mostly because they beat us in a war that occurred over three hundred years ago. The region that became Casida was originally part of Maris, but they wanted to have their own king. As you could expect, the rest of the country didn’t like that. Because future-Casida was filled with these supremely elite fighter kids (who begin training when they’re three), they beat us easily. Maris is supposed to be smarter than Casida, but no one really cares about knowledge in Casida. All they care about is winning battles and wars. We’re seen as pathetic, little kids towards them, and now they want to take over our country. They’ll add it to the other countries they’ve added to their vast empire.

   “I say we fight!” the Kalanti representative shouts, standing up and slamming his fist onto the table. “We let them beat us once, but they won’t beat us again!”

   “You’re insane,” the Elkwa representative, from a town known for being logical and sensible, says in a bored tone. “We simply don’t have the fighting skills needed to battle against Casida. It isn’t rational, believing we can win.”

   “Although I have much patriotism in Maris,” the Para representative (a peaceful town, though very tentative) states, “we will lose too many lives, even if we do have more knowledge than Casida.”

   “What are you talking about?” the Kalanti representative yells. “We can train soldiers quickly, and we’ll make better weapons than they do anyhow!”

   “What if we had the countries that were already taken over fight with us?” the Grent representative asks.

  “They’re too afraid,” the Elkwa representative says simply.

   This begins a full out war of words between the representatives. Although my father tries to quiet them down, his efforts are futile because there are so many people shouting across the table at one another. When it’s clear we’re going to have to be here awhile, my father looks at me. He tilts his head towards the door in a “get out while you can” look. I nod, relieved, and hurry out of the room with a grateful smile to my father. I needed to get out of here before I died of boredom.

Hey, guys! I know I haven’t updated in awhile, but because a few of my reviewers asked me to update, I did. You know who you are… :) Anyways, I know this is boring, but if I actually reach the end of this story, this stuff with Casida will be EXTREMELY important *hint hint, wink wink*. I guess that’s it. Next part will probably be about Maria and Elle, if I get around to writing.

Please comment and vote! Thanks!

Love you all,

Mimi