Frozen Blooded

5

The crowning was held in an archaic amphitheater circling a podium which was at the very bottom. There were marble columns spiraling at every entrance and the whole structure was covered in vines and flowers.
It looked like a secret garden to the palace that towered over us from behind. Around us were hedges and fountains that only made the location more serene.

My family and I took our seats at the third row from the bottom, as the rest of the theater continued to fill up. All the rows below the 5th row were covered in lavender velvet seating as well as miniature fountains for drinking. They were clearly powered by magic since it seemed that the water was circling from nothing.

Above the 5th row was being occupied by more middle class people who wanted to enjoy the show just as much as us. Their clothes were still extravagant, however, so it was almost impossible to tell the difference; only the seating gave it away.

Drusus and I had difficulty sitting on our benches. My large gown wasn't easily malleable, and Drusus had to somehow rearrange his branches so that they didn't poke me in my side. Looking around, the other audience members had similar problems.

There was a woman who's wings got stepped on by a man in 8 inch heels. And across from us was a young boy who's jewelry took up 3 spaces. I would have thought people from the Kingdoms knew better when it came to dressing, but fashion always comes before practicality.

By the time the whole audience looked like a rainbow of outfits, it was filled with banter and laughter. Mother told me that first we'd see some ceremonial things, such as the shooting of the Almas sacred arrows by all the knights and a swearing of conduct. Then, the King and Queen of Almas would crown all of the initiates with a badge until finally dismissing us for the ball.

It was a very straight forward schedule, but it would take at least hours. Typically there were about 100 new knights and the arrows were shot 5 at a time and they were all crowned individually.

The royal family would only appear for an hour between their other duties to perform the crowning, but their entrances were always notable.

"Posture boys" Mother said poking Magnus and Drusus who sat on opposite sides of her. They put their shoulders back annoyed, followed by dad who also fixed his back in response to mom's order.

"How many knights you think are gonna miss the arrows?" Magnus asked us, leaning over mom to get closer to us. She shot him a disapproving look so that he'd sit back in his position.

"My money's on 3" Drusus whispered back, ignoring our parents' glare.

I shook my head. "The hoops are like 5 feet away from them. No one misses."

"I heard the King gives suspected traitors a weighted arrow so they miss on purpose. If they miss, they get denied their knighthood." Magnus said to us. A few people around us heard him and sneered at our parents.

"Alright Magnus thats enough" Mother snapped. Dad put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder as he began explaining to him something about the architecture, that he definitely did not care about.

Suddenly the air around us dimmed. The sun still hung up high in the sky but it was almost like someone covered it with a gray veil. There was no blanket or ceiling above us, so the only explanation was that it was conjured by the stage workers, ready to start the show.

The lights at the podium below us shined at a singular figure and the crowd went silent.
There was a moment of silence before the young woman with the microphone spoke up. She had pale purple eyes and a cloth covering her hair with two magnificent horns poking out. The lady was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.