Morons and Monarchs

Chapter Two: Ea🏰

𝕹𝖔, 𝖎𝖙 𝖈𝖆𝖓'𝖙 𝖇𝖊. 𝕴𝖙 𝖎𝖘 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖘𝖎𝖇𝖑𝖊.

Why would such sophisticated and elegant ladies like the Queens, who learned etiquette at the raw age of three, want anything to do with a hot-headed half-Bwardipuginin mess? A heathen.

When I grab Viviendel's arm, it is not like she is strong enough to even try to leave, but she pulls away. She turns like she was going to walk the other way. Only on Kaimana's-the god of water's-grave is she going to get away! I grab her arm again, more forcefully. Azul- another Encantados guard with a dolphin head- helps me out by grabbing her other arm. Not that I am incapable of anything just because I don't have a hand. I can still do everything that the others can, and more. I refrain from any help, doing everything myself. This girl, however, is thrashing in our grip, trying to go back to her house as we walk. The father is with Delta (the guard with the fin as a foot) and Bayou (the guard with a grayish hand).

Halfway to our carriage and Viviendel is already spurting curses that would make Anjuman, the God of Growth, turn in his grave.

We swing into the carriage, and I use my fin to shut the door. Bayou and Delta glance my way, not wanting to be left alone. I nod at them. I will bring the carriage around later. I head up to our faerie hound, Justice, and tell the carriage rider of whom I skopje to before coming here to go. Within seconds we are off in the palace's direction.

When we arrive, the palace looming over us, Viviendel struggles even more. For these halves and full humans, they have an unspoken rule to never go to the palace. The reason, they say, is that the Queens meet at unexpected times. And when the Queens meet, you can't be within a fifty-mile radius from the palace because within that range, fires and bricks will fly everywhere.

Half-humans and full-blooded mortals are very weak and can get injured much easier and faster and more if put in any situation. Walking, oh no, they fall and now they have red stuff oozing out of their knee!

In the palace, we call them The Weaklings. Not that they will ever know that. They would die the moment the Queens throw stuff around. Now for us Fae, we don't have to worry about all that. If a building came down on us, as long as it was not iron, we would survive. But a human would cover the nice carpets that were being thrown as well with their messy red stuff. And the red slime is hard to clean up!

When I open the door of the carriage, Azul has to drag Viviendel down the stairs.

She clears her throat after she spurts half the English language into a few bad words. I think Anjuman would be fond of her language, but it is no language for a soon-to-be Queen. I roll my eyes as she says, "Are... Are all the Queens here?" She gives her arm to me. And I take it again, shutting the door with my fin before replying with:

"And what if they were?"

"Then I would leave the moment I could." She says this confidently, and I almost laugh, but Azul beats me to it.

"No... only Eirene is here." Little greenish hairs stand up on Viviendel's arm, and bumps form on her skin. Azul realizes this at the same time I do.

We burst through the doors and Viviendel shivers. There are no guards to the palace, as there are rumored to be. The Queens have enough power as is, and if anything truly needs protecting, it is the castle. It was just re-built last week! While Freyja was still alive since she is technically the one who broke it.

I can hear every breath Viviendel takes that is uneven and ragged, every shift of her dress as she walks, and it is now that I only wish to know what she is thinking. Eirene is the Queen of peace. And disaster, but that is a minor detail.

When we enter the great hall, every courtier and lord sniff the air, sensing a human. Their gazes shift in our direction, and I smile sweetly. They look over Viviendel, all the way to that slit in her dress. I kick part of the dress forward as if to hide her leg. Their attention snaps to me.

I keep my smile as we enter the grand ballroom with a Queen standing in the middle. I let go of Viviendel to bow low, as does Azul. Viviendel does no such thing.

"Hmm," Eirene murmurs beneath her hood, her voice melodic and pulling everyone a step forward. "It seems someone does not understand who I am." Her head shifts toward me, and although I can not see her eyes, I feel the weight of them.

"My Queen," I bow again, yet not as low. "I informed her who you were, and she was utterly terrified," I add, although it is only half true. She was scared, but she was not terrified. "I don't think that she is not bowing because she does not respect you, but because she is still scared." I touch the small of her back, and Viviendel recoils from me, finally bowing low. She has never met a Queen, although you would believe that she would have.

"My... Queen." She says shakily, raising.

I can tell that Eirene is smiling under her hood. "My darling," She replies. "Come, let me show you something extraordinary." As she speaks the words, her voice low and drawing us in, I fold the tip of my long-arched faerie ears on themselves. Plugging my ears like we all used to do in class when we wanted to emphasize the fact that we can not hear our peers.

Only now I am using it to Block out her low sing-song voice and following Azul and Viviendel.

I almost feel bad for Azul as we enter a beautifully colored room. If only he didn't have a dolphin head, if only he was not colorblind. I feel bad because it is beautiful here, the reds and oranges mixed with the golds and silvers. If only there was a way he could see them. He also never chews his food, dolphins never do anyhow, but you can barely taste something if you just swallow it whole.

We all sit down at a small table, the queen sitting down in one try, while Azul and I just clomp down, and Viviendel just flat out missed the chair.

I can't say that that wasn't my fault; I moved the chair back at the last moment. I couldn't help myself! I cannot do it to Azul anymore, he always knows when I am going to do it. It must be some dolphin's head sense.

And then everybody argues, and I dig my ears farther into my ears.