Morons and Monarchs

Chapter Twenty-Six: Viviendel🤔

𝕴 𝖗𝖚𝖓 𝖔𝖚𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖒𝖞 𝖗𝖔𝖔𝖒... 𝖍𝖞𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖎𝖈𝖆𝖑.

Ea is almost as shocked at my well-planned desolate sobbing and incoherent sentences as Delta is. Azul is in front of me in an instant, trying to calm me down. His hands pushing down on my shoulders, I distantly hear Ea telling me to 'calm down' and 'take deep breaths'. But I don't pay attention, just continue mumbling stuff about how I might die because somebody snuck into my room and painted on the walls.

How Bayou did not pay expert attention while he was standing guard the night before.

And then Anul and Delta appear, drawn by the dramatics of the scene.

I follow what Thanatos told me to do, remembering how he should be in the shadows. Watching everything go down, how it was planned...

Bayou made the plan, everything down to every swirl of paint on the wall... even though Ahmya and Branwen executed that plan. Bayou came and told me that Branwen was already done with step one and that I have to carry on to step two.

Like he did not know what was happening, Bayou came running towards us. "Ea, Anul, Azul, Delta!" He shouts at his fellow guards, alerting them away from my theatrics. "There has been a death on the third floor!" Ea steps away from his peers and swiftly walks over to Bayou.

What is he doing? This is not part of the plan, not at all!

I narrow my eyes at Bayou, glaring. Delta catches the act and quickly shields my view from Bayou.

"What is it?" Delta asks, Azul is soon next to him, his arm now at his side.

"Bayou is mean," I sniffle, trying to keep the act of 'damsel in distress' while also avenging the glare nobody but Bayou was supposed to see. That did not work out well.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Azul asks me, steering the conversation back to before. I am grateful.

"I don't know," I shake my head, taking the handkerchief Anul offers me. "I just woke up," I recite from yesterday's rehearsal. "And paint..." I swallow hard, letting another tear trek down my cheek. "It was..." I turn to Delta. "Go look, then you will understand." Delta gives me one cursory glance before he trots down the hallway, his one finned-foot making odd squeaky sounds against the marble flooring.

"On Kaimana's name!" I hear him shout after he opens the door, and I cautiously make my way towards my room.

Azul and Anul rush by, Ea and Bayou in tow. "What?" Ea asks urgently.

"Come look at this mess!" Delta shouts.

All of them oblige, coming into the room to speculate.

"Viviendel, you suck at painting," Delta peaks his head through my door to look at me. The only one left in the hallway.

Ea slaps him on the shoulder, "She did not do it, you fool."

Deltas face turns back to serious in an instant. "Vivi," He asks. "Did you-"

"Not Vivi, Viviendel." I correct him, taking the handkerchief from earlier and dabbing my under-eyes. "And no, I did nothing."

Walking into the room, I swallow hard and bob my head at the paint smearing down the walls. it truly was a mess, though it was pretty before it dripped down the walls in an array of ways. All because the paint did not dry fast enough. Sadly.

"What is this?" Anul asks in aw. "It looks like the wall..."

Ea startles at the revelation. "But that is made by peasants..." He shivers. "By humans. Why would they target us?"

"Good point," Bayou points out, trying so very hard to look like a detective as he trails a finger along the painting of a smeared planet.

"Did you hear anything suspicious last night?" Bayou asks me, and I nod.

"Just a few steps pounding down the hallways. I would interrogate my neighboring nobles about what they heard. If they heard anything at all." I sniffle again, another tear escaping my eye.

Ea's fin lands on my shoulder, kind of like a reassuring hand but without the hand. "We will find who did this. Until then, you can stay in one of our rooms."

"How about Anul's?" I ask... she is the only girl after all.

Ea, fortunately, picks up on why I asked such a question. "Delta is her mate. They share a room... and they are really loud." I cringe.

"Nevermind." I tap my mushroom horn against my scalp, the Bwardipuginin way of fidgeting.

"We'll figure it out later." He promises, then nods at Bayou. "Can I talk to you for a bit?"

Delta lets out an alarming "Ooooooooohh..."

Bayou passes by me and glares. "Good luck," I say cheerfully.

"I'll need it." He mutters.