7 Kingdoms.
One Baker.
One dead bakery owner.
And one ceremony that needs the baked goods of said bakery.
The ceremony to celebrate the 7 Prince's coming of age and choosing their husbands or wives to share the throne during their rule.
Cue one very...
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(Chapter 38) The beauty in colour
~*~ Author POV
Location: Rikelux
Autumn was beautiful.
That was Jimin's thoughts as they made their way through Rikelux. Autumn in Batia was fleeting. With leaves briefly showing their beauty in reds, oranges and yellows before withering away into winter.
Here no frost challenged the leaves and the trees. Despite leaves falling to the woodland floor their was still an abundance in the canopy.
The place remained in perfect harmony with the season of Autumn.
Jimin could find himself falling in love with his surroundings. It was so different from Batia.
The daylight Kingdom was mostly barren of trees, or at least the places Jimin visited were. So to see so many trees in abundance was a rare but beautiful sight.
Jimin could only hope that if Batia was bold enough to invade the other Kingdoms that they wouldn't destroy the beauty of the places in their wake. Though this wish was unlikely to be considered by the greedy King.
"The daylight should last for a couple of hours. Apparently the daylight disappears faster here compared to Crouris and Kador. In Aureathen they mostly live in the dark most of the year around" Yoongi informed him.
"And your kingdom is all dark?" Jimin clarified.
"Yeah, always dark. Daylight like this is so strange to me, for my people too. I can't say I'm entirely fond of it. It certainly hurts my eyes alot" Yoongi responded.
"What is Voucaea like with daylight?" Jimin asked.
Jin was quick to jump in, since he was close to the pair on horse back.
"It is bright, but the sky is permanently in vibrant colour. It isn't as light as normal day but it is clear enough to walk around all day without your way being too dark." Jin offered.
"It sounds beautiful" Jimin responded.
"What about Norus, feel like you could ever visit?" Yoongi sounded hopeful.
He knew the thought of pure, pitch black darkness would scare anyone from the kingdom of permanent day, but he hoped Jimin could overcome that fear. He wanted to show Jimin all the beauty of his kingdom, there was so much to show him.
"Perhaps, I will see after the darkness comes tonight" Jimin responded truthfully.
"Seems wise, well if you do ever decided to visit Norus I will take you you the glass stage." Yoongi promised.
"What's the glass stage?" Jimin enquired.
Jin leant closer too, clearly he was curious too.
"The glass stage is built at the top of the temple, there are columns rising to the sky. On top of the columns is a glass sheet. It is thick and strong, it is seen as a romantic place to go in the kingdom. You are up so high and away from all those around it is like you are dancing amongst the stars." Yoongi described.
Jimin could only close his eyes and imagine it. He had never experienced what stars looked like, they were never seen in the Kingdom of daylight.
He tried to picture it out of one of his book originating from Norus. But even those were not easy to imagine in real life.
"Do you like it?" A voice run out as they addressed Jimin.
It was Jungkook who had dropped back from the front of the horse pack to their position.
"Yes, it is beautiful" Jimin cast his eyes up to the leaves once again.
"I'm glad, I've just come to tell you we are setting up temporarily camp. So the horses can rest and have water. So be prepared to stop soon" Jungkook informed him.
"Thank you" Jimin responded, Jungkook blushed red to his ears. As bright as the leaves that fell around them.
"Come to me when we stop, I'll teach you all about the trees and leaves if you would like" Jungkook openly offered.
"Thank you, I will" Jimin promised with an easy smile.
Jungkook nodded as he dropped back again to inform the people behind them of the stop off point. He did that till he was at the back of the horse pack, barely in sight.
He gave Jimin a wink as he rode past them to the front again to have his horse walk alongside his parents who were leading the group.
Jimin reached up a hand to play with the braided bead in his hair. The one Yoongi had gifted him to show he was a friend of his.
"Yoongi what do the beads mean?" Jimin asked.
Yoongi had two long braids along the side of his shaved head. He had scalp plaited them along the sides of his head, splitting his hair from the shaved sides of his head. They were positively littered with crafted beads.
"My status, my family members. My achievements, like passing trials, one to show I'm a warrior, scholar that sort of thing. A bead is given as a reward for passing tests, it is an honorable thing" Yoongi explained.
Through the explanation he pointed at beads in his hair to indicate what they meant. They were all beautiful and intricate.
"You can touch them if you would like" Yoongi offered. He could feel Jimin's hand twitching with the urge to move from where they were wrapped around his waist.
So Jimin took him up on the offer. Reaching one hand up to turn the beads over in the braids. Yoongi's hair was pitch black, a common trait of the Norusian people, so the glimmering beads stood out against their background, like stars in a night sky.
He kept one hand around Yoongi's waist, it reached around and rested on Yoongi thigh in his attempt to remain seated on the back of the horse. Yoongi gently guided the horse through the woodland, in order to not dislodge them both from the back of the horse.
Unknowingly he had caused the Norusian man to blush from his head to toes at the casual way he had his hand curled around the man's waist.
He was entirely unaware of the power he held over the princes.
~*~
So more soft moments.
We will be in the capital of Rikelux, Foliorum, next chapter.
Thank you all so much for 50K reads, it means alot.
Funfact: Each capital I named has a meaning related to the Kingdom. Foliorum means leaves in Latin. That is where all the fancy names are coming from in the book
