Reflections on the Dįvonësë War: The Dįvįnë Will Bear Witness to Fate

Chapter 8 - A Monster's Regret

Digression 5
38th Day of Ope in the Third Month of Snow's Fall
4633 A.G.G. (Present Day)

Castle Įcħor-Nåbįlå, North of the Yavan Mountains
The Continent of Kazakoto
3:25 P.S.R. (Pre Suns' Rising)

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Aoleon

Walking bare foot had always been a modest pleasure for the high princess. There was something about constant tactile contact; indoors, outdoors, it didn't matter. The texture shift between stone floors and carpet; prickly grass and trickling water; soft earth and grainy sand. It was a small, constant reminder of the beauty of the world around her. A reminder that she was alive.

Her mother used to call her "little forest elf" or her "forest child", as fervently not wearing coverings on their feet was a staple of the woodland beings' culture; constant contact with the earth. However, she was decidedly not an elf. And moving about as a human on bare feet had left them oddly calloused and spottily discoloured. Her souls up to her ankles were visibly a few shades darker than the rest of her body; causing them overall to resemble some reversed form of vitiligo. Not that she cared as there were few things that brought her more simple joy.

Yet even with an entire lifetime of happiness feeling a multitude of sensations moving about with nothing protecting her feet, never had she been so relieved to feel the warmth of plush rugs beneath her as she did now. As was evidenced with the joyous breath she took once she exited the red room near the library tree with her father and Ayashe in tow. Never had she been so happy to smell the musk of hundred year old books, or feel the topside air.

Before she'd realized it, the trio found itself climbing one of the library's grand staircases which followed the curb of the rectangular room's protruding circular center that cradled the space's mighty graywood tree on either side. Both stairways were partially covered in a thick strip of soft carpet held fast by beautiful brass rods which complemented the rug work of the library's main floor. Aoleon slowly rubbed her fingers along the extravagant and painstakingly detailed wood and ironwork of the banisters as they continued upward. Working their way from one set of stairs to the next as they maneuvered their way up around and over to the far end of the room. Moving past the royal guards stationed at the foot of the final set of stairs leading to their destination.

On the third above ground floor was where they eventually ended their trek; the entirety of this mezzanine along with the two above it comprising the royal study.

Here in its position of prominence sat the king's massive immovable desk which he approached with much haste; a neat stack of papers sitting importantly on its surface surrounded by a plethora of loose documents, drawings, maps and books. Much like all the furniture on these upper floors, it was accented in dense woods and weighty brass. Made after the style of the Dwalli of the Great Kingdom of the Pyramids.

"I see that you put everything to sleep for me." Samahdemn signed as he noticed that all of the physical screens were dormant and that the projections which were normally above his desk of three large, faintly visible ones cast from projectors and suspended in space; two white and one a greenish yellow, were non-existent.

"Yes. Again."

Waving his hand through the empty air over an uncluttered space atop the desk, he watched as the white and greenish-yellow holographic displays sprung back to life. Physical manifestations of transparent matter. And a few quick taps on his corporeal keyboards caused the physical screens to whirr softly to life. Projections of a white directional access sphere and both a white and a greenish-yellow keyboard also flickered into reality on the desk's surface near their physical counterparts. As he settled into the desk's throne-like chair, he removed his weapon holster and hung it on one of the seat's wings; freeing himself to feel a higher level of comfort.