A Smash of Kings

Chapter 8: The Flower Princess

After entering the large walls that surrounded Sarasaland's capital, Sarasaville, Lucina and Ike hopped off their horses. They had been traveling for a few days in the Sarasa armor that they stole from the guards that they killed. And, since that night, they had not been bothered by anybody else. All the merchants and adventurers they passed by ducked their heads and respectfully stayed silent in their presence. Their cover worked as successfully inside the city as it had out of it.

On the road leading up to the castle, which itself mirrored the desert sand colour of most of the buildings around it, there was not a lot except for a market, a few buildings and shops. Breaking the skyline of the city were the orange tops that each of the castle's towers had. Although the city's buildings looked like the castle and surrounding terrain, there was plenty of green around the sandy roads, from trees to shrubbery; it stood out like an oasis in the hot desert.

Lucina and Ike walked through the market and looked around at the people of Sarasaville; many of them in white clothes and rags that covered most of their bodies but fit loosely and lightly to accommodate for the heat. As they approached the castle, Lucina noticed the number of guards increase. Just as they got to the orange steel gate of the castle, a large number of citizens, who were dressed in fine white clothing, left a parliamentary building, perhaps the Senate, adjacent to the gate.

"I don't support this fight at all," they heard a nearby Flower Knight say, casually make conversation with member of the City Guard, "Why do we have to fight an enemy that we have nothing against?"

"Because they pose a direct threat to the High King in the Mushroom Lands," the City Guardsman replied, reciting what Princess Daisy had just said inside the Senate. The guard let out a loud chuckle, though he sounded more agitated than entertained, "Somehow, an ocean and continent's worth of separation calls for action."

"Murmurs in Faron Town say he's merely a puppet of Zelda," the Flower Knight told, surprising the City Guardsman, "My uncle owns a tavern in the region, and support for the conflict in Hyrule fluctuates by the day. At least with the small folk."

Lucina looked at Ike and shrugged, "It seems like the Flower Princess doesn't have the support of her people."

"To be fair, she doesn't know what she got herself into," Ike responded confidently, looking back up at the castle, "Let's be off, then."

"To where?" Lucina asked.

"We should have a talk with Princess Daisy," Ike suggested, "Maybe we can convince her to stop making conflict over nothing."

Seeing that they could not pass through the orange gates, Lucina and Ike walked towards the Guard Barracks and entered inside. When they were inside the barracks, they saw several soldiers sitting on the bunk-beds that lined the wooden walls. Several of the guards inside were under-dressed, taking a break from wearing their armor. Besides a few conversations, it was quite quiet inside the barracks.

After they passed through the barracks, they entered a scarcely-lit hallway with an orange carpet on the ground. The walls were white and covered with some paintings. They followed the carpet up a small staircase and into the main hall of the castle. It was like any hall where a throne sat, except the roof was entirely glass, so it was lit entirely by sunlight. Nobody was inside the hall, so Lucina and Ike walked directly across it with little care.

"Where do you think she is? Her chambers?" Ike asked.

"Maybe," Lucina nodded, "Let's go look around."

They continued their walk into another part of the castle. The hallways, for the most part, looked like carbon-copies of each other; the only differences between them would be the various plants set as decorations and the paintings on the wall. After walking up more stairs, they saw two guards standing on both sides of a door. Assuming that the door led to the Princess' chamber, Lucina and Ike looked at one another.