Dual Soul Reincarnation

Chapter 10 - Whirlwind

[The Voice]

The Unity Dinner, as Zirana explained it, was a grand feast held in the castle's public dining hall. Ambassadors, politicians, and leaders from all the nations of the Unified Human Kingdom gathered to celebrate the peace and prosperity of the past thousand years. The dining hall itself was sized to fit, too. Comparable to a large auditorium, the first floor had hundreds of mahogany tables and chairs evenly placed throughout, save for the center, which was reserved for people to gather and socialize. The second floor was a balcony that extended inward from the south, western, and eastern walls, overlooking the socializing area of the first floor. All four corners of the first floor had a spiral staircase leading up to the second.

The north side was special. One long mahogany table was set parallel to it a few yards out. There were two chairs in the center for the king and princess and on either side were six normal chairs for the advisors to sit in. The north wall had one ledge on the second floor separate from the main balcony from which the King would give his speech. It was accessed from a passageway further in the castle, which from the dinging hall could only be accessed through locked doors on the northern wall. Being a very public gathering place, this hall was naturally cordoned off from the rest of the castle.

Several chandeliers hung from the ceiling high above, adorned with various crystals that gave off the same light magic as the ones I had seen when I first arrived in this world. Zirana had once explained that a refined crystal could be inscribed with a glyph to give off a very simple magic. In the current day, the only uses were for giving off light, heat, or cold, among various other menial abilities.

"I wish I could find a way to get more use out of them." She once told me. "Sadly, that puzzle has stumped everyone in the magical field for centuries."

The light from these chandeliers reflected beautifully off the carefully tiled, blue floors. Thousands of people dined and discussed atop an azure sea of tilework, only broken up by carefully placed shining, silvery tiles in the center area resembling Mezuzi's royal crest: a 12-pointed star, in the center of which simple lines reached out from one point to the opposing one.

We were sitting at the dinner table having just finished eating after the king finished his speech. It was a good speech, as far as speeches go I guess. I probably would have paid about as much attention to a presidential speech on tv back home.

In the distance I could see Sura, fully dressed in armor, talking up a storm to various listeners. The smile on her face told me she had accepted her fate at this dinner and from the motions of her hands I wagered she was telling a war tale of some sort.

In the days since my little outburst, Zirana had caught me up on what she intended to tell me before her argument with Lazuli. Sura's aforementioned hatred of Mirvi tied directly into her dislike of Her Highness.

~

"Father is rather indifferent to war." She told me. "If there was a good enough reason in his eyes, he might even instigate it. I, however, am quite the opposite. We are in tumultuous times, certainly, but if bloodshed can be avoided, I would do so at any cost. Destruction and conquering are the last thing this world needs. Sura wants war. She wants to fight the draconic-elves of Mirvi and she views me not only as weak, but as an obstacle to that desire."

The ideals of peace was one that Zilmish and her both agreed on and worked towards. Zilmish, despite having no claim to the throne, worked desperately throughout the human kingdoms so that, when the time was right, she could be proof to the more stubborn minds of a peaceful Mirvian.

~

Speaking of whom, Zirana seemed to be scanning the room for her, or at least, I assumed she was. Just out of the corner of her eyes I spotted her sitting at a table off to the western wall. She was talking to a woman with peach-colored hair sitting next to her.