The Chronicles of Guertanna: The Sword of Light and Shadow

Chapter XXX

Kenor and Rinna stayed outside in the hallway, resting their backs to the wall. No one dared to say anything; they just kept watching the nowhere. Rinna her head hands in each side, defeated, feeling how the tears in her eyes fell one and other without mercy. Silently. She wiped them every time and then, but it wouldn't make them stop. Kenor sat next to her, his knees bent with his elbows on them. His chin resting in his hands, spacing out.

Servants walked around, wondering, crying, but no one ever stepped inside again. Alice spent two, three... uncountable hours inside Dia's room. They all waited. But once Alice was out, she just shut the door behind her, wiping some tears in her eyes and slowly walking away, passing Kenor and Rinna who looked up to her expectantly. But she said nothing, she did no sign of anything, she just walked away, with heavy long steps.

Dinner arrived fast and not very enthusiastically. It was silent and killing everyone's humor at the second. Rinna kept glancing now and then to the head chair, empty in the center. The plate was perfectly settled, next to a napkin with golden embroider in the edges. The cup was also there, perfectly clean and set above the cutlery also ordered in size. The food arrived by the most depressed waiters and servants. They all ate with force and unwilling.

They ate silently, again with the sound of the forks and spoons clasping the plates and some slurping with the drinks. In the least expected minute, Alice was the one who broke the silence. "Tomorrow night is the funeral..." She announced, without stopping cutting her steak and taking a big bite of it. "And you two should be prepared and dressed in your uniforms tomorrow."

Rinna raised her look on Alice, who wasn't looking anything else but her plate. Kenor said nothing, "What's going to happen tomorrow...?" She whispered, hesitating to ask.

Alice kept eating, and for a moment Rinna got the idea that there was no more talking. "I sent a letter to the head of each Noble Family," She said and paused, "we will have a meeting with the four councils and head Gulders."

A meeting, she said, shivering at the thought of what everyone would say with the breaking news. That's when Rinna finally realized the problems already forming. What was going to happen with the City? Since they found Dia dead, there had been no sign of danger. Was it all a lie? Did Dia died to save them? She shook the thought right away, looking again at the beaten face of Dia in her bedroom. There was no way she just let herself cry. Did she?

Also, it was a meeting that involved the four councils. Oh, shit. Yes, there, that was something not happening in years. Each family had a council, a parliament, a type of supportive members of the family's business and decisions for the future. All of them deciding what were best for the Empress safety. But there was no Empress! The city was governed by no ruler. It could mean disaster, losing citizen's trust. Did the citizens know...? Probably not yet, the Gulders knew for sure that it could mean the panic of everyone.

But then, where was The Shadowland? What was going to happen to the City? It has passed a whole day and there was no disaster. Was there a joke about it? Or were they just simply waiting for the exact moment...? Rinna's heart broke thinking that Dia's dead could be just in vain. No, she thought, convincing herself, there was no way this could be in vain. So what's left for them to fight? Against who? Did Dia left any sign?

The Dining Room emerged into silence again, in Rinna's mind she could only scatter in her mind a lot of missing pieces in the puzzle. She thought fondly of Dia, and the plans she always had for the future. What was going to happen with the other Dandelions unsealed? She looked shyly up to Alice, eating her food without any plans to keep on a conversation.

It was a hard time, Rinna understood that, "Ms. Dragonia..."

"Mhm?" She never heard her voice so off and cold.