The Element Table

Chapter 2: The Festival of the Sun

"Today we celebrate the giver of light, the vanquisher of shadows and darkness. Today, we celebrate the sun" 

The crowd cheered as King Francis began his annual speech. He was standing on one of the large balconies of his castle, looking down at the people before him, in the courtyard. It was a sea of golden flags and waving hands, with a few tall bodies and children on shoulders sticking out from the crowd.

The kingdom was celebrating the Festival of the Sun, a time they use to commemorate the great sacrifice of the Sun Queen Solaria, to save Luxia from the evil guardian Caine. It was a festival that everyone in the kingdom celebrated. They decorated the town with gold flags, ribbons and banners. There were even pastries shaped like sunflowers. Songs were sung and events reenacted, until it was time for the King to give his speech. As he did, the people would be in front of him, and his family and his dignitaries would be sitting behind him, like they always did in official events like these. Directly behind him was his wife the Queen, his daughter the Princess and her husband, and his grandson the Prince. Behind them were the Dukes, Counts, Barons, Knights and Lords.

Among these dignitaries were the royal advisers, Alistair and Zoricus, the past guardians. 

With these dignitaries were their families, who only accompanied them to the balcony on very special occasions like this. For the adults  in these families, being able to sit on that balcony was an honor. For the young members, it was  the most boring thing ever. Their friends thought it was neat, but they saw nothing neat about sitting through the King 's long speeches, up close.

Prepared for a boring speech, Alianor hand snuck in a small leather covered book full of poetry. It's leather cover was covered with blue paper, and the initials "I.C" was on it. It was he  grandmother's, and her grandfather, Alistair, had given it to her on her  eighteenth birthday some days ago, knowing how much she liked writing poetry. Her parents would have been mad at her for bringing the book with her, but she was sitting next to her grandfather, and he was a bit slack with disciplining her and her little brother.

Eighteen year old Alianor was a replica of her mother Alice, with the pale skin and and long brown wavy hair. They had the same olive shaped blue eyes. She had an oval face, small nose, and pink lush lips.  Though she looked like her mother, her clumsiness and quietness was  all her father.

She was never good at activities that required a lot of  physicality, so she often found herself sitting alone, entirely focused on the poetry she was writing. She was very introverted and always seemed to be the calm one around. To others, her personality was weird but comforting all at the same time.

As the King 's speech continued, she looked up from her grandmother's book and to the empty seat between her and her grandfather's best friend. Jacquelyn was late, again.

As a child, Zoricus' granddaughter was a chatter box (still is), and would always be disruptive while she sat on the balcony. He discovered that sitting her next to the quiet Alianor made her less chatty and calm, and had been doing it for years to keep her in check. Sitting next to the younger talkative girl was annoying for Alianor at first, but they soon became friends, and now, they were best friends. Even though they were  opposites, they complimented each other well as best friends. Jacquelyn was often forgetful and late, like she was now, and it was always up to her best friend to keep her on track. And for Alianor, Jacquelyn was  always her mouth piece.

"Excuse me, sorry" Alianor heard  

She looked up and saw Jacquelyn making her way through the other seated guests towards them. She finally made it through, and took her seat. She gave her grandfather and apologetic smile before turning to Alianor.