Silence in Sagas

10

"Oliwa of Notteny, how can I assist you?" Willa had barely reached the top of the staircase. A pretty, brown-haired girl stood in front of her. She couldn't have been much older than herself.
Willa was lost. "Um, maybe... A room for me to unleash my loadings would be nice."

Willa internally sighed. Such linguistic incompetence she had.
The serving tilted her head slightly and scrunched up her eyebrows. It didn't last long. She remembered her manners and gave Willa a smile. It didn't reach her eyes, though, and when she mentioned for Willa to follow, it was clear she was still alienated to what had come out of Willa's mouth.

Probably smarter to keep to her own, simpler language from now on.

She followed the servant into a hallway. The walls were dark brown, made of wood, and the hall itself was wide enough for ten men to stand shoulder to shoulder.

"Here, Miss Oliwa," said the servant and opened a door with big, red letters spelling out Oliwa's name.

"Call if you need anything."

The servant curtsied deeply and walked out of the room. The door swung shut without creaking, and it made a distinct 'smack'-ing sound when closing.

Willa was left on her own. In a room that was at least five times the size than her kitchen at home. Home.

Surely her parents would've noticed her absence by now? Willa felt a sting in her chest. She would meet her 'parents' soon.

What about Oliwa? That was one of the things they hadn't talked about much. Oliwa didn't like the topic of her parents. But she had told Willa that the Queenling's parents lived in this castle. This castle that Willa was in at this very moment. She was in the same building as Oliwa's parents, whom she had never met, all though their daughter was the one person she had probably spent most of her time with... aside from her own parents, maybe.

Willa brought a hand to her head and tried to massage her temples to ease her head that had begun to feel heavy. It didn't do much for her, so she squinted and looked around the room. In the corner was a bed--double the size of what Willa saw as a big bed. A lot of excessive space.

Was this what the other Queenlings were used to? In Notteny Castle--Oliwa's room, the bed had been perfectly normal sized, but Oliwa had probably asked for it to be that way. In addition to that, Notteny was not a very big or rich realm. They depended on the chopping of wood. But they didn't really have excessive amounts of wood eiter, seeing as the realm was made up if a lot of stone-hills... rocky surfaces where tree-roots couldn't settle.

Willa sighed and sank down in the way too straight bed. It was perfectly made--the sheets so free of wrinkles, it was unnatural. Willa messed the sheets up. Rustling sounds filled the room, until there was nice, crumbly wrinkles all over the fabric.

She sat there, lost in thought. The room became a blur before her as she visited her own thoughts. There was a faint CLONG that reverberated through the room. Soon, it sounded again. A bell, closer this time. Willa frowned and got up from the bed. She gently opened the door out to the hallway.

It was empty. Willa had the feeling she was missing something--

Just then, a servant rounded a corner. Her eyes widened when she met Willa's eyes. "All Queenlings to the dining room, miss, eh... um... Oh Ytri." She mumbled the last part before looking up at Willa with pleading eyes. "What?" Willa asked. "I-I am so so terribly sorry, um, I-I can't remember which Queenling you are, um... all though I am supposed to, and... Master Jilse said to us servants that we always have to remember, and... ugh, and it's just so inhumane, you know... How are we supposed to just remember the names and the realms of people we have seen once, never really met, and I'm sorry, but I just can't remember it, and oh Ytri, Ytri, no... They will... They will--if they know, and--"

"Hey, hey..."

The servant abruptly stopped talking and spun around. Willa looked up at a girl her age--perhaps a little older, coming towards them.

Her face.

It was... speckled, or... Willa didn't quite know. She was both black and white... Dark and light skin on her face, patterned kind of like a cows skin. I've been looking too long. Willa averted her gaze and looked at the servant instead. She felt the other girl... "How are you doing, Koi?--You talking yourself away again?"

The servant--Koi--looked at the Queenling. "No--maybe... Hi--" she looked around the hall before whispering--"Allia."

Queenling Allia looked up at Willa. Their gazes met, and she was the first one to reach out a hand. Willa looked at it for a moment. "C'mon... I normally am way too awkward to be the one to go for the handshake... would you be a good spirit and help me out, now that I've gathered courage?"

Willa took the hand and shook it. "That's better," Allia said. "Huh--handshakes rarely go this well," she said when they pulled away.

"Um, Allia? You forgot the introduction--"

"Oh, fucht--I knew I had forgotten something!" Allia turned her face and looked at Koi, then Willa. "I'm Allia."

"Willa," said Willa and nodded.

This was the weirdest encounter she'd ever had.

"Um, they want you down at the diner now," said Koi. "Queenling Willa of--and Queenling Allia of Marines," she quickly added when another servant rounded the corner and shot them a look. Koi mumbled incoherently instead of mentioning her realm. It did work. The servant passed without a second glance. She opened a door, and a fragrance seeped into the hallway. Willa subtly inhaled it.

It smelled wonderful... She didn't know what it smelled, but it was wonderful.

Everything would probably taste good at this point of famish.

"Shall we go then, Queenling Willa of... of what exactly?"

"Notteny," Willa said and coughed.

"Notteny then. Come on, I'm starving--could probably eat Koi if she didn't watch out."

There was a joking shriek from Koi. "I have laundry to do," she said and turned and walked away.

Willa and Allia walked down the hall.

"I am clumsy. I don't want to fall on the stairs. That would be awkward."

Willa turned to see Allia holding onto the railing of the stairs, clutching it--her knuckles had turned light. On her right hand, the skin went from light to dark again.

The hall Willa had first seen upon arriving in the castle opened up in front of them. "Which way?" she asked. "Probably right," said Allia at once. "It's always right, because if it's not right, it's wrong."

"Wow, what logic..."

"I know--I'm smart that way. C'mon."

They walked towards a bigger door. Servants stood on each side of them, their smiles stretched and demeanours injected with fake uprightness. Willa wondered how worn they actually were as she walked by.

She looked over at Allia, saw the back of her head where black curls bounced together with her gait. She snuck glances at the servants as well, furrowing her eyebrows slightly.

Willa and Allia stepped through the door, and a huge--huge--huge hall opened up in front of them.

Notteny Castle's length would fit two times stacked upon itself... Willa felt a bit light-headed looking up at the roof--The walls of the room stretched from being bigger than a pond--the size of the lake near Willa's home... into the top of the room where perspective almost made it look as the walls turned inwards.

"Wow," Allia said next to her. 

Wow, indeed.

They looked at the tables then. They were adorned with candles and table cloths in different colours--the whole hall bathed in a warm, red-ish light, and on the many, long tables, dishes were laid out. 

Willa's mouth watered.