Silence in Sagas

14

It doesn't. Was Willa's second thought when she woke up. The first had been that the sun peeping in through the curtains could go and step in a mechanical, ironed, five-sided bear-trap. But the second thought was not her victory. It doesn't—Things didn't make sense when she woke up. She remembered last night. Oliwa's father... he knew. He knew she was Willa. How the hell could he possibly know? She had never seen him before, and... nothing of this made sense. Not one bit of it.

Willa sighed and climbed out of bed. Willa had to admit that when you got used to the luxurious comfort... it wasn't that unsettling. She didn't like the comfortable bed for all the right reasons. But the she liked it for all the wrong reasons.

A bell sounded—EVERYTHING IN THE CASTLE IS DETERMINED BY BELLS?

Willa didn't want to listen to anything anyone told her she had to do, even if it was jst a stupid bell, telling her that something was about to happen. She was in a particularly cranky mood today, and some desire burned inside her not to obey. She swallowed it though, and looked through a closet, where a couple of dresses hung. She picked out a blue one. Not too fancy. She hated herself for enjoying the dresses from the castle right now. Why was she appreciating what she hated?

Willa let out a small yell of frustration.

***

Willa sat across from Allia during breakfast. A wall had appeared—Willa couldn't figure out how; she would think that when a wall was getting put up, it would make some noise. Her room wasn't that far from the hall. The hall that was about a third of the size it had been. She still felt like her voice could echo when she spoke.

Conversation swirled around in the room. Most of the Queenlings sat at a large table in the middle of the hall. Willa spotted the Kvepla Queenling sitting alone at a table. She and Allia had found a small one in the corner of the room.

The space was buzzing with talk. "How did it go?" Allia asked. What she was talking about wasn't really a question. The question was how the hell Willa was supposed to answer that. "Um," she said. "Well, I'm overwhelmed."

Allia nodded and looked into her bowl of a green soup. "Yes, I-I can't quite believe it, you know..."

Willa shook her head. She couldn't believe what happened either.

"If I could have everyone's attention." The announcer stood on the podium. "I would like to announce our beginning of your tasks for the Tournament."

Allia straightened in her seat.

"In the library, books are laid out with your realms' names on them. These are books you're expected to read. Our servants will take you there right after breakfast. When you finish reading a book, I want you to report it to Sofos. You will find her in the library. She will have a small conversation with you based on what you've just read."

Sofos—who seemed to know Oliwa's father, who knew she was Willa. Willa frowned and focused on the rehearsed words of the announcer. "This evening and every evening forward, all Queenlings are to gather here, in the hall. Nine o'clock precisely. We have some reporters from Centis City who will check in with the Tournament. There will be consequences for the Queenlings who do not show."

Willa frowned. 'Reporters...' that would watch what was going on in the castle? What exactly was going on in the castle anyways. Humukululuinkaka; it was a very weird word that had stuck in Willa's head. Passed on by her ancestors, she used to hear it from her parents. Her parents... They had said the closest the word could be translated into was 'I'm just running around aimlessly.'

Willa did feel like the Tournament so far had been her stuffed in a castle, pushed around in confusing ways. She felt aimless right now.

"Lastly," the announcer had increased the volume of his voice. It drove Willa out of her thoughts and steered them towards him again. "The King will have an appearance—"

Gasps, squeals and sharp breaths from the Queenlings—from some of the servants too. "—You will greet him accompanied by your parents. His Majesty have heard of you and is much curious to see you."

Would the king somehow be able to tell she wasn't Oliwa?

Willa shook her head, because it was ridiculous. She needed to stop being so paranoid.

"We look forward to it."

The announcer nodded to himself and stepped down.

"How were your parents?" Willa asked Allia and took a bite of a piece of bread. The Castle's food was a bitter goodness.

Allia smiled to herself. "They were everything I could've hoped for. We talked for a long time, and I got to know them."

Willa looked around her self. She smiled at Allia. "They... they told me something of your parents," began Allia. She had furrowed her brows. Her forehead wrinkled across a spot of light skin. "They told me about your mother... I-I'm sorry."

Willa nodded. "It's okay, I mean... It's not like I really knew it."

Allia shrugged. "Yeah, but you probably wanted to get to know her."

Willa nodded. Oliwa would probably want to get to know her mother, yes.

Willa got the feeling that someone was watching her. The scraping of chairs made her turn around.

A group of Queenlings rose from the table and made their way over, towards Willa and Allia. Willa recognised the Kestillz Queenling—Ose... Behind her followed two other Queenlings. Willa recognised the one on the left as the Trotis Queenling for her rectangular face.

Lastly followed a Queenling Willa couldn't place. The first thing she noticed about her was her hair. It was light brown, thick and reached her waist. Her face was narrow; she was a strange mix between slight and muscly, but Willa couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was.

"Aah, Oliwa, isn't it?" said the Kestillz Queenling and sat down in the chair next to Willa. Willa nodded. The other Queenlings sat down around the table. Willa straightened where she sat and put on a big, glossy fake smile. "What can I help you with?" Willa looked at the Queenlings. Allia was watching her with a slight tilt to her head.

"We are awfully sorry," said Ose. In a tone that suggested that she was, by no possible means at all, sorry. "We heard about your mother. That poor, poor woman. We send out condolences."

Willa nodded. "Thank you. That is appreciated." She looked into Ose's eyes a moment too long. Something shifted in her face. Her brow was set in annoyance. "Well, you must know, we can't believe that little Kvepla would do something like that."

Willa looked at Allia for help, but she looked as if she was stifling her confusion as much as Willa was her own.

"We just wanted to let you know that we totally support you, and we will do all we can to make her feel what she did down to her bone."

Willa straightened up and smiled that same smile again. She needed to practice it later to make it more convincing. "Thank you very much." She met each pair of eyes around the table. "I appreciate that."

They stood up and nodded at her. Almost in a synchronised motion, they turned around and stared intently at a table in the corner of the hall. It was the table where the Kvepla Queenling sat, occupied with her food. When the Queenlings looked at her, she slowly turned around. She looked pale and feeble, with light blonde—almost white hair. The Queenlings smiled at her. Venomous smiles, and the Kvepla Queenling looked down into her bowl.

"We'll see you around," Ose said to Willa. Willa did not respond. Her eyes were on the Kvepla Queenling. To the others, she hoped it seemed as if she was looking at her as a prey. She hoped that her curiosity would be masked by what they assumed she would see in this feeble Queenling.

So the Kvepla Queenling's mother had something to do with the death of Oliwa's mother.

Willa ate the rest of her soup in silence until Allia broke it. "Kvepla did something to your mother?" Willa nodded. "Do you know what?" A curl of hair fell into Allia's face. She tucked it behind her ear.

"No," said Willa. "But I intend to find out."