Hardly a Lady

VI

I'll give a bit of explanation here that might confuse you otherwise. In Helixonia, they worship a faith known as The Onyx, which is their name for the moon. They believe that the Onyx is a God who watches over his people all the time, but because of the sins that the Helixonians have committed over the years, he cannot bear to watch them in the day, when most sins take place. But at night when most Helixonians are sleeping he shows himself, and watches over his children as they sleep, protecting them from harm. The God in the Onyx is married to Tyra, who was once a human woman so beautiful that even the Onyx fell in love with her. But the woman was human and so eventually died, then in an attempt to save her the Onyx transformed her into a giant glowing ball of fire, what we would call the Sun. But the spell came with a price, and the Onyx and Tyra couldn't be together since Tyra could only rise in the day. So once a month, the Onyx leaves the night sky dark and visits Tyra in the Heavens, creating the new moon.

The churches are known as Onyxa, and the priests Onyxans.

The pronunciation is:

Onyx - Oi-n-c-z

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giselle listened to the Queen as she talked about the palace, trying hard to concentrate on what she said. At her other side, the oldest girl Serrena walked, who added snippets of information whenever her mother stopped to take a breath. Eulalia trotted along behind them, desperately trying to keep up and be involved with the conversation, and Shayla had long since grown bored and was striding ahead, ignoring the group. Meah still sat on Giselle's hip, amusing herself with twirling Giselle's curls around her little fingers.

"Pretty..." she whispered in her two year old voice as she admired Giselle's hair.

"So Lady Giselle, what do you think of Samarus so far?" Serrena asked as her mother stopped talking. Giselle smiled at her fiancé's oldest sister, who was a pretty girl about Giselle's own age. No doubt she had a lot of suitors here at court.

"It's very different to what I'm used to, your highness, and there were so many people in the city. But I'm sure I'll get used to it."

Serrena smiled at Giselle's diplomatic answer. "We don't leave the palace much, except to attend the Onyxa in the city on feast days. But don't worry - I grew up here and I still find it incredibly daunting."

They came to the tower that had been given to Giselle as her chambers. "I hope you don't mind the climb," the Queen said to Giselle as they began to climb up the stairs. "I assure you, the view is truly worth it."

The procession reached the top of the winding stair case moments later, and came to a set of white wooden doors, outside of which two guards stood stoic. The guards bowed before the Queen, the Princesses and Giselle, and then in perfect unison swept to open the doors, revealing Giselle's rooms.

The first room, which was a sort of sitting room in which any visitors could wait for Giselle to see them, had walls of pale green, with golden roses painted exquisitely along the border and top of the wall. "They told me that you liked roses," the Queen remarked as she watched Giselle. The floors were a dusky pink marble, and through the large bay window one could see the city bustling below, and the fields beyond. There were comfortable looking armchairs in which people could wait, and a small table between them on which a bouquet of roses sat. "The flowers will be changed daily," the Queen added with a smile.

"Come, Lady Giselle, there is still much to see!" Serrena exclaimed, taking Giselle's hand and tugging her towards the set of smaller stairs in the corner. The royal party climbed up elegantly - even little Shayla had more poise than many full grown ladies - and Giselle traced her fingers along the golden roses on the wall as she went.