InkSkin

The Houses

LuSol strolled into a wide rectangular room with Alsuha close behind him. As they entered, they came abreast of another party exiting. At the head of the group was a man with corn flower yellow hair. He reminded Alsuha of LuSol, but he was a leaner, taller version of him.

Alsuha watched the LuSol and the man with the yellow hair nod imperceptibly to one another but neither ever slowed nor stopped. For a slight second, Alsuha's glance met the bluest eyes she'd ever seen and she felt goose bumps break out across her arms. Where LuSol's eyes were warm, this man's were cold.

The man kept walking. He and his entourage quickly disappearing through the door they'd come through. Alsuha did notice another man before they completely disappeared. This one was tall and was the color of dark chocolate. His skin glowed with the silver pearl and turquoise of the River people, the Nahtian Tribe. Alsuha felt her Ink respond to his, almost like a greeting, and saw the surprise fill his yellow eyes. She knew without looking that her Ink shone with his colors; it was something her Ink had been doing for a couple of days now. Alsuha had stopped questioning all of the strange new things her Ink was now capable of. She calmly returned his stare and watched him disappear through the door the yellow haired man had gone through.

The two men had only caught her attention for a few seconds, but it had been enough time for LuSol to take his place on the giant golden throne which dominated the pillared room and which sat upon a raised dais. On their way to the Council Hearing, LuSol had explained to her what was expected of her during LuSol's time on the golden throne and without being told, Alsuha took her place behind LuSol. Her Ink settled as her eyes quickly scanned the room from her new vantage point.

She noticed more doors lining the walls all down the length of the big long hall. She glanced behind her and quickly made out the door hidden in the wall directly behind where LuSol sat. She ground her teeth in frustration.

'How am I supposed to guard this spot like this? It is bad enough with these ridiculous things on my feet.'

'Relax.' The word drifted through her mind.

'This place is ripe for an assassination,' she explained, her disgust crystal clear through their mental connection.

'No one has ever been successful in reaching the dais.' Alsuha felt his mental pause. 'Well not in the last two hundred years or so.' She felt him grin at the sound of disgust she made.

'Besides, I trust you.'

Alsuha didn't know what to say to that, and Haku, the traitorous beast added his two cents by having his laughter echo within both their minds. Alsuha simply grunted, annoyed beyond words, and went back to scanning the room. She spent the next six hours glaring at and intimidating the petitioners who stared at her as they stepped forward to plead their cases with her Prince.

When the ninth hour was wrung, the sharp peels reverberating throughout the spacious hall, Alsuha stepped smoothly from behind LuSol's chair and positioned herself slightly in front of where the Prince sat, effectively blocking the next petitioner who thought to ignore the tolling of the bell signaling the end of the day's hearing. It was her duty to make sure the petitioners knew when the Prince had finished hearing their complaints. Alsuha glared and the little rotund puffball of a man before her trembled but refused to move.

"Forgive me, Urchel Hale, but the hour is late. Perhaps you would not mind returning tomorrow and either my brother or father would be more than pleased to hear your petition."

"Ah, Prince LuSol, as pleasing as it would be to have your brother or His Majesty hear me, I did hope to present my case to you. I had heard you'd been newly Bonded," he continued quickly, without allowing LuSol to reply.