Shards of Love

Castle Tours

Shards of Love: REDUX!

Shard I: Foundations

Chapter V

Castle Tours

"Alright," Bowser started, the two of them exiting the dining room, "I'll show you the first floor and the roof. Everything else is either bedrooms or just official stuff."

Peach only nods back as she follows Bowser through the hallways. Once again, she notices the bleak decorations. They still creep her out, but she doesn't have the same disgust towards them as she did earlier. Perhaps the family and their... Ornate, exotic designs grew on her. Of course, not being into dark-themed art (as her parents treated such work as taboo) she won't be able to fully accept any of the more gothic decorations.

"The dining room and kitchen are actually in the middle of the castle," informed Bowser.

Peach nods her head again, understanding the room's layout. She'd actually be surprised if the dining room wasn't in the middle of the castle, since that room's also in the center of her own castle. Royalty on Plit regard the dining room as a central hub for not only the different meals of the day, but for family bonding and the sense of togetherness, two things running a kingdom will relinquish. Hence, every ruler of every major kingdom, past or present, position their dining rooms towards the middle of their castles as a symbolic gesture.

"So, since we're walking north, I'll show you the north wing first."

Not long after Bowser's instructions, both of them stumble upon a giant wall. Unlike the other walls in the hallway, and in the castle as a whole, no pictures or any other sort of ornament decorates the wallspace. The wall even lacks wallpaper, and instead, only faded-out paint garnish the wall's stony surface area.

"What's this?" Peach questioned the repulsive sight.

"Oh, that wall?" Bowser asked, "That's the chamber containing magma. Since it's the middle of April now and Dark Land's warming up, there's no magma in there currently, but during the winter months, we fill up this chamber with underground magma, then use the heated air as the castle's main heat source. It's efficient and healthy, and it saves the kingdom a ton of money that we'd otherwise spend on burning gas, but it gives off that sulfur smell. We all gotten used to the smell, but I could only imagine your pain."

"With the amount of times you kidnap me, I probably got used to it too," Peach smiles, "But it's still to the point of me knowing where I'm at just by the smell."

Through her smiling, she ponders over the chamber. She never knew the koopas were so... Green. She'd thought they'd do nothing but burn unhealthy amounts of coal while carpet bombing random things outside their borders. Peach sighs at her thoughts; once again, stereotypes from mushroomers.

"Looks like you have something on your mind," Bowser gazes at her, "Debunking more stereotypes? The one where all we do is burn and destroy things and that's why the air gets bad? You'd be surprised how much we rely on nature. Even most of our medicines come from it."

"Yep. That stereotype broke!" Peach exclaimed in a louder tone than she anticipated, "But... This wall. It's so..."

"Bleak?"

Peach nods her head. Bleak. There's absolutely nothing on this wall, nor by it, save for the paint.

"It's gross, I admit that straight up. It looked like that ever since I can remember, and my father was the last to paint it. It's just hard to decorate since the heat from it can burn up the more sensitive decorations. When May comes around and we for sure don't need the chamber for the summer, I'm getting my servants to build a sort of rock wall here; something fancier than just this smooth stone. I think spikier rocks or maybe bricks would match this hallway, don't you? Plus they won't set on fire."