Fans

Fans Part 2

Fans - The Queens (continued)

"I have one last item before we finish for the day," said Penta, addressing her two sisters Valencia and Cinderella. The other two were absent. Snow White had traveled to the eastern part of Kingdom hoping to achieve a detente with the hill giants, and Helga had set sail on a ship to explore islands.

Cinderella and Valencia's faces were drawn and discouraged. The lengthy discussion on whether the Selkie Protection Edict also applied to encantados exhausted the three, and their decision to extend the law to include the enchanted dolphins was not made lightly. Cinderella made a motion to rise but returned to her throne. Valencia pushed herself back in her seat.

Penta folded her hands. "The royal guards brought a matter before me today. Fortunately, though they resolved the incident, they thought it prudent I should know about it. Apparently, a Penta fan attacked a Cinderella admirer in the streets of Town today. Fans on either side joined the brawl until six children were involved. The guards had to intervene to settle the dispute."

Cinderella put her hand to her mouth. Valencia, eyes wide, asked, "Was anyone hurt?"

"A guard had to take a young Penta fan to the healer."

Cinderella gripped the armrests of her throne. "But this is terrible! What possessed them to do this?"

"They argued over which queen was the best one."

Valencia rubbed her forehead. "You are not serious."

Penta ground her teeth together. "Unfortunately, I am."

"One of my fans came to me a few days ago," said Valencia. "She had a bruise on the side of her cheek. A Snow White fan had assaulted her."

Cinderella's eyes narrowed. "Those Snow White fans are so aggressive."

"Cinderella!"

"They are! And worse, they do not respect anyone except for Snow White." Penta raised her hand in objection.

"The guard said the Cinderella fan started the fight."

Cinderella put a hand to her chest. "I doubt that. My fans are the definition of decorum."

Valencia snorted. "The same girls wearing those short skirts?"

"I have discussed their inappropriate clothing with them at length. They are not Cinderella fans. They told me they are Valencia fans dressing like me to discredit my followers."

Valencia stood. "My girls would never do that!"

Cinderella squared her shoulders. "They have, my sister. I am sorry to be the one to tell you."

"This velitation ends now," said Penta. "I bring this news to this council so that we discuss it with our fans. I will write Helga and Snow White as well. Our admirers must understand they should portray themselves with honor and tact if they want to be our admirers. We are the crown, and we decided in our first session to rule Kingdom with benevolence and mercy, not in-fighting and intrigue. We must be role models."

Penta's sisters inclined their heads in agreement.

The five queens assembled in the throne room two days before the Redeemer's birthday, and all expected to discuss the issue of the open-sea pirates, but Penta surprised them with her first order of business. "We have an issue with our fans."

Lines formed on Snow White's forehead. "Is this the most important topic of Kingdom?"

Penta folded her arms. "My instinct says it is. The guards continue to tell me of squabbles between the fans and worse, public fighting. The girls have created chants designed to put each other down. Helga's boys assault Snow White and Cinderella's male admirers. And now I've learned they are writing on walls. At first, they wrote small sentiments like 'Cinderella is number one.' I do not like favoritism, but I thought it innocuous at the time. Earth citizens call this graffiti."