The Triadd

Chapter Two (Venna)

Venna sat on a tree stump on a hill looking over the small valley filled with trees, trees, and more, trees. They were painted red, yellow, and orange. The trees of Shale made it look like a massive forest fire, never letting go of its grasp of death. The grass was dead, barely grasping for life as it is. But, there is no fire. The trees leaves deceive her eyes.

She had pale skin, and light blue eyes. She had longish hair that always swayed in the wind. She loved living in Shale, where it was always Autumn. Venna breathed and took in the view, savoring the last moments of daylight.

Almost the second she realized she was hungry, she noticed a servant coming up the hill with a picnic basket. The yellow, dead grass weirdly made the view better.

The servant was a few yards away, when she noticed who it was, Lail, her favorite of the many servants they had. Venna was the princess, her mother was the queen, and her father was king until he perished when she was an infant. Burned half of Shale to the ground. Her mother didn't really want kids and basically ignored Venna. She wasn't necessarily mean, she just didn't deal with her a lot.

"Thank you, Lail!" Shouted Venna, leaping off the tree stump and reaching for the basket when the servant wasn't but a few feet away.

Lail was wearing a mixture of yellow and green, with woven golden braids folded into a bun, her blue eyes made her even more magnificent. She looked like a queen herself. Better than her mother.

Venna grabbed the basket and brought it over to her favorite spot on the hill. "Sorry, I must've forgotten a blanket." Said Lail, sitting down next to Venna.

"It's fine." Replied Venna. She opened the basket while Lail was looking at the gorgeous view.

The food was Popple bread, a common dessert among Shale. White sweet bread with jam filling on the inside. It wasn't good when anyone but Lail made it, and it was perfect.

"Has your mother chosen the lucky person to go to the Triadd? You know, Shale depends on that person, it's not necessarily an easy job," said Lail, taking her first bite of the sweet Popple bread. "Is it you? You're old enough to go now, you know."

"Um, no, I don't believe she has. And I hope it isn't me, I haven't really been studying for that type of stuff. She'll probably choose me, though."

Lail wasn't much into politics, but when it involved Venna, she was all in. Lail was a second mother. A real mother.

They say there for at least fifteen minutes eating the sweet jelly filled bread, and then decided to leave. Venna started picking up the leftover rolls when a massive gust of wind came down on them. A roll leaped from Venna's hand, and onto the Earth's surface, rolling down the hill quickly.

They got everything together, and then started walking down the hill. It was only fair that Venna held the basket, since Lail made the food and brought it up. Venna liked being royalty but she could do a few chores every once in a while. They walked to the bottom of the hill, and walked into the forest.

They walked on a cobbled pathway, with vines growing over the railings, and weaving in between the posts. The palace wasn't far from the edge of the forest, just about fifteen minutes or so.

The palace was a large tree house with wooden bridges that connected the rooms that stood on each tree. It was almost touching the sky. It was made of many shades of wood, and many colors of glass. The ceilings were common oak wood, but on the outside, it was covered in vibrant leaves. They citizens of Shale lived in little huts on the ground. Not made of dirt, but with wooden walls, not as elegant as the royal home.

They arrived at the bottom of the the palace steps, and started walking up. The steps wound up and up and up, meeting the entrance of the palace. There wasn't much talking on the way up, or really at all.