The Tragedy of Renya

3.4 Wanting to Control

??? Renya

The building of the city council was a circular one with a small entrance hall. The entire building was built out of a yellow-brown brick, although as soon as you stepped inside the floors were made of a pure white marble and the walls of a pure dark shade of wood. On the outside of the building and the ground floor were parts of administration, rooms where people could meet members of the council or put up topics for the next meeting. Not that the administration was particularly skilled; due to one of their recent errors there had been a meeting scheduled for every day. Lord Hendri Pentel didn’t care much for the error; the daily meetings were very short and he liked getting out. It made him feel like he was somehow close to the people in the city. He handed his coat to one of the servants of the council and signalled the girl who had come with him to do the same. She did so after a short moment of hesitation.

It didn’t amuse him that he’d taken the girl with him but there was no choice. She’d started to ask questions that the council too had started to ask, and those were questions that he could not, and would not, answer. Still, as long as she remained quiet it was fine. Many of the members of the council took a servant with them; partially to show off, and partially because they were lazy, as Hendri suspected.

He headed up the stairs that were on the other side of the entrance hall and then through the large oak doors that were filled with religious and historical imagery. He then entered the large hall that was dedicated to the city council’s meetings. The hall was circular in shape, and there was a single round hole in the ceiling through which light came in which shone on the middle of the hall. The middle of the hall was the lowest part; chairs were on ledges that slowly reached up until the entrance doors. Everyone could see everyone with this setup, and the acoustics were easy. On the ledges were wooden tables and chairs. Hendri sat down in one of the front row seats, whereas the girl he’d taken with him had to stay at the top. His special place, at the bottom, was given to him because of his family’s position. And he had used his position to ensure the city of Renya would head towards a bright future.

Some of the other members of the council were already sitting there. On the other side of the room, exactly opposite of Hendri sat his greatest opponent. Sir Frederic Grange, one of the few people chosen into the council by popular vote. And one of the people who thought Hendri had all the answers because of his family’s history.

Which was ridiculous, in Hendri’s opinion. He doubted Grange knew his own family history to all the details, and yet he expected it from Hendri.

And of course, Hendri thought, a large part of his family history was common knowledge; it was part of what came with the position. His family had founded the city and raised it to what it was now; at least in popular opinion it had. And yet Hendri knew his family had secrets, many of which he didn’t know yet and many of which he would never know.

But of course Grange didn’t care about that. As if, Hendri frowned, Grange knew every secret about his own ancestors.

Alice looked at all the people who passed her and then continued down the hall until they reached their seats. With almost every member of the city council came a servant, dressed in the uniform of the family they served. There were members too who didn’t bring a servant. All the servants that did come to the meeting stayed on the top circle, along with her. She recognised the yellow shield on black from the Grange family, the pink with lace skirts of the Naner family, and many others. Some of the servants were talking, but none of them spoke to her. Why would they, she thought. She was new here, didn’t know anyone. She probably wouldn’t show up again either.

Before the last members had taken their seats one of the men, a balding man wearing a black tuxedo, stood up and shouted.
“Pentel, what’s the meaning of this?”

Hendri frowned at the accusation. The man seemed to take this silence as an insult and continued, reiterating the same things he had said every meeting before this. Why were the gates closed? Why was Hendri making mistakes without informing everyone else?

When the man had finally finished his monologue Hendri got up. He adjusted his ring, his tie, and smiled. The moment he started speaking he knew he had the entire council, and many of the servants, listening closely to his every word.

Alice looked up as she heard her employer speak.

After the meeting ended though, she felt fuzzy. She knew there had been discussions about the gates, she knew her employer had given solutions to the situation, but she couldn’t remember any of it. She felt stupid for not remembering what had been spoken of. For a moment she wondered if it was the situation; it had been her first time to one of the meetings and everything had been so impressive. SO many people talking, so many families… she now understood why the council was considered the heart of the city.

As she followed her employer back to his family’s mansion she could not help but notice that he was smiling.

Hendri had every reason to be satisfied with the way the meeting had gone. The others had understood the importance of the situation, and listened to his requests. And they wouldn’t even remember what they’d given him permission for; all they knew was that he knew everything that happened in Renya. And he would not let this city disappear without a fight.