Althea
The next day, Thalia led me to the main hall of the palace's ground floor. Though it felt like an achievement to discover so much, there were still some places that were restricted to non-royals.
The area was a stretched hallway, lined with thick round pillars and potted plants. Geometric designs were made on the roof, with intelligently carved out openings that allowed sunlight to illuminate certain parts beautifully.
"Can you see the throne at the far end?" Thalia pointed to the distance, and I squinted my eyes to see a golden throne in the shadows.
"This place looks better at nights when they light up the fire torches," she waved a hand towards small bowls placed over bronze stands. Walking to one of them, I picked up the burnt-out ash it contained.
She continued, "When His Honour is in the mood, celebrations are organised here."
"Mood?" I chuckled.
"Ahaha, yes. His warriors are always hungry for these evening, sometimes late-night festivities. And the mood, because it's very difficult to convince him. You know, dancings, drinks and gossiping, he's not fond of these," she giggled.
Geez, so he isn't a party man.
I smiled to myself, thinking how he was nowhere to be seen during Alexandria's inauguration, but at the border of the forest, holding those cubs. Also, he had cleverly escaped the Dionysus' festivities with my excuse.
Settling down on the nearby steps that led out of the palace, I quickly wrote about this section in detailed descriptions.
It would've been better if the department had attached some camera in us to record footages. This place was too beautiful to be described in writing.
After the writeup, we stepped onto the cool marble platform where the Dionysus's women had sat. Though it was a desert city, there was remarkable work done to construct the gardens ahead.
The bushes were trimmed up, with towering date palm trees at every corner. A soft breeze blew past us, carrying it with the scent of freshly watered plants. The Sun shone down warmly over the sprawling garden, shimmering the plants with its rays.
I took in a deep breath of this natural wonder. "Who designed these gardens?"
"His Honour and his sister did them. He missed the vast greenery of his hometown, also the sands here irritated him a lot," she laughed, "So, he ordered these gardens to be made without a speck of sand in them."
We stepped down onto the platform, and my bare feet came into contact with the grass. Soft, cool and comforting.
We had decided to take this tour after lunch, so exploring every part of the garden took us till evening. Thalia was explaining nonstop, so much that I had to remind her to breathe at certain moments.
"And these are the special flowers imported from his hometown of Greece. They keep them in more care because of Egypt's weather," she went on. I reached to touch the flower when I spotted a bounded area outside the garden. Partially hidden by the thorny bushes of the flower.
"What's that place?" I asked, trying to remove the bushes out of my sight.
"That's the warrior's training ground," she replied.
"Can we go there?"
"Oh, no! I'm afraid His Honour won't like us going there," she mumbled.
"Um, we won't exactly go in there, but just stand where the garden ends. Please, can we? I'd love to see how warriors practice there," I pouted. She glanced at the area in nervousness, then looked back at me, wringing her hands.
YOU ARE READING
Rendezvous in the Romanowskian Empire
Historical Fiction"And... the fifth rule," he came forward, locking me between him and the slab again. "This should be the last time you talked to me like that," he lowered his face to my level, spiking my heart rate further. "Next time you rant on or call me by the...
