The Kingdom in the Sky
When I woke up the next day, sunlight seeped through the window in my room. It's beams hitting my eyes making me wince from the sudden change in vision. I squinted and let my eyes adjust to the sunlight before slowly getting up and rubbing my eyes. Yawning I got up and washed my faced from the water on the basin.
Chanceux was still asleep on the bed so I took the liberty to go outside to get new water to wash myself. I opened the door and took the basin. When I got out Everest was standing there in his new clothes.
In law school, they teach you to be observant of the people around you. I noticed that Everest and his parents only wore clothing in the color of blue and white, like how father and Halezander only wore red and black, or how mother only wore gold, silver and white. Though my clothes had varieties of colors, I noticed that the majority of those colors were also red and black. Must be a cultural thing.
He was wearing a white shirt underneath his blue doublet jacket with silver embellishments in front, from his collar all the way down the hemline. He also wore a white coat with matching silver embellishments also along the collar, sleeves, and hemline. The white, silver and blue emphasized his emerald orbs for eyes. He indeed looked like the prince to a kingdom of ice.
"Goodmorning, princess." he greeted. He looked at the basin I was holding, "Here, let me. Wait here, it's inappropriate for a princess to do this herself in her nightgown." he left along with the basin of water from last night. My eyes widened when I realized what he meant.
I immediately went inside and took the cloak from the bed and wrapped myself with it. I heard Everest knock so I slowly opened the door for him, making sure that the cloak was tightly wrapped around me.
He noticed and chuckled. "Please be aware of your identity princess." he put the basin of water down on the desk and walked out, "Please take your time, proceed to the dining room once you're done, for breakfast." then he left. I noticed a small smile was plastered to his face as he walked away.
"Cheeky prince." as soon as he left, I closed the door and got ready for the new day. After I washed myself, I wore a red dress. The dress was a whole dress which meant it covered my stomach and arms completely. The bodice still crossed around my neck and chest but it was completely attached to the skirt. The long sleeves were flowy and had a slit from my elbows all the way down the hem. My skirt was full with two slits on each sides, starting from my upper thigh all the way down.
Lastly was my royal headpiece, which consisted of a gold chain-link which had a pendant. A ruby encased in gold that dangled on my forehead. I just brushed my black wavy hair and left it down.
Ever since I became old enough to get dressed in all kinds of dresses, I got used to the culture of revealing and breezy clothing.
I wrapped Everest's cloak around me before waking Chanceux up, I didn't realize I haven't fed him since last night. "Wake up, it's time for breakfast. I'm sorry for not feeding you sooner." he stretched like the cat he was and yawned. He got off from the bed and walked to my side.
"I didn't think you'd notice my lady." he replied snarkily before we went out and walked towards the dining room. I chuckled at his sour mood. "Still, you look very pretty princess." I grinned.
"Thank you, and I'll make sure to feed you regularly from now on." I chuckled. I picked him up and we entered the room. His and her majesty the king and queen of Aeolous was already sat along with Everest on the table. A delicious spread of breakfast foods was gathered at the table which made my mouth water.
I curtsied as respect, and in return they also bowed. "I apologize for making you wait, your majesties. And if it's not much trouble, may I feed my pet? He hasn't ate since last night." I referred to Chanceux in my arms.
"Well of course princess, please help yourself to anything he likes. Servants, please provide a plate full of food for her highness' pet." Queen Antheia replied, ordering one of the servants in the room which obeyed immediately.
"Thank you your majesty." I smiled widely. I walked over to the table to sit down, Everest stood up and pulled the chair for me and which I bowed as thanks. I realized that Everest has been acting really different from the usual flirtatious and troublesome prince back at the castle.
A servant approached me and set the plate of food for Chanceux next to me. I set him down and soon enough he was gobbling up the food. He must've been really hungry. The queen herself stood and put a plate of pancake souffle's in front of me. She beamed as I smiled at her gesture. "Thank you your majesty."
"Help yourself princess Rhiannon." Now that I see her up close, she was indeed beautiful. With silver-white hair and green eyes, skin as pale as the snow, she looked just like a goddess. She was like a beam from moonlight. I see where Everest got his looks from.
"Please your majesty, call me Rhia." she shone brighter from my reply. I must act as kind and gracious as I possibly could. I was taught early that everything I do is reflected towards the representation for my kingdom. I am a princess, and I should act like one. I don't want to start feudal problems for acting like a brat.
"We shall be family soon, and I cannot wait for the day when you shall finally marry Everest and call me mother." she replied as she glanced towards Everest and me. We were sat next to each other, he was eating a plate of omelette from the looks of it and drinking a cup of tea.
"Mother, she is still too young for that. Give us our time to get to know each other better." he grunted. I notice his hate for marriage. I supposed I do understand his offer to me when we fought our duel. If he indeed chose a younger bride, he'll have to wait until I've reached my proper age to marry.
"Yes, indeed. Rhia is only nine years old, but she is indeed wiser and much more intelligent than her age tells. Even so let their bond blossom to more than a political marriage." King Kavan replied, sipping his own cup of tea. He's basically inciting that Everest and I should fall in love with the period of time we'll be spending with one another.
"Falling in love is such a sweet thing for youth, don't you think my lady?" said Chanceux. Of course only I could hear him but still, it was enough to make my skin crawl. I know that I am nine years old but I still can't shake the fact that inside, I am already forty years old.
I just smiled as genuine as I could and ate my food. "Coffee would be perfect with this." I thought. Coffee has always been something I never go a day without but ever since I died, I've never had coffee.
After breakfast we went up to the deck to have a breath of fresh-air. King Kavan and Queen Antheia went back to their room, apparently they still have piled up work from leaving the Kingdom for a week. So it was just me and Everest again.
"So. how does the Aeolian really fly?" I asked. We were now in the deck of the ship, Chanceux accompanied us as we gazed down at the land below.
"You see those sails?" he pointed to the large wing like sails on each side of the ship. I nodded, "We have wind gramaire users take shifts to manipulate the wind that pushes those sails to go up. Lifting us up with it, like wings, but without flapping up and down. Like the updraft, the Aeolian is lifted along with the updraft of wind, keeping us afloat. The griffin like I said, aids in guiding the ship to the direction we want to go." Basically like a simplified airplane. Like a hot-air balloon.
"Fascinating, in Comestion we have Riding Lizards, we use them for travelling and transporting vehicles like carts, carriages and the like. They're incredibly agile and faster than horses." We don't have amazing creatures such as Griffins at our disposal but we do have our fair share of mythical creatures.
"I know, I studied the systems and cultural society your Kingdom has while I was there." oh, right. I'm not used to having decent conversations with this boy! He's too calm and mature, what happened to the flirtatious, sarcastic and annoying prince?
"When we arrive at Aeolous, I'll give you a personal tour of the Kingdom. The people have already been informed of your arrival, so I think you should be prepared to deal with them." he said.
"What do you mean, deal with them? Like, they already know who I am?" I asked confused. I wonder how they'll react if they found out that the future queen of their crowned prince is only nine years old.
He glanced at me up and down then smirked, "I think you stand out enough for them to figure it out." he teased. I rolled my eyes.
"Thank you so much for pointing that out. Anyway, do they know I'm only nine?" I finally said it. He laughed, I stared at him as he held onto the railings as he ran out of breath from laughing. The crew started to stare which made me comfortable. "That's funny because?" I glared.
It took him a few seconds before he regained his composure, "Apologies, princess. But the answer is no, what's funny will be their reaction when they do find out." he laughed again. Seriously, this boy.
"I will hit you." I warned as I stared at him, my face stoic and cold. "It's no joke. What if they look down on me for my age?" I feel my hands getting warmer. "What I hate the most, is being ridiculed just because I'm young." I said slowly but menacing. After saying that, the humour from his face immediately vanished and was replaced by a serious one. He glanced down at my hands that started to emanate a heat wave.
"You know, back in my kingdom, I'm known to have a temper. Wanna find out what they mean by that?" even before I died, I was known to have short patience and a bad temper. My paralegals never really lasted because of my personality. I didn't think I'd be able to bring that personality here as well.
He smirked, I was about to really hit him when he grabbed both my hands and cooled it with his. I felt his cold hands overbearing my heated ones. It was cold but not enough to freeze, "I guess I'll just have to cool you down then." I felt my hands begin to cool down as he held them between his. "I'll just have to punish whoever looks down on my queen." I feel my anger slowly dissipate but I still glared at him though.
I looked around and everyone was eagerly staring at us, I immediately pulled my hands away and cleared my throat. They quickly hustled and went back to their business, even the guards that came to guard me averted their eyes. "It seems the wishes of King Kavan isn't too far from being achieved after all." I heard Chanceux' teasing in my head.
"Shut up." I replied. "I'll be going back to my room, it's cold." I turned around and rushed inside the ship down to my room. Once inside, I slammed the door shut and leaned on it. "Calm down." I said encouragingly to myself. "Whose side are you on?" I glared at Chanceux as he laid down on the bed.
"Yours of course my lady, my loyalty is to you and you only but, it's difficult not to enjoy this." he laughed. I didn't know he could laugh. He is a magickal creature so I suppose this defies all logic.
The rest of the day went by as same as yesterday except during lunch earlier I refused to even look at Everest. I wanted to hit his gloating face so bad but I had to save face in front of his parents and my possible future in laws.
I sighed, standing once again on the deck of the ship. We've almost reached our destination, and the cold was starting to become unbearable so I used my gramaire to regulate my body heat. I slowly got warmer as heat started to spread across my whole body, keeping me warm.
"We're almost there." Everest stood next to me, the king and queen were on the other side of the ship having a talk with the servants. "Are you cold?" he asked.
I grunted, "I'm toasty warm." the sun is setting soon, and the sky was starting to change colour. Shades of orange, red, purple and yellow danced across the horizon as the sun slowly set. Though I was keeping myself warm, the gusts of wind still penetrated my skin making me shiver from time to time.
"Right, come with me." Everest said, grabbing my arm, pulling me inside the ship.
"Wait, where are we going?" I asked confused. The stare6 of people on the deck followed suit as we went inside. We stopped in front of his room and he entered inside, pulling me along with him. "What are we doing?" I asked. No matter how you look at it, this situation isn't fit for two royals who are betrothed.
He opened his trunk and started to rummage inside it, "Remove the cloak." he said whilst still rummaging inside his trunk. I narrowed my eyes at him when he pulled out a thick fur coat from his trunk. "Are you going to remove it or I'll remove it for you?" he said straightly.
I realized what he wanted to do and it wasn't anything bad so I unclasped his cloak and he took it, replacing it with the thicker fur coat he retrieved from his trunk. It had the same crest that clasped the coat in place, it was thicker and warmer indeed. "Better?" he asked. I nodded shyly, slightly embarrassed to be honest.
"Thank you." I whispered lowly. It was a bit bigger than the cloak and heavier because it was made of fur. The fur tickled my face and it draped on my body comfortably, it was cozy.
"Shall we? We're almost there anyway." he offered his arm and I took it. We got out of his room and went back up the deck. My hand held his arm as he escorted me, which felt a bit awkward when we reached the deck and everyone was earnestly watching us. "He lowered his face to mine and whispered, "Don't mind them." I nodded and kept my eyes forward.
I saw the king and queen watching us with huge smiles on their faces which made it even more awkward but the discomfort soon vanished when I my eyes darted towards our destination.
From afar you'll think it was the peak, the highest reach of the mountain but as we got closer and closer, it was no mystery why they called it the Kingdom of the Sky. There the mountain of Aeolous--defying gravity and physics--afloat was the kingdom itself.
The whole mountain of Aeolous was the kingdom itself, floating high above in the sky. It was like the whole mountain was plucked from the ground. The castle was right at the center, serving as it's peak, gigantic wings were carved from each side of the kingdom. A wide landing was on top of the beak-like structure stuck in front of the mountain, that also served as tower.
The city was below the castle, embedded to the sides of the mountain, as if the whole city was carved from the rock of the mountain itself. Everest wasn't kidding when he said, he might fall off the edge of the kingdom because you could literally fall, but I noticed that walls surrounded the edges of each level of the kingdom.
The kingdom was divided into floors, level by level of homes and buildings until the top level was the towering castle. It's pointed peaks reached the top of the clouds. Large crystals embraced the foot of the kingdom. Protruding from the bottom of the mountain were turquoise colored gigantic crystals that resembled waterfalls. I saw several Aeolian's floating around the kingdom and some were idle, which I assume awaited for our arrival.
My hold on Everest tightened as we got closer, my face probably explained it all, "Welcome to the Kingdom of Aeolous Highlands, your future kingdom. he announced.