Morons and Monarchs

Chapter Thirty: Ahmya🏆

I watch, fascinated, as the heir walks around the garden. Everybody is in their finery, looking forward to witnessing the first challenge our new heir gets to attempt. Today, as everybody is whispering, is a riddle. Sorry, three riddles, as the lady right next to me just gossiped to her 'friend'.

That is the thing about Court Life: you don't have friends. Nobody does. You have frenemies, and even then, more often than not, they become enemies within a few days.

That is why I love having 'friends'. It always brings a more dramatic element into the already dramatic thought of life.

The heir looks better than all the Court ladies present tonight, and the envy in the air is almost palpable. Her dress is of fine silks and lands in a heap of chiffon at her knees, very elaborate sandals that lace up to her calves adorn the bottom half of her outfit. Her belt is tied in a neat bow that probably took millions of tries to perfect. Her dress is pink with ploughs of dandelions and butterflies flying over the mesh, puffed sleeves. It looks like a dress a little girl would wear.

I almost laugh at the absurdity. "She looks like a little pixie who received a pony for the first time." I whisper to the girl next to me. She looks startled at first before laughing uncontrollably, whispering it to the girl to her left. I chuckle under my breath.

Bayou leads her to the table in the middle of the garden, adorned with three sheets of parchment atop a silken table cloth. She glances at the parchment briefly before looking to the three Queens at the head of the table.

Morana steps forward, "We have gathered you all to witness the success or fail of our newest heir, Viviendel." She claps her hands once, sending all of us citizens into a flurry. "Yes, she is half-Bwardipuginin, as you can probably tell by her ears." Her ears incidentally shown off by her hairstyle.

Everybody nods in recognition. "Now, she will be the new Queen, as we have decided, if she can complete all five challenges. Today is simple, she will have to solve three riddles a properly schooled heir wouldn't even dare attempt, and if she gets all correct, she has a few days of rest before her next challenge. If she gets two out of three correct, we will have mercy and let her pass, but she will not have a day of rest." She glances at Viviendel. "If you get 1 out of three or all three incorrect then... well then you might as well go crawl in a hole. You will no longer have a place in society and I suggest you think about plans to flee to Odio."

"No pressure, of course." Eirene jumps in.

"That is hardly fair," the lady next to me whispers ferociously. "She hasn't the chance to be properly schooled, and the Queen said herself these are the hardest of the hardest."

"I wholeheartedly agree," I pat her arm. "This is barely fair at all." Yesterday, I met with Viviendel after Bayou left and Ea ran out to search for him after feeling rarely amiss. I told her the answers, hoping the spies never heard. The Queens would have my head if they knew, they never liked me anyway.

"Oh, look at her," The girl on my other side whined. "She looks like an heir already. I have tried to look like one for years now, and I still look like a withered donkey."

"Oh, don't you say such things," The other girl chastises. "You look better than her." She waves her fan in the heir's direction.

Viviendel takes another step closer to the table, looking down at the first piece of parchment. She reads it aloud, her voice steady and booming.

"What word from the English lexicon accomplishes the following: The first two letters denote a man, the first three letters denote a woman, the first four letters denote a great, and the entire word denotes a great woman?" She pauses for a moment, even though I know she knows the answer. "I..." She scrunches up her face and the girl next to me gasps.

"What is it? Do you know?" She asks me conspicuously.

"I think it is-" I start to answer but Viviendel interrupts.

"Heroine!" She shouts, and the crowd harrumphs.

Eirene pauses, "That is... correct." Viviendels guards clap loudly and the crowd follows. I smile deviously. "Great job, Viviendel. That proves you have a mind of gold, and a heart of splendor. May we all hope one day you are a heroine just like that riddle signifies."

"Thank you," She takes a deep breath. "I can't talk because I don't have a mouth. I hear without using my ears. I don't have a body, but the wind makes me come alive. What exactly am I?"

More whispers from the crowd.

"Would you like to give up?" Morana asks anxiously.

"No. It is an echo."

The crowd cheers once more and Morana holds up her hands. We all fall quiet. "Great job, but the next one might stump you yet,"I swear she glares at Viviendel, though I can't tell. "This one proves that you know wordplay quite well, not perfectly, but well nonetheless."

"Why thank you, and that is infidently correct. I do know wordplay quite well. My people will be safe from bad deals on my part." She backlashes. I almost wince, in fact, I think I feel a little remorse for the Queen.

Viviendel starts to read the last riddle. "What is the name of the English word with three consecutive double letters?"

"Hmm," The girl next to me muses.

"Oh, this is quite easy." Viviendel grins. "Bookkeeper."

"Quite fine job indeed." Jorogumo steps foreword. "There you have it, Viviendel, the winner of the first challenge. And she did fairly well under pressure as well, another sign of a great heir and one day, perhaps, a Queen."