The Flower of Soline

Chapter 49 - The Letter

Authors note: I know it's early, but I'm really excited for what's coming in this story!!! Any guesses?

Aether glanced at the objects piled in the room in front of him. He wasn't sure what he was expecting when he was told of the gifts. Perhaps a small section of a room filled with small gifts like it would usually look like on a birthday, but this? This was beyond his expectations.

The gifts varied in both size and shape. From furniture and books to strange objects that looked like they belonged in a museum and priceless jewels. Everything that one could think of seemed to be pushed into this large off the beaten path room.

Though at first glance the gifts looked as if they were thrown in without a second thought, the obvious small paths leading to each section of the room told him that the butlers and maids took great care in making sure they had every opportunity to come in and "investigate" the rare gifts.

'Ah, this makes so much sense now.'

The dragon and Neal were like two peas in a pod. The moment their eyes landed on the many priceless gifts they were pouncing through the piles. Their grimy little hands and paws latching onto anything that sparkled. Aether shook his head at their antics.

Mina on the other hand was more professional in her actions. She stood to the side, absentmindedly grabbing books and antique furniture and placing them to the side. She caught Aether's gaze and smiled, "Young Master, I think these would look good in your room." She gestured to the furniture before holding up a book, "And these would be fine editions to your personal library." She glanced at the title, "I believe this one isn't even allowed in the household, better put it away quickly." She muttered.

Aether shook his head, a smile gracing his lips. Even in the face of such grand objects, she still thought of him before herself. His eyes dulled when he caught sight of the dragon and Neal fighting over a giant green jewel. 'If only those two were the same.'

He turned his attention back to the two butlers, Chance and Ren who stood to the side with their backs straight and their arms behind their backs. Chance hung his head low, sneaking glances at Ren every now and then like a wronged puppy. While Ren stood unmoving with his head held high like a spoiled kitten. He rolled his eyes and went back to the objects in front of him.

'To think they were hiding such things.' Aether walked up to one pile. Grabbing a small book he glanced at the title and threw it to the side. It wasn't hard to see that the book was obviously a priceless edition of something, but the language it was written in was unknown to him.

'Probably a forgotten language or maybe a book from a different Kingdom.' He paused. Learning about another kingdom was one thing that had piqued his interest lately. So he grabbed the book and placed it in a small pile behind him. Perhaps someone in this house knew how to read it.

After putting the book behind him, he didn't think about it anymore and grabbed another gift. This one was wrapped in a delicate dark blue paper with a relatively small bow on it. Not a lot of the gifts in the room were delicately wrapped, so its brightly colored paper stood out amongst the rest of the gifts.

In fact if Aether would have had the chance to talk to Nox he would have found that only ten gifts had been individually wrapped and if he looked into it further he would have found that Nox was the one to dutifully wrap these gifts.

Without thinking much of it Aether tore it open. Inside lay a pair of dark blue cufflinks.

He picked them up, observing how they shimmered in the light. They resembled a flower in shape, more specifically the flower of the Soline Empire. The flower itself was outlined in black with the inside of the flower filled to the brim with dark blue gems. They were beautiful.