Birthright

Chapter Twenty Three

Levi, Cibrian and Jordan stood on the platform of the balcony, watching mayhem take place below. The Garden of Wintra was gone. In its place was a crater filled with thousands of seats surrounding a platform crowned with eight thrones. As the sun crested over the city, light bounced off a stage that sparkled like diamonds. 

Encircling the amphitheater were the Ice Tunnels and beyond that, massive stands stretched towards the sky, each a different color. Rays of light illuminated thousands of people already in the stands, hours from the Declaration Ceremony. The crowd squeezed between buildings and hoarded over the seats. Men dressed in intimidating black surrounded the stands and controlled the crowd. 

“Who are they?” Levi asked Cibrian, gesturing to the men in black. 

Cibrian squinted. “Lafita. Warriors.”

Lafita directed races to specific stands. 

“Why can’t everyone sit where they want?” Jordan bellowed over the noise. 

Cibrian rubbed his ear. “It’s to prevent any fights. There’s a lot of bad blood between the races. Some races get along better with others. Wintra’s population is mostly Undala and Thishe who get along pretty well. The Eliten keep mostly to themselves and the Darsana are always willing to fight anyone.”

Jordan frowned down at the crowd and watched the black haired, dark skin men and women elbow their way through the crowd as they made their way to the orange stands. Once again, they proudly displayed their skin and its obvious resilience to the frigid air. There seemed to be more Lafita posted around the Darsana than any of the other races. Darsana favored black and orange in what little clothing they wore. Thishe wore lavender and white and some of the women had shawls over their heads. The Undala looked like the ocean in glimmering shades of blue while the Eliten dressed in green or brown. 

Snow drifted down, but didn’t settle on any of the buildings. Like the rose petals in Tolly House, an invisible shield stopped the snow from making contact with the city. Someone came to stand on the balcony beside them and Jordan looked up at Mr. Parker and tried not to react. He was still dressed in the same clothes from last night. Obviously, he just got back. She didn’t ask where he’d been. People on other balconies began to point in their direction. There were indistinguishable yells as people recognized Mr. Parker. 

“Let’s go inside,” he said. 

They all filed through the door and Kelly waved them to silver platters full of muffins, sausages, biscuits, eggs and coffee. Cibrian and Levi began to snatch the best pastries while Heath tried to manipulate them into taking the ones he didn’t like. Jordan couldn’t eat. She stood apart from everyone with Knight at her side. Her stomach pitched and rolled. No one commented on what occurred at the temple last night. Was it her imagination or was Kelly intentionally avoiding her gaze?

The front door crashed open. Everyone turned to see Gideon and Polly enter the room. Polly was dressed the same as yesterday in Bermuda shorts and an aloha shirt with big purple flowers on it. Gideon was dressed in some kind of military suit with a rich orange cape. Two Lafita filed in, dressed in black military garb lined in orange. The buttoned down shirt they wore had two swords crossed over their hearts. On their left upper arm each of them wore colored bands. One man had a green and orange band, the other an orange and blue band.

“My granddaughter,” Gideon boomed with a smile. 

“Can’t shut him up,” Polly muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.

Jordan gave Gideon a weak smile. “Morning, um-”

“Papa,” he supplied. 

Jordan swallowed. “Papa.”