Scorched Campaign

24: The Professor

.^^ Amaris BlackHelm ^^

— Teagan —

The interior of the Gilded Lily was bathed in Platinum, not gold, and I smirked at the people who were awestruck by the wealth displayed here. Mother's original plan was too plain for me, too bland. This Palace, the Gilded Lily, was to be the Crown Jewel of the Skøll Clan, and I had spared no expense.

Except the blasphemous amounts of gold and platinum, of course, that was made with alchemy, obviously. I am not that stupid. Also all of it was enchanted to turn to cheap granite if it left the Diamond, and the entire place was crawling with dragons and hundreds of Storm Hounds, who I had summoned en masse, to guard the Bank and Palace.

God have mercy on the poor soul who tried to steal anything from this place, or start any trouble, truly.

I led the council through, casually explaining the main hall, where the guests would find the different wings of the palace. The left half was the bank, with the different levels modeling itself off of my mother's Golden Circle, while the right was my recreation of the perfect throne room, surrounded by meeting rooms for the noble guests of the Bank, who always thought they were important, as well as the more private transactions and trade deals. Essentially, the left side was logistics and records, while the right was the pomp and circumstance that nobles ate like hot cakes.

Regardless, the entire interior was plated in thick panels of beautiful white platinum, making it feel like a mixture of divine palace and college lecture hall or maybe a hospital, almost. Very clinically clean, with the design differing from the soft, beautiful curves of the exterior, becoming sharp lines and geometric precision.

To improve the air quality, (and make me happy, because I liked flowers and birds,) the ceiling was laced with thousands upon thousands of vines, with beautiful flowers blooming naturally, with no gilding on them, like the ones outside. While both were alive and growing well, due to magic, these were naturally beautiful, unchanged and in their natural forms. Birds' nests were interposed amongst them, and knowing their nature, I had included a spell that disintegrated all of their droppings, before they came too close to the floor or anyone's person. The ashes would float up and feed the vines, preserving the natural cycle of matter.

Bees, as well, were necessary, and I had two types: natural bees, which were also enchanted to stay away from people and the ground, instead claiming their territory of the vaulted ceilings and rafters; and then the Golden Bees, for the golden plants outside. Those were magic, having technically the same enchantment as the flowers, but with an added flight enchantment, because bees made of gold couldn't fly, obviously. Weighing a quarter of an ounce with tiny wings? Alright. Weight half a pound? No.

And, like my genius daughter, the Golden Bees and other creatures in the area, (dragons, hounds, birds, bees,) transmitted everything they saw via a mental link, connecting to a Helm hidden in the Hoard of Lady Trekilas, where she had consented to spending all her time watching, because she confessed that she was bored in her Warren, which couldn't really expand anymore, and now it was full of water. Some of the Adult dragons she brought with her also consented to being Guardians, in a way. Security guards watching monitors, essentially, the perfect job for older, lazy dragons, who didn't really move that much.

I had offered them all a new Warren, or the opportunity to dig one, and they'd jumped at the idea. My original idea had been to give them the area under the palace, which was full of sturdy basalt, their naturally favorite thing to dig, and it was nearly 2000ft tall, 1000ft wide, and 500ft deep. It was supposed to be a thin rectangle, in the shape of the space behind the door, carved out of the diamond itself.