Valerie and the Legends of Oscavia

Chapter Eight: Blue.

"Valerie, finally you have arrived" Prince Artemas called as soon as she stepped into the huge, beautiful room.

There was gold almost everywhere and then a touch of royal blues here and there, some red and a lot of white.

The ceiling was like that of the Sistine Chapel, just without the naked babies with wings and all.

"Wow" Valerie breathed craning her head backwards so hard she felt like she might fall over.

Then she looked down.

"No way!" She gasped with a smile "the floor is glass, actual glass?!" Her voice echoed in the silent hall as she kneeled over to touch the smooth surface. It was like standing on a mirror that was also transparent.

She saw her greyish wings in the reflection, surprisingly she was getting over the fact that she had wings quicker than she expected. With a small smile she traced the outline of a particularly big feather.

"Valerie, rise from the floor, you are in the presence of the elders!" Mayi said holding her shoulders and pulling her up to her feet.

"Oops sorry" Valerie said, smiling sheepishly.

There were five people surrounding a small table, well it looked like a table but infact it was a raised section of the glass floor. Like an altar.

"Join us Valerie" Prince Artemas' voice called out "it is time to bestow the sacred sapphire upon you"

"Alright" Valerie said uncertainly, but she still stood on the spot till Mayi nudged her forward.

She took tentative steps towards the Prince who was on the far side of the table and stood next to him.

"Valerie" Faithful (The Prince's gold and white duanti) cooed. He was hovering right above his owner's shoulder.
"I hope you find the environment comfortable?"

"Oh yes, such a lovely place you have here" Valerie said with a mock curtsey and Faithful looked pleased since he probably knew what a curtsey meant.

"Hi" she whispered to Prince Artemas and he sent her a handsome grin in response.

Blushing, she faced the four other people opposite them.

They were old men with grey wings, robes and different types of beards.

They were all looking at Valerie, scrutinizing her infact.

"Ok so...what are we doing?" Valerie asked.

"We would begin now" An elder with a lot of liver spots said, he waved his hand over the glass surface of the altar and it started bubbling like it was hot, molten liquid.

"Wh...what's going on?" Valerie asked, she seemed to be asking a lot of questions lately.

"Shh" the Prince said and gave her a calm smile, she gulped and turned back to the bubbling surface.

Then the elders started chanting. The words were not English of course and they chanted softly, all of them waving their palms over the bubbling surface which was changing color and boiling much harder now, there was a little steam in the air but it was cold not hot like you would expect from a boiling liquid.