The Tour
The solid gold-plated double doors opened into a wide, high-ceiling corridor. As Kai followed General Ryodan out of his bedchamber, he noted two spear-wielding guards standing post outside it. Both of them lowered their eyes and bowed their heads to him in deference. As they walked, he heard the sound of heavy boots striking the tiled floor echoing in the corridor, and felt two presences behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see that the guards had left their posts and followed them.
He realized, much to his shock, that they were meant to guard him. Or watch him. Maybe both.
For some reason, it didn't inspire safety. If anything, it made him that much more aware of him being a target.
Kai glanced down at his own slippered feet. As comfy as the clothes he was wearing were, he should have asked for more appropriate clothing if he was going to tour the entire Palace.
He told the General just so.
Without turning, the General said, "We're not touring the entire Palace, only the East Wing, which is now yours." Kai thought he detected something in the General's voice, but he couldn't be sure what it meant, or if he'd actually heard anything at all.
"Oh," Was Kai's simple reply. To say more would have betrayed his disappointment; he'd been looking forward to this much-advertised tour for a few days now.
The corridor was followed by a set of marble stairs with a giant red carpet draped across it. It descended the equivalent of two building floors before it reached the ground floor. Once he was standing at the top of the stairs, he looked up at the gargantuan jellyfish chandelier hanging right on top of the stairs.
"Aren't they living?" Kai inquired curiously; he'd wanted to ask this question to someone who might actually answer him for the longest time.
General Ryodan saw where Kai was looking and said, "Jellyfish are mindless creatures. Literally."
"But they're still living beings. How do you get them to stay on the ceiling?"
"They're speared to it."
Kai blinked, slightly stunned. "Okay. Not the answer I was expecting." Those poor jellyfish. "Wait until PETA finds out."
At the General's inquisitive eyebrow, Kai mumbled dismissively, "Never mind." Naturally, sea dwellers would know nothing about the mechanics of the world above the surface.
"Like I said, they're mindless. They don't mind much."
"Somehow I doubt that."
Everywhere he looked, he saw the customary colors of Astria; red and blue. On one of the man-sized tapestries hanging down one of the walls, he saw what he assumed was the country's symbol. It was the silhouette of a golden merman wielding a strange, forked sword. It seemed that not only did Astria idolize the Spirit of the Sea, they'd laid claim to it as their official mascot, as if to say: Look, he's ours and he's not going anywhere, rest of the seas be damned.
The General showed him all sixteen, lavishly-furnished rooms and eleven bathrooms in the East Wing, the spacious drawing room meant for entertaining guests (the thought of having to one day receive the merpeople of his country made him nervous), the dining room that had an eighteen-seater table made of what looked to be coral in its middle, and the small yet extravagant ballroom for party hosting. Briefly, he was introduced to the thirteen servants and maids headed by a butler at his beck and call, available for his exclusive service 24/7.
To his surprise, the East Wing was so vast that what he'd seen so far took the better part of an hour.
"Is there a library here?" Kai asked, remembering Marius' large library and its lack of a compendium on the Spirit of the Sea. Seeing as he was now in Astria, the kingdom that the fickle Spirit supposedly blessed and watched over, there had to be much more information on it than any place else. Right?
Ryodan regarded him curiously for a moment, and then said, "Not in the East Wing, no." Though he appeared curious about why Kai was particularly interested in a library, he didn't ask, and Kai didn't volunteer an answer either.
"When will I get to tour the rest of the Palace?"
After a moment of hesitation, the General said, "Forgive me, I am not sure."
Kai's disappointment was palpable. He'd imagined that now that he was in Astria, he'd have the answers to the most pressing questions weighing down on him every day by now.
As they moved from one place to another, tailed by the guards, Kai couldn't help but wonder why a general of the Astrian Army had been tasked to show him around like some common tour guide.
Was it a further measure for his protection? Did this mean that Kai had something to fear even at the very heart of Astria?
The tour came to an end and they returned to the stairs before Kai could ask his questions. Or rather, there was currently too much of an audience for him to ask the General his questions.
General Ryodan came to stand in front of the young prince and took hold of his hand.
"Thank you for granting me the honor of escorting you." The General lifted his hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it. He lingered for a moment, his -Kai noticed for the first time- full lips hovering over the skin.
Their eyes met.
Kai instinctively tensed.
Was that a warning he saw in the General's eyes?
"General-"
"Till we meet again." He bowed.
Ryodan left, leaving a nonplussed Kai and the two guards standing at the foot of the marble stairs, staring up at the jellyfish chandelier.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~*
I love me a good metaphor ;)
Sorry for the short chapter. I was sick when I wrote it. Thanks for reading.
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