- This topic has 90 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 10 months, 3 weeks ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
I hung about for more than two weeks with the desire to write, the inspiration to write, an exact knowledge of what I would write, and a receptive audience (of one, anyway). I spent this time doing schoolwork, mourning the speediness of time, grumbling about all the things I had to do, and going shopping for chocolate. And then, because this is after all one of those all-powerful Ski Lodges (*impressive silence*), I hopped into a time machine and went all the way back to Day 3 for the convenience of my audience-of-one. Also so that I could forget that I had been doing all these very un-Prince-like things and hopefully Finior wouldn't notice.
Day 3, Part 1
Everyone stumbled down to breakfast the next
morning with about seven minutes of sleep to their name. This time, thank goodness, I
was already in the dining room when the various Chatterbox people came
down, though Lord Finior was nowhere to be seen. Dragonfly was one of
the last ones, having attempted to morph into the Sleeping Beauty and
not having managed it. "Morning, all," she said, sitting down at her
place at the table, except that the chair decided that that was it it was not
in life to be sat upon, and also it wanted to show solidarity for Crescent, and went on strike."Great," Dragonfly groaned as rainswept and Oro and I extricated her. "Do I sit on the table? Or is that cross too?"
"Sorry,
dude," I said apologetically. "Not quite the morning greeting I was
planning. Seriously, this is not sarcastic. All cool?""Not
exactly," Dragonfly thought aloud, "but heck, I'm not on the floor
anymore, so I guess that's a plus." She shot a look at me; it didn't
seem quite believable that just last night I'd been in a major argument
with an unseen King/dad."Maybe you could take Lord Finior's," Hawkstar suggested. "Since he's not here."
"Good
idea," Dragonfly said, taking it, but sitting down extremely gently in
case it was also cross. (It wasn't.) "So, how's everyone?" She was
saying it mostly so that I would answer; she knew how the others were.
Crescent had come in even later than her, and looked to
be on exactly 0% battery.No one said "Terrible because come on
how obvious is it that Kauri's not here"; maybe they were still a bit
frightened from last night's occurrence. Dragonfly definitely wasn't
going to say anything of the sort. There was silence for a moment – no
one wanted to say anything, in fact – and then, as usual, I forbearingly took it upon myself to smooth things over."I'm
pretty good," I said cheerfully. "What do you guys want to do today?
There are still a lot of activities planned, but if you'd like to chill,
that's cool too.""Yeah, well, chilling is cool right," Oro said sarcastically.
Whoa, no one was in a good mood.
On
the other hand, could you expect people to be in good moods when their
friends/partners had just vanished and you didn't know why or if it
might happen to you as well? Crescent hadn't admitted it, but Dragonfly
suspected she was still afraid that Kauri was just gone forever."Um, yeah, I think we'd like to chill," Rigel added tiredly. "I didn't sleep that well last night."
"Okay, yeah, that's fine," I said. "You guys are in charge here." Oh sUrE,
Dragonfly couldn't help thinking. Which wasn't manners, I have to say.
"So… if you change your minds, just tell me? I'll be around. Explore
the Palace, listen to its music, whatev. I don't think you've completely
depleted the library yet, amiright?"Had this dude seriously
been in a raging argument a few hours ago? Dragonfly knew that the
answer was yes, but even so… She glanced around the table. Why was
everyone else here anyway? Could she really trust any of them? What if
the answer to that was yes too…?Dragonfly, you're being too morbid. Nothing's wrong.
Except that an AE was missing and her host had gotten in a raging
argument with her host's father, but honestly, wasn't that stuff kind of
trivial? Which was meant to be sarcastic; she hoped that time wouldn't
make it true.Also, too many question marks.
I had waved to
them and left, and now the others were just sitting in silence around
the table over the ruins of breakfast, as sunlight flickered, full of
promise, over them and up the wall opposite. Empty promises, it would seem.
Dragonfly half-shivered and looked up. "So how do we chill?" she asked.No one answered.
Finally
Rigel gave a little shake of her head. "Look, we have to do something,"
she said. "Maybe that whole thing with Kauri was a freak accident.
Maybe the Prince doesn't even notice anyone's missing. Maybe we all just
dreamed that thing last night."It felt probable that they had, somehow. "No," Crescent said stubbornly. "We all heard it, right?"
A few heads nodded.
"Also,"
Hawkstar said, leaning forward, "can we trust each other? I don't like
what happened with Kauri. I mean, whatever did happen. Let's just
promise that we're together."Good idea. "… I promise,"
Dragonfly said quietly. "I'm with anyone who's right, who's ready to
help everyone else and wants to keep anyone else from disappearing.
[Complicated wording, Dragonfly, complicated wording.] We're with each other, right?""Yeah," said rainswept, looking
straight into her eyes. The others all promised too – not one of them
wriggled out of it, Dragonfly noticed."And there's one more
thing," she added. "I'm not sure that we can trust the Prince." She
thought about him (sorry, me) – arrogant, self-centered, maybe not
really caring about them at all, or maybe caring too much. "He might even have staged this whole thing just to make us think that he's with us.""Are we really saying this kind of thing in his own palace?" Hawkstar enquired. "You do know that it's probably listening, right? Maybe we should have agreed to go somewhere."
Oro sighed. "Regardless of which, we didn't," he pointed out. "And so maybe this is never going to happen again. Maybe we can just relax. The Prince seems nice, right?"
"Seems," Hawkstar agreed darkly.
This wasn't going anywhere. "So how do we chill?" Dragonfly repeated. "I'd vote for the library." And hopefully not investigating the secret passage from last night. Somehow, she felt certain that it was better if they forgot about it. If they didn't look for trouble, maybe trouble wouldn't come looking for them. Who knew what Kauri had been doing last night?
Luckily, no one seemed to think of going back. "Sounds good," Crescent said with a sigh that could have been imagined, and they started drifting out of the dining room.
-
Noooo what the heck happened to the format :// Also, I seem to have forgotten the counter thing – here it is (though it hasn't changed since last time, ofc)
“““`
Alive: 10 (Crescent, Dragonfly, Ouroborus, Rigel, th3mysticw0lf's 4 charries, Hawkstar, rainswept)
Gone: 1 (Kauri)
“““
-
Yay new parrrrrrt!! Good discussion, good discussion. To the library!
-
To the library it is, a month later 😛
-
-
I just read the last few parts and I LOVE your wit (and your writing in general, ofc 🙂 )!!!
-
Ty! – um…
…
…
*says something witty*
-
-
-
Day 3, Part 2
So everyone dutifully went along to chill in the library. Without any of Oro's sarcasm, Hawkstar had to admit that it was refreshingly cool there, dim and fresh to shield against the rising heat of the day. Maybe later it would be nice to check out the gardens, especially around the East Entrance.
She was just getting started on Unraveled again (she'd been trying to advance in her bedroom, but somehow that always backfired) when a squeak from Rigel came in between her and Keefe. Sigh. (On the other hand, also sigh because it reminded her that last time she'd been interupted it had been by Kauri, and now Kauri was gone – oh my LORD, stop being morbid, Hawkstar.) She put down the book and looked at Rigel. "What's up?" she asked.
"Um, guys…?" Rigel managed; she was staring at the base of a bookshelf, looking fascinated and nervous. Hawkstar sighed again, got up, and went over to her.
It was a mouse. It was more like a rat in size, and it looked uncommonly bold and brassy. Hawkstar found herself wondering if it had been Rigel who had squeaked after all, or if it had been this thing. "Well, obviously the Palace isn't too hygenic," she offered. "But I'd really rather be with Keefe than with a mouse. I hope it keeps an eye out for the cat, though."
There was a short silence as the three of them looked at each other. Then a male voice spoke. "Said Mayzie, a lazy bird hatching an egg," it said.
Rigel and Hawkstar shot each other glances, realization dawning. "It said most of the questions were irrelevant," Rigel wailed.
Hawkstar looked sternly at the mouse. "Are you Dr. Seuss?" she asked.
"What??" rainswept said indignantly, coming up. "I'm most definitely nOt Dr. Seuss."
"Actually, I am," the mouse said, running up a couple of shelves so that it was closer to eye level. "King of literature, that's me. Have you ever read how the Grinch stole Christmas?"
"But it didn't," Hawkstar protested.
"I'm the author, aren't I? Honestly, the modern generation. No appreciation!! Who wants an autograph?"
The others had been drifting over, and everyone wanted one, but no one had pen or paper so in the end they had to make do with pawprints on the back leafs of books. Then Dr. Seuss disappeared back into the bookshelves in some mysterious way, and the Chatterbox people looked at each other. "That was amazing, man," Oro said.
"Who would have thought he was actually a mouse?" Dragonfly said. "I mean, yeah, it was kind of predictable, but…"
Hawkstar stepped away from the group, turned, and froze. Confetti was swirling down through the library, glittering like stardust in the light filtering through the high windows, a miniature explosion of snowstorm and backwards fireworks that popped with color against the dark wood of the bookshelves. The others must have sensed something in the air, because they turned around too and came up around Hawkstar, silent at the unexpected glory of it. "Oh, my, gosh," Rigel said very softly after a moment, her voice enhancing the magic in the room instead of destroying it.
Slowly they advanced through the library, dispersing a little under the falling confetti whirling down to them in slow motion. Hawkstar, turning around in a circle while the sparks of color shifted and swayed around her, realized that this was one of those moments when she felt like it was worth anything to be here. Alive to experience this. It was like waking up after the night to realize that the world was full of dawn, and not wanting any more than this because you had all you needed. For a day or an hour or a moment, anyway. Afterwards, who knew. Afterwards, maybe she'd be gone like Kauri…
Afterwards, she was gone, but only as far as the Eastern Entrance, and she'd gotten there on her own steam with no unprecedented happenings. It looked exactly the same as when she'd first seen it three days ago, shimmering with sunlight caught and reflected by the broad ivy leaves. Outside, the sea shimmered, and for some reason Hawkstar felt as if it was very remote even though it was just a few steps away. She found a small stone bench set against the inner edge of the place where one of the arches touched the ground, and sat down. She missed Kauri, even though it hadn't been so long since they were all together. Today was a swirl of emotions – tiredness, confusion, elation, joy, the question marks of not knowing where to go or what to do.
A voice came between her and her thoughts. "Absolutely not," I was saying on the other side of the arch. "I'm not doing that. If they go, they go."
"But how, H?" someone who had to be Finior asked. "They can't leave without us. I mean, yes, they could leave the Palace, but where does that leave them? Still in the world ruled by the Palace. It's really nothing but a trap, Perid–" He stopped abruptly.
"A trap for who?" I smirked; Hawkstar could just see us now around the edge of the arch. "Not when His Majesty is ushering them out the door as fast as he can. Be real, Finior. And if they actually ask me to take them back to their own land, I'll send them back and try again some other time with someone else." I spun on my heel and walked off along the thin strip of beach (I do pride myself on the classic dramatic exits), and after a moment Finior turned around and left in the other direction.
Had they really not seen her? Hawkstar rose slowly, eyeing the garden and the glimmering Palace rising behind it as if they were watching her. What if this whole conversation had just been staged? What if it was a trap? And what on earth were the Prince and Finior up to?
She was only really sure of one thing as she headed away up the swath of grass to regain her room. She wasn't going to take me up on the whole leaving thing. Things were too intriguing for her to not know how they ended.
“““`
Alive: 10 (Crescent, Dragonfly, Ouroborus, Rigel, th3mysticw0lf's 4 charries, Hawkstar, rainswept)
Gone: 1 (Kauri)
“““
-
yayy, another great part!
-
Our Supreme Highness is pleased, and you get free cupcakes~
-
-
Ooh I wonder what happens next…
-
Lucky that I'm here to supply the answer to that! Free cupcakes for you too, and actually for all our readers >:)
-
-
-
-
Two parts in less than a week?? I must really be on a roll 😛 Two notes: first of all, this is copied from another document so *fingers crossed* that the formatting decides to behave; second, I think we'll count th3mysticw0lf's four spots out of the running for now (@th3mysticw0lf, if you still want to submit your forms, go ahead! I can probably still fit them in 🙂 ), so don't be alarmed at the decrease in our numbers.
Day 3, Part 3
rainswept lingered in the library for a while after everyone else went off to other places, but finally she left as well and went back to her bedroom. The Palace was so marvelous, but…
After a moment, there was a quiet knock at the door, and when she went to open it, Crescent was standing in the hall. "Hey," she said quietly. "Is it all right if I come in?"
"Yeah, sure," rainswept said, standing aside. "What's up?"
Crescent entered and curled up on the bed, brushing her black hair out of her face. "I just miss Kauri so much," she confessed. "And… idk, it's just so confused and and it all feels so wrong, and at the same time I don't want to go, and…" She stopped, and rainswept realized that her dark blue eyes were wet, an ocean in more senses than one.
“Hey,” she said swiftly, sitting down next to her. “Hey,
Crescent, it’s okay. Kauri isn’t dead, I’m sure of it. Just…
gone.” After a second, she added curiously, “I mean, it’s
totally totally fine that you wanted to come to me about all this, but –
you have Rigel and everything, so why tell particularly me?”Crescent shrugged. “I’m kind of worried about Rigel too,”
she said, very quietly. “I don’t exactly want to talk to her
about all this.” She shot rainswept a glance. “No, you know what,
forget it – it’s nothing. I just feel like I can trust you, I
guess. But I didn’t just want to tell you about Kauri. I mean, I
was lonely, but also, is it all right if I tell you something?”“Obviously,” rainswept said. “Tell me?”
“It’s just that I want to get to the bottom of this. Remember
the passage from last night? Silly question, sorry, of course you
remember it. But I want to take another look at it this evening –
maybe it has some kind of clue. It must be linked to this somehow,
right?”“But Crescent—”
“I know, it could be dangerous.
But I’ll be careful, rainswept, I promise. I’ll just be going up
to the entrance, nothing more. The King will never know I was there,
and neither will anyone else. I just wanted to let you know. I’ll
be back in no time, promise. Just wanted to let you know.”“If you’re, like, certain,”
rainswept said slowly. “I’d come with you, but it would probably
mean double the danger for you. Better not tell anyone else that
you’re going, either? It might get through to the Prince or Finior
or the King or who knows who else.”“I already told one other of
us,” Crescent said with a quick smile. “But I won’t tell anyone
else. Seriously, rainswept, don’t worry. I just need to get to the
bottom of this."rainswept nodded slowly. “Sounds
good. Just stay safe, Cres.”Impressively, the Palace played a
few bars of The Emperor Waltz.~
<Flashback to New Year’s
Eve, fourteen years ago>And I go
Back to December all the time
I was just eight, and I was enchanted
because for once we’d let go of the whole Eternal Summer thing and
the Palace was wrapped in winter. The fountains were frozen in frothy
silver sculptures, and the gardens were covered with a sparkling
layer of frost and pure snow, deep and thick and
unforgettable. That morning, Finior (then a mere seventeen) and I had
made a snowman near the East Entrance, but now we were all just standing outside the library as late sunlight dropped down lightly
over the powdered garden. I found it fascinating how it was
crisscrossed with our footprints, preserving a fragile record of
everywhere we’d stood and walked. When it had first come, it had
been a kindness to the world, covering up all the little blemishes
and transforming everything into a beautiful, sparkling, magical
something, but now it itself was imperfect and changed. Never mind,
Rion had told me, it would probably snow again during the night, and
then the new snow would cover up the old snow.Anyway, “we” at that point meant
me, my dad, my mother (young, gorgeous, completely in love with my
father and with whom my father was completely in love and with whom
the world was completely in love, a perfect queen, a perfect parent),
Finior, and several other young nobles (Rion was one of them). We
were like a large, unconventional family – the nobles were
substitutes for older brothers and sisters; they’re still like that
to me today. Later that night, we were expecting Irile and her
parents (at that point she was six or seven and I was already
somewhat in love with her <3), but we all knew that Dad wouldn’t
be with us by then. He wasn’t very into all the social aspect of
life, and he was very busy all the time, and he didn’t really want
to have anything to do with the things outside his palace and outside his
little perfect world. He’s still like that, as maybe you’ve
guessed by now. And he was already getting a bit old, and he’d been
through a lot, and it had been years since he’d mixed with anything
in the city or the world, so he wasn’t about to start again. But
the rest of us were holding a party in the proper Palace, with the
Palace itself taking charge of the dance music of course, and maybe
there’d be fireworks if clouds didn’t make that impossible, and
there’d be wonderful food, and I was so excited.“How long until everyone arrives?”
I asked for the hundredth time. Actually, who am I kidding – it was
more like the 467th time.Finior rumpled my hair. “It’ll
still be some time, H. I have a premonition that either Santa or my
parents [at that point, he only lived part-time at the court, and his
family was in another city not too far away] left a late Christmas
package at the door – want to check?”“YeS,” I squeaked happily, and we
raced for the Palace.We stayed up until midnight, and there
was snow, and we were so happy.Were we really, though? Even then,
things were already starting to change, and they kept slowly changing – we shut ourselves away in solitude with just Finior and us three,
gradually getting farther away from the real world and tangling
ourselves up in fantasies of old archaic times when our family hadn’t
even been imagining that we’d come along. And then my mother
died, and it was just Finior and Dad and me, and it might as well
have just been Finior and me except that everything would have been
different if it had been.~
<Flashforward to now>
At lunch, I repeated my offer of going
somewhere, but no one seemed too keen on it, and Crescent was
actively opposed to it. Maybe the whole Dr. Seuss thing had been too
much for them to want any more adventure just now – the Doctor had
told me about it, adding some miffed remarks about the “youth of
today” and how “we used to be more respectful” and something
about his “dignity as an Author and a Published one at that!!”,
all of which meant that he had liked them very much. Even taking
their meeting into account, though, it definitely felt as if
something were up, and I couldn’t refrain from repeating my warning
about not disturbing the King.“““`
Alive: 6 (Crescent, Dragonfly, Ouroborus, Rigel, th3mysticw0lf's
4 charries, Hawkstar, rainswept)Gone: 1 (Kauri)
“““
-
Aw wow you're writing is just so good! I really enjoyed the flashback, that was really interesting. Excites for more!!
-
Thank you very much, so am I >:)
-
-
-
This is much too short and much too late, but here we are at last. Also, don't worry, those who are still hanging around will hang around for a while after this.
Day 3,
Part 4Evening had come again, soft and gray and clinging. Rigel wandered
through the halls where light was starting to spring up, her thoughts
drifting. It had been a day now since Kauri left. Where was Crescent?
It wasn't properly dark yet, and there was still a pale wash of
sunset in the higher sky. The Palace had been quiet all day – maybe
it was sad for Kauri – and the Prince, in strict accordance with
their wishes to not go anywhere, had left them alone (I had actually
gone to Sairelin to see Irile). The world seemed to still and pause,
listening and waiting for a second, yearning for something that
didn't quite come.There was a mini explosion of sound as Hawkstar and Oro came
tearing up. "Thecatthecatthecatthecat–" Hawkstar said.
"Rigel!!!""What's up?" Rigel asked, but that didn't help at all
because Oro had started to explain. Once he and Hawkstar had both
explained about four times, Rigel finally managed to get them to calm
down enough to tell her what was going on. (Not to be confused with
an explanation, my dear people. Never trust an explanation. That's a
small piece of wisdom that I can assure you is true, and I know
because I'm a Prince. No, don't follow my logic [or try to], it
belongs to the Fundamentalim Class and is quite unintelligible to
anyone but royals.)It appeared that the cat who Hawkstar had seen on their first day
had disappeared ever after that, but had been spotted roaming around
a courtyard, and was therefore track-down-able, except that it had
displayed a surprising ability to locomotion, and was now not in the
courtyard any longer (!!). However, the two of them were determined
to see if it was friendly or interesting, and were therefore looking
for it. According to them, it should have been in that hall."But why should it be here?" Rigel inquired.
"It's trigonometry and Pythagoras," Oro explained
(another explanation! See what I mean?)."I'm not sure trig and Py work that way," Rigel said
doubtfully."Pie!! Where?" Oro exclaimed.
After this had been satisfactorily explained as well, they
proceeded down through the halls to the courtyards and gardens. It
was getting darker every second, and Rigel wasn't sure of their
chances to find a small cat in the very large Palace in this light,
but she adored cats too much to stop the search. The three of them
had split up, and she was wandering through towards the stables,
wondering how on earth you summoned a vanished cat.Hawkstar came towards her, looking worried. "Rigel?" she
said. "This morning I tried that door we found after Kauri
disappeared and it was locked, but just now it's unlocked and even
open a tiny bit. Why should that be?""I don't know," Rigel said slowly. "That doesn't
seem like a great sign."Crescent walked by them, and Rigel waved. "Cres! We have a
lost cat hanging around somewhere, so if you see it, would you tell
us?""Ok, sounds like a plan," Crescent said with a smile,
and passed them.A meow sounded just then, and Rigel and Hawkstar looked at each
other and darted for the stable. The cat was standing close to the
wall – a splendid tabby with glowing jade eyes that looked more than
capable of going after Dr. Seuss. Oh dear. In its own right, though,
it was the sweetest-looking cat that Rigel had ever seen, and it
looked at them as if wanted to be friends.Rigel approached slowly with Hawkstar at her side. The cat meowed
again and then started rumbling like a miniature helicopter. Rigel
shot Hawkstar a look with a sudden grin. "I think he's purring,"
Hawkstar said under her breath."They're right that boys are cute." Rigel reached out,
and the cat sniffed her hand and then arched himself against her.
"Right? You agree with me, don't you? I don't know why cats love
flattery.""They do, though," Hawkstar said with a bubbling laugh.
"We should get Oro.""Luckily, Oro knows enough to get himself," Oro said,
coming up behind them. "You found the cat, then?""Absolutely wrong," Rigel said. "The cat found us."
"Ah, okay, that does make all the difference," Oro
agreed."Omg I found you," rainswept exclaimed, rushing up.
"Crescent just passed me, going in the direction of that passage
from last night – and after a minute I wanted to ask her something
and went after her, and I couldn't find her anywhere. Where did she
go?? Except into that passage? I waited to see if she came out,
but…""- Was the door to the passage locked?" Hawkstar asked.
"It was locked."
They looked at each other in the last light of evening.
“““`
Alive: 5 (Dragonfly, Ouroborus, Rigel, th3mysticw0lf's 4 charries,
Hawkstar, rainswept)Gone: 1 (Kauri, Crescent)
“““`
-
GAH kittyyyyy gorgeous aw
I'm happy for a new part! Nevermind the length, I'm always glad for there to be something more!
-
🙂
-
-
-
-
Whoops, how completely mortifying. Me, a Prince, who's learned Latin and Greek grammar in the Libraries of Etz and studied Mathematics in the Triangulum, forgot how to do the counter thing at the end!! In other words, I listed th3mysticw0lf's four charries last time but didn't count them as alive, and counted Kauri and Crescent as 1 gone!!! Shocking :0
Day 4, Part 0
The next morning, I was waiting for the Chatterbox people in the dining room, because nothing is more powerful than the longing for a really good breakfast at seven o'clock in the morning. Unless you were one of those ununderstandable people who can't eat anything until nine, which was what Oro proved to be when he showed up fifteen minutes after everyone else. And we needed him because I couldn't explain until he came. Seriously.
Eventually, though, we were all assembled and eating (except for Oro, because it was still only quarter to eight; I offered him some lemonade, which he condescended to take – and me, because I needed to talk). "So yo, everyone," I said. Eeps, that might have been better with thought. I mean, "so yo" indeed; it sounds like yo-yo, which should actually be a Very Cool Term; I wonder why it isn't? "I'd personally kind of like an explanation for why everyone was still wandering around here at an unearthly hour last night." I get up early, but I can't unless I go to bed early too. Benjamin F., the famous American scholar, said something about that in 1570 or thereabouts; look it up in the library if you're interested. Or ask Dr. Seuss; since he lives in there, he's read a lot of things, and he never forgets a word.
rainswept sighed. "Obvious," she said. "Why didn't you wait for Crescent to show up just now, before you started talking?"
"Because she's disappeared," I said glibly.
"Then there you go," rainswept said. "Prince Perid, wHaT is going on??"
"Okay, so first, I'm sorry this is happening," I said. "I promise, it was not my plan. I thought you were going to have a legit amazing stay here and it was going to be great. And second, those two kids are fine. They're back in the world they came from, like you all will be sometime. At the end of your stay," I added hurriedly. "Because, I mean, you were never planning to stay here forever, amiright? So eventually you'll all go back."
"This isn't going anywhere," Dragonfly said frankly as I paused. "What we want to know is, why are people disappearing, what's making them disappear – is it you? – and whether it's going to stop."
(A note: that question of "is it you" wasn't well-worded at all. I mean, it wasn't, but if it had been, was I likely to say "yes"?)
(Not at all.)
(Just in case you were wondering for some reason.)
(Though I imagine that you knew what the answer was as soon as I asked the question.)
(Because my own questions happen to be very well-worded.)
(Sorry. Brief parenthesis.)
(Or not so brief, but you get the point.)
(Sorry again, I'm really very fond of parentheses – it's my one weak point (well not my only weak point, I have a lot of others which I'm not going to tell you about because this is after all a ski lodge (even if I'm the host (because a ski lodge is a ski lodge, as I'm sure you'll agree))) – so anyway, sorry for the parentheses, but this is the last one.)
(Besides, it makes it all speech-bubbly and therefore Modern and Advanced.)
(Which not much of the Palace is, so we must take what we can get.)
("Speech-bubbly" meaning like speech bubbles, in texting or whatnot, or in cartoons, not like bubbly speech.)
(Which it's also like.)
(Now good-bye, really, this IS The End even if nothing else was.)
(The End.)
(Of the parentheses.)
(The End of the parentheses and I'm going to go on with the ski lodge now, ty. There.)
Anyway, I had more than sufficient time to write all that instead of attending to Dragonfly's remarks because everyone else had taken her words as an opportunity to add in their own opinions, and they were currently all arguing about the particulars of the case. I just retired behind the table and observed it all.
Finally Dragonfly took the stage again. (Metaphorically. No, this is the only parenthesis this time, don't worry.) "I tell you, it had to be one of us," she insisted, running a hand through her golden hair. Wait, she told us? I must have missed that bit. "If you think about it, here are the facts: day before yesterday, we all got out of the passage safely, so it isn't the actual act of going in there that makes you disappear. Crescent told two of us that she was going – rainswept and someone else – but no one else knew. The door was locked. Then, around the time when she was going to investigate, the door was unlocked. She went towards it and, shortly afterwards, disappeared. The door was locked again. Obviously whatever got rid of her and Kauri was waiting for her, and that means someone told it."
There was a tiny silence, for which I was very grateful. Also, this news was new to me – I would never have thought that there were accomplices. Why did he need accomplices?
"I didn't," rainswept told us. "I have no idea what it is, I don't want to know what it is if I don't have to, and I loved Cres. Platonically. Obviously. But yeah, no. I didn't tell anyone anything."
"Then it must have been the other person she told about her plans," Rigel said tiredly. "Who else did she tell?"
There was another silence, much longer this time. Everyone looked at everyone.
"We'll know soon enough, if this keeps up," I pointed out. "I mean, if all you dudes keep disappearing, eventually just the one who's betraying everyone else will be left." I've always told it as I see it. Despite that, though, I was revising my whole speech; I wasn't sure what I wanted to tell a spy. Oh to heck with it, I decided; it wouldn't be news to the traitor anyway. "So do you guys want to hear anything else from me, or not?"
"We do," Oro said immediately.
"Cool, then I require some silence, please. Okay, I'm not the one doing it, promise. You're safe with me. So this is kind of awkward, actually, but don't get mad at me. I invited y'all here because I wanted to give you guys a good time, yeah, but also for… another reason. Remember Irile?"
A few nods; they were being very good (so far) about being quiet.
"My girlfriend, yeah. I'd like to go way back for a sec. I've known her for, like, forever, but we just started being together a few months ago. And my dad hates that. Don't get me wrong, he was fine with her before, not that he even like knew her that well, but he was like, okay. But when we started dating, he got this thing about her that I don't understand at all. Aside from that, he and I had been… fighting over some stuff for a while. He wants to cling to power even though he's done literally nothing with it, and he won't let me do anything or be anything or, I mean, nothing. But there are rules to this country that he hasn't made and doesn't dare change (obv), and because of them, I can get more power and date Irile in peace if a group of people from another world backs me up. So… okay, this is embarassing, but that was one of the reasons I brought you here. At the end of your stay, I was going to ask you to do that for me, if you thought you were all right with me having it. But it looks like the King realized what I was up to, and is just disappearing you so that there won't be enough of you left to carry that out."
This sank in. For a while. The CBers and AEs glanced at each other, but complete quiet reigned. Eventually, I prompted, "Well?"
"But you required silence," Oro protested.
"Oh. Ah. Um… yeah, that's alright, you can talk now."
But, surprisingly, all chaos did not immediately break loose. Some of the CBers weren't sure if I was telliing the truth; some of them were figuring out what they could possibly do about it; some were just shocked; and one of them already knew all this, and was planning the next treacherous move…
“““`
Alive: 5 (Dragonfly, Ouroborus, Rigel,
Hawkstar, rainswept)Gone: 2 (Kauri, Crescent)
“““`
-
I never actually saw this, so it’s like a brand new part! And an excellent part it is too 😉
-
So it is. Glad we could oblige:)
-
-
We’re back:D Welcome to the Palace of the Sun, for the second time~
We’re here to stay
~”King and Lionheart”, Of Monsters & MenDay 4, Part 1
By rights, everything should have come to a standstill because it wasn’t raining, it was pouring, and we should have been waiting for the sun to shine again. But, for some reason, we weren’t. I’ll let you know when I figure out the reason for it.“So what do we do about all the disappearing thing?” Hawkstar asked.
“Currently, I’m arguing it out with my dad,” I said. “But if that doesn’t work,… idk. Stay in groups of at least three, so that unless he wants to disappear three of you at once – which he probably doesn’t want to do, since that would take a lot of power – you’ll be fairly safe. Don’t take walks at twilight or at night. Oh, and don’t trust that cat you mentioned; it might be a perfectly sweet cat, but it might not be. Basic safety precautions.”
+
“It’s a wonderful cat,” Hawkstar said indignantly.“Could’t we talk to the King ourselves?” Dragonfly asked at the same time as Oro said, “Why groups of three?”
“Groups of three because we’ve decided that one of you is betraying the others, but not two of you,” I said patiently. “So as long as you’re in groups of three, two of you will be normal people, and can protect each other. Finior or I can make up part of those groups. And no, you couldn’t talk to the King. Not safe at all.”
“So… that’s it?” Rigel asked.
“That’s it. Unless you guys can think of something really cool, in which case we’re good.”
No one could, apparently; silence reigned, and the last pieces of watermelon disappeared unsung. (Fine, yes, I’m not good at poetry.) “If that’s the case,” I said, “let’s go on to the next thing.”
“If what’s the case?” rainswept asked.
“If no one can think of anything lifesaving. Not literally,” I added hastily. “And the next thing is boats. It would probably be good to go on outings during the mornings – Dad seems to be on a roll, but he doesn’t leave the Palace – and I’ve been planning this for a while. I think you’ll totally enjoy it.”
This was greeted with general enthusiasm, and everyone grabbed last croissants and headed for the beach. I went off to get Finior; I promised to meet them there in a few minutes. Oro was surprised, as he went through the glowing Palace rooms and hallways, at how well he’d already come to know it. It had only been – what? Four days? Actually, that felt like too much – but the Palace was as familiar as an old friend.
“And we are the youth of today, we’ll say what we want to say,” it warbled suddenly.
“Whoa,” Oro said aloud, surprised. “Oh, hi, Hawkstar. I don’t even know who sang that.”
“I think it might have been Amy MacDonald,” Hawkstar said. “You know, the singer that The Writer used to listen to. And still does sometimes, I think, incredibly. Btw, Oro – I wanted to talk to you.”
“Sounds good,” Oro said, being a talkative chap at heart.
“Do you think we can really trust the Prince?”
Very rude, talking about me behind my back. Also rude to doubt me. I mean what I say, like Horton who Hatched the Egg – oh dear, it really doesn’t help having Dr. Seuss in my very own library, does it? Never mind.
“Well,… why not? He doesn’t seem to have done anything against us, and he was arguing for us that night Kauri disappeared.”
“We think he was,” Hawkstar corrected. “How do we know? He might have staged all of this. We can’t just trust him.”
“…Maybe not,” Oro admitted. “But then who can we trust?”
“No one?”
“But then how are we supposed to keep going? We can’t just live here for weeks on end without trusting anyone. We need trust.”
“We know that we can trust Crescent and Kauri, but that doesn’t exactly help,” Hawkstar offered unhelpfully.
“Also, I’ve been thinking. What happens when we want to go? When are we going? Those of us who don’t disappear?”
Hawkstar hesitated, apparently on the brink of saying something, but then she changed her mind. “Do we want to disappear?” she asked instead. “Because it’s easy enough to leave; we all just wait until we disappear. But I don’t feel like I want to.”
“Also, if we aren’t trusting anyone, who knows if we do just go home…”
“Guys, we’re accidentally leaving you behind,” Rigel had the kindness to inform them.
Hawkstar and Oro looked at each other, laughed, and ran to catch up.
~
Finior and I caught up to them on the beach, where they were already making the acquaintance of the boats. As I recall, rainswept and Boat Y were already in a deep conversation about fish, while Rigel and Dragonfly looked distinctly unnerved by the proceedings, though they’d thought the idea nice enough when it was only theoretical.
“So you really can talk?” Rigel was asking.
“Apparently so,” said one of the boats, sounding miffed. “Or what am I doing?”
“I know, don’t get cross,” Rigel said. “It’s just I really don’t think much of – oh, hi guys.”
“Of our forms,” I agreed. “Neither do I. But I only asked if you minded, in case all of you emphatically didn’t, which wasn’t the case.”
“They’re just exactly like Zelda,” Oro enthused. They weren’t (exactly) – they were large rowboat-type boats (despite not having any oars) instead of sailboats, and they seemed to have rather different personalities from the King of Red Lions – but they tAlKeD (:DD), and that was the important thing.
“Well, you’ve taken your time, Finior and H,” the most sarcastic one remarked.
“Yep, exactly six minutes, which is a time that is rather ours,” I agreed. “All aboard, everyone. We’re taking the one on the right.”
The one on the right (Boat Y) being perfectly happy with this state of affairs, we aboarded.
“So were are we going?” Hawkstar asked, while rainswept and Boat Y agreed that yes, trout were pretty, but what about flying fish??
“On an Enjoyment Cruise To Alleviate Stress and Trauma,” I said, being proud of the whole idea, which was my own. “It’s the latest invention. Everyone’s doing it nowadays. It’s a Psychological Pathway.”
“Woo hoo!!!” said Oro, who obviously hadn’t heard a word.
“Remind me how you convinced me to come along,” Finior said.
For a little while all the discussion was about yes, but flying fish are a contradiction in terms because either you’re a fish or you’re a fly, isn’t it a bit unfair to be both?; not at all, it’s just the sign of a Very Powerful+Special Creature, and a mark of symbolism; but I feel jealous every time I see them; well you can talk and boat, isn’t that special too?; you’re right, it is, oh my, my self-esteem just went up enormously. We headed out to open sea, dazzling blue surrounding us in both the sky and the waves and a fresh breeze springing up behind us. Luckily, no one seemed prone to seasickness, and the movement of Y was lilting and calming. Out here, worries seemed to sink away, and no one felt as if disappearances were anything too dire. They were waiting for us back on land, probably, but not here.
I glanced back and noticed that the shore was still visible, a thin light green line bordering the water. A little way to the left of where we’d set off, you could just see Sairelin, a little mound of glitter. I was about to point it out when Dragonfly exclaimed, “Pillows!!”
“Finior,” I said.
“It wasn’t my fault,” Finior said probably truthfully, but he was already perking up.
Whoever’s fault it was, there were mounds of pillows in the bottom of the boat, though no one had noticed them before, leading to my recent groundbreaking suspicion that they hadn’t even been there before. They were fluffy and white and plumped to perfection, and to the Chatterbox Being, they were irresistible. Soon a pillow fight was in full swing, with Finior happily joining in the chaos. “PILLOWS RULE,” Hawkstar opined. “I RULE!” was Oro’s take on the whole thing. Rigel was so excited by it all that she fell out of the boat, but a pillow was waiting on the water and she fell onto it, and floated about on it for a bit before getting back in the boat. “Floatable pillows: a new characteristic pertaining to the Goosedownia genus,” Dragonfly said, pausing in the act of firing off pillows to inspect the one she held. Everyone got even more excited by this, and took to the water on pillows/boats/surfboards (though they all looked innocently like the former), and started splashing one another. I sighed, and mourned the failure of my Enjoyment Cruise To Alleviate Stress And Trauma, but then a pillow hit me in the face (the pillow war was resuming, on water), and I threw it back at whoever had thrown it at me. Don’t ask me how I managed it, not knowing who Whoever was, but I believe I managed it regardless.
And laughter drifted back over the water to the silent Palace, stronger than its gloom.
Alive: 5 (Dragonfly, Ouroborus, Rigel, Hawkstar, rainswept)
Gone: 2 (Kauri, Crescent)
-
I guess my comment didn’t got through 🥴
As I said, this was a very fun part! Talking boats and floating pillow fights-what’s next? I am eager for new part 😁
And yes, I feel the Prince may know something he’s not saying…
-