Consequences

The entire palace seemed to be in a state of panic. She had even seen Qymop, Queen Yatuilui's Messenger of the Palace, running around, eyes widened, with their composure entirely decomposed, which was especially surprising as Qymop were trained to be emotionless parrots of the queen. They were always mysterious and blank-faced, as if it was a rule, and intense in their sense of urgency. Their thatched wooden sandals could be heard clacking furiously as they trotted across the palace grounds, keeping their important royal secrets, delivering their important royal messages, escorting important royal people around the palace at speeds that were nothing short of impressive. Each had identical yellow garments, identical arched hairlines and identical buns at the napes of their necks and was known simply by their job title, Qymop, sharing no other identity with anyone but the queen herself. They were so disciplined and alike in behavior that they seemed inhuman. In all her life she'd never seen Qymop smile, frown, furrow a brow, and she had certainly never seen one with such a frantic look in their eye. Aynira's mind was blown. She almost didn't believe she'd seen it.

She almost couldn't believe that she'd caused it. Her elder sisters Jailui and Nayima had both been caught sneaking outside of the palace before and there was no chaos. There was a swift punishment for each of them, and many rumors, but no chaos. This, what she was witnessing now, bordered on mass hysteria.

The air was thick with a tension that seemed much larger than her. Aynira found herself unconsciously touching her black birthmark. Of course the response to her actions wouldn't be the same as they were when her sisters did them. She'd been foolish for thinking otherwise.

Aynira limped down the hall, just barely keeping up with the brutal pace Qymop, kept. She tried to walk faster but the vibration from each step sent shooting pains up her knee. Ohaike wasn't permitted to enter Queen Yatuilui's chamber, he wasn't even allowed to enter the hall that lead to it. Only the Queen, her servants, and members of the royal family were aloud, and only if she sent for them. Even King Matuambe had to leave his guards at the entrance of the hall. Even he had been turned away from the hall for coming without being summoned.

Alone, without her siblings to accompany her, these brightly painted walls seemed new and ominous. She normally perceived its mural, a group of children playing over an alligator infested river, as whimsical and fantastical, but now it was just macabre, and unnecessarily depressing. Why should she have to walk by a painting of children who're about to get eaten up, just before facing judgment?

Qymop stopped at the large double doors at the end of the hall and waited for Aynira to catch up. Two heavily armed female guards bowed, then opened the door to let her in.

The Queens chamber was larger than any other living space in the palace by far,three stories high with a domed ceiling, a skylight, a bath with a waterfall that ran from the second story to the first, a study, housing for the queens personal handmaidens and servants, a very large kitchen and dining room, a library, and multiple studies. The gold dusted fouryet was designed to show just a peak of it all, to stun even a princess with it's extravagant beauty.

"This way, Your Highness," said Qymop, motioning to the steep staircase that lead to Queen Yatuilui's balcony.

Aynira shook herself out of her daze and complied.

After being announced by Qymop, she emerged on the balcony from the dark stairwell to find papyrus strewn about the hardened clay floor, three Qymop balled up on the ground frantically scribbling something on the pages, a fourth Qymop racing to gather the loose pages that the wind inntended to scatter, a fifth Qymop kneeling before the Queen, muttering something private and inaudible, and Queen Yatuilui herself, reclining in her chair with her crown resting on the table and a bronze gourd in her jeweled hands, looking utterly detached from the disorder around her.

Her hair was freshly combed and neatly twisted into large, fashionable knots evenly placed around her head, her clothes were beautiful and perfect, brilliant colors, bold designs, and light, airy fabrics that rippled with the wind, and her make up was immaculate, cool brown dots and lines decorated her warm brown skin, arms, hands, feet and neck, and outlined her high cheek bones and round forehead. A male servant in high quality clothing kneeled beside her.

Aynira lowerd herself, balancing on her toes while resting on her calves, lined her hands with her forehead and chest, and bowed four times, once for each spiritual dimension that the Nuaande people, (and by extension Queen Yatuilui,) was fabled to rule: the deepest, most perfect curtsy shed ever performed. Then she waited with her heart pounding and her pulse throbbing in her ears.

This was it....

The queen studied Aynira with her eyes for a moment before releasing Aynira from her uncomfortable position with a wave of her hand.

Aynira stood with her hands folded, making sure to straighten her legs first and lift her head last. If Aynira proved that she'd been paying attention in those etiquette classes the queen might maybe go a tiny bit easier on her.

The queen took a long drink from her round gourd before speaking.

"I hear you found something interesting on your venture outside the palace grounds," she said, holding the gourd out for the servant to take away.

Aynira patted her shirt to make sure the sphere was still in there, it was, then hurriedly folded her hands again and dropped them to her thighs where they were supposed to be.

"I did, Your Majesty," she said adding a little bow at the end to make up for her mistakes.

"May I see it?"

Aynira pulled the item, still brimming with life, and warmer than it seemed it should've been. The Qymop gasped as if they were seeing something awe-inspiring and terrible. Queen Yatuilui motioned again and Aynira handed her mothers spindly servant the rock-like sphere.

The queen examined it with with melancholy eyes.

"It's quite hot and much lighter than it looks," said Queen Yatuilui, swinging the thing up and down with a bored expression. She showed it to all the servants and messengers on the balcony while they looked on with more enthusiasm than Aynira thought necessary.

Aynira was beginning to feel a bit annoyed. If this was all the queen wanted she could've just sent a Qymop to bring it. There was no need for Aynira to limp all the way up those steep stairs on a sliced up knee.

"Is that all I was summoned for?" asked the young royal, forgetting her ettiqutte.

The queen paused, raised a brow as if momentarily confused, then asked, "Did I permit you to speak?"

"No your highness, I-"

" Moreover, you have no idea what this is do you?"

"No, Your Highness," but Aynira was ready to have it back. She knew better than to say this out loud, however.

The queen let out a little sigh before stating, flatly:

"This is the egg of a very rare creature, a gift from the ancestors only bestowed to those the ancestors deem worthy to rule all nations in this realm. You, Aynira, have been gifted the power to be high ruler of our world, the third physical realm, and gifted the heir to the throne." Queen Yatuilui said this in such a lackadaisical manner that Aynira was unable to really take in her words. The excitement had left her eyes and her demeanor and her face was soon covered by the bottom side of her gourd as she drank from it deeply again. The high ruler of Nuande wiped her mouth and continued, "Now, the announcement wont be made officially until we've had time to prepare for a festival in your name, but I wanted to tell you before hand so you can behave accordingly."

She raised her hand as if to signal, but paused, adding one last line. "I'll send an architect this afternoon and you'll tell them how you'd like Lazina's room modified to your preference. Hopefully you will have thought about it by then."

Aynira was taken aback. "I appreciate this offer, but I'll have to decline. My room suits me well enough."

The queen raised a brow. "The heir's quarters are design for defense. Our former-crown princess, no longer requires this level of defense, but you will. I understand that you don't want to step on any toes, however selfishness is key to self-preservation and your preservation is now vital to the Nuande nation."

"I understand but it seems unfair to make Lazina move so suddenly just because-"

Queen Yatuilui lifted her hand with rare speed and force, causing the room to become instantly still. Aynira didn't know how she always managed to do it, but she did it regardless: she made her mother mad.

"If you were concerned about stirring things up, you would have stayed in the study with Mother Hougui," the Queen all but hissed, "You know that your action affect all of us: the entire palace, the entire nation even, and you still chose to do what you did. Now, what motivated you to do this, I don't know nor do I care. Talk to Grandfather Zuwe about that spiritual stuff. I'm not a priest. What I do know is that you made a decision so you had better be prepared for everything that comes with that decision. Even the things hat make you and other people uncomfortable."

"Yes, my queen," Aynira murmured while curtsying, aggravating her mother even further.

"You don't speak and curtsy at the same time! No one can hear what you're saying while you're bobbing your head, silly girl! You'd know that if you were paying attention to your tutor instead of looking for new, creative ways to mutiny!"

"I didn't mutiny! I didn't even know what that egg was you just said that part yourse-"

" Do you know who you're talking to?" Yatuilui yelled, rising from her seat. "Twenty lashes!"

Aynira's jaw dropped and an ugly, windy croak escaped from a corner of her aching lungs. She didn't know she could make such a heinous sound. She wanted to say 'But that isn't fair,' but she was afraid of making her situation worse, so she stood there, rock still, with her mouth agape and eyes wet.

The Qymop all looked at eachother for a moment before the bravest of them asked " And how shall I document her charges?"

"Write, 'because I said so.'"

"Yes, Your Opulence."

"Do you have anything else you want to say Princess Aynira - Excuse me, Crown Princess Aynira?" the queen asked in a venomous tone.

"Nothing Your Highness, except that I'd like permission to return to my quarters."

"Permission granted, and don't forget your raajaanbo egg."

The male servant gingerly placed the egg into her palms, and she curtsied again, sloppily this time, before allowing the Qymop to escort her to her exit.

That couldn't have gone worse.