First Trial: The Jar of Life

<p>Spring, Year 225, Luminous Calendar<br/><br/> Click, click. The sound of Iris's silky pink slippers clicked on the stone floors as she walked behind one of the King's men who lead her towards the Altar. She held her head high and her back straight as she had been taught to, even though her hands shook in there hiding spot underneath the long sleeves of her soft pink silk gown. She thought her hands might as well be leafs on a windy day with the way they shook even after she tried to keep them still by forcefully grasping them together. "Through here, my Lady." The man said in a clipped tone and waved his arm in front of him while stepping aside. The Altar room had been emptied of all the wooden benches and large white marble vases. Even the long golden tapestries, the matching golden curtains and golden rug that lead to the front of the Altar had been removed. Before the Altar stood the King, seven of his men dressed in white, the Prince and High Priestess Ruth. Iris took a few seconds to slowly breath in and then breath out before once again composing herself and walking towards the people before her. She was a few steps away from them when she noticed a large black table standing to the side. It was piled high with various objects that she couldn't quite distinguish as some were positioned awkwardly and some were hidden underneath thick cloths of fabric of different colors.<br/> "Welcome, Lady Iris." King James said with his booming voice while High Priestess Ruth walked to stand by her side facing the King and his men. "Thank you, your Majesty." Iris responded with a polite bow. "Before we begin, since you were absent when the first verbal contract was given to your fellow Ladies, I will give it to you now. As you know you voluntarily enrolled into the Seven Trial's, correct?" The King asked and Iris answered with a loud and clear "yes, your Majesty". He smiled and nodded. "We would normally apply one Trial per day, however, due to the special circumstances of your Trials and the little time we have, we will apply as many Trails as possible today. That is, untill you feel you can no longer continue and ask us to stop, understood?" The King asked and once again Iris answered with a loud but not so clear "yes, your Majesty." The King tilted his head slightly as he looked at her and she cleared her throat awkwardly. "Forgive me your Majesty, if I may?" The King gave her a small smile and nodded. "I understand that my circumstances aren't the most favorable, but if it takes me a bit more time then you anticipate, does that mean that I will be disqualified?" Iris asked with a hint of panic in her voice. The King chuckled and shook his head. "No my dear. It just means that you will have to make the effort to do it better on your second try." Iris smiled as the panic that rose within her dissipated quickly and she followed King James and his men dressed in white, towards the table. High Priestess Ruth silently walked next to Iris and frowned as she thought about how the young Lady next to her didn't know that once she failed one Trial, there was no second try. She pondered on how the King, even though his words were kind, his action of giving hope to Lady Iris of a second try could be so cruel.<br/> "This here, is the first Trial of seven. Each Trial will consist of a different action with a different object. I will instruct you on the objective of each and you will then preform such as instructed, understood?" Iris nodded and said, "yes, your Majesty" before the King nodded back at her and then at one of the men who stood on the other side of the table. The man nodded back and quickly withdrew what looked like a thick piece of green cotton cloth from a tall tube like glass jar. The tall glass tube had an intricate emerald design over the flat silver base and top and was half filled with rich dark soil. "This is the Jar of New Life. It is said that the last Divine Priestess was able to make even the most hardy of seeds grow and bloom in the most unfertile of soils. Now, I'm sure it took her many years of practice to be able to do this so, for now we will try to have you bloom a common seed in fertile soil just for the sake of measuring how well you do in this Trial." King James said and gently pushed her towards the table with his large hand. Iris shivered at his touch and nodded without looking back at him. She didn't let it show but deep down she felt smug. This wasn't hard for her, for years she had tended to the flowers in the Garden without anyone knowing it. Whenever she felt sad or worried she would sneak out at night and talk or sing to the trees or flowers while tending to their withered petals or broken branches. Being connected to the wild nature that grew in the Garden had helped her through her loneliest times. <br/> Iris placed her hands directly on the glass over the soil and focused the energy that pulsed through her body and centered it in her palms. The man behind the glass jar was about to say something but the King stopped him with a rise of his hand. She closed her eyes and allowed the energy that swirled around in her hands to seep past the glass and into the soil. She twirled and twisted it through the dark soil until she felt a seed in the center. She slightly frowned as her energy softly bounced against several other seeds scattered around. "Forgive me your Majesty, but..." Iris began a bit confused. "What is it dear?" She heard the King's concerned voice while keeping her eyes closed. "Am I supposed to make only one of the seeds bloom or should I make them all bloom?" Iris asked as she kept the seeds within the grasp of her energy. The King smiled happily while High Priestess Ruth frowned. She had been present for many of the other Ladies' Trails and never once had she heard any of them mention several seeds within the glass jar. "I'm not sure what you are talking about dear. Go ahead and show me what it is your are talking about." King James said with a bright smile as he looked at the men standing behind the black table. They all just silently stared back at him with surprise. Iris frowned and quietly sighed before humming a soft melody, directing it to the seeds. They wiggled in place as Iris caressed them with her energy, coaxing them to bloom with life. Slowly they obliged and she could sense their young stems sprouting through the soil and into the view of all. They quickly matured with the help of her energy and bloomed into different flowers of diverse colors. Some bloomed only one flower while others bloomed pods of four or five. <br/> Once she was sure they had all bloomed to their fullest, Iris thanked them out loud and pulled her energy and hands back. She opened her eyes and stared at the glass jar that was now filled to the top with at least eight different flowers, all ranging from hues of blue to yellow and some even had orange petals spotted with white smudges. Above all of these, the one that stood out the most to her was the bright scarlet rose in the middle, hidden just underneath the bright green branches that held tendrils of five or so soft blue flowers, dangling down. She felt her heart slightly clench before she was brought back to reality by the King's loud laugh. "Well done my dear! Now I know what you were talking about. Thank you for showing me!" The King said and looked around at his men who had all gathered around the beautiful glass jar. "Your Majesty." One of the men in white stood next to the King and whispered in his ear. "Only two or three of those seeds were supposed to bloom. We thought the rest were barren since they never bloomed by themselves." King James looked at him with happy wide eyes and nodded before looking at a man dress in black who had come to stand besides him. The man nodded back and quickly wrote a few notes on a scroll he held over a thin wooden board. "Now, to the next Trial my dear." The King said enthusiasticlly as he clapped his large hands and Iris turned to look at him. She nodded and answered with a polite "yes, your Majesty", while the men in white quickly retook their places behind the remaining six objects and the man that had been originally standing behind the Jar of Life took it into his arms to carry it away. He couldn't help but stare in wonder at the shining flowers that beautifully bloomed within the glass jar. 'I truly hope she's the Divine Priestess.' The man thought as he walked towards his King's temporary office.</p>