The Meet (III)

The Royal courtroom was illuminated by candles stationed at every pillar in the room. The candles were up to a hundred and its light filled the room with a tint. Although the light from the sun was not completely useless, it was just downright ignored. But with it, one could still see beyond the yellow light from the candles.

Aelia saw a girl kneeling at the center of the courtroom, her head touching the ground as she bowed to the King. Beside her was Ares, in his dark armor, his strong, demeaning gaze was on her arched back, however, it was as if he felt the presence of the Princess. His gaze immediately shifted to Aelia and somehow softened.

Veda noticed this and rolled her eyes subtly.

With the arrival of the Princess, the Firstborn Royal, all the Ministers and every other person present in the courtroom all rose to their feet and gave a back bending bow, all except The King and the Priestess who was kneeling.

After everybody sat back down, Phaedra rose to her feet. She had heard how the presence of the Princess affected everybody, so it was expected of her to pay her respect. However, she had no idea how to.

Ares finally removed his gaze from Aelia and then gave a gentle nudge to Phaedra "Pay your respects to the Princess" he whispered.

Phaedra looked over her shoulders at him and whispered back "How?"

"The same way you did with the King"

With that, Phaedra fell to her knees and with her head touching the ground, she acknowledged "Your Highness the Princess".

She lifted her head, she could finally see the look on the face of the Princess.

It was expressionless, unreadable. Her demeanor was relaxed and boring; mild. Her clothes possessed a rudiment design to it. Her hair was the color of the earth soaked with blood, auburn: her eyes held a wickedness. She was not in any way as her bearing implied. Though she had only just met her, Phaedra could tell that there was more to her than her eyes met.

She rose to her feet.

"So this is she" Augustus started off. "You look younger than expected"

"It was expected that the Priestess would be older, preferably the age of our Princess. A shame that a child is being presented to us as our Priestess" a minister spoke up.

Everybody, except Augustus and Veda looked over to where Aelia was seated with eyebrows furrowed together guessing what was going through her mind.

"How old are you?" Another minister inquired.

"It'll be my twentieth and two years on earth by winter" Phaedra replied

"Ahh! A child, I wonder why The Supreme would choose a child over our Princess" the first minister voiced again.

Augustus ignored him.

"I know just like everyone else, you have questions" Augustus continued, "for example, why you were chosen and not our Royal Princess"

Everybody who was sitting, sat upright to listen to whatever the King had to say and for those; Ares, Phaedra and Eliza who were standing, their stance stiffened.

Well, except Aelia and Veda.

"Our Princess is a warrior who worries about the security of our Nation. She busies herself training in the field almost all day just to meet up with the expected prowess of a soldier, although she has proven to be better than most. This could be what The Supreme saw and decided not to grant her the title. Though she isn't our Priestess as expected, it doesn't make her any more less than how she was seen before. She did not commit a grievous sin nor is she unworthy of being granted the title."

"I hope now you understand?"

Phaedra kept her glance fixed on the King, ignoring the piercing eyes she was feeling. She gave a bow to the King to signal that she understood what he said.

The courtroom remained quiet for a while before a voice broke the silence.

"What was your vision about?"

Everybody turned their eyes towards the direction of that voice. With the way she looked, anybody who had not heard her voice would not believe she said anything.

"Pardon me, Your Highness?" Phaedra was momentarily caught unaware.

"Ahh, yes" Augustus chose to reply to her instead "Every Priestess ever chosen always sees a vision of the future, what was yours?"

Finally, Phaedra understood what was being said, she replied "I saw my village invaded and all the inhabitants were killed. The earth was stained with blood and the fire burnt up to the sky"

"When will this occur?" Aelia asked.

Phaedra ignored the unusual feeling in her chest cavity "In two days, Your Highness"

"I will go with my men at first light tomorrow" Ares offered.

"No," Aelia denied him "I will go, in company of twenty of your soldiers"

The whole courtroom went speechless and confused at her sudden volunteering.

"Your Highness, you cannot" Ares verbalized.

"Pardon me your Majesty" Veda said with a bow "However, I do believe Her Royal Highness is fitting for the job. Just like you said, our Princess is a warrior and this could be a trick of our enemies, they do know the Marquis is in charge of maintaining the safety of all of Thaleia and so of course, for an emergency like this, he would be sent out, leaving the capital, the palace with no strong security. So I advise that Your Majesty send the Princess to this village instead of the Marquis"

After hearing from Veda, the spectators could not help but see things her way. She was indeed smart and resourceful.

"Then I think it's settled, at first light, The Princess would leave for the village while the normal rituals take place for the new Priestess here in the capital. As her soon to be husband, the Marquis should be here by her side" Augustus finalized.

Ares cleared his throat lightly, his gaze drifting between the ground and Phaedra's red cheeks.

"It seems the Marquis is already smitten by the young Priestess," Aelia remarked.

"Your Highness…"

"He can't even form words" Augustus said, a teasing smile playing over his lips as he makes eye contact with Aelia.

"I see you have noticed this, Augustus. If he had his way he would be wedded to her this minute" she moved her gaze to the blushing red Priestess.

"It is no fault of his, our Priestess is very beautiful".

Phaedra lifted her eyes only for her to meet Aelia's burning gaze.

Veda cleared her throat.

Aelia shifted her gaze "I will be in my palace, if my presence is needed" and with that, she was out of the courtroom, accompanied by her handmaiden.