The Elven Queen

CHAPTER 12

Waking up in a foreign country is something I will never get used to especially Lumeris, the moment I wake up, I’m greeted by the crisp morning air, unlike the air in Sylphorren, the air here was hotter, dragging myself out of the colossal bed courtesy of Khalfani I head to the door because I sensed people on the other side, swinging it open, I find 12 servants standing in the hallway, heads facing downwards to the floor, upon hearing me they all turn to my direction and echo in unison

“Good morning, Your Grace” like soldiers

“Good Morning, How long have you been waiting out here?” I ask out of Genuine curiosity

“2 Hours, Your Grace....” impressive, the one to answer was the same woman from yesterday “....Would you like to bathe first, Your Grace? Or would rather have breakfast?”

“I would like to bathe and one of you will suffice, I just need someone to run my bath water” the same as yesterday, the woman walked in and headed straight to the bathroom

“What about my soldiers?”

“The guards are having breakfast in the barracks along with the rest of the garrisons and your officials all woke up and had breakfast 2 hours ago I am unsure of their current location”

as expected, Itotia, Hugo and Gabor are here under the guise of council members, the only one who knows their true identities is Khalfani, so it’s no surprise that their movements are going unmonitored, not like they could track them even if they tried.

After having my bath breakfast was uneventful, I asked it be brought to my room, I was never a person who required help getting dressed so I was out in no time, last night I had promised to go shopping with Khalfani and he wasn’t one to forget a promise, reluctant as I may be to admit it but I was actually looking forward to it, Khalfani was slightly busy with preparations this morning but on the bright side that gave me a few hours to myself which I used to go exploring.

I went on a walk through the palace courtyard, passed through the audience hall, passed the training grounds where I saw a few of my guards, happy to see they spent their evening wisely and had rested properly, most of them at least, a few of them looked a little wobbly but were good all in all, we said our greetings and parted ways

I continued to marveled at the architecture running my hands across the jagged walls of the stone palace, so different from the marbled walls of the Sylphorren palace, my wonder brought me out to the courtyard where hand maidens were doing the laundry, what caught my attention was the group of children to the side, it wasn’t uncommon to have children work in the palace but these children were dressed too lavishly to be servants and even seem to be playing a game.

“What is going on over there? Are those children also servants in the castle?” I asked the hand maiden that was walking with me, the same one who ran my bath water, I learnt her name was Wuraola

“No, Your Grace, they aren’t servants, they are his Majesties Children”

“What?!” this was the first I ever heard of Khalfani having children

“They aren’t his actual children Your Grace, they are children of fallen warriors, whenever a warrior dies in battle his Majesty gives the family of the bereaved an option, to have him adopt their children or to continue paying them the salary of the fallen warrior for the next 25 years, most families choose the former”

“I see, and what are they doing over there?”

“most of the children like to come out and help the hand maidens with menial tasks even though it is unrequired of them, and when they’re done the siblings like to play, Your Grace”

“What are they playing?”

“Right now they are playing a game called ‘Yar Gara Gara’”

I look back at the group of children, there were 6 girls, 4 of which stood in pairs opposite each other and held hands tightly, the two in the middle, would sing while clapping hands and each would run towards a pair and dive into their intertwined hands, the pair would then launch them into the air, once they were on their feet they continue singing and run towards the opposite pair as they sang and the pairs of girls would answer

‘Gwan Gwami Gwami, gwangwamin madara meh digo’

‘SA WA’ the pair answered as the girls dove into their arms then launch them in the air

Back on their feet they’d continue

‘Wannan wanene? Gwan gwamim madara meh digo’

‘SA WA’

‘Wannan iya ta ce, Gwan gwamin madara meh digo’

‘SA WA’

‘ Yar jinjira karya, Chiraga raga ragdeden asiiya’ at the point they would break out dancing, a really adorable display, I couldn’t help but smile at this, they looked so carefree as citizens of a country should be

“Your Grace, His Majesty is ready for you” beckoned Wuraola as she showed me the message she received on the communication crystal she had around her wrist

“Lead the way” I gestured forward and she lead me to the carriage where true to his word Khalfani was waiting for me, as soon as I reached him he held out his hand to help me ascend the carriage, unlike the carriages in Sylphorren that float as a result of mana crystals embedded at the bottom of the carriage, the carriages in Lumeris had wheels and were drawn by magibeast, Reptilaundras in particular

“So, where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise” was his only response as we rode in silence till we reached a small little shop, nothing like the shop I had imagined, not nearly as lavish as I thought it would be, stepping out I got a better look of the store, it was a little hole in the wall not quite like the other stores that lined the district, it’s modest nature even made it look a little out of place, at the top of it was a small wooden sign that said ‘MUSA da SANI’, I was brought out of my trance by the hand Khalfani reached out to me, I took his hand and we walked in

You know when they say to never judge a book by its cover? This was it, because when I walked into the store it instantly got five times bigger as rows and rows of fabrics lined the walls, and ran from the ceiling to the floor, fabrics of different textures and colors, patterns of which I had never seen, vibrant colors of all variations leaving me dumbstruck for the umpteenth time since arriving In Lumeris

“Ya kai mai girma, Mai Martaba, Sannu da zuwa, Sannu da zuwa” oh great one, oh your majesty, welcome, welcome

barreled in two plump old men, though short and on the round side, they still had muscle required of Lumerian soldiers

“Gaisuwa Gare ki, wannan kyakyawa kuma fah daga ina?” Gretings to you, where does such a beauty hail from?

Beamed one of the men one hand outstretched to me in a greeting gesture, I who didn’t understand a lick of what he was saying still shook his hand and bowed slightly

Khalfani slightly chuckled by my side before he said “Baata Gaane ku, Sunanta Eztli Morgo Sophia, Sarauniyan Sylphorren” she doesn’t understand you, her name is Eztli Morgo Sophia, Queen of Sylphorren, another thing about Khalfani I will forever respect is how knowledgeable he was, Lumeris is stocked with languages and tribes aplenty so he went out of his way to learn as many as possible, his reason ‘how can I lead them, when I can’t even speak to them’

The men looked back at me and smiled “Greetings, my name is Musa Dan Liti” the man to speak was the taller of the two, he had long locs of hair similar to that of Khalfani, streaks of white hair here and there, while giving me a small bow of his head he gestured to his partner, who had a more youthful look to his face, hair shorter than Musa’s and braided on one side, “While this is….”

“Sani Dan Tala, Your Grace” he cut in giving me a warm smile that oddly felt reassuring “...what brings you to our humble abode this fine day”

“This..” chimed Khalfani as he gestured towards a wall lined with clothing “....I want all of this packaged and sent to the palace, today”

HE CAN’T BE SERIOUS!!!!!! I tugged on his arm and starred him dead in the eyes in warning to which he shrugged off and continued to talk with Musa and Sani, realizing I couldn’t stop him I let him be and listened to their conversation, turns out Musa and Sani were both council men back when Khalfani’s father was King, no wonder they spoke like family, we proceeded to shop while joking about listening to tales of when Khalfani was a child, he was quite the troublemaker, nothing new there, we went back to palace only after Khalfani was fully satisfied with the trunk of Ankara he loaded onto the carriage, that wasn’t even all of them, he left more than half of it back at the store so it could be tailored for me the ones in the trunk were gifts for my soldiers and councilmen

“If you wanted an excuse to pour money on your uncles you should’ve just told me, I would’ve played along” I shot at Khalfani once the carriage started moving

“ I have no idea what you’re talking about” he retorted very confidently though refusing to look me in the eye, this cute side of him was another thing I loved about him, I wonder how many people knew Khalfani had such a cute side to him, we rode back in silence, true to his word Khalfani gave me a pass to enter the royal library in the form of a little golden card, I clutched it tight to my chest as I walked to the library my new Ankara dress bunched in my hand, I thought of everything that happened today from the children to the shopping trip to the dress Khalfani forced me into as soon as we got off the carriage, the Dress was beautiful, it was a yellow fabric with square patterns drawn in greens, blacks and some reds, the attire was paired with a red beaded necklace and bracelet set, unsure of how to wear it I asked Wuraola to help me.

“You look stunning Your Grace” was what she said when she finished as she stepped back to see her handy work and from the look of appreciation in her eyes I knew she wasn’t lying, when I showed Khalfani he was at a loss for words so instead he took my hand and spun me around to get a full view of the dress on me

“mrembo” beautiful, he whispered into my ear when he spun me close, I was a little skeptical of wearing their traditional attire but seeing the look of pride on their faces made all my worries melt away

Stepping out of my thoughts as the steel double doors of the palace library came into view I hold up the golden key card Khalfani gave me and instantly the doors swing open, with renewed determination I clutch the card in my hand and walk into the library in hope of finding……

Something