Amaya's Reign

The path to queen part 2

Amaya was so full she didn't even want to look at food for at least three hours. She had never had such a meal she supposed she would have to get used to eating like a high born but how did they all stay so thin she thought? They must have some secret potion they drink at night she thought. Some kind of stay trim elixir Amaya giggled at the thought of skinny in a bottle and she caught the giggles. Her grandmother cleared her throat and Amaya quickly stopped giggling. Her grandmother nodded at Amaya's head attendant and she came forth and three other ladies all appeared next to her. The head lady stepped forward and formally introduced herself she bowed and gave her rank and name. "Ledisi, Dame Amaya." Then the second in line spoke in a soft melodic voice, "India, please to meet you, your ladyship." She bowed as well, then the third in line spoke with a hint of an accent, "Jhene, your ladyship" she bowed as well and lastly a girl that couldn't have been more than a few years older than Amaya herself spoke, in a sweet voice filled with mischief and laughter, "Your ladyship I am Kehlani." she smiled and then she bowed. They were all so graceful and lovely. Amaya smiled and welcomed them all. She learned that they all would work shifts so she would never be with a lady in waiting, there would always be someone to attend to her needs no matter the time day or night. 

After the introductions her grandmother dismissed her attendants. "Ladies please conduct your duties as you would." Nodding to ledisi, "See that they know their task and they they execute them exceptionally. They are to be under your tutelage and I expect them to be excellent and not a disappointment." "Yes ma'am." Ledisi said she gathered herself up and stood ram straight. She looked at the women standing next to her and she nodded at them and they all took their leave in an orderly fashion. Watching the ladies go her grandmother turned to her, "Now lets us begin with you learning the ropes. First you have to meet the council." Her grandmother started walking and Amaya walked beside her and listened to her as she talked. "The council was put in place to make sure that there was a check and balance so that the king and queen didn't run the pack into the ground, use the money frivolously, or make decisions that was out of line with pack values. Of course you have final decision vetoing power but it we have a wise counsel and with it our pack has flourished and no one on our lands go hungry or without. Instead we all prosper and we thrive. That's why our pack is one of the biggest werewolf packs in north america currently. We are renowned for our warriors and having one of the strongest blood lines. Also because our pack is about equality and shared gender roles a lot of young women have gravitated to our pack from other packs. We don't believe in forcing women to just be pup makers, and homemakers. Here women are encouraged to take up magic arts if they are inclined and it is inline with their lineage. We encourage steel makers, we have some of the finest swords women in our packs,  we have women that are some of the most brutal and lethal fighters that any pack has ever seen. Women can do anything that they have the aptitude for here. We encourage it."

"We also encourage men to find their natural aptitudes as well as you will see we have male teachers for the pups, we have female warriors, we have women who teach science, and all matter of subjects. Bottomline we find out what your aptitude is and we nourish it and this is what makes the pack thrive. Do you understand dear?" Amaya nodded as she pulled up short as her grandmother had stopped walking. They were standing outside of a huge wooden lodge looking place with a blue door. Her grandmother waved her hand over the door and it opened. "Only those who are vetted are allowed in these sacred halls" her grandmother said.  Amaya looked on in awe and then she heard a deafening screeching in her ears and her ears started to bleed. "She's with me" she heard her grandmother say and sounded all was right with the world. "I'm sorry for that dear we have several security measures in place for those that do not belong." With that being said her grandmother led her down a hallway where on each side of the hallway were framed pictures some new a lot of them looked older. "Ancestors" Was what her grandmother said. 

Finally they came to another door in the middle of the hall, her grandmother knocked three times and then the door opened. "This part my dear you have to do yourself." Her grandmother kissed her on each cheek and gently pushed her forward. Amaya stepped inside the room and saw a great table of the same quartz that her bathtub was made out of but in a deep blue. She couldn't help but wonder who was the great quartz worker. There were a set of six chairs and as far as she could tell they were all empty. Suddenly a chair appeared behind her and then she heard a voice in her head tell her to sit. She did so nervously. Then she waited. In front of the chairs there started to be silver and blue shimmers she rubbed her eyes and wondered if perhaps she had drifted off to sleep while she had been sitting in the chair. She tried to move but her body felt heavy like it was no longer under her control. She started to panic. A whispery voice close by her right ear told her to be calm it felt like the wind and she was calm instantly. She kept hearing voices they came in ebbs and flows. She didn't know what was happening finally in front of her appeared spectors at least that's what they seemed to be. 

"Child, your age?" One of the spectors spoke. "Eighteen." She replied. "Like her mother" she heard them chorus at the sametime. "Child, are you ready to be queen?" "IT is her birthright." One spector spoke. "Means nothing if she is not up to the task." Another spector said. They all seemed to forget that she was sitting there so she said nothing. "Question, young one did you find your mate yet?" "Yes but grandmere said if he does not show up on the second day to claim me then I shall reject him and pick another." The spectors hissed and howled. "Always the rubbish with the men folk, how low minded they are" "Always with the domination." Amaya smiled she was feeling relaxed and less anxious in the presence of the council. "Child what is thy name?" "Amaya" she said. The spectors shimmered and crackled. "Your father do you know him?" Amaya looked down at her hands, "I never asked about him, and no one ever brought him up to me, so I don't know him never met him." "Are you curious as to who he is?" Asked a spector. "Should I be?" Amaya answered. The spectors grew silent. "You will not believe us if we say we know of him and he is a terrible man." "He will want this kingdom and he will try and corrupt your heart to get it." "Your mother saw him for what he was too late by that time you were already conceived." "She broke away from the pack taking you with her denying herself the throne so your father could never get to it." "Your mother had to learn the hard way." "Will you be fated to do the same child?" Amaya sat quietly and she thought long and hard she was young but she didn't want to be foolish. There were many things she didn't know about the world because her world until now had been nothing but books. "Should I meet him?" She asked the council. The council hissed and popped "You should. This will be your first test in decision making." "Listen to the meaning in between the words. See the intentions, learn to read hearts and minds. Seek wise counsel." Amaya listened to their words and she took them to heart. "If you need us you can summon us at anytime." "How do I do that?" Amaya asked. In front of her face appeared an amulet with the same quartz as the council's table carved into the shape of a wolf with its fangs showing.

Amaya reached out for the Amulet and the amulet sank its fangs into her hand causing her tattoo to glow. The wolf drank her blood and the eyes filled up with red rubys. Amaya looked on in wonder she hadn't felt a thing she saw it happen but it had been painless. This pack loved bonding things in blood she thought. The council laughed collectively. "You can not hide things in the blood child, the blood will always tell the truth. Remember that child." "What if they inject something in their blood to fool you?" Amaya asked out loud she had read in chemistry that there were certain drugs that could rewrite DNA and rearrange genes. The Council grew quiet. "She knows nothing." "Child our bloodline is strong. So strong in fact that we are quite drug resistant. A lot of poisons don't work on us. If they were to ever try and duplicate our bloodline they would fail." "It is important, imperative to not take the blood lightly. You must never leave any anywhere to be collected by humans. It is dangerous in human hands. They will hunt and kill for what we have in our blood." The council was agitated and Amaya didn't want them to be upset. "There were betrayals." You must vet." "Learn discernment quickly, learn to read the intentions behind the words." "Nativity will be your downfall." "Trust few." "Listen to wise counsel." Amaya took their words to heart she didn't want to be foolish she wanted to rule with wisdom. She wasn't queen fully yet but since it was her birthright she didn't want to let anyone down. She hadn't even met the pack but the already felt a tremendous responsibility towards them. 

Suddenly Amaya could move her body again and the room was now empty. She guess she had been dismissed. She got up from the chair and made her way to the door and the opened on their own. She saw her grandmother standing there. Her grandmother looked at the great wolf pendant with the blood ruby eyes and was pleased her granddaughter had been accepted by the council. Her grandmother smiled at her for the first time and Amaya felt immense love and almost hugged the elderly woman before her but she didn't know if that kind of thing was frowned upon so she just smiled back. "Grandmere I want to meet my father, the council thought I should they said it was be my first decision." Her grandmother's face closed down immediately and she could tell that the mood had changed drastically. "Your father is on the red list dear if you wish to meet him you must do so outside of pack territory. He is not welcome here, if he steps foot on this property there are orders in place for his throat to be thorn out on sight." Amaya didn't know what her father had done but she could tell that whatever he did was so horrible it warranted death on demand. "Nonetheless if the council thinks you should meet the terrible man then you shall. I shall send a dispatch to his pack and make the arrangements but understand dear he's manipulative and sneaky. He will try anything to get you to turn this pack over to him and mark my words I will kill you dead before I let that ever happen understand?" Amaya was shaken to her core she didn't know how to respond so she just shook her head. At that her grandmother led her out of the great council lodge and back out into the street. 

As they made the walk back to the mansion that housed the staff, visitors, and the royal family and family members who she had yet to Amaya could tell her grandmother was displeased with her decision to meet her father as they walked along in silence her grandmother had shut her mind to her so Amaya could attempt to read her thoughts, so she just took in the sites around her. She had yet to get acclimated to her surroundings there was so much to see and take in. The pack she came from had been a small pack with just under a hundred werewolves and they all knew each other and led quiet lives. Mostly her pack had been scholarly they did a lot of research and published books on their findings they were intricate in the werewolf world they did research on things that could kill werewolves, they did things on how to mend werewolves, on how to counteract poisons and cure silver wounds, they researched it all and published the books and sent them to the various packs so that they could be informed and ready for whatever came their way. Most people were oblivious to werewolves living amongst them many prefered to live away from humans in their own packs. A few hundred had ventured out into the human world and an even smaller percentage had been known to take human partners but that always ended in disaster especially when a woman would give birth to a halfling they would go crazy after birth and many times the babies only lasted a few days after birth. It was heartbreaking but that led people into searching out werewolves making it dangerous to just mingle with any and everyone.

Amaya was deep in her own thoughts thinking about life and how she had come to be a queen of all things, she still wondered on where her mother had disappeared to as well which made her stop dead in her steps. "Grandmother, where is my mother?" With that her grandmother turned toward her and sighed. "I don't know my child we reached out to her but she's run off again to goddess knows where." Amaya narrowed her eyes, "But she's never done that before why would she suddenly do it now?" Her grandmother pondered her words coming to stand before Amaya she looked at her in her eyes. Grabbing Amaya's hand her grandmother used her as a conduit to reach out to find her mother all of a sudden her grandmother was jerked backwards and she landed on her back. Amaya ran to her grandmother and started yelling for help immediately she was surrounded by attendants they picked her grandmother up and one of the young attendants ran for the healer.