Saithilien

Chapter 14 - Let’s Talk About Zels

The representatives were eager to know what Juliana had told Mr. Foringray three years ago. Their silence was obvious to the Director of what they wanted to hear next from him. Suddenly the door opened.

“You have a guest, Morn.” Ms. Fouche entered the office and was surprised to find them there. The director nodded, hid the Paragrym inside the first drawer of his table, and made his final message to the representatives.

“I just want you to know that I knew where you all from and what’s your purpose here. So don’t worry, the Academy is obliged to protect you all. And also, Ms. Fouche is the only staff in the academy, who knew all about you. So if ever I’m not around, Ms. Fouche will attend to you.” 

“Sir? What do you mean about our purpose here?” Katsuro asked. 

Mr. Foringray glanced at Ms. Fouche. He smiled and stood up, faced the windows, and sighed. Ms. Fouched laughed forcibly with her quirky actions and guided the representatives to exit the office.

“Ahehe! Mr. Foringray will answer your other questions next time, he’s in a tight schedule today. Off you go.” Before Katsuro went out Ms. Fouche poked him and whispered.

 “Kaya, where’s your other friend? I didn’t see her lately. Is she sick?”

“We all are here Miss,” Katsuro whispered back to his teacher. 

“No. Wait. Oh, Ms. Robbins. Yes. I didn’t see her for a while now.” 

Katsuro was flustered that Ms. Fouche noticed that Anna was missing he just smiled and immediately left. He was confused about what to answer, but all he knew was that something’s going on with Anna, and she did not disappear. 

“Colette, who has the time to visit me?”

“It’s Minister Lucas Lavaud, the head of The Royal Council. He’s on his way here.”

Mr. Foringray turned to Ms. Fouche, unsure of what the head of the Royal Council’s purpose in visiting him. He told Ms. Fouche to stay in his office during the meeting, he’s quite nervous and felt worried about the academy. In a moment of silence, two knocks were heard. Ms. Fouche opened the door and Minister Lavaud entered. Mr. Foringray offered his seat to the minister, but the minister proceeded to the window and stared at the students of the Academy chatting in the garden below.

“What brings you here Lucas?”

“You still didn’t change, Morn. Calling me by my first name.”

“We’re still the same in my view, Lucas. Two orphans escaped from Hell. Adopted by the Royal Duke and raised as his own.”

“Winter will be here soon. During the start of summer next year, The Royal Council will begin its mission,” The minister looked at Ms. Fouche and ordered her to leave the office for some confidentiality. As she left, Minister Lucas lit his pipe. 

“A Zel is a key in achieving the mission, in achieving Saithilien as the superpower in all of Parthenia.” 

“Saithilien is a powerful kingdom. We don’t need Zels to be on the top. Lucas, they are not a tool or a pet, or an object. They’re humans like us.”

“I see, you do not seek nor crave power. Zels are Saithilien people, we make use of our people for victory. They’re our best chance in winning this battle and rise on the top.”

“Zels did nothing to harm other people. They’ve been silent for decades and never showed a threat towards the Kingdom.  Let them be. Let them live a peaceful life.”

The Minister laughed sarcastically at the Director and cleared his throat. “You have a Zel here in the Academy. I will fetch her anytime during spring. Don’t make this difficult for The Council, Morn. If you will interfere, not only death will come at you, but also the fall of this Academy.”

“I didn’t know anything about that.”

Minister Lucas placed a small note on the table and walked towards the door. He turned to the Director for the last time and smirked. “We’ll be seeing each other again in spring.”  As the Minister went out, Mr. Foringray slowly took the note and read the words written on it. He calmly crumpled the paper and stared at the Academy’s portrait hanging on the wall. He was saddened but eventually became a bit angry.

The topmost floor of the library tower became lively again as Monique, Navya, and Katsuro were enjoying their break time there. Katsuro suddenly remembered about Ms. Fouche noticing Anna’s absence.

“When Dara disappeared and Freya died, no one noticed their absence right? It seemed that they didn’t exist.”

“Right. What about it?” Navya said while chewing a butter cookie.

“Strange. Ms. Fouche asked me a while ago about Anna. She said that she didn’t see her and asked me if she’s sick.”

Navya’s eyes widened. “That means Anna didn’t disappear. She-- “

“She ran away.” Monique cleared her throat. The two were surprised by what Monique has said. “Back in her room last night, she left her academy pin on her desk. No one noticed it because all of you were focusing on her note. When Dara and Freya were gone, nothing was left reminded of their existence.”

Katsuro and Navya looked at each other, kinda weirded out. Suddenly, footsteps were heard climbing up the stairs. “Hey, guys!” Kasey appeared out of the blue.

“Kasey it’s been a while.” Navya greeted her cheerfully.

“Come and join us,” Katsuro said.

Kasey joined them and sat on the floor, beside Katsuro. Monique was pouting the whole time as they were happily chatting. Katsuro noticed Monique being kind of rude. “Monique, are you alright?” Katsuro asked worriedly. “Hmph!” Monique folded her arms and looked away from Katsuro.

“By the way, during the winter break, I’d like to invite you guys to come with me to my hometown, Cerephea. I’m going to spend my vacation there in my dad’s villa and he told me I can bring friends.”

“We’d love to.” Navya giggled. 

“Yes, we’ll be going. Right, Monique?” Katsuro looked at Monique.

“Uhm... Well… Sure. It sounds fun.” 

The four of them laughed together and continued to chat until the bell rang, marked the start of the afternoon classes. Navya pulled Kasey, so they can go down ahead of Monique and Katsuro but Kasey stayed. Seeing Katsuro helped Monique to stand made her jealous. “What about them? We can all go down together.”  Monique was irritated, so she walked towards the stairs and went down first in a tantrum, she was annoyed with Kasey being so clingy to Katsuro. What made her more annoyed was Katsuro didn’t seem to notice and was okay with it. 

Ms. Fouche entered the room, stood on the podium, and prepared her books for the lesson. Everyone was a bit sleepy, yawning, and expecting a boring history class again. She cleared her throat and was a bit nervous about the topic. Monique noticed the uncertainness and became curious. “Okay, everyone. Today we’re going to talk about….. Zelethea and the Zels.” Everyone lifted from their sloppiness, sat comfortably leaned forward from their seats, and grew interested. 

“Zels were known to be users of black magic and have the ability to solve unimaginable events that no humans can ever understand. Here in Saithilien, there is this town excluded from the Kingdom, where Zels are peacefully living.”

“Zelethea”

“That is correct Ms. Moneau. Zelethea as the town of Zels was founded in the year 1118, which is approximately two hundred years ago. It was also the time that Zels was born. But before it was called the town of Zels it was just like any other town here in Saithilien.”

“Ms. Fouche, who were the founders?” Monique raised her hand.

“I’m afraid that it’s not stated in our history books --”

“But you knew right?” Monique asked bluntly. Her other classmates glanced at her then turned to Ms. Fouche, giving her the face of curiosity. Ms. Fouche doesn’t have a choice looking at her students relying on her for the information they wanted to hear.

“This is not f*******n to know but we teachers are somehow trying to avoid conveying this information for the sake of the royal family, but I’m really happy that all of you are interested. And with that, I’m very much in joy to tell you about it.”

The whole class was silent as Ms. Fouche told the story of the origin of Zelethea. All were focused, trying to absorb the information calmly and with no disturbing reactions. Monique felt something that struck her inside, she was in deep suspicion of herself and trying to relate what she had read in the Rebels of the Rose. That book gave her the clue that Synesius and the butterfly were the ones who built the little kingdom of Zels, Zelethea. But learning that the butterfly came from the palace gave her a strange feeling. 

Ms. Fouche was very careful of all the information she’s giving to her students. She knew all Saithilien people, including the students, knew what the Zels are and how the people of their Kingdom view them as, outcasts and bad lucks, so she needed to give as little information she could. She didn’t give too much detail about who in particular in the palace was Synesius, the faith healer accomplice in turning Zelethea a witch town. 

I knew it. Monique couldn’t figure out who was the accomplice from the palace. She then raised her hand again and asked. “Ms. Fouche, what was again the symbol of Saithilien?”

“That’s a good question to divert our topic and proceed to the effects of Zels in Saithilien. To start, I will discuss Saithilien’s symbol.” Everyone became sloppy again and less interested, as the whole class was Saithilians, they already knew the symbol of Saithilien.

“If you saw the castle even just outside or from afar. You’ll notice that the structure has a design accent of a rose. Our Saithilien flag, please open your books to page 218, you’ll find the illustration of our flag there. The flag middle symbol is a rose. A rose is a ……………”

Monique had finally confirmed the symbol of Saithilien. The rose in the Rebels of the Rose book stands for the palace. The painting of a lady beside Synesius wearing a crown with a rose design? She was shocked by what she figured out. A princess? The accomplice was the princess of Saithilien at that time. She was the butterfly.

The clocktower rang, marked the end of the afternoon classes. Monique immediately ran towards the door and made her way to the library tower. “Oi! Monique, where are you going?” Katsuro fixed his things hurriedly and followed Monique. “Monique! Wait for me.” Katsuro was panting. “I figured it out, Kaya!” Monique happily exclaimed while running up the library stairs.