The Feast

Since the last of them had exited the great hall, my mind had been centred on one thing, Elsie. As my friends came to comfort me, having seen Zarin so boldly make his claims to an entire cohort of adventurers, I couldn’t even form words. In my mind I tried to reconcile that girl from Blue-Rock, the one who always had a smile ready for any who needed it, the one who was there for me when I needed her, the one I had loved. I tried to reconcile her with what I had just seen, a timid shell of a girl, a dark cloud on a sky that was once the purest of blues; I couldn’t. When my friends made their attempts to comfort me, the others in the chamber gave me their looks of distaste, I didn’t care.

We had finally been escorted to the feast hall, a room somehow longer than the great hall, though not as wide. Long wooden tables lined the lengths of the room, wooden benches on the ground at their side. The floor was made of slabs of stone, not as tasteful as the mosaic pattern in the great hall, though it seemed to fit the atmosphere of the room. Tall columns of patterned stone rose into arches throughout the room, holding up the ceiling as tall windows of clear glass fell down the walls. Descending from the ceiling were golden chandeliers, marked with hundreds of candles each, illuminating the room with the warm touch of their light; whilst most of the citadel seemed to mostly use crystals to light the rooms, in the feast hall it was lit solely by candlelight and the fires in the hearth. Paintings hung from the stone walls, feasts from years gone by, portraits of dignified figures that must have once commanded positions of import. Lining the tables were platters of food, legs of cooked chickens, plates of roasted potatoes piling high upon each other, bowls of carrots, parsnips, peas, dishes of pork and beef, baskets of bread, jugs of gravy. The sight itself made my stomach rumble with hunger as it remembered the little I had eaten that day, I doubted that even Henry could have cooked a more delicious sight. On the benches were the adventurers who had already came to the hall, filling the room with the sounds of their chewing and roaring laughter, servants milled about the room, replacing empty platters, and carrying jugs of wine to fill the empty cups. At the end of the room, on an elevated platform was a table with a number of chairs facing the doors of the feast hall, despite the seats being empty plates of food were set before them.

I sat with Korin, Sara, and Rayall, listening to them talk about the meal before us, Sara telling us how she had never seen so much food in one place before, and it was there for her to eat. Korin spoke little, eagerly gorging himself upon everything in sight, calling for another platter when he finished off a stack of chicken thighs. Rayall seemed to be taking more care with his meal, delicately eating the vegetables he had picked for his meal. Despite my hunger I was not sure that I would be able to hold much food down and was slowly picking at a plate of sliced turkey with potatoes and roasted parsnips. In the half hour that we had been feasting I had barely manage to eat half a plate of the meal.

My eyes were fixed further down the long feast table, past the adventurers with clothing both rich and poor, to the group that had surrounded Zarin before in the great hall. I couldn’t hear what he was saying but the group seemed to be enraptured in a story that he was telling them. I didn’t care. My eyes were set beyond Zarin, to the seat next to him where Elsie sat. She was too far away for me to get a good look of her, but my stomach did things to me as I watched her eat, as though something had hidden itself within my meal and was tickling the inside of my stomach with a feather.

“Well Aucus?” I heard someone say, pulling me away from my concentration as I look up to the others with me

“Huh? Sorry, what’d you say?” I ask, forcing another forkful of food into my mouth

“I asked what abilities your spirit has?” Sara says, a beaming smile on her face, looking happy just to be in this great room.

“Oh, uh I don’t know. My spirit won’t tell me, it’s a bit weird” I say, making Sara pout and giving me a quizzical look

“That is rather strange, I don’t think I have ever heard of someone not knowing their abilities” Rayall chimes in, having set down his cutlery to speak.

I just shrug at them, “hey, don’t look at me, my spirit is weird I guess” I say, tilting my head to look back to Elsie. The sight nearly makes the contents of my stomach rise back to the surface, Zarin’s hand wrapped around her waist as he holds her close to him, his gaze looking over to me with an infuriating smirk on his face as he catches me looking

“Hey!” I hear the snapping of fingers and look back over to see Sara leaning over the table and snapping her fingers in my face

“Stop it Aucus, I’m sick of you looking over at them” she says, raising her voice to me, “do you think we can’t see how much it hurts you? It’s plastered over your fucking face, stop doing that to yourself” she finishes as she sits back down to her seat on the bench

I look from her to the others, seeing them looking a bit shocked by her outburst and nodding their heads slowly in agreement of her words. I put my fork down, knowing I’m not going to be able to eat any more tonight

I sigh, looking at Sara, “I’m sorry, it’s just so… I don’t know what it is but it’s shit, and still… I…” I sigh and look away from her eyes. “I don’t know, I can’t help but think if I can just talk to her then maybe something will change”

Sara’s expression softens as she looks at me and stretches out a hand to hold mine, “Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. But sitting here looking at them won’t do anything, and I doubt he’s going to let you say anything” she says, her grip on my hand tightening as my face contracts with her words. “So, you’ve got to suck it up and move on” she grips my hand hard and pulls me close to her as she leans over to whisper in my ear “at least until you’re able to cut that fucking grin off his face”

I look at her a bit wide-eyed at her final words but see a fire in her eyes that I hadn’t noticed before now. I nod my head at her “Yeah, okay. I can do that. Just remind me when I need it though” I say to her, making her smile

“Yeah, I can do that” she says, loosening my hand in her grasp as she sits back down and returns to her meal.

I don’t look back down the bench as the others continue eating

Eventually a man in citadel attire walks down the line of tables, carrying a heavy leather-bound book in his hands, he had been stopping at times to say something to the adventurers sat on the benches and had now came to us.

“let’s see, let’s see” he mutters to himself as he runs his finger down a page in the book, his eyes darting across the words.

“Ah, is it Korin, Rayell, Sara, and Aucus?” he asks, lifting his gaze to the four of us

“Rayall” Sara corrects him, making him tut and cross something out in the book with a pen as he writes something else in its place

“The four of you will be in group 9, let’s see… yes, there are two other members in your group. I suppose you’ll be meeting them later tonight” he says absently, apparently more focused on the words in his book than on us. “Once you have finished with your meal approach a guard and tell them your group number, they will escort you to your quarters” he adds, “training begins tomorrow morning, I suggest you get an early night’s sleep”

Rayall looks as though he is about to ask the man something, but he simply nods and makes his way down the ranks of adventurers of the table. Similarly, speaking to them in turn as he had us.

We talked some more, and I was caught up on the previous conversation that the others had been having, it turned out that the others had quite powerful spirits. Korin’s bull spirit gave him six abilities and both Sara and Rayall’s spirits gave them five abilities; I hoped that my dark spirit would give me as many abilities as they, otherwise I would feel that I was holding them back. They had also discussed the upcoming training, with Rayall worried that it would be a difficult task whilst Korin was of the mind that it would be as easy as swinging a pick.

As the light of the candles faded, the wax melting to a stump and the platters of food running empty with no replacements in sight we had finally came to the conclusion that we were full, and with the hour growing late it was time to find our quarters. We rose from our seats, with Korin letting out a roaring belch, we found a guard and told them we were in group nine. With a brief nod he had walked us through the hallways and brought us to a door before leaving us there and walking back the way we had come.

Sara pushed open the doors to our quarters to reveal our new home for the coming weeks. Similarly to the rooms of Opal and Bella in the temple of Soras, these quarters had a living chamber with amenities such as sofas, chairs, tables, bookshelves, and to Korin’s delight, shelves of liquor. Along the walls were a number of doors, presumably leading to bedchambers and bathrooms. With no windows in the chamber and no hearth for a fire, the room was lit mostly by crystals on the walls with the occasional candle in the room. My eyes flew over the sight of the room and eventually came to rest on the two women who were sat on one of the sofas, apparently our new group members

Sara greeted them eagerly, running over to give them a welcoming hug. One of the women reciprocated with apparent equal eagerness whilst the other seemed more hesitant of Sara’s touch. Korin gave the women a quick glance but saved his welcomes for the bottles of liquor as he walked over to the shelf, looking up at the labels in appreciation. Rayall gave them polite welcomes as he entered the room and sit in one of the chairs.

One of the women was called Cleo, she had long blonde hair and a pretty face, green lights filled her eyes and a smile seemed to be always on her face, she was slightly plumper than most women I had met, though she was by no means fat and didn’t look like she would struggle with the physical aspects of adventuring. She had a large chest and dressed modestly; a fire spirit similar to Calendis’ floated in the air above her as she eagerly talked with Sara. The other woman seemed to be the polar opposite to Cleo, her name was Sybil, her hair was a dark black with dark brown eyes, her face did not have the same natural beauty as Cleo’s, she bore a scar on her chin and had the look of someone who was not unaccustomed to being on the losing side of a fight, despite this her face had a curious appeal to it. Her flesh was pale and her figure slender, almost skinny with a small chest and practical clothing. Unlike Cleo, she seemed as though the effort of stretching her lips into a smile could tear the skin around her mouth and did not seem to be fond of words either. Fitting her personality, she had a shadow spirit appearing as a second shadow for either her, others, or objects in the room, changing for where in the room it wished to be.

I had said my greetings to them and talked some before the day’s events wore heavy on my eyelids. After letting out a yawn I had excused myself to a room that I had claimed for myself and heard the ascent of the others as they found rooms of their own to rest in.

The room was sparsely decorated with a window looking out over the city, a desk and chair in one corner, a wardrobe filled with clothing that would be suitable for training and plastered with the crest of the citadel; a lumpy bed stood in another corner, it looked far more comfortable than what I had slept on in Blue-Rock, though it was a far cry from what Opal and Bella had offered me. Little other thought seemed to have been given to the decoration of the room and I was too tired to care much. I quickly shrugged off my clothing, dropping them atop my desk and leaving my boots by the door. I had spent some time looking for somewhere to keep my sword and had decided on fastening the straps to the bottom of my bed, so that any prospective thieves would have a difficult time in finding it. At last I lay myself down on the mattress and closed my eyes, I was gone in moments.