Chapter 15: The Invitation

“I’m telling you!” said Angie stretching across the table nearly knocking her glass of wine over as she slurred through her story, “The whole planet is on fire, okay, Pillars everywhere. The whole thing is a bloody disaster, and there he stands, bold as brass,” she stood with her arm outstretched as though holding a sword pointing towards an unseen enemy. Meno and Paba were wrapped in hysterical anticipation, “and he says…he says, For Locne!” Meno gripped his stomach, which had started to hurt from laughter.

“And then what?!” squealed Paba, unable to contain her excitement,

“Then he smashes down on the detonator!” She threw her hand into the air. “And the building behind us explodes!” The room erupted. Paba fell straight off her chair, struggling to breathe through the laughter. Meno had tears running down his cheeks, and Angie was banging her fist on the table. Eventually, Paba made her way shakily back to her seat, trying to regulate her breathing, readjusting her pendant as she settled.

“That was him,” said Angie, falling back into her chair, “That was Lor Dimitri, the bravest man I ever knew. He always had a plan, and each was worse than the one before it”.

Angie had been telling them stories from her days during the war when she was a lieutenant in the service of the army of Locne, the fabled ancient King's House. Meno only found out earlier that evening that she had received a promotion after the war, to Captain, when she moved to the Dorlec House.

The three of them had got into the booze behind the bar counter shortly after Harold had left the apartment. He had sent some food up, and Meno had naturally been beyond words at this. There had been meats cooked on sticks, fruits and vegetables of all shapes and colours. He hadn't imagined that food could taste so good. That such textures had existed. It had even been better than the food that he had eaten on the ship on their way to Yeley. He had been told by both Paba and Angie to slow down, as he wanted to taste everything at once.

They had been sitting at the finely polished wooden table for some hours now, and as the drinks began to flow, so did the conversation. They had both seemed to live such incredible lives before coming to Yeley. Even if Paba was still being rather cryptic about her own life, her responses and knowledge showed the depth of her experience within the galaxy.

“Did you ever meet him, King Locne?” asked Meno after they had caught their breath again. Paba snorted,

“He’s not real, Meno. He’s like a legend that they follow, like an…idol, a symbol,” she hiccoughed.

“No, I never met him, but he’s real,” she said fervently to Paba, who shrugged it off. Meno closed one eye to focus on her, “They said that he fought Bel for ten days by himself before the rest of the Houses arrived,” she added with vigour.

Paba sighed as though speaking to idiots. She did that quite a bit in fact, “His story goes back thousands and thousands of years” she slurred, “He started the Hulfean House. That’s too far back, even age extending…” she paused to hiccough again and then continued as nothing happened, “Doesn't get you that far”,

“I don’t know,” Angie replied with a smile that showed that whatever they said, her mind wouldn't change. She moved on from the debate quickly and said, “The highest-ranking person I met was Commander Godrey Reyes. He led most of the Hulfean forces, but even he would say that we do it for Locne”

“See?” Paba said to Meno, waving her glass around the table, as though Angie's lack of argument gave her victory, “For Locne,” she added pointedly, “The symbol of Hulf.”

Just then, there was a sharp knock on the door. They exchanged glances, the same realisation hitting them. Harold said that he would be in later and that he would try and introduce them to the planetary head. And now they were all hammered.

Paba straightened up, swaying and shook her head side to side, nearly falling over as she did so. Angie placed the bottle down, and Meno shuffled to the door hesitantly. He looked back at Angie, who encouraged him to go forward.

He opened the door so that only a crack of light from the other side was let through,

“Hello?”

“Ah, Meno, I hope that you don’t mind the intrusion”, said Harold, sounding more lucid than he had heard before. Maybe he was just that drunk that his system had dropped to the old man's level.

“But of course”, he said, attempting formality. He swung the door open a bit too vigorously and nearly threw himself off his feet. He saw that behind the old man were four guards, but he couldn't make out their faces, and with them was someone in a fine blue dress.

“Please welcome to our home…your home…the house” Meno made a strange bow in embarrassment. He had never drunk before, and now suddenly felt very conscious of everything he was doing, with no real control of how to change it. He could hear Harold, the guard, and the woman snigger at him, and his eyes tightened, hoping beyond all hope that he wasn't coming off too badly.

“Allow me to introduce, Lady Olivia Traes, First Daughter of Yeley”, Harold said to the room. Meno opened his eyes and looked at the woman. She was in her late teens, if not early twenties. He didn't have much understanding of how people aged, and both Angie and Paba were a bit older than he was. Perhaps she was his age?

She was slender, regal and had light grey eyes that seemed to glitter as they danced around the room. There was mischief in those eyes, he thought. She had tanned skin and thick, glossy, dark hair that hung down past her shoulders.

She took them all in with great interest. Meno now recognised the two guards who had been part of their escort earlier. The young man and woman, who were now trying to hold back smiles from seeing the state of them.

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“Lady Olivia”, Angie said, bowing. “We appreciate you hosting us”, Meno noticed that he hadn't stopped bowing and therefore stayed in the same position. Paba seemed only to bow because the other two were nervously reacting.

“I have been very eager to meet you all,” she said brightly,

“We thank you for your hospitality,” responded Angie again. She remained far more composed than both Meno and Paba. Angie subtly waved her hand at Meno, telling him not to bow anymore. He rocketed up and saw that, unfortunately, Lady Olivia had seen it all.

“I apologise, we should have let you know that we were coming. I see that you have, uh, had the chance to unwind after your long journey”, said the old man, looking at the bottles that lay strewn across the table. Angie started to speak in explanation, but Harold held up his hand and smiled that big smile again, “It is our fault, as Lady Olivia said, she was very eager to meet you and bid you welcome”

“Yes, we are very happy that you are here, and hope that you find the accommodations acceptable. I would like to invite the three of you to join me tomorrow, as I will be going into the city.” Both guards suddenly looked very uncomfortable, and Harold just lowered his shaking head. “I think it will be a wonderful opportunity for us to get to know one another, as well as allow you to immerse yourselves in Yelean culture”

It seemed that this had not been discussed prior, and the two guards looked at Harold uneasily. Meno himself looked to Angie, who also seemed taken aback, but gave a shallow bow in acceptance. Meno felt like he should respond as well,

“That would be amazing, Lady,” Lady Olivia chuckled slightly, and Meno noticed that Paba’s eyes went wide and Angie dropped her head, but he didn't know what was wrong.

“Fantastic, you can join me for my duties in the city,”. Meno noticed that the guard behind her looked as though something awful had just happened, and saw that Harold was now chuckling,

“Sounds great”, said Meno, holding up a thumb.

“Please forgive him, it’s his first time drinking,” said Angie, who passed a stern look at Meno, who shrank under her gaze.

“My Lady, I dont think that this is the best idea”, said the male guard, leaning towards her.

“Well, I think it’s a fabulous idea, and I will show you whatever you would like”, she said, looking at Meno strangely, but not rudely. It was like she was studying him, but that might have also been the booze.

“Tomorrow, then,” she said as she gracefully turned to leave the room. Harold kept looking at them. He waited a few moments before addressing them, and once Lady Olivia was through the door, he stated,

“There will be guards, of course, please do not be alarmed when they arrive in the morning. She’s very used to getting her way, and very good at getting it,” he said almost proudly, in response to Angie’s puzzled expression. He looked at the three of them, “Well then, sleep well, and see you in the morning”, he finished with a small, soundless clap before turning and leaving the room himself.

The room was engulfed by silence, permeated with strange groans from each of them.

“What…the fuck is happening,” Angie said, folding back into the seat at the wooden table. “Honestly, I don’t understand this place” Paba nodded enthusiastically and turned to Meno,

“You shouldn't answer for other people, you know”, she admonished, swaying, “What if I didn't want to go?”

“I don’t think it's optional, Paba”, said Angie from behind her hand. “Tomorrow, we are going to be monitored and examined. Everything that we do will be scrutinised”

“Well then, we shouldn't take Meno”, Paba said, flopping into her own chair.

“What does that mean?”

*

Olivia stepped through the corridors, bursting with excitement, though feeling slightly uncertain. Sure, they hadn't been all that impressive, but still, they were unlike most that she had ever met before, but her thoughts were caught in the threads she had just seen. She couldn't understand it. Was her resonance ineffective against him?

It couldn't be, even when people were desperately trying to hide their presence, she would still see remnants or fragments of their torus field, or threads. Everyone had a torus field, so that was impossible to hide, but you could try and hide the nature of your resonance if you knew how. But there had been nothing, no energy at all.

“You shouldn't have done that, my lady. Your parents will be furious. You promised that you would conduct this within the temple”

“No, I didn't, Efreet. I used the temple as a bargaining chip to get permission to see them. I never explicitly said that I would only meet them within the temple”

“Good luck passing that by your father, my lady”, said Shilu, walking behind. She waited impatiently in the round vestibule, just past the guard's barracks that now stood between them and the guests, to wait for Harold.

“Could the boy have been using resonance suppressants?” she asked the guards, in an attempt to make sense of it.

“They are difficult to pick up, my lady, without bloods,” said Shilu with a furrowed brow.

She considered everything that she had seen in the room. They had been drunk, which in a way was a good thing. She could see threads more easily in one of two ways: heightened physical activity, like soldiers in a fight, or when someone was feeling strong emotion. Booze was a wonderful conduit for the latter, and it worked for the other two, but for him, nothing.

Harold sifted up to them, and Liv could see that the guards were both wanting to make their stance clear. She could practically feel their disapproval of her invitation to them in the city.

“And?” Harold said, ignoring the positions of both Efreet and Shilu, who now looked incredulous, and then like they should have known not to be surprised.

“The soldier, a deep forest green like a barrier. Very rigid,” she explained quickly, the threads that she saw from Angie.

“That makes sense for her character”, Harold agreed.

“Paba, hers was also relatively straightforward, but busy, almost frantic, though there seemed to be an order to things, even under pressure. She has a lilac hue about her,” she said, completing her viewing but knowing all too well that neither she nor Harold knew if the colours correlated to anything.

“Interesting. She does have a complex mind by all accounts, and a truly fun name,” he said in all seriousness. “Paba Rebapa”, he mouthed out. “And the boy?” She nearly jumped at him,

“Nothing!” She couldn't contain her excitement, “It’s the strangest thing, Harold. It’s why I couldn't stop looking at him. Nothing, not a single thread, not even a torus field”, she said, grateful that she had been allowed to say it. Harold screwed his face up slightly in confusion,

“In what way?”

“As in, nothing. No colour, no structure, no threads to create any structure, no torus field for there to be structure on. It was like looking at him without using my resonance at all” She could see on his face that it didn't make sense to him either. He considered this for a moment.

“Harold”, she said, gripping him, “Is that why he has been sent here for protection?” Her mind was racing. She couldn't even give Harold a moment to answer as she noticed the guards uncomfortably looking between themselves and Harold, “You need to tell me who these people are”.