"They are here," Queen B leaned back into her couch, all highs and lows gone from her face as if the conversation they had, never happened. Ash wanted to ask if the council knew Queen B's purpose in bringing her in but she couldn't. If Lady Bree could hear the council approaching, so could they hear the chatter.
Instead, Ash asked, "how many member do you have currently?"
"Short staffed. Ah… here…" Queen B turned her head slightly and waved. The red haired wolf was the first to walk in. His eyes went from Lady Bree to her, from a smile to surprise.
"If it isn't the princess," the wolf said. Karlene walked in, right behind the wolf, nose scrunched. "Princess? What is she doing here?"
"Take a seat, you will find out." Bree said.
Without warning, Karlene wrapped her hand around the red haired guy and pulled him to sit on one of the small couches against the back. Ash smiled slightly in greeting and bowed a little. Karn, the white wolf heir was right in tow, but his presence was silent and polite. He took a seat not far from his sister and returned her bow. For the first time, she noticed his eyes, one blue and the other some shade of black. Or was it purple? And his eyes rested on her, never to move again. Politely, she looked at Bree who smiled at her a little. It was the kind of smile Mayra often carried around, head full of men and romances.
As if on cue, Sven stood up, hand still wrapped in Karlene's hand, "introduce us Bree. Who is she and why is she here?"
Bree's smile got wider, "This is her royal highness princess Aishwarya from the island of Kalai."
Ash quickly added, "just called me Ash. That would do."
However, no one seemed to hear her. Karlene and Sven both looked at Karn, who went slightly stiff. She could see neither of their expressions. A silent conversation passed between them before Karn glared and the other two looked away, Karlene still surprised and Sven looking smug. Ash took it as they knew her and knew of her rejection of their father's offer.
Since they were members of the council and pissed at her island, she needed to ease the tension between their groups. This was what she was here for. Since Karn showed no interest in introducing himself, she focused on Karlene, who was a little more transparent with her emotions.
Queen B said then, "ah. Another one is coming," and something ran or flew into the room, "and he is here."
Sitting by Lady Bree's side was the vampire with big glasses and sharp eyes. Hair ruffled slightly from the run and paused mid sitting when their eyes met. Ash felt her gut drop and mouth run dry. It looked like the man was caught in surprise as well.
"I will save the introductions for last. Let others come in." Bree said inching away from the new arrival.
They all heard a soft trot trot before a centaur, neck craned slightly walked in. He had the same long hair like Mondin Rockwish, the same chin, eyes and even the color of his centaur half was the same. Only his mane was slightly more greyish silver than the pure white of Mondin.
"Why do we have to have these meetings down here?" he grumbled as soon as he entered through the doorway. Once inside, he cracked his neck side to side, twisted his body to make a lot more cracking sounds and finally found a comfortable spot on a lone carpet to sit down and went out of view. Soon, they heard slight snoring. Ash looked at Bree, who laughed.
"That's Dwera Rockwish, his younger brother Mondin is joining this year. Perhaps you'd meet him."
"I remember him from orientation. Excellent marksman."
"That's my brother for you," a groggy voice said from somewhere behind the couches. The unintroduced vampire smiled slightly, leaning back into a corner. Ash felt something flutter in her chest. There was no denying this man was gorgeous and Mayra was right on the mark about the man being her type.
She wouldn't have been able to tear her eyes away from him had the new arrival not made a wave. A literal wave. Water floated in the air, forming an angelic circle over the woman's head. She had long frizzy black hair and porcelain skin. A finger pointing up, she said, "look, what I learned in class today."
All of them clapped and Drew, who walked in right behind the water wielding woman, slipped away. Ignoring Ash, she took a couch at the other end of the room behind her back. Ash could feel her eyes glaring at the back of her head.
"Oh. Who do we have here?" the beautiful woman, pointed her finger into an empty decorative vase and pored all the water in. No one said anything. As she took her hand out, Ash stood up and took it. "Ash. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"I am Arabella. I represent the selkies. Happy to make your acquaintance."
"Everyone introduced themselves but us. Now I feel disrespectful." Sven stood up again. "I am Sven. We are a local tribe from the tropical region. The Blood Mooners." he turned to Karlene who turned her nose up. Sven being the social wolf he took it upon himself, "this is Karlene and this is Karl, they are twins, heir to the MoonBlessed. You might not have heard about us but you must have heard about the MoonBlessed, after all…"
Ash felt her head buzz with the direction Sven's ramblings took. Karlene must have felt the same because she caught his wrist and tugged him back with the force enough to throw him off. Sven only laughed while Karl looked away. Warmth rose to her face. If the words, even come to be spoken, she would have to form a reply appropriate enough to put the proposal to rest without offending the heirs of the the tribe.
"You should introduce yourself too." Bree said to her seatmate.
The man looked at her briefly and looked away. Too fast. If Ash was a regular human, she wouldn't have caught it. Ash had to wonder if there was some aversion he felt towards her. She might not be human but she wasn't a separate race like them. All the embarrassment from Sven's rambling washed out of her. To think the guy she actually felt attracted to was the one averse to her.
The guy stood up, "Vance," saying she walked past her and asked Drew, "we need to move some tables and chairs, come help me."
His voice was gruff, papery, deep and airy. This time around, her gut did not say anything, nor did her heart or her voice. Vance sounded bored and uninterested. Ash knew better than to look at him again.
"Vincent is his name. He is the son of the commander of the Sanguine Knights. He is practically royalty. His family was the one who helped me out when I was a child. Hid me with them and raised me until I was ready to revive my family name."
Sanguine Knights were as well known as Lady Bree's history.
In history, all royal families knew of supernatural existence but kept it a secret. As the families began to interact and intermingle, the secrets turned to folklores for the common people. And for the royal families it posed an increasing threat. They realised how vast the communities and races of the supernatural were and how powerful. As humans they were ill equipped to precede over them, control them or fight them, so they handpicked a few families that were supernatural and in close relations to the royals and signed a pact. The pact was as thick as law books she had read. And she was asked to memories all aspects of it. A copy of it still sat in her room back home. The agreement was well written and revised every few years. The task of revising it would have fallen on her and so she took it seriously, even had some ideas of her own. Now it was all for naught.
The Sanguine Knights uphold the pact, humans remain out of their hair and supernatural beings remain away from humans. If the humans were to be threatened by the supernatural, it was up to the Sanguine Knights to uphold justice for all parties. This treaty also made it easier for vampires to live a civilized life and have a proper system in the modern community to obtain blood.
In modern day politics, they were one of the most powerful groups, on par with the MoonBlessed tribe. If Vance was a part of the council and Bree was raised by them, the concerns she represented might be the concerns the Knights must have represented themselves.
Karn, Sven and Karlene all went after Vance to help. Even Dwera Rockwish pushed off the floor with a grunt. The selkie, Arabella, was also gone.
Ash wanted to follow, but knew better. She did not have the strength to help them. Bree stood up and pushed the semi circled couches back, fixing them against the wall. Ash followed her example and found the couches to be lighter than palace couches. Glad and happy to help, she helped where she can. Bree told her softly, "don't be fooled by his cold shoulder. He is pretty kind, though he is not very nice."
"We can hear you," Sven walked in, carrying a set of 10 chairs and Karlene was right behind him, carrying 10 more. Vance and Karn came in, carrying a long table between them, moving it carefully between the first door and the corridor opening. If the two of them were carrying it together, how heavy would that thing be?
Behind them, Drew and Arabella pushed an identical table into the room, much easier than the boys.
Ash had to ask, "what is that table made of?"
"Lead and osmium."
Sven and Karlene began to set up the chairs around the table set up by Vance and Karn, who moved to help Arabella and Drew.
"Osmium… That's brilliant. And pretty useful too." Ash looked at it carefully, it a greyish black color with mild shine. Osmium could resist temperatures as high as a furnace. It could serve the well.
Dwera Rockwish came back last with a tall pile of files, papers, notebooks and a few sets of pen holders dancing on the top.
Ash moved forward, quite sure it was about to fall. Queen B had the same thought. While the others were busy fixing the tables and chairs, Bree picked up a chair while Ash picked up another just in time for the centaur to drop the entire pile at the end of the table.
Ash wasn't as fast so she quickly placed the chair on top of the table, letting the slipping pile lean on it. Bree was fast and rounded on the other side, holding another chair in the corner, before it could go askew. However, the pen holders slipped all together. Out of the corner of the eye, she saw Vance run up to his, his red eyes focused above her head. A sleeve brushed her hair and short locks came undone.
In a blink, Vance stood beside Bree holding a two pen holder with all its pens and Lady Bree held a third and fourth, while still managing the chair.
"And the queen wins again," Drew sang from the other end of the table.
Dwera Rockwish quickly adjusted his grip, straightened his arms and adjusted the pile before anything more could fall off.
"Let me…" they heard another voice and the files all floated in different directions, landing in front of a seat in small piles.
Once the files were sorted enough to balance well, Ash put the chair down as did Bree. Vance had already gone back to work, putting the pen holders away.
The newcomer walked up to her and gave her a hand. Ash took it. "We meet again!"
It was the witch that had guided her to the priestess's office. "We do and I get a chance to repay the favor. Nice to meet you. I am Akiye Void, priestess-in-training."
"Ash. It was no favor at all. You helped me meet the priestess without an appointment on the first day. That was the least I could do." Ash was indeed helping the woman out of gratitude for letting her meet the priestess.
"I have been training long enough to feel the winds change. When I met you, I just had to take you."
Bree broke though their conversation, "now. Now Akiye, don't freak her out already."
Ash shook her head. "I am more familiar with it than anything else here. Your words bring a sense of homely comfort."
And the first memory that set everything into motion. The high priestess of the island was the one who first told her she had to leave the island, for her own good and the good of the island on the day of her brother's crowning. At that time she had been upset with the priestess but couldn't deny her words. Now, standing between these people, they seem to mean something different.
Akiye's smile was permanently etched into her face. She had a kindness about her, droopy eyes full of warmth, rounded face, lifted cheeks and small chin, jutting out slightly.
Everyone began to gather around her. Ash fell into the familiar rhythm of work, that felt quite familiar to what she did back home. It reminded her of her first day in office many years ago.