Mrs. Rose stood outside the large doors in the blue portal hall. Going in uncalled for would earn her quite the sanction but she had no choice. Mrs. Harry was about to do something desperate, the very thought of which made Rose's head spin. Why couldn't she understand, why did she have to be so impulsive? The last time she had taken this route, done something impulsively without considering the consequences, the result was the mess that Rose was now attempting to resolve. Couldn't she understand that two wrongs don't make a right? A small smile lit Rose's face as she thought of her own mistakes. Who was she to judge Mrs. Harry? In similar circumstances, she would do the same. Rose knew she was also accountable for the current state of things. The old librarian wouldn't be hard-pressed for a successor had things gone differently that night. But what could she have done? The life of her family hung in the balance, she was unable to think rationally. Well aware of her precarious position in defending another while also facing judgment from the council of the Portal Lords, Mrs Rose knocked and then waited. After waiting for several moments with no reply, she made her entrance.
The room was dimly lit and cold. She seemed to have stepped into an entirely different place from the blue portal hall she was formerly in. Beside every portal Lord's portrait was the door leading to their portal, looking back at the door she had walked in through, she noticed a change in appearance. Though glassy and blue on the other end, the door was lilac on this side, covered with flowers and looking almost like a plant of some sort which had contorted into the shape of a door by design. The portraits stared at her lifeless, all but the lilac which was directly behind her, its frame empty. The council of the portal Lords was not sitting at the moment. Mrs. Rose was torn between relief and disappointment. Yes, she was happy that her sentence wouldn't be extended due to her impertinence but she was also anguished that the purpose for which she had built up the resolve to face the Lords wouldn't be accomplished. She turned to leave and decided to apply for a day to meet them, a suggestion she had deemed irrelevant, given the current emergency but was now beginning to see its worth.
'Maybe ask Pearl for a suitable date' She thought aloud as she turned to leave.
'Speak' an icy male voice responded, freezing her in her tracks. She turned slowly, all the portraits remained immobile but the blue portal Lord's which was looking at her. His portrait was still very much unchanged but now animate. She turned quickly and bowed, giving him his required dignity.
'Rise' he said.
'Sir, I am Rose, a soldier of Legandanl' She began by introducing herself.
'Yes, I know who you are,' the blue portal Lord answered impatiently. 'What I want to know is why you are here'
'Sir, it's concerning the Lilac Portal Lord' she replied. 'I wish to request for a shortening of her sentence' The only reaction this garnered from his stoic face was a raised brow but Mrs Rose wouldn't be intimidated.
'Given the current circumstances, of which you are aware, the Lilac portal Lord would be unable to protect her realm if she is left to serve out her full punishment. Her current weakened state makes her a prime target for nefarious parties and has pushed her to a wall while the portal Lords look on passively' Mrs. Rose spoke passionately, overstepping her boundaries without realizing it.
'The order and decree of the portal Lords is to maintain balance in the realms. We have sovereignty answerable to only the Almighty Himself over our dominion. We have been bestowed with our immense power to guarantee this balance. If any portal Lord were to abuse this power, the results would be dire. You should know this, Rose.'
'Yes Sir but-'
'And that was exactly what Lilac did. She abused her power and left her jurisdiction unprotected and unsupervised. Lilac altered the balance of the realms, two portal masters are never to be in a realm at the same time'.
'It was only for a moment'
'And who knows what could have happened in that moment. She placed the lives of all the mortals- humans in that realm in grave danger.'
'Sir, the circumstances surrounding her rebellion were critical, it was a matter of necessity. There was another realm in grave danger and she left to aid its portal lord, one of you in war. This is why it baffles me that you would not only inflict such severe punishment on her but would abandon her even now when your punishment renders her unable to protect her own realm'. Rose could see him wince, her words were harsh and met their mark. She wasn't pulling any punches, she had a point to pass across. What's more, as she spoke of Mrs Harry's case she remembered hers, unable to protect those she loved because she had broken a law that was little more than a convention in a moment of duress. The matter hit close to home so she was getting more and more emotional without even realising it.
'No, it was a selfish decision, she did it to protect a member of her family. She left the whole of her realm in danger because a member of her family might have needed her help. It was irresponsible'
'Sir?' Mrs. Rose was unfamiliar with this version of the story.
'I understand why you would sympathise with a case like hers, you did the same yourself. I remember when you were brought before this council for defying our laws to save those you love.' Mrs. Rose's eyes closed as the memory flashed before her, the flames, the screams.
'I understand more than anyone else, after all, she did it for me.' The blue portal lord's stoic gaze softened. 'But we are the portal Lords, if we do not uphold our laws, no one else will'
'Yes, the rules cannot be bent' Another voice spoke up, it was the green portal lord.
'Sir' Mrs. Rose bowed to the now animate portrait.
'You may rise.' He said then turning to the blue portal Lord, 'Blue, you cannot decide for the entire council, a meeting must be held and her case heard' He said softly.
'You are right.' The blue portal master replied suddenly looking weathered. The weight of his own decision not to hear the case was crushing him and he was relieved to hear a contrary opinion.
'Rose, you can leave now, rest assured I will present your case before the entire council' Green looked at his friend with a smile, Blue was far too rigid, in his attempt not to show favouritism, he was actually being biased against the lilac Portal Lord.
Mrs. Rose left with a little more hope than she had come in with.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
'Pearl, I didn't mean to but I told Amber it was you who instructed me to warn her about Suzy - No, that doesn't sound right' Ophelia paced back and forth in her room then stopped in front of the mirror and tried again.
'Pearl, you know Amber is old enough to make decisions about the character of others, we should trust her judgement.' She winced at the face Pearl would make if she should hear that. Ophelia made the most serious face she could and stared hard at the mirror, practising the face she would make when she informed Pearl.
'Pearl, Amber really trusts Suzy, maybe you should too' She held her head in her hands and sat down. Why had she informed Pearl of the correlation between Suzanne and Suzy? Pearl would have figured it out herself and she wouldn't have to be in the middle of all this.
Ophelia remembered the disturbed state Amber was in when she, Ophelia brought up Suzy again and reconsidered. Maybe Pearl was on to something. She felt a gentle pressure on her shoulder and looked beside her, Pearl was also sitting on the bed.
'Pearl!' Ophelia was startled.
'Shh!' A hand over her mouth smouldered the rest of her shock and sentence. Pearl looked anxiously to the door, only then did Ophelia hear the heavy footfalls of Mrs. Julia right outside her door, her eyes widened. The door knob turned and Mrs. Julia walked into an empty room. Confused, she walked back out.
In the pale blue of the portal hall, Ophelia was getting a serious scolding from Pearl.
'She would have caught me' Pearl yelled at her, while Ophelia sat on the floor, looking remorseful. She would have caught me, were Ophelia's exact same thoughts. Ophelia would have been in a whole world of trouble. Or would she? She wasn't sure how this new Mrs. Julia would react to seeing Pearl, that is, the new Mrs. Julia that had been showing herself gradually since Pearl's disappearance, the former one was more predictable.
'Anyway, I came to give you this' Pearl held out her book to Ophelia.
'Right, I didn't finish it.' She held it, reluctant to start while the issue of Amber's disobedience hung heavy in her heart.
'There's something I need to tell you before we start. It's about Amber' Ophelia started.
Pearl made a face, 'Are you sure it can't wait?' Ophelia was reminded once again why she wanted nothing to do with the current relationship between the sisters.
'She was crying yesterday'
Pearl felt responsible, imagining the loneliness of her disappearance and frustration at not being chosen by her sister had pushed Amber to the point of tears. She didn't want to face this repercussion from her actions so she decided to do what she had done concerning Amber since she left, brush her aside.
'That's irrelevant' She answered coldly. Ophelia was flabbergasted.
'Excuse me?' Ophelia was nearing her breaking point.
'I mean, I can't with Amber, and all she's going through right now. I need more time, I'm not ready to deal with this at the moment'.
'Your own sister?' Ophelia finally let out what she had kept in since the beginning.
'Ophelia, really! I don't need this sentimental garbage from you right now'.
Ophelia winced at Pearl's choice of words but Pearl went on without noticing.
'You don't understand what I'm going through all right? You don't know what it's like and the choices I've had to make, for her safety and for yours. Do you think I wanted this? I do what I must irrespective of how you, she or anyone feels about it'.
'I had a sibling once, you know. And if I still had one, I would never treat them the way you treat yours' Ophelia broke down in tears first.
'Really!' Pearl sighed, disgusted. Ophelia was weak and she knew it, her own weakness irritated her as well, why couldn't she converse without breaking down in tears like this every time? She looked up to see the look on Pearl's face. Pearl looked at her as though she was looking at a child seeking attention. It infuriated Ophelia.
'I told Amber it was your instruction to stay away from Suzy,' Ophelia retorted in-between sobs. Pearl's eyes narrowed into slits at this. Her anger was evident but controlled.
'I'll leave the book with you, I don't want to be around you right now.' Pearl left in a heartbeat after that.
Ophelia was alone in the portal hall with Pearl's book. As she opened it, two huge teardrops fell on the pages, she found her mark and began to read.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
After the play, Pearl went home and thought of her next steps. She was sure she had just seen Mrs. Harry's origin, she was supposed to be their protector or something. She was in charge of the portal, the bridge between here and wherever and she had been entrusted this duty by her father who had gone on to somewhere.
That night. Mrs. Rose came to visit. After another gruelling training session, Pearl asked her about her speculations about Mrs. Harry.
'That about sums it up. The old librarian is in charge of this realm but there are others, seven to be precise and they are called the portal lords. Under the authority of the Almighty, they have sovereign reign over these seven dimensions of the mortal realms. They have a council where they all meet to make decisions and laws that affect all of us living under their reign.
One of these laws is that we must not interfere in the affairs of mortals. When one of our kind becomes aware of their ability, they must choose, either to live in hiding, restraining their power from influencing and affecting the normal life of the mortals or cross over to the other side and live in the ancient city.' Mrs Rose explained.
'Then what Mrs Harry said, that I cannot enter into the portal hall with a human, that's another law, yes?' Pearl asked. Mrs. Rose's reaction was controlled but Pearl noticed that for just a moment, she seemed affected by what she had asked.
'Yes, that is another law'
'So they establish order? They create rules. And if they err? If they disobey their own rules, who punishes them?'
'They are completely autonomous and answerable only to the council. This is why whatever the council decides stands. No one but the Council can punish a portal lord. This is the authority given to them by the Almighty himself.'
'Wow.'
'The Council exists primarily to defend and protect mortals who have come under the influence of our own ancient city because some fugitives of the rebellion fled to the mortal realm. They function primarily to preserve free will'
'Free will?'
'The right and ability to choose for themselves. We preserve the autonomy of the individual within its confines. The superimposition of the will of higher beings on mortals due to differences in power and ability is what they exist to prevent.'
'I thought they were just here to stop intruders or something'
'They do that too. No one can enter or leave a portal without the portal lord's knowledge. Their control over their portal is evident from the hue and character of the portal hall, each portal assumes the character of its lord, demonstrating their influence over it. The portal lords also bear names corresponding to their respective colours, black, gold, blue, green, lilac, peach, and pecan.'
'We must be in Blue's domain then' Pearl remarked, observing the colour of their portal hall.
'No, this domain belongs to Lilac' Mrs Rose responded gravely. At first, Pearl was confused, but then she understood.
'Is that the reason for the urgency? Because our portal lord is weakened? But what happened to her? Why is she in the state she is in?'
'I don't know. It happened before I met her. All the time I have known her, she has been serving out her punishment, imposed on her by the Council of Portal lords' Mrs. Rose sighed and then asked 'Have you finished reading the journals?'
'Yes', Pearl answered with a knowing look.
'That means you know. I must ask this one favour of you, that you keep all this to yourself. When the time is right, everything will be known.'
'As you wish, your secret is not mine to tell'. Pearl obliged.
Reading the journals had given Pearl the idea to start writing hers, for Ophelia, whom she decided should be the next to come after her.