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The Great Hall



The Great Hall of Castellum Argentus is a towering area filled with sunlight and color. 3 story high stained glass windows break the sun into shards of jewel tones and pastels, painting the white marble floor in a flood of rainbow hues. The ceiling has been painted in a summer sky motif, with a few fluffy clouds, warm blue tones, and birds soaring overhead.

Columns of white marble stride down the center of the hall to form an aisle leading to a dias. Atop the dias two thrones are set, ornately carved from wood to look like trees and vines and flowers all entwining to cradle and support the royalty. Ranged around the hall are alcoves flled with busts of the former kings and queens of the Sun Court, and hung with tapestries displaying historic events.

The room is lit by chandeliers depending from the arches overhead, and oil lamps hung from iron rings in the walls and columns.

"They would be proud of you." He quietly strode down the hall, absent for once of his tiny rodent companion usually on his shoulder. Hands clasped behind his back he too studied the tapestries, but he didn't allow any sadness to peek through his stoic face.

He too felt a loss, but he didn't want to dwell on it nor did he want to spread any more melancholy than was already swirling around about parents and families lost.

"My liege... you are not your father... and I am certain even a great man like your father struggled at first with his responsibilities. You and I face a challenge many of our parents did not- we only have each other for guidance, and you grew before all. I am sure the king would be most proud of how you have done. He was always proud of you."

He does not comment on his thoughts on what happened to their parents. Aesculus knows it is more realistic that they died, but he holds some very thin optimism and hope tightly within his heart, afraid to expose it for fear it will wither and die when let outside.

Aesculus opened his mouth, quite ready to tell Cervus about how Muris had asked him to "play" when he felt pain shoot through his body, painful beyond anything he had imagined when he saw Neith age. He fell to a knee, trying to keep his mind conscious, trying to pretend there was no pain, but his body would not heed him.

After falling to a knee he saw some of the strange, pale blue light seem to seep through him and swirl around him as if making a cocoon. He knew what was happening, but it made it no easier on him. Aesculus was both glad his friend was here to see him and pained, for he never wished Cervus to worry over him or to see him falter in weakness and such wrecking pain either.

As he felt and saw the pulsating light surround him, surrounding him in its painful and bright glory, he felt more pain surge through him. As tears of pain stung his eyes, he bit his lip, the brief image of Cervus making him all the more determined not to yell, to cry out, to scream.

His arms held his torso as he squeezed himself. The pain he was causing himself was nothing compared to what this aging process was doing, and he could swear he felt the bones in his fingers get longer under his tight grip. Aesculus held onto himself, as if it was the only way he was sure he was still actually in one piece.

Aesculus was slow to release his grip on himself, to stop biting the now bleeding lip, to realize the pain was gone. For a moment he felt numb, but as he quickly regained feeling, he opened his eyes and noticed Cervus.

It was the awkward feeling mixed with Cervus's stare that made him look down at himself. Despite his usual calmness, he seemed a bit startled and surprised to find himself grown. It is one thing to know it will happen, and quite another to actually see yourself now a teenager. Aesculus was actually so shocked at himself he just sort of sat there on the floor, unsure of what to say at do. For once, he was at a loss.

He stared at the mirror a moment before he closed his eyes. He truly looked like his father- perhaps too much. Closing his eyes, he wondered how he could look in the mirror and not remember...

Abruptly Aesculus shook his head, looking at Cervus with a raised brow, a hint of amusement on his face. "Perhaps when Rosa misbehaves, she can chase people away from my chambers. She could do a fine job of it."

Aesculus stares at Cervus as he makes the comment about jealous of looks, and shrugs it off with a look to the king as if he has said something silly or perhaps lewd- a dismissing look at the comment.

"An Aide is never out of sorts. Another person might be, but never an aide." He smiled a little at his friend as he clasps his shoulder reassuringly. The last thing the king needs to have is something else to worry about.