Chapter 3

Preparations

Ani awoke to near madness. It was the Gulf-fest today, and that meant there would be hundreds of people coming in and out of the Diamond Room for the main feast. As far as the elf could gather from gossip among the maids, the Dust Queen wasn't a fan of the noisy gathering. It lacked the grace that most feasts did, the elegance of dim lighting and slow music. Ani could understand that much, though any sort of feast was welcomed in her eyes.

The feast, known as the Oto'oco, lasted a hearty five long hours. Then the townspeople and nobles would descend the large palace steps to the town square of the city. Jy'gar was home to only a few hundred people, and was the sole residential district of the three provinces. It was where Ani had lived for most of her life, that is, before she had lost her apprenticeship and thus was forced to work in the Dust.

She would have to watch from above as the townspeople danced and sang by the Gulfpit in celebration of its Revival hundreds of years ago. Their victory over the savages that once ruled the island. It was a sad sight, one that felt like a thorn to her heart each time she witnessed it. Her people, dancing without her. She would love to rip her maids attire off and fly free down those stairs, but knew the consequences for such a thing.

"Tell Ayvar to hurry up with those kegs! It's driving me mad not knowing where they are. Mad!" Mei Kolras ran a hand through her tangled black hair. She, along with the other maids, were at least shown respect by having the title of Mei. It was rare to see in other countries, or at least, that's what she had been told by most of the maids. Ani reached out and grabbed the maid by the arms, holding her still as more hurried past them.

"I'll find Ayvar, I'm sure he's just having trouble finding the right ones again. You'd swear he never learned to read!" Ani laughed, but Korlas was not in a laughing mood even half as much as the elf. Regardless, she pushed the maid away to keep her moving, and set forth towards the wine cellar.

Luckily for her, Pawn had already been fast asleep by the time she got back into the Dust. So she simply let Lufic slip through the crack of the door, and left without a word. He hadn't stopped her in her tracks yet so far, so she assumed she was in the clear. Or perhaps he was just waiting until after the festival to tear into her. It was entirely plausible. Well at least he could do me that pleasure. She thought sourly as she descended the stairs into the wine cellar.

Massive kegs pressed against each other along several walls, full of various wines and alcohols. The smaller, more carriable ones sat on shaky wooden shelves in the back of the room. Ani felt as if she had to crouch slightly to avoid brushing her head against the low hanging ceiling.

Men ran to and fro, some said excuse me while others simply cussed at her. She paid them no mind, her eyes running along the labels of the wines out of curiosity. Sure enough, she spotted the apricotwine that Noblewoman Asu had been indulging in. She had never tasted alcohol herself. She was too young by the time she got picked up by the Dust, and they would never dare allow their maids to enjoy the pleasantries of liquor, light or heavy.

"Ayvar!" She shouted, prying her eyes away from the catalog of summerwines. "Ayvar, Mei Korlas is going to lose her wits if she doesn't see that ale soon!" She called out over the business of the cellar, hoping that her voice would carry to wherever the dwarf was. To her surprise, it did, a voice called back to her.

"You can tell Miz Korlas she can come down here and get it herself if she's so bloody pressed about it!" Though it was indeed an aggressive statement, it made Ani smile. She followed the voice until she saw the small Desert Dwarf hobbling between two shelves. He plucked wine from their slots, flipping them over in his hand and even sniffing the bottles. She wondered how that helped at all, but didn't waste her breath. It seemed the dwarf deemed one of them foul, and slipped the bottle back into place.

"I don't think she will very much like that answer." Ani said with a smile, leaning against one of the shelves. It seemed to sway with her weight, and in a chilled panic she stepped back from it. The dwarf let out a hearty laugh, though it wasn't clear at what.

"Look, the truth of the matter is we don't have the bloody ale. We 'aven't had any since the last Lunar!" The dwarf pressed on deeper into the cellar with a wooden box in hand, several bottles of wine clinking off each other. It was unusual for a dwarf to be in D'gyra, Ayvar being one of the few. Especially, though, a Desert Dwarf.

"We haven't any ale at all?"

"Of course we do! But the queen requests the Le'tof ale over any other. Seeing as she gets anxious during these events it would have been behooved of us to have some!" Ayvar tossed the box up into his arms to avoid letting it slip to the ground. Several servants and maids were cleaning up the messes of a shattered bottle a few feet away, clearly not everyone was being as cautious.

"Hey now, how would you know what's going on in the queen's head?" Ani asked. Somehow she struggled to keep the pace of the dwarf, who's eyes bounced from rack to rack of wines. He eventually came to an abrupt stop, Ani smacking into his back unwittingly. The dwarf stumbled forward, the wine clattering as he caught himself from falling.

"Because!" He sighed, "her Eyes isn't exactly a lockbox when it comes to keeping private how she's feeling at any given moment. Give the wench a glass of Mmyyuk ale and she tells every secret the queen ever had!"

"It isn't nice to call a woman of such power a wench, Ayvar." Ani frowned, trying to catch what it was the dwarf was even looking for. It just seemed he wanted to waste time reading labels more than anything. Eventually the dwarf sighed again, twisting around and almost knocking Ani in the stomach with the large box of wines.

"Ah, the only power she has is the power to turn heads, tip noses." He pushes past her without much consideration, somehow going even faster than before.

"Okay, either way, how are you going to tell the queen she isn't getting her ale?" The dwarf stopped once again, and once again the two bumped together. Ani couldn't help but scoff, it seemed he was doing it on purpose. His eyes jumped over his shoulder at Ani, with a look between amusement and anger.

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"Me? No, darlin', that's on you!"

"Me? I don't even have permission to be within a few dozen feet of her!" Ani argued, the dwarf began walking again in a manner which felt he was trying to escape. Only Ani wasn't keen on leaving duties unfullied.

"I'm serious, who should I tell about this?"

"For the love of Geur, Ani, it's just some bloody ale! If it isn't there, she might not even notice. She has more important things going on, or 'ave you forgotten?" He waved a hand at her dismissively, then disappeared down a maze of corridors. Ani wanted to yell at the dense headed dwarf, but kept her mouth shut. It always felt like she was getting the short end of the stick. Constantly told to do something she had no clue how to do, and then criticized for not knowing how when no one had taught her. It was as if they thought she was feigning ignorance, like she was getting something out of frustrating everyone. But it was in fact the complete opposite, it drove her mad.

It wasn't the first time she'd been tossed in the pits and left to crawl her way out, and it certainly wouldn't be her last. So like the good maid she had taught herself to be, she decided her best choice was to rip out the arrow and tell Mei Korlas the truth. There was a good chance the older maid would scream at her despite it being anyone but hers fault, but she saw no other choice.

Approaching the queen herself unprompted, on such an important and stressful day, for something as trivial as missing ale was surely not going to end well. She had heard from several maids and servants that staff had been exiled from the island for interrupting supper to inform the queen of even important matters. How would she react with something so miniscule? It was something she didn't want to find out. So she braved the anxiety ridden walk back to Mei Korlas, though it took a few minutes of trying to find where she had run off to.

"Mei Korlas, miss." She tried to call the older maid, but she was far too busy directing others to their proper places. The Diamond Room looked like a raging mob, servants and maids from other manors had come to help prepare the Oto'oco. It was supposed to begin in less than an hour, and the sounds of the kitchen could be heard from several halls away. The banging of pots and pans, the shouting of chefs and the stomping of feet made Korlas tap the side of her head stressfully. Ani had to call her name a few more times before she finally looked at the elf.

"What? What is it?" She spat. Ani took a subtle step back, her fingers tightening around her skirt.

"There's no more of that ale the queen likes."

"How is that?!" She shouted, throwing her hands to the air in disbelief. Others wandering the halls gave her a strange look, but carried on.

"I have no clue, miss. Ayvar wasn't entirely helpful."

"No need in saying the obvious, dear. I know this isn't your fault. But could you do me a favor at the very least?" The maid leapt forward, gripping Ani by the arms. Her eyes were frantic, jumping between Ani's as if she'd turn to stone if she looked at one longer than the other. Ani nodded, slowly setting herself free from the maids grip.

"Anything, miss." She responded in earnest. Korlas smiled, brushing off her skirt and stroking her hair.

"I need you to go into town and find some of the ale, or at least something of the sort. I think that-!"

"Miss! I haven't been in town for over a decade, I'm not sure I'm even allowed." Ani's face ran pale, her hands raised to her breast. The older maid chuckled, grabbing Ani by the arm again and led her towards the open studies. The rooms were massive, bookshelves on every corridor with dozens of tables equipped with lanterns, paper, and of course a quill with fresh ink. Hastily Korlas wrote a string of words, then, after blowing on the ink to make sure it wouldn't smear, she folded the paper delicately and handed it to the elf.

"Give this here to the guards, if they try to question you then tell them to speak to me directly. But if they do I can't promise I wont do something that will end me up in the Gulfpit." Without much more explanation, the maid scurried away, leaving Ani to stand alone in the study in awe. She wasn't even sure if she could navigate around the town anymore, not since the Emergence from the Gulf-feast six years ago, which led to most of the town being destroyed. Everything would look so different, the people would be different, the merchants and taverns and inns all different!

It was a daunting prospect, being down in the town during the Gulf-fest. She had once been a simple attendant, but now she was in charge of preparing the Oto'oco, something she had never imagined herself doing ten years ago. But, regardless of how she felt, how nervous she was to enter the lonely town of Jy'gar, she had been given a task and she had to complete it. She wasn't going to let this of all things be the first job she couldn't complete. That is, besides her apprenticeship.

Grabbing her satchel from her room, which housed the last few cryys she had left, she made way for the main doors of the palace. In order to do so, though, she would have to pass through the Diamond Room. And as she walked past the massive table spanning the length of the room, she spotted several maids and servants scrambling about, trying to finish last minute preparations. It was clear to Ani she wouldn't be able to retrieve the ale before the Oto'oco started, but she could at least try and get it back somewhere between the third and fourth course. What type of ale was it again? Motomash? Korrbreeze? No, Le'tof! It's that Skyfielder stuff, sour and yet sweet. She had always dreamt of trying the ale herself, having watched the queen down mug after mug from across the Diamond Room.

She used a pencil to quickly write it down in her journal, before stuffing it away in her satchel. It was made of real authentic leather, one of the few things she was allowed to keep when taken to the Dust. She then retrieved the note as she approached the doors. The two guards with steel halberds met her with squinting eyes, as if they were twins assigned the same post. Ani couldn't stop her stomach from churning, but still found the will to raise the note to them.

The one on the left spared no time snatching the note from her hand, flipping it open and taking an awfully long time to read it. While men did learn to read and write, it wasn't made nearly as important as it was for women. Especially a maid, who often would be used to read scrolls or novels to nobles or royalty. Women and men alike. After a good few moments of intense reading, the guard flicked his eyes back up at the elf.

"Ale, ay?" His voice was high pitched, yet gurgled, like he was drinking tar.

"Yes, sir." Is all she could muster, bowing lightly. The guard grinned at this, and straightened his back.

"Hm, I suppose this all checks out. Kulock?" He said, turning to the other guard. It was clear he hadn't been paying attention, as he jumped slightly at the mention of his name.

"Huh? Wazzat? Oh, yeah of course." He waved his hand dismissively, his attention shifting back to the food being placed on the table. Chickens, turkeys, sausages, all meats imported from the mainland other than the pork and steak. The produce was accompanied by a range of pastries and baked goods of all colors and shapes. A large plume of steam waved upwards towards the glass chaliders hanging over the table. Ani was sure the guard's tongue was going to roll out of his head. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel the same, somewhat. Her thoughts were interpreted as the note was pressed against her chest by the guard. She looked to see he had given her a Royal Stamp, which could only be given by someone of the Dust or within the Dust Palace. It meant that her note was confirmed by an official, and anyone questioning her could step off when shown the stamp.

"Alright, keep 'er going. Feast starts soon, better hurry." She decided to ignore the rudeness of the guard, and strode through the open doors, towards the stairs. And though her stride was confident, she felt anything but it.