They could see the palace before they even left the front gate. It was very apparent that the massive building at the back of the city must have been the most important one in the city and therefore, house someone important within it. The palace had three massive spires jutting out of a larger body with the tower in the middle being the tallest of the three. The palace was a light blue shade that did not match any of the surrounding buildings. Violet dwelled a lot on the type of person who would demand such a massive building with such unique architecture. Aquarium was a rich nation, but they were not at the top of the pecking order, so she wondered if they could have used those resources a little more intelligently.
What kind of person was Queen Puri? According to what they heard from the citizens, she is someone they all hold in quite high regard. There was not a single person who seemed to dislike her in the slightest through every conversation they had or overheard. As residents of Admia, all they were told about Queen Puri is that she holds the Liquid Ring and is outspoken against Admian cruelty, although they were taught that last bit in quite a different tone. Everything they knew was based only on rumors from the citizens, which could easily be generated through propaganda, and the propaganda that their own nation had spouted at them, so they probably would not know anything for certain until they actually met the woman herself.
After making their way through most of the city, the main takeaway from Kenrich was that this place was too large for him to feel even remotely comfortable. Too many people. Too many places. Too many eyes. Violet did not dwell on the city itself though and only thought about the likelihood of this meeting being a trap.
“This here is her majesty’s palace,” the leading guard said. “I ask you both to be on your best behavior as we will be watchin’. No sudden moves, and no disrespect.”
“Sure, sure,” Violet said dismissively.
“Thank you for escorting us,” Kenrich said.
“Once you enter the front doors, go to the back of the main hall and take the stairs to the right. Once you reach the top, you’ll be in Queen Puri’s quarters.”
“We’re not meeting in the main hall? What kind of queen meets potentially dangerous strangers in her personal quarters?” Violet asked.
“We are just following her direct orders, and we advise you to do the same. Now, hurry along, and remember…we will be watchin’.”
Violet looked at Kenrich, who just shrugged. They decided not to pry any further and made their way through the massive blue doors that took two men on each side to open for them.
Once they entered the palace, they saw how it was even more bourgeois than they originally thought just by viewing it from the outside. Inside, everything was the same shade of light blue except for the expensive and massive paintings that decorated the large side walls of the main hall. Each of the paintings depicted a different type of animal. There was an obvious theme with them though that Violet immediately picked up on that caused an audible sigh. There was one of a cat with a witch’s hat batting at a potion on a shelf. One of a white rabbit with red eyes sitting in the middle of a pile of snow with a small black top hat placed on its head. And another had a baby goat, wearing a small tuxedo, placed in the center of a bed of wildflowers. The rest of the paintings also fit this theme.
“Must be quite the animal lover,” Kenrich remarked.
“I don’t feel like we’re going to get along too well,” Violet said.
“Why not? You go crazy every time you see Atlas. I figured this would give you two more to talk about.”
“There’s a huge difference between an animal appreciator, and a spoiled rich girl who just likes cute things. “
“Please don’t carry this attitude when we meet her. We need to keep things respectful.”
“I’m not just gonna go causing problems, jackass. I’m just saying you can tell a lot about a person by the way they decorate and the vibes I am getting show that she might be a bit strange.”
“Aren’t we all though?”
Violet rolled her eyes.
They continued walking through the large hall which seemed to go on forever. There were chandeliers that seemed high enough up to touch the clouds, sets of furniture that all looked to be meticulously designed to match the same “under the sea” atmosphere, and a massive throne at the end of the room that towered over everything else in the hall. Kenrich thought about how much of a pain it would be to climb into a chair so high. There were two guards posted around every door on the way to the end of the hall, but once they finally reached the spiral staircase they were told to take, they did not see any around that area. It felt strange for the guards that escorted them here to be so threatening while not seeming to be guarding her very well within her own palace. They started making their way up the steps, and, after looking up, Violet and Kenrich noticed that they could not see the top.
“I guess we know why they don’t need guards for these…we’d be too tired to do anything once we reached the top anyway,” Kenrich said.
“I can’t imagine having to go up these stairs every time I want to rest. Maybe we’re meeting up there because she’s too lazy to make her way down here,” Violet said. “That would definitely reinforce my point of the spoiled rich girl.”
They kept climbing, and climbing, and climbing…and after ten minutes, they finally saw a room. The room kept the same light blue theme and had a normal-sized door which certainly must lead to Queen Puri’s quarters. Kenrich took the lead and knocked on the door.
“My guests are here! Oh, I thought I had more time!”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
They heard a muffled female voice say from behind the door. They then heard a loud crash that sounded like someone knocking over a bunch of silverware which caused Kenrich to speak through the door.
“Are you alright, your majesty?”
“Yes! I’m quite alright! Thank you for your concern! It’ll only be a moment!”
Kenrich looked over at Violet who only pointed to the side of her head and did a twirling motion with her finger. Kenrich shook his head disapprovingly at her gesture. After another minute, they finally heard the voice call again.
“Alright! You may come in!”
Kenrich opened the door with Violet following behind him. Surprisingly, when they entered the room, it did not match the light blue color scheme that they were now used to. There was a modest, muted tone of grey that covered the walls instead. The bed in the middle of the room had a grey bed set that matched the walls perfectly and was also filled with stuffed animals of various cute animals. There was also a dining set in the side of the room that had light brown wooden chairs surrounding a matching table. In one of the chairs, sat a young woman who was certainly Queen Puri. Kenrich was surprised to see that she was so young. She could not have been that much older than Violet so was most likely in her early twenties. She had light blue hair that matched the tone of the rest of the palace and was giving them a cute smile with her perfectly straight, perfectly white teeth. She was very beautiful. As she sat in the chair, her feet did not touch the ground, so it was clear that she was definitely much shorter than them.
“Welcome! Thank you for coming on such short notice,” she said, her blue eyes sparkling as she talked.
Kenrich could not help being a bit flustered with her beauty.
“Th-thank you for your hospitality, your majesty. There’s no chance we’d refuse an invitation from the queen herself.”
Queen Puri gave him a warm smile. Violet just rolled her eyes.
“So, how did you know we were coming and that we broke out of your shitty prison so quickly?” Violet said.
“Violet! Please be more considerate!”
“Hey, she’s the one who had us getting tortured in that shithole!”
“I would never!” Queen Puri objected. “That was Admia’s doing! I make sure all of our prisons are even more comfortable than my own lodgings.”
“There would not be enough land on the planet to make every prison as gaudy as this palace…”
“I only mean my bedroom! I do apologize though if you were not treated nicely on Aquarium soil. Admia still has a lot of pull within these walls, regrettably. We allow them to house prisons in a few of our major cities for extradition purposes. It is no excuse though. That is one reason why I harbor no ill will towards you two for making your escape there, or for ending the lives of that Admian squadron.”
“We greatly appreciate your understanding,” Kenrich said. “I can’t help but also be curious about how you knew about it all so quickly though. It was not even a full day ago.”
“We are fortunate enough to have a good number of communication stones spread within some of our cities. I was contacted that you might be making your way here from the very moment you entered this country. Speaking of which! How did you like the design of my cities?! I modeled them all myself!”
The queen gave off an aura of someone looking for praise. Her eyes sparkled in anticipation for their answer.
“Did you? I think you did a wonderf-”
“That must be why there are pointless canals everywhere.” Violet said, cutting Kenrich off.
“P-pointless?!” Queen Puri said, surprisingly. “I-I just wanted to give everyone access to water whenever they wanted! They could scoop it up and take it to their homes or even drink it if they wanted to!”
“Well, from what we’ve seen, everyone just seems to ignore your strange canals. I think they’d prefer not to have to scoop water out of a stream like a wild animal.”
“Is-is that so?” Queen Puri said, sadly. “I wish someone would have told me sooner…”
“Also, what’s with the ugly blue throughout the whole palace? That was your doing as well, right? No one must’ve told you that was a bad idea either.”
“Violet! You said you wouldn’t start anything!” Kenrich objected.
“Is it really that bad?” Queen Puri asked.
She looked surprised at Violet’s criticisms, but there was no hint of anger on her face.
“I just wanted to give it an iconic look…”
“It’s abhorrent,” Violet said. “Speaking of which, why is your bedroom the only place untouched by the blue plague?”
“It was starting to hurt my eyes…B-but all my staff said they loved it!”
“You truly have no one around you to tell you the truth, huh?”
Queen Puri’s face started to show embarrassment with a light shade of red covering her face.
“Violet, can we please stop insulting the queen’s design choices and get to the important stuff?!”
“It-it’s quite alright, young man. I’ve never had someone be this honest with me before, however brutal it might be. I appreciate it, Violet. Would you work for me as my personal knight?”
“Hell no,” Violet said, crossing her arms.
“W-well please let me know if you change your mind.”
“I greatly apologize for my partner here, your majesty. We really do hold a great amount of respect for you, and for the great nation of Aquarium. Now, what did you call us here to speak about?”
“I promise that I’m not offended!” Queen Puri said, her face still a bit red. “I called you both here for one reason, to talk about that ring on your finger.”
“You know about the ring as well?” Kenrich asked.
“My parents told me of its existence, among other things, when I was young. I never truly thought about the meaning of all they told me until I heard that the ring was truly real by hearing of your exploits in Ravine. They said that Tinsen Entilin…killed you…then brought you back. It was an unbelievable story, but with everything that has been going on, I believe it now.”
“If you want the ring for yourself, then you’d best bring an army up here!” Violet said aggressively, putting her hand on her sheath.
“Don’t threaten the queen, V!” Kenrich said, trying to wrestle Violet’s hand off of her blade.
“It-it’s nothing like that! I only wish to pass the information my parents gave me unto you…along with a mission.”
“A mission?” Kenrich asked, still wrestling arms with Violet.
“I want you two to destroy the ring, and I’m going to tell you how to do it.”