The inside of the Verdigris Tower was cold. They kept the building frigid for reasons Julia did now know for sure, but she was convinced it was unnecessary and was just Kiwi’s preference. Being the Supreme Verdancy was mostly just a title and gave very little power over the other six Verdancies, but it did give you the authority to control the temperature of your office building apparently. Kiwi was a controversial Supreme, and Julia was finally finding out why.
The lobby of the tower was colorful and almost gaudy, although the decorators had at least some sort of taste to keep it from being awfully gaudy. The carpet had an intricate pattern on it that spread across the entire lobby and, as far as Julia could see, snaked its way down the various halls. The walls, while not colorful themselves, were covered in paintings framed by intricately detailed gold frames, being nearly as beautiful as the paintings themselves, and various plants and other decorations put up specifically for the appointment of Shadow Verdancies.
Julia walked up to the receptionist, gave her her name, and she received a badge with her name and position on it. I feel so important now, she thought.
“Good luck in there,” the receptionist called in a flat tone as Julia started walking away. Julia turned and waved, and made her way back down the hall that the receptionist told her to go. She made her way down the long and thin halls of the first floor, until she reached the room that she was told to go to. There was a man at the front that made sure Julia was who she said she was, and after verifying her identity, she was let in.
Nobody is going to try and sneak into an event that’s purely a formality, she thought, finding her table. The ceremony was being held in what looked like a ball room, with nice, circular tables covered in green patterned tablecloths, candles, and expensive dinnerware laid across the room. There was a stage at the front of the room with a podium, and a table, much grander, larger, and more extravagant than the other tables in the room, with seven empty seats evenly spaced around it. One seat was pretty much a throne, being much bigger than the others.
Julia sat at her table, where one other person already was. She was wearing a tux, which contrasted quite a bit with Julia’s long and flowy dress. Her hair was a very dark brown, cut to the shoulders, and absolutely gorgeous. Julia found herself staring at the woman as she started to sit, and had to tear her eyes away from her. Luckily the woman had not noticed her yet, as she was facing the stage, looking at something.
“Good morning,” Julia said, sitting down.
“Oh good morning,” the woman said, turning around. Julia looked up to see dull green eyes looking her over, framed by a soft face and a body that worked really well in the tux.
“This is the nominee table, right?” Julia asked.
“Yeah, it is.”
“Okay good,” Julia said quickly with a giggle in her voice, “just making sure.”
“So you’re Julia?” The woman asked after a pause.
“Yes, I am. And you are?”
“Sofie, nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you Sofie,” Julia paused, “Although, how did you know my name?”
“I mean, you’re wearing a badge with the name Julia on it, so I made a safe assumption.”
“Oh, right,” Julia said, blushing.
The two of them continued to chat as the room started to fill more and more. Julia kept her eyes on the room around her, searching for her family. She did not see them.
Some more time passed, and eventually a woman appeared from behind the stage, made her way down, and sat down at one of the chairs at the grand table just off to the side of the stage. She was wearing an extremely long, forest green dress, with a head of luscious black hair, and extremely colorful makeup. More people trickled out from the stage, and made their way to the Verdancy table. All but the largest chair became occupied with various men and women dressed in the same shade of green, with various amounts of makeup, jewelry, and hair styles.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Eventually the lights dimmed in the room, and Julia’s conversation with Sofie cut short, as did conversations all over the room. The stage remained lit in a faint green color, as Kiwi, the Supreme Verdancy, walked onto stage. She was tall but thin, with strong facial features and blue eyes. She wore a plain green dress, but she had what Julia saw as a ridiculous amount of jewelry on her. Her hair was littered in gems and clips, and her neck was almost invisible under the amount of necklaces she had on. She walked up to the microphone, and the room completely silenced.
“Welcome everybody,” Kiwi started in her very proper, presentational voice, “to this year’s Shadow Verdancy appointment ceremony. We are extremely excited to have this group of prospective young people here to get a chance at a future within the conclave. I genuinely think this is one of the best groups we’ve ever had for this position, and I promise I don’t say that every year. We have some shining faces, and some faces that are not so bright but just as filled with potential, over there at that table, and I am extremely excited to present these people to you.
“Each Verdancy elected one person to bring under their wing, and as such each Verdancy will be presenting their selection to you all, and why they think their selection is the best possible person that they could find to follow them in their work. So without further ado, and to make sure this ceremony doesn’t go as long as some others in past years have, let’s start with Bobby and her election.”
I’m going first? Julia’s heart started racing. She didn’t quite know why she was nervous; she didn’t have to say anything up there. She had to go up, hold a plaque, get a pin denoting her position, and then stand there as Bobby explained why she chose her. But that didn’t change the fact that she didn’t expect to go first. She expected them to go in alphabetical order, which yes Bobby’s name is early alphabetically, but there was 201 and Beet to go in front of her. Why her, first?
Bobby stood up from her chair, which was directly to the right of Kiwi’s chair. She didn’t look phased at all by the strange order. If they were going clockwise around the table, then they would be going alphabetical, except for Bobby first. After Bobby was 201, then Beet, then Delta, then Jar, then Ritz. Why?
Julia took a deep breath, and tried her best to calm her nerves. Her hands would not stop shaking, but she did her best to at least slow her thoughts and think rationally. Did it matter if she went first? No. It did not. This ceremony is a complete formality, and the order in which they were presented did not matter. She was to stand up there, let Bobby talk about her, and she would have to deal with it. At least she got it out of the way sooner.
Bobby walked up to the mic, and started talking. Julia barely listened. She just listened for when her name was called, and then walked up and went through the motions that she had gone through before in previous ceremonies similar to this one. She walked up the steps, grabbed the plaque and pin that was handed to her, put the pin on, and stood there as Bobby talked to the audience. It was pretty much a rehash of what she had written in her letter to Julia, with more detail, more anecdotes, and the addition of stories about things that Julia had done in her life as a political student: her roles in leadership, her exceptional grades, stories from her instructors about interviews and projects, so on. But it all went through Julia’s ears. She just stood there, trying to not look like she was freaking out. She kept on the best smile she could manage, and kept looking through the crowd for her family. She did not see them. She was sure she looked at every table, but she had not seen her family.
“So with that, I officially invite this amazing young woman to the position of my Shadow Verdancy. Congrats Julia.” Bobby turned away from the mic towards Julia, they bowed, and then walked off stage. Julia made her way back to the table, getting congrats from the rest of the table, sat down, and then spaced out for the rest of the ceremony.
She paid half attention, saying congrats to the rest of the Shadows as they made their way one by one back to the table from the stage, and she clapped whenever everybody else clapped. But she did not listen to what they were saying.
Finally, Ritz left the stage with his Shadow, and Kiwi came back onto stage. She closed the ceremony with final congratulations to the group of Shadows, and thanked everybody for coming. Final remarks were made, and then the house lights came back up. Julia made one last goodbye to Sofie, who’s sight made her a little calmer, and made her way out of the ballroom. There was a small crowd gathering in the lobby, and she scanned the crowd for her family. Still no sign of them. She just decided to go home and go to bed. Her family would understand.
It was probably stupid for her to go out into the streets alone like that, even though it was mid day at this point, especially with the Shadow Verdancy pin on her dress and the plaque in her hand. But she didn’t care. Her walking pace was enough, she hoped, to keep people’s eyes and hands off her as she walked through the dense streets of the middle city. She kept her eyes forward, although this time it was not out of premeditated and planned safety, but instead because she didn’t know where else to look. She was afraid to make eye contact with anybody for some reason. Maybe if you had listened to what Bobby said about you, you would know why you went first, Julia thought to herself. She wanted to punch herself. She would ask her parents whenever she woke up.
The streets started to loosen up, and the middle city started to give way to the outer city suburbs. She walked the familiar streets to her house, and walked inside, straight to her room. She flopped onto her bed without even changing, and went to sleep.
Her family came home a few hours later from the broadcasted watch party to find Julia asleep. They let her sleep, as they figured she was probably exhausted from the stress of the few hour long event.