The Tale of Four

The Tale of Four

Chapter Eight

As we were heading back to the palace I remembered that Captain Graves had promised to show me around. "I guess he forgot."

"What?" Brenda asked.

"Captain Eric said he would show me around the palace after we ate lunch. I just wonder if he forgot."

"Probably. He is really air headed like that." She replied. "I will show you around if you want."

"That would be great. Last night I got lost trying to get back to my room. I was escorted back by Colonel Markus and his sister."

"Miss Tara was here?"

"Yeah. I ran into her first and she offered to lead me back to my room, but she got lost as well."

"She does that a lot. She is known to have a terrible sense of direction. If she offers to lead you anywhere again, then I wouldn't take it."

"Ha ha. I will try and remember that." I said as we entered the palace. "It's a little while before dinner, right?"

"Yes. Would you like me to show you around? It won't take too long." She offered.

"I would really appreciate it." I answered.

Brenda was right, it didn’t take long for her to show me around. The reason for that is because, as a guest, I couldn't go to certain places in the palace. One of those places was the Eastern Wing where the King sleeps. I understood the reason for that and didn't ask any questions. One thing bothered me though, why would he need a whole wing to himself. It just seemed wasteful. But I was not a King so what did I know. The Northern and Western wings were for any guests that would stay here. Brenda told me that a couple times a year they would hold huge celebrations, and that people from all over the Nation would come here to party.

The Southern wing held the ball room where the parties would take place. Each individual wing led to the main part of the palace which held the throne room, dining room, kitchen, the Kings' study, and a library. The servant’s quarters were located at the back of kitchen, where they would sleep and spend their free time. A lot of the servants lived a great deal away from the palace and it would be impossible from them to journey home on days off. Brenda said that to become a servant here you had to take a physical test of doing all the chores on your own before you are hired. They also check out your family and political backgrounds so Vincent knows everything about you.

"So this is the last place." Brenda said after showing me the servant’s quarters. "Is there anything you would like to ask?"

"Well, just one thing." I replied. "How do you get a chance to talk to King Vincent? I forgot to ask him some questions last night when we spoke."

"You would have to go to the throne room and ask for an audience with him. If he says yes, and if it is a conversation you need to have in private, he will schedule you a time. That may take weeks though. He is very busy and rarely has time to indulge in any leisure time."

"It won't hurt to try." I said determined to talk with him. We made our way to the throne room. Brenda hadn't shown me this earlier because I already knew where it was. When we entered I saw what she had been talking about. There were many people in the throne room waiting for a chance to speak with Vincent. Most of the people in the room at this time were the official looking people I had met coming into the palace for the first time. A few of the people seemed like regular people who came from the town. Vincent was dealing with them first in a quick but respectful manner. Most of the people he dealt with left with a smile on their faces. It was obvious that the people looked up to and admired him. When he was done with them he turned his attention towards the officials.

When he started talking to one I realized that this was going to take a while. I had joined the group at the back. I had no patience for this so I asked the person next to me a question. "How long will this take?"

The man looked down his nose at me and replied with, "I don't know." Knowing that I wasn't going to get much information out of him I turned towards another. This man was the one that glared at me yesterday when I first arrived.

"How do I get a schedule meeting with the King?" I asked him.

"You would have to talk to him directly." He replied not really paying attention.

"Do you think I could do that?"

"Absolutely not. We have been waiting for him to finish up with the riff raff for a while now. I won't let some girl just get ahead of the line."

"It would only take a minute, then I would be gone and you could continue your waiting in peace."

"I said no. Now leave girl, I have business here." He said turning his back to me.

Well he was rude. I decided now wasn't the best time to ask for a meeting so I exited the throne room and met up with Brenda. "How did it go?" She asked.

"Not good. I was told to leave by those officials."

"If they were in there than the King will be busy the rest of the day. They tend to hound him until he tells them to leave."

"They’re not very nice. Both today and yesterday they seemed to have an attitude."

"That's because they don't like King Vincent."

"Why's that?"

"They have a specific idea about the way he should run Bastion, and King Vincent doesn't share in those ideas. He is the type of person who will try to make the lives of the common people as comfortable as possible. But in doing so he is alienating the Senate."

"I'm guessing those people inside the throne room are people from the Senate?"

"That's right. They believe that if you have enough money and power you should be able to do anything you want. In the past the Kings' have gone along with them because they didn't have anyone who would stand by them. King Vincent is lucky because he has people like Colonel Markus and Willihem who would die for him. Not to mention the main army also loves him."

"So the Senate is angry that they don't get to run the show like in the past, so they are making life for King Vincent as difficult as possible."

"Yes. They would like nothing better than to have King Vincent dethroned or killed. That is why it took so long for Colonel Markus to rescue him, they fought to have him stay in Bastion with the excuse that there could be an attack. Luckily the people made a fuss and the Senate had no choice to send Colonel Markus."

"So the Senate has the power to control the army?"

"Not normally. The King usually does, and then if the King is unavailable the Queen takes charge. We don't have a Queen so the next in line for control is the Senate."

"But if the Senate had the power, and wanted King Vincent dead, you would think that they would have ignored the people."

"Yes that would have happened if the whole Nation didn't rise up; there would have been a revolt. They really had no choice but to listen. That's what so great about the King. He listens to the people and gives them a sense of power that they never had before. I don't think that Bastion will ever be the same again."

"It sounds like King Vincent is pretty amazing. It is a wonder that he isn't married."

"Why? Are you interested?" She said with a sly smile on her face.

"Of course not!" I replied flustered. "He is great an all, but I have things I must accomplish. Not to mention he could find someone way better than me."

"Hehe. You look cute when embarrassed." She giggled. I blushed and walked ahead of her. We were making our way back to the kitchen to eat. Apparently a feast like yesterday isn't normal. The kitchen staff makes whatever the King or guests want on request and eat in their own rooms. When we entered the kitchen the people said hello and returned to what they were doing. I had met some of them earlier on my tour and liked all of them. I decided that I would just stick with Brenda and eat with her. I don't like eating by myself, it's lonely. After getting our food we headed to the corner of the kitchen where we would be out of the way.

“Surely King Vincent doesn’t have to deal with the Senate in the evening as well?” I questioned.

“No not normally. The men from the Senate go home rather quickly once the sun begins to set. They don’t like being out in the dark.”

“Is there something to be afraid of in these parts?”

“Not normally, but once in a while a monster will appear and cause havoc if left alone. It has happened often enough for us to be cautious. We are protected inside the palace walls, but the Senate lives outside the walls and don’t want to take a chance of getting caught off guard.” Brenda replied.

“There are monster?!” I was shocked. I guess I shouldn’t have been. There were trolls and orcs and wyverns, why not monsters. “I guess I just have one more thing to ask the King about.”

“Well the Senate people should be leaving soon so you might want to try again to see if you can get a meeting set up.” Brenda explained getting up from her chair. I did the same and brought my plate and utensils to the washing area of the kitchen. I tried to tell the kitchen staff that I could clean my own things, but they would hear none of it. My title as guest of the King got in the way of allowing me to help out. It was frustrating that I couldn’t even do my own dishes. I was nobody important so I should at least do these small things to repay for the lodging and food.

I gave an irritated sigh and gave up. Once I have spoken to Vincent I will get him to allow me to help out somewhere. Brenda and I made our way back to the throne room and saw that, indeed, the Senate members were all but gone. Vincent was sitting on his throne looking tired. We watched the last member leave before approaching the King. When we got in front of Vincent Brenda gave a deep bow while I just stood there awkwardly. I never asked how I was supposed to greet Vincent in this situation and I regretted not thinking of it.

Vincent must have noticed my uneasiness and took pity on me. “Brenda you are excused for the day. Thank you for taking care of Emma.” Brenda rose from the floor, took one last deep bow and exited the throne room. I assume she went to the servant quarters to get ready for bed. “What can I do for you Emma?” Vincent asked now turning his attention to me.

“Oh, well I was wondering if I could set up a meeting with you.” I asked nervously.

“There is no need to set up a meeting time.” Vincent replied stepping down from his throne and walking to me. “Normally when a guest first arrives here they will set up a meeting time so that we can discuss whatever issues are on their minds, however since I was the one who brought you here you have no need to do that. If you would like to talk to me all you have to do is approach me.”

“It doesn’t seem like some of the people here would like me to do that.” I replied thinking of the Senate man who had been rude earlier.

“I see what you mean.” Vincent paused. “Then how about this, we will talk every evening if I am not busy.”

“That would be nice. Just today I met a lot of people and learned some things from them. However they just left me with more questions about this place.”

“I see, I suppose that all of this is new to you so of course you would be curious. I keep forgetting that you are not from this world. Forgive me.” He bowed slightly to me in apology.

“No, no!” I said hurriedly “It was partly my fault last night that I didn’t ask more questions.”

“I will be taking my dinner in my study. Give me about an hour and then come and see me. We will have as long of a discussion as necessary until you are satisfied.” He said patting me on the shoulder and heading off.

I went back to my room to wait. On the bed I found what appeared to be night clothes. I decided that I would take a bath to pass the time. Fighting with Martin had really tired me out as well as gotten me sweaty. I couldn’t understand how anybody could live in a place like this. I left my room and took the night clothes with me. I headed for the bathing room, and when I entered, found the bath empty. Of course it would be empty when no one was using it. I was so dumb. I exited to the hall and found a servant girl walking in my direction. I stopped her and asked how I could fill the tub.

“There is a spigot on the inside of the tub. A lever lifts the spigot and water comes in from a pipe the spigot is connected to. The water is cold however so the fire underneath the tub has to be lit for the water to become warm.” She explained.

“So it is like a furnace underneath the tub.” I mumbled to myself. The servant girl looked at me weirdly and I said never mind. “Isn’t there anywhere in this palace with a smaller tub? It would be a waste of water for me to fill the tub just for myself.”

“There is a smaller one in the servant’s quarters that is probably already filled and warm, but you are a guest so you shouldn’t use that one.”

“I’m quite okay with that one.” I replied before she offered to fill the big one. I gave her no chance to argue the matter and dragged her to the servant’s quarters. I quickly took my bath before anybody could come in and dressed myself. I was just in time too because no sooner had I put on my night top Brenda with some other women came in. Brenda took one look at me and before she could say anything I told her what happened. “I just really didn’t see the point of wasting everyone’s time.” I finished explaining.

“Still you shouldn’t be using the servants bathing room. You are a guest and should be treated as such.” She replied.

“But if I’m okay with it what is the problem?” I questioned.

“You have to think of it this way,” started another servant, “If we get caught letting you go on with your whims like this we could get in trouble. A guest needs to be treated like a guest, and servant like a servant.”

“I don’t think that King Vincent would mind what I’m doing.”

“He probably wouldn’t mind.” Brenda said. “But what if one of the Senate members saw what you were doing? They would think that King Vincent doesn’t know how to treat his guests and spread rumors that he treats them like servants.”

“And I guess telling them the truth wouldn’t work.” I replied. “I guess they would grab at anything to destroy his reputation with other important people.” I saw Brenda and the other woman sigh in relief. They were glad that I understood why I couldn’t be so whimsical. “I guess I have been a little difficult. I apologize.”

“It’s alright. As long as you understand now.” Brenda replied.

“So they only thing I have to do is get King Vincent to take the title of ‘guest’ away. Then I could help you all out with chores and stuff.”

“Huh?” Brenda replied as I walked out of the servant’s bathing room. The allotted hour was up and I was going to talk to Vincent. Thanks to Brenda showing me around earlier I knew where to go even in the darkness of the night.