A week passed by since I ran away away from Mistress Isabelle and the others during the frost troll mission and since leaving the village where I meet the great healer Troy, I ask Margaret.
"will the king really give me hand?"
she answers.
"I think he will, especially after he hears your story
about what happened and then he'll help you with the identity issues you have."
records of humans who are born, are usually documented and can easily be found, but there are cases where there are humans born without the knowledge of the kings, but it's not that big of deal according to Margaret since all it takes is talking to a human king and they usually sort out the mess, I think to myself.
"I won't be able to keep my last name, since Mistress Isabelle could easily track it down, and keeping my first name won't be a problem since it is a somewhat common name amongst humans."
even after telling her why I was undocumented, she already had the impression that was the case because of my dark skin.
"don't worry your little head Darius, most dark skinned folk are scared to get documented, but even so the ones that do it, find out that it is an easy process."
she then asks.
"I know it's been a week, don't you want to talk about your parents?"
I shake my head.
"I don't think, I'm ready to talk about them Margaret."
she sighs.
"I know I'm just getting you ready for when you need to explain what happened to the king."
we exit out the forest and the vast city of the capital comes into view, I stare and think to myself.
"this will be my first time ever visiting this place."
of course when we arrive at the entrance, we get stopped and questioned, but since Margaret lives here, and has all of her paperwork, it was easy for her, the only problem was me because of my dark skin, but since she insisted that I was with her they would begrudgingly let us go, even though it seemed like they didnt want to, and everytime she would shake her head.
"I swear people make me mad, when it come to their disdain for the dark skinned."
I reply.
"it doesn't bother me."
we continue riding on her horse through the crowded city, until she pulls on the rein to stop, I look at the huge building surrounded by thick and tall black pointy fences, and an arena built beside it and ask.
"what's wrong?"
she points at the building.
"I have a lot of fond memories when I attended the academy."
unsure of what is a human academy, I ask her.
"what did you do there?"
she answers.
"study basic reading, writing and trained to become a soldier."
the training peaked my interest.
"what does it take to get in?"
she answers.
"you have to pay for tuition, and your pretty much accepted."
I think to myself.
"I need to attend there."
we continue riding through the city until we arrive at the gates of the King's palace, she then gets off
the horse and hitches it to the hitching post alongside the other horses, I also get off and say to her.
"I appreciate everything that you've done for me Margaret, if it wasn't for you, it would have taken me a long time before getting here."
she takes my hand.
"you don't need to keep thanking me, I just couldn't abandon a child who clearly needed help."
we walk towards the gate and one of the guards
stops us.
"hold it, state your business and why do you have a dark skinned kid with you?"
she answers sternly.
"he is undocumented and wants to speak to the king to fix that little mess of his."
he replies.
"okay."
he then points his sword at me and said in a condescending manner.
"you better not cause any trouble in there boy."
I keep a straight face and reply.
"yes sir."
he chuckles.
"you trained the dark skinned boy well there lady."
she answers sarcastically and disgusted.
"let us through, so we can stop wasting your precious time."
he opens the gate.
"you are right about that, go on ahead and once you enter the palace, of the King's assistants will help you with your issues."
while walking towards the palace using the walk path made out bricks, Margaret asks.
"aren't you angry?"
I reply.
"their words mean nothing to me, if your concerned that they hurt my feelings."
I think to myself.
"that's right, in the end strenght and skill is all that matters with anyone."
she places a hand on my shoulder.
"I don't know how you do it, you make it seem like bothers you."
I respond.
"I've got more important issues than having people insult me because of the color of my skin."
In my mind I think.
"Mistress Isabelle killed my father, manipulated my memories and betrayed at the drop of a hat just because I cried a little when I killed Claire."
she replies.
"yeah, for a moment I forgot, that you are going through something much worse than insults and disrespect being thrown your way."
I wonder.
"what exactly did Claire do to me in that moment?
it still baffles me that out of all the humans I've killed, she was the one that made me cry."
upon entering the palace, a male with short black hair and dark brown eyes, dressed in fance red robes, looks at us and then asks Margaret.
"how can I be of service to you?"
she answers while having her hand placed on my shoulder.
"this child has survived a terrible attack, which lead to a terrible tragedy, and is looking to become documented, and we need the King Dean to sort this mess."
he looks at me and clicks his tongue.
"sure I'll let his majesty know, so that we can document this barbaric child."
he then said.
"wait here in the lobby and I'll come back to collect you when King Dean is ready for you."
I take a seat at one of the chairs, and of the maids
who is cleaning the lobby, gives me the stink eye, like if I did something offensive, I just ignore her gaze and ask Margaret.
"what will you do after you help me out here?"
she answers.
"oh, I'll just return back to doing more mercenary work."
I reply.
"I see."
I then ask.
"in the academy, are the people who go there strong?"
she smiles.
"so that academy has you interested?"
after I nod, she answers my question.
"yes many talented people go there and become soldiers or end up serving one of the many famous noble families."
I ask.
"would they prevent me from attending the academy?"
she replies.
"no, but the noble families will make your entire time there a living hell."
I then ask curiously.
"who are the famous noble families?"
she responds.
"The Laconias, The Dubois', the Lemoines, The Vanderhoots, And The Tromairs."
I think to myself.
"Tromair? I was not aware that the Hero Claire was nobility."
Margaret continues.
"there are many other minor noble families, that I can't remember, but the most important ones are the five families that I just named."
I thank her sincerely.
"thank you Margaret, that was very informative."
after waiting in the lobby for what felt like an hour,
the man returns to us and said rudely.
"King Dean will see you now, come follow me and keep up."
we follow him through a large corridor that has many doors on each side, until we stop at a huge door that is about fifteen feet tall, in the end of the corridor, he grabs on the handle and waves us in impatiently.
"will you hurry, the King is a very busy person."
we quickly enter and find ourselves standing in a isle between two massive dining tables on each side, with what I presume the many noble families
sitting, and at the end of the isle, King Dean Nicholas, wearing a gold crown over his gray hair, and as we walk towards him, he stares at us with his green eyes while stroking his full medium sized gray beard, he stands up and opens up his red robe that is lined with fur, and reveals his blue and red tunic, he then points at me and said.
"so tell me what exactly happened boy."
I approach him and kneel thinking to myself.
"I may hate Mistress Isabelle, but at least she taught me proper etiquettes."
he chuckles.
"alright enough of that, explain yourself."
Margaret tries to step in to speak for me, but I stop her.
"it's okay, I can handle it."
while I begin explaining, hoping that my made up story can hold up, King Dean sits back down on his throne.
"I was born to parents who were traveling merchants, and they always thought it unnecessary for me to become undocumented since I was not only dark skinned, they thought, I would follow the same path as them."
King Dean scratches his gray beard.
"an all too common story of children who's parents are traveling merchants."
he then asks.
"I heard you survived an attack, can you explain to me what happened?"
I respond.
"me and my parents were traveling through the mountain path with some hired mercenaries, but we got attacked by a group of Frost Trolls."
he sighs.
"dark skin or not, I don't wish Frost Troll attacks on anyone."
he asks.
"so I'm right to assume that you lost your parents in the attack?"
I nod.
"I watched them get ripped apart, and I also sustained a broken nose, when one of them hit me.
he scratches his beard.
"so if I fix you some new documents, what do you plan to do?"
I answer.
"I was hoping, to find a friend of my family, she lives here in the capital."
he asks.
"do you want us to fetch this family friend for you?"
I then think to myself.
"I should have no problem finding her, but if they bring her here, I'm sure King Dean can make the adoption official."
I then reply to him.
"her name is Melani Edwards, or Sister Melani and she works at an Orphanage."
he replies.
"I see, why don't you wait in the lobby, and my assistant will take care of your paperwork and we'll go find her for you, and then you can move on with whatever life that is ahead of you."
his assistant grabs on the arm and said.
"alright kid you have wasted enough of the King's time, let's get moving."
I quickly bow to the king and say.
"thank you, your highness."
after being led back to the lobby, Margaret asks.
"do you need me to stay, until your friend arrives?"
I reply.
"no, I'll be fine on my own."
she hugs me.
"good luck, hopefully we meet again under better circumstances."
I respond.
"I hope so too."
after she leaves the palace, I stay seated, patiently waiting for Sister Melani's arrival.
"will she be happy to see me again?"
I continue waiting around, until I doze off, and I get woken up, I yawn still feeling a bit groggy, I then rub my eyes with both hands, and see who was the one the woke me, it was Sister Melani with her wavy orange hair, and green eyes, but she was wearing a tan tunic, with green trousers, she looks at me with smile and hugs me.
"Darius, honey what happened?"
I pull away.
"I'll explain everything when we leave, but for now
can you do something for me?"
she responds.
"of course, what do you need?"
I answer, by whispering so that the King's assistant doesn't hear me.
"I want you to adopt me, like how you wanted before I left and help me get documented with a new identity."
surprised by my request.
"I mean, that's a bit much to ask of me."
I sigh and try to use the sad puppy eyes look on her, but she just chuckles while running her fingers through my hair.
"you are still not very good at that."
She then said to the assistant.
"well can we get his documents in order and have him registered as an adopted son."
the assistant looks at me while asking her.
"are you serious about adopting a dark skinned person?"
she clenches her fists.
"yes, now get to it, and make sure to put down his name, as Darius Edwards."