The hall wove down with encrusted designs of purple padded walls before being fiddled away by the gold chain that lined the bottom. A small staircase led to a network of seats in alcoves that stretched across from the bottom of the wall to the ceiling at the east wall. The alcoves were broken into different tiers, each tier a step higher than the former. The last tier stopped at the ceiling. The alcoves had a plaque made of different materials that had the names of the owner of the seats.
Maya drew in a breath after she walked into a small barred section that contained seats that looked rickety and wilted. The smell of rust dampened the exotic smells slightly. She walked to one of the chairs, it wavered slightly as if to beg not for it to be seated on. She wrinkled her nose before reluctantly sitting. It creaked underneath her.
"Maya?" Diane's voice caught her attention once again, making her tense. She felt her penetrating gaze as she sat, the seat creaking as a result. She ignored her, looking at the front. The carpeted floors were the same purple with gold tapestries at the centre. Though, it stopped where the bar of wood warding of the other's stood. Underneath her, was a wooden floor, bland compared to the rest of the floor. In fact, the barricaded section seemed to be without any zest or tang of color. She frowned slightly
"Maya?" A hand jolted her, she withdrew at the contact. She turned to Diane with narrowed eyes.
"What is it with you?" Her tone reeked of annoyance as she eyed with a hardened gaze.
"Me? You're the one who's been ignoring us?" Her gaze softened slightly as she looked down at her neck. Once again feeling the prickle of the trinket's absence, she felt unease creep up her spine.
"What's wrong, Maya?" She looked away, suppressing the foul truth. She reached down to the undershirt of her tunic, bitterness swept through her at her concern. Shadows danced before her as the dark throbs gritted against it's bounds.
"What happened before we left the isle?"
Father revealed the big boys secret a few days ago.
I wish you were dead.
You have no right to question my motives.
She pushed away the snippets of conversations. What really mattered anyway? Her eyes drifted to another reality, seeing her friends cackling as they movked behind her back. She felt Diane touch her hand gingerly, her bitterness shot up within her as she pulled her arm sharply.
"Nothing that concerns you." She gritted out, her walls hardening. Diane's blue eyes darkened.
"Why wouldn't it," she sighed. "You remember the time you saw me crying behind the school after my mother had punished me for failing one of my healing classes." Maya looked on, pressing down on the memory her words were trying to evoke. She bit her tongue, the metallic taste filled her tongue but she kept her face hard.
Diane sighed again, "You said I shouldn't keep quiet about my interest in painting. And-"
"That's hardly related to the issues."
Maya could sense Diane's eye twitch.
"Well, I am just trying to remind you of the fact that we are willing to listen to your every problem. We haven't done anything to hurt you, now have we?" Maya kept silent, her eyes narrowed. Her eyes grazed over the alcoves, noticing the emblem of the birds of the different isles etched into the bottom.
"Even though, to be frank you can be infuriating but, you have always been willing to listen to all my problems and now? We want to listen to you.. just, when ever you are ready to converse, we are here, alright?" Maya kept her lips sealed, keeping the cloud backed away into a corner. The silence was broken by footsteps from the smaller door not long from the barricaded section.
A few other people, about seven walked in. Each had on different clothing styles hinting that they were from different isles. They trudged to the seats at the back, the mix of the sounds of their footwear mixing and entwining.
The huge main double doors at the south wall barged open, the sound of footsteps and light chatter careered through the air. Other teenagers entered, the different perfumes made Maya's throat clog.
"Geez, are they trying to kill us all?" She swatted her hand in the air. By the time, she turned back to them, they were all seated in the different tiers. The topmost tier, the one with the emblem of the owl had about two girls and four boys all in white expensive looking dresses and suits, that seemed to shimmer under the light from the massive chandelier brimmed with candles.
One of the girls with dark brown eyes and pink lips with a cupid's bow locked eyes with her. Her eyes narrowed as her pink lips drew downwards in a snarl. She tipped her nose down at her, the look of disgust. That look that people had given her all her life.
"Do not stare." Diane chided, a warning clouded it. As defiant as she was, Maya looked her straight in the eye with a challenging note. Their stare was interrupted by a loud trumpet. At the north wall, her eyes locked onto a raised platform. Two men dressed in tunics with puffed sleeves held two trumpet.
Eight men that seemed to be the cabinet representative of all the isles. They say at a couple of seats towards the back, their clothes as different as their expressions. The platform sloped down in a small staircase with the familiar purple carpet. A chubby man clad in an expensive white tunic with puffed arms stood raised his hands up.
The former chatter dropped to one of abject silence. His blue eyes took a sweep of the network of alcoves, not so much as sparing a glance at the barricaded section. His lips raised slightly at the teenagers dressed in white at the topmost tier.
"Welcome, all of you! In about two years and a few months time we would be having the 12th Festival Of Life!" Loud claps resounded from the teenagers, circling about the room. Maya watched the man, his eyes still trained on the network of alcoves.
"Since we all know the details of this meet, I'm sure you would also know how the sleeping arrangements are being done?" A couple of affirmations floated through.
"Time is not by our side since the late arrival of the... last isle." His face scrunched up slightly as if disgusted by the thought. The flags of each of the individual isles that was hung directly behind him wavered slightly.
"Each offence of varying levels has an assigned punishment from tiny penalties to detention. Remember, every three offences carries a strike," he raised a stamp over his head and some of the teenagers gasped. The man nodded gravely.
"They're acting like they'd kill you at the end." Maya muttered, already annoyed by the man.
"To be frank, it is as good as killing you're chances of even winning. Plus, it ultimately affects your isle in the end. If a person gets twelve strikes, they would be disqualified. And as far as other nobles are concerned being disqualified from it is equated to being a deadweight. So, this is pretty serious for a lot of people." Maya listened, reluctantly, to Diane, tuning out the man's ranting. She turned back in.
The cabinet representatives had already began reading through the list of the names of each of their isle.
"-Radovan Milan-"
Maya tuned in and , her back against the chair. She felt someone hit her chair, she turned slightly,eyes narrowed. A pair of dark brown eyes stared back at her, the girl's brown hair laced with itself in a braid.. She muttered a small sorry as she quickly looked away but Maya didn't miss the red mark on her neck. She turned away, feeling her arms for scars that had been similar to that.
"Maya, the wrangler of the Wetern Isle!" She jolted at the name, her head raised. Tarrick held up the paper, his eyes boring through her. The other Cabinet representatives faces that had shown resentment morphed into confusion.
"Rise, Maya!" She looked around, their hard gazes pressed into the barricaded section. Her shoulders tensed as they looked at them in disgust. She rose, fighting away the clench in her hands.
"That thing is the wrangler." A deep voice from an alcove in the highest tier said. A rumble of chatter and laughs spiralled through the atmosphere.
"Pitiful. The Western Isle is already bad as it is, now, they bring a girl on their first appearance . What a shame."
"And look at it's clothes, what do they use to make them?"
"I heard that five years ago, the bird flu rampaged their isle."
"Oh? Yes, no wonder it's so disgusting." Maya hissed, her fists clenched. The shadows within her brain pulsed, she felt her anger seep through. Her throat clogged, her knuckles itched.
She gritted her teeth, that woman was never her mother . The statement left a bitter taste in her mouth, she had no reason to fight them. The darkness gritted against its bounds faster, sizzling at her despair.
She felt Diane's hand on her but she shifted away.
"Uh, how miserable. At least, you've gotten what you deserve." Agatha's squeaky voice drawled out, her head hammered uncontrollably.
She heard the faint shout of dismissed before a memory drenched her whole.
I want to thank God giving me the Grace to write this. So, how was it? Does the girl with the red mark on her neck seem familiar to you? Anyway, if you like vote and comment if you like, I'm sorry if there are any errors my phone has been misbehaving.