Chapter 22

The Elves are a complex race.

They had not only spent their time building up on their bodies and weapons of war but also in ideals.

There were idealists, astrologists, Elves who studied the arts and the psyche and many more.

This led to the evolving of the Elves, while the Fairies were more or less similar, if a bit changes from the gifts the Land gave to them, the Elves were another entirely different matter.

In the City of Mountains where the Elves resided, at the far end of Aria, there were three classes.

The Lower Class, the Middle Class and the High Class.

The Lower Class consisted of big, brutish and blue skinned Elves which were factory workers, laborers, slaves and soldiers or guards.

The menial tasks were reserved for them, hence their increased size. They had to evolve to support their way of life and were almost double the size of the other two Classes.

In the City of Mountains, Elves could only be born into Classes and they couldn't change whatever class they had been born into.

Although it was possible to become a Middle Class Elf if you were born into the Lower Class, but that required an expensive certificate which most Lower Class Elves couldn't afford.

The Middle Class had slightly better living conditions than the Lower Class, they had a lighter skin color, although it was still colored a pale shade of blue, giving them pasty skin tones.

They were the workers.

Middle Class Elves were teachers, bankers, doctors, nurses, blacksmiths, bakers and so on and made up most of the population of the City of Mountains while the Lower Class came in a close second in reference to the population total.

Lower Class Elves lived in the poorest sections of the City of Mountains, there were four Towns with the Capital at the center.

High Class Elves lived in the Towns as well as Middle Class Elves and were also permitted to live in the Capital.

Lower Class Elves were forbidden from the Capital unless they had permits so most of them were found in Villages under the Towns, Lower Class Elves could also live in Towns but things were expensive in the much more modern Towns so it was in their best interest to keep to Villages.

High Class Elves, were the final classification of Elves, excluding the Royal Family who didn't belong to any Class because being a member of the Royal Family meant you were above the Classes.

They looked very much like Fairies but without their wings and delicate beauty, High Class Elves were distinguished by the normality of their skin tone so it was impossible to become a High Class Elf unless you were born one.

High Class Elves didn't have to work and were born into a life of privilege, most of them had old money that was accumulated as a result of owning Mines, Factories or Smithies.

High Class Elves were also divided into two Factions, this determined their titles as well.

There were Dukes and there were Barons which made up the Royal court.

The two Factions which the High Class Elves were divided into are, the Diamond-Black Faction and the Ruby-White Faction.

The Diamond-Black Faction is the Higher Cabinet and members of this Faction had the title of Dukes, while the Ruby-White Faction was the Lower Cabinet which had the titles of Barons.

All High Class members had a place in the Cabinet but as it was with everything else, you had to be born into a particular Faction, it couldn't be earned.

There were also High Class Elves who had fallen from grace, this happened when for some reason or the other, a House lost all of their assets and could no longer keep up with the life required for them to live. They were still High Class Elves but had to work to earn their keep.

The signature color of the Diamond-Black Faction was black and the Ruby-White Faction, white.

All Faction members were required to wear their colors to show what Faction they belonged to.

There wasn't any prejudice between the Higher and Lower Cabinet Ministers as they all worked together to improve the City but it was no secret that the Dukes were given preferential treatment.

With such a complex and organized system, things should have been moving on fine, shouldn't it? It did for a while but soon the Lower Class Elves became disgruntled at the unfairness of the lives they had to live.

The Middle Class were exploited by the government in terms of high taxes and were repaid with bad roads and run down facilities.

And there were constant wars between the Factions, they never could seem to agree on one thing. It didn't help that each Elf was born into wherever they found themselves, they couldn't earn it so each Elf kept on thinking that they were better than the other but weren't lucky enough to be born into places of power.

The City of Mountains was at a crucial time now, the previous King had died but the Royal Family kept it hidden.

The Factions had begun to get suspicious because the King had been absent for a while now but the death of the current Elf King was a delicate time for all even though the Royal Family had never been usurped from power, things had changed and were changing rapidly.

It took time for the Royal Crown to change heads even though the previous owner was dead and during this time, chaos usually broke out.

There was civil unrest, Faction wars to name but a few.

The Head of the Diamond-Black Faction was the closest to the King and usually was a vague member of the Royal Family so the Cabinet Ministers had been inquiring about the King but the Head remained silent, maintaining that the King was just a little ill.

It didn't matter how long they could try to hold it off though, the King was dead or most likely would soon be and so the Faction wars were about to begin, unrest among the citizens were stirring.

And this time around some members of the two Factions had come together, to hatch a devious plan.

They planned to overthrow the King!

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•City of Mountains•

•Kaniva - The Capital of the City of Mountains•

•Ravier House•

Lady Reta walked regally down the long, carpeted hallways. Everything was done in black and opaque as befitting the House of the Head of the Diamond-Black Faction.

She was headed to the reception room, where her father was about to entertain the Cabinet Ministers that had come to visit, from the information that she had gotten, there would be two Dukes and two Barons present.

The Head of the Ruby-White Faction, Baron Edgen would also be present.

Meetings like these were so commonplace now, as a matter of fact, the Ministers found a reason to come to pay her father a visit daily even though there were bi-weekly Cabinet meetings.

She had no idea what the Ministers talked about but she did know that they spent hours yelling and arguing, most of these were directed at her father and she could see the strain that the daily debates was placing on her father but it wasn't like he could refuse.

She was just grateful that all she had to do was come in every hour to refill their wine cups, it seemed highly unnecessary to Reta because the Minister finished endless bottles of wine before that one hour was up but traditions had to be adhered to.

She definitely didn't want to be in Shinere's shoes, her older brother had to sit at the meetings because apparently, it was training for when he became the head of the Faction as well.

She stood at the front of the shut door, hands held together daintily in front of her. Reta hated the elaborate hairstyle that her wild, red curls were tied up in, she hated the elaborate and ridiculously heavy ornaments on the hairdo even more.

She didn't like the dark clothes she had to wear or the many layers of gauzy lengths draped all around her and tied around her waist with a clear diamond buckle, all of the ornaments on her head, ears, neck and wrists were also diamonds.

There was one particularly heavy diamond on her neck that clinked painfully against her collar bone anytime she moved.

Aleya and Taluka stood behind her, she was without her entourage this time but she couldn't go anywhere without her personal maidservants.

"Anytime now my Lady." Aleya whispered reassuringly beside her ear and Reta straightened her back.

She could bear all of the layers of clothes and diamonds piled on her but there was one person that made her skin crawl, he was inside, amongst the visitors she was sure.

He always came, with his greasy hair and greasier smile, leering at her vigorously and brushing her hand whenever she poured wine into his cup.

"Yes, you're right Aleya." She said in a shaky voice, still making no move to open the double doors in front of her tense face.

"You'll be fine." Aleya reassured her. "I'll stand so close to you, that lecherous bastard wouldn't even be able to touch your dress." She added firmly, a dark light coming into her pretty brown eyes.

Reta let out a sound that was halfway between a sigh and a laugh, it also helped that Taluka slipped her tiny hands in her own and gave her a supportive squeeze.

If her father and older brother could stand the old geezers for hours at a time, every single day then she could survive being around them for a couple minutes.

"Alright, I shall go in now." She nodded, squaring her shoulders, as she reached out a hand to knock with the diamond knocker, all Reta wanted just then was to go back to bed.