Chapter 3: God Save The Queen

Being escorted by the Earthen Knights to the Palace itself was not among the things I imagined happening before I had even turned eighteen, but life had found a way. Of course, I had known since Gaius mentioned the markings upon my face that any semblance of the possibility of an ordinary life had been thrown to the wolves. Though the scenery remained beautiful as we made our way towards the highest branch of The Great Oak, I could not feel the joy I once held each time I made my way here. I was not ascending with Gaius, or Lami or my mother and father. Though I was surrounded by escorts, I was truly alone. Rather than being led to the Palace, it felt more akin to being led towards a new prison. I hoped I would be able to keep at least some of my old daily routine, but it did not seem likely given the state that Terra would be left in after Dahlia stepped down.

The nation of Terra wondered what kind of future lie ahead for it. I pondered the very same thing. Though I would claim that I had 'seen everything there is to see' upon The Great Oak, there had always been one grand exception. The Earthen Palace. Home to the ruler of Terra, the Earthen Mother or the Earthen Father. Towering above us, the roof of the palace brushed against the leaves of the treetops, just under the highest peak in the entire woods.

"Fall into formation!"

It was almost shocking to see it was that same young woman who had spoken to me at my home seemingly in command of this group of knights. Clearly, some were much older than her, but they all offered loud cries and obedience in response.

Being led into the palace after that felt like a dream. Or at least, it should have felt like one, I thought. Instead it felt like I was walking into a place I could not escape. My own prison for the foreseeable future. The sights were as grand as you would expect. A large natural paradise shaped from simply the wood of the tree and plants that had been cultivated and grown inside. I could feel the soft grass under my bare feet as we proceeded. I would be able to become accustomed to that, at the very least. Flowers and vines decorated almost every inch of the walls in each room that I passed through. I could feel all the Gaia-the life here, as well. All the presences gathered and the strong presence of those had walked upon these halls before I had.

Sitting at the end of the chamber we headed for was a large, empty throne. The sight of the empty throne filled up the emptiness that had gathered inside me. It had been replaced by dread and worry. Bit by bit, I was accepting the reality that lay before as much as I wanted to shove it down and deny me.

"Lutum Sylvari, sit. Her Majesty will be with you shortly."

I hurried to find seats other than the throne but found that all I had accomplished was making a fool of myself as I wandered aimlessly.

"On the throne, Sylvari."

That young knight again. She certainly did not seem one for pleasantries, to put it lightly.

It almost felt like a disrespect to sit upon it, but pushing through was the only option. When her majesty came through the side chamber to approach me, I could not help but get off my seat to kneel.

For someone who had been ruling for a half-century, she did not look as if age had worn her down as much as one would expect. She still had vibrant green hair and her face looked youthful, though the bags under her eyes told a different story to the rest of her. Seeing my kneel must have disappointed or upset her in some way, as she frowned at me from above.

"Stand, girl. Well, or sit. I don't mind. Don't just kneel there."

Feeling as if I had to do everything she said, I quickly positioned myself back upon the throne. Upon doing so, her majesty nodded with a smile and brought forth her own seat and table from the earth. Another Earthborne. It must have taken a lot of practice to make such comfortable looking seating out of just the earth beneath her.

"So, you're who Eden chose in the end hm?"

Queen Dahlia squinted, scanning me up and down as if I were some kind of foreign entity. At the end of it, she gave a satisfied nod.

"You do know why you're here, yes? You haven't said a single word yet, you know. It's not very polite to let me do all the talking!"

I could not have felt more embarrassed throughout my entire life than I did at that moment. I had just made a fool of myself in front of Dahlia, the Queen!

Stuttering out a quick apology, I gave a nod to her.

"I believe I know why I have been brought here, yes."

"Well...that should make things easier on my part. But well, we can have a chat before we get to that. Lutum, was it?"

"Yes. Lutum Sylvari."

"Well, Miss Sylvari. Tell me about yourself. Where are you from? What hobbies do you hold dear?"

To say I was in shock would be an understatement. Of all the questions I had been expecting from Dahlia (not that I had expected many), icebreakers were not what I would have guessed. Still, I had to respond. I could not be dishonest the Queen or let her down with a non-answer.

"I am from beneath the surface, originally-well, my parents were. I was brought to The Great Oak when I was just a girl and have lived here ever since. A friend of my father's –"

"You say you are from beneath the surface? The tunnels, girl?"

"Yes…the tunnels."

Though being interrupted was something that always struck a nerve with me, I held my tongue in the presence of royalty sitting across me.

"Well, the tree certainly chose something new, huh! I wonder what it could be. I think…there's gonna be big change, for good!"

If she had been speaking to anyone other than myself about this, I think I would have found that positive energy relaxing. Instead, I found myself dwelling on several 'what-if' scenarios.

"Y-yes. Change…"

"Well, spit it out! I wanna hear more about you! Your passions girl! The bonds that tie you to people!"

"I...I suppose I can begin with a passion. Perhaps more a hobby, actually…recently, I have begun to find myself trying new things in the way I cook for my family. Since Gaius and his family always-"

"And who is this Gaius? A friend? A mentor? A love?"

Interrupted and holding my tongue once again, I gave her a shake of my head at friend of mentor before nodding after her third attempt.

"So, how long have you two lovebirds, been in love?"

The previous image I had held of Dahlia in my mind had been shattered to pieces after just a few minutes of conversing with the Queen. It was akin to talking to a child, at times.

"Well...since we were young. I do not know exact numbers, we have just always felt that connection to each other."

Dahlia nodded with excitement, her hair falling loose from the regal bun it had been held in as she did so.

"And this Gaius, is he handsome? Strong?"

"Well…he is, but that is not all there is to him. It is the way that he calls me, the sound of his voice and how he-"

"Okay, okay, enough of this Gaius. We don't have all day, Miss Sylvari."

There had never been someone I disliked more upon meeting them than the Queen. I respected everything she had done as a ruler. There was no denying what she had accomplished. She oversaw the construction of The World Rail, the greatest technological marvel in the world to date. Despite all this, I hated her. There was no one else in the world I wished to shout and scream at more than the Queen.

"Back to your hobbies."

We were jumping straight back into the conversation, much to my disappointment.

"As I had been saying, I had been enjoying cooking-"

"No, no, not the cooking and cleaning! Every child does that for their family these days. Anything you perfected a craft in? Did you weave or sew, perhaps? Maybe you raised animals or grew plants?"

I was beginning to lose patience with her at a faster rate than ever. Did this woman ever hear of learning manners? Was she not supposed to be our Queen?

"Well…if you are speaking of a physical skill, then you could say I am a hunter. I track and hunt game so I can provide for my family. I would like to say I do not enjoy it, but that is not entirely true."

Pausing for breath, I had fully been expecting that I would be interrupted again but the next interruption never came. I looked at her for what felt like eternity, receiving a nod and a gesture to go on. She seemed to enjoy hearing this part of my story.

"I did not enjoy having to end an animal's life, though it was always a necessity to feed my family. The thrill I had sought from the hunt was the excitement of knowing I had learned enough about the creatures to expect their patterns and how they would act in any given situation when I had been tracking them. Though, I must speak the truth, as much as it pains me to admit given my dislike for the necessity of ending the life, I gained more confidence as my archery improved."

I let the words spill out, speaking as much as I had wanted to each time Dahlia had cut me off though I was careful to not let malice or venom slip into my constant stream of conversation. Finally, she spoke with a great smile upon her face.

"I think you will be just fine, Lutum Sylvari. I have just one more question for you. I can imagine you know what it is already, but it is still something I must ask."

Giving a simple nod was all I could muster. I felt as if I had been encased in ice, frozen and incapable of doing anything but simply staying where I was.

Dahlia whispered something in the true language under her breath before speaking the common tongue.

"Lutum Sylvari. The Great Oak-and by extension, Eden herself has chosen you as Terra's next ruler. Will you accept the position of Earthen Mother?"

I wanted to scream. Running away had never felt like such a great option, but I could not do it. As much as it felt like a mistake, Eden had never led us astray before. She must have seen something within me that I did not.

Rising to stand, I placed a trembling hand upon my heart and spoke.

"I accept the position of Earthen Mother."

The last whispers of confidence escaped me in one last cry.

"As the next Earthen Mother, I promise to you all that I shall do all that I can in leading this great nation to a time of prosperity and happiness!"

At that, there were a series of cheers. I would like to say they were cheers at least, though they sounded more like war cries than anything else. Each of the soldiers saluted before approaching to kneel before me.

The entire ordeal felt surreal. They had been cheering and clapping, for me. What was even more mind-boggling was what had just transpired. Reality was still just beginning to sink in.

I was the next Earthen Mother. The newest ruler of Terra. My life could never be the same after this.

After all the celebrations and cheers, the Queen approached me once again and placed a hand on my shoulder. I had not realised from where I sat that Dahlia had been shorter than myself, she gave off such a commanding presence.

"Well, Miss Sylvari, you may be the next Queen, but not before the coronation! We'll do that in exactly 6 days from now and the process will be complete!"

Six days. As if I could not hate this woman any more than I did at this moment. Six days from now…I would come of age. My coronation day would be my very own birthday. Romantic, I might have called it had it not been me thrust into this position so suddenly.

"And before the coronation? Can I go home to see my family…?"

A chuckle was not what I had expected upon asking that. Nor did it fill me with hope for what was about to come out of Dahlia's mouth.

"I'm afraid not my dear, you're going to be terribly busy from this week on. You'll need a tour of the Palace, to get to know all your advisors, your routine and how everything works. Why, it might not even get finished before your coronation, girl!"

My stomach churned. What had I gotten myself into? Surely, I had made a mistake.

But I could not go back.

What would people say? The 5th ruler steps down before she was even crowned…

I would not be able to bear it. Thinking of my family was what kept me in this. I just had to think that I was doing this for the sake of them. I could surely provide for them as a ruler of the lands.

The rest of the day felt as if it had dragged on for eternity. Led across the Palace by the maids and butlers, introduced to almost everyone within the Palace. From each of my war generals, to each guard, to the cooks and the day to day staff running the Palace.

I am not sure why it had not occurred to me that it would have been such a large population residing within the walls. It had to be. I learned that there was an entire regiment of Earthen Knights who had been assigned to security for myself alone.

Pondering on if I would ever truly have time to myself again, I sat myself down on my new bed. The chamber I stayed in was not where I would always reside, so I was told. I would not have the Earthen Mother's chamber until after my coronation had finished.

Restless nights had become a common occurrence in recent days, and tonight was no exception. Thoughts of Gaius, Lami and my family all swam across my mind. The single window in the guest chamber that was assigned to me only revealed a view of some of the leaves hanging from the top of The Great Oak.

Trapped. That was how it felt. I felt as if I were trapped up here. Trapped between the desire to run away and refuse to become the next ruler and the desire to keep my family healthy and safe. Each and every sound would jolt me back into a fight-or-flight response whenever I tried to rest my eyes. Upon hearing the latest thud, I slowly creeped my way over to the door of the chamber. Opening it slowly, I found that same young knight standing guard. When I had opened the door, the light shined upon her and gave her a soft glow. For the first time, I looked at her face to face as she turned to me. Her eyes were a bright green, her gaze filled with a constant determination as we came into each other's view.

"Oh, hello…A…Ad…"

I had already forgotten her name. It was not the best of starts for a Queen, forgetting the names of one of the Earthen Knights assigned personally for her. Evidently this was someone I would be seeing a lot of, so conversation would not hurt.

"Adoria, your majesty."

"O-oh, of course! Adoria! Hold on, your majesty?"

"Yes? You are to be the Earthen Mother very soon. That is the proper way to address you."

"You do not have to…it is just a formality, no? You may refer to me as Lutum."

"The protocol, your majesty. Is something the matter?"

"No, it is fine. Things are simply…different to how they were before."

"Right."

Though conversation ended there, I found myself content simply to sit with Adoria and enjoy that there was some sort of company. Adoria, intentionally or not made a few things about herself incredibly clear as I sat with her. She was often a woman of few words and she was determined on sticking as closely to any rules she was given as possible.

Becoming Queen was not something I had looked forward to, but I did already have ideas on attempting to loosen Adoria up a little. It seemed so dull to have to live and work like this all the time.

"Do you enjoy life here? Working as one of the knights?"

At that, an eyebrow was raised.

"Why does that matter, your majesty?"

"Well…do you? It seems…lonely up here."

For the first time, I saw Adoria smile. Her lips gently curled upwards into a small grin as she looked down at me.

"You will come to find that isolation is not always as lonely as you might think up here, your majesty. You have plenty of people still to meet."

"But that was not…I had not meant that. Without the people I knew. My family."

"Do people not find a way to make those things work?"

In time I would come to be more grateful for this advice. But at this moment, I could only think that Adoria was simply speaking nonsense. How could she stay so optimistic over an issue like that? I almost missed her speaking again as I pondered on her words.

"To answer the question, Lutum. Yes, life here is good for me. But good does not always mean easy. It is an edge that we must always live on as Earthen Knights…we have jobs that we may pay for with our lives one day. In order to protect and uphold what we hold dear."

I had started off the day hating this woman. For what she represented. In just one night, without much interaction at all I had somehow decided that this woman was the one person I could trust within the palace.

"Does that not scare you? The possibility of losing your life for this job? Or make you angry? That it will be someone so young and inexperienced that you may fall for?"

I wanted to keep going. To let all my questions and fears and worries spill out onto Adoria. I had not realised it, but I had begun to cling to her leg as if she were my mother and I were just a girl. The floor had some stains on it that I knew were formed from what I could now feel running down my cheeks.

The Earthen Knight had not reacted in the way I expected. I had thought she would simply ignore my cries. Instead, she placed her long spear to the side, leaning against the wall and sat with me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

Pushing any semblance of dignity I may have kept before this aside, I threw myself at Adoria, to weep over her shoulder.

"Your majesty…Lutum. Do not tell anyone I have been calling you that. If I were to lose my life in service of this nation. In your service. I cannot imagine a scenario where I would not have been proud to have served with my life."

This woman. No, girl even. Adoria could not have been much older than myself from just looking at her features but she spoke as if she had lived a century already.

"But…I have not even been coronated yet. What if I am not fit to rule?"

"Many other of our great rulers had the same worries, Lutum. You heard her majesty earlier. The Great Oak chose you. And by extension, Eden chose you. There is always a reason for these things. Change is a natural part of life, even though it can frighten us."

"Akin to how the seasons change?"

Hearing my voice break as I sputtered the question out would have been more embarrassing had anyone other than Adoria seen it. Breaking down like this was not something I would like to make a habit of. Especially as I am to become the next Earthen Mother.

"Exactly. As how seasons come and go…so do people. So does life. I am sure you already know, but it is a teaching that you would do well to remember."

A simple nod was all I could manage this time.

"The change. You are right. I should simply try to make the best of this."

Though our talk had helped me drastically, I had not been filled with confidence as of yet. The last words I spoke to Adoria that night were simply an act of mine trying to feign hope and confidence. That said, I was not sure if I was trying to deceive her or myself.

At that, my restlessness of the past few nights had begun to catch up with me. I could feel my eyelids getting heavier.

Before I knew it, I was blinking in and out of consciousness. There were three things I remembered clearly the following morning. The first was being carried back to my chamber's bed as if I were a child. I had not expected Adoria to act so gently. She kept a gentle grip, careful to not let anything slip without being forceful. Carrying me as carefully as she would a child of her own, she set me down and brought the blanket over me. The second was how she wiped some of the tears from my face before she got up to exit. The third was something simple, but to this day it sticks out in my mind like a sore thumb. I did not see her, but as the door was closed I heard a soft voice, almost whispering.

"Goodnight, your majesty."