Tea Time

As Ace started his descent to the private gardens from one of the tallest towers of the castle, he noticed the change of scenery. Aside from the castle having a dark interior filled with gothic designs, the attitude of the rooms always seems to change depending on the people in them. The hushed chattering coming from king Oliver’s private force in the war room, the flipping of pages and lessons in the library where the Elites’ children would study, the seamstress’ room filled with all sorts of fabrics, giggles, and cheers. Lastly, there was the eerie corridor leading to the basement that was horrifically darker than the basements. Due to this, no one rarely enters the basement and this benefits the servants and guards.

Now entering the main floor of the castle, the scurrying of familiar faces run back and forth while they prepare the grand room for the ball. The only other source of light besides the hundreds of candles, was a large red stain glass with the picture of an angel that had 4 wings on either side on them. Much like the rest of the castle, the black and gold marble floor draped with a red velvet carpet was beautifully designed to allow an aura of curiosity and seduction to take over the wandering soul. The walls and the columns that support the floor above were made out of black stone decorated with gold marble, golden candle fixtures, and minimalistic golden art. It was truly captivating to those who love dark art, but it can be eerie to a stranger.

“Ace Oliver.” An angry sounding king said as Ace entered the private gardens.

“Yes father?” Ace answered before taking his seat at the large and round table with all the other Elites.

“Have you gone absolutely insane?” Oliver asked before the other Elites chimed in with their thoughts about what he has done. “I can tolerate why you don’t go to the Burnings or how you are civil with the servants and maids, but personally inviting Asterin to the ball?” He clarified.

“You always talk about how we need to fortify our relationships with the other nations, Asterin shouldn’t be any different.” Ace answered.

“Fortify!? With them? No.” Oliver stated as the Elites around them simply took sips from their porcelain cups.

“Father, look at it this way…” Before Ace could go any further into his plan, Kiki Quinn, the Head Elite, interrupts him.

“OW!" Kiki screamed as the hot water splashed on her dress, seeping through the many layers of cloth and onto her skin.

"I-I'm so so-sorry Kiki." The young, pale maid stuttered as she grabbed a rag and tried to pat the water away, but Kiki grabbed her by the wrist. Although her body was bounded in a tight corset, she was still large enough to push the table with her stomach as she stood up, along with tipping her chair over.

"You wretched girl." Kiki scowled as she grabbed her golden fan and hit the pale maid repeatedly. A few hits were directed to her wrist, but Kiki was not satisfied with the marks each strike left so she started hitting her on her face. “Next time you say my name, you say Lady in front of it. I will not be referred to by just my first name.” Kiki stated as she was now satisfied when she saw the blood drip down from her cheeks. The thin maid, now coloured with her blood bowed to Kiki as she walked over to pick up the chair to allow Kiki to sit again.

"Excellent demonstration!" King Oliver clapped as everyone disregarded what Ace has to say earlier in awe at Kiki.

Tea time. Usually held at 12 o’clock in the afternoon in the private gardens during the weekdays. Only the king, prince, the Elites (usually about 12 of them), and one maid of their choosing were allowed to attend this event. All other advisors, friends, servants, etc. were not allowed to step foot into the garden until 1 o’clock in the afternoon. Tea time was not a thrill for a certain trio. There was Ace, a short brown-haired girl, and a girl with long, thick, curly auburn hair who all sat awkwardly at a large round table sipping their tea. King Oliver and the head of the Elites would be laughing about mindless topics. "Did you hear her cries?!" Kiki laughed talking about the Burning earlier this morning as she adjusted her black hair that is always kept up in a bun.

"Foul beings, serves them right to practice devil worship like that. Wouldn't you say Persephone?" Another young elite said, trying to catch the attention of the girl with the thick curly hair.

"Hey Perce." Ace said tapping her shoulder to bring her attention back from the private garden's beauty and into the conversation.

"Oh, sorry. Yes, it does." She said, smiling at the young man while talking and took a sip from the porcelain cup.

"That reminds me. Lady Gwen, wasn't Gracelyn to wake you this morning?" Kiki asked as she smiled into her cup before taking a sip from it while watching the pale maid she had struck earlier froze in place. This piqued the interest of the king.

"That maid over there late to their duty?! That will not be tolerated." King Oliver scoffed as his eyes darted over to the maid.

"It's okay! She was not assigned those duties today; it was the maid that had the Burning today." The short, auburn hair girl said fearing that they might kill the poor maid right in front of her.

"No, it’s not just okay. It's quite simple." The king said as he deliberately tipped his cup, emptying its contents on the floor. He looked smugly at the pale servant in the corner who walked over and started to clean the purposeful mess. "Thank you, Gracelyn." The king said as he looked over to Gwen.

"Father stop it." Ace stated firmly as Oliver grinned.

"Oh, you cute little boy." Kiki said as she looked over to Gracelyn and shook her empty cup. The pale servant was instantly flustered by the actions of the plump elite, she could feel her heart pounding fast, like it was ready to jump out of her chest and run away. "The lower-class scum needs to learn their-”

"You know, Ace," Oliver said, grabbing his son's attention, "Why fortify our nonexistent relationship with Asterin when Lady Persephone would make a fine queen. What do you think?"

"Ooh King Oliver, always the matchmaker you were!" Kiki squealed as Persephone and Ace looked at each other with disgust. Not only were the two disgusted with everyone moving on from what had just transpired with Gracelyn, but they were also disgusted that Oliver thought they would be a good couple.

"Hahaha, I'm just playing, my son. Listen I’ll allow Asterin to come, not like they weren’t going to show up anyways, on the condition that find a lady from another kingdom to help fortify Findara's relationship with them." King Oliver mused, thus prompting everyone else to join in.

“Wonderful idea!” “Only King Oliver could come up with a compromise like that.” “Leave some girls for us Ace.” All of the other elites chimed in as the trio dismissed themselves.