Chapter 1- feathers

I had never considered myself sheltered. Memories of running up and down the hall of the diplomat wing in the palace comprised my childhood. I’d began greeting diplomats and eloquently hosting foreigners at no older than five. I was accustomed to diversity and people who looked different from me. So why was this so jarring?

The feathered is what those from the southern most island that sits beneath the
foaming periwinkle sea are called. I knew they had wings. I had heard stories and seen drawings in the library. Still when I watched out my window as two feathered knights flew above the castle walls, I felt unease crawling up my spine. My face twisted in a disapproving grimace as both feathered knights made their way to the Queen Consort’s Western tower. Armor sparkled in the sun against powdery white wings as each knight landed on the Queen’s balcony. They disappeared into the tower in the seconds it took me to puff out a sigh. A voice in my head repeated the angry words I had heard my grandfather speak when he’d drank too much at parties.

“The southern coterie will always stick together.”

My eyes were drawn back to the rest of the feathered entourage as it approached the palace mainly on foot and in wagons. My fingers tightened around the stone ledge of my window. As I was a permanent resident in the diplomat wing of the castle I knew that soon one of the feathered would be moving in to the empty suite adjoined to my own. I am an accepting person I repeated silently to myself. I welcome new and different people into the castle all the time. Still for some reason I felt repulsion churning inside me.

Following the arrival of the feathered there was a formal welcome party in gardens outside the main palace entrance. The Queen Consort took center stage. Her periwinkle hair was braided around her face and thin shimmering strands of precious metal were embedded into her thick braids. The gold and sliver strands in her hair made her whole silhouette sparkle in the sunlight. Despite the blinding glimmers darting off her with every flounce, I glanced to her side. The Queen’s sister, Melody, stood on her right side. The younger royal’s hair blushed a shade of pink that usually only tinged the softest untouched center of a budding flower. However, the girl underneath the hair was anything but a supple and flowery. Even under her dress the etchings of physical strength were apparent to everyone. Flanking either side of the two women were the feathered knights that had flown into the castle earlier.

The Queen Consort cleared her throat.
“I am pleased to announce that I have been preparing a surprise. In anticipation of this visit I have been in negotiations with the Sovereign of the Southern Pointe Isles. We have decided to tie our people in permanent union,” as she said this she stepped away from Melody’s side. The first thing I noticed was a deep dark shadow that appeared and drifted over members of the crowd. Many turned their gazes upwards and suddenly the group stirred with gasps and murmurs. There were people flying above the crowd. That’s when I felt something brush my shoulder. A petal the color of Melody’s hair had fallen from above. At first it was just a couple petals then they began to fall into the crowd like a soft rain. That’s when I noticed the podium at the front of the crowd. The flowers falling around the raised podium where Melody stood were different. White rose petals fell like snowflakes around the Royal. As the flurry of florals swirled around her I watched her expression change as she caught a single petal in her hand.
With a silent flutter of his wings one of the feathered landed gracefully in front of Melody. In one smooth motion he dropped to one knee in front of her as the white petals cleared from the air. The last white rose petal teetered back and forth on one of the spires of his golden crown. In his outstretched hand he held out a full white rose for the sister of the Queen.

“I am Arthur heir to the Southern Pointe Isles and prince of the feathered. As heir I have enjoyed a lush privileged existence. A beautiful life that I wager is not so different from your own. However, beautiful things, places, tastes, and experiences are but single petals when enjoyed on their own. As beautiful as each petal is I have always felt I was still missing something. Together we can spin the petals of a beautiful life into a full and complete flower. Accept my proposal and I will never cease to shower you and your people with beautiful things.”

As he spoke a hush fell over the crowd. To the Queen Consort’s visible dismay the silence hung in the air for longer than what would be anticipated. A man not used to having to wait for what he wanted the crown Prince of the feathered cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Melody, I have heard of your strength and prowess. Join with me so we can strengthen each other and I shall only ever foster your independence as much as I admire your beauty,” his voice faltered ever so slightly.

With a silent nod the pink haired woman took the white rose from her suitor. The cheering from the crowd was instantaneous. A roar of happiness rose and echoed the garden. Intermittently sprinkled in the cheers were squeals from young girls both giddy and envious of Melody. In their excitement the crowd stirred back up the pink petals that had fallen before. As the happy voices lifted in the air the pink petals were tossed back up by the people and floated around like party confetti.

Arthur rose from kneeling and the crowd quieted again.

“As is customary in the tradition of the people of Whispering Coast, the country of my bride-to-be,” The prince spoke again as he held up a strand of gold for the people to see.

He gathered some of Melody’s hair up in his hand.
“Hair is sacred to the people of the Whispering Coast. It is said each strand of your hair represents a love bond between your ancestors that came together and eventually created you,” The prince called out.

He separated the the hair he’d gathered into three sections. As he spoke he directed attention to each individual section.
“This section of hair represents Melody and her ancestors, this next one beside it represents her people, and the third represents me and my ancestors, and lastly the gold strand represents our love for each other,” the prince explained.

He began to braid the strands of hair with the gold piece into it.
“With our marriage we will unify and bind ourselves and our communities together, and our love will shine brightly for as long as we both shall live”, he said finishing the braid tying it off. Melody’s new braid looked like the ones that adorned the Queen Consort’s hair.

At this point the “happy couple” stepped away from center stage. I felt a slight pang of relief when the King stepped up to the podium.

With a gathering of royals from three different regions their physical appearance greatly contrasted each other. Arthur, crown prince of the feathered, stood out the most with his white wings and golden hair. Beside him stood royals from the whispering coast, The Queen Consort and Princess Melody. Both women’s colorful hair was now adorned with ceremonial martial braids that shimmered in the light. While the two of them were more similar to the people of this land in appearance, they were and would always be foreigners. Standing on the podium droning on about wedding ceremonies was my uncle, the King of my people. The King’s dark curly hair fell to his shoulders and a glimmer of his skinny golden tongue sparkled between his teeth as he spoke. Even from far away as a spectator in the crowd looking closely at his tongue it was apparent the end of it was forked like a snake.

“ You know why they are having the wedding here,” the hushed voice in the row ahead grabbed attention. It was a noble woman in front of me in the crowd. I recognized her from my brief encounters with the Royal court. Her wrinkled fingers anxiously tapping on the corseted part of her dress.

The old woman next to her tutted out a laugh from behind a hand she’d positioned to hide her lips.

“Melody has courted, received a marriage proposal and even attended a wedding rehearsal dinner in her home country. However, on the morning of the ceremony she was discovered in a scandalous position with another. She left the reproach on the Whispering Coast and sought out a safe haven here with her sister,” the first noble continued.

“And her sister graciously set up a new marriage arrangement to get her out of hot water…. How cliché ” the second noble giggled.

There was a brief pause between the two.

“Such a waste because the Prince of the Southern Points Isles is handsome,” one of the older ladies crooned.

The other made a repulsed noise.

My mind began to drift as my eyes flittered from one face to another in the crowd. I scanned our foreign guests apprehensively. Which one of these people would be my new neighbor? Most of the women’s faces that I scanned looked terrifying. I couldn’t help but judge their snarky looking expressions and sharp pointed features. Like a sea of harpies disguised as angels. Another question burned in my chest as I watched the sea of people. Was the Prince of the feathered handsome? Could this noble woman really see someone who looked so different from herself and her forefathers as handsome? I couldn’t help but stare at Arthur as he remained standing with the other Royals. He was still talking to princess Melody. As he spoke to her he moved animatedly to illustrate his story. Her expression remained stone cold as he made a gesture that reminded me of waves on the ocean. His smile was inviting like the warm sunlight he basked in and shone on his golden locks. Melody’s eyes were determined, unwavering and frigid. Yet he seemed unfazed as he continued to chat at her.

The crowd dispersed and even as I followed a stream of people back into the palace I couldn’t stop picturing Melody’s cold expression. I had never seen a man from the Whispering Coast. I tried to imagine a man that looked like Melody with long pink hair. Was this the man she had loved so dearly she had jeopardized her future to be with him?

“Amael,” someone spoke my name from behind a castle pillar. I felt familiar jabbing of sharp fingernails into my shoulder, and I was subsequently yanked out of line with the crowd entering the palace.

It was my great aunt Aferdita, I felt her nails still bared into my shoulder.

“They’ve assigned which member of the feathered court will be staying in your part of the diplomatic wing…” the way she spoke made me feel uneasy.

I shrugged trying to escape her hold on me.

“The feathered seemed pretty amicable at the formal greeting, the crowd seemed to love them,” I responded cooly.

“Of course the people like them they’re southerners! Their crops grow with ease, their winters barely see a snowflake. They have the time to be poetic and theatrical,” Aferdita began to rant.

I couldn’t help but quirk a questioning eyebrow at her.

“The common people always love them. Commoners project themselves on to the southern royals like it’s a game. Pretending that if their farmer husbands had the money and freedom to do anything or have any woman they would still romance their common wives with elaborate gestures like the royals. They don’t know the reality of the concubines and harlots who secretly share their beds. Sure they are entertaining but don’t trust one word from any of them,” Aferdita finished angrily.

I nodded and felt her hand loosen on me. I was about to take the opportunity to wriggle free but her face made a grave expression.
“The feathered staying with you is different. You need to be careful how you react-“ she spoke so quickly as I tried to process.

She stopped speaking mid-thought and I turned around to see Arthur and Melody surrounded by a group of feathered knights entering the castle behind us. On even footing with the feathered I felt uncomfortable. It was a shock standing up-close to see how large their wings were even when drawn in towards their bodies. I felt my stomach churn as I recalled how she described the diplomat staying with me. The word “different” pulsed through my brain. What did she mean by that?

When finally the group of feathered passed us I turned to Aferdita about to ask her what she meant. She was gone. I felt a wave of horror crawl down my spine. However, this revelation was quickly interrupted.

“Amael, walk with me,” I turned around to find my Uncle, King Charles, behind me. A couple of his closest guards trailed behind him. He was headed toward a western corridor which I knew would eventually lead back to my side of the diplomat wing. He looked at me titling his head as an instruction to follow and I quickly caught up.
We strolled down a hallway lined with family portraits.

“In these past years you’ve grown into a cerebral young woman. The way you carry yourself with such restraint over your emotions reminds me of your mother,” King Charles spoke as he looked at the paintings on the walls.

I could hear the forked tip of his tongue clicking against the back of his teeth as he considered his next words carefully. We walked in silence for a ways. I felt my anxiety rise with each clink of the armor from his guards behind us and the prolonged silence. We were getting dangerously close to our destination. Finally, he stopped walking and stood at he entrance of the door to the next hallway. He closed his eyes in a pained squint and massaged above the the bridge of his nose.
I heard him cuss under his breath.
“I’m sorry,” he said very softly and the way he spoke I felt my pulse banging into my ears.

“You’ve always been … generous with your friendship and endearment. I hope that in the coming days you will… continue to be that way,” he looked as if he was praying for words to come to him. His prayers were not answered.

“It’s critical to my wife that we are welcoming to the feathered people and what is important to my wife becomes crucial to me. Her happiness factors in to the longevity my marriage. You’ll understand someday when you’re married,” he spoke with a sigh.

There was another long pause where all I could hear was his guards anxiously shifting in their armor.

“Please just try to be welcoming to all of our guests,” he finished with a wince.

Then he opened the door. I walked down the last hallway back to my room alone. I could hear the thudding of my heartbeat in my ears beating in time with the steps I took towards the end of the hall. I reached for the door handle and felt a voice in my head nag me for the noticeable tremble in my fingers. What was I so afraid of? I just had to be friendly to a guest. Still I had never seen my family act this gravely before. I turned the door handle and peeked into the shared diplomatic space childishly. The common area red velvet sofa was empty and so were the love seats. The large stone fireplace beyond the sitting area was dark. I was almost certain no one was in the common area at the moment. I took it upon myself to scurry from the hall to my chambers as quick as possible. I went to undo the locking mechanism on the door to my chambers. As I scrambled with my keys I heard a doorknob rattle. In my terror I dropped my key and had to drop down to look for it. I crawled around the floor until I finally found my key.

“Oh gosh you’re here! I’ve been so looking forward to meeting you,” a soft voice chirped at me from above.

I spun around on my butt to look up, and I saw a woman standing above me. To my surprise she wasn’t one of the feathered because there were … no wings? She had a soft cherubic face and blonde hair much like Arthur’s.

“Oh hello, are you staying across the hall from me,” I voiced my confusion.

“Yup! My name is Pepper by the way,” my new neighbor smiled as she spoke. Then she reached down to grab my hand and pull me off the floor. As she pulled I watched her begin to struggle. She was a bit past chubby and I could see her belly and chest wiggle as she attempted to yank me up. For some reason in a split second the cruel pleasure I was getting from watching her struggle won out. I let my body go a limp so I could watch her jiggle longer. That’s when she spread her small wings. They had been there this whole time but because of my vantage point from the floor and her chubby body they had been hidden. They reminded me of pictures I had seen of cherubs and baby cupids, they were flat out comically small. She flapped the tiny wings pushing her backwards so she could pull me up. In my surprise I over shot how hard she was pulling and began to lift up on my own. The extra oomph from her wings caused me to bump straight into her plush middle. It was like sinking into a cloud. While I knew that pulling away immediately would be the socially acceptable thing to do the softness seemed to beckon to me to sink in further like quicksand. When I finally did pull away I noticed her face was crimson.

“sorry,” she muttered looking at her feet.
In a terrible moment of temporary loss of self control I dusted off the front of her belly that poked out the furthest. A devilish grin curled my face as she wobbled backward and attempted to suck in.

I bent forward to lean in closer. To my amusement I could swear she smelled like fried dough and sugar. A self satisfied grin wrapped around my face as I closed the distance between us.
“No harm, no foul. My name is Amael by the way,” I faux-whispered.

That’s when I caught a glimpse of my reflection in a decorative mirror adorning our shared space. I was looking at Pepper like a viper that had caught a pudgy pigeon.

I am not ashamed of my highborn tongue. I had never in my life wished for a fat, fleshy, pink, stub like the commoners and royals from
other regions have. Yet what I saw in the mirror caught me off guard. I hadn’t realized that my long metallic tongue had come out of my mouth without me noticing. I watched in horror as the forked tip flicked repeatedly near Pepper’s face. This had never happened to me before. I had seen other high bloods flick the tips of their tongues at each other. It usually happened at court when someone was agitated or an intense debate. However, there were other unmentionable reasons why high-borns might have a similar reaction.
My immediate horror and embarrassment caused my tongue to return to my mouth and now both of our faces were red.

“Well it was nice to meet you. bye now,” Pepper said without looking up from the ground. She hurried back to her room faster than I would have thought her fat little body could go. I heard the door shut loudly.

Then the realization that I had just completely disobeyed my friendly neighbor orders washed over me.