The Announcement
POV: Alexandra
Edgar sighed as he began to explain to the rest of the panel what we would see in this next scenario, “As you all well know, we try our best to ensure that we keep this competition fair but the King has gone a little off script. You see he took Alexandra, Litha, Alesha, and Jess on dates during their time on retreat.” One of the Elders spoke up, “Elder Enzo, may I make a suggestion to balance out the fairness then?” Enzo nodded, “You may speak.” The other Elder continued, “Why don’t we just ask His Majesty to take Melody and Rayla on dates? This will make the competition fair again.” A breath caught in my throat when I heard this suggestion. Enzo regarded the suggestion for a while during which the room fell in silent expectation. He nodded, “This will have to delay the review of the other ladies. Are all here in agreement?” Edgar interrupted, “You have to wait on Ballor to return from dealing with the lady first.” Enzo nodded, “Oh you are right, let’s table this for after the scene plays out. One would hope he returns by then.” Edgar nodded and the scene played that I had visualized so many times while I was making the potion. It was what I had considered the happiest moment of my life. While the scene played, the other Elder came back.
The scene finished and Enzo rose, “This scene seems to be a tender memory for you. Would you consider this the happiest memory that you have had?” I smiled, “It is. I use this memory to give me the peace I need to create the light-healing potion.” The pedestal turned bright green and he smiled, thanked me for my honest answer, and sat down. Another Elder next to him who I would barely qualify as an Elder stood up, “Your Grace, it seemed you were sad at the end there. Why was that?” I looked down at my feet and said, “I had a curse place on my heart where I couldn’t have feelings for anyone but the God Loki. Something about that cave His Majesty brought me to suppressed the curse. I was upset that we were leaving because the curse would take effect again and I didn’t want to not have feelings for him.” The Elder looked over at Toby, “May I request one more question from Lady Alexandra? You can decide that as her advocate.” He looked up at me and whispered, “Are you okay to do that? I don’t want an unnecessary burden on you.” I nodded and whispered back, “It’s no stress to me.” He nodded back at the Elder, “As long as the question isn’t abrasive or accusatory, I think this should be okay.” The Elder cleared his throat, “May I ask how you were cursed? How was it lifted?” I recounted the nature of the curse, how it was given to me, and for what purpose. I explained that Meldon Maigny was able to lift my curse through lightning power. It was all designed to get me to go with Loki to wherever he was hiding. I didn’t think it was relevant to expose that the Seely Realm housed him. The pedestal lit up yellow and there were whispers. Enzo quieted the room down and spoke to me, “Did you tell a small lie or omit information?” I sighed, “I did but only because I didn’t want anybody to be blamed for the actions of the God.” He smiled, “Don’t worry, my dear, we will not lay blame on anyone. We are merely conducting a fact-finding meeting before we can compile all of the data to determine that you are suitable for the throne and His Majesty. Do you want to marry King Lucien?” I nodded, “With all my heart, sir.” He smiled, “Then we must know the full truth.” I sighed, “Loki was hiding out in the King’s Court in the Seely Realm.”
The pedestal changed from yellow to green. The whispers came again and Enzo settled everyone down, “I believe we will need to discuss this later. I know you don’t want to drag Seely into this but housing a criminal who would kidnap our resident and noble is dire, I’m sorry to say.” Enzo stood up and spoke about how they were going to delay the other two having their assessment until a time they can each go on a date with Lucien to bring fairness and balance to the competition. The Elder Council voted and the results made my stomach churn. They decided it would be best to delay and have Lucien take Melody and Rayla out. I wasn’t fussed about him taking Rayla out since I knew she had no interest in marrying him, it was Melody that I worried about. What would she pull on a date with Lucien? I wouldn’t put it past her to do something dirty like steal a kiss. My mood immediately soured but I did my best not to show it. Edgar continued, “We now come to a scene after His Majesty was injured in which Lady Alexandra was accused of trying to assassinate him. She selflessly helped to nurse him back to health. In fact, this wasn’t the first time she aided in nursing a Royal family member back to health. She did so with Prince Blake.” The scene that unfolded on the screen was of me staying by his side and taking care of him. Looking at the scene where he was pale and laying in bed, looking like he was on the brink of death made me shudder. I heard a whisper from Toby, “Oh hun, are you okay? This can’t be easy. Do you need me to stop this?” I smiled down at him gently, “No, Teddy, I’m fine.” The scene finished and Edgar turned to me, “His Majesty healed marvelously well with your careful nursing and devotion to him. If we selected you, would we count on you to continue this care? Not only for His Majesty but the rest of the Royal family both future and present.” I looked around at the men gathered there, “I will admit that that scene was hard to relive here and it was hard to live in. That being said I would do this in the future for anyone who needs it. I think my work with the victims of the earthquake in the Glades proved that.” The pedestal lit up green and the Elder that had left the room before stood up, “Were you specifically asked to stay and care for His Majesty, or did you stay on your own because of your feelings?” I smiled confidently, “It was both.” I didn’t need the pedestal to tell me what I already knew.
Edgar turned to me and smiled, “I believe that is it. With these scenes, the questions, interviews, and tasks we have given you we believe we have enough to assess you. You may step down.” He waited until I stepped down to speak again. He smiled, “We have one more order of business with you but it doesn’t have to do with the competition.” He walked over and sat down in his chair and Enzo stood up and looked at the Scribe, “You may bring in the others.” A short while later the candidates in the scribe program entered the room and Enzo stood up again, “We have gathered all of you here today to announce where you will serve your apprenticeship for the next week.” Enzo announced one of the candidates to apprentice at the church for Pretre Jean since Grand Pretre did not want a scribe. They picked another to apprentice at the Citadel and announced that Teddy would be one of the two Royal Scribes. Enzo continued, “We come now to the last two slots. One is here with us at Elder Council Hall and one at the castle under Malinus Esperanza. As you can see, we have two ladies left to assign.” Melody flipped her hair over her shoulder and straightened up. She whispered to her friend next to her, “There’s no way I will be stuck here. I’m definitely going to apprentice at the castle. That cow over there will be the one stuck here with these smelly old men while I will get to spend my day with that handsome man that I’m going to marry.” I looked over at Edgar and I thought he might’ve caught what she said because he rolled his eyes. Enzo smiled at me, “Congratulations to Lady Alexandra of House Batiste for her well-deserved appointment to the castle as Royal Scribe apprentice alongside Teddy.” I took a glance at Melody who looked horrified and she raised her hand, “Um, excuse me, sirs. I have a grievance to voice here.”
Enzo sighed and he turned to Melody, “What is it, Lady Melody?” She stepped forward, “I think I should be the one appointed to the castle.” He crossed his arms across his chest, “Oh really? Why don’t you enlighten the council and perhaps you can convince us to reverse course here? Also, you can tell us who you think you should replace out of our two appointed apprentices.” She stepped forward, “I know that this program is merit-based. Is that right?” He nodded, “That is correct. Each time you did something in your classes, it was logged to us. We assessed each log and assigned merit points. Each member of this council was able to vote.” She shot a glance at me, “You cannot tell me that certain people in this room did better than me. I have had consistent top grades throughout my time in school. I refuse to believe someone who wasn’t raised here was better at Vellum History and magic than me. I think I should be there in place of that Batiste woman.” Edgar pounded his fist on the table and rose, “You WILL respect honorifics in this chamber!” Enzo waved his hand to tell Edgar to sit down, “Be calm, my friend.” She smirked but Enzo shook his head, “The delivery of the statement was wrong but the statement itself wasn’t wrong Lady Melody. We speak honorifics here in this chamber and I would ask that you respect the House that has a higher power than yours. Please apologize to the lady or we will end things here and we will not consider your appeal. Am I clear?” Melody puffed air through her nose, resisting the urge to pout. She looked back at me, “I’m sorry for disrespecting your station, Your Grace.” She turned back to Enzo and he was satisfied, “Do you have any other arguments?” She shook her head, “I believe that is the only case that needs to be made.”
Enzo turned and spoke to the scribe, “Please bring the scribe candidate files.” The scribe walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a box of files.” Enzo turned to the rest of the council, “Do you any of have objections to this action?” The table remained silent as the scribe brought the box back, “Here you go, sir.” Enzo took the box from the scribe and shuffled through the papers. He pulled out two files and he read out the first one: Lady Melody: very smart, and studious but lacks strong observational skills and does not read a room well. She would be best suited to a smaller role somewhere in the citadel or church. Do you know why you didn’t get placed in the two places that Grand Pretre assessed you at?” She started to look pale, “No.” He looked back at Edgar, “Someone here advocated that you would be suited to work here so that we could guide you properly on how to read a room and how to be more observant. You didn’t get placed in the castle because you have a tendency to not hold your tongue and you just convinced me further that the assessment of you was right. Not to mention if you look at these scores…” He handed her a sheet of paper and then pulled out a paper from another file, “With these scores. Your merit-based argument falls through the floor. Does it not?” She was shifting nervously on her feet and said, “I think I need to sit down.” The scribe brought her a chair and she plopped down immediately. Enzo took the papers from her looking a bit smug. He turned to Teddy and me, “You will start your work tomorrow which is a very important day as we have an important visitor tomorrow. Rest up because you’re going to need it. I would say this especially for you, Your Grace.”
