After being pushed to the side of the procession that was still streaming in through the door, Nina and Saela both struggled for words as they took in the entirety of the dining hall before them. Svanda casual comment that the room was ‘pretty big’ before they had set off through the maze of halls had seemed offhanded at the time, and now Nina was wondering why she hadn’t decided to elaborate. Any further detail would have been welcome if it had helped them prepare for the scene they had just stepped into, but as it stood, her nonchalance had left them completely unprepared for something which was truthfully overwhelming.

This wasn’t just a dining hall, but a physical testament to clan principles.

Around eighty meters long and equally as wide, the space that must have been dug back into the mountain was cavernous. Massive rectangular tapestries of dreary mountain scenery stretched their way along the pale white walls, some as wide as twenty meters and at least ten tall, their edges adorned with delicate patterns in silk. Silver chandeliers hung at regular intervals from the celling that stretched away some fifteen meters above them, while four thick columns of white marble streaked with black and purple were configured in a square to support the weight of the floors above. Nina wondered how many people it would take to wrap around one of them if they linked their arms together, but she soon gave up after she had difficulty picturing any more people than five. Perhaps seven or maybe even eight if they were on the small side, but despite how impressive they were, Nina’s gaze didn’t even linger on them as her eyes were drawn to the main feature which sprawled out from the centre of the room.

Filling up the majority of the space was a domineering stepped pyramid. Each of the four corners swallowed the columns at their bases as they reached out towards the corners of the room, sharp edges of both stone and marble capped with silver as the steps ascended. Nina counted a total of seven tiers above ground level as her gaze steadily moved upwards, each step sitting around a metre higher than the previous while also running about four meters deep. Grey stone much like the Qualified slate formed the cladding for the first three steps, while the three levels placed on top of them were a dazzling white. Thin flights of railless stairs climbed up the centre of each face to provide access to every tier, and the deep purple carpet which was rolled down them proved to be a bold yet tasteful contrast to the monochromatic surroundings.

Finally, at the peak, was the smallest step of all. The platform was carved with a high-relief floral pattern from what seemed to be some variety of purple stone, although it was so high up that Nina had difficulty making out the finer details. She couldn’t even judge how large it was from her place at the base of the structure, although the solitary square white table placed upon it was difficult to miss. Only two chairs were set around it, to her surprise, both intricately carved from white marble with multiple thick cushions already waiting on the seats. The extravagance made the tables on the white steps below seem rather plain in comparison, although Nina would have still labelled the fine lace tablecloths and silverware as lavish if they had been placed anywhere else.

Further down the steps, functionality seemed to replace flourish. The tables seemed to be mainly comprised of steel instead of stone, although there was still noticeably delicate work on both the tableware and the chairs which blended in with the grey cladding behind them. The number of available seats was also noticeably higher, the total number seeming to almost exponentially increase with each step down from the one table at the top to the hundred plus on the lowest step. Each seemed to seat a random number of people, some seating four while others seated six or even eight, although Nina didn’t know if the seats were prearranged or not. The observation led her to examine their own seating once she was finished taking in the scene before her, and while unfortunately in line with her expectations, she found that their own arrangements were indeed quite different.

Each and every seat for Unqualifieds faced the centre of the room.

Instead of tables designed for social interaction, the Unqualified seating was a series of long timber benches that ran around the base of the pyramid, the clean concrete floor unassuming. Simple three-legged stools were tucked beneath instead of proper chairs, and they were also all placed on one side so that nobody could sit face to face. Nina guessed it had something to do with not turning their backs on the privileged, although for once she realised that she didn’t care. She wouldn’t want to turn her back on anyone in the castle in the first place regardless of if they saw it as a snub or not, and as a result she was happy to silently oblige.

“I guess we join them?” Saela asked as she nodded towards the people who had entered beside them, watching as they took up places behind their seats before resuming their idle chatter with those beside them. The fact that they remained standing caused one of Svanda’s earlier comments to pop into Nina’s head, and so with the thought in mind she followed Saela before joining her at the bench.

Don’t sit until everyone else is seated.

After taking her place she looked over the lip of the first step, through the sea of table and chair legs to see that a similar procession was taking place on the other side of the room. More Unqualifieds in casual wear were filtering in through another entrance not unlike the one that they had used, and the scene led her to guess that there were probably also more. How many people she had seen in relation to the size of what they had stepped into hadn’t really seemed to add up at first, but if it was suddenly multiplied by three or four then it would become a rather reasonable estimation. Five hundred Unqualifieds? A thousand? A figure somewhere in the middle was probably more accurate, although that in itself was a little scary considering that they weren’t far from an army of servants that now neatly formed up around the pyramid. It was almost cultish in a sense when she thought about it, although at least there was a noticeable lack of fervency in their eyes. Many of them weren’t even focused on anything besides their conversation with the person next to them, although if what Svanda had said was correct, that was all about to change.

Light applause as others are entering.

At the sound of new doors opening, the conversations around Nina disappeared. The attention of the Unqualifieds around her quickly moved towards the steady stream of grey robes that began to file into the hall, and before Nina knew it the sound of applause began to swell. It wasn’t deafening, more polite than anything else, and instead of wondering why she simply followed along with the rest. No point getting into trouble now, she reasoned, although when she looked to her side she was dismayed to see that Saela had a tired expression on her face while her hands still hung limply by her sides.

“Do it,” she hissed, trying to remain quiet while getting her words across the noise. The frown that tugged at the corner of Saela’s lips showed that the message had been received, and while retaining her sour expression, to Nina’s relief she raised her hands.

Despite the applause, the one-peak Qualifieds largely ignored the reception. Chatting amongst themselves as they streamed up the stairs before fanning out to take their seats in an orderly manner, Nina used the opportunity to attempt a rough count. If the scene from her seat was mirrored on the opposite side of the pyramid, she estimated that there was perhaps around four or five hundred of them. None of them sat yet either, she noted as the applause died down, and hushed conversation soon returned among both groups of people. Saela used the opportunity to stifle a yawn that did little to hide how bored she already was at the whole procession, and regardless of Svanda’s words, Nina found herself fighting the temptation to mirror her.

At least the lull was brief. The two-peak Qualifieds entered to light applause which now sounded out from both the Unqualifieds and the one-peak Qualifieds above them, and Nina found herself urging them to hurry up so that she could finally sit down. In a repeat of the earlier scene they took their own places with minimal fuss, and then they themselves turned to applause as the three-peak Qualifieds began their ascent. Nina and Saela both spotted Celine at the same time, elbowing each other before offering wry smiles. It wasn’t exactly hard to miss her striking features and demeanour as she breezed up the stairs, her presence attracting even more attention than the string of men behind her who wanted to jostle for a place at her table. Nina almost laughed when she glided across the step before suddenly slipping behind the final empty seat at a table full of women, the move so obviously rehearsed that the dejected men who slinked off were probably the only ones who didn’t realise. Not that Nina faulted her for it. If she was trying so hard to land herself a husband a few rungs up the ladder, the last thing she would have wanted was to be seen wasting her time with men she deemed unworthy in front of the entire clan.

“Let’s see what the fuss is about then,” Saela said with a frown as the last of the three-peak Qualifieds took their places, her eyes moving over to the largest of the doors which remained unopened.

She didn’t have to wait long, as moments after her comment the doors were thrown open to reveal a sea of white waiting behind them.

The Daerx Clan.