Chapter 5 - The Circle (POV: Lana)

“My word, what is going on outside? It sounds like someone is pelting the building with stones.”

“Don’t change the subject Hakim,” the gruff older statesman pounded his fist against the obsidian armrest, “you and your prudish people need to get your heads out of the sand long enough to see what is happening here. You can’t stay neutral in this war forever. If you join our side, I will personally see to it that you are richly compensated. If you don’t – well, let’s just say that it would be an unwise decision.”

“I don’t appreciate your tone, ambassador,” the lanky Hakim rose from his silver throne, his fine drake skin boots punctuating echoes as he walked. Taking to the center of the room he swirled his alcohol in its glass before finishing it in a sip.

“More wine,” he beckoned to me. Carefully, I pulled a flagon of spirits from the reception table and puttered into the center of the lofty hall.

“That’s a dessert wine,” he slapped the flagon from my hand, spilling dark red liquid all over the mosaic tile floor, “I was drinking rosé.”

“Forgive me, honored guest,” I bowed, before retreating back to the reception area. Like mice, a group of children, clad in white, scurried in behind me to mop up the spill. They worked swiftly and were completely gone by the time I approached Ambassador Hakim once again.

“That’s better,” he poured his glass full and shoved the flagon back into my hand.

As I was trained, I disappeared, lying in wait for my next request.

“So, what will it be,” Ambassador Onoda pounded his fist against the obsidian once again, “are you going to join us, or are you going to cower away in your precious academy?”

“House Silverwind will not be threatened by the likes of brutes,” Hakim twirled his glass as he talked, “we will make no decision until Sultan Khalid arrives for the Solstice in the Circle, I’m assuming your army can hold out one more week, can it not?”

“Don’t you dare mock our proud armies,” Onoda slammed both of his fists against his chair, stammering to his feet. “This Circle is close to rending itself apart Hakim, you can either join us and save this world, or you can stand idle and watch it crumble. The choice is yours.” The bulky chunk of a man clapped twice, signaling two attendants to rush to his side. Carefully, they supported his massive body weight and led him from the room, leaving Hakim to brood in the empty circle.

“Maidservant,” he beckoned me to his side.

“Yes, honored guest,” I knelt down on one knee.

“More wine.”

“As you will it.”

*******************

“Lana, you’re home early!” My stick of a foster sister, Kaila, poked her head out at me. “Did you earn any sustenance for us?”

“I made a mistake at work today, I only got one ration.”

“We can split it,” she dolefully tugged on my white roughhewn sleeve, sending pangs of guilt coursing through my core.

I hunched myself down to her level and stared straight into her soft brown eyes. Hers were not the eyes of a normal little girl, no, they were the eyes of someone who had been shell shocked and traumatized. I imagined that mine looked the same.

“Here,” I shoved my bag of potatoes and supplements into her chest, “it’s for you and Auntie.”

“But what will you eat?”

“Tell Auntie that I'm going to see Loki,” I carefully placed my white beret back on my head and retreated through the door, “I’ll be back by curfew.”

Slamming the door shut I emerged into the chilly late afternoon air. All around the Slum District, defrocked peasant folk and white-clad workers alike were picking up pieces of their hovels and putting them back together. While I had been at work, a terrible and unseasonable thunderstorm had ripped through Circle City causing inordinate levels of destruction. Though the situation was sad, I supposed it was what it was. People die, and buildings collapse, that is just the way the world works. I was fortunate that my home was untouched.

“Madam worker,” an old man covered in debris wagged his cane at me as I cut through a back alley. “Will you please help me? I can’t find my wife.”

“Contact the Guardians of the Circle, I cannot help,” I shrugged him off and kept walking. His wife was probably dead. Me helping him would just be a waste of his time and mine. Emotions were a waste of productivity, and a foolish use of calories. I would have thought that a Circle elder would have already learned that lesson well.

“If emotions are for fools, why did you give your rations away?” Loki popped down from a white shingle roof, landing at my side.

“Have you been watching me this whole time?”

“But of course,” he tipped his beret to me, “I am your dearly betrothed, am I not?”

Loki and I were only 13 years old, but despite our youth, the Circle Priesthood had matched us up with each other anyway. To be married was a gift in Circle City, and a fast track for promotion. We still had a few years to go before we would be husband and wife, but it was all but ordained to happen.

“Is that all I am to you? A promotion?” He pouted at me with his soft boyish charms.

“Yes,” I told him matter-of-factly, “and please stay out of my thoughts, it's uncomfortable.”

“I need to know what my future wife is thinking,” he slung his arm around me as we rounded the corner to his house. “It sounds like you had a pretty wild day, I can’t wait to hear all about it.”

“I’ll tell you if you feed me.”

“I’ll cook you a gourmet feast, my beautiful princess.”

Listening to him speak made me want to vomit.

“But your stomach is empty, what is it that you will heave up?”

I tried to ignore my fiancé and his uncomfortable use of mind mana as we entered his residence. He lived simply, but well off, in a two-room loft right at the meeting of the Slum and Worker’s Districts – and for a boy, he kept his bachelor pad pretty clean and well maintained too. If the storm had damaged it, then it had patched it up quickly.

“Make yourself at home,” he said as he wrapped an imported red apron around his white work uniform and clutched a wooden spatula in hand. “Dinner will be ready in a jiff.”

I had to admit, for a pain in the neck, Loki had his charms. He was a hard worker, a top student, and a gentle soul. I could imagine worse people to have to spend an eternity with.

While he cooked for me, I paced around his common room and examined some of the weird stuff that he had collected over the years. “Examine item,” I said while looking at a small glass orb that rested comfortably on his nightstand. Flecks of white fell like snow on a landscape of green as I turned the item over in my hand.

Name: Snow Globe Version 23A

Rarity: Uncommon

Description: Handcrafted by Black Sun artisans, this decorative snow globe is said to portray the mystical land of Hokkaido.

Class: Decoration

As a worker in the Foreign District, it didn’t really surprise me that Loki would have such a strange trinket. Though I had never been there, I had heard that the foreign district was replete with crazy characters and colorful odds and ends. Based on my limited interactions with the ambassadors, and their distasteful personalities, I was not to keen to ever go near any foreign folk - but Loki didn't seem to mind his role. In fact, he seemed to relish it.

A sweet mellow scent began to flood into the room as I spied another item that I had never noticed before. It was an etching like nothing I had ever seen. The colorful image featured two cheery adults holding a baby. The woman was clearly of Black Sun stock, with narrow eyes and hair as black as volcanic rock, but the man was of curious complexion – very fair, and with hair the color of a worker's uniform. Was the child they were holding their son? The baby sure didn’t look like either of them. A tuft of brown hair popped out of his newborn head. His freckled face instantly reminded me of someone – someone I knew very well.

“Do you like my baby picture,” Loki popped up over my shoulder scaring the daylight out of me.

“By The Circle,” I elbowed him in his stomach, “don’t sneak up on me like that.”

“Owwwww.” He peeled over in feigned pain, quickly popping back up with a smile. “Looks like someone is hangry,” he beamed at me with one of his cheeky looks, “Dinner is ready. Bon appétit.”

“Wow, this actually looks pretty good,” I said as Loki pulled back my wooden chair for me. A delectable cauldron of soup sat in the middle of the table, with two large loaves of bread flanking it on each side.

“There’s enough here to take some back home,” he rocked happily in his chair, “I hope your family likes it.”

“I think they will, it looks very good,” I ladled a massive helping into my bowl. It was a chicken-based soup, filled with noodles, vegetables and grilled pieces of meat. A rare treat for any worker.

“It’s my mother's recipe, I found it in her journal,” Loki slurped down a noodle as he talked, “I got a monetary tip from one of my patrons, so I figured I should do something special with it. Especially after the day that you had.”

Loki was right, I had had an awful day. Maybe his soup would ease my mind. I blew on the rich golden liquid, waiting for it to cool to the perfect temperature. Then I took a sip. It was pure umami-laden ecstasy.

“You’re smiling,” Loki giggled, “so much for not showing any emotion.”

“What’s this though,” I pulled a strand of something from my teeth. It was too thin to be a noodle – and kind of tough.

Loki’s freckled face turned red as I plucked his wavy brown hair from my tooth.

“Eh, it’s still better than supplement capsules and potatoes,” I shrugged it off and tossed it aside, “but try to wear a hair net next time.”

Loki exhaled a relieved breath. “So – you did promise me you would tell me about your day. What happened?” He conveniently changed the subject.

“There aren’t any listening devices in here, are there?” I questioned him.

“I wouldn’t know if there are,” he responded.

“Good point,” I sighed, “oh well – I guess it's safe to tell you.”

Loki put down his spoon and focused fully on me, his mood growing stoic and serious in an instant.

“As you know, it was my first time working in The Circle of the Five Houses, and just as the Overseers have always taught us, I completely killed my emotions, and I mean completely. I thought things were going well, but then Ambassador Hakim asked me to bring him some wine – and I royally messed up, and I mean royally.”

“Did you spill it all over him?”

“No! Well, he spilled it, but that’s not the issue. I brought him a fortified wine instead of his rosé.

“What was your fine?”

“I was assessed a fine of meager rations for the next month.”

“That’s not so bad,” Loki eased back into his chair, “but this is what I have been trying to tell you for a while now, Lana. You don’t need to hide your emotions. It’s okay to be upset, and it's okay to cry. We are humans, we all make mistakes. I make them too."

“If I make a mistake like that again, I don’t know what I’ll do. My family counts on me.”

“Your family is my family now,” Loki comforted me, “even if you get tossed out of The Circle, I will be there for you.”

“We are only together because of The Circle, though.” A sudden bout of fear took hold of me, “The priesthood could call off our betrothal in an instant.”

“Ah-ha!” Loki practically jumped in his seat, “so you do like me after all. I knew it!”

“It’s not that,” I stammered and looked away from him, “I would just hate to lose your support, that’s all.”

“One day you’ll learn to embrace your emotions,” Loki eased back into his chair, “but I don’t want to break them out of you all at once – that simply wouldn’t be fun at all. So let's change the subject for now. What else shall we talk about?”

I happily took him up on his offer, quickly thinking of something else to talk about. “How are preparations going in Foreign District, are you seeing an influx of travelers for the Solstice in the Circle?”

“Ah, yes, we are. You wouldn’t believe how many dignitaries are arriving, the Guardians of the Circle are having to work overtime to keep them all from killing each other. It’s especially bad when the Black Rocks and Cephaloshians bump into each other. It takes a small armada of troops just to break them apart.”

“Do you think that everything is going to be okay? Ambassador Onoda of House Black Rock claimed that The Circle is close to collapsing,” I said.

“Well, you know, I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately,” Loki stared directly at me, his expression suddenly dark and his tone deeply serious, “maybe we should get out of here, just in case things go south.”

*******************

Loki's words haunted my sleep that night. No one escaped The Circle – NO ONE. Once a member always a member, even in defrockment or death. I had never seen him act that seriously. Had he learned of some kind of a threat while he was working? Were we in danger? Was there even a way to escape?

As an institution, The Circle was the moral and governmental authority that regulated the world, but it had always teetered precariously on the edge. One wrong move could destroy the balance of the world. That is why our people existed to be its keepers and caretakers, that is why Circle City was an independent state in a world ruled by kings. At least, that is what we had always been taught.

Calm down, and let your fears and worries be buried. The words of Overseer Hesston flowed through my troubled mind. Should I listen to him, or should I listen to Loki? My carefully crafted personality was beginning to break.

"Lana," my Auntie called to me as I was putting on my hat, "you look troubled. Remember dear, that you must rid yourself of that angst in order to keep balance in the world. That is the life of a worker."

"Of course Auntie," I bowed to her on my way out the door, "I will be back by supper."

The streets were still a mess from the freak storm the day before, but life had a way of resuming to normalcy quickly in Circle City. I stared up to the Grand Temple, its bulky stone mass looming high above the city. The ancient building was undamaged and resolute, at least on the outside, inside was another story.

As I entered the worker's entrance and slid into my uniform, the bickering, and tussling of diplomats played like a disharmonious melody in the halls around me. If things were already this bad in the warm-up chambers, then they would likely be worse in the main galley.

I entered into the Circle of the Five Kingdoms and took my place in the shadows just as the fireworks were beginning.

A caramel toned woman with luscious braids and a lengthy gold dress marched proudly into the room as Hakim and Onoda picked off where they had left off the day before. "Honestly," she said as she took her place at the golden throne, "I can see why my predecessor had a heart attack in this chamber, you people are insufferable."

"You're new to this place Mbali," Onoda bit back, "you should keep your mouth shut while your betters are having a discussion, that's lesson number one of being a successful ambassador."

"I'd hardly call any of you successful," a white-clad attendant poured Mbali a drink as she spoke, "House Lyon sent me here specifically to see to it that you fools don't tear this sacred place apart."

"The only thing that is going to tear this place apart is House Cephaloshia and their warmongering ways," Onoda smacked his ancient chair with his fist, "Unless your house has finally decided to join our cause, I don't want to hear a peep from you."

Hakim yawned at the discussion taking place, sitting back in the throne chair with a dismissive posture. "Attendant," he motioned for me, "I'm hungry."

Being careful to grab the proper bowl, I made my way to Hakim's side. With cautious care, I plopped a wrinkly date into Hakim's equally wrinkly mouth. He chewed it for a second, and then spat a pit into my hand. "Summerset Valley Dates, my favorite," he smiled. "How I long to be there right now," he sighed. "Have you ever been?"

"No, honored ambassador," I bowed, "I am tied to The Circle, this is the only place that I will ever see."

"That's a shame, my homeland really is quite beautiful this time of year."