We were currently standing outside the Queen’s private meeting hall. According to Laura, it's a place where the queen meets people privately, away from the eyes of the others. It was different from her private office which was located in the palace; someplace I was yet to see, someplace I was curious to see. I have been asking myself, since the meeting had been over fifteen minutes ago, this particular question- If the hall had been so carefully designed, then how would the palace be? “You can come in now.” A lady said to us, gesturing that we come in after she opened the door. It turned out that the queen was available to see us. It turned out that when she had said that Laura should bring her family, that had included me. I had tried to wait back in the hall, till the queen was done meeting with Laura and Peter, but Laura had touched my shoulder, and told me that I was part of her family; that she was sure that the queen wanted to see me too. It was probably to know who I was a
At the Queen’s question, there was a notable silence, in which I believed that Peter and Laura were gathering genteel strength; checking to ascertain if their earlier decision of keeping me had been right; if I was worth the trouble of going against the queen; if they should have submitted me to the Queen first.With the shadowed scared look on Laura’s face, I actually said a little prayer for them. I didn't know the punishment for going against a queen’s order, but from the way they were acting, the queen wasn’t all smiles and happiness. “Peter..??” The Queen called again, darting glances between the couple, wondering what was holding up the answer. “Well..” She was talking now, deciding not to wait for their input. Bad if you ask me. “She can stay at Laude and …” She was still speaking when Peter cut her off guard with his sharp reply. But I noticed that he had looked at Laura hard and long before giving that reply. “We have decided to let her stay with us.” “We?? She doesn’t
Aliana. Queen Aliana. Not a bad name for a queen. “Does the name sound familiar, Maya? You are not saying anything.” Queen Aliana mentioned.Saying anything? Should I be saying anything because she told me her name? When I tell my name to someone, I don’t wait for them to say something, I just move on to the next subject, unless I didn’t know their name, then I expect them to say their own.The queen knew mine. What was she expecting me to say?“You have no questions at all to ask me, do you?” she asked, and I shook my head without wasting any time.I needed to be out there, with Laura and Peter; we were supposed to be on our way to the market. But this woman…does she do this with every newcomer in her pack? “Honestly Maya…” She stood up from her seat as she began to speak again, and strolled to the window, peering away from it. “I know that you remember so much more than you let on. I know that you didn’t lose your memory a hundred percent.” She whispered, as if she was talking t
I didn't know how long I stood at the same spot, just beside the entrance door, staring at the wall where Queen Aliana had just passed through, but when a resounding knock on the door reverberated through my ears, I was brought to attention to my environment again. “My Queen, can I come in?” I heard from the other side, and half expected the Queen to appear again through the wall, but my hopes were dashed; she didn’t appear. As the entrance door was opened, the former girl that had ushered us in, peeped into the room, a bit stunned—when her nose almost touched my cloth—at how close I was to the door. Behind her were Laura and Peter. They had been waiting all this while. How long had I stood staring at that wall? I didn’t know. I didn’t know either when I opened my mouth and asked the girl the first thing that rang in my mind. “How did she do that?” I asked, pointing at the wall. Now, Peter and Laura had stepped into the room. “Who is the she?” The clerk asked, her eyes furrowed,
‘Wife to their king.’ This phrase kept ringing in my ear, undaunted by my selection of clothes from the community’s mall. It was smaller than the malls in the human world, but at least they had one; my pack had none. Clothes were bought from the human malls. “Maya, don’t you like the clothes?” That was Laura. I wasn’t aware that she had been standing beside me all this while. I nodded, then shook my head when I thought that she might misinterpret my nod. I liked the clothes, all of them. They were comfortable and beautiful. Laura had mentioned at one time during the tour that some of them had been made with magic. They were of course costlier than the others, due to their value, but she had managed to snag me two. A sweater, and scarf. When I had touched them, I had felt peace. I had literally felt the magic running through them. Laura seemed to think that I could feel those because I had the magic trait. A normal person wouldn’t even notice. “I like the clothes, Laura. How c
We ate an early dinner, where talks about what had happened today were suspended and left until later. My new family took table manners seriously.The only time I had spoken was when Diana had come home from her classes, late afternoon. We had spoken because I was just so damn curious about what kind of classes would keep a girl of her age in the palace from morning till that time. Her enthusiasm whilst narrating all she had learnt slightly toppled my experience at the market earlier.When Laura and I had gone to the market, it had been my first time seeing so many sellers in a shade with their goods. Back at the pack, my mother had been in charge—I had never picked up groceries—and it was still from the human world. We usually got groceries that would last for two weeks and stock them up in the refrigerator. But here, the stalls were similar to those that I had read about in african books, about african markets. I’ve always had a diversified taste in literature. The market environ
A knock sounded on the door, bringing all our attention to the sitting room. Who could be knocking by this time? This question was drawn on all of our faces. Peter dropped his cutlery, and stood up from his seat. “You should continue. Let me see who is knocking. It might be a patient.” He addressed us before turning away and walking past the flimsy curtain into the sitting room; his strides were quite overconfident. My eyes perched on Diana, then strolled to Laura. Peter had told us to continue dinner, but what was going on here was far from it—it was a silent discussion between Diana and her mother. They were looking at each other, and Diana's eyes kept squishing and her lips kept pouting. What was going on? I was sure that they weren’t werewolves, but could part of their magical influence include mind communication, telepathy? My questions were answered in the next minute. “Diana, I am not a mind reader. Just tell me who you think is at the door.” Laura mentioned tiredly as if
“Who knocked?” Laura asked Diana again, taking a sneak peek through the curtain. We just noticed that Peter was no longer in the sitting room. “Uncle Dim. I don’t know why he is here though.” Diana answered calmly as if she was talking about the weather, as if she didn’t just utilize a gift that was impossible to humans, to ordinary werewolfs, to me. A gift of prophecy? I was not sure what to term it. When Laura’s mind processed the name that her daughter had given her, she stood up agilely from her seat and strolled out of the dining room. Well, I was unsettled too. If Dim was anything like his deranged wife, whom I had met in the market, then there was a need to be out there too. Who knows? Possibly Lourdes had reported to Dim what had transpired today at the market, or maybe he had come to lay his grievance on Peter for usurping the queen’s intention for me, or possibly both. I looked at a not-concerned Diana and furrowed my eyebrows. Why wasn’t the girl perturbed? From the