Chapter Four

Monday, April Eighth

"You're late Luna," Selena doesn't turn to look at her sister. She continues to polish a shield she keeps in the sparring room of the castle, making sure that she can see her reflection in it.

"Actually, you're late," Luna enters the room, "Dad called a family meeting."

"Drew has class." She continues to polish the shield, "Now, can we start training?"

"No professor, no class." Drew speaks up from outside the room. "Also, she's right."

"Whatever." Selena hangs the shield back onto the wall and puts away the cleaning equipment. She makes sure everything looks as well as it did prior to her entering.

"I don't even know why you insist on personally cleaning that thing before every training session." Luna mutters. Her older sister and twin brother are in tow, following her to the conference room.

"I enjoy it Luna." Selena quips, "Is that a good enough reason for you?"

She rolls her eyes and leads them through the halls of their childhood home. Walking through the castle, Selena and Luna try not to bicker with each other, silently figuring out why their father would halt their schedules for a meeting.

Their parents, King Tyrell and Queen Pallas are waiting on them. The kids sit down; their father has files in front of him; their mother has her laptop open, furiously typing.

"You called in a family meeting?" Selena asks, her attention immediately turning to her father.

He addresses her, "Yes Lena, I called in a family meeting. You can train afterwards if your schedule allows it. Anyways, as all of us know, the castle is getting ready for the selection. Thirty-five young men and women will be joining us in under a week. Now, since we are hosting the people that will eventually become Lena's future spouse and Illéa Olympia's future monarch, you all must behave."

"I feel like this is being directed towards me." Luna notes, twirling in the wheeled chair.

Selena mutters, "I wonder why."

"Girls," Pallas looks up from her laptop and looks at the two, "Focus."

"As I was saying, you all will behave." King Tyrell hands out packets of papers to the rest of his family, "Here is the official rundown of this week; including all changes to your schedule today."

"Oh great," Luna mutters, "More school."

"You could've graduated early and went to university." Drew points out.

Queen Pallas quickly gets them to shush before speaking, "This week is focusing on making the selected's rooms comfortable."

"Shouldn't we postpone that until we actually decide on who is staying?" Drew asks, not looking up from his weekly schedule.

King Tyrell answers, "Since we have to do background checks, we shall be preparing rooms ahead of time."

"We should be able to let all selected change their room as they see fit." Selena looks up from the papers and sets them down in front of her.

Queen Pallas types whilst replying to her daughter, "Okay Selena."

"And the selection should be entirely random."

"There is a possibility that more than one god is represented that way, Lena darling," King Tyrell looks at his daughter.

Selena counters, "I am aware. However, we shouldn't let the fact that someone of the same legacy be left out their draft because they have the same patron god as someone else."

"Some can claim favoritism." Drew points out, "Especially if it's more than three of the same patron."

"Do you know the odds of that?" Lena asks back.

Drew comments, "Give me a whiteboard and I can find out."

"Nevermind," Lena says, "However, this must be at random."

"Are you certain Lena?" King Tyrell asks.

Lena looks him in the eyes, standing firm in her decision, "Absolutely."

"Okay then." Queen Pallas closes her laptop, "Now Lena, please speak to Mr. Blanchard and Ms. Herring involving any decisions straying from the schedule."

King Tyrell picks up where his wife left off, "Drew and Luna, please return to your studies and all of you, follow the schedule. This week and the months to come are going to be some of the most stressful."

The family disperses and Lena quickly leaves the rest of her family in the dust.

Selena briskly walks towards the sector of the castle where the selected will be staying. She turns down into another corridor and climbs two flights of stairs. Her shoes squeak on the recently cleaned floors and her fingertips leave fingerprints on the shining silver railings.

"Your Highness," Gideon turns to look at her with his thin, tired eyes and budding wrinkles, "I wasn't expecting you immediately."

"Since I am going to be running the selection, I should be here."

"Your Highness, I believe that you should get the final word in all selection decisions."

"Good." Selena smirks, looking at one of the rooms offered, "I'm glad that we are on the same page."

She enters the room to see a room with black walls with off white furniture and decorations. The room is standard in size and has the same overarching color scheme.

"What's with the dark walls?" Selena asks as she looks around.

Gideon pushes up his thin, wire rimmed glasses, "There is a higher population of legacies with patrons that are connected to the Underworld in the Likely area; the highest being Thanatos with around ten legacies there; so, we are designing each room to whatever legacy had the highest chance of residing there."

"We are allowing them to change the rooms as they please, I assume." Selena shoots back.

Gideon nods, "It would be unfair otherwise."

"Good."

"Would you like to see the other rooms, Your Highness?"

"Absolutely." Selena replies, taking her hands out of her pockets, "I have all day dedicated to preparation to the selection."

Two hours and thirty-five rooms later, Selena takes a break for lunch. She heads towards the parlour room closer to the kitchen.

"Are you renovating because of the selection, Sel?" THe voice of her best friend is thrown in her direction as soon as she enters the room.

They both meet in the middle of the room and wrap themselves into a hug.

"I didn't know you were back in Illéa-Olympia."

"I wouldn't dare miss the days before your selection, Sel."

The two of them unravel from their hug and sit at the island.

"How has Europe been?" Selena asks, grabbing the water in front of her.

"One social event after another," Min Sun answers, taking a long drink of the champagne in front of her, "I swear they don't give me any important jobs."

"You are the face of the Illéa family."

"A five year old or a trained monkey can do my job: sit still and smile at cameras while giving people money."

"Hey, it's better than nothing."

"True, true…" Min Sun changes the subject, "So一 you are having a selection?"

"I announced it last friday, Minnie." Sel turns to the lunch that was sent to her, "So, how long are you staying?"

"Well, I fly back out on wednesday; though, I am now being transferred towards our more domestic charities and events."

"That's great." Selena replies in between bites of food.

Minnie starts to eat her food, "Security here has been tightened."

"Yeah, we are just preparing for the selected to come."

"And rebel attacks?"

Selena sets her fork down. The skies start to grey and there is suddenly a brisk wind inside of the parlour.

"I'm not allowed to talk about that."

Min Sun pauses, "...I understand. Sorry for asking."

The wind lessens, but it and the clouds are still there.

"Don't worry about it." Selena's tone lightens. After taking two more bites, "Hey, do you want to get makeovers?"

"Aren't you busy with selection preparations today?"

"Technically yes, but… if I tell Gideon that I need to look better for the legacies who will eventually be joining us, I don't see why he would oppose." Selena says, "Plus, I just spent two hours going over rooms for them and what would be best for each selected based on population percentages of the type of patron in each province."

"Let's get going then, Sel." Min Sun picks up her purse, her six inch heels click down the hall of the palace, and Selena is right beside her, mentally preparing herself to relax.

Author's Note: The Submissions are officially closed and all 13 submitted characters are in!