Heat

Chapter 4: Meeting the Family

Sevish groaned as he stepped inside the overly large castle hall. It was just completely massive and quite beautiful due to the natural minerals that seemed to sparkle and shimmer in the light. Obsidian pillars accented by what seemed to be an orihalcom ceiling with a bright polished marble floor. However, it was not the beauty and majesty of the main hall, but the glares that were directed toward him that caught his attention. He could feel the want of the soldiers blades to shred him . Needless to say he felt the need to run for his life and was having a hard time quelling it. Lumire was latched so tightly to his arm that as much as he wanted to run she would not let him; he also felt that it was the only reason he was not being run through at the moment. Lumire, Castine, and Sevish approched the end of the hall and at it's center there were two thrones, both large and beautiful made of polished carved ivory with gold trim. What struck Sevish as odd was the fact that one of the thrones was seated slightly further back than the other and was less ornate.

As the small group reached the thrones, two mithra came into view. One was a small framed female that sat in the throne that pushed back, and the other was a gray, wise-looking old lion with a thick mane and calm descerning eyes. Lumire approched them with her arm still hooked around his as if she was refuseing to let anything happen to him. When they reached about ten feet away from the thrones Lumire stopped and Castine lowered herself to her knees in a regal bow. Sevish followed her example and bowed in the same manor, not wanting to do anything that would incur their wrath.

Lumire pulled him up, wrapped her arm around his and addressed the gray lion, "I come to introduce my Coran to you." Scandalized muttering erupted from the watchers and continued loudly until the kingly lion raised his hand at which the crowd silenced.

"Where is it?" boomed the old lion.

Wasting no time, Castine, again unceremoniously spun Sevish on his heel and pointed at the symbol at the nape of his neck. Sevish turned back around to look the king in the eyes. He was surprized to find that the king had risen himself off of the throne to his full hieght, which Sevish surmised to be much bigger than Rydon, and walked down to him. The king looked Sevish in the eyes, "Tell me, my daughter's Coran, why did you help her?"

"How could I not have?" replied Sevish honestly. For a moment the old lion looked flabbergasted as if he did not expect such an honest answer from him, and for a moment Sevish thought he might have been stuck down right there. The on lookers stared in awe as each and everyone held their breath waiting for the king's reaction. The silence was slow and akward while begging to be put out of its misery and, suddenly, it got its wish as the grizzled old lion broke into riotous laughter. So much so that, despite not knowing what the joke was about, Sevish tried unsuccessfully to join in. He only managed to sound asthmatic at best. "It has been a long time since anyone has been that honest with me." The lion pulled Sevish into a weak head lock that made him feel as if he were the king's younger brother, "Bring us something to drink!" Roared the Lion, "For today I recignised Human as heir!" The old lion leaned into Sevish's ear, "You should know my name, and I should know yours."

"My name is Vyse William Sevish, my friends just call me Sev."

"and I am Orslan of the fifth crown, and I do not approve this lightly.

My daughter is more precious to me than anything else in this world and if you hurt her I will have your balls on a pike outside my door." Sevish winced at the tought.

"A... a... father's perrogative." Sevish forced a bit smile, Orslan roared again in laughter. Sevish was not really sure about what he had gotten himself into, but no one in the main hall seemed to have any objections as soon as Orslan said otherwise. Also, the moment he mentioned drink, an atmosphere of celebration erupted. Apparently, these people where not all like Rydon and in fact they seemed to take anything the king said as final. Wheather that was something exclusive to this king or to all the kings of the mithra.

Regardless, Sevish was lead into another room. This time it was much smaller and had a large rectangular table at it's center. It was apparently the dining hall and the table was a large organic platform that seemed as if it had grown from the ground of the room, which was strange as the floor of the room was solid polished obsidian. The walls and ceiling were similar in that retained the same polished texture of the obsidion while having the color of ivory. The whole room was supported by limestone rib-like structures that pressed and curved around the outside of the room leading to an opening in the cealing that cast a prefect ray of light into middle of the table. The whole experiance was awe inspireing as Sevish sat down at the table and Lumire sat to his right. What puzzled him the most was that, despite Lumire sitting next to him, there were not any females that sat at the table. "Today," the king raised his glass, "I have done something that was never thought to happen. I have approved a hume as heir. Now some of you might disapprove,"

"Here it comes." Lumire visibly winced as she clenched Sevish's arm tighter.

"but I do not need anyone's approval, as of this moment my approval has been granted to this hume, however, it is only half of the final requirements needed." Orslan raised his cup as the occupants of the table did so as well.

"May the Coran survive!" they all roared in unison as if toasting a wedding. Then an elegant looking Mithra with bright blonde hair and dressed in rather scant attire made from gold lace and silk walked to the king's side and sat to his left a foot behind. She leaned into the kings ear and whispered softly into it. After a few moments the king silenced the uproarious room and stood up.

"It seems that the task has been chosen. Come tonight the first Coran of my daughter will participate in the Fauristan." Sevish scanned the room and saw blank emotionless stares at the king, quite a different mood from what it was just a moment ago. Sevish leaned in to Lumire,

"Fauristan?"

"... it is one of the five possible tasks given to the Coran of royality to prove their worth..." Lumire replied

"So why is everyone so quiet?"

"... because it is the only one that envolves combat."

"Combat?"

Just then Orslan Roared, "Maureen, see to the Coran. Make sure that he is rested and ready for the Fauristan first thing tomarrow." The blonde headed, scantly clad Mithra that had been sitting next to Orslan walked over to were Sevish and Lumire were sitting and beckonded him wordlessly to follow her. Lumire tried to stand and follow but quickly forbidden from doing so by her father. Sevish smiled consoleingly at Lumire and followed the new servant as she lead him down many of the organic halls and into a large open room that seemed to glow white with its surjecal cleanliness. A loud pop echoed through the large room as the door closed behind the servant he had learned was named Maureen.

"Sooooo," Sevish drawled, "what now?"

"Your bath, master." Maureen replied simply as she pointed to a large pool with crytall clear water. Sevish lifted his right arm and sniffed is arm pit.

"Ok, I can take a hint." When he looked up he found that he had already been striped to his shorts and that Maureen was poised ready to remove him of those garments. "WHAT THE HELL!" Sevish grabbed his shorts and pulled them away from the deft servant.

"Master, you must be clean."

"I can clean myself!" Sevish protested,

"I'm sorry I was given an order to make sure that you are ready for tomarrow." Maureen moved in closer and closer. Despite the pleasent, calm look she had on her face she was very scary at this point. Sevish raised his hands in a defensive combat position, but realized it was a mistake to take his hands away from what he was protecting as when he did maureen already had his shorts in her hand. She was fast. Sevish capitulated and let the blonde mithra wash him and once he got over just how gentle yet forcefull Maureen could be, it was actually a pleasent experiance. He did his best to remember just what his masters had taught him about controlling his desires, but after spending most of his life in a convent full of men; the caress of a woman was beginning destroy his defenses. A fact that he was sure maureen was aware of. Then in a breif moment of clarity a question came to him.

"Maureen, may I ask you a question?"

"Yes, master."

"Why were the thrones uneven?" Sevish looked at the mithra that was washing him as she continued to do so. He was only met with a questioning glance. "I mean to say, why aren't they side by side? Doesn't the queen complain?"

"The queen has no right to complain."

"excuse me?"

"The king is our ruler and the queen is his wife. Why should they be next to each other?" Maureen informed as Sevish could only mutter a contemplative grunt. He sopposed that living in the democracy of Bastok had spoiled him with the thought of equality. Maybe the balance of power would shift if he actully married Lumire, surely the mithra clans would despise a hume king and turn to the queen for leadership. From what he had seen Lumire had what it took to lead, maybe there was a way out still. Of all his contempating, Sevish had lowered his guard and not noticed that Maureen's hands were washing a little south of the border until it was too late. Sevish jumped as he wrenched himself away from Maureen.

"I was just teaseing, Master." tittered Maureen, "Please come down off the ceiling." After the bath Sevish was given the smallest robe that Maureen could find and it still hung loose around him, and walked him to his room. He found himself wondering as he sat at the desk in the room, how did he get into this situtation. Sabaku had always warned him about being a nice guy, she always told him that it would get him into more trouble than it was worth. Sevish just always thought she could not understand as she was a Red mage and not a paladin. "Maureen," Sevish called to the blonde mithra sitting quietly in the corner.

"Yes master?"

"Tell me about my task tomarrow."

"It is one of five possible tasks which all set prove the Coran's worth. They all have something to do with the Coran's qualifications: Strength, intelligence, willpower, skill, and verility." Maureen explained as Sevish wondered what she ment by verility, but decided to let it pass.

"Mine is which?"

"Yours is skill, master. You are to meet an opponent on a battlefield of his choosing and defeat him."

"It's sounds tough. Who's my opponent?"

"The Master of the Royal Guard," Sevish didn't like where this conversation was going, "Rydon."

End Chapter 4