Chapter 6

Caïssa Calls for a Replacement

-~:{+}:~-

The sun's morning rays streamed past the sheer curtains, into the guest room. Short bobbed hair in a mess and shoes still on, Elise was lying haphazardly on the bed, just waking up.

{What a strange... dream..?}

What jolted her senses was a knock on the door, though she was still groggy, not being a morning person. Entering, a young faceless maid in a white uniform appeared.

"Miss Elise, her Majesty would like to meet with you now. It's time for breakfast."

"Hnn… Breakfast!"

The girl's mood changed quite quickly at the prospect of food

"Yes, breakfast will be served soon. I will wait outside until you are ready."

Leaving the room, Elise didn't have to do much, as she had fallen asleep in her normal clothes, and only fixed her hair, combing it and replacing the two hairpins she tended to wear. The maid lead her down the corridors. The palace was beautiful inside as well as outside. The hallways cut away on one side, walls being replaced with intricate arches and balconies, opening pathways to gardens and beautiful views of the city. There was a classical, reserved feeling to the entire place as a whole. One that worked with many lilies, white roses, and daisies scattered around the area.

"Oh! I'm sorry ma'am."

When passing by one of the palace's many balconies, a young girl ran directly into Elise. She was a young girl, perhaps about twelve or thirteen. This girl had short, golden hair that hung onto her face, framing her grey eyes very nicely. The overall appearance of the girl was something Elise just thought was adorable, from the two small bows in her hair to the bell-shaped dress she wore. Elise did have a fondness for nice children. Bonus points if they were deemed cute.

The girl continued to look up at the stranger, and bluntly asked, "Are you a foreigner?"

Used to the blunt behavior children normally possessed, Elise just simply nodded her head, "Mm-hm."

"Wow, you are. You have a face like me! Hehe~ Aria was waiting for you."

Grabbing Elise's hand, the girl dragged her off into a garden, down a path of lightly coloured stones, leaving the maid to carry on by herself. Soon the girls reached a round table set with various dishes, mostly sweet things, like pastries and other baked goods.

"Ah. There you two are! I was starting to wonder why you were taking so long. Please, sit and eat something."

Seating herself, Elise just couldn't but notice all the various goods around her. She tried to resist her will to eat, at least until there was some confirmation that it was appropriate to begin eating. The younger girl just stared at her. Elise just couldn't help but get a bit uncomfortable.

"W-what is it?"

"You have a face. Does that make you a role-holder?"

"What do you mean?"

She remembered what Edwin mentioned earlier.

{The people without faces here don't have a role to play.}

Somehow, that made Elise feel a bit annoyed. It didn't show much on the surface, and instead she just stared blankly for a few seconds. Queen Aria interrupted her thoughts.

"Lily, that's enough."

"But I was just asking a question." The girl pouted.

Making a quick change in subject, the queen urged the two to eat some food. Elise was grateful for that, for she does tend to get hungry easily, plus her sweet tooth was dancing around in her mouth after a while. Of course, this compelled her to also drink her tea straight black though, liking at least something a bit different when eating sugar after more sugar. Her parents wouldn't have approved of such eating habits, but she ignored them regardless. Still, her thoughts still dwindled a bit on the ideas of these "roles." She dared to take a chance.

"Um, excuse me, your Majesty, but can I ask you a question?"

"Please, there is no use to be so formal. You should just call me Aria. I've taken quite a liking to you~ What's you're question?"

Hesitating a bit, "I've heard people mention a few things about roles. What are roles?"

The fair queen just looked at the outsider with her pale-blue eyes, setting down her teacup.

"Role-holders are people with faces. We are people assigned a place in the game, and we must play the part accordingly. There must always be someone to fill the role."

Quickly, the group became silent. Elise just stared down into her tea.

{Roles. Like actors in a play. What kind of world is this? How can anyone ever decide the place of another! Just who chooses their roles anyways? A world filled with people can't be like some giant playhouse. Can it?}

-~:{+}:~-

"Hey, Violet… what's wrong?"

"Oh, Elise, Mia," shaking her head, an asian girl with black hair and glasses replied, "It's nothing."

Violet had those puffy red eyes and nose of someone who had been crying. These signs were not easy to hide from her friends, and the two couldn't help but sit beside her.

"It was them again, wasn't it?" said the ginger-haired girl, Mia.

Violet nodded in silent agreement. This clearly bothered Elise.

"I just can't understand why they are so cruel towards someone like you…"

"Enough, Elise. I deserve it."

"What? How the hell do you deserve it? You're the one of the nicest, creative, most intelligent people I know! You didn't do anything to them or anyone else."

"Why else do they hate me then?" Violet's voice started to break.

Mia was first to respond, "They simply are terrible people. They don't like those who are different. What a hypocritical art class."

"I'm sick and tired of this." Violet said, placing her hands behind her glasses.

Elise tried to comfort her friend. "Hey, don't let it get to you. It's almost the weekend, at the very least."

Violet jumped at the comment. She snapped her head towards her friend.

"That's the thing, I can't do that. I have social anxiety! I've made it very clear to them but they keep torturing me anyway! I just want to go someplace where I can be happy!"

Violet was a shy girl, very intelligent, and highly capable. A creative art student and the top five in her class, but she suffered from such social anxiety, trying to hide it at times with a mask of confidence, yet subtly failing. The two friends had no clue what to say to help her most of the time, and when there was something to say, it would always get shot back at them. Mia just hugged the sobbing girl.

{What am I supposed to say? I need to find something that can actually get through to her. She already had a panic attack just yesterday. During lunch, with a huge crowd of people, and not one even wondered if she should go to the nurse. What is wrong with these people - they continued to make fun of her after her limbs started to go numb. Fucking numb. These people acted as if a panic attack was for their entertainment. All those stupid racists. Those hypocrites. Those cliques. Weeabos. Douchbags. Goths. Bros. Scene Kids. Emos. Preps. Jocks. Even a good portion of the art students. All of them. She hasn't done a thing. Is there some sort of psychological need to torment others. Even without these people she's still got it pretty hard with her family and teachers. Do they find her threatening? Do they not like being wrong about stupid facts? Are they jealous? Do they not like Asians? I don't have these problems. Why does this happen to someone like her! What's wrong with a good person like her being happy? I just don't understand. I think I'll never understand…}

"I don't like it."

Elise meant those words.

-~:{+}:~-

"Queen Aria! Your Majesty!"

A male servant broke the silence of the meal. He was holding an envelop. Handing it to the monarch, he said, "It's about… Lily… your Majesty."

"Her stake near the riverside is being threatened. The red knight is after it."

"What! But that means she needs to go out there and retrieve it!" Looking at the young lass, who now had a nervous expression on her face, "It's too dangerous to go. I don't want her to be… I don't want Lily captured!" Signs of anger were appearing in her voice. That and a bit of fear. Elise was taken aback by this. She remembered Aria so happy and almost childlike before. Now she seemed almost like a worried mother.

"Aria, I don't want to go against that knight!" proclaimed Lily

The information fell into place in the foreigner's mind.

{Lily must be a pawn in this game. That's why she has a face! But she needs to go up against a knight! She's just a kid.}

"Please, Aria, I don't like going out there."

"You don't have too. Aria, let me go in her place." Slamming her hands down on the table as she stood, the dark-haired girl made her decision.

"Wait. What are you saying Elise? You can't possibly want to play in this game. I don't want you to get caught up in this…"

"Well, I'm already here. And Lily is just a kid." She softened her expression. "Besides, I know how to play chess. Don't worry, I'll be fine. Perhaps I can be Lily's replacement until I find a way home."

Aria just looked surprised at her for a bit. The woman closed her eyes and smiled.

"Very well, if you wish so, then I'll let you be her replacement."

Notes: Piecing together Elise's personality one stitch at a time. And she finally gets involved in the game this land has to play. It involve some of the known rules and traits from the games, but since the land is different, the game will have other additions to it.

Also about the title, Caïssa is a goddess of chess, if anyone was wondering.