A GODDESSES PARADISE (girlxgirlxgirl)

31; Cold silence

"You could hear a pin drop"

🌿

Playing.

The act of having fun in an imaginative way.

Playing around.

The act of having fun immaturely.

Ariadne sits on her seat in the throne room, silently staring at the empty seat opposite of her. The silence is very loud. The big and empty space of the throne room, cold marble walls and floors, suddenly make everything look way more awkward than it is. A cough could have everyone flinching, that's how silent it is. They pretend that everything is fine, occasionally glancing at the queen. And each time they see her majesty, she looks more and more angry. The tension grows.

Ariadne stares back at the empty seat. She has honestly never seen it empty before, not like this.

The monthly meeting between the leaders is very important, always happening on the first day of the month, and never missed. For thousands of years there have been meetings twelve times a year, once a month. The leader of the temple of Hera, thereby the queen, sits on the throne while the other temple leaders sit on the sides. Even the men have a similar system. Even when sick and dying the leaders have showed up, and if they physically can't a representative will be planned and sent days in advance. The meetings are that important. It shows that the queen has the support of the other leaders, it shows respect for tradition, it's where all the important decisions are made, and in times of crisis and in the aftermath of a crisis like right now, it is even more important that everyone attends.

So Thea's empty seat glares at all of them.

A seat that has never, and should never be empty during a monthly meeting.

And everyone knows why it's empty. That's the awkward part.

Daphne, the leader of the temple of Demeter was there at that meeting when Thea argued with the queen, quite loudly so. When Thea stood up and left that closed door meeting everyone there were in shock. Originally it was supposed to be a meeting concerning land distribution between Demeter's farm land and Athena's training grounds, and the queen was only there to supervise. But somehow it turned into an argument between the queen and Thea and the meeting was cut short.

The leader of Artemis temple, as she is Daphne's lover, Thelena found out the same evening. Daphne had rushed to the Artemis temple to tell Thelena, as soon as she had free time on her hands. It was big news for both leaders. The news began to spread slowly after that, from the people at the meeting to high officials and further down the chain. But Ariadne found out from the queen herself, when she visited her at the temple of Aphrodite complaining about Thea.

Now everyone is starting to figure out what is wrong. Even the people have gotten a glimpse of the rumor here and there. Thea is upset at the queen for her laziness and overall way of making decisions, and has refused an order from the queen that was given during a closed door meeting. The order that wasn't followed isn't what's important, but Thea's strength and power over the kingdom has always kept everyone on edge. She could easily challenge the queen, especially with the other leaders on her side. Especially with Ariadne on her side. And now everyone is tense. Will the queen be overthrown now? Is this a challenge to the throne?

With Thea missing from such an important meeting, such a strict traditional meeting, Ariadne is sure.

This is a direct hit at the queen. A challenge of authority. Thea holds the power of their military and she has practically been running this kingdom for years now. Ariadne knows that if her wife wanted to overthrow the queen, she could. But if she will, she doesn't know. That's the upsetting part. She has no idea what Thea is planning because they haven't talked over the past twenty four hours and now everything is going down extremely fast. So, Ariadne makes a rushed decision, that will hopefully end up being the right one.