The Kingdom of the Stars

Chapter 3: The Meeting

Traveling through the castle's secret passages was always a conflicting ordeal for Asha. On one hand, the passages were quiet, offering a nice escape from the loud and chaotic nature of both the market and sometimes, the castle. But on the other hand, the passages were dark and rather easy to get lost in if you didn't know what you were doing.

The walls were made out of a dull mixture of clay and brick, and save for the light from a few wall torches, the darkness in it felt overwhelming.

Fortunately for Asha, previous trips through here with her father had left her feeling rather confident in navigating these passages. They were the best way to get to and fro the palace without being seen.

Asha was halfway through her venture back to her room when she heard it again- music. But this time it was coming from outside of the passage.

Cautiously crouching to her knees, Asha peered through the crack in the passage wall, as the sight of the hallway below greeted her.

She was near the forbidden west wing of the castle.

She could tell from the rather ominous pair of doors at the other end of the hallway. Unlike all the other doors in the castle, these had strange carvings in some other language engraved on them. Runes, she'd think she'd heard one of the other apprentices theorize, or something that Magnifico had placed on the doors to keep people out.

No one knew what was behind those doors, well no one save for Dario, one of Magnifico's other apprentices who'd gotten lost on his first day. He'd somehow ended up in the west wings when the doors were opened.

He hadn't spoken much about his experience to the other apprentices, other than that he was pretty certain it was where Magnifico had kept the wishes and some other strange stuff. No one could figure out what this 'some other strange stuff' seemingly entailed, which was fine with Asha. She wasn't too keen on getting involved with the more 'magical' side of Rosas.

Quietly, she watched as the door opened and the queen's figure stepped into the hallway before quietly shutting the door behind her. She looked just as poised and as graceful as ever, Asha thought, as she listened to the music fade. Had the queen been singing? Such a sight, or rather sound, wasn't entirely new to Asha, but she'd be lying if she didn't say that seeing the queen singing alone was a bit surprising.

Taking a deep breath, she watched as the queen straightened herself before making her way down the hall and out of view. Softly humming as her footsteps quietly echoed. Her newfound absence quickly left Asha with far more questions than answers.

Was the queen alone? Why had she come to the West Wing by herself? Maybe Magnifico was still in there, and she'd just leave to make her morning rounds. Even so, it felt strange to watch them leave separately...

Asha shook her head, whatever the answer was she was certain it wasn't her business to ask. Everyone in this castle had secrets, but some were more troubling than others. The apprentice before her had learned that the hard way, or at least that's what the rumors had stated. Asha, however, wasn't too keen on finding out just how much of said rumor was particularly true.

Her further venture into the passages took her to all of the expectedly familiar places, such as the royal library. Then the always hectic advisor's meeting room where all of its occupants were currently scurrying about, and of course, the kitchen, where all of the other apprentices currently were.

Even through the passage wall, Asha could smell the delicious scent of the freshly baked Magnifico cookies, and other pastries that the young chef, Dahlia had prepared for the day.

Through the cracks in the wall, she could catch small glimpses of two boys who were currently playing and dueling each other with a mop and broom. One paused to sneeze, before ducking the wide poorly aimed arc that the other threw in his direction.