Mischief in the Stars

The Tower of Freyr

Rory eyed the building warily, a flood of annoyance washing over her. Her brothers and the others insisted this was necessary; however, they said so with a very certain sense of dread. The very grand building was at the center of all four realms. It took days to arrive- Rory was convinced that the others intentionally slowed their movements to avoid arriving. She had discussed more efficient ways of transport with the others and had several more ideas to make Thera more efficient. She was determined to preserve the magic of this world while improving things such as communication and transportation. However, she had hoped to do all these things while in Fantamia. She didn't know she had to get permission from someone.

"And you're sure all of this is necessary?" she asked, hoping someone would tell her they could return to the castle.

"Unfortunately, yes," Maximus confirmed, stepping next to his sister.

Rory huffed slightly in annoyance as he placed a hand on the small of her back, urging her towards the door. "How did I not remember there was someone we reported to? I thought the reason there were kings and queens was so each realm made decisions for themselves. You told me not to worry about them."

"Well, I sort of lied because we didn't have time to go through them. We do make decisions for ourselves," Aidan said pointedly as he started to walk with his siblings, holding up his hand slightly, "however, there is a board of sorts. Four people, one from each realm, who oversee all major decisions, they're called The Board of Thera. Considering everything we've done in the past few weeks, they would like an audience with you. There's a lot to explain about Thera, we didn't see any need to go through The Board for what we were doing."

"A group of four?" she clarified with a quirked eyebrow. "How do they make any decisions? I presume it's split quite often."

"There's another, larger council beneath them. They're appointed by various people- the rulers, the people, The Board themselves... very confusing," Aidan explained briefly, rolling his eyes, "but they make the decisions when The Board is split, which happens quite often. Evidently, this made people more concerned with who's on The Council rather than The Board. Thus, we're stuck with four idiots."

"And this place... The...." Rory trailed off, forgetting the name.

"The Tower of Freyr," Maximus finished for her.

"Of course, The Tower of Freyr," Rory repeated breezily as if she hadn't forgotten, waving her hand in dismissal, "is where Freyr himself lived, right?"

"Right."

"And they thought it fitting to place the government here," she said plainly, narrowing her eyes, "did he not detest the government? I swore I read something about that a few days ago. Something about them always watching him?"

"Yes, yes, now let us hope that you get along better with The Board than our dearest Freyr," Aidan commented wryly, seeming more nervous than usual.

"Hm, The Board of Thera, they got creative with that one, I see. Surely it took them days to think a name so clever," she commented with mock amazement as they ushered her faster to the door.

"Please, you think they were smart enough for that, even?" Channing interjects smoothly, stepping in front of them with his typical charming grin. "Keep talking like that, and you'll flatter them enough to hand over the keys to all of Thera."

"And the scorchers work under them, right?"

"Right."

"So, I'm sure I'll get along with them brilliantly."

"Just as well as you got on with me or Eliphas, princess," Malakai commented as he strutted passed them, making her roll her eyes.

The interior of the building was gorgeous. The ceilings went immeasurably high, beautiful stone covering the walls. Countless statues were placed throughout the building. Rory immediately recognized the largest one as Freyr in the middle, his arms spread out and his head held high, his eyes glimmering even as a statue. There were fountains spread out as well, various sculptures in the middle posing in multiple ways. Rory glanced into a few windows as they walked by, seeing some people in a heated conversation while other rooms had people performing various tasks. One place had Therans sparring each other, using their powers. Rory saw powers used that she could never have imagined. The Tower was filled with Therans; almost everyone walking around was wearing formal clothing. There was a large group of people in dark purple robes. Rory remembered from her studies that they were The Council, there were far more members than she realized. Realizing she might have to run ideas passed them in the future, she offered a forced smile as she passed them.