unnamed oc thing

prologue-ish

this is abt my dudes Iphis and Callisto, maybe peep em in my next art book, i dunno
n e ways i'm not familiar to writing. also not familiar to ranks of rulers and such so i apologise if anything is confusing! ;)) sorry for the long intro aaaaaaaaAA
(unedited) word count: 545
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Iphis had been traveling for 2 weeks. He had been sent by his caretaker to deliver a message to the duke of a palace. The handwritten letter Iphis had been sent to deliver consisted of  a talking matter of hyperinflation a village below the palace is suffering from. His caretaker had been a baron of the duke and they had been sending letters to each other and the higher classes, discussing the issue.

Normally these letter would be sent by some sort of delivery service, but this time Iphis' caretaker thought it would be best for Iphis to carry the letter the whole way to the palace since it would be, as his caretaker quotes, "Nicer for Iphis to learn to introduce himself to the duke's son, as they could get along and they could both socialize, wether being stranded in the middle of nowhere on a cattle farm or being one of a royal heritage and separated from the people.".

Iphis had finally reached the bridge above the moat of the palace. Surprisingly to him, the gateway was open, though he hadn't been used to any oversized monuments such as the one that towered before him. Though he was covered in dried and wet mud, thorns that peppered his trousers, and branches that littered his dark, messy black hair, at least he was dressed well with his caretaker's uniform. If only Iphis had taken more caution during his travel, then he could've arrived to the palace in better condition.

Looking down at the foggy water under him as he was crossing the moat bridge, Iphis saw his reflection come into clear sight and ripple away caused by passing fish. With closer inspection of the sides of the moat, Iphis spotted a swan, whom was eating the fish from the moat and looked back down to ignore it. He chuckled at the distorted face he saw in the water. Iphis looked up at the palace in front of him, covered in cracked various moss-dazzled stones and stained grey windows. Dark roses the color of dried blood peppered the edges of walls, most of them sculpted into a fine frame or totem.

Not paying attention to spot the swan behind him and nipping at the letter in his pocket, Iphis had never seen such a glory of a structure in his life. "What a beauty, truly magnificent to even be here to see this myself," Wondered Iphis, turning to see the letter floating only a few inches from the bridge and the swan waddling away back to the gate. He quickly snatched the letter out of the water and glared at the swan in annoyance and back at the letter.

Only the one side had gotten wet, but it worried Iphis if the ink had been ruined by it. There was no backup telegraph or message to this one, so he hoped with all of his heart that it would still be readable.