The King Trials.

~Sides Chosen~

Light and airy kisses.

Armathis.

I'm awake but not awake, like my spirit hovers above my body. I can fall on either side, back in sweet slumber, or wake to full consciousness.

.... Sweet slumber it is. I nestle myself deeper, rolling to lie on my side. My ear flinches at the sound. The pitter-patter of bare feet walking, hurrying, and the sound swells until it reaches my chambers. But my eyes remain closed, my consciousness continues to seep in, and I just listen.

"Do you think we should wake her?" Cassia.

"I don't even think the Citadel's drums can wake her." Opal.

Then the footsteps diverge, two pairs of feet wandering at the foot, and one roams along the side that I face.

"Opal, really." Lila. "She and the other Herems were attacked on their way here, and had to journey by foot. You can at least feign compassion."

Opal drags out an exaggerated groan. "I understand that, but they rest longer than the blue bear's in hibernation."

"You would too if you endured that hellish trek," I say. My words trigger a ripple of shocked gasps.

"Oh...you're awake," Lila says.

"Yes...finally," I say, my tone garnished with wryness.

I peel my eyes open, greeted by sunlight that has the bedchamber awash in the golden brilliance of a full noontide' sun. Although it is a bedchamber, what I sleep on is an open net thing like a sprawling hammock. Instead of it being curled like a cocoon. This net bed is large and square-shaped, softened by thin, coloured cushions and a forte of pillows that surround me. To keep the net thing hoisted up, its four cords splayed and hooked into the ceiling to keep it bolstered and rightfully so. Because beneath it is an immense hole the same breadth of the net bed and that. A fatal fall, if the cords were ever to be undone, since the structure itself is an inestimable height from the ground. High up in a mountainous tree.

The room is large but barely a room, rectangular-shaped with no windows because none are needed, since there are trefoil archways on both sides. Two on either side of the room and two that flank the net bed. A total of four purposeless archways that lead to nothing but one's demise.

It's a good thing I'm not a sleepwalker, otherwise, I would accidentally saunter to my death. All of these tall open entries welcome in the whims of nature. Already there are bundles of scattered green leaves on the furnished wooden floors. The interior of the room has a fairylike aesthetic, everything is so marvellous and fanciful, but I wonder how practical it would be during the frost season.

I had a long awning above my ledge for the summer rains. But because of Armathis's damp tropical climate, it's never cold there, so we don't have to concern ourselves with the chill.

A ligneous vanity set is situated on the left side corner, beside one of the two archways. Cassia has her back to all of us as she deposits something on the table. Her frame blocks my view of the object.

"Ready or not, a luncheon is being prepared for you and the Herems since you all slept through breakfast...and the previous day," Opal informs. Idly ambling in circles, swishing her avocado-green dress. "You all slept for so long that father concluded the symposium with his first ranks."

I lift my head first, the weight of a hundred tons, and I prop myself up on my elbow.

"The Regulus will see us now?"

"Right," Cassia chirps. "I will go make sure that your bath is prepared and fresh weavings for you to wear." She claps her hands together in finality and walks to the only archway in the room that serves a purpose. Linked to the rest of the structure, a separate annex from the Regulus's palace. All the bedchambers of the Herems and I are standalone, but unfortunately, they are still connected in a row like an outdoor corridor.