The Vicious Queen

f i f t e e n

"Welcome to Ivygate; the city of life!"

Birds glide across the strawberry sky and indistinct chatter is heard. Here, the chatter of people doesn't sound rushed like back in Zenithara; they sound happy and full of life. The buildings and houses made of Baroque architecture stands tall. People stroll around jollily.

"It's better if we spend the night here. It's get quite dark." Rune suggests as he examines his surrounding.

"Where are we going to stay though?" I point out as I look at them for a response.

Azul's buried in thoughts and then he turns to his sister. "Remember Aunt Hayashi?"

Azura beams and her face instantly fills with relief. "Hey! Yes! She lives here!" and then she announces "Guys, we're staying at our aunt's place which is by the river."

They lead us across the city and as we do, some people stop to look at the new people in their town with oddity. I look around the city in curiosity. It's beautiful.

Soon we stop in front of a house rather big than other houses in town. We jump down of our horses and look up at the house examining the exterior, impressed.

"They're rich." Azura whispers in my ear with her eyebrows raised and I chuckle.

Azul walks up to the porch and stands in front of the massive door for a split second as if he's wondering what to do.

He lifts a hand to knock but before he does, he looks back at Azura with a hesitant look on his face. "Remember that she didn't even help our parents back then?"

She groans and skips to the porch with quick steps. She knocks with no second thoughts while her gaze is stuck on her brother. "She better help us now."

Not a second passes when an old man; thin, pale and slicked black-white haired opens the door slowly. He doesn't even look up. His eyes are half closed as if he haven't slept in days.

There are dark circles under his lifeless eyes and his mouth is a thin line. Then he opens his mouth and speaks really slowly, pausing in between each word he utters. "Who are you?"

I cringe at how much of a corpse he resembles. Azura stares down at that man for a second in disgust. "Madam Hayashi's Relatives. We're here to see her." Her voice sounds like a fast train compared to the old man.

The man doesn't even react. Instead, he says. "How can you clari-"

"Who are those people, Gus?" an echoed voice with a well British accent of a women calls out of the distant cutting him off.

He turns his head around. Again very slowly. Gosh. "They say that they are your relatives, Madam Hayashi."

Then I hear a loud clinking of a pair of heels approaching us fast and I eagerly wait. An Asian women probably in her forties step out with her short blonde hair tucked behind her ears.

She's dressed in a white shiny tight skirt that reaches her knees and she wears a glossy black and white striped shirt. Shiny rings, necklaces, earrings hang on her. Everything she wears is so shiny that I almost have to squint my eyes. Her lips are a shade of bright red and you can see the wrinkles under her eyes that she tries to hide.

She exclaims when she notices Azul and Azura. "Oh my god! My lovelies!" and she digs her long fingers into their skin pulling them close. Ouch. They laugh nervously while me, Rune and Bella just stand there awkwardly.

When she pulls backs from them, her eyes meet us. She stares at us for a second waiting for an introduction.

I speak "I'm Kora." Then I gesture to the others. "This is Rune and Bella." They nod along and Mrs. Hayashi raises a hand in acknowledgement.

She gestures to her house "Why are you still standing? Make your way in." and we do following her in. We all look around impressed by the interior.

We enter the massive living area that also gives access to upstairs using the big white staircase. Fancy white couches stand on the shiny marble floor and a vast crystal ceiling hangs on the ceiling.

There's a table built out of glass and a vase filled with pink lilies rest on it. A massive fireplace faces it. Framed photos of her hangs everywhere on the walls.

Gus indicates us to sit down on the couch and we do. Then he disappears out of a corner. Mrs. Hayashi sits on a cushioned chair facing all of us. She looks at Azul and Azura "So what's the reason for your sudden visit?"

Azura leans "Well...we are on a...road trip to...Onryx" and then we all nod along to the lie. "And we are wondering if you could let us spend the night here."

Mrs Hayashi stares at us for a moment and for a second, I think she might resist but then she beams "Of course! Why not? I got many empty and beautiful rooms."

I lift my eyebrows at this lady's ego. The others seem impressed though. She might be helpful but she's the type of person that brags about it.

"Gus! Escort them to their rooms." She calls out and he appears out of thin air again. She comes along as well and the second she gets up, she complains "You look awful!" and we look at ourselves. We really do. Our clothes are ragged and dirty compared to her fancy clean clothes.

"Well, we have been on a long journey." Azul protests and Mrs. Hayashi nods not looking at him, definitely not impressed. In fact, she looks disappointed.

She speaks, her voice filled with ego "The house is well built, isn't it? Everyone in this city is jealous of it! Poor rats!"

We share glances and we have to cringe. Rune leans down and whispers into my ear "Wanna walk around the city with me?"

I immediately brighten and whisper back. "Yes!"

"Alright. See you downstairs soon."

Mrs. Hayashi continues as she chuckles egoisitically. "No offense but I think this is the biggest house you've ever stepped to." Everyone silently laughs as they look at me.

Azura murmurs to me "I bet this is one of the smallest houses you've stepped into." True. But I don't reply to that, instead I chuckle because I definitely don't like bragging unlike Mrs. Hayashi.

To be honest, I expected everyone to get their separate rooms by the way Mrs. Hayashi bragged. Instead, the boys get one and the girls get one.

The rooms are quite large. It's painted white with chifon furniture. Two big beds are arranged in the two corners and in the middle, there's a white drawer and a vase with pink lilies rest on it. A glass window overheads the view of the city.

Azura plops herself on a bed and pats the soft blanket. Me and Bella walks to the window and peak down at the city. I murmur "I really want to look around the city before we go."

"You can. But definitely not in those clothes." I hear Mrs. Hayashi voice complain, sounding disgusted. I turn around. "I got a better and fine piece of clothing for you." Then she turns around as she says "Follow me. I'll show you."

Before I go, I turn around at my friends and they shrug. I follow her through a hallway and into the master bedroom; her bedroom. It's quite the same but bigger and has access to a walk-in closest.

She leads me into her closet with her fancy clothes and shoes hanging around. She asks egoistically. "Have you ever seen anything as magnificent as this, girl?"

Ma'am, my closest is at least four times bigger than this. "No ma'am." And she huffs satisfied with herself.

She picks up a long white summer dress that seems too little for her with little pink flowers and puff sleeves. She hands it over to me and then she shrugs "You know what? You can keep it for yourself. That doesn't fit me anymore anyway."

Where did all her ego go? "Uh, thank you so much, Mrs. Hayashi" I bow my head, surprised.

"Ay! It's nothing to me." Then she leaves me alone in her closest giving me privacy to change. After hoping into the dress, I pull my hair down and long dark curls tickle my waist. I look at myself in the mirror and give myself a thumbs up.

I place my old clothes in my room and avidly skip downstairs where Rune is waiting for me.