Free Binarius by Kendra McMahan

stone floor. Unconscious.
     
     
    Dinner was going just as she had
imagined that it would. She felt like a foreigner, not of another
land but of another world.
    They began the feast with an
obscure ceremony, the purpose of which, was to give thanks to
Aldithen for the food that would soon be served. Firinne felt that
this was ludicrous. Aldithen had nothing to do with the food.
Gratitude should be given to Fia, not some imaginary God. After the
ceremony, the extravagant dishes were brought out by the hands of
the servant women who had cooked them, rather than floating to the
tables, something that would have been far less unusual to
Firinne.
    She could not see the faces of the
servants, but she did notice that they were very shaky as they
poured Fia’s blood into the iron goblets. Firinne was disgusted but
mustered herself to politely request juice. It appeared that
everyone found her simple request offensive, for immediately after,
they broke into whispered fits among themselves.
    There were about twenty people
sitting at this table. Firinne only knew a few of them; the King
and Queen, one of the King’s advisors, and her Uncle, Bricius.
Bricius had only given her a small nod when she had approached the
feast. He looked tattered. His face was sunken in and there were
puffy, dark circles which rested comfortably beneath his irritated
eyes. He looked much different from the last time that she had seen
him, about five years ago.
    After being discretely gawked at
through the main course, someone finally spoke to Firinne. It was a
woman, probably slightly younger than her own mother. She was very
regal. Her hair was pulled tightly in a bun, but her face was not
hidden like most of the women on the grounds of Archen Castle. She
was wearing a gown of fine, plum colored silk, with bits of silver
embroidered around her neckline.
    “ It appears that everyone has
failed to introduce this table to our guest. What is your name dear
girl?”
    “ I am Firinne Luxithanya, Second
Queen of Citrine Castle.”
    There were unmistakable murmurs
amongst all of the distinguished dinner guests. Firinne thought she
even heard someone gasp — from shock or disgust, she did not
know.
    “ I have visited your Queendom,
though it was a very long time ago, I must say that it is very
beautiful. What brings you so far from home?”
    Firinne didn’t feel like this was
the sort of crowd she should be giving the privilege of details to.
“Forgive me, may I ask your name? I don’t believe we have met
before.”
    “ Yes, I tried to persuade Bricius
to introduce me to the Queens the last time we were at Citrine
Castle but he…it has been a struggle.”
    At this, Bricius shot the woman a
sideways glance. Was that panic, or irritation?
    The woman could tell that Firinne
was confused, and she didn’t pay any notice to Bricius. “Yes, this
must be very confusing for you. Bricius and I had our ceremony
about six years ago. My name is Etheldra. It is a pleasure to
finally meet my niece! Bricius never mentioned how beautiful you
are.” She patted Bricius’s arm lightheartedly.
    Firinne looked at her Aunt, the
stranger, and back to Bricius. “Uncle, would you—
    Bricius had anticipated her and cut
her off swiftly by asking some angry, dirty looking man about one
of the dishes that had been served.
    Dorrin Clavorn answered. “Oh, that?
That’s an Archen dish. It’s got rabbit hearts, apples an’ some
other things I can’t remember. The girls in there cook pretty good,
so long as yeh stay on ‘em.”
     
     
    Firinne was now pacing the halls,
waiting to spot her Uncle. She was determined to corner him and
demand an explanation for his secretive union. Her Uncle had never
been very open about his personal life but she had never expected
that he would hide something that relevant to his life, from his
niece, and his sister. He clearly didn’t want them to know of his
union to Etheldra. Firinne wanted to know why.
    She paced back and forth on the
smooth