Holes & Strings

A new bright day had just begun. The kingdom carried on a it regularly did.

Xylo was sitting in the queen’s large dinning hall. He was in the presence of the others as they all casually sat, holding a discussion. The room was decorated in royal red. Rows of long tables occupied most of the space in the room. Above them was a glass ceiling that displayed of beautiful view of the sky.

Queen Milayla paced herself on the balcony of the room, paying attention to the discussion being held down below in the quiet room.

“So, we haven’t a clue were to start?” Lafiet started.

“No,” Xylo said. “I’m not sure how much time we are working with either.”

“At least we have an upper hand,” Brandon said.

“What do you mean?” Idalene said.

“Those three guys are under the impression we didn’t make it out of that temple,” Brandon said. “Maybe we can use that to our advantage.”

“You make a good point,” Zygous said from above on a balcony rail.

Lafiet looked up at Queen Milayla. “Come on down here, Milayla,” he said. “You need to be a part of this.”

Milayla walked down some stairs and approached the group.

“I appreciated you providing my father with a room here,” Lafiet said. “To honor my father, I’m not holding anything against you.”

“He is one of my citizens,” Queen Milayla replied. “I’ll help him as long as needed until he builds himself up again.”

“Zygous,” Xylo called out.

Zygous jumped down from the rail.

“Don’t get too comfortable,” Queen Milayla smiled.

Xylo stood up as Zygous walked towards him.

“You’ve helped us out a lot, Zygous,” Xylo said. “We could use your help in this, too. I wanted to know if you would join our group. Brandon’s father is still under the influence of what the hooded guy, Narsous, did. We can most definitely use your help.”

“I’m all for it,” Zygous said. “Count me in.”

Queen Milayla casually lean forward on the back of a chair. She began pondering the situation.

“What is it that you all said he was after?” Queen Milayla said. “Melody of Atmosphere?”

“Yes,” Xylo replied.

“Hmm,” Queen Milayla replied. “As a child, I heard stuff about temple of sounds being far across the seas. Perhaps they will search for more melody of atmosphere scrolls there.”

“Is there any way in particular you think we should go about this?” Idalene asked.

“Actually,” Queen Milayla said, “I think have some thoughts.”

Xylo let out a quiet sigh of relief. He glanced at his bandaged arm and then looked out at the blue sky through the ceiling window as birds flew by. Another quiet sigh came from Xylo, followed by a small smile.