By the time Etzagith and Cara returned to the keep, Jia was in the personal chapel, the little room that was the private place of contemplation for the royal family--not the big chapel for public ceremonies.

Earlier, Jia had been joyous at the return of her children.   Lucas and Liam remained silent and pliant, docile.  And Menkliia and two of the veiled attendants had peeled off and taken charge of them immediately, ushering the boys off to the baths, where the royal physician and quite likely the poisoner, would try to figure out what had happened and, perchance, how to fix it.

But now, when summoned to the chapel, the three of them--Arui, Cara, and Etzagith--were to give a personal account to the Queen.  way from the courtiers and the public eye.

Two of the veiled attendants stood at post before the door to the chapel, but they did nothing to bar entry.

Inside, the small chamber was six-sided, perhaps no more than twelve feet across.  It felt smaller, though, when so much of the place was lit by only four small standing braziers and a tiny candle set before one of the altars.   Each side of the room had the st-up for altars of some sort, but they were all bare now.  Except fofr the one Jia sat before.

Before her, a single candle lit before a blank tapestry on the wall, representing the Hierophant's triumvirate (Lisma the flame, Siena the tapestry, and Lita the unseen).  Light flickered across the tapestry in strange swirls, agitated by the swell of air upon their entrance.

The rest of the chamber was adorned in dark woods, heavily draped with rich tapestries depicting scenes not just of Kumlar's history, but of Arouen, the kingdom before, from which the known kingdoms sprang forth.

There, the mythic rider of the Horenhal fought off the many tentacled Gygax.  There, King Ateo crossed the Arneson range broke the siege of the Black Tower through the intercession of Lisma herself.  And there, the last of the Paraiko, men of literal stone--passed under the gentle beneficence of Breccia Oundsdottir.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:13, Mon 03 Aug 2020.