Hi! So I know I posted yesterday, but I saw this on Raven's blog and I wanted to do it myself. Also, happy blog birthday to me I guess! Yay... should I do anything to celebrate? Please comment.
Without further ado, Random Thoughts By Lena - Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows are so amazing. They should be required reading. - Why did Leigh Bardugo let Netflix butcher her amazing books? - Freddie Carter was a bad choice for Kaz. He should have played David instead. - They totally changed Alina's character. - WHY DID THEY RENAME THE DARKLING?! WHAT POSSIBLE PURPOSE DID IT SERVE? General Kirigan my hat! - "Jesper, how did you enjoy being a Zemeni guard?" I daresay he enjoyed it very much if ya know what I mean... if you know, you know. - I hate how the Shadow and Bone show is nothing like the books, but it's so beautifully made and well- acted that it get me invested and I just. keep. watching! - Yes this was just an excuse to talk about Shadow and Bone. - I need a new alias for my D & D character. For some reason, our enemies just don't seem to believe that my name is Catnip Everbean. - Martinelli's plastic apple juice bottles are so cool. When you drag your teeth on them they make a sound like biting into an apple. - I wonder who's going to win at the Oscars. - Should I make a second blog? - Nightshade Poisoning doesn't seem to be very interesting to most people lately. - I need to catch up on everyone's blogs. - There are so many nicknames for someone called Elizabeth. - I don't want my spring break to be overrrrr. >:( Ok well thanks for reading! *woks away*
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Hi everyone! Wow, Chapter 7 already. It's not that many chapters but, it feels like a huge accomplishment. I've been doing this for almost two months! Can you believe that? Anyway, here's
Chapter 7 After the cleaning was done, next came the decorating. Enormous shipments of tapers, fall garlands, embroidered tablecloths, gourds and pumpkins made of precious stones and many more things came flooding in, bathing the palace in fall colors. Outside, the palace grounds, which Kiara had never really had time to explore, were turning gorgeous shades of red, yellow, and orange. The weather in Kandyl in August was usually relatively chilly, but the coming of the autumn season had brought small, short bursts of rain, foggy mornings, and the need for a cloak or cafe when venturing outside. Normally, Kiara loved fall, but it was mostly ruined by ball preparations. The decorating was usually overseen by Raelinn, and she made sure everyone got an equal amount of work that best suited them. Kiara was not assigned the job of arranging the heavy jeweled gourds, thank God, the stars, and your Aunt Anita. Instead, she ironed out the tablecloths and placed them (with the help of a snippy cellar-boy named Quillan) on the long, polished mahogany tables scattered across the enormous first formal ballroom (yes, there were two informal ballrooms and three formal ballrooms) that would hold champagne and hors d’oeuvres when the time came. This work, they were allowed to do in daytime, and sometimes the queen or the king or one of the princesses would come and make a little comment on the placement of a garland of something of that sort. Scullery maids were expected to wake up at dawn to light all the fires in the house before the royals woke up, so before the work of covering the palace in autumn finery began, Kiara was lighting fires in the four informal parlors, the two libraries, and the war room. Often she found Princess Qadira in the library poring over some old book or contemplating intently the spot on the map that she had previously shown Kiara. Occasionally, she would mutter vague things to herself, like, “Well the Fae are said to be near the Ketura Woods, but who would burn out that spot on the map?” or emit soft “Aha!”s. Once, the princess became very excited, and showed Kiara a portrait of a man called Waldron Zacchaeus, said to have had a strong hatred for all creatures Seelie and Unseelie, and who started the Holy Witch Hunts 200 years ago. She explained that he had attempted a raid on what he called “The Den of the Fairys” in the Woods of Ketura that had failed drastically, with 100 soldiers and Zacchaeus himself dying, supposedly killed by the fae. After that, Princess Qadira had had to rush off to a war meeting, but handed Kiara the book, and told her to keep it and read it, then give it back and tell her what she learned. Getting the book back to the servants’ quarters was a job of its own, not to mention the ordeal of trying to find time to read it. The day was spent decorating the castle - which, despite the hours wasted on it, was starting to look very beautiful, and actually getting Kiara excited for the ball. The nights were spent by - well sleeping, since everyone was exhausted from all the work. Normally, Kiara would participate in the nightly card games, but she kept having to skip out on them, because it was the only time where the room she shared with two other scullery maids (Ceiridwen and Ysabelle) would be empty so she could read the book. The language was very complicated, and she often had to read the same sentence or paragraph more than once to understand it. Still, it was getting very interesting. Apparently, this man - Zacchaeus - was said to have discovered the place where the Unseelie court took place, but the location had been blacked out, just like the spot on the map. END OF CHAPTER 7 That's it for this week's chapter! Thanks for reading! Also, read the Shadow and Bone books. They are AMAZING. Then watch the show. *woks away* Yep, it's chapter 6! And another royal makes a cameo!
Chapter 6 After the banishment, Kiara hadn’t had any dreams. This was troubling, and she was beginning to wonder if Solanine had died. Not that she cared, anyway. The matters of evil creatures like fae didn’t interest her, not even beautiful, merciful and kind ones. The wall sconces for the hallway had yet to arrive, so Kiara was instead in charge of cleaning the ceilings, along with two other girls. Princess Raelinn had asked the housekeeper to let them go to bed at midnight, instead of at 9AM. That way, they got more sleep and more time awake during the day, for which Kiara was extremely grateful. Still, ceiling duty was annoying. Who would even be looking at the ceilings anyway? Sure, they had a mural on them, but Kiara didn’t see why they had to be scrubbed SO thoroughly every night. It was as if Mrs Collisoon expected everything to regain an inch-thick layer of dust every night. Disgruntled, Kiara accidentally dropped the rag she was using onto someone’s head. It turned out to be Skye. “Did you do this on purpose, you piece of stercore?!” She picked it up and flung it back at Kiara, splashing soapy water from her pail onto the floor. “Now clean it up!” One fine sunrise, Kiara was lighting fireplaces, and was walking to light the fire in the war room when she noticed someone coming along. It wasn’t one of the other servants, nor the housekeeper, because they were wearing a navy blue dress with a structured bodice and gold embroidery and had long straight hair the color of mahogany held in place by a gold, diamond-encrusted circlet. This, Kiara suspected, was Princess Qadira Louise Valeriane Alexandra Celosia, also known as Princess Qadira the Strategic. Kiara decided to act like she wasn’t there, and quietly slipped into the war room with her kindling and matches. To her surprise, the alluring princess followed her, then began to look over the war map spread across the table. Nervously, Kiara began to stack the kindling, when she was interrupted. “I assumed there would already be a fire in here,” said Princess Qadira imperiously. “Would you like me to leave while you work?” Now, Kiara realized that the princess was being sarcastic, so she answered, “Your Highness may do whatever you please, I am but a servant, meant to be invisible.” as she had been taught. Kiara thought this was a bunch of bull, and apparently the princess shared that opinion, because she scoffed and kept perusing the war map. When Kiara had lit the fire, she gathered up her things and turned to leave, only to be beckoned to the princess’ side. “You, uh-” “Kiara Blue, Your Highness.” “Yes, Blue, what do you think of this?” She pointed to a spot on the map. Kiara peered at it. “It… looks like the Woods of Ketura, Your Highness?” “Yes but THIS,” said the princess, gesturing towards where a spot had been singed. “Perhaps someone was lighting a fire and they accidentally burned it, Your Highness?” “But how? The fireplace is on the other side of the room.” “I don’t know, Your Highness…” “Have you noticed that this is around the place where the disappearances happen?” “Disappearances, Your Highness?” “The FAE, Blue, the fae.” “Oh, um…” “Hmm… Well, Blue, I think that this spot was burned for a reason, and I intend to find out by whom and why. Dismissed.” END OF CHAPTER 6 Okay, that's it for this week! *woks away* Hi! So, before we get on to the chapters, there's one thing I forgot to mention: Kiara was trained as a guard throughout her teenage years, but she never actually got a job because of her gender.
Chapter 4 When Althaia finally let Kiara return to the palace, Mrs Collisoon, the housekeeper, practically assaulted her with questions. “Where have you been?!?! What kept you? And why? Don’t you know it’s ball preparations?” She was immediately set to work, screwing in the newly delivered wall brackets, but only after polishing them for hours. Her fellow servants snickered as they watched her exhaustedly adjust the candelabras, saying, “A little more to the left! To the right! Up! Down! Sideways!” until she had to climb down from the ladder and stretch her sore arms. Even corner duty - dusting and sweeping the corners until dust was scared to enter - would have been better than this. They had to pick this year to replace the candelabras - which weren’t even that out of shape! Maybe it was a style thing. Not that Kiara would know anything about that. She sighed, taking one more second to regain her breath before straining to pick up the ornate bracket and heaving herself back up the flimsy ladder. Mrs Collisoon was notoriously strict, and Kiara could end up without dinner if she didn’t get this last one down by sunrise. All this work-all-night-sleep-all-day was seriously messing up her sleep schedule - not that it had been great anyway, with the strangely detailed dreams coming back everytime she closed her eyes. They were so real that she couldn’t help thinking - no, that would be insane. Kiara pushed these thoughts to a far corner of her mind and focused instead on the task at hand. The next night, Kiara was at it again. She’d done the ballroom (a feat of its own) but now had to start on the entryway. This time, the candelabras were even more magnificent - which also meant even more heavy. Who had chosen these things, anyway? Sighing, she reminded herself that the servants would be allowed to attend the ball in exchange for doing all the work, her only motivation right now. At least she would be allowed to borrow one of the nobles’ daughters’ old gowns, even if she was too sore to move by the end of this. For some reason, this year, someone had decided that the servants should be let into the ball, though who it was and why, Kiara didn’t know. Still, she was grateful. This ball was the only thing she had to look forward to, besides the once-a-month days off where she could see her father. And one of the nicer ladies at court has suggested that they lend their old gowns and suits to the servants, so they wouldn’t be underdressed. Besides all this, it was meager compensation for the amount of work it took to do the candelabras. Couldn’t they have gotten one of the builders’ children to do this? They were way stronger than Kiara. She sighed again. A scuffling sound distracted her, and she almost let the heavy chandelier drop to the floor. Luckily, she caught it right before. Lowering it carefully to the floor, she tiptoed towards the sound. Peering around the corner, she noticed a figure wearing a silky pink nightgown. She recognized the profile, with its sweet upturned nose, long red hair and gleaming blue eyes. It was Princess Raelinn Claudia Annabel Eirisse Isora Maud Pentecost, the kinder of the 4 royal siblings. The others were the princesses Qadira Louise Valeriane Alexandra Celosia and Turaya Estelle Hesperia Leila Myvanwy and the only prince, Cynfael Amalric Griffyn Drusus Quillon Tierney. The current king, His Majesty Oberon Rook Calon Adalricus Ulfred Tierney and previous (now dead) queen, Her Majesty Ana Helene Maryam Nicoline had had him before she died and King Oberon remarried to Her Majesty Vasilisa Xaverie Drusilla. His three half-sisters were the daughter of the current king and queen. “Your Highness?” Kiara asked timidly. The princess started, then regained her composure, and greeted her. “Good evening, Miss… ?” “Blue.” “Ah, yes. I do apologize.” “Your Highness is very kind.” “Hmm… Miss Blue, would you show me to the kitchens? Normally I could find my own way, but in this dark, I can hardly see anything!” Kiara curtsied. “Of course, Your Highness.” The princess sighed, began to walk, then waited for Kiara to catch up. “It's very tiresome, you know, having everyone call you “Your Highness” all the time. If it would be alright, I would like for you to call me Rae. It’s my familiar name.” “Um, yes, Your Hi- I mean, Rae.” She threw back her head and laughed. “May I call you Kiara?” “Of course!” Once Kiara and Rae had reached the kitchens, Princess Raelinn insisted on making them both a cup of hot cocoa. While she was stirring the warm milk, the cook barged in. “Miss Blue! What are you do-” Rae reassured her, explaining that she had wanted some hot cocoa and Miss Blue here had kindly shown her to the kitchens. Abated but still suspicious, the cook left the room. END OF CHAPTER 4 Chapter 5 Kiara’s newfound friendship with the princess had done little to improve her situation. She was still screwing in chandeliers every night. I mean, she thought grumpily,what did I expect? Everyone probably thinks I’m using one of my “fae curses” on her… However, the last week had been pretty good. Princess Raelinn - Kiara was still getting used to calling her Rae - had gotten Kiara fitted for a new ball gown, in periwinkle blue to match the spot in her eyes. Normally, Kiara wasn’t much for clothing, but this dress was the most beautiful thing Kiara had ever seen. With an off-the-shoulder neckline and an beautiful train embroidered with stars, she still couldn’t believe that the princess was paying for it! Raelinn had assured her it was not a big deal, but Kiara still was in disbelief. And, on her day off, she’d been to visit her father, and the music box had been repaired! Embarrassingly, Kiara had almost cried, but not just because of the music box. Apparently, on Wednesday, her father had stood up for a couple seconds before collapsing back into his wheelchair again. This was amazing progress! Ammar hadn’t stood up in four or so years, even for a moment. A downside was, the strange dreams were getting worse. For the past seven days, Kiara had been following the pale girl - Solanine - through a series of long, detailed dreams where she seemed to be in Solanine’s mind. The first one had been followed by a dream of Solanine’s daily life in whatever that hostile crystal palace was. Kiara had finally concluded that it must be underground, although she couldn’t possibly guess how it had been made. First, Solanine would wake up in her huge white room furnished only with a large bed and several pots of nightshade. Her morning routine was putting on a medieval style gown in varying shades of black and grey, then using what Solanine’s mind told Kiara was glamorr - passing her hands over her face, and when she opened them, the jagged scar across one eye disappeared. Then she entered the throne room that Kiara had last been in. However, this time it was crowded with people dressed in incredibly lavish clothing and impossibly perfect faces, with unnatural hair colors and skin tones. It was always some sort of torture they were watching, and Dream-Kiara always had to look away. Solanine showed her all of the flaws and injustices in the palace, whether intentionally or not. The dreams got more and more intense. Solanine and the king - obviously her father - had been having heated arguments. When she did not torture one of the humans, claiming she was feeling sick, her father berated her, saying that she could never ascend to the throne if she refused to commit torture. Solanine replied scathingly, saying that she never wanted to be queen anyways. “But it’s your birthright!” the king had insisted. “I hate being a princess! I hate being forced to torture innnocent people!” This was when her father exploded. “If you want to be like them so much, why don’t you go live with the mundanii!” “Maybe I will!” “You’ll have to! I formally banish you, Princess Solanine!” The next night, Kiara witnessed a trial. It was held in a room made of red marbled stone, the only room she had seen that wasn’t white. Solaning stood in the middle of what reminded Kiara of an outdoor amphitheater, but underground. She was chained to her post by glowing chains that looked like they were made from light. “Princess Solanine Belladonna Acanthi,” began the juror, who had impossibly long blond hair that looked even more strange against his blue-toned skin and red robes. “…you are charged with treason, disobeying your king, and refusal to commit cruciamentii.” The trial lasted for what felt like hours, until finally she was convicted and banished. Solanine showed no emotion, but as soon as she left the palace (whose entrance was in a crystal cave, underground, as Kiara had suspected), she burst into tears. Ok that's it! I'm posting this early because I'm going camping this weekend so I might post some pictures after. Thanks for reading! *woks away* |
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