The World of Rhune

Hannah was content at the moment. The day with Trei and Amir had been long but relatively fun. Well sort of, she thought. As fun as touring a city for diplomatic reasons could be. They went to barracks, the marketplace, and toured the castle grounds.

The worse part had been going to see the royal herd. Why Trei thought it would be a good idea to take her to a place loaded with a bunch of horses with wings, she didn’t know. Amir had liked it well enough and Prince Trei really seemed to light up when around the flying horses. He had, reluctantly, offered to teach her how to ride a flying horse. Hannah just laughed and said as sarcastically as possible, “Yeah, so she can’t ride a normal trained horse so let’s just load on to another huge one, which by the way, has wings. That sounds about right.” She thought she saw a relieved look crossed the Prince’s face before he helped show Amir. Unlike her he was fine sitting atop the horses. Hannah still didn’t have much of a taste for them.

After that it had been a banquet with the King and Queen. It was just the usual diplomatic feast with a bunch of people, great food, and music. Hannah had decided she enjoyed Trei’s parents and his sisters even more. His father seemed very welcoming and though his mother seemed to be one always planning Hannah could see nothing mean about her. Though it was awkward when Hannah would notice the Queen’s gaze studying her. At the point she’d usually focus on her food. Besides those times though, Hannah thought her and Amir did pretty well. They kept up the conversation and gave loads of compliments, just like monarchs like.

There had been some dancing at the banquet, but it was slow and had little energy so Hannah didn’t join them. Besides she didn’t have a partner for all the dances, not that that would have made a difference in her choice, she really didn’t like ballroom dancing. Amir chose not to join the dancers either, and since neither of them was dancing Prince Trei had played the good host and sat out as well. At the banquet’s end, all pleasantries had been exchanged and Prince Trei had escorted Hannah and Amir out with their guards.

It had gotten dark out during the banquet and they had returned to Trei’s quarters quickly. He had showed them the rooms, on the second floor, that would be their own for the stay and had left them to attend to some business outside his quarters.

Hannah looked around her room. It was comfortable looking, a small sitting room was what you saw after you entered the room. A couple of sofas were placed around a hearth and a table with chairs in the corner. To the left was a door that led to the bedroom. A large bed dominated the center of it, with drapes hanging over each side. A desk sat against one wall, prepared for use with paper, quills, and ink sitting on it. Two doors were on the opposite wall. One of which, Hannah discovered, led to a closet with her clothes from the ship already hung, as well of a couple of dresses she didn’t recognize. The other door led to a wash room. Going back out into the sitting room, Hannah went to the glass double doors. Upon opening them she realized it was a large balcony that overlooked a garden of tremendous beauty. It was different from those in Cancri, the plants were different but of a similar beauty. Hannah gave a sigh and went back inside to the warmth. It wasn’t cold in Andato but Cancri was much warmer and more humid.

Hannah decided she go exploring around so she headed out into the hallway. Amir’s door was only a couple of feet from Hannah’s so she gave a knock and walked in. He wasn’t in the sitting room but Hannah found him in the bedroom, the layout of the rooms being the same as her own. Amir was already making use of the desk setup and was scratching away with his quill. “What are you writing,” Hannah asked plopping down on his bed. “The day’s events. I figured we should keep up a record of what we see and do,” He replied not looking up. “And by we, you mean,” Hannah trailed off. Amir glanced up at her, “Well me of course. If you did it no one would be able to read your writing.” “Hey! My writing is fine,” Hannah said. “I know, I was only kidding,” Amir said with a slight grin before returning to his paper.

“Well I’m going to go exploring. Do you want to come?” Hannah asked him. “And by exploring you don’t happen to mean snooping?” Amir questioned. “No,” Hannah replied, “If you’re a guest and they leave you here it isn’t snooping.” “Ah, the thought and logic in this is remarkable,” Amir said. Hannah rolled her eyes at him, “Oh, just shut up. I’m going anyway so are you coming?” “No, I’m going to finish this up and then probably go to sleep,” Amir said. “It’s not like it’s late,” Hannah said. “Yes, but you never know what we will be doing tomorrow.” “Whatever,” Hannah said hopping of his bed, “I’ll see you in the morning.” “Bye,” Amir called as she left the room. Hannah walked back into the hallway and looked around. She decided she’d start with the ground floor.