A GARDEN BENEATH THE SKY

When it came to royalty and military, hierarchies were a big deal. Outside the royal palace, barely anyone referred to others as Sir, Miss, Lord or Lady. But things were wildly different once you crossed the palace gates, a wrong word could get you into serious trouble.

Fennel jogged lightly but rapidly through the immense corridors of the palace trying to reach Lady Aelia.

A few servants who were doing their tasks seemed fairly annoyed by his jog, but didn't care too much once they noticed whom he was following.

"Lady Aelia! please wait."

Aelia who had now recovered enough to walk steady, turned around to see the boy with glasses and messy, coal-colored hair, get closer, as she waited in place facing his way. She seemed to be slightly amused by how his silhouette quickly flickered from bright to dark, to bright again, as the sunlight reached him from the evenly spaced windows of the corridor.

"Lady Aelia. Are you alright?" said Fennel as he softly panted.

"I’m fine Fennel, don’t worry about me."

"I’ve been informed it’s been a long time since you made any progress with your training, Lady Aelia. Please let me know if there is any way in which I can be of assistance. I will work to the best of my capabilities."

"There’s no need for you to do anything. And I told you already, please don’t talk to me with such formality."

"Supporting you is my duty my lady, and I must speak to you in a proper manner, according to your rank."

"I couldn’t care less about my rank Fennel. You’re the first person of my age I’ve seen in a really long time, other than the weird sister of the king. It’d be nice to have someone I could talk to as an equal."

"I’m… afraid that wouldn’t be appropriate of me as part of your support team, my lady."

"And how about if I tell you this is an order?" Said Aelia with a playful smirk.

Fennel seemed deeply troubled by the improper request, which quickly made Aelia’s smile fade.

"I’ll do my best, Lady Aelia."

After a deep sigh, she caressed her hair and closed her eyes in disappointment.

"I guess being treated as an equal really is a troublesome request."

"I could never think of you as my equal, my lady."

These words pierced through the young guardian, as she looked at her supporter with a mix of surprise and pain. She lowered her gaze in slight sadness, and started to walk away, trying to leave Fennel behind.

"Lady Aelia! I’m sorry! Please wait!"

"Leave me alone Fennel, please."

Fennel felt a deep fear as Aelia spoke those words, knowing he had annoyed her superior.

"I… I will. I’m sorry if I was disrespectful in any manner."

Aelia stopped walking and mumbled to herself, barely being heard by the troubled boy.

"Believe me. This has nothing to do with the lack of respect."

Aelia kept on walking, leaving Fennel behind as he stood in confusion.

***

After changing into her white sundress, Aelia ascended to an outdoor garden at one of the highest points in the palace, covering the whole surface of one of the main pillars, big enough to take a few minutes to walk across.

It wasn’t far away from the dome or her room, which already were quite high up in the palace. Most things related to guardians occupied the top floors so they could keep watch over the city from above, the only exceptions were the rooms where vigilants were conserved, deep down below sea level.

The royalty on the other hand, dwelled in the heart of the palace, far away from any entrance or exit, neither too high up nor too low. The most restless ones could be seen wandering around any place of the palace, but they tended to be a source of stress for the servants and researchers that worked in the lateral sections, so many of them preferred to simply stay in their common rooms debating about how to preserve the nations prosperity or simply having fun among themselves, or occasionally leaving their comforts to do business outside the palace.

In this garden however, nothing of that mattered. As soon as Aelia reached the top of the pillar from the circular staircases that surrounded it, she could feel her heart at ease. For her, this was a place of pure tranquility, where the deep blue sky opened wide above her with nothing more than a few well-formed white clouds resting far away in the distance.

The warm breeze caressed her face, arms and legs, and made both her hair and her sundress dance smoothly to the rhythm of nature, treating her to the subtle aroma of the grass, fruits and flowers that were meticulously kept between the circular and geometric lanes, and that raised no higher than her knees.

Aelia slowly walked to the center of the garden where a small circular platform raised just a few steps above the lanes. She reached the garden’s core, and as if melting with the wind and the sunlight, she opened her arms slightly, gently raised her chin, relaxed her eyelids, took a deep breath and began to meditate on her feet.

A clear, clean mind was all that was left. A place where no overthinking, no complex ideas, no debates inside her head and no memories could survive longer than a few heartbeats. All thoughts were washed away from her skin by the breeze, or let go from inside her through her slow exhalations. The blue sky contrasting with the delicate green of the grass, the pure white of the lanes and the kaleidoscope of colors spread across by the flowers, could happily replace any image that could pop into her mind.

However, as Aelia deepened into her mindful state, a cheerful sound shook her. The winds carried the distant sounds of laughter, fun, friendships and families enjoying their lives to the fullest. These sounds were delivered to her in the most subtle manner, yet managed to agitate her soul to the core. Aelia sat down and closed her eyes in an attempt to strengthen her meditation, but it only made the faraway voices clearer.

A mix of curiosity and sense of loss filled her mind and her heart, as a small cloud started to cover the sun above her. Knowing it was futile to keep trying to meditate, Aelia opened her eyes, stood up, and walked across the garden towards the lively sounds. Each step she took brought her closer to the horizon, and started to reveal the vibrant city below her.

The round tips of slim white towers slowly appeared, together with a vast navy-blue ocean in front of Aelia, as she approached the edge of the garden. The faraway towers emerged from the tranquil but deep waters, connected by long tiny bridges, like strings at different heights, forming a web that expanded as far as the eye could see.

As the towers closest to the palace began to appear, the variety of structures could be more easily differentiated. Towers could vary slightly in width and height, and there even were some irregular buildings in between the bridges, emerging from the towers or even right above the water surface. The massive columns seemed even taller, as they were reflected by the sea, making a heavenly sight, as if it was a symmetric city floating high up in the skies.

Among the vast city of towers, there was a single building that stood out when Aelia reached the end of the garden, being one of the closest to the palace. It was a wide tower, a few hundred meters tall, but still below where she stood, slightly shaped like a cone, as multiple walkways and stairs spiraled upwards to the top, where an observation deck asserted its presence.

The pathways as well as the viewing platform, and even the stairs, were filled with life. And even though they were far away, Aelia could easily recognize the tiny silhouettes of people laughing as they sat around tables or benches across the roads that surrounded the tower, or entering what seemed to be large rooms along its surface, filled with a variety of colors and shapes that differentiated each one from the next. From a distance everything seemed very structured, but Aelia was sure that if she was there, among all that people, it would likely feel refreshingly chaotic.

The breeze now felt ice cold, as Aelia was deprived from the sunlight by the shadow of that miserable lonely cloud between her and the sun. The white city of towers gleamed warmth in the sunlight, right in front of her eyes, heavily contrasting with the now grayish garden and herself. Sorrow began to build inside the young guardian, as she found herself yearning for things to be different.

The same immense blue sky that recently brought peace to Aelia’s mind with its vastness, now seemed to oppress her with its full weight, reminding her she was just as small as the people on the nearby tower. However, she was a single spot in the garden, peaceful like the sky, but also utterly empty.