NOCTURNAL SCENERY

The night-sky had started to assert its domain above the sea, covering the seemingly endless web of widely spaced bridges and towers that extended towards the horizon. As the skies gently darkened, the hundreds of cylindrical shapes that composed the city began to lighten up from the inside, emitting a warm light out of the few windows that stretched unevenly above their surfaces.

From the tallest point of every tower, a unique brightness began to unfold itself in the form of a perfect vertical beam, as wide as the towers themselves, fading up into the first few stars of the early night. Those beams were the excess energy acquired by the towers during the day, that was being released back into the sky to avoid the dangers that could come from overcharging. This made a wonderful spectacle of colored light pillars that extended up to the sky, arranged in harmony.

The tranquil surface of the sea also made its contribution, serving as a mirror to the sky, making it seem as if the colored light pillars extended down into the depths as well.

The main purpose of these lights being cast into the sky, was to release the excess energy stored during the day by the towers, to avoid the dangers of overcharging. However, it was also known that King Lenno was an aesthete who valued beauty above most things. This might have been the perfect pretext to transform the kingdom into a beautiful nocturnal lightscape. Pointing the light vertically into the sky from the towers, was symmetrical enough to be easy to process for the human eye, but the chaotic distribution of towers across the sea made the scenery quite unpredictable, showcasing thousands of immense towers of vertical light fading into the infinity above and below. This was probably King Lenno’s vision, composing the iconic nocturnal scenery that was unique to Rossmaria.

Just like every other evening, Aelia went out to the balcony of her bedroom to witness the city brighten up, as the breeze made the wind-chimes hanging from the window frame, sound in a soothing, unpredictable manner. The towers right next to the palace emitted a pure white light, delimiting the central district of the city. However, farther away, a variety of other colors could be seen, revealing additional divisions of the city.

To the right of where Aelia stood, far into the distance, the beams of light tinted into a deep bright purple. That was where the Purple District was located. In the same manner, a group of red lights could be seen further to the left, then orange, and at last yellow, showcasing clearly the location of the corresponding districts of the city. Following the same logic, the Green and Blue Districts should be hidden at the opposite side of Aelia’s bedroom, completely surrounding the royal palace in the vivid colors of the city, and reinforcing the idea that the royalty was in the center of everything.

A warm wind was blowing up from the city below into Aelia's balcony, bringing with it the distant sounds from The Keep, as well as more subtle whispers from the rest of the city. The voices were lively as ever, and when mixed together with the hearty harmonies of music coming from below, it felt like her home was out there, just out of reach. Aelia was thinking about her conversation with Fennel earlier. About how people enjoyed their lives hanging out with their friends and family: two things Aelia didn't have.

Hearing about the many unknown activities Fennel had described, and how every district was meant to have its own kind of charm, had sparked her curiosity in an invasive manner. The Keep wasn't the only interesting place out there, and the sounds she was used to hear every day weren't just random noises. She had now confirmed thanks to Fennel, that out there, across the city, life could be enjoyed in ways she couldn't even begin to imagine.

Aelia’s minds began to get lost in daydreams as she leaned awake on the protection rails of the balcony. Her minds tried to make sense of the life she didn't have, as well as trying to imagine how it would feel to be surrounded by all those citizens she didn't know.

If they saw her. How would they react? Would they be proud of her for being a guardian? would they be scared of her due to her power? or would they simply not care about seeing her in the streets? Was there even a way they could recognize her or distinguish her from any other citizen? Could she actually be seen as just another citizen of Rossmaria? What did a coffeehouse or a festival really look like?

Questions flooded Aelia's minds, as well as memories of many things that were taught to her about the city during all of her life. Amidst the chaos of overwhelming thoughts flowing without an anchor, Aelia was starting to feel alive. Maybe there truly was a world out there that was worthy of living for. It was a bittersweet thought, since that wasn’t truly her life, but she would someday be in charge of protecting that very same lifestyle she didn't have, for everyone else.

Aelia had been told since birth she was special, and that she had the potential inside her to be immensely powerful. Ataoro always said she had to crave that power inside her, so she could protect the citizens and the king. She knew very well that the lives of many depended on her training, as well as the decisions made inside the palace.

But when she tried to understand why any of that mattered, nothing could come to her mind. Aelia could see the city she was meant to protect, shining right before her, but in reality, she felt like a complete stranger. She longed to be part of it, and be just like any other citizen, but she simply wasn’t there. She didn’t know any of their faces, she hadn’t been inside any of those places, and hadn’t lived any moments outside of the palace. She couldn’t even envision what it looked like to be inside The Keep, or a coffeehouse, or even to interact with a regular citizen. To Aelia, they were barely neighbors she had no contact with, and that she envied in many ways.

Why should she even care about them?

Was she a bad person for not feeling that natural drive to protect them and the beautiful city that was right in front of her?

It was a wonderful nocturnal scenery to witness from her cage, but if anything, it was just a cruel fantasy that made her understand how much of her life she was missing.

That night, Aelia couldn’t control her thoughts, and didn’t manage to get a single minute of sleep.