A Noble Gathering

I left my room with Olivia falling into step behind me as I made my way to the dining hall that was my destination. The time had finally come to join the banquet arranged by my parents and listen to whatever important announcement my Father had to make. I hadn't given the situation much thought prior but now that it was actually time for the event I started to notice abnormalities, for one the entire event had been arranged on such short notice, less than a days notice for any formal event was unheard of, add on the fact that it was being hosted in a smaller more private dinner hall than the palaces main reception room was strange and lead me to believe whatever was about to be said would only be known to a select few and could perhaps be dangerous. These unknowns did nothing but worsen my headache, what had started as a mild inconvenience had evolved into a full blown migraine, the lights seemed too bright, Olivia's footsteps seemed too loud, but there was nothing I could do about it. I had to attend this gathering and at least appear somewhat presentable during it so as to avoid a scolding later. But the cause of my dismay was the surprise lesson, or the worry over my parents event, but rather more errant memories had begun to fill my head, these thoughts had changed from ones that simply didn't line up with my own, to fractured memories of a life I had never lived in a place I had never seen, but they were just that, fractured, incomplete they failed to merge together in any meaningful way, each stream of information would appear from nowhere then cease as suddenly as it had appeared further pushing my already strained mind. As we rounded the final corner and the doors to the hall came into sight I was assailed by a particularly harsh stab of pain in my head causing me to stumble and left me having to support myself with the wall just to stay upright.

"My Lady, are you alright?" Olivia asked in a panic while moving to support me.

"Yeah, I'm okay, just my head hurts real bad."

"I see, If the pain becomes truly unbearable, notify me and I will return you to your room, this event is important but your health must come first."

"Thanks Olivia, I'll be sure to." I said and pushed myself off the wall continuing my walk to my end goal. After a walk that felt like miles yet couldn't have been more than a few feet I had reached my destination. At that point Olivia stepped forward and slowly opened the door for me, and gave me a reassuring look as I passed by her. The inside of the room was simple with the only notable features being the large rectangular table in the center that was housing a large spread of food, and the large fireplace on the wall for the winter months. I was surprised to see the meal had been served before all the guests had arrived which just compounded the strange situation. As for the current occupants of the room, sitting near but not at the head of the table were all three of my older siblings. My oldest brother Titus sat at the immediate right of the table's head with Casius directly across from him at the head's left. Next to Titus was my older sister Calista and next to her was my younger sister Carina who was doing a stellar job at sitting still for a three year old. Next to Casius was an open seat which I knew was intended for me so I quickly made my way to it not wanting to delay the night's proceedings in any way, and some small part of me pointlessly hoped sitting would help my pounding head. As I took my seat Casius, the ever attentive sibling immediately took notice of my dismal state.

"Whoa Tali, what's wrong? You look terrible." he asked.

"It's nothing Casius, I've just got a bad headache, I'll be okay."

"If you say so, but don't push yourself." he said looking wholly unconvinced that I was fine. "If Mom and Dad try to get mad at you for leaving early they'll have to go through me." he said while lightly pounding his fist to his chest and looking just a little too proud of himself. I just offered a small nod to his declaration but his show of support brought a small smile to my face. For as long as I could remember Casius had always been looking out for me, trying to wrangle my carefreeness while also protecting me from our sometimes overbearing parents. Speaking of parents, the ones who had called this meeting were currently nowhere to be seen, the two chairs at the table’s head left conspicuously absent.

"What could be taking those two so damn long? And what could we possibly need to know on such short notice?" asked one of the room's more imposing occupants, the current cause of complaint was my uncle, Duke Hadrian and the current most powerful noble in the country outside of my direct family.

"Easy old man, let's just be patient." Said Calista in a laidback tone which Hadrian just huffed at but before he could open his mouth to respond the room's door opened once again and gave entrance to the Three most powerful people in Roa. At the head of the Three was my father and king of the nation Julius, to his left was my mother, Queen Iona, the last of the three was my fathers right hand man and the country's prime minister Septimius who was the leading member of the Rabbit beast-men. At their entrance the nobles in the room who had been whispering amongst themselves fell silent and all eyes followed my parents as they reached their seats.

"Now then, sorry for the delay, we bring news both happy and grim." My Father said. And with that, the surprise royal banquet began.