High Society

Kenneth Rothach von Kastoss, Age 6

It’s been a couple years since I suddenly found myself in this new world. I found out it was called Karesol a few months after I had taken over the body of Kenneth. While in this world, I learned a lot. For example, while my Noble House Kastoss was considered small and irrelevant, others stood head and shoulders above us and others. And I just so happened to find myself at a party for nobles. It didn’t seem to matter the standing of the noble houses. Pretty much all were invited.

There were so many I couldn’t keep them all straight in my head. In addition, I met a few other sons of random noble houses that I wouldn’t likely remember after tonight. The suit my family got for me and had correctly tailored to me still felt tight. It felt like a vice around my chest, trying to squeeze the air out of my lungs.

I surveyed the brilliantly lit ballroom. The hum of several conversations was ever-present. The clinking of glasses also resounded under the conversations. Tables filled with food sat in the middle of the room. A separate table had a massive fountain made with elegant carvings on its sides. Drink frothed and poured down the multi-layered fountain, light bouncing off the amber liquid.

I knew Phoebe was somewhere in this swarm of people. Same with Sterling. They were likely out conversating and trying to build bridges with other houses. Such was the nature of these parties. It was a lot of political maneuvering, trying to one-up and strongarming each other. I was never too big on politics in my old world. But apparently, I was forced into it in this life.

“Ken!” I heard someone call out through the noise around me. I whipped my head around, trying to find the source of the voice in the sea of people. I quickly found Serling walking towards me. I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face as Sterling approached.

“Hey. How about we meet some other kids from one of the bigger noble houses?” Sterling offered as he stopped in front of me.

“Who are they?”

“They’re from Noble House Limostel. Their counties and land are further south than ours. And they’re closer to the capital as well. So they’ve had a somewhat prominent voice in the country’s council,” Sterling explained as he began to walk away. I quickly followed after him, listening to him.

“Counties?” I asked. I knew House Kastoss administered one county near the coast. And our estate was in that county. I admittedly didn’t know much about the goings-on of our land. But I assume I’ll get it explained to me at some point.

“Yeah, their family has accumulated several counties over the generations. But, from what I understand, while they aren’t one of the oldest families, they’ve been around long enough to benefit from other families falling apart. Or those who chose to marry into Limostel.”

I nodded silently as I followed Sterling through the crowds of people. No one really paid attention to us. We were on a lower status rung than most people at the party. Many of them seemed to look down on us when we passed them.

Most everyone had higher quality suits and dresses than my family could get. While my mother and Phoebe had relatively simple dresses, so many others had dresses with frills and intricate embroidery. Like the women, men from the higher noble houses had exquisite suits made from expensive materials. Some of them had intricate designs made from golden or silver thread. Some of the men even had epaulettes on their shoulders.

I couldn’t help but feel anxious as I followed Sterlings. My eyes took in the forms of high society continued on. People danced elegantly. They dressed elegantly. I would be lying if I didn’t say I didn’t feel out of place. But I bumped into my brother as he came to a stop.

“Kastoss. I see you’ve returned,” a posh voice stated. I peeked around my brother to see another boy wearing a high-end suit. I could see flickers of colours from something behind the boy. But I ignored that and focused on the boy in front. His eyes slid over to me before returning to Sterling.

“Of course, Limostel. I did tell you I would come back,” Sterling replied.

“So this is the brother you told me about.”

“Yes, this is my brother Kenneth. He’s aiming for the Nylah Academy,” Sterling seemed to boast a little about me.

“Is that so? Well, as you know, my sister is also attending Nylah Academy. So your brother won’t even play second fiddle to her. Or third fiddle. Or fourth,” the Limostel boy boasted about his sister.

I started to tune out both Sterling and the Limostel boy. The flashes of colour behind the Limostel finally caught my attention. It was a girl roughly around my age. She was barely peeking out from behind the Limostel boy. Her flaxen hair seemed to gleam from the light. What really struck me was the one eye I could see. It was marigold with sapphire in the bottom corner.

She peeked out further, showing her entire face. Her other eye was the same, except the sapphire was in the opposite corner. The sapphire colour was in the bottom left corner of her left eye. Her right eye, the sapphire colour, was in the bottom right corner.

Her fair complexion went well with her hair and eyes. She gave a small smile, and her cheeks dimpled from it. Along with a button nose, this girl was practically the epitome of cute.

I was amazed by her. I assumed this was the Limostel boy’s sister since she was close to him. She meekly waved to me with that same smile. It took me a couple seconds, but I waved back. Upon receiving a response, she quickly ducked back behind her brother. I swore I could have seen an even bigger smile on her face before she disappeared.

I think I know what this was called. I think it’s what many would call love at first sight.

––––––

Kenneth Rothach von Kastoss, Age 10

After that first meeting at that party, a few days later, I received a letter from that girl. Her calligraphy was gorgeous. But from that letter, I had learned her name was Vanabelle. Apparently, she had learned about me from Phoebe, somehow. I have no clue how, but she did.

It’s been four years since we started trading letters nearly every week. I did my best to keep every one of them. But it’s hard to keep that many notes contained in one room. I’ve been attending the local school my father had financed and set up for all the villagers. Every child in the county was welcome to join the school. But not everyone could make it because some were living out on farms.

It was here I learned of the sport of Drakobatic Ball. And, by extension, its lesser cousin Batic Ball. Batic Ball was the version played by kids who couldn’t ride drakes. I had practically thrown myself into this sport. It wasn’t hockey, but it was a close second for me.

Batic Ball seemed to have somewhat similar rules to American Football. There was tackling and such. Endzones and touchdowns. But it was also so different too. But it was entirely different once the drakes were added into the mix. Drakes were aerial interceptors and defenders attempting to knock the ball out of the air and stop the enemy team from scoring with goalposts.

After a few months of spending all the time I could get with Batic Ball, my mother gave me a present. It was a drake egg. She never told me what kind of drake egg it was, but I was thrilled. I kept it in a special bed to incubate it until it hatched. And several months later, it did.

It turned out I had a water drake egg. The drake that came out was a water drake with light blue scales that darkened closer to the head. With two winged arms, taloned feet, and a long tail that ended in a spaded tip, it strongly resembled a wyvern from Earth mythology.

And I decided to name him Torrent.