Eighteen warp booths lined the walkway in front of the North Palace doors in two neat lines of nine.
Turquoise stared at the looming palace entrance. The outer wall had become a cement white color which served as an ‘all clear’ signal for the Hearth. In about an hour or two it would be allowed to fade into whatever mood Her Majestic was feeling.
Only ring NP-1 was visible to the trio from its position one hundred feet above the base of the spike. It blended with the ‘all clear’ hue of the outer wall. Like the twelve garden spikes, three building rings surrounded the palace spikes. While all three rings stood together at the garden spikes’ base, the palace rings were spaced out along the spike.
The palace door always remained an alabaster white since wood doesn’t include the same color flexibility that prysmetal does. Few things loomed above someone like a sixty-five foot tall door. The varying sizes of the Hearth residents and visitors made such a large door a necessity. A bronze colored star stood on each side of the door. Although unmoving, these stars weren’t statues.
Each half of the door slowly swung inwards as the trio approached the entrance. An eerie golden light surrounded the stars.
Once again, Turquoise fearfully coiled herself into a small pile. “I hate starclops.”
Plumwise replied, “They’re just fear feeders. You know that.”
“Right, right, no fear.”
Turquoise repeated the phrase in her mind as she eyed the starclops. Kloutrel slowly walked past the door sentries. As Turquoise passed in front of the starclops, it opened its single eye and looked at the young fereglizod. A previously unnoticed seam below the eye parted showing off two rows of sharply grinning teeth. The starclops turned towards Turquoise.
She shrieked and leaped off of Kloutrel’s shoulders. In one motion, all three and a half feet of Turquoise was easily through the doorway before it had fully opened.
Kloutrel and Plumwise blinked. They glanced at the starclops. There was no open mouth on the creature. Its single eye was full of self satisfaction.
Kloutrel leaned her long neck down and said, “Well, she is contributing to the Hearth’s well being.”
The elder fereglizod sighed. “I can think of better ways for her to contribute.”
Kloutrel chuckled as she lifted her neck up again.
The two of them entered the palace hallway. Fancy pillars lined the corridor of the main entrance. Turquoise peered around the base of one of the pillars. Plumwise and Kloutrel made their way over to her.
Looking ashamed, Turquoise said, “Sorry, Uncle Plumwise. I know that starclops live on the energy of intimidation but…. They just scare me!”
Plumwise ruffled his niece’s foam-white headfur with his trunk. “Guess it makes a difference when you can dash past them on your own instead of a slow dragon ride. I know that someday you’ll get used to them. Starclops wouldn’t make such good guards if they weren’t effective.”
That seemed to make Turquoise feel better.
“Come on,” Plumwise said, “Let’s go see the sages. Hopefully they’ll have some extra star nectar already made up.”
“More hopefully they’re getting along better today,” Kloutrel muttered.
“Are you sure that you’re feeling all right?” Plumwise said. “You’re looking a bit ill.”
The dragon shook her head. “I’ll… probably check in with a doctor after we get the nectar. For now, I’m fine.”
Both Plumwise and Turquoise were careful to avoid Kloutrel’s unsteady footsteps as they headed towards the Sages’ Hall.
Mundane shades of tan colored the extensive palace corridor. First impressions would suggest a dull elegance to the regal place. The Hearth’s creative diversity made itself evident in the pillars of this hallway. Creatures of all shapes and sizes had been carved into the stonework of each pillar. The Majestics were of the opinion that such carvings promoted acclimation to the many different residents which newcomers would encounter all over the Hearth. It was both a tribute and an education for all those who entered or left the palace walls.
On the right wall, an arch displayed the words ‘Residential Quarters’ above an elevator door. All Hearth administrators, department heads as well as the sages lived on the second ring of the palace.
Another tall door stood at the far end of the corridor. An archway above this door displayed the title of ‘Administration’. Upon approaching the door, a plaque beside it could be more easily read. Department offices; regulations and procedures; daily paperwork and the North School could be found beyond this door.
Ensuring that all residents received a quality education was crucial in the Hearth’s overall operation. The best way to accomplish that was by holding classes within the palace walls instead of on the individual spikes. Various classes were offered from basic schooling for the children of the Hearth to special classes for newly recruited residents and even specialized studies for those wishing to learn something new. Healthy minds raised healthy inspiration seeds.
While serving as the Hearth’s informational hub, Administration also shared the Hearth’s archives with the Sages’ library.
The trio entered a short hallway about halfway up the left side of the corridor.
An arch above the hall proclaimed that this entrance was the Sages’ Hall. A plaque beside the doorframe at the end of the hall listed the area’s contents as the library; chemical lab and magical research and testing areas.
The door defied all of this evidence by looking like something out of an imprisonment building. Although polished to a shine, the thick metal looked like it was made to keep something in. A few dents in the deep metal suggested that something had wanted out very badly without success.
Whatever made the dents might have had better luck getting out if they’d simply pulled the door’s lever handle. Since not all Hearth residents had appendages which could grasp a knob, most door handles throughout the Hearth were levers.
As the trio approached the door, a few glass shattering crashes provided a good reason for the door’s sturdy exterior.
The door absorbed another shattering piece of glassware as the trio entered the library.
A fox clutched a scroll in her paws as seven long tails lashed back and forth behind her. Books and bottles of varying sizes hovered in the air surrounding the fox. The look on her face indicated little to no hesitation in flinging whatever contents the glassware held.
An equally angry expression darkened the face of a cream-coated unicorn a few feet away from the fox. His horn and eyes were bright with an icy silver glow as he held several jars and a few flasks in various outstretched lumps of his mane.
“Quit being such a juvenile and give me that scroll, Kioku!” the unicorn snarled.
Little dents appeared in the scroll’s paper as Kioku increased her grip on it. “I told you that I need to memorize this scroll before you could use it. I brought it down here so that I could have some peace and quiet while I memorized it and I’m NOT done yet!” One of the hovering bottles flew towards the unicorn. The horned equine snapped a chunk of his mane forward like a whip and thrust the bottle away. It flew into a table and smashed instantly. A smokey orange ink stretched across the table and dripped down on the floor.
“Memorization wastes time!” the unicorn protested, “That’s why we have these scrolls written out. I’m running an experiment and I need to use the incantation to get more immediate results. You can play mind games with a scroll that I DON’T need. Now hand it over!”
“NO, Adroithany!” cried Kioku. “The time I take to memorize it now means the less time I’ll need to waste later. While you’ll be spending all your time hunting down the information, I’ll already know it. So YOU can just go find another incantation to run your experiment with.”
“I will NOT!” A flask was hurled towards the fox. She agilely dodged it but lost another bottle in the process. Little clicks resounded through everyone’s auditory senses as metal pins bounced around the floor tiles. Irritated wrinkles appeared in Plumwise’s trunk.
Kioku hissed, “If you weren’t such a small minded mule, you’d understand how important this knowledge is.”
“Well if you weren’t such a short-sighed mutt, you’d realize how much more important it is to let the scrolls hold the knowledge while we use it. You’ll only forget it later anyways,” Adroithany snapped.
“Maybe your horn is too deep in your brain to hold much knowledge, but a fox mind is forever strong. Now leave me in peace!” Three books were flung at Adroithany. All three suddenly vanished in a blink of light.
At last there was something which the fox and the unicorn could agree on – a bewildered expression on both of their faces. A voice suddenly rang out which made both sages cringe.
“Why do you two always have to fight over the same things EVERY SINGLE DAY?”
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Leloni Tabbyra's Peculiar Fables 