“Well, Zyba and Dakota are dismissed for now. Lola will be until lunch time at Professor Leea Cocinea’s lecture about Vegetables and Poisons. Keep a place for her at the table, we will see you there.”
“Professor Nefarious, can I go with Captain Hanstu?” I decided to call him like the others do, as Professor.
“He is an adult dearest, so I’m afraid not.”
The white beard was leaving me increasingly more worried that I was going to fail on my suicidal mission. How could this work, three teenagers just out of diapers defeating a monster from hell? I don’t know…
Captain Hanstu blew the green siren while the two youngsters left the room. The red and green sirens had nothing to do with colors, both came out of the giant trumpet at the top of the central tower, blown by the Keeper on guard. The red one was a long whistle, giving a signal of red alert. The green siren was many short whistles, signaling that everything was clear.
I followed Nefarious until a small classroom, still in Valkyrie.
“Professor must be coming in anytime. After lunch, I’ll explain to you the first part about Kingdom Basic Principles.” She arrived.
“There she is Lola, this is the professor of Plants and Vegetables, Mrs. Leea Coccinea.”
“Hello, Professor Nefarious. Ah! Very nice to meet you, Your Highness.” (Again!)
Professor Leea was a chubby blond wearing a dark green vest, she wouldn’t go unnoticed. All the professors at Lumen wore vests, excepting Nefarious, who wore warrior clothes like the Keepers just because he liked the style.
She had a funny laugh while she tried to explain which of the thousand creeping plants were poisonous and which were healthful. On our way to the Death Castle we would need to know what to eat, a bite of a poisoned one was goodbye forever. After an hour listening about eat this or don’t eat that, my stomach wouldn’t let me pay attention anymore.
“Never has anyone came back from there to tell us what grows in that land, it is all suppositions. But Your Highness must be prepared and have knowledge of what might be on the way. If you can only remember only one point, remember that there are dangerous poisons, the ones Your Highness can’t eat.”
“Please, stop calling me that, Mrs. Leea! I don’t want to think about this now, just call me Lola.”
“Hum, okay, I’m sorry. So, it is time to go, lunch time is very competitive in Valkyrie!”
In time we arrived at the lunchroom, where a metallic sound of silverware mixed with laughs and conversations. It was a long hall, lighted by the colored stained-glass windows and giant wood chandeliers filled with candles. The conversations between students and professors was heard throughout the hall, making it sound like a beehive. Everyone was seated at long tables being served bread, rice, beans, salads, vegetables, pies, and sauces. We could serve ourselves at the main counter, where everything was available. All in abundance.
Zybagron and Dakota waved from the fifth and last table at the corner of the hall, holding a seat for us. Professor Leea Coccinea took up some space, almost crushing the poor student who sat on her left at the long collective bench (occupying two places). Lucky for me, I sat in front of her. The two clever ones had kept the places besides them on purpose, so the professor wouldn’t crush them as she has done many times.
I notice the newbies (students from level 1 and 2, without the symbol on their uniform), looked at me with curiosity while eating, whispering among themselves. The older ones tried to be more discreet, but I knew everyone was curious. This was enough to take my hunger away which had been tormenting me just a few minutes before. Fortunately, Zyba distracted me telling a story about the day when two students almost slapped each other over a piece of pie.
Their food was so delicious, like the dishes my Auntie Eva usually does for special occasions. Gustav would go crazy here. Everything was great, but I was missing something.
“This is delicious, but I didn’t see any meat. You don’t have it?”
Students close to me stopped eating and looked at me in surprise, Zyba spit out a piece of carrot, saying something next. It sounded like he was cursing someone. Professor Leea came to my rescue.
“Guys, do you have forgotten our Nutrition classes beyond the dimensions? Hybridus by misfortune are carnivorous. Not all of them, but the majority. I’m sorry, your High… Lola. Here we don’t eat meat. It is inconceivable to kill another life with blood in their veins for our own pleasure. Here the animals collaborate with us on some jobs and are compensated for it, just as we are. We treat them with the same respect as we do with any prisms.”
I sank into my place. That made me think. Why did I eat meat? Okay, it tasted delicious, but it seemed so selfish. I always considered myself animal friendly, but what killed them and put them at my table? Now I understood why my father was a vegetarian. Maybe I could be one too.
Everyone went back to their plates, nothing that couldn’t go worse. Nefarious sat at the first table with other professors, he hit his goblet and stood up and started to speak.
“Dear students of Valkyrie and professors! I know we are all busy with our food, but I would like to give two general notices. First, about what happened this day earlier at the Ocean Turf eliminatory. We all know Elof has been threatening our people for too long, using his tricks. It was a fatality caused by the seahorse trespassing on our security border at the forest, that’s why I reiterate my warning to stay far away from our boundaries. The force dome is restored, and the Keepers have already searched the perimeter. There is nothing to be afraid of, we are safe in the Village now. Today, Elof tried to use our special guest to coerce us all, but we won’t give up. I want everyone to give a round of applause to our High… cough, cough dear, Lola Bloom!”
Every time someone was going to say those words your High… I felt a shiver. Well now, the entire room was looking at me, they didn’t even bother to be discreet. There was some applause, nothing too enthusiastic, except from my new companions. Professor Leea even let out a little squeak, shrinking right after it. A few endless seconds of embarrassment, interrupted by him.
“I hope everyone here makes her feel at home during her stay with us. Now, continue your meal. Skål!”
I raised my cup with grape juice as a sign of thankfulness. Nefarious was a person of charisma and a great leader, everything I wasn’t. After the meal, we all went back to our duties while I stayed there waiting for his call.
We went back together to the Aurora Borealis to continue the classes. Nefarious took from behind the bookshelf a blackboard and started writing Lumen’s Basic Principles. I remembered my boredom every morning at school. Class is boring at any place, even in the fourth dimension. He noticed.
“You don’t need to make that face, young lady. I promise to make this class as less tedious as possible,” he said, still with his back to me. Me and my horrible habit of showing my feelings on my face. I just don’t know how he saw it.
The professor started explaining how the Kingdom was born. Everything started with my ancestral, Gunnar Ingolf. He was a sailor of the seven seas full of virtue and with a golden heart. After seeing greed take over his homeland, he chose a mixed crew from the most honest and pure of heart residents, they decided to leave to make a new Kingdom. Where goodness and love would be predominating. After a while sailing his large vessel, shaped like a dragon carved out of oak wood with a shield and oars around it, ran aground at the hills, which today are behind the castle. When they landed, Gunnar saw both suns setting beyond the mountains. He felt this was the right place, far away from anything he knew. He decided to call it Lumen, the illuminated place. While walking through Aratama, he found a beautiful lotus blossom on the water. This flower represents the creation of the universe. It symbolizes the purity of body and mind. Its roots grow from the mud, the stalk crosses the water so the flower can be pure and beautiful at the surface, just as our soul.