Distant Lands

The three of us stand around, not knowing what to do. People come up to speak to Ivan, then someone talks to Emerald. I admire the castle, its walls filled with detailed tapestries, and its ceilings painted with murals of scenes showing past events. A young lady comes up to me and looks at the silver rose pendant in admiration.

“Thank you for saving our queen. It’s an honor to meet you,” she says and walks off.

I had wondered what the big deal with that bracelet was. When the princess told me what it meant, I felt sorry for her. I wanted to hug her, but I knew I was not allowed to. The sudden sound of two heavy double doors opening grabs all of our attention, and people walk into the large banquet hall.

The lady in the green dress leads us inside. The floor is a white marble with specks of silver. There are rows and rows of long tables, and people fill the seats quickly. The room is bright. I look up, and I see silver icicle-shaped lights above our heads, the light reflecting on some icicles that hang down lower. The Royals sit at a table of their own—the lady in green motions to us to sit at a table closer to the royals, and we take a seat, waiting for dinner. People continue having conversations while sitting, and instrumental music plays softly in the background.

I lean to the left of me and whisper to Ivan, “How long are we going to be here?”

He doesn’t say anything; he just clears his throat. Maybe after dinner, we can excuse ourselves and go back to Azure.

Servers fill the guest’s wine glasses with red wine and place the charger plates on the tables, one in front of every guest. I get nervous when the server sets a lot of different types of shiny silver cutlery on both sides of my plate. I don’t eat with fancy cutlery, and It hadn’t crossed my mind of this possibility. I thought this was going to be a quick meeting? Ivan and Emerald didn’t prepare me for this part.

People drink their red wine. I reach for mine and take a sip. Ivan talks to the person sitting next to him and Emerald to the person next to her. I’m stuck in the middle with no one to talk to. I don’t want to seem weird just staring at people or my empty plate, so I continue drinking my wine and pretend to be part of Ivan’s conversation.

I smile and nod at them. “Right?” I give a fancy chuckle.

I finish my wine, and a server comes by and refills my glass. Finally, servers place round covered plates in front of us and uncover them. It has pasta, a bunch of potatoes, carrots, stuffed peppers, and other vegetables I don’t recognize. A server places a bowl of soup next to our plates. They bring out a whole roasted pig on a cart. It looks like a pig, but I think it’s an alien pig. Everybody looks delighted to see it, but it kills my appetite.

My stomach turns, and I swallow hard, trying not to gag. I eat meat, but I don’t like to see the faces of the animals that I consume. I know it’s terrible, but it’s just the way society is, messed up. But this experience will surely make me avoid consuming meat for a while.

A server serves the meat to the royals first, then goes around with the cart, serving the guests. He wheels the cart in front of me, and I stare at the roasted pig’s face, and it stares back at me. He cuts a piece of meat and places it on my plate. A bell chimes, and the room quiets down. People turn their heads to look at the king. The king stands up, looking toward us.

“Make sure you give our guests of honor extra meat!” he shouts. The server does just that and moves on. I give a smile of gratitude to the king and raise my wine glass at him. I take a drink of my wine, trying to calm my stomach. But the king doesn’t sit down; he keeps his glass raised to make a toast.

“I want to thank everyone for coming tonight. I also want to thank Lady Elizabeth one more time. Your bravery allowed us to have a part of our queen with us,” he says while drinking his wine, and the whole room does the same.

The king sits back down and begins to eat his food. Everyone else follows and begins to eat as well.

I whisper to Ivan, “Thank goodness things are moving along. The sooner we finish with this dinner, the sooner we can leave.”

Ivan and Emerald also begin to eat, and I watch Ivan using his cutlery. He picks up a fork and knife, and I do the same. He cuts the meat into smaller pieces and sticks the fork in it. I cut vegetables instead of the meat and ate them. He then picks up a big spoon and eats from the soup, and I do the same. Then he takes a sip of his red wine, and I also pick up my glass. Then he notices that I’m copying him and looks at me.

“Elizabeth, what are you doing?” he asks. I shrug my shoulders.

Suddenly, there's a commotion and loud yelling outside the door, but it doesn’t bother anyone. Guests don’t notice; only the three of us and the king do. The King stares at the door waiting for someone to come through.

The doors open, and a man comes through the door. He walks over to the king, leans close to his ear, and whispers something to him. The king whispers something back to the man, and he nods and walks back out of the tall doors.

The servers bring in a small table and a chair and place them in the middle of the room, in view of everyone. People still don’t pay attention to what is going on. Maybe they will bring out a fancy-looking tall cake or some impressive-looking dessert. But the table is being set as if someone will eat dinner all by themselves, in view of everyone. Then I hear the bell again. The king gets up, commanding attention.

“I have word that we have a thief of our own. A rat was caught sneaking around in the palace, stealing from me. Well, just to show that your king is a kind king, I will invite this rat to dinner,” he says, smiling.

The doors open again, and two guards bring in a young man. He looks like he is in his late teens. He looks at everyone and looks like he is hiding his fear, trying to be brave. The guards bring him over to the table they had set in the middle and sit him down in the chair. Servers bring out a tray of food for the young man. He looks at the king, and the king smiles at him.

“Go ahead, eat,” the king says, and he sits back down, continuing to eat. The guy looks at his food and then starts to eat. The room remains quiet, and people continue with their dinner. Now the atmosphere feels a little awkward. I begin to realize what is going on here. The guy is being shamed publicly.

We continue eating our dinner in silence. I wish people would start talking or have the music playing in the background because the silence is torturous. I can just hear the scrapping of the knives on the plates and the sound of people eating and drinking.

The young man continues to eat his food, but once in a while looks up nervously, looking at the people who are watching him eat. He then finishes his food and stands to leave but stops when he hears the bell.

The leftover pig is wheeled out and placed in front of the young man. The king gets up, and with an amused look on his face, he walks and stands next to the young man.

“Eat the pig,” he tells him. The young man looks down at the half-eaten pig and reaches for the knife and fork. Before grabbing them, the king snatches the utensils and throws them to the ground.

“With your mouth,” he orders. The young man gulps and looks at the pig.

Guests stifle their laughter.

“Do you refuse!” The King glares at him.

The young man stays silent, and his shoulders rapidly move up and down. The king’s jaw tightens, and he suddenly grabs the back of the guy’s head and smashes his face into the pig.

“I said eat! You, rat!” He holds the man’s head there, and the man looks like he might asphyxiate and struggles to push back against the king. The room erupts in laughter. How can they laugh at this?

“Stop!” I stand. All eyes turn towards me. I don’t know what came over me. It just came out of my mouth. I sit back down slowly.

The king releases the man and walks toward me with a how dare you face. He stands in front of me. Without taking his eyes off of me, he points at the man. “This scum stole from me. Do you think I’m being harsh? What sort of punishment should I bestow upon him?... Oh, I know. Bring me my sword!”

My heart picks up speed. I made things worse for the man. The king walks and stands next to the man, frozen with fear. A guard hands the king his sword, and he unsheathes it.

Two guards hold the man down and extend the man’s arm out. The king holds up the shiny silver blade, reflecting light as he raises it higher in the air, ready to bring it down on the man’s hand. I try to stand up to stop this, but Ivan and Emerald hold me down.

“Don’t get involved,” Emerald whispers through gritted teeth.

I look at her, “No, I cannot let this happen to this man.” They can hold me down, but they can’t shut me up.

“That’s enough!” I use the loudest commanding voice. The king looks at me in shock. Then his face turns serious. He lowers the sword, walks toward me, and stands in front of me.

I look at his shiny sword and hope to god he doesn’t use it on me instead. He stares at me for a long minute. He is probably trying to decide what punishment to give me. Then he sheaths the sword.

“Just because you are the guest of honor, I will grant your wish,” he walks back to his chair. He motions the guards to take the man away, leading him out the double doors.

The music starts playing, and people start talking like nothing happened. People get up from their seats, talking and laughing. While I just sit here, still trembling and feeling sick to my stomach.