Snippet #2455114

90th Day

Solaria

“Well one would assume they will lay her out and the viewings will be first.”

There were sipping noises and the clanking of glasses.

“Oh of course. Do you think they will let the ‘others’ in with us at the same time?”

Alleara raised her glass to her lips once more to stifle the almost growl of indignation that threatened to escaped. It was Meldra that was the worst, holding herself above everyone else in Solaria. She would have put herself on the same level with the Queen if it wouldn’t have been considered a treasonous offense. The fact that her mother socialized with Meldra and these other women bothered Alleara but worse was that she made her social with them as well.

”t is to keep your good standing. A man will marry for family name and by keeping good company we keep our name in a positive light.”

“And if I do not wish to marry or I wish to marry a man who values my intelligence?”

Her mother’s horrified look said it all.

They clucked like hens discussing the timing of the viewings and the organization details. Alleara rolled her eyes and looked to the window.

A lovely breeze blew through the open portals and cooled down the room, excising it of the women’s hot air.

Alleara didn’t care about things like the funeral organization or what food they would serve. She was already going to have to dress up, walk past the Queen’s laid out body and then mingle with those she found the most annoying and pretentious in the whole of Solaria.

“Do you think they will put the Queen in white?”

“Oh yes, that would be traditional. I wouldn’t think they will break from that.”

“I don’t know the new Queen is so...’young’ what if she is not overly familiar with tradition or worse what if she thinks to be progressive?”

By the mutterings someone listening might have thought that progressive thinking was akin to murder by the way the women reacted.

Alleara frowned. Would a change of things be ‘so’ bad?

“Well that begs the question what do we wear?”

Alleara’s body slumped in her chair and she almost groaned aloud. She couldn’t believe they were discussing the clothing options for the funeral. Did they really have nothing better to discuss?

“Well I would think a purple or blue would be respectful. Staying away from yellow or white of course.””

“But of course....” Alleara mocked under her breath.

“What was the Alleara dear?”

Her mother addressed her and Alleara silently cursed her good hearing. If there was one thing her mother did well it was hear ‘everything’. From the quietest secret or the sneaking of her feet down the hall her mother heard it all.

The look in her mother’s eyes told Alleara that she had indeed heard her daughter’s mocking though her face was the perfect mask of politeness.

Alleara shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “I think red would be a poor choice as well, given the talk that her death was murder.”

The women began mutter.

“Too true...too true.” Meldra agreed. “If one wore red it would be like saying they know it was murder or worse that they were involved.”

One of the women gasped. Another fanned herself.

“Well we all know it is the truth. No one has come out to take responsibility is all.”

“You mean, assassinated?”

“Of course. Protectorate likely.”

“You think so?”

“Or maybe someone here in Solaria....” The woman leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. “The Queen was not always favoured by everyone. She did too much at times. I heard there were some who felt as if they did not get a fair share of her time or her ear to voice their concerns or needs.”

“I think it was Drakyvarian assassins.”

Meldra rolled her eyes. “Really and do you think they are responsible for your backside growing so large in the last month? Honestly Petrie. There aren’t any even in ‘Solaria’. Do you think they somehow disguised themselves?”

The woman looked fearful for a moment. “Can they do that?”

Alleara’s mind immediately began working. Would it be possible to create a device that would allow one to be invisible? She frowned, her mind working out all the issues and problems that would come from making such a thing happen. What of a mask? Something made to cover ones face? But you would have to cover hands...the material would have to move with the person...

The women around her clucked on about mysterious assassins.

“It matters who but it also matters how. I heard it said there was not a scratch on the Queen.”

“I heard there was a knife in her back.”

“Oh goodness, you are a ninny and so literal...”

Alleara turned her attention back to the women. It amazed her how one minute they could be talking away about dresses and colour choices yet now they talked assassins and methods. They could rule the councils if they spent their time focused on things that matter, things of intelligence rather than mundane, tedious things.

“You know poison could be used quite easily.” Alleara’s voice broke through their chatter. “There are different kinds, some that show no signs of being used. Many need to be ingested though...”

She was lost in her thoughts on poison and the various ways it could be tweaked or used.

Around her the women were in a twitter about the very idea that someone poisoned the Queen. Alleara didn’t really understand why they were so a flutter since they were the ones who had started the discussion.

She dismissed them and turned her attention to the mystery before her. Who killed the Queen?Why and more importantly....how?

Her feet moved, she wanted to leave the little tea party and head to her father’s lab, to start writing down her theories and lists.

Her mother gave her a look that told the young woman to sit still.

Alleara endured another forty five minutes before she was allowed to run off to work in the lab. She ran down the hall, her mother glaring at her back. She had work to do, so many ideas that she needed to write down and experiment on.