The Outcast's Odyssey by Morrow A

Author:Morrow, A.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

The queen was chatting away next to me as we walked back to the elaborately-designed palace. I could smell the perfume of flowers in the air that lifted my spirits slightly. Taking in the scent, I was not really paying attention to her small talk as I plodded along the narrow gravel paths. Instead, I was listening to the crushing of the stones under my feet. The thoughts inside my own head were going over our earlier conversation. My mind was in turmoil as I considered what the motherly queen had asked of me. She had pleaded for me not to desert this enclave and leave it unprotected. In saying this, she had indicated that it would become prey to the other more powerful enclaves in the labyrinth surrounding us.

I thought, Why should I care about this upcoming meeting with the ambassadors from surrounding enclaves? I could just leave this place and travel far away from all this mess that seems to be around me. As I thought about leaving, I remembered the queen’s words: leaving this enclave unprotected would be disastrous for them. I felt guilty at the mere idea of leaving them high and dry.

She indeed used her children as a guilt trip on me, and it worked - thoughts of possibly causing harm to them because of who I am just feels wrong. By simply being here, I thought with annoyance, all this trouble has followed. Is it really my fault - and even my responsibility - to fix the world? Even if I am to leave here, this situation will probably happen again in the next place that I travel to. Other than staying in an enclave, the only other option is if I become a hermit wandering the space between the enclaves.

I shuddered at the thought of being all alone without any social interaction. That was just not how I wanted to live my life. Well then, I considered, let’s work with the people around me, in this and other enclaves. I should not just run away from the disastrous whirlwind of political trouble that I seem to have personally caused.

I zoned back to what the queen was chattering about and heard her say, “Some of the ambassadors represent enclaves with very different social structures. It’s good to take this into account when dealing with them, but I’ll leave it to you to get your first impressions.”

“Thank you,” I said courteously. I thought, Maybe I should have been listening more closely as that didn’t seem like small talk, but it would be too embarrassing to ask her to repeat it.

As we walked up the stone stairway when we returned to the palace, the queen said, “I’ll leave you now. Thank you for listening to me, my lady.” She gave me a strained smile and walked back toward where her children were playing in the garden.

The well-dressed servant wore what seemed like more formal clothing that I had only seen at the reception. She said, “My lady, the king and his guests are in a dining room.

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