5.
She gazed absently around the Hall, her chin resting in one hand, elbow on the heavy table linen. The cavernous walls sparkled in the light still, but the space was quite transformed from the empty echoing cavern she had glimpsed on her tour with Ethan when she first arrived in Pantheon. If anything, it was more magnificent.
Laughter and chatter filled the hall with a contented murmur that she found quite soothing, although several days ago when she attended her first meal here, Lux had been almost overwhelmed. She had never seen so many people in one space...
She glanced around her table.
Lux sat at the far end of the semi-circular expanse. The higher tier table perched on most raised level of the hall, the curved wall rising behind it in an arc. The table had a crescent cut out of the front, to create a smaller semi-circular recess. The privileged higher tier sat round this grand half-circle, surveying the tiers below, and it was immediately obvious that they sat in order of rank.
'So here I am, on the high table...if only at the edge. The newcomer, yet to be fully initiated, status still undecided...' Lux mused, as her eyes tracked round the table.
On her first evening in the hall, Ethan had sat next to her. Lux got the impression that this was an accepted formality, to accompany the newcomer to the table. He had talked quietly to her throughout the meal, pointing people out, subtly indicating the appropriate cutlery for each course.
Lux had been extremely grateful. Etiquette was never a key feature in her childhood, and the years afterwards were utterly devoid of social graces. She thanked her luck that she was a fast learner. Ethan had informed her after that first meal that he would not be sitting with her from then on. Though second in command to the Prince, he was not a bodyguard -- thus not essential to the company at the table. As such, he sat near the top of the second tier table on the platform below, which also meant he may sit next to Luca.
This was Lux's third meal at high table, and so far, conversation had been limited. On observation, however, she found the body language and behaviour at the table spoke volumes...
She cast her eye discreetly over the man who sat next to her. He was silently clearing his plate, after which, if the past two nights were anything to go by, he would cradle his wine in his hands and stare intently into the middle distance as if in complex thought. He was tall, wiry, with ash blonde hair and steely eyes. They had spoken an entire sentence each to the other over the past two evenings.
At first, as they took their seats the night before, he had acted as though Lux didn't exist. Frankly, she was quite happy with that -- she was quite used to comfortable silence and her own thoughts. As they were standing to leave at the end of the meal, however, he had turned abruptly to her.
"You are the new girl?" He asked her, although it seemed more a statement than a question.
Lux was startled into response.
"Yes....I'm Lux" She added, suddenly unsure of what the protocol was here with regards to introductions and manners.
He seemed satisfied enough. He had nodded brusquely, swiftly eyeing her intensely, before adding:
"I am Atler, one of the royal guards." With that, he turned and left. A man of few words, clearly.
Still, Lux knew a good fighter when she saw one, and skinny or not, Lux imagined little got past Atler...which explained why he was one of very few men at the table, if only on the edge of it.
The women at the table, who made up the majority of the company, were all clothed in the tell-tale claret silk of the higher tier. Ethan had mentioned some names, but Lux could not recall them all.
Having met Atler, it was now easy to identify the handful of other men at the table as guards also; all in sleek black jeans and black T-shirts. Several, Lux noted keenly, including Atler, had a compact black gun firmly fixed into a hip holster.
The guns made Lux apprehensive. Yet more evidence of the wealth of the Panthera tribe....guns were a luxury post-war that few could afford, few of the hunters Lux had encountered had been armed -- usually, in a group, one man alone had a gun. When Lux and Gus had obtained a weapon, it proved useful for a while -- both for defence from future hunters, and ease of hunting deer when food got scarce... but a gun was a useless lump of metal once the ammo ran out.
Lux heard giggling from higher up the table, and felt eyes upon her. She resisted looking; she already knew who was observing her so closely.
The higher circle women were all extraordinarily beautiful, each in their own way. They were mainly blond or light brunette -- Lux suspected the King had a type.
Ethan had explained that it was the king who had the final say in who was accepted into the circle. When a new woman arrived in the city, or when a city raised girl reached the age of eighteen, they were brought briefly before the King.
The first purpose of this was that they might show their respects and be welcomed to Pantheon. However the King would also decide initially on looks and demeanour alone, the highest circle for which they were appropriate. Each tier had an individual, elected by the King, responsible for testing the woman's abilities in pleasing a man. If she passed the test, she was initiated into that circle. If not, she was tested for the tier below...and so on.
"So...what if I'm not the King's type...?" Lux had asked him, tilting her head in the direction of the fair-haired harem.
"I very much doubt you will have a problem.."Ethan laughed, "But you may need to win him over a little with your, erm, feminine charms." He grinned evilly.
"Technically in the King's absence, the Prince is now in charge of selection. As the circle serves him also, you would have to utterly un-impress both of them to now be moved down. Lucky timing for you!" He winked.
Lux rolled her eyes. "Well, impressing two men that at this rate it seems I shall never meet...doesn't strike me as much of a challenge."
Ethan's mouth tightened a little.
"If I were you, I would enjoy it while it lasts. Things get a little....less relaxed, when the King returns. He is expected here in the next few days."
Two days had passed since Lux had sat next to Ethan that evening, and she was trying to imagine the atmosphere with the King and Prince occupying the two empty seats at the head of the table. Suddenly, she felt eyes upon her. She already knew the source.
Right now, the privileged ladies of the higher tier were casting furtive curious glances her way. They were not malicious looks, only curious -- with the exception of one.
Sitting to the side of the two empty centre chairs; was one female who radiated 'queen bee'. The other ladies of the circle leaned in to hear what she said when she spoke, and when Lux had glanced casually round the table to take in the company, her gaze had been met by a pair of cold, scornful almond eyes.
The woman had raised her eyes away from Lux's, and tossed her head in a way that instantly conveyed where she felt Lux stood -- below her. It didn't take a genius, Lux thought; to work out that this must be the infamous Lana.
Lux had never been happier to be outside someone's company. she never had understood girls, even as a child. Lux had been the kind of seven year old to be found mud fighting by a creek with the best of the boys her age and older.
Plates were being cleared, and steadily those seated at high table rose and trickled out of the great hall.
She waited quietly until the gaggle of women were safely gone, having no particular desire to meet them up close. Then, she slid quietly out of the hall, and meandered via a long route back to her room.
***
