Chapter 7: 7 The Coronation
The coronation was going to be held today.
When Elyre and Phyllada were alone, the wood-nymph shared her thoughts,
"Elyre, I'm afraid of the ceremony. I thought about it all day. I don't want to be a Princess of the Wood-nymphs... Are you sure you don't want to take my place as a Princess?"
"Everything will be fine, there is nothing to worry about," the firine assured her. Then she put the tiara of the Sunstone on Phyllada's forehead.
This was a magical item, which belonged to the Princess of the Wood-nymphs. Well, technically, it belonged to the Governor of Wild Wood, it used to belong to Thyberia, the Queen of the Wood-Nymphs.
"I will have so many responsibilities now," Phyllada sighed. "And can you imagine – the ancient Sunstone that has belonged to all the princesses before me will be in my hands."
Phyllada was brushing her hair, and Elyre was helping her as it was very long.
"I don't see what makes you feel uneasy about the Sunstone," Elyre cried. "Except if you don't lose it!.. But, you have already worn the tiara more than once... with no bad consequences! ...You don't have to be a princess exactly like your mother. Every princess is different, just be yourself."
"...Yesterday I read a legend, which says the Sunstone hides more power than we suspect… and is truly ancient. Well, of course, not as old as the Seventh Fire…"
"...Are you ready?" Elyre said once they finished brushing Phyllada's hair.
***
Elyre arrived earlier. She was very careful not to crease her official dress. It had been very hard for her to choose it because it had to be the proper length, with special sleeves and the right bosom.
She was welcoming guests at the door. Well, in fact, that wasn't one of her official tasks, but she was waiting for Bayan. There were many people inside the hall where the coronation was about to take place, so she was waiting outside.
"Bayan... you are late!" She said when she finally saw him.
"I warned Phyllie!" He exclaimed, "...I said I would be *6* minutes late. ...Are you our door-keeper for the evening? What a tedious task for such an impatient person!"
"Six minutes" was his way of saying "unspecified amount of time." For him six minutes might as well mean a few days... Well, time wasn't a constant anyways!
He continued,
"…I came to the conclusion that you are actually not impatient. You just have the rare gift of being much faster than everybody else around. As a result, you must be twice as patient as an ordinary person to cope with other people's slowness. It must be really hard for you," he sighed.
"Very profound," she said.
"Who else would be profound if not I?..."
***
Phyllada's coronation started. Thyberia, her mother, was in the center of a large hall, on a wooden stage, giving a speech. Not far from her three wood-nymphs were holding a shimmering flame of soft, yellow magical light, which reached the ceiling. That was the fire of Wild Wood, one of the seven fires. Each of the seven fires belonged to a different region of Allyria. The Seventh Fire, hidden in the Castle of the Queen, was the most powerful. The other six were, in fact, small parts of it. The flames of the fire were reflected in the Tiara of the Sun, held in Thyberia's hands. On the tiara, tangled in golden threads, was placed the Sunstone.
Of course during such an important ceremony there were indeed emissaries from the Castle of the Seventh Fire. One of them sat next to Elyre and continuously babbled about how great the Queen was. Elyre managed to keep her temper and tried unsuccessfully to change the topic. When that didn't work, she repeated to herself there was no point in her being mad at him and having negative thoughts; moreover, she'd heard they worsen health.
Elyre also saw one young, arrogant mage who often came into the forest and since there weren't many mages around, he would act as if he were incredibly smart. Elyre could recognize a few more faces... until suddenly... one of the people who entered into the hall seemed familiar.
It was the mage she'd seen in the Castle of the Seventh Fire. She immediately turned to the other side to look at Bayan, sitting next to her. The mage did not see her because there were many people in the room.
Too bad Bayan did not bring a copy of "SHOCK in the Forest" or his hat with a hole...
"Bayan,..." she whispered. "Take off your vest."
"Elyre, this is an official ceremony. I am really sorry that you don't have your own vest, but you should've thought about this earlier. You don't have to be jealous..."
"What?" She whispered, "I don't want to put on your vest! I want to hide from the mage."
"How are you going to hide yourself with a vest? Are you going to put it on your head?..."
"Yes!" she exclaimed.
Bayan looked at the door. He rolled his eyes, "Well, the mages went to the back of the room. I don't think they can see anything else apart from your hair. You're safe now."
She calmed down and slowly restored her normal posture.
Back to the ceremony, Thyberia was in the process of putting the tiara on Astraea's head, while the latter thought, *Now that I think better of it, I don't want to be a Princess. I am almost sure. No, no...,* but she was sensible enough to keep her mouth shut – with mighty effort.
Then they started reading the names of all renowned Princesses and Queens of the Wood-Nymphs in history and their most notable achievements as a way to show respect to them.
"...Let us pay honor to... Princess Elphida the Wise... and Princess Nymphica the Great Healer... ...of whom the Dryads still tell tales... and may their spirits reincarnate in the golden apples of Wild Wood..."
Bayan asked Elyre,
"Have you thought about digeniche? What are we going to do after the Queen's refusal to help?"
"We haven't had the time to discuss it with Phyllada, and I didn't want to make her feel even more worried. But there is only one thing we can do. Since no one else is going to help, then we should help digeniche ourselves," Elyre said. "We shouldn't speak about this," Elyre replied. "Too many of Queen Lyneanne's people are here." Indeed, all officials working in Wild Wood had come to show respect for the Princess of the Wood-Nymphs.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
elindress
elindress "...Let us pay honor to... Princess Elphida the Wise... and Princess Nymphica the Great Healer... ...of whom the Dryads still tell tales... and may their spirits reincarnate in the golden apples of Wild Wood..."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone