MALLOS
Mallos studied his son’s face carefully before nodding once. As he started towards the door, Etya vanished inside to wait for them; she was carefully arranging her leaves when Mordred stepped onto the threshold.
Immediately, the reasoning behind the stained glass windows became apparent. The walls, floor and ceiling were composed of the same, textureless, stark white material as the exterior walls, which would have lent the place an inelegant white-washed look if it weren’t for the windows. Between the two suns, the abundance of multi-directional light reflected through the glass from the outside, throwing a kaleidoscope of colour over the plain white backdrop. Directly opposite each window was a mirror reflection of the scene portrayed, refracted outwards so that the surrounding walls, floor and ceiling were coloured rainbow. The colours broke whenever a person walked through them, reflecting onto them instead. Etya’s face was lit up with pinks and yellows which complemented her green-brown skin.
“I’ll meet you outside the Keeper’s quarters shortly,” Mallos informed her while Mordred had the opportunity to look around. The nearest window depicted a cheerful blue stream spiralling between a pair of wooded mountains. “I like your leaves like that, by the way. It suits you.”
Etya flushed again, her face shining with joy. As Mallos turned and led Mordred down a colourful corridor, he heard her skipping away and smiled briefly. Nymphs. Hopeless romantics, every last one.
There was little decoration inside the Scipius other than the stained glass windows, but they were more than enough. The majority of images focused on nature, although many depicted nymphs and there were even a few showing flesh-coloured figures which were clearly meant to be fairies. Every now and then, they passed a window which had a deity symbol emblazoned in the centre, although some were slightly adapted. The window obviously dedicated to Mallos, which they passed fairly early on, showed not one but two stylised sun logos: clearly, the indigenous had tweaked the symbol slightly to match up with their world.
They only turned down three corridors when, all too soon, Mallos slowed to a stop outside of a heavy wooden door. The stained-glass window opposite the door was another deity-dedicated one: the bright blue balancing scales shone directly onto the white door before them. Ma’at-Inety. Bringer of order. How empty that epithet seemed now.
“He has no divinity, remember,” Mallos said quietly. “He can’t hurt you, but he might try and provoke you. Don’t rise to it. If he has anything to hold against you, it will be your word against his, and the Star Chamber aren’t going to listen to a mortal.” His jaw set grimly and he frowned a little as he surveyed his son, betraying an emotion for the first time that day: concern. “If you need me, send out a telepathic signal. I’ll throw him off the roof.”
It was only partly a joke. Mallos folded his arms and waited for Mordred to go through the door before turning and heading down towards the Keeper’s quarters.
* * *
Gwythr’s chambers were unsettlingly similar to castle suites. The door opened out into another white room which was clearly intended to be an office, and open archways led off to what were presumably living quarters. The man himself was sat behind his desk, immediately opposite the door Mordred had entered through, apparently doing some paperwork. He no longer resembled the twenty year-old man he had been when he had left Shaman, and instead had reverted to his normal appearance: that of an older, grey-haired man, in his fifties or early sixties. He sat straight-backed like a military man, visibly fit in spite of his depicted age. Of course. The deities could be whatever they wanted to be, in order to reflect whatever image they wanted to appear as – for Gwythr, looking wise was valued above looking handsome.
He didn’t move as Mordred entered, but carried on penning his letter as though undisturbed. His desk was large, almost the size of a long dining table, and curved around him in a crescent moon shape. It was made from the same textureless white material as the walls, and there was no obvious distinction between the legs and the floor: it appeared as one with the building. Gwythr himself was dressed in royal blue robes which made his pale blue eyes appear almost white.
He didn’t look up at all or say anything. It was Mordred’s play first.
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