So, May left with Thibli and her other three body doubles and got into the Howdah on the back of the supersaurus. Thibli looks at May and says "You'll probably want to sit down in that last chair, we're about to get moving." May is still so dismayed by the direction that her life is moving in that she just lets herself fall into the chair as the supersaurus began to move.
"So, what's your name anyway?" One of the other body doubles asks May.
May responds dryly "My name is Maiwxolpch, but you can all call me May. She/her pronouns if you'd please."
The first body double says in a manner more enthusiastic than May "Well my name is Quudbadpyul, you can call me Q. I use she/her pronouns, and I'm from the badlands province."
The second body double adds "My name is Vopayfauyoom, you can call me Voo if that's easier for you. I use she/they pronouns, and I'm from the cloud forest province."
The third body double adds "I'm Xmowoc, you can call me Mo, she/her pronouns, and I'm from the rainforest province."
Princess Thibli says "well you already know that I'm Princess Yothiblircs, but everyone who knows me calls me Thibli, I use she/her pronouns."
May thinks about how Vopayfauyoom's name is Xraimyaig for "Fulgerotherium song" and she says "I like your name Voo, my best friend's name is Nooipvnydlee, his name means "Vopayfau feather" and he's a Yelthtmonooip."
Thibli, upon hearing about May's close friendship with a Yelthtmonooip boy made her wonder if it was her own connection to the system that was helping to oppress the Yelthtmonooip people that made May seem out of sorts. Not just the fact that May would now have to leave her old life behind to live out a compulsory duty as one of Thibli's body doubles. "I'm really sorry May. I mean, I'm sorry to all of you for having to do this, but after basic training regarding animal husbandry with your new tozyxraimquaihns, you don't have to do much as stand ins. I mean we're not really meeting potential new enemies all of the time. And you get to live in my family's palace with your families and get paid well."
May chuckled and replied "Don't worry your highness. Nooipvnydlee actually thinks you're really great. He just didn't want to come to this selection since he already had to present himself for your last selection four years ago. We all know that you and your parents try to look out for refugees, and are against all of this business with the Mroolozwanph Empire. We don’t think you’re sociopaths."
Everyone smiles and laughs at what May has just told them. Thibli says "Well, I hope we can all become good friends. I was glad to be close with my last set of body doubles."
Mo asks Thibli "Is it true that each province is associated with a season, and each body double gets time off during the season that their province is associated with?"
Thibli replies "That is correct! The Grasslands Province is associated with autumn, the Badlands Province is associated with winter, the Cloudforest Province is associated with spring, and the Rainforest Province is associated with summer. So, Mo, that means that by around the time you girls are done with your training, you get three months off. You and your family can go back home, or you can go wherever you want throughout Xraimyaig."
May and the other girls feel the howdah shake as the supersaurus' stomach rumbles. The girls laugh as Thibli looks around at the fields of quaihnbadp grass and asks May "Hey, May, are we on anybody's farmland right now is it okay for our ride to have her well-deserved snack time?"
May replies "Oh yeah, she's fine. We're already past Lord Xent's quaihnbadp grass fields."
Thibli signals to the Wluwoi Knights and they surround the supersaurus as it begins to graze. Quaihnbadp grass is like elephant grass from the surface world, but even taller at up to 24 feet tall. Quaihnbadp grass is named in honor of the Grasslands Province's apex predator which the grass is able to conceal. When the first fossils of a quaihnbadp would be discovered on the surface world in 1941, the people of the Quaihnbadp surface world would name them saurophaganax.
Thibli whispers to her body doubles "So, the lead of our escort is the current head of Wluwoi Knights. His name’s Cmayeecehw, he's a loser."
May chuckles and says "I know a thing or two about that. My dads are both ex Wluwoi Knights, and so were my birth parents. It's difficult to say whether or not Cmayee chose me just to get back at my dad’s for leaving.”
Thibli says "That's awesome May! Or, at least parts of that are awesome. Sorry, I'm hardly ever not awkward."
Mo asks May "So do you already know a lot about training tozyxraimquaihns then?"
May replies "Not really, they all had to give theirs up when they left the Wluwoi Knights."
Voo asks May "So have you ever actually gotten to see a live Vopayfau? Because they really are very beautiful, and they have a really cool song!"
May replies "No actually, they don't really come as far south as the Grasslands Province. Nooipvnydlee never actually got to see one either, his family left Yelthtmonooipland when he was just a baby. He always talks about how he wants to go back to Yelthtmonooipland when he's older, and how their men are so hot."
Quuyul laughs and says "Well he's not wrong about that, they are cuties. My boyfriend Xoomglyobavc is a Yelthtmonooip. In the Badlands Province the Yelthtmonooip are still able to hunt Wothnleps, but they face a lot of danger with Xraimyaig vigilantes and the Zloitgiuur."
Thibli lets out a troubled sigh and says "I know it's especially hard for Yelthtmonooip in the Badlands Province. My previous body double from the Badlands Province was part Yelthtmonooip. To be honest I think he may have been the only Yelthtmonooip to ever get selected as a royal body double. He was the only one of my previous body doubles who didn't choose to stick around as part of the auxiliary guard. Me and my other three body doubles always tried to look out for him, but he had trouble with being selected from the start."
May replies "Yeah, I think I heard about him."
Overhead the mass of bioluminescent gases and microbes roll away as night begins to fall. Thibli says "I always thought that the waning and the waxing of the lights was so beautiful, you girls are really going to like the view of the waning lights from the highest point of the palace."
Ql replies "I'm sure we will, and you'd love the view of the waning lights in the badlands. We should all go there sometime, if not just to see it."
Mo says to Thibli "I know things feel really tense right now, but I think I speak for all of us when I say that I think we're all looking forward to helping you make the land a better place."
May thinks hard for a moment before saying "You know what? I think you're right Mo. Thibli, I want to help make your grandfather realize that you're the best choice to be the next emperor of Xraimyaig."
Comments (0)
See all