5- The Nature Court

                                    

                                          
Kesserian didn't try to talk to me the rest of the trip. The silence was a blessing as I tried to figure out how I was going to get out of this. It was useless to try and escape surrounded by men capable of incinerating me with the flick of their wrist. Instead, I began the outlines of a new plan. I would play their little game, pretend to be some powerless human toy for them to manipulate. And then, once their attention was on something else, I'd escape. I'd run and wouldn't stop running until I got to some harbor. I'd get a ship somehow and then...
                          
	And then I would find Tessa and Porter. I would find my family.
                          
	I became so immersed in my thoughts that I didn't notice the colorful break in the miles of grass until I heard Kesserian's taunting voice practically singing, "Welcome to your new home."
                          
	I opened my mouth to shoot back that the Nature Court would never be my home and neither would any of the other kingdoms but at the sight of the city, I lost the ability to speak.
                          
	Even without crossing the gates yet, I couldn't help but admire the sheer size and beauty of the land in front of me. The gates were made of what looked to be solid glass that reflected the sunlight shining above, as if the light was shining for the sole purpose of illuminating the pristine world around me.
                          
	Passing through the gates only left me more speechless. Everywhere my eyes turned, I was greeted with beauty. The stores decking either side of the slick marble road varied in color and material, some glowing with what looked like particles of diamond in its foundations and others that appeared to be made of solid gold. Carriages shimmering with black stone were attached to groomed and polished horses, not a hair of their mane out of place. The place screamed magic in every minute detail of it.
                          
	But the detail that really caught my eyes were the people. Everywhere I looked, women in elegant gowns and men in clean, ironed suits milled about. I watched as a woman juggled what appeared to be balls of fire while singing a melodious tune I couldn't help but admire. Another woman sat at what appeared to be an outside coffee shop, turning the page of a book with one hand and aimlessly twirling her other in the air, causing the tea in her cup to levitate and form a miniature hurricane.
                          
	Outside of a suit shop, a laughing boy took to the sky with such ease that I almost didn't believe my eyes. He flew up, up until he reached the roof of the suit shop, swinging around the pole multiple times before the sign atop it began to teeter and fall forwards towards a crowd of shoppers. 
                          
	But before the metal sign reached any bystanders, a part of the marble sidewalk shot up and caught the sign, rising higher and higher until it reached the pole and set the sign safely back on top of the pole. From the cursing of a man who appeared to be the owner of the shop, I knew that the assurgence of the marble could only be his doing. A moment later the marble settled back into the perfectly smooth ground, showing no sign that any disruption of the mineral had occured in the first place.
                          
	The sound of laughing on the other side of the road caught my attention. I turned to see what appeared to be a couple talking to each other. The woman was dressed in a gown of white and was literally shining, the illumination of the sun above a stark comparison. The man she was speaking to seemed to be little more than a mist of shadows, the haze of black swirling around him, blending so perfectly into him that in some places he seemed almost transparent.
                          
	"This is the Nature Court" Kesserian suddenly explained, making me jump at the realization that he was now beside me, our horses in perfect synchronization again. "I don't completely understand why they call it a kingdom when it's really only a city, but everybody deems it appropriate to call a court. The people who live here consist of members of every single kingdom. They live and mingle together in peace. It's a symbol of the harmonious balance between our six different kingdoms. A beautiful place, don't you think?"