Orlan Kingdom. Capital City.
The capital was a creature of two faces.
On any other day, it was a city of quiet industry and murmured politics, its streets echoing with the measured steps of its inhabitants.
But today, it was a beast adorned in silks and vibrant banners, pulsing with a frantic, celebratory energy.
Today was the gathering day, an event personally orchestrated by the king himself.
What had begun as a formal summons for every noble family, influential merchant, and registered resonator had, through the inevitable alchemy of high society, transformed into the season's most extravagant party.
The numbers were simply too vast, the egos too large to be contained within the castle's great hall. And so, the festivities had spilled out, transforming the entire royal courtyard and its surrounding gardens into a sprawling, open-air gala.
Silken pavilions in the colors of a dozen great houses dotted the green lawns like a field of strange, blooming flowers.
