{"id":111,"date":"2020-03-15T08:23:37","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T08:23:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/?p=111"},"modified":"2020-03-15T08:23:37","modified_gmt":"2020-03-15T08:23:37","slug":"w-e-princess-xayon-of-ombion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/w-e-princess-xayon-of-ombion\/","title":{"rendered":"W.E. – Princess Xayon of Ombion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A peaceful tribe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Tolfies were residents of a village in a desolate part of the Planet \nElfia. They lived on a small foot, minding their business for most of the time, \nand were as such not much heard of outside of their immediate sphere. Those who \nknew them were few in numbers, mostly traders who had passed through their town \non one of the long hauls from the provincial power center of Zymbiad in the \nnorth to Coltapole, the southern capital, which had direct links to other parts \nof the galaxy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These little folks were rich in more ways than one, although they seldom \nbothered to think about that let alone talk about it. Only two miles west of the \ntown lay the hardened granite reservoirs, which were oftentimes referred to \nsimply as \u201cThe Caves,\u201d even though this was a truth with modification. The known \npassages into this massive stone and granite complex were few, and there were \nalways those in government and commerce that toyed with the idea of blowing new \nones. Monster Mountain was the official name, and since the rumor had it that a \nreal monster resided in there, no one had dared blow their way further inside of \nthe interior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tolfies have always been goodhearted, trusting, and good-natured in every \nrespect; showing complete trust in strangers, and even demonstrating a \nsurprising willingness to forgive those who had crossed them. Anyone who wanted \nto learn about how to gain access to The Caves merely had to lodge with them for \na few nights, ask for a guided tour, and soon enough a team of 5-6 willing \nTolfies would volunteer to accompany the treasure hunters to the \ncomplex.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another source of wealth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Their second source of wealth was a large lake situated about 8 miles due \neast, and still within their jurisdiction. So still and silver shiny was this \nlake that it might as well have been filled with oil or some other such thick \nsubstance than water. Princess Xayon, at the age of 12, had gone swimming down \nthere many years ago, her long black hair down her back as she walked from the \nshore towards the center, suddenly to disappear. The Tolfies, which cannot swim, \nhad been panic-stricken, tears streaming down their compact faces as they \nhoarsely gasped their prayers for her reemergence, her survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Princess was no Tolfie, of course, she wasn\u2019t even of this planet. \nAccompanied by her entourage of some 70 servants and representatives, she had \nbeen visiting the planet from Ombion, which was the 3rd closest neighbor in this \ngalaxy. The stop in the village had been a spontaneous decision on her part, the \nlake had so hexed her that she insisted that they stop and that she, accompanied \nonly by the Tolfies and no one from her entourage, go for a swim in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be your Princess forever, your lake will always be in my blood! It\u2019s \nfor intergalactic friendship, comradeship will take precedence over war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut Princess,\u201d the alderman had cautioned in a whisper. \u201cIt\u2019s completely \nunprecedented, no man or woman ever swam in that lake before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m neither woman nor man, I\u2019m the Keeper of Ombion,\u201d Princess Xayon had \ngiggled, as she undressed and started running towards the lake, soon to be \nfollowed by 50 Tolfies, which aren\u2019t particularly good runners. Sport was never \nin their blood, as they have always preferred to ponder upon things \u2013 as opposed \nto actually doing anything.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In memory of which…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Today, and this is some 125 years later, there are two annual delegations \ncoming in from Ombion each year. They reside in hostels within the village for \ntwo days while paying homage to their beloved Xayon, the loss of whom they are \nyet to recover from. All day, they spend by the lakeside, praying and singing \nsongs in her honor, so that she not be lonely down their in the abyss. At night, \nthe Tolfies light up a huge bonfire, and then everyone who can walk, drive or \ncrawl will gather for a large meal, shedding a few tears while thinking about \nwhat they have lost and won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour Princess sacrificed herself for peace in our time,\u201d a Tolfie once \nremarked. \u201cWe are low, bearded people, someone whom you \u2013 in all of your \nwell-deserved smoothness \u2013 would normally view with the utmost apprehension. \nXayon showed the way, she undressed right in front of us and ran down to swim in \nour lake. So now you are here, if she hadn\u2019t died that day, none of you would \nhave been here, and \u2013 who knows, our planets might have been at war?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHear!\u201d the people from Ombion would then shout, as soon as the translation \nwent through. \u201cShe died for our sake, we know that, it is just that we miss her \nso very much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs do we,\u201d said the Alderman\u2019s wife, who was the prettiest of the lot. She \nshowed no sign of aging, which was a bit peculiar given that Tolfies in general \ntend to age pretty quickly and then stabilize in middle age, until they suddenly \ncrumble to their death at the age of 80 or so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhich is why I go down there every morning, about 6 a.m.,\u201d she \ncontinued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou do?\u201d the alderman said with a grin. \u201cI didn\u2019t even know that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u201dThat\u2019s when you are snoring away in your tent,\u201d she said. \u201cYou are supposed \nto be in command around here, but your own wife is too bright and too quick for \nyou, no?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she said this, one of the men from Ombion \u2013 a trade representative \u2013 stood \nup, went over to her, and put his right hand on her head. \u201cYour hair,\u201d he said \nsoftly, \u201cit\u2019s different.\u201d He bent forward to touch her face, and then he \nfrowned. \u201cYour face, it\u2019s too smooth for a Tolfie, with all due respect. What is \nyour secret?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the lake,\u201d the Alderman replied. \u201cShe goes swimming in it every morning \ncrack of dawn. She has Xayon\u2019s youth.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A peaceful tribe The Tolfies were residents of a village in a desolate part of the Planet Elfia. They lived on a small foot, minding their business for most of the time, and were as such not much heard of outside of their immediate sphere. Those who knew them were few in numbers, mostly traders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-container-style":"default","site-container-layout":"default","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-transparent-header":"default","disable-article-header":"default","disable-site-header":"default","disable-site-footer":"default","disable-content-area-spacing":"default","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quarterly-magazine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novelty-fiction.com\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}