04: Relfak (II)

Ambassador Rius Galderstyne of Norlanta knew exactly where he was despite the journey at five hundred kilometers and hour through the blur of green that he recognized as his home continent: Babuja.
Within this Babuja, there were three distinct territories: Babuja Norla, Babuja Ulmus, and Babuja Galga. The diverse weather patterns and climates covering Babuja allowed for these noticeable differences. Babuja Norla, occupying the Northern shore of Babuja, was completely covered in tropical vegetation, as well as beaches and springs. Babuja Ulmus was the largest of the three, and occupied the whole Western half of Babuja. That territory was devoured by tall, majestic rainforests, rocky streams and monstrous waterfalls. Then there was Babuja Galga, Eastern Babuja, and that was where Rius found himself presently. In that place, there was grass, creepers and knotted, twisted trees of many descriptions that wept their leaves onto the grass and calmly splashing into glass-still lakes. But the defining monument that reminded him where he was, and why he had bothered to go there, was the giant masterpiece of architecture that resided next to a small lake, and was enshrouded by Bulbus trees, the most often seen in Babuja Galga.
The babuk king’s castle was unlike any other structure in all of Myria. The frightening, yet tranquil building was comprised of five massive glass domes, which sprouted from the grassy soil, and five spheres that sat on and above the ground, supported by the twisting glass tubes that connected each segment. Closer to the front left of the castle was a tower made of stone, like the ancient babuk castles. That was the place for other species to stay, when they visited.
His entourage now firmly surrounding him, Rius Galderstyne approached the front door, or rather, the circular gap in the foremost dome.
In stepping within the castle, one would expect to be melted with the intense heat caused by the greenhouse effect, but by some babuk mastery, the air within the castle was moist, still and chilled. Feeling his hairs stand on end due to the cold under his ambassador’s attire, Rius paced through the first dome, sparing only a small glance upward at the mass of trees, vines and other greenery that occupied the space within the glass citadel. The thing appeared to be, in essence, an enormous greenhouse, but for the chill in the air brought about for the prized plants of the babuks that required such conditions. Leaping and climbing all over these trees’ myriad of interconnected branches, hundreds of babuks could be seen. They paid little attention to their guest.
Rius smiled, peering ahead, he was glad that the foreign audience room was still on the ground!
A babuk, one of the few that noticed him, landed softly on the wet grass beside one of the ambassador’s personnel guards. Evidently, his respect for Rius and the ambassador’s clan was either non existent, or expressed in a form other than what was constituted by human minds.
‘Ambassador,’ The babuk said, ‘the king is waiting for you in the foreign audience room.’
I knew it. Rius noted to himself. The foreign audience room! And then: And what impeccable English this babuk can speak!
Rius gazed appreciatively at the babuk who had intruded on his personal space. These babuks were a bizarre race, really. Green, long limbed, with gentle round faces much like frogs. Their eyes were small, yellow, and their hands were like that of a gecko. It was hard to tell whether babuks were meant to be reptiles, amphibians or mammals. In truth, they suited no such description.
With a short word to his entourage, Rius moved onward through a ground-level tube into the foreign audience room. The circle-shaped floor caused by the shape of the room itself, a dome, stepped down in successive circles to a small circle in the very middle, at the very bottom. On one half of this room sat seventeen babuks, spread out casually around a small, wooden throne, which sat on the third highest of the seven steps. In that throne sat a rather small babuk, of much more human figure than the others. His air of casual royalty would have given his title away to even a human who had not seen him before.
‘Babuk king Relfak,’ Rius greeted, as he sat himself opposite the king on one of the steps. His guards and advisors sat around him, filling the other half of the relatively small room. Rius Galderstyne was a fan of formalities, but he always found himself amused by the lack of order in a babuk audience. Indeed, a formal meeting (for a babuk) was like a casual conversation.
‘Ambassador Galderstyne!’ Relfak greeted in response from across the room, needing barely to raise his voice. From Relfak’s perspective, meeting with a human was also always a very amusing experience. They sat so straight, like they were being tested! Even Rius, Relfak thought, even Rius is never fully relaxed when we meet, and I’ve known him for so long!
The ambassador was a human man, and was just as small in relation to his species as Relfak was to his own. He had sharp features, and came with the impression of being arrogant, even more so than the average human did.