Chapter 182
"LAST BUT NOT LEAST, FROM NEMEPHAN, QUEEN SAHAZ LAZOERI NEMEPHAN XIV, ARRIVES TO PAARJO, CAPITAL OF LUMIN KINGDOM, ACCOMPANIED BY STATE REGULATORS URGUN KAPER, MAART VATNI, AMEL IRTUD, AND ERMA IRACON."
Where is the announcer, anyway? I wondered, looking around the gardens for a second.
Lapia nudged my shoulder. "Focus," she chastised me. "They arrived," she muttered in distaste.
I raised my eyebrows in surprise at her tone and looked at the approaching group.
A group of twenty or so winged individuals were descending on the landing spot. Their wings replaced the arms, and feathers covered their bodies where clothes did not. Their feet where those of a bird, with four digits and talons. Their upper bodies looked like a person’s, but slim and elegant. Their faces had lips, a nose, and feathered ears.
In short, Harpies.
I leaned close to Alyssa. "How come they kept the wings?" I inquired.
"Evolutionary advantage," she quietly replied. "Wings are quite useful. And it’s a bit insensitive to ask that kind of question."
I nodded and looked at the Harpies. "Got it."
The bird people walked through the paved path and met with the other rulers at the plaza-like space, then greeted each other.
I noticed they folded their wings and had what looked like hands around the mid-section of their upper limbs.