Never before today had I come face to face with more than one rat to compare how they looked.
Now however, seated among hundreds of them, I could not outright point out the difference. Maya was different of course and I liked to think I could point her out among the rest since we had a lot of interaction since my arrival.
If I was being honest though, I had not had the need to since she always mentioned herself.
Also I noticed that the hall was alive with colors.
Whether it was by fault or design, when I was introduced earlier, most of… actually all of them had been wearing no sort of clothes at all.
Now however, the main floor looked like ample colored flags.
Blue robes sat just near the main entrance then halfway the purple robes took over up to the door I had entered through.
Right after blue, white flowed, also occupying an equal portion of the floor until red took over just in front of our table and stretched to the edge.
It was not hard to figure out the meaning of the colorful arrangement.
I mean apart from the minor colors, the four main ones were what was worn by one of the four heads of department seated with me. The only difference was that theirs had an infinity emblem on their right breasts.
Neja wore the blue for the diplomats. Sire Ramon wore the purple for the acquisition team. Madam Arizona wore the white for the catering department.
Red was reserved for Octava and his security lot.
Octava was an interesting one, physically I mean. He was one of the clear exceptions when it came to identification.
Anyone could easily spot him thanks to the deep scar running from his brow down to the left cheek.
That and his piercing gaze gave him an air of a dangerous man, or rat to be exact.
I did not know what exactly his department did or how they did it, but I knew better than to assume they were useless.
I had seen firsthand Maya trapping me and sending papers flying my way just with a flick of her paws. Octava looked like he was someone who could do much more than just flicking paper or slamming doors.
Besides, all of this lot had been caretakers once which meant they might have attained abilities which stayed on even after their tenure was terminated.
There was something else I had caught when Maya had introduced him. She had said it almost like she was afraid, or she had been about to say something but changed her mind for some reason.
I had not followed the matter up, but I had not sidelined it either. I had just filed it among the list of things I had to dig through.
It dawned on me pretty quickly that even among my predecessors, there seemed to be matters being hidden from me.
"Sire, with your leave we shall now begin the party right away," Maya announced, catching me off guard.
I had not been aware they were waiting for me to give the order. Starving as I was, I had assumed some preparations were still unfinished and asking would put them in an awkward position.
"Oh please do. I have been starving since arriving."
They all laughed with the exception of Octava. He merely forced a grin that never reached his eyes before going on to scan the crowd around us like he expected someone to suddenly send a table knife our way.
It could just be paranoia associated with his line of work, I told myself.
"In that case I will take my leave, sir, we have to fix that," Madam Arizona said warmly as she jumped out of her seat and landed with barely an audible tap.
"Gentlemen… Maya," she said before clapping her palms together.
The entire white section of the hall peeled off after her as they disappeared through one of the doors.
I felt a strange satisfaction watching the orderly manner they filed out. It almost looked like the white piece of a cake had been cut and set aside.
Order was something you grew to appreciate as an accountant and having numbers fly all around you, chaos could easily send you mad.
Soon enough plates and cutlery were being laid on the table with impressive speed and neatness. The catering team filed past each other in haste and even had to squeeze past each other in tight spaces yet not once did I hear a fallen spoon or a broken plate.
If this was the team that would be taking care of the guests, then at least I knew I had one problem off my mind.
When the food eventually arrived, my stomach had growled itself silly just from the aroma wafting through that door.
Never before had I seen so much food on one table. Rice with killer aromas, pudding, roasted meat, minced meat pie.
I had to remind myself of my manners as I watched Octava and Ramon lay pieces of roasted meat on their small plates.
I allowed myself to finish a plate full of the best tasting pudding I had tasted in my life.
Halfway through my second serving of meat pie I saw Madam Arizona perched on a tall stool next to the kitchen door, observing the raging war between us and her handiwork.
I gave her a quick thumbs up and saw the smile of satisfaction from an artist witnessing the art she had poured her heart into being rewarded with the same love.
In a matter of minutes, tables were empty again while drinks and dessert took their place simultaneously.
I saw Maya jump on her stool and give a signal.
A smooth jazz like symphony breathed across the room and that is when I saw them first.
A group comprising of all colors were lined across the edges of the hall with violins and two pianos on either end.
I had never been big on dinner events mainly because I could not afford to pay for them or to get free invites.
But I would comfortably say the harmony that was permeating from those instruments had no comparison in the world.
I mean when you are trapped for eternity, whatever you do, however bad you were at first, you could only get better. And this group had all the time in the world trapped inside a magical hotel.