#5, Government

The hall was built to be aesthetically pleasing and comfortable. It is a beautiful building where most of my race spend a great deal of time. It is the grandest of all the buildings in the Encante.

The front of the hall has a commons area. All are welcome here. It is comfortably situated with chess boards, libraries, couches, tables, and the like. Many Encantado spend their afternoons playing chess, discussing human folly, and speculating about a great number of subjects. It is a place for learning, sharing, and gathering for social interaction. The Encantado are welcome here in any form, and at any time of day or night. You often see both Boto, our dolphin forms, and human Encantado in heated discussions. No one thinks twice about debating a Boto while in human form, or a human while in Boto form. For most of us, the forms are interchangeable, and merely a matter of preference, or convenience. Only the most aged of the Elders stay in one form all of the time. I like to think that is because they are too old to bother with transforming. For me, human form is preferred. I do not like being an animal, and only use Boto form to get to the surface world more rapidly. I am often discomfited when a Boto Encantado approaches me, and prefer to interact only with those in human form.

Beyond the common area of the hall is a maze of hallways, each leading to separate sectors of the government. The sectors are vast, almost endless, as there has been years to make up more things to govern, and more issues to discuss. Of course, most of which are entirely irrelevant considering the harmony in which most of the Encantado live. I am the only notable exception in the past 7 decades. Still, a new sector seems to form every few months in order to deal with something or another. There is an entire government sector dedicated solely to choosing and overseeing the maintenance of the grout on the marble road. Worthless. This is not to say that some of the sectors are not useful. One particular faction was put together to study the use of the various gifts and magical abilities we Encantado possess from birth: such as the ability to manipulate thoughts in others not of our race, or our innate musical abilities.

The purpose of the “Gifts” sector is to find ways to more fully develop or hone these gifts, and it is said that they have found ways to tap into greater powers within our beings. Now that is something I would love to be privy to. Alas, only the Counsel of Elders is given that privilege, and Angela won’t tell me anything. This particular sector was extremely busy after the accident that reduced our race by three, trying to figure out what had gone wrong during the enchantment of the carpenter. I do not know if they ever figured it out. I do my best NOT to stay up to date on political issues.

The back of the hall houses the “Great Hall.” It is the place where the Counsel gathers monthly, where discipline is meted out when necessary, and where the three laws of the Encante are discussed, dissected in an attempt to identify loopholes, and fortified as best they can be. Very few of the citizens of the Encante have had the privilege of entering the Great Hall, and thus much of its allure is the enigma of it. The things that are known have been gathered over the years from the slips of tongue of the Elders, or from the tales of those who have done something vile, despicable, or ruthless enough to be called into the chamber for judgment.

The hall is beautiful, and full of secrets, which would normally tempt me to at least try and pry something out of the Elders, but with Angela gone, my chances of doing so were diminished. I turn my head back to the exit, knowing the only entertainment and amusement I want won’t be found in the city. The surface world is likely the only place I can go for the excitement and adventure I so crave. And so, I transform into a Boto, and head toward the surface.