I stood in the throne room, trying to direct the monkeys around me and bring some semblance of order to the average chaos.
“No, not over there, over there by the other door.” I pointed out the spot I wanted the small potted tree, right on the other side of the door, even with the other one already in place.
I recruited some monkeys to make some floral decorations and potted some small flowering trees that I recruited General Ma to move.
He was the biggest monkey on the island, even bigger than General Beng, and thick as a tree.
He was the strongest of the generals, at least physically, and he had a sharp mind too.
He heaved up the tree and set it beside the door.
Perfect.
There were strings of flowers, flower crowns, flower rings, and floral centerpieces.
I didn’t have a lot of options for decorations on this island.
Wukong volunteered to steal some party supplies, but I told him he had no eye for décor and to handle collecting the food.
There were now two stone thrones up on the small dais, the banquet tables arranged in front of them, between the thrones and the door.
They dripped with flowers, all strung together, and flowers trailed along the center of each table, allowing their natural beauty to shine.
Then the flowers were strung into the arches of every door.
Primitive?
Maybe.
But the overall effect was striking, and a pleasant scent wafted through the air.
A few braziers lit the room for ambience, but the majority of light came from those light stones in the ceiling.
I took a step back to get the full effect.
Not bad.
Not bad at all.
“That’s perfect Ma.
Thank you.
Tell Wukong I’m ready for him to bring the food in.
He promised to get something good while hunting.” Ma grunted.
He wasn’t the most vocal of monkeys.
He trotted out the door.
I fussed with the centerpieces, nervous.
I wanted everything to be perfect.
It was the first time I’ve ever planned a party.
I wanted everyone to have fun.
I had room for games, some musical instruments Wukong stole for me, a place to dance.
And wine.
It wouldn’t be a party without wine.
There was a large crash outside.
I ran over to the door, terrified one of my potted trees had fallen over.
No, but a bit of the ceiling did.
Wukong was cursing as he tried to drag a giant boar that could barely fit down the hallway.
I smacked my face.
Was he really going to try and drag that whole thing into the banquet hall?
Sometimes he had more strength than sense.
“Wukong!” I waved to get his attention.
He noticed and hopped down off the boar.
“Well?
Pretty impressive right?
This should be enough to feed everyone for the night.” I gave him a smile.
“Yes, you did a very good job.
But, um, I don’t think it will fit very well through the doors.
Right?” “Ah.” He looked at the much smaller doors.
“I suppose not.
Oh!
I’ll just make them bigger!” He pulled his staff out of his ear.
I jumped in front of him, hands held wide.
“No!
No, instead, what if we dismantled the boar here, and bring the meat we’ll eat through to the kitchen.
That way we don’t have to break more of the palace.” “Oh!
Good idea!
Monkeys!” Wukong began organizing the monkeys to skin and butcher the boar.
I’d have to organize them later to clean up all the blood and guts that were going to be all over the floor.
Later.
I went back into the banquet hall, and through a side door into the kitchens.
Some simple fruit dishes lined the counters, and the monkeys occasionally popped one into their mouths as they created more.
I found the monkey in charge, General Liu.
He was the smallest of the generals, only about two feet tall, but he was the most personable.
All the monkeys on the island loved him, and he was a good leader, he handled most of the conflict resolution between all the monkeys.
He had a way of making you feel seen, and welcome.
I held my hand up to greet him.
“Liu, Wukong caught a big boar.
The meat will be coming in soon.” He nodded, and roared to the other monkeys with a deep booming voice that didn’t sound like it belonged to such a small monkey.
“You heard her, start the fires in the ovens!
Get the honey glaze warmed up!
We’ll be roasting soon!” All the monkey’s cheered and started the preparations.
No problems here, thank goodness I put Liu in charge of this.
I knew it would be the most complicated part, organizing all these monkeys into following recipes and getting everything ready on time.
Liu was quite good at organizing complicated tasks like this.
Just one last thing to check.
I went back to the banquet hall, where Beng was trying to corral the musicians, who were off to the left of thrones whiles games were on the right and dancing was right in front.
He raised up his hands and bellowed out to his five monkeys.
“Now remember.
You all play together!
It’s not a competition!” The monkeys all nodded and began playing.
Two flutes, two lutes, and a pair of drums.
It was rough.
Really rough.
But I could somewhat pick out a melody among the madness.
I could hardly expect them to be experts when they only started practicing a week and a half ago.
I put Beng in charge of this because he was both a good student and teacher.
He picked things up quickly, and always found the best way to share his knowledge.
“Beng!
The meat will be ready soon!
That means the guests can start coming in!” He nodded and called to the monkey playing the drums.
“You!
Go tell everyone outside they can start coming in!” They ran off towards the entrance of the cave and I followed them.
Ah, it looked like Wukong had gotten the guts and the carcass out.
I grabbed the attention of a few monkeys by waving at them.
“Go grab a few jars and fill them with water.
Then spill the water on the floor to wash away the blood.” They nodded and ran off.
Finally, everything was ready.
I headed into the banquet hall, and sat down in my throne, giving everything one last check.
Ah, there was Ba.
He was tall, and lanky for a monkey.
He volunteered for guard duty tonight, so the rest of us could let loose and party while he watched for danger.
He was quiet, not quite as quiet as Ma, but he was a smooth talker when he wanted to be.
He had a way of blending into the background, and his eyes never missed a thing, I waved to him, and he waved back before ducking out, to patrol the corridors of the palace.
Now the first few monkeys were coming in and ooohhing at the decorations.
Meat and the fruit dishes began coming out of the kitchen too.
And the musicians started again.
It was rough.
Very rough.
The decorations, the food, the music, and the monkeys excitedly chattering as they looked around like this was the greatest party they’ve ever seen.
But it was better.
Much like my first year here.
Wukong came out of the kitchen and saw me sitting in my throne, next to his.
He grinned and bounded up, parking his butt in his larger throne.
“Hello princess.
Are we ready to get this party started?” “Almost.
Let’s get a few more guests in and I’ll make a toast.” The tables were almost filled.
He glanced at the tables, then all around the room.
“I can see why you wanted to plan.
Everything looks great.
But you realize these decorations are going to get absolutely wrecked when the monkeys start drinking right?” I shrugged.
“Yeah.
They’re just flowers.
The important thing is to try and cover up the smell of wine, because it’s also going to get everywhere tonight.” He laughed, and I smiled and looked back over the crowd.
It was about time, before the monkeys got too distracted by food, music, and the games.
I grasped the cup on the arm of my throne and lifted it up.
“Everyone!
I’d like to make a toast!” The monkeys paused in their merrymaking to listen to me.
The band abruptly stopped and the monkeys in the kitchen poked their heads out.
“This celebration marks the end of my first year here with you all.
It may have had a rough start, and I mean a really rough start, but now as I look back, I smile.
Spending time with everyone here has helped me rebuild my life, and I finally feel like I’m moving forward again.
So, raise your cups!
To a better year than the one before!
And let’s PARTY!” I threw my wine back and drank it all down in one gulp.
The monkeys went wild and most of them did the same.
Then the monkeys did what they do best.
They descended into absolute madness.
Dishes were devoured, flowers were strewn about, and more wine was spilled than drank.
I sat back down, happily watching it all as I poured another cup from my jug beside the throne.
Wukong had to prove himself, so instead of a cup, he tilted back an entire jug of wine in response to my toast.
It was vertical by the time is lips popped off the neck, and not a drop fell from it as he licked his lips.
“Ah!
That was good.
Did I miss anything?” I gestured at the chaos.
“Just the usual.” He set the jug down, grinning at the wildness.
“Heh, I think I’m going to join in.
It looks like they’re playing a drinking game over in the corner.
What about you?” “I’m going to sit here another second.
Save me a spot though.” “Always!” He ran off to join in and I enjoyed the sight of partying monkeys for another minute or two.
If the me who first arrived in this world saw me now, she might not believe it.
But this world, and these people had a way of growing on you.
I pushed up out of the chair.
Time for that drinking game.