The Tale of Lady Kessandra - Part 2

 

“I can’t say I was immediately taken with the Emperor.  After all, I’d wanted to be free to travel the galaxy, but he’d found a cage for me just as surely as he’d done for Sir Peep.  Let me tell you, Lady Zarathenia, I cried so hard and for so long the first night that I exhausted myself and slept clear until noon the next day.  My lady’s maids were so cross with how puffy and red I’d become that they compared me to a rosy poofla fish.  

Thankfully for me, I was not yet at the age of majority.  Several months remained until my birthday, and thus, there was some time before I could be legally wed to His Majesty.  That also meant that His Majesty would have to wait for his official coronation.  Even though everyone called him the Emperor, in truth he was still Crown Prince Khatar.  I figured I had a chance…  I could be so annoying in the interim that he’d change his mind about marrying me.  And yet, I couldn’t be so obnoxious and naughty that I ended up getting killed or getting my family in trouble.  So, I had to walk a fine line.  

Three days after the Choosing, I received a message that His Majesty wished for me to accompany him on a tour of his domain.  Of course, I would have an Imperial Chaperone, for it would be improper for a maiden not yet of majority to be alone with a man, even if that man was to become her husband.  The chaperone assigned to me was a eunuch by the name of Lazlo.  You may not know this, my dear, but back in those days, the harem was not run by Adjudicants, but by eunuchs.  I think it has been an improvement in some ways, but…  I do miss Lazlo, even if he used to strike my backside with a bug swatter when I was naughty.  Those dresses had so much padding, you couldn’t even feel it.  Anyway, I digress…

I did not meet Prince Khatar again until I was ushered onto the royal cruiser.  They took me to an enormous sitting parlor completely done over with Pithrina crystal.  Not just a crystal chandelier, but also elaborate crystal designs lining the chairs and tables, crystal mosaics on the walls, and crushed crystal inset into the floor.  The whole place sparkled and danced with prismatic light.  A huge viewscreen on one wall displayed the starry night outside of the ship as we journeyed.  

Prince Khatar didn’t come immediately.  I spent hours half-asleep as Lazlo scrolled the core-net on this intellipad, occasionally showing me pictures of cute animals.  When the doors finally opened, and the Prince entered, I found myself suddenly flooded with nerves.  It was one thing to be bold at the Choosing, but now…  Now we were alone.  I may have glanced up at him even before he bade Lazlo and I rise from our bowing.  He looked so different up close like someone might have shoved one of my lazy brothers into some fancy clothing.  

“My mother was pissed when I chose you, you know?  She had her eye on someone with far more political advantage.”  He grabbed a piece of bonsuru fruit from a basket an attendant was just then placing on the table and plopped down on a sofa, motioning me over to sit next to him.  I did so, but hesitantly, keeping an appropriate amount of space between us.

“Your mother is wise, Your Majesty.  My family will be of little advantage to your reign.”

“Really?”  He leaned towards me slightly.  “Aren’t you supposed to talk up your family and tell me how wonderful they are?  You’re very bad at the game of royal intrigues.”

“Are you encouraging me to lie to you, Your Majesty?” I asked, all the while eying the bonsuru in his hand.  At that moment, it occurred to me that I hadn’t eaten since before sunrise, which at this point must have been many hours prior.  “I do believe you’re encouraging treason.” 

I suppose he noticed my lustful gaze upon the fruit, because he held it just a bit closer, letting me see the soft red skin covered in downy fuzz.  “Maybe I’m testing you.”

“You’ll be sorely disappointed.  I’m not bright, and do poorly at tests.”

“I find that difficult to believe.  Anyway, I had my sister Narisa look over all of your work from the Maidane.  She said that you’re terribly bright but completely unmotivated.  Narisa told me tales of exams half-completed, needlework left undone, and poems that were a clever mockery of the headmistress disguised as boring and trite lyrics about flowers.  She also told me your room was littered with books and that you snuck out of the Maidane regularly to access forbidden core-net texts.”

“Princess Narisa sounds a smidgen nosey, if I may say so, Your Majesty,” I said, trying not to sound too critical of the princess.

“Well, I asked her to do it, so if you must blame someone, blame me.”  He held up the fruit.  “You keep staring at my bonsuru.  Do you covet what is mine?”  

As you can imagine, I blushed as deeply as the color of the fruit itself, having not realized how obvious I was being with my hungry staring.  “My apologies.  I haven’t eaten since…”

“You can have a bite, if you wish.”  

The bonsuru moved closer to my mouth, and I almost lifted my hands to take it.  A faint clearing of the throat from Lazlo reminded me that I should be careful to not touch the Crown Prince, nor should I take things from him without them being offered.  As he only offered me a bite, I was only entitled to the bite.  That left me with the realization that my single option was to take a bite whilst he held it.  I do not know if you’ve ever had bonsuru fruit, but if you have, then you know eating one can be a rather messy affair.  I hesitated, but not for long.  I didn’t want to keep him waiting.  The moment my teeth pierced the soft flesh, the sweet juices began coating my lips and running down my chin.  I’d had many a bonsuru in my life, but none so ripe and delicious as one grown and prepared for the royal family.  It’s like a burst of perfection sliding against your tongue.  You barely have to chew it, it just melts in your mouth, almost fizzy.  Without thinking, I took another bite, and another, all while he watched and held the fruit still.  

“You’re a ravenous one, Lady Kessandra,” the Crown Prince said, removing his bonsuru while I tried desperately to hide my juice-covered face behind a sleeve.  “I told you to take a bite, but you ate half the bonsuru.  You will be my greediest wife yet.”

“I’m…  I’m so sorry, your Majesty.”  Thankfully, Lazlo came to my rescue, bringing a handkerchief I could use to wipe my face.  He gave me a disapproving look in the process, however.  “Though, if you find my behavior too disagreeable, your Majesty always has the option of choosing another girl.”

“I am beset on all sides by agreeable women.  I’d rather be surrounded by wolves.  At least I always know what wolves want.  Women, on the other hand, are as mysterious as the black moons of Kintra Six.”  

“Women’s motivations are not so unknowable,” I replied.

“No?”  I watched as the Crown Prince chomped into the bonsuru exactly where I had already bit into it.  Something about watching him savagely rip a piece of the fruit’s skin away with his teeth shot a shiver up my spine.  “Not all women, I suppose.  You, for instance, appear to be motivated by the desire to not marry the most powerful man in the central systems.  Tell me, Lady Kessandra, am I lacking in some respect?  Do you find me ugly?  Or perhaps witless?  Am I cruel?  A bore?  Spineless?  A liar?  What have you deemed to be my greatest fault?”

“No, I don’t…”  I realized then that I’d not really given him a chance.  As much as I didn’t want to be trapped in the Forbidden City, at the same time, I’d not at all considered the Crown Prince’s feelings in all of this.  I took a slow, calming breath, and exhaled it over the course of many seconds.  “I’m sure you’re a lovely person.  I find no fault with you.  After all, I barely know you, sire.  I’m sure you have many great qualities, and some irritating ones as well.  That’s human.  Even an Emperor can not escape being human.  I just…  I’ve always envisioned my life to be a very free one.  I wish to live as the nomadic sages of the Lassiter Belt.  I want to see the galaxy, learn a hundred languages, read the books of a thousand libraries, and meet ten thousand people.  The universe feels too vast to be boxed up in one small city for the entirety of one’s life.  Doesn’t it?”  

How I managed to say all of that while watching the shine of bonsuru juice glisten on his chin, I do not know.  Something about the sticky wetness of it forced my gaze elsewhere, and without looking, I offered the handkerchief to him.  When I felt the fabric tugged from my fingertips, I glanced up and found the Crown Prince looking much more serious than before.

“That’s an understandable desire, Lady Kessandra.”  A tone of sadness entered his voice.  “Before my father and elder brother were murdered, I hoped for a similar life to the one you envision.  To galavant across the central systems, my life a constant party of excess and pleasure…  To dodge all responsibility that fate had foisted upon my brother, and finally be free of the palace and the multitudes of scheming women, clever eunuchs, and ambitious ministers…  Someone took that from me.  I do not know who, but I know they are likely still in the palace.  How could I ever feel safe there, knowing the fates that befell my father and brother?  No.  I understand your desire perfectly, Lady Kessandra.  Anyone who would want to live in the Forbidden City is not someone who can be trusted.”  He leaned forward, his head hung in a way that I couldn’t see his face.  I didn’t need to, though.  

I understood then how hard it must have been for him.  The Forbidden City is the apex of opulence and glamor, but few souls within it can be trusted.  To imagine yourself able to be free of it, only to have been called back after the deaths of the former Emperor and Crown Prince, well…  

“When you spoke of your bird, Sir Peep, wanting to be free,” he said, “I thought…  Here is someone who understands me.  Here is someone that maybe, in time, I could trust.“

A strange part of me wanted to assert that he could trust me.  I felt betrayed by my own conflicting desires.  On one hand, I had no wish to be married to this man.  But, on the other hand, the depth of his sorrow and his incredibly reasonable yearning to have someone who wasn’t a palace insider nearby made me wonder if I could be that for him.  You have to understand, Lady Zara, how naive I was then, and how easily swayed are the emotions of the youthful and righteous.

I could not think of anything to say.  But, I knew he needed someone then.  For a moment, he was not the Crown Prince, but just a teenager who had lost his father and brother to violence and intrigue, and that same violence and intrigue would now constantly threaten him.  So, I cast aside propriety and, ignoring the glare of Lazlo, I reached over and took one of the Crown Prince’s hands in mine.  

I don’t remember what he said when I did.  But I do still remember how his hand was sticky.

 

~*~*~

 

We went first to Akidar, the home of Sir Peep.  There, the Crown Prince granted my wish, to set the bird free.  We stayed in a quaint inn at the top of the forest canopy.  When I looked out from the balcony, I could see an ocean of treetops and a thousand colorful birds diving in and out of the leaves.  The Akidarian people gave us each a kli-kli suit, with the anti-gravity technology they use to safely climb the massive trees and to glide as they jump from limb to limb.  We spent an entire day being creatures of the forest, lounging in branches without a worry about falling.

After that, we visited the Foam Sea of Toriska.  The foam is incredible - the little bubbles burst against your skin, making you feel as if you’ve been dipped in champagne.  There are these tiny fish, called zasha, that live all the way at the bottom of the sea, where the foam finally becomes liquid again, and if you eat them, you can see new colors in the visible spectrum for a time.  We met with the tribal leaders of Toriska, who impressed upon the Crown Prince that tourism had started to cause pollution to the Foam Sea.  He promised to help them protect their land from outsiders by giving them the ability to limit the number of visitors at any given time.

I remember being amazed as we sat in a gondola high above the frozen lava flows of Kapidari, astonished at how rock could be gooey and plasmic and yet so terribly cold.  We watched a double sunset from the fourth moon of Nohr, and celebrated a system-wide festival as springtime returned to the planet Neeris after three hundred and forty years.  On Antoris Akje, when the savage AIs that roam the plains demanded me as a payment for our trespass, the Crown Prince fought and won a glorious duel to secure my liberty.  We found the mysterious Lost Moon of Jas, which meanders through the galaxy, somehow free from gravitational entanglements, and let drops of our blood fall upon the ground so that some piece of us would always be wandering the universe together.

In just six months, we saw so many wonderful and unusual things, experienced so much, and had so many adventures.  Would you blame me, Lady Zara, innocent and naive as I was, for falling so completely in love that I gave up my life-long plans and instead came to want only His Majesty?  It was foolish love, young love, a kind of love so wholesome and pure that you convince yourself that only the two of you have ever felt it.  

I came to understand that he had no particular desire for his other seven wives.  All of the marriages were political and arranged by his mother.  His Majesty’s relationship with the Empress Dowager wasn’t strong.  She had always favored his elder brother, the previous Crown Prince, though His Majesty didn’t fault her for it.  His older brother had needed more training, more support, and generally more attention, as he was the one destined for the throne.  It did mean, however, that His Majesty felt fairly certain that the Empress Dowager was not involved in the deaths of his father or brother.  For this reason, he largely trusted her, even if their relationship tended to be a bit icy.  I say all of this for you to understand, he hadn’t chosen those other women.  They were an obligation.  He found their giggling and posturing insipid.  But, I was not an obligation.  I was his choice.

The week before our trip was to end, His Majesty and I snuck out one night without Lazlo, and without the royal guards, so we might be alone.  We had landed on planet Vunora to witness the blooming of the sacred Solar Flowers, a once-in-a-lifetime event that only occurs when the planet is at the apex of its irregular orbit, closer to the sun than it has been in ninety years.  When they bloom, the Solar Flowers appear to have tiny fires within them.  It’s an optical illusion, but it’s glorious to see hundreds of thousands of minuscule lights swaying in the breeze.  

At night they continued to glow, chemicals within them activated by the sun.  His Majesty and I made ourselves a picnic and spent hours together, laying on a blanket, looking up at the sky or watching the flowers dance, snacking and laughing, and talking about our dreams for the future.  He was so normal back then, a bit spoiled by his position, rather awkward with girls, but righteous and kind and desperate to impress.  If I could pick one moment of my life to relive forever, it would be that night.

Eventually, he rolled onto his stomach and held out a box to me.  I was sitting, for at the moment I was eating a donut.  I had to put the donut aside and wipe my fingers on the grass in order to not get sugar on the fine box.  Inside was an elegant gold hairpin with more than a dozen jeweled orbs, each no bigger than my fingertip, dangling from it.  When I looked closer, I realized that each orb represented a planet or moon we’d visited.  He’d had it crafted by the finest Imperial jeweler, each tiny planet a sparkling jewel or shaped from a precious stone.  

“It’s gorgeous,” I said quietly.  

He motioned to me as he sat up, “Turn around.  I’ll put it in.”  

I don’t think he’d ever put a hairpin in a girl’s hair in his life.  He stabbed my scalp three times before he managed it.  But my head was buzzing with emotion, and quite quickly I no longer felt the pain.  

“Lady Kessandra,” he said, “It would be cruel of me to force you to become my wife.  I know your true happiness is here, among the stars, seeking out all the wonders of our galaxy.  But, I…  I’m a selfish creature.  So, while I’ll open the door to your cage and encourage you to be free, know that I am secretly harboring the desire that I might be more interesting than freedom.  A silly notion, I know.”

“It is a silly notion,” I said, feigning harshness.  “And people will call you a silly Emperor for having chosen such an unworthy wife.”

“They may do so.  But, I will have their tongues removed.”

“You’re going to amass quite a pile of tongues, your Majesty.  You must consider how unsanitary that is.  Tongues laying all about the palace, wagging in the wind.  It’s just unseemly.”  

The morbid image made him laugh a little, though I detected a hint of sadness.  I am certain he believed that I’d maneuvered the conversation away from marriage because he thought I’d say no.  Cruelly, I let him believe it for three more seconds before I gave him the truth.

“I will marry you on one condition.  I must be given leave to travel for two months per year.  You may send as many guards and chaperones and handlers as you like.  And should you be free, you are invited to join me.”

Relief flooded his face.  But, he quickly hid it by pretending to be insulted.  “Such demands you make of the Crown Prince, Lady Kessandra!  Other ladies will think you impertinent.”

“I do not make demands of the Crown Prince,” I said, reaching out to put my hand against his chest.  I could feel his heart beating rapidly.  He was nervous.  I wondered how often he’d imagined this night and it going some other way for him.  “I make a request of my future husband.”

I watched him smile then, his face lit by the glow of a thousand Solar Flowers, excited all through the night that they had experienced the warmth of their often-distant sun.” 

 

~*~*~

 

“We were married the week after my birthday.  He kept his promise to me and had a special decree written into our marriage contract that I might travel away from the Forbidden City for two months out of every year to any place I should so desire.  After our marriage, I was moved into Emberlight Palace, one of the most beautiful palaces within the Forbidden City, and quite close to the Imperial Palace.”

Zara had become completely enthralled in Lady Kessandra’s story, so much so that she’d eaten five cookies while listening to it, something she only realized after the story ended.  “He sounds wonderful, Lady Kessandra.”

“Ah, well, that was so long ago.  It’s been almost three thousand years since that time.  Many things have changed.  He has changed.  But, I like to think there is still some part of him that is that nervous teenager, asking an eccentric girl to marry him under a moonlit sky.”

Zara wanted to ask so many questions, many of them impolite.  For instance, why had Lady Kessandra aged, when the Emperor had not?  Did they ever have any children together?  How did things change from eight wives to nearly a thousand concubines, and why?  In what ways had the Emperor changed, exactly?  Why did she move to Ebonrue when she was so obviously one of the Emperor’s favorites?  But, she didn’t know the other lady well enough to ask any of these things, so she only requested, “Will you tell me more of your story at a later time?”

“You know, I think I’d like that.  Now…”  Lady Kessandra motioned to the tarot cards.  “Let’s take a peek into your future.”

Smiling, Zara nodded eagerly.  Fortune telling wasn’t done on Ankali.  It wasn’t forbidden, just considered unlucky to try to know the unknowable.  “What if it looks bad for me?  What if the cards spell certain doom?”

“Oh, don’t worry.  The cards only show you a probable future.”  

Zara watched as the round cards were laid out on the table in a circle.  Then a six-spoked cross of cards was placed in the middle of them, making a rough image of a wheel or gear.  “Is this how it is always done?”

“There are more ancient methods from before the time of galactic conquest, but they are largely lost.”  Lady Kessandra flipped a few cards, one of them the image of a closed treasure box, another of blood pouring from a punctured hand, and another of a cloaked figure.  “These are the cards representing your past.  There are secrets in your past that you do not know, one residing in your blood, and one pertaining to someone close to you.”  

Zara wasn’t worried so much about the secrets of people close to her.  Everyone had secrets.  “In my blood?”  She held up her hand and looked at it, wondering what that could mean.  “Do you think that refers to the blood pact I made with my sister Thalia never to tell our mother that we broke her favorite vase?”  

Lady Kessandra laughed lightly, “Let us hope that’s all it means.”  More cards were turned over.  One showed a tangled rope, one a ghostly woman, and another a fire.  “These are the cards speaking of your present life.  You have become entangled in the affairs of the dead without even knowing it.  Ghostly presences press upon you to act on their behalf, but there is danger…  If you are not careful, this fire could consume all you hold dear.”

“The affairs of the dead?”  That perplexed Zara even more than the last.  “Who could have died?”

“Well,” Lady Kessandra thought about it.  “There was a Hostage Concubine who briefly lived in Begonia House before you came.  She died under mysterious circumstances.  It was some years ago.  I recall there being a scandal about it.  Something to do with the Lady Astrid of Marigold House?  It’s hard to remember.  I try to stay out of concubine drama these days. I’m too old for that nonsense.”  

“Really?  Lady Astrid?”  Perhaps that explained a bit about why Lady Astrid had known about her and targeted her.  “That sheds light on a few things.”

“Indeed.  I’ve met her once or twice.  Revolting personality, that one.  You’d do well to steer clear of her schemes.  And her brother as well, he’s…a questionable individual.”  She tapped a fingernail on another card.  “Well, enough about them.  Let’s see what’s in your future.”

Zara watched as another few cards were turned.  This time, cards representing a space cruiser and a bound woman were revealed, as well as cards showing a bubbling cauldron, and a dagger-wielding assassin on either side of a card representing a king.  “The next cards represent the near future.  These first two likely mean you will be taken on a journey against your will.  I’m not so sure about the last three.  Perhaps they do not refer to you so much as the Emperor?  But, he is always in danger from such things.  Wait…”  Lady Kessandra moved the king card slightly.  Another card was beneath it.  “I accidentally put an extra card here.”  She turned it to reveal a card depicting a concubine.  “How strange.”

“What could it mean, Lady Kessandra?”

“I’m not certain.  Let’s…  Let’s look at the final cards, the ones representing your far future.”  She stretched out her hand to turn one of the last cards, and a sudden breeze from the open window snatched it from her.  It, along with many of the other cards on the table, were whipped up and sent fluttering around the room.  The circular cards danced in the wind like enchanted petals loosed from a magic flower.  “Oh no!  The cards!”  

Zara stood, her heart pounding.  The wind had prevented Lady Kessandra from divulging anything about Zara’s far future. 

Did it mean…that her far future might not exist?