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The palace of Aleuta

"My Queen, Minister Phorsis is here to see you," said a Flizer girl. The Queen looked up from her book and eyed the girl critically. Under the Queen's gaze the girl began to tremble. She had not been Aleuta long yet and was terrified of everything and everyone.

"Let him in, you stupid wench" the Queen told her. She was extremely edgy today and already had made two of the Flizer servants cry. Forgetting the protocol for accepted behaviour before the Queen, the girl darted for the door almost knocking a small tea table over.

The Minister entered the Queen's chamber with his usual silent steps and bowed to her.

Not deep enough, the Queen thought in displeasure.

She never warmed up to her brother-in-low. What irritated her most was that she could never read the man. His face had a usual still expression plastered on it. He made her feel as if he knew all her secrets and behind that straight line of his lips was suppressed laughter. He had showed her only curtesy since they had become kin. Everyone thought that it was her husband, with his books and inventions, who was the genius in the family. But she knew that the Minister was the real master behind the curtains. And nobody navigated the muddy waters of the Aleutan government better than him.

She would never admit it out loud, of course, but deep within she was glad to have his loyalty. With time, she learnt to tolerate him. If only he warmed up a bit more toward her son. Without a family of his own, she hoped to have the Minister at her son's side when she was no longer around. So far, he had done everything to protect Jule and advance his prospects to remain in power. But his heart was not in it, she knew.

"Are you bringing me news of the thief, Minister?"

"The boy..."

"No, no, no! Not a boy. A thief! My son is a boy. Don't call him anything other than what he really is - a dirty little thief! This is something my son will never have in common with him!" The Minister almost cringed at the absurdity of it, but since he knew his sister-in-law very well, he nodded.

"I apologize, My Queen. The thief does not remember anything about the last four days before we caught him."

"Did you torture him?"

"Yes."

"By fire?"

"Yes"

"And by water?"

"Yes. He barely made it out alive."

"Splendid." She smiled thinly.

"We were unable to get anything useful out of him. He says that on the day of his disappearance a stranger came to town. A Wizard of Pain, as he calls him."

"There is no such a thing!" she said with annoyance.

"Of course not, My Queen. It seems that he stole the man's coin bag and now the thief believes that the man had something to do with his disappearance. He says the man was clad in black and did not have a face."

"What nonsense. It must have been a Skault in disguise. Only they have a reason to hide their face in our lands."

"It could have been a Skault. The thief lost his memory. The symptoms are those of the sleeping plant that grows around the Skault's forest. It is hard to get by as it is almost impossible to retrieve it. Only Skaults can to do it and they guard their secrets well."

"I wished we never allowed the Skaults to set foot on the island! Mistake our ancestors made and we have to live with. We should have left the Skaults to die during the Lost Wars. They have been nothing but trouble!"

A Flizer girl walked in carrying a heavy tray with a tea pot. Her hands trembled so much, that she almost let it fall on the Queen. The Queen screeched and slapped the little Flizer girl. "Dimwit! Put it on the table and leave. All of you, be gone!" The Flizers rushed for the door and only the old Flizer remained. She looked as if she was far from anything that happened in the room, the knitting was all that mattered. A hint of a smile appeared on the Ministers lips and quickly disappeared. He and the old Flizer had long had an understandind.

"What do our spies have to say?" asked the Queen.

"We can't get our spies close to them without being detected. Bribing any of the Skaults we have in the dungeons is pointless. Their loyalty to each other borders stupidity."

"They could be arming themselves against us as we speak, for all we know. In our own land and under our noses!"

"My Queen, these are just the words of a thief. We can't accuse the Skaults of anything without proof."

"I am the Queen. And I say we have all the proof we need. We have been patient with them for too long. They don't respect our ways. Even my blessed mother could not bend them. But I will! What has been stolen must be returned to me, you hear?"

"My Queen," said the Minister, bowing his head slightly.

"No one dares to take from me and go unpunished! Find it. Send only men you trust. You have my permission to do whatever needs to be done. As long as you get it back."

"It will be done, My Queen," said the Minister with a slight bow. "What about the thief?"

"Without the memories, he is useless to us. Nonetheless, we need to make sure he can never again be used against us. Kill him."

"That is a wise decision, My Queen."

At that, a side door opened and Daryan entered. His face brightened at the sight of his wife and brother.

"My dear, how are you feeling?" he addressed the Queen.

"Dreadful!"

"Oh my darling," he said taking a seat beside her on the couch.

Minister Phorsis felt bile rising inside. Only someone like his brother could be with a woman like her. He was blind to all her faults and only saw her virtues, which Minister Phorsis wasn't even sure existed.

"Brother, have you heard?" Daryan asked.

The Minister only nodded.

"Quite dreadful. We must pray Jule gets matched next year. The Queen and I are naturally devastated." And he hugged the Queen, affection towards her in his every word.

A lie, the Queen thought to herself. She believed his words as long as she could, but she had to admit that even her husband had little love for his own child. He had pleaded with the High Priestess to make her son the heir. That was the only thing he had ever done for the boy. He left his upbringing and education entirely to his wife and the tutors, while he hid in his library for days and days at a time. Sometimes she caught him giving their son a long lost look and she secretly suspected that he believed that others said – that the boy, born on a Dark Night, was cursed. Out of love for her son, she could not forgive her husband this betrayal.

"You know what to do," she told the Minister, eager to see him go.

"My Queen," he said but did not make any attempt to leave.

"Anything else?"

"My Queen, what about the girl?"

"What girl?"

"The Leivratan girl. The one Hybenlook wants as a guard for his daughter."

"We can't just let a Leivratan girl live among us. Walk our streets. Talk to our children. I won't have it!"

"My Queen, since his eldest daughter was killed, Hybenlook has made it his mission to tell everyone who would listen about the prophecy. He is a fool, of course. But his younger daughter is coming of age this year. We mustn't exclude the possibility that the prophecy might be true. There are many who would want to see the girl dead just as the sister. If there is a chance she is the one, we mustn't risk her life if we don't want Sietenock to rule us all through Vala. If Jule does not get matched, all of us are as good as dead."

The Queen shouted in anger, "Never!"

"My dear, I think what my brother is trying to say is that, although we mustn't believe in the prophecy because it is impossible to know the future, but if there's even a slight chance, we should do anything in our power to ensure the girl's safety. Just in case."

"Why can't we just send one of my guards to watch over the Hybenlook's girl?"

"It would require a Council's decision and the Houses of the Blood would oppose it as it would show that you give preference to Hybenlock's daughter above everyone else's daughters."

"What about a priestess? There are many reasons for a priestess to live in a household. Let her watch over the girl."

"Priestess are not trained to protect anyone. And their rituals will require them to be away for long periods of time every day. Besides, a priestess would never be allowed to be used for something that has to do with a prophecy," said Daryan.

"And the easily frightened little Flizers are also of no use," added the Minister. "I have seen the Leivratan girl fight. She has none of the graces of an Aleutan lady, and in her looks resembles more a Flizer than a Veilys. We have nothing to fear from having her around."

"How so?" the Queen asked for the first time showing interest in the girl.

"She has her hair coloured green. Same colour as the Flizers. We could order her to keep it that way so the wench does not forget her status here. Nobody would ever look at her if all they see is a mere Flizer and no more. She might be a Veilys, but still not much taller than a Flizer girl. From the looks of it, she must be twelve-thirteen. Certainly she would be gone from here before she even comes of age. But she is a good fighter. Managed to knock out two of Aleutan guards before we caught her. With a bit of training, we could make a good guard out of her. And as a girl, she can go everywhere the Hybenlook girl goes. That would appease Hybenlook. My spies tell me that he has been whispering that Your Highness had not shown enough compassion for the loss of his elder daughter and has not done enough to find the culprit of a crime committed in your own palest. A gesture like that would be just the right thing to do and make him a more avid supporter on the Council."

"Is Jule showing any interest in the youngest daughter?" the Queen asked.

"Not as much as in the elder," replied the Minister.

"I must say, better be related to a fool like Hybenlook and have his girl on the throne than greedy Sietenock who would have us all killed," said the Queen. She gave the old Flizer a quick glance, she thought nobody noticed, before she spoke next. "I am inclined to allow the girl to stay. How can we ensure she does what she is told?"

"Let my brother worry about it, my love."

"Of course," said the Queen. "Come up with a good story for the people of Aleuta."

"As you wish, My Queen!" The Minister bowed to her and turned to leave. The Queen studied his back until he disappeared behind closed doors.

"Darling," said Daryan and brought her back from her thoughts. "I have just the right idea how to cheer you up. I will be back in no time."

"Of course, my dear," she replied and watched her husband disappear through the same door he had come in.

"What do you make out of is?" asked the Queen as soon as she was left alone with the old Flizer.

"Your husband and the Minister are hiding something," replied the old Flizer.

"You have eyes in Hybenlook's house. Find out anything there is about the girl."

"It will be done, Kariah."

The Queen nodded and looked at the painting on the wall.

"Mother!" said the Queen and walked closer to the painting. "How I wished you were here. You always knew what to do! I am alone. There are only a few left of us, of the great house of Akeylen. You made sure of that, mother." The Queen knew what the folk whispered about her mother, but she had never judged her. She sighed and studied the proud face on the painting.

"How I wished I could be more like you! I am surrounded by enemies and there is no one I can trust. My husband has secrets he will not tell me. My own sister hates me. The Spirit Stone feels heavier and havier with every passing day. I can hardly breathe. How did you carry the burden mother? How?"

The Queen stood motionless waiting for a reply just as countless times before. And silence was the answer the painting always had for her.

"By fear. That is how you did it. Fear is what kept your enemies away," The Queen answered her own question. She folded her hands together and squeezed the fingers until they hurt.

"If you want to rule by fear, you must never show fear yourself, those were your mother's own words, my dear" said the old Flizer.

"It was easy for her to say," said the Queen and walked up to the window. She watched Jule practicing sword fighting with another boy. The instructor and few other boys stood in a circle, watching their every move. The other boy tried to trick Jule into believing that he was going to go for his left side, so he would leave his right exposed. But Jule anticipated that. As the boy launched for Jule's right side, he quickly jumped back, leaving the other boy's right unprotected which allowed Jule to hit him there. The boy fell to the ground.

"My son will be a King one day, I know it," the Queen told the old Flizer and giggled almost like a child filled with joy.

"He is destined to be great, my dear," said the woman.

The Queen looked at roofs of the Aleutan houses extending beyond the gates of the palest. She watched the wind whip the royal banners with the red emblazoned stone, the Spirit Stone, back and forth and her chest began to ache, reminding her of the burden. There were days she wanted to open up her rip cage, pull the stone out and throwing the cursed thing from the mountain. She had visions of it breaking into tiny red pieces and being finally free.

When she was young, she dreamt of having a daughter. A daughter to follow her steps and rule as a great Queen. She would have called her Alasa, in honour of her own mother. Yet, with time she began to feel grateful to the Creators that they had given her a son. Sometimes she was awake all night for days, feeling the Spirit Stone burn her up from the inside and whispering to her words she did not understand. And now she felt the pain inside her every waking moment. Jule will never feel the pain she felt. She was glad that it will become a burden for the girl that her son gets matched to. Once his blood, the royal blood, flows in her veins, she will become the next Bearer of the Spirit Stone. It would be someone else's daughter who suffers. Not hers.

The Queen looked at her son below again and her heart filled with love. Creators be thanked, she had a son.

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