~A Tale Of Fate~

His hair?

His hair...

The first thing Oris had wanted to do was deny it. Say that she would never have written something so silly in a test that would dictate a major part of her future, blame it on a sickness that had affected her state of mind, but after some minutes of thinking back to that day, she remembered.

As mortifying as it was, it was true, and the evidence laid in the last three questions that she had answered when there had barely been any incense left for her to set down her stylus.

What else did I write?

She couldn't recall. So much had happened in the space between then and now, and she had not thought about the test until now.

She had not imagined that she would place first. Not in a hundred years would she have thought that the Emperor himself would read her tablet. Not when she had clearly heard that it straight from Magnus' mouth that it was his job to score the tests.

The kettle let out a soft whistle.

The sound startled Oris out of her thoughts.

She let her gaze drift to it, surprised. The water is already done boiling?

Just how long had she been thinking for?

Hermes didn't comment on her silence. Like before, it settled in the rift between while he steeped the tea leaves.

Instinctively, Oris turned to the stick of incense. Barely a quarter of it remained; the second hour was almost upon then.

How long does he plan to stay? Will he remain even if we have nothing to say to each other?

It seemed as though the Emperor would be content with her company so long as there was tea to be made. As more and more time passed, it seemed as though he was using her to evade his ministers and she didn't know how much tea could drink.

"Sire?" Warily, she stared at the teacup he placed in front of her. It was the same tea as before but it was much darker, more deeply brewed.

Hermes turned his teacup in his hand, breathing in the rising steam before taking a sip. "Have you thought out your answer?"

There was a subtle accusation behind the question and it made Oris wonder. Did he think she would lie? Or did he have a secret concerning his hair?

Maybe it was neither and he thought she wrote that answer so that she would stand out. He had already complained about women trying to warm up to him using either similarities or differences, her doing the same would not have been a surprise.

But Oris was not fickle enough to allow physical characteristics be the bridge that connected the two of them.

Where she was pale, he was dark. Where her hair dripped like blood spilled from a still-beating heart, his was tightly curled strands of lightning-stuck earth left out in the sun.

Wherever her skin was smooth and supple, his was scarred, rough and muscled.

Still, to her he was beautiful... because their eyes were the same. Filled with the same hardness, the same conviction, the same distrust, they found common ground.

No one could understand a newly crowned emperor better than another monarch that had gone through the same, because rulers were identical when it came to their bare bones, especially when they were good ones...

And Hermes was a good ruler.

She could see that in everything he did. He kept the court balanced using his mother's influence, stopped revolts before they could begin by acting lustful and brutish, and  maintained the loyalty of his vassal states by opening his palace up to their women.

How many ministers imagine that he was under their control? How many if his 'loyal' subjects thought he was nothing but an abandoned prince whose only knowledge concerned wars and battlefields.

How tiring must it be to not be yourself everyday? Just to survive?

Oris clearly knew the answer.

There was nothing she could say now that would collapse Hermes' empire and restore Orse, but the truth—however how small—would soften his feelings towards her in the future.

He could choose to remain skeptical about her reasons for taking part in the Selection but even the smallest seed of trust could grow to become the dagger she so sorely needed.

"Hair is the first thing I notice about a person," she answered, running her fingers over each other while gathering her thoughts. "I had run out of time by the time I reached the last questions. I wrote the first thing that came to my mind."

"Does it fascinate you that much?"

"Yes," Oris admitted, not willing to stall things any longer, "I have never seen someone so dedicated to their hair."

Hermes said nothing to that so she figured that it was safe to continue. "Does sire know the story of the creation?"

"It is one of the first stories a child is told when they are old enough to understand," he said, reaching for the teapot to refill his cup. "Mother Earth gained sentience after eons and decided to create life on barren land."

"Yes," Oris agreed. "Every child knows the story. Mother Earth birthed creatures from the breath of Her core and eventually created gods then humans."

"Is there any point in saying this?"

"If sire would have some patience..." She finished her tea and settled into her seat, focused on the strong aftertaste settling at the back of her throat.

She been right, the tea was much stronger.

She didn't know whether it was a sign of the emperor's displeasure at the elusive nature of her answers but it was a fair warning.

Hermes had told her about Wei Wei's past, so it was only fair that she revealed something about herself too. Unfortunately, there was little that was out-of-the-ordinary about her life that didn't involve her throne, and she doubted whether tales of farms and stables would hold the attention of the man in front of her.

"There are many versions of the story. Each State worships a different god and with every retelling their beliefs are intertwined with the myths. I don't if sire knows this but I don't worship the gods," Oris said. "I can assure my story is quite different from the rest... Would you like to hear it?"

"Please." He gestured for her to continue but other than that showed no further interest.

Oris smiled at that. He must think I am buying time.

It was too bad, she intended for this tale to be a gripping one. Whether he wished to or not, he would need to give her his full attention

"Mother Earth created animals of all kinds from dust and they were eternal. When she grew tired of their company, She sought to create a new kind of creature, different from the others, with the ability to hold conversations with her and help Her govern the lands. She carved their bodies from a mountain that was as old as, maybe even older than, She and filled their lungs with Her Vital Essence... These creations were the gods and like all she had made before them, they were eternal.

"Still, even surrounded by the gods and the animals, Mother Earth felt as though life as a whole was incomplete. She created yet another kind of creature, one within of and without Her. One whose life would have purpose other than just to stay alive or help govern the lands, in hopes that they in turn would give purpose to the world.

"Purpose contradicted eternal life and so Death was born. Now, all creatures born not of Her essence could die. Now, the purpose of life was to escape Death.

"Man was molded from the soil left over from the mountains the gods were crafted from, and to sustain life their soul were granted a sliver of Mother Earth's intelligence. And so man and animal lived, braving Death daily and trying to survive. Yet, this bored the gods, who saw little distinction between the two groups of creatures.

"Survival could not be all that there was to life. The existence of Death led to procreation, to maintain the world's population, and as Her creatures got better at surviving, they feared Death less and began to wander aimlessly. Seeing this, Mother Earth created Fate, Her second agent of purpose. Now every being that could die was connected to one another, and with time the roles of the gods slowly evolved."

~

A Tale Of Fate, part one!
Gah, this is so fun. Did it feel like an info-dump? This chapter (and its second part) have been dancing around my head for a long while. I'm so happy to finally write it!

Wrote this today cuz I'm (busy? lazy) occupied. The second part will come out sooon~

Ah, it's my first time writing down the Tale Of Fate. It's been up in my head in bits and pieces all this time!

You guys, tell me what you think about my little (simplified) story of creation. And why do you think Oris is telling this story?