The Crown Prince’s Ball (Meillur-Only)

[Kingdom of Derita]

“Oh my,” said Cel, puting a hand to her chest as she looked at the necklace. It reminded her of something, but she couldn’t quite place the name of what she was thinking of. Still she was shocked by the explanation she had received. As well as fascinated by the idea of an order that had lasted so long in such a cyclical form, of venturing out before returning back to a temple in the mountains.

“That sound positively mystical.” Cel said, not fulling thinking of her words. “Oh, I mean. Spiritual. You’re like a…” she tapped her finger to her chin as she sought out the proper word. She smiled as she found it. “Like a hands on librarian. Though it seems like you might have gotten a bit sidetracked.”

Jean felt shivers crisscross his skin, like the lines of an icy bet closing in around his body. He was startled by the touch of the Paras. He had expected, perhaps somewhat ridiculously, for him to be cold, like a living glacier. But he wasn’t. He was warm to the touch. And despite his mind’s defenses being on high alert, Jean’s body was pulled towards it. He straighten as Paras Kanatus whispered in to his ear, the way he said ‘dangerous’ filling him with an odd mixture of rage and lust.

Mind won’t out as Jean jerk his head away from Kanatus’s touch, refusing to look at the dictator. “You are insane,” Jean hissed in a quiet voice. For though he scorn him, his body remained where it was. The space between then minuscule. He could sense, if not see Kanatus looming there. “Women, southern women, are no more dangerous than anyone else. The capacity for action physical or metaphorical is human in nature. Not a justification for you spreading fear, xenophobia and misogyny.”

[Colfico]

He shook his head with a smile and said “it is not that mystical in practice, it is simply how the Order survives, by using the peacekeepers to keep up to date on events, as well as to gather information to store in the Visari Archives, so that the lessons of history may never be forgotten, even if the lessons are destroyed by nation that created them. So I’m a sense, you are accurate in calling me a librarian, but it is not just books that I deal in. The archive has a vast selection of pre collapse books, documents, newspapers, and even magazines and pamphlets, anything that was determined to be of possible historical balue at the time. Although I do need to be careful what I discuss of the archive, there are things in the archive that some of our members here might be willing to kill over.”

[Patuania]

Kanatus smiled and for just a second pulled away from Jean. “You can’t truly believe that.” He chuckled darkly at the comment. He put an arm around the other man’s gently grabbed his chin, his firm strong but applying on the most minimal of pressure as he turned Jean’s head to make him look towards the dance floor.

On the danice floor Oruk was laughing herself at something that Andeja said, moving gracefully as her skirts flew around her amidst the waltz. She had never had so much fun dancing before.

“Do you see them?” Kanatus asked rhetorically. “My dear cousin. Your sweet crown prince. Such lovely innocent.” Kanatus paused for a moment as he lean back next to Jean’s ear. “Now. Imagine. A year from now, your emperor is dead,” Kanatus nodded in Andeja’s direction, “he is dead. And my dear cousin… she sits on their throne.”

[Kingdom of Derita]

“Oh, who would be willing to kill over a magazine?” Cel paused for a moment and giggled. “Actually I think I know quite a few people who would. Sauda Muraty was positively myrderous when she wasn’t put on the Politan’s thirty under thirty cover issue last year.”

Jean pulled away Kanatus, and looked at him, rage winning out as his face was a shocked mask of horror at even the thought, much less the potential threat. He scowled at the dictator with an aristocratic huff. “That is preposterous.”

[Patuania]

Kanatus matched Jean’s scowl with one of his own.

“It’s alarming is what it is. It is precisely the kind of reckless instability that Southern women have been at the head of for decades. Like seeds beneath a porch they grow quietly and then suddenly rip apart a nation from its very foundations. Tell me. I see the horror in your eyes. I sure there were plenty in Colfico who felt the same when some lady-in-waiting arrived in their country.”

[Colfico]

Felix smiled and chuckled at her statement and said “You would be surprised, but that is why I am out here now, and eventually I will find a partner to fall in love with, and eventually settle down with, and take my place in the temple as part of the archive guards and custodians, and possibly even as a council member myself in time. That pilgrimage and search for knowledge just happens to often lead Visari to the places and positions where knowledge is to be found, weather it be as an explorer, a scientist, a professor, or in my case, as a soldier.”

A curious bit was his lack of the use of the word statesman, which he did not consider himself a politician, instead, he considered his duties as chamberlain as simply an extension of his service to the country.

[Kingdom of Derita]

Jean opened his mouth to protest, but found no words. He closed his mouth as he looked at the ground, considering the events over the last two years from an outsider looking in without personal context. Jean himself knew Adriana Godey only in passing, but his sister Ava had been a fellow lady-in-waiting, though to Princess Mamela.

“I… I suppose when you put it like that, it does sound a bit… strange.” He shook his head. “But it’s not like she overthrew the government and killed everyone. The people rose up and chose her to be their Queen. It’s not the same. Nor is an excuse for what you’ve done.”

“Oh I see,” Cel said, “though Mr. Kito said that you were a chamberlain these days. Don’t chamberlains, like throw parties and pay staff members? What does that have to do with being a soldier? And if you are a soldier, isn’t that kind of… wrong to be a peacekeeper? They seem rather opposed if you ask me. Though I suppose if you read the papers, peacekeepers don’t really do that do they?”

[Colfico]

“It can be, especially during a time of war, however, a soldier very much can be a peacekeeper, for example, it was Colficoan Soldiers that spearheaded the evacuations in Lajastine, and most peacekeepers often happen to have military careers and just happen to be assigned to that duty.” He then said “as for my chamberlainship, I am a Commander of the National Military first, while I do carry out those duties as well, my duty is ultimately to the country as a whole. If I had to make a choice between my chamberlainship, and the nation, I will choose Colfico every time.”

He thought for a moment , and pointed to the necklace before saying “Being a peacekeeper for the Visari Order is not the same as, say, being a monk for a church. I don’t seem to find spiritual enlightenment, instead, I simply seal to live a life of balance. There cannot be light, without darkness to balance it, because without that darkness, the light would simply become the new darkness, and the reverse is true as well. It is like the sun and the moon, night and day, they are very different, but they do not oppose one another, instead the world needs both. A time to rise and go about doing work, and a time to rest, and rejuvenate for the day ahead.”

He then let the necklace fall and hang on his neck before saying “the life of a peacekeeper as a soldier is the same, violence in war simply comes with the territory, however a Soldier is as much a defender as he or she is a warrior, as in Lajastine, they are often those that people look to when times are desperate.”

[Patuania]

Paras Kanatus let out a hollow laugh. “The illusion of choice is the greatest opiate ever sold to the masses. I do not believe in serendipity, not when it comes to the fate of nations. Who precisely do you think planted those revolutionary ideas in the their minds. The very woman who reaped the reward when her creation bore fruit.”

Kanatus shook his head. “And let us not pretend that my dear neighbor to the south is the only e example. I have met the Duchess of Hyrea. Though she plays the uninterested princess, I know the truth. She will never be content being ruled by others. She builds an army in her mountainous fortress. She will turn her guns on my country, and any others who stand in her way.”

“You think me a narrow minded fool. But I have read your history books. For to prepare against one’s enemy, you must understand them.” Kanatus smiled, moving to once again close the distance between them. Like a silent chase across the courtyard. Kanatus seems to always be advancing, and Jean seemed to always be retreating. But soon there wouldn’t be anywhere for him to go.

“Your Genoise friends are living proof of the dangers of your women. I have read the name Adela, and how she arrived on Genes’ shores, an insignificant speck. But in time? Her husband was dead, and she had built an empire on the backs of slaves. Queen Caroline, a tyrant whose surveillance terrorized her own people. Helena sacrificed entire cities for her crown Obasey, a woman who twists democracy towards genocide. Taja, who wages an endless war for her own vengeance.”

“I do not think men aren’t dangerous.” said Kanatus. “But where men do terrible things… woman can do so much worse. The greatest atrocities have been committed by women with too much power. The bloodiest wars waged by them. They destroy and build nations with such ease…” Kanatus reached out and gently caressed Jean’s face. “And all the while you only remember their pretty faces.”

“People continuously underestimate women. And that is why they continue to destroy. Everywhere they go, they breed chaos and destruction. Look at the Great Collapse. The most powerful people in the world were women driven by reckless ambition, bent on annihilation all in their way. Including themselves.”

“The North is cold. It is harsh. But it is my home. It was and is a refuge for those who sought to escape the ashes of an old world and to build something new. And you southerners have learned nothing. Look around you. Revolution, death and war, iconoclastism. All in the south. Each in a nation ruled by women. Instability. And it spreads like wildfire.”

Kanatus took a breath as his drifted from Jean face to his single braid of locks. His hair was did and smelt sweet. As if he were some nature god spring from Patuania folklore. Kanatus studied it with affection as he spoke once more. “So yes. I use words to destroy women. I let Valkea spit his poison. Because that fear, it is the only deterrent that keeps the fires, the infernos your women set alit, that blaze across the South, from destroying my people.”

[Kingdom of Derita]

Cel wasn’t convinced. Aukusa City had been an oasis of peace through the dark years of the Great collapse and the following strife. And even things had not been perfect. It had been during such times that Andeja I had imposed his will on the city, and he had been a man who was a soldier. It had been soldiers that had forced the Lajastineans out of their homes. But he was right, it had also been soldiers who had helped those same displaced people. Cel but her lip.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she finally said. She looked at his necklace. “Night and day and black and white, they aren’t two equal things. There are many shades of gray between them. Some days run into the night, when the city lights up like it’s own star. Some night storms seem to stretch on forever.”

Cel shrugged her shoulder again. Felix had good points, and who was she to try and question his at of life. And there was such genuine emotion in his eyes.

“I think it is good that you seek to live a life of balance. I think being in search of it is far better than existing in a state of nature. The closest thing the world has to balance is animals, and even then it’s not really true. It’s a great oversimplification of life between predator and prey.”

Jean certainly felt like prey as Kanatus stalked after him. Jean kept backing up, caught if hard by the laughter, disdain, fury and sincerity that flash through the dictator’s eyes. He really believed what he was saying, Jean thought as he felt his retreat halted by a wall. He gasped as Kanatus took his braid in his hands. Jean took a breath, trying to ignore the flames Kanatus himself sent across his skin with each warm gentle touch paired with such cruelty.

His points weren’t entirely built off of nothing. Jean could name a Deritain princess who hadn’t overthrown her husband or sparked war or revolution. (There was precisely one, Princess Alara, the Emperor’s favorite aunt. It is perhaps because of this that she was indeed his favorite aunt, as she, unlike her sisters or her own aunts, had never acted to challenge Authority. Oh, and what of the Emperor’s sisters? Well, they haven’t either… yet)

Still. Did that make what he did justifiable? Jean would argue no. But it could be understandable. “Fear may work. For now. But it is not sustainable. Eventually it will fail you and it will turn against you.”

[Patuania]

Kanatus’s smile returned as he played with Jean’s braid. His words again weren’t wrong. Fear could do a lot, but it would not hold the north together forever. That fear had to be managed and cultivated into something else. Something that would keep the flames at bay. As before Jean was not wrong, but he lacked context.

“Why do you think I am here?”

The Paras laughed as he started undoing Jean’s braid. He looked over the shorter man and stood less than an inch away from him. But he, despite his nature, did not hold him face or cage him in. It would not be easy, but if he really wanted to, Jean could escape. Or perhaps that was another illusion of choice. Kanatus however was sure he knew the outcome either way.

“We have talked so much of what I think of your women, and their southern dangers. Do you not care to know what I think of your men?”

[Kingdom of Derita]

Jean let out a small gasp, a twisted sickening mixture of fear and delight, and bad, curiosity and fury. His face blazed as his braid came undone at the Paras of Patuania’s hand, and the individual locks tumbled over his shoulder and down his back. For a moment he was silent, trying to control his breathing. Finally, despite himself he found himself asking.

“What do you think?”

Elsewhere in the Ardales Estate, as the song started to come to an end, the Emperor peered with interest as his son danced with the Patuanian princess. Andeja, the crown prince, was smiling as bright as the sun ad he lead Oruk through the closing acts of the waltz, not wanting the moment to end just yet.

[Patuania]

Paras Kanatus grinned like a devil come up from the pits of hell. Hungry and ready to ravish. His eyes bore into Jean as he let loose the braids and ran his knuckles down the Deritain lord’s shoulder, tracing the length of his collar bone beneath the fine cloth of his suit.

“You are just as beautiful,” the Paras whispered in a tone that bore little affection. It wasn’t the tone of a lover, but that one might hold when making a observation of a rather rare species of flower. “Sun kissed and wrapped in silk, you are soft in spirit.” He let his hand drift down Jean chest, further and further ever southward. “If not in body.”

The Paras’s words weren’t all mere innuendo. He saw potential in the minds of Southern men. The enigma of the Celestial Empire was an opportunity to give the North a bulwark against the churning chaos of Southern women. They were a people of words as much as weapons. It was their way. If Kanatus wished to wield them for his own, it would be with words that he would win control of them.

Kanatus kissed Jean. Not gently. It was rough and fiery. He pressed forward like a soldier charging into battle, determined to conquer.

[Kingdom of Derita]

Jean gasped, but the sound was drowned as Kanatus pressed his lips against his. Suddenly it seemed hard to breath. The haze brought about massalia and lust started to clear as the Paras pressed and hard and rough against him, startling him. Jean tried to push the Paras away but struggled against the larger man, mustering all his strength to shove him back. Jean coughed as he gulped down air with a desperate need, his mind struggling to get his body to move… to escape.

“Beware,” said a new comer. “I fear this northern snow, may wilt this lovely southern flower.”

Suddenly it was not simply the Paras and the lord in the corner. They had been joined by a woman, tall and regal in black and gold. Jean gasped as he recognized the placid face of the Empress of the Celestial Empire. Empress Marijani, a lean woman with the graceful beauty and movements of a moonbeam stepped between Adela Yoyo’s youngest son and the Paras of Patuania as if they were a pair of children who’d been caught slipping out of class.

In her heels, hidden beneath the onyx black of her grown, she stood taller than both men, her sunbeam crown only adding to her stature. Her long thin black braid were decorated with gold clasps and fell to her waist. She turned to the Paras, and though her voice was soft and gently, he stance unmovable. An unspoken warning.

“And we wouldn’t want that. Would we?”

[Patuania]

Paras Kanatus licked his lips as he stepped back from the Deritain Empress, the taste of Jean still on his tongue made him smirk in defiance at the tall woman. These Deritains were a tall lot. Where Kanatus seemed to tower over most of his fellow Patuania, here he seemed to stand at the average line. He might not have minded if the women weren’t so tall. He didn’t like have to look up at the Empress.

“Of course we wouldn’t.” Kanatus glanced around the Empress at the gasping Jean, then back to the woman. “Forgive me. I forget… how delicate you southerners can be.”

[Colfico]

Felix shook his head and said “No one ever said balance meant equality, like all things, a balance will tip to one side or the other at times, just as the tide waxes and wanes.” He thought and then said”If everything truest were equal and perfect, then it would be a very boring world, it is often the little imperfections that make something more likeable.”

Felix then said “As for a soldiers life, there are times in a persons life where they must be ready to stand up for the things they believe, especially when faced with a crisis. Just because someone wishes to be peaceful does not stop the wolf from growling. Violence is never a good thing, however there are times where it is both understandable and necessary. The simple fact is sometimes a line has to be drawn in the sand to protect what someone loves.” He then said “or in many cases, who someone loves, in fact, the soldiers that are the bravest and fight the hardest are those whom fight because they have something to protect.” He then said “That is why I wear this uniform, I have many things, and many people, that I love and wish to protect and help.” He then smiled and said “Even if I may not know all of their names.”

[Kingdom of Derita]

Marijani nodded her head in something that could perhaps be taken as agreement. She didn’t like Paras Kanatus. She did not care for him, his policies, his attitude nor his presence in her country. In a single thing did she find herself in agreement with him. The South and the North should do well to stay apart, live separately. If she had it her way, she would have kicked him and his flirtatious cousin, curling around her son like some Auguste of Serbia reborn, out of the city in a heartbeat. And that was before she found him fondling one of her son’s friends. She might not have cared otherwise, adults were free to do as they pleased, within reason, but one Patuanian trying to sink her claws to the crown prince was enough. The Yoyo boy was the more reasonable of Andeja’s companions, and he ended up in the bed of the Paras, who knows what pillow talk might turn into northern poison in the ear of the future of the Celestial Empire.

“Indeed. We have been cultivated in civil halls, on fertile grounds, sweet rivers and the warmth of a sun that burns away the frigid cold.” Marijani took a step closer to the Paras, closing the distance he had made between them, and pushing him further away from Jean, so that he would have to look up at her. “His Imperial Majesty wishes to speak with you. Surely the great Paras of Patuania is not one known for his tardiness.”

“Oh, How can you love someone without knowing their name?” asked Cel, again putting her finger to the corner of her mouth in thought. She saw no flaw in his logic of balance not meaning equality. Like placing things on a scale, some were much larger than others but feathery light, and some things were quite smaller, but terribly dense. Though she wasn’t quite sure if understood the idea of soldiers fighting for loved things. Soldiers fought because it was their job. Their actions determined by nations. But she supposed that if their were those who enjoyed baking there were those who enjoying soldiering, and had their more personal reasons. “I suppose people love babies even when they don’t have names.

[Colfico]

Felix nodded before saying “And two people can fall in love with each other without knowing each other’s names when they first meet.” He found himself surprised by how easily they were having such a debate, as if they had been friends for quite sometime, it seemed that Cel had a habit of spreading her energy to those around her.

Felix knew fully well that his way of thinking was inordinately at best in such a place, but it was his beliefs, and he did genuinely follow them with his heart, they were why he wore the uniform in the first place.

He then said “It is natural for humans to feel compassion, it is part of our basest emotions and instincts. To love, and to want to be loved, is simply a natural human instinct and desire. I am sure that you have someone that you love somewhere.”

[Patuania]

Paras Kanatus took another step back, his eyes narrowing at her. He sensed an insult in her words, but her were more carefully crafted than the countess, in that they almost sounded like a compliment. Kanatus was not not foolish enough to believe them to be so. But he was diplomatic enough to take it was such. Have gave the Empress a small bow with a teasing flourish.

“Of course,” said the Paras, “Your Majesty.” He again looked around the Empress to Jean, still with his back at the wall. Like deer having just barely escaped a wolf. For now. A grin returned to Kanatus’s lips. “Till we meet again, Lord Yoyo. I’m sure we will.”

[Kingdom of Derita]

Cel nodded her head. “Oh yes. I love my Baba. He is the kindest man I know. Well, when it doesn’t come to business. He says that in business one has to put on a brave face, and even when it’s a harsh mask, it’s important to remember that it is just a mask.” Cel smiled brightly at the thought.

“Though people falling in love without knowing one another’s name sounds like the stuff of fairytales. Outdated ones. Lady Gola said that those fairytales were meant to pre-occupy women with dulling fantasies. Love shouldn’t be a think that pierces your heart out of now where. It should be built, grown with effort and attention.”

“I’m sure the chamberlain believes in such nameless love.”

Cel blinked as she found Siti Muraty making her way into their conversation, her eyes half hooded as sipped from her glass. Siti, who had been drinking with her sister, watching the Crown Prince danced with the Patuanian snowflake had, as the dance came to its end, noticed the chamberlain chatting about with Celiwe Magaira. She would have thought the man have gone mad with that idiots’ squeaks and squeals of the tender hearted, and yet they seem to be enjoying themselves.

Siti had made her way over to the pair like a leopard, only swaying slightly, and heard the latter part of their conversation as she interjected. “Though everyone knows such affections lay with a woman who now has quite the name.”

Jean felt his heart skip a beat, though from fear or something else he couldn’t quite be sure. He felt terribly mixed up. Marijani had no such confliction of emotion. She waved a hand and young man, one of her sister’s servants approached. She instructed the servant to take the Paras to the room where her husband watched over the event’s festivities. The servant nodded and gestured for the dictator to follow. When they were gone, Marijani turned her attention back to Jean.

With motherly affection she lifted his chin and examined his face. Save for a slightly swollen lip, puffy from untamed kisses, she was otherwise unblemished. Good.

“Take breath Lord Yoyo. Now run along back to your friends.” Jean nodded weakly and followed into a deep bow, his undone locks tumbling around his face as his cheeks burned with embarrassment. He started back towards the Crown Prince who was bowing his head politely to the Patuanian princess as the song and the dance came to and end. There was thunderous applause for both of them. Marijani’s eyes bore into the sight.

The empress had half a mind to make her presence truly known, to bring the courtyard to a stand still, the attendees would doubtlessly drop to their knees at the sight of her. But that would grind things to a halt, and any aactiin she might take would be remembered, and any disapproval she directed to a girl seen as a condemnation. Which closed doors. No. She had to remain on the edge of things for the time being. Still had her son had to pick the Patuanian girl? “Lord Yoyo, do remind my son that there are others to dance with.”

Jean nodded and dashed through the crowd to make his way to the edge of the dance floor. The Empress meanwhile gathered another set of servants. Three which she send out out to go fetch some of their guests, while she slipped out of the courtyard. Her husband had his plans, and she had hers.

[Patuania]

Oruk curtsied to Andeja as the music came to an end and they broke away from each other, though she wished that the song had simply played out forever. Her heart raced, from the steps of the dance or from the smile on Andeja’s face, she wasn’t quite sure, though in either case she loved it.

“You are truly the Prince of Waltzs, Your Highness,” Oruk said with a smile.

Meanwhile Paras Kanatus followed the staff member out of the courtyard. It seemed pleasure had come to and end and now was the time for business.

[Colfico]

Felix was about to respond to Cel when he found himself interrupted by a familiar voice, to the Chamberlains chagrin. The Chamberlain did his best to hide his disdain for the fact that his reprieve seemed to be short lived indeed. However his normal self reappeared not even a moment later as he listened to her speak, noticing the predator nature of her approach, it reminded him of a mountain lion stalking its prey. So it seemed that the Prime Minister had lost her interest.

He spoke simply and matter of factly. “I do, love is a spontaneous thing, sometimes it is plain and easy to see, and other times is is a fickle as the wind, and just as hard pick up on sometimes.”

He narrowed his eyes ever so slightly at her implication of his affections laying elsewhere, and he had no intention of leaving any uncertain terms floating about.

“And whom may that be, it would seem that this is knowledge that everyone but me has.”

[Kingdom of Derita]

Andeja smiled at Oruk, the tips of his ears turning bright red. He liked her. He really did. She was so easy to get on with, how could he not. “You are too kind.” Andeja lead Oruk off of the dance floor over towards the waiting Jean. “And please, call he Andeja.”

Andeja however stopped when he saw his friend, usually so done up without a flaw or hair out of place looking rather disheveled, at least for him. He his hair was loose and he seemed a bit startled. “Is everything alright Jean?”

Siti opened her mouth to speak, but this time it was Cel who interrupted, finding it odd that Siti Muraty had joined their conversation. Siti’s family was so important in the city, it felt a bit like meeting a celebrity. She blushed slightly as she spoke.

“Well you said it yourself, you don’t think you need to know someone’s name to fall in love with them. Perhaps your philosophy is working better than you thought.” She said it with a laugh, meaning it as something of a joke.

Siti too laughed, though hers had a bit of a darker edge to it. “A great many people lead their lives by their hearts. I say let them. It makes for easy profit.”

[Colfico]

“Yes, unfortunately it does” Felix said, picking up on the dark edge in Siri’s statement, he turned his attention to Cel before saying “I suppose maybe you are right, I guess I may just have not realized it yet.”

However, despite turning his attention more towards Cel, he kept a careful eye on Siti, she was up to something, and he did not like where it seemed to be going. He knew he would have to stay on his toes so long as she was around.

“However, if so then I am sure that she is a kind, warm person, full of energy and always seeking to help others.”

He said this without any hesitation, and with genuine belief behind his words, even if it were meant to try and throw off the predator currently stalking him.

[Royal Genes]

Prince Frederick, seeing the crown prince and Princess Oruk leave the dance floor too made his way over. He had to figure out what had managed to happen between him leaving Andeja and Adela together has happy as two peas in a pod, to Andeja swirling Oruk around as if they were in some lovesick drama. And where had his cousin gone? He down another glass he made his way over, not quite sure what his plan was, though he was thrown off as he found Andeja fretting over Jean. Frederick crossed his arm, glancing over at the trio, his settling for looking at Oruk from the side.

“What happened here?”