Cold mornings were an often accurance in this city surrounded by mountains. Often fogy, but never windy, and always misty. However, the sun they did not lack, it was always there, bringing a dash of warmth, hope for the upcoming day. Many loved waking up early because of this, some a lot more then others, one of them was the Holy priest of Imperial temple, who spent every early morning on the front porch of his house, relaxing in a rocking chair with a Holy Book in his hands, reading and enjoying every morning like this one.
Hidden on the edge of imperial grounds, on the entrance to the road leading to the temple, this house served as a border between religion and monarchy, that border proudly protected the Holy priest like a knight in shiny armour. Only his armour was the Holy Book in his hands and knowledge he possessed from it. His opponent could, however, be hard to find, for a worthy match for him the opponent needed to be skilled as he is. If there is someone worthy of those characteristic, fighting would be meaningless, for they could not ever replace each other. They both served a different purpose and that is the way God created them, each special in their own way.
On this cold morning like every other, a woman was approaching this sacred border. She walked alone, not by path she went, but by turquoise grass spreading all around, both the house and the temple that could be seen in the distance in front off it. Her walk is graceful, soft like it is the clouds she is walking on.
On could mistake her for a ghost by the way she was moving, but if you looked closer, better would be to mistake her for an angle.
She is no other then the Empress of the Sun, Thalia de Romanet.
The Holy priest didn't need to look her way in order to know who was approaching the house. On of his status could not call himself the Holy priest if he were to fail to feel the presence of a lady such as her.
The Empress climbed on the porch and sat in an empty rocking chair next to the priest.
,,Hello.'' She said in her soft voice that always blessed the ears.
The priest turned his head to look at her and grace her with a smile. ,,Hello Your Majesty.''
She smiled in return and shook her head slightly, as she always does when he calls her that.
,,What brings you here so early in the morning?" He asked curiously. For an elder man like him it was not unusual to be awake in this early hour before even the preparation for the morning mass were about to start, but for he it was unusual. Especially because she came to visit him so early in the morning.
,,I came to greet you, my priest." She turned to look at the temple that was sparkling in the morning sun.
,,I gladly receive your greetings and gladly return them Your Majesty. But truly, what is it that brings you here on such a lovely day?" He closed the Holy Book he was reading and gave a concerned look to the lady next to him. She always came to him when there was trouble and yet she was always resistant when when the actual moment to share them came. The silence wasn't long, but hard to bear it was. Something very heavy was in the air surrounding them. Even the overall look of the Empress next to him was unusual, she was dressed quit simply, only in a blue dress and short cape on her shoulders to keep her warm in this cold morning. If there was one fact everyone knew about this beloved Empress, is that she was always dressed with elegance and style like no other has ever seen in this land before. Large dresses in various different colours and styles, gloves made out of best silk, shoes of the finest leather made by finest craftsman in all the empire. Her hair was always decorated with jewels, even thou they were often hard to see in her blonde hair. So to see her like this was quit an odd sight.
,,I had a dream last night," she began. ,,A bad dream it was, a very bad one." No further explanation did the high priest need in order to understand her. ,,I feel something bad is coming our way and it is coming fast." Now it was clear why she came to him, the Holy priest felt it too. Something bad is bound to happen. But if you were to ask anyone besides those two if anyone felt like something bad is going to happen, they would call you crazy. They would tell you that this is the most beautiful and most peaceful time to live in. The empire was blooming, people were safe, there was no sickness, there was no death. They had fully recovered from long war that ended thirteen years ago. There was peace and everybody liked peace.
So why would something bad happen now?
Everything good is happening now, that is how it shall stay.
Luckily those two weren't just anyone. The Holy priest, highest in order of gods, known by performing a miracle so divine nobody would thought it was real if there were not witnesses. The priest, in his young days, when he was just a young man studying to become a priest in a small temple hidden deep in the woods of Southern empire, far away from this place, performed an reincarnation. He brought back to life a small still born baby, born in the house in which the nuns of the temple lived. This child belonged to an woman who came to the temple looking for shelter after long days she spent wondering the woods. Her labour began shortly after stepping inside the temple, it was slow and painful, the whole day it took for her baby to be born. She unfortunately passed away not long after her baby was born, but she was not only one cursed with death. Her baby also died, it was born dead. Until the priest brought her back to life, but then ran away with the baby, some say to save her from suffering life of fame and him from suffering life of sainthood. Performance of this miracle was spread wildly by a nun who witnessed it happen, she spent all her life looking for the priest that ran away after performed the miracle. Because of her story, he is now the Holy priest of the Arthenian empire.
And the baby he ran away with, a small girl who's mother died at birth, was now sitting beside him, alive and well, like she was always meant to be. Empress Thalia was that baby, but not many learned that and it good that they didn't. However the life of fame she failed to escape, besides her past she is now known as the Holy maiden for another reason. Her ability to read the sacred text in which the Holy books were written. The only one possessing this ability is she and the very reason religion spread through the empire and beyond.
Twelve books that she had translated during her life now were studied in every temple in the empire. Not only was she the possessor of this devein gift, her heart was pure, she had knowledge and dedication for religion that she cared for dearly. It is said that even a non believer will be turned in god obeying man once he hears her speak the Holy text written in the books.
So it is with no doubt obvious why both of them took this matter very seriously.
,,I do understand what are you implying Your Majesty. Could you tell me what it was you dreamed about?'' The Holy priest said.
,,I lack the words to describe it, but I do know this: It will come true." You could feel it in her voice, the fear. ,,To tell the truth I came here today to ask something from you," the Empress turned to look at him. ,,I wish something good would happen before the bad comes, my only you, my priest, can grant me. I ask you as an empress, as a mother and as a person wishing you only the best. But I fear this must come out as an order rather then a question. Please understand my intentions are pure and honest like they always were.'' She looked at him and you could see, in her blue eyes light like the sky above, the glow rarely seen. ,,Grant my son the title of Crown prince.''
Prince Iyan de Romanet, firstborn child of Her Majesty the Empress and His Majesty the Emperor, was now sixteen years in age, same as his father when he came to rule. Unlike his father, the prince was not granted the title of Crown prince upon his birth. Because only man were ever born in the royal family there was a protocol by which kings chose who would inherit the throne. When both sons reached the age of eighteen their father, the king, would chose who is to rule after him. Now even thou one of Romanet children was a girl, same protocol still implied. So the heir to the throne of this still newly proclaimed empire could be a girl, the first princess of royal blood ever to be born, Neftali.
That was beyond dangerous. Because of that there is now a possibility of another blood line coming to rule trough the marriage to the princess. Already there were whispers among nobles. Who should rule this land now that it became an empire and are Romanets still worthy of that task?
The Empress knew her daughter was not foolish enough to accept the hand of any man that would offer her love, either real or fake, besides she was to young to marry. But Thali did not trust the man of court, nobles who sat beside her husband, the same ones that were known to plot ways to dethrone him ever since he came to rule after his late fathers death. There was too great of a risk lurking upon all of them, the influence they had on her husband's mind.
She as the Empress had little power over such matters, but little is still something and the Holy priest was her only way to use that little power she possessed. Even if the court doesn't come to approve of her suggestion, the Holy priest can still crown her son, for he has the upper hand in these matters. Same as he could refuse to fulfil this task at all. Without the approval of gods by their messenger on earth no heir can be crowned officially. The court doesn't have a say against gods.
So tomorrow, when the official high court comes to meet, on the annual six-month hearing, the Empress will propose her suggestion to them.
Both rulers of the Arthenian Empire have an equal right to propose a suggestion that will be granted for certain. The court votes in order or favour of each and in the end they decide who's proposal should be granted. Only one of them can be granted, not both.
Until now, the Empress never presented a proposal before the court, always letting her husband take the lead. Never did she truly have power to do so anyways, but he always talked to her about it, all his ideas, they would discus them together before the court took place, working on choosing the best decision for him to present. But this year the Emperor didn't come to her for advice, truly he was doing it less and less as the years passed. The power is finally reaching him, like it reached every ruler before him. Now the Empress fears what his suggestion might be. Nothing good, she speculates.
,,I shall do as you wish Your Majesty."
,,Thank you from the bottom of my heart."