Life in the capital of the Jenusian Empire settled into the same kind of tedium as my life back home. Every morning we would be woken up at dawn and we would have breakfast in the main hall before going off to learn from the Jenusian scholars who would teach us Rahlian, history, and as it would be today: manners. According to Goer the way the students behaved with each other was very rude by local standards, and that if we were to stay here for a long time, we would need to learn how to behave around those of higher station, lest we offend them. Our history classes touched on the subject of the governing system of Jenusia, and from what Goer told us, society is structured completely differently here compared to America. The Jenusian Empire is a feudal monarchy, with the emperor reigning supreme at the top of the hierarchy. The vassals of the emperor, the lords of the various fiefs throughout the empire, have quite a bit of autonomy and self-governance and certain laws that the emperors have passed do not apply in their own dominions. Even though the name of the country is an ‘Empire’ there is very little centralization, the vastness of the Jenusian Empire works against it and in order to properly protect the borders of the empire, the lords there have the final say, as they are in a better position to make decisions, as opposed to waiting for orders to arrive from the capital.
The normal people, the commoners, have very few rights and for all intents and purposes, are treated as property of the lord of the land. The peasants do not own the land that they farm, and as such have to pay part of their harvest to the local authority as a fee for the usage of ‘their’ land. Goer said that the tax rate for peasants in the vicinity of Krilos varies but it can go as high as eight-tenths of their yield. I could just imagine what an uproar there would be in America if the government tried to tax 80% of a citizens income.
Because the state is not centralized for lack of a better term, in many areas of the empire the people feel more loyalty to their own lords rather than the emperor. Goer told us of many conflicts that have occurred in the past, with the most recent one being only a decade ago. In such conflicts the common peasants are conscripted into a form of militia called ‘levies’. They were not provided with any weapons or armor and would have to fight with whatever they had on hand. Of course, many peasants owned weapons in order to protect themselves in times of peace, but this practice of conscripting civilians to fight as levies results in large casualties in times of war. The vastness of the Jenusian Empire lessens the burden of war, Goer spoke at length that if too many people die in war then the harvests are at risk, resulting in famine in many other parts of the continent. He himself has never had to experience a famine, as he was a son of a noble and as such, always had enough money to feed himself, but others he knew have suffered from the high price of food during hard times.
Gloria, my classmate, asked if the food that we ate in our compound was the same kind as the food that the common people do, to which Goer angrily asked if she was seriously asking him such a question. Goer, being a member of the nobility, did not seem to care much for the commoners, and I got the feeling that he detested them. He said that the average Jenusian survived on a diet of grains, vegetables, and rarely meat they could hunt or barter for. The food that we were provided for free, was apparently from the traditional cuisine that nobles would eat regularly. I already suspected as such, remembering the stale bread I ate on the journey to Krilos, but it seems some of the more naive classmates of mine still don’t understand that the prices of food in Jenusia most likely means that the majority of people’s time is spent working to buy food, or growing their own food.
The lesson on noble etiquette that Goer went through that day was markedly more tense and serious. I myself did not think such a lesson was that necessary as we ourselves did not come from noble backgrounds, meaning we would have little contact with nobles even if we were to stay here for a long time. But the emphasis that the Jenusians put on wanting even us, the students, to learn noble etiquette meant that they expected us to interact with the nobility of Jenusia more closely. Whether this was a good thing or a bad thing I can’t say, but it certainly begs the question; what do they want from us?
Goer himself seemed very overwhelmed with the mistakes that the students were making during the lesson, myself included. The fact that there are specific postures to remember and that certain postures are considered rude depending on whom you were speaking to was quite a headache. All the students plus Mr. Phillips spent the lesson on their feet with Goer acting as an instructor and watching us interact with one another making comments regarding our mistakes along the way. By the end of the class I hoped that this would be the only lesson in noble etiquette the Jenusians had in store for us but I had a sneaking suspicion this would not be the case.
Such was life in Krilos for myself and the other people from Earth for about two weeks, by the end of which my mind was extremely tired. The Jenusians did not seem to have a concept of weekends or days off and as such we ended up studying Rahlian, Jenusian history, and etiquette for almost twenty days straight. I could see it in the eyes of my roommates before bed, and the other students and teachers in the main hall during meals. This schedule of constant classes was taking a toll on all of us mentally. We weren’t being worked to the bone or anything, it’s just that without letting the mind rest for a while every now and then, the strain on our psyches increases.
Mr. Hendricks looked a lot more chipper this time around, having received some good news from the Jenusians. At the end of dinner he stood on the all too familiar stool and began to speak to the assembled students and teachers.
“Good evening everyone, as i’m sure you are all aware we have spent almost twenty days now in Jenusia and even though we have had some hard times recently I bring you now some good news for a change. Today a messenger came to me from Kuvira, and she said that the court scholars have found some information regarding our situation. Tomorrow will be a much appreciated day off for all of us. I implore you to rest for the first time in a while. I was told that myself and a few other teachers would be meeting with Kuvira tomorrow where she will reveal to us what she has found out. I hope that you all spend your time tomorrow wisely, and do not overexert yourselves on our first day off!” Mr. Hendricks finished.
His speech was meant by applause and positive vibes all around, I didn’t know what I would do personally as there were no books here that I could read on my day off, I might as well spend the whole day in bed relaxing as something was telling me the Jenusians are not going to give us many opportunities for rest in the future. As much as the Jenusians teachers are telling us that the intensity of the lessons was for our own benefit and that without all of this vital information we would find it hard to live in Jenusia, I did not believe them. Either it was my cynical mind, a gut feeling, or a combination of both. I felt that their intentions were very different from what they were letting on. The Jenusian government was preparing all of us for something, what that something is I couldn’t tell, but no matter how I see it, if they truly wanted to help us out they would not have us learning so intensely.
Max, Louis, and Leigh were making plans already for the upcoming day off and surprisingly they invited me to spend the day with them as well. This would certainly be something new. Perhaps by being brought to this completely different world I’d be able to make some friends for the first time, so I accepted not showing on my face how eager I was for some non-educational company. Even though my roommates were from the class below mine, I was only a year or so older than they were, how different could we be?
My roommates wanted to spend some time outside tomorrow, so I suppose we will be going to hang out in the garden that surrounds the whole compound. I went to bed that night feeling a calm that had escaped me for a long time, ever since we have come to Euphelia I would go to sleep worried about one thing or another. But knowing that tomorrow there would be no classes gave my mind some peace at last.
Late in the morning we were not woken up by the servants of the mansion for the first time, and when we all gathered in the main hall for what would be more of a lunch than breakfast, it seems we were not the only ones who decided to have a lie-in. The food tasted the same as it always did, there were definitely some spices and herbs used in Jenusian cuisine, but the flavors were more muted and dull than they were back home. I bet there was more flavor in a bag of doritos, than in the whole feast the students had for lunch.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
My roommates and I decided to go back to our room for a while to recover from the ungodly amount of food we just ate, as we all felt a bit more famished than usual today. While there I asked what they usually did back home when they had free time and it seems our interests were more alike than I initially assumed. Max was heavily into music and spent a lot of time listening to it or working on his own. Louis was someone who spent almost all of his free time playing video games and from what he told us, he had a computer back home that was worth more than his dad’s monthly salary. Leigh was a lot more laid back and just did whatever others invited him to do, from what he said he feels bored of things the more time he spends doing them so he has had phases where he is interested in many different things. I told my roommates about my interest in books, history, and that I played some video games here and there although I didn’t have an impressive rig like Louis. This devolved into all of us discussing which video games we played and it seems Louis was more upset about not having an opportunity to play a game that was about to come out one week after Athletics Day than he was about not having access to our daily necessities.
The day as a whole was very calming and cathartic as it had been quite some time since I last spoke about my interests with others in person. I had a few friends online who shared my interests but they either lived far away or in other countries entirely. While we were sitting in the grass in the garden, continuing our conversation about the hobbies we were missing from back home, I glanced at the palace on the hill that was miles away, wondering what the duplicitous Jenusians were telling our teachers.
***
Kuvira sat in the meeting room used for occasions when foreign dignitaries would come pay homage to the great Jenusian Empire, or when an important noble would make a rare visit to the royal capital. Today she would have to play her part to perfection, any slip in her amicable mask would make the summoned suspicious, this was something she would not allow to pass. She was already thinking about how exactly she was going to phrase the ‘revelation’ the court scholars supposedly found regarding them. To ease her nerves ever so slightly, she took another sip of tea that was imported from Yas, this blend has been her favorite for as long as she could remember, but it was only a few years ago that she found out that the cost of such tea meant that only the wealthiest of nobles and merchants could afford to drink it.
Exactly on time, the doors to the meeting room were opened and the delegation from the summoned entered. Kuvira has made sure to remember the names and faces of all of the teachers in the group, knowing that acting as a friend to them will allow her to control them with utmost efficiency.
“Good day to you all, I hope you all have been well during the past few days. I realize that you must be quite tired from the lessons that the scholars have been teaching you but I assure you, this is all for your benefit. I hope you come to understand that the more time you spend in our illustrious capital” She greeted her guests before gesturing for them to sit on the sofas around a meeting table in the center of the room.
The windows in the palace were of the highest quality for locally available glass, and as such it was as bright in this meeting room as it would have been if they were holding this meeting outside.
“We are well, just a bit worn out from all of the lessons. I know we spoke of this before but in our country there exist days of rest that the government mandates all people have, because otherwise people will not work as efficiently overall” Mr. Hendricks replied, hoping to make Kuvira understand the difficulties associated with non-stop learning.
Kuvira held her smile in the face of such comments, she did not need to think twice whether to change the schedule as the intense learning course all of the summoned were undergoing was not only there to make them as knowledgeable as possible in a short amount of time, but also to make sure the summoned would not have the time or energy to have idle thoughts regarding their situation.
“I assure you that I will speak with the Emperor and convince him that when you all manage to gain an acceptable level of understanding in regards to the matters we feel you should know, there will be no need for such an intense schedule” She replied.
Mr. Hendricks, Ms. Cardoza, and the other teachers seemed mollified by her response, but to Kuvira this was not a promise of any real action on her part. She only said she would speak with the Emperor, not that she would change how many lessons they were going to be holding.
“I have some news to tell you dear guests, unfortunately this is not regarding a means for you to return to your homeland, but rather information about your appearance in Euphelia and what it means for us” She began her explanation, the attention of all the teachers now completely focused on her next words.
“We were unable to find anything in our own royal archives, as the information stored there is only dated back to about a thousand years at the earliest, the Priesthood of Gera however has records dating back many millenia, and they were gracious enough to allow our scholars to peruse them. The language back then was very different from the Rahlian we know, and as such we could only understand certain passages and not the whole texts in their entirety. This was enough however, to tell us that it seems your appearance in the forest on that day may have been divine in nature” She proceeded with her explanation, keeping an eye on the facial expressions of the delegation, searching for a sign of anything that could give away their thoughts.
At the mention of the divine many of the teachers took on skeptical expressions, in the modern day when many ‘acts of god’ could be explained through science many people turn away from faith. In a medieval world however, it stands to reason that a belief in the divine is not only common, but necessary for ‘primitive’ societies to function. Ms. Cardoza gave Mr. Hendricks a not-too-believing look but he tried to convey to her that it would not be wise to offend Kuvira and her beliefs before she finished her explanation and as such he turned his gaze back to the enigmatic priestess.
“I myself was surprised to find this out. As I have mentioned before I am a trainee priestess of Gera but in my three years at the priesthood I have never heard of any scriptures discussing people appearing suddenly from a far away place. According to Grand Prelate Hoss who is the head of the priesthood, this information is only available to a select few in the upper echelons of the organization, which meant that I would have never known until a later point in time, I apologize to you all for my lack of knowledge” She accentuated her ‘remorse’ by bowing to them, playing on their emotions and hoping that her ‘sincere’ words would make them more believable.
The teachers immediately broke into a chorus of apologies and comfortings, in all their dealings with Kuvira this was the first time she has not acted with complete confidence and to them this event signified that her words were not just religious ramblings but verifiable information. After all, they have already seen fire sprout out of her hand and such a thing would not be possible back on Earth, perhaps some divine entity or entities did really exist here.
“I thank you for your understanding, I will continue now with my explanation” She paused here, catching her breath in order to give her next words a lot more gravitas.
“According to ancient scriptures dating back at least 1200 years ago, there was an instance where a similar occurrence to yours happened. A dozen people appeared in a country whose name is long-forgotten. These people were strange and spoke of being tasked with delivering knowledge and salvation upon the people of Euphelia, they possessed powers and an intellect hitherto unheard of. It was a very volatile time for most of the continent and these messengers led a campaign of vengeance against the unjust and cruel kingdoms of the time, freeing multitudes of people from tyranny. The scriptures refer to these people as messengers of gods and it is written that after their mission was complete they returned to the realm of the gods to live on for eternity as demigods” She ended her tale on a blissful note, hoping to entice the delegation with the promise of divinity at the end of their lives. After all, in her estimation everyone longed for immortality.
Some of the teachers still did not understand why Kuvira was sharing this information with them, it seemed that the people from her story were unlike themselves, they did not receive any sort of divine mission or any powers after all, perhaps she was telling them a tale which had a non-literal interpretation? If so, many were still confused by its meaning.
“I apologize in advance if this is a rude thing to ask, but what does the tale of these messengers have to do with us? You have traveled with us from Thacks to Krilos, and you have seen the kids that make up our group. We have not manifested any sort of powers, nor have any of us heard any message from a god.” Ms. Cardoza asked demurely, hoping Kuvira would not take offense to her questioning a religious story.
“It is no offense whatsoever my dear, it is just that after we have consulted with the priesthood of Gera regarding your origins, they believe that you are alike to the messengers of the gods who appeared in the distant past. Grand Prelate Hoss himself stated that the messengers of the past appeared in a time when such divine guidance was desperately needed, and that they appeared at the very epicenter of the chaos. You appearing in the Irid Forest, which according to our beliefs is a sacred place for the Goddess Gera, means that perhaps you were sent here to aid us in a time of great need, divine messengers” She finished speaking, looking at the delegation in fabricated wonder.