Yuer wasn’t certain for how long he had been waiting but eventually, a simple, unmarked darkwood carriage trotted its way toward the backside of the residence. He didn’t wait for it to stop and instead, went and intercepted it. The driver was a middle-aged man with the most forgotable of faces. Yuer remarked that the man would make quite the formidable spy with such a naturally plain countenance. The driver threw him a brief glance and said nothing. Instead, he tipped his chin in the direction of Sakina, who was seated inside. Under the heavy tail of his cloak, Yuer invoked his Earth Echo. Several little stones rose from the ground and he used them to hop on the carriage. After settling within his seat. Yuer willed the little stones to crumple and be swallowed back into the earth. The carriage moved on.
Sakina saluted him with a bowed head then proceeded to whisper, “I took a little detour with the driver before coming here. I wanted to take a look at the main entrance doors. As expected, they were crowded with servants and guards. The residence’s official carriage was waiting, along with the side carriage. It looks like esteemed Dasi and esteemed Dasiri are departing together.”
Yuer nodded, “Good.” A strong tap interrupted their conversation. Yuer shot Sakina a look and instructed, “To the Zaradate Temple.” Sakina’s brows furrowed in askance before she curtly nodded. She pulled the carriage’s curtain aside, relayed their destination to the driver before quietly settling back into her seat.
Silence blanketed the inside of the rocking carriage before Yuer decided to break it, “You can ask, you know. I won’t admonish you for it.”
Sakina instantly retorted, “I wouldn't dare.”
“Sakina.” Yuer sighed.
“Yes, master?” The young girl bowed her head slightly as she answered. Her conduct was that of a perfectly subservient and unruffled servant.
“I’m giving you permission right now to ask me any number of questions. So, ask away.” She opened her mouth but Yuer cut her off, “You are not allowed to weasel your way out of this. I ordered you to ask me questions so that is what you will do.”
Sakina hesitated for a while. Her lips wordlessly mulled over the many questions she truly wanted to ask her young master. Yuer let her take her time. He knew well enough how difficult it was for Sakina to open up about her personal thoughts and feelings. She was raised in a way that made her hard-pressed to strip away all things that would distinguish her as a person of her own right. The Shefrin, in particular, were dogmatized into senseless deference the moment they learned to walk. Language that was spoken to them in tones other than orders and commands unsettled them. This injustice to their very dignity as living people was no fault of theirs.
Even the Zaradate Temple, for all their benevolent and flowery language, did not allow the shefrin into the ranks of their Kumatani. They also refused them conscription into the Helisari order. The entirety of the Semani Empire was build upon this notion of lessers and betters. It wouldn’t change now and it wouldn't change for many years to come. Yuer decided to change his line of thoughts and threw a glance at Sakina, only to find her brown gaze already fixed on him.
It was impossibly rare for Sakina to meet his gaze head on and not look away. The first true, genuine smile to ever paint his lips since he woke up to this new lifetime broke across Yuer’s face.
Seemingly encouraged by his good mood, Sakina mustered up her tenacity before asking, “Why the Zaradate Temple? Esteemed young master must know how strict esteemed Dasi is about your visits to the Temple. Aside from religious ceremonies and certain festivities, esteemed young master is prohibited from setting foot into the Temple.”
“True. But have you ever wondered why?” Yuer pressed.
Sakina seemed to think her own answer over before replying, “I believe esteemed Dasi is particular about your visits because he doesn’t wish for the Kumatani or the Helisari to influence your thoughts on certain matters.”
Yuer’s smile stretched into a satisfied smirk. He had always known how intelligent of a person Sakina was, even at such a young age. Truthfully, she was far more intelligent than he ever was. Of that, there had never been any questions. Her only fault was her strong attachment to the notion of loyalty. Had she abandoned him to his fate back then, she could have saved herself instead of dying in a pool of murky waters for the sake of a useless person such as himself. Yuer did not know to fix this fatal flaw of hers this time around and, truth to be told, he wasn’t sure he wanted to.
“And what certain matters would they be?” He looked at her, his stare testing how far she would allow him to take this line of conversation.
Sakina bit down her lip, hard. Her eyes were growing nervous.
Yuer supported his elbow on the carriage’s window and rested his chin in the palm of his hand. He slowly began to tap his fingers against his cheek, “Whatever you are thinking, you can say it. It is only you and I in here. The driver is an unblessed person so he cannot hear our conversation unless we want him to hear it.”
“Esteemed Dasi doesn’t wish for esteemed young master to visit the Temple because he…” She paused a bit before continuing, “Because he fears the retaliation of his imperial majesty, the Rezas.”
“So you knew.” Yuer chuckled, self-deprecation dripping off of his tone, “but then, you have always known. The idiot have always been me.”
“Esteemed young master has never been an idiot!” Sakina snapped, her previously nervous eyes burned with unprecedented indignation, “Your esteemed self has chosen to trust in the man who is your sire. Esteemed master is good-natured and kind. He doesn’t understand the murky, unclean waters of politics.”
Yuer blinked few times, taken aback by the intensity of Sakina’s unwarranted temper. He had always known that Sakina held great affection for him, mostly born out of gratitude and a sense of indebtedness. After all, he did save her life back in the day. She had been crawling through the streets of the Under-city, starved and on the verge of death. He took her in into his home in a whim and in the end; she did repay his impulsive kindness with her life.
Yuer looked at this wisp of a young girl and fondness spread its warmth through his worn-out heart. He had to remind himself that this Sakina before him was but a fourteen summers old little girl. She had yet to grow up, she had yet to blossom into the incredible woman he once knew. He and Sakina were a fated pair who had been through a lifetime of bitterness together. He owed her a life and a life he must return.
Amidst the many smirking vipers in the Malhada’s palace, Sakina had been Yuer's sole true support. Her ingenuity toward him, her honest care for him, those were the most precious of things he ever held. Back then, she had never been a mere servant to him. She had been a friend and she had been family. The day he lost her in the damned lair of that cursed golden beast, nothing had been the same again. He had yet to make that monster pay for this one debt he awed him, among many, many others.
Yuer, however, didn’t know what to do with this pleasant, warm feeling that rose from the dredges of his heart due to Sakina’s uncharacteristic outburst. He thought he would no longer be able to feel such things but looking at his old friend being so indignant on his behalf, he decided to hold on into this feeling a little longer. Thus, he played the fool and didn’t comment on what seemed as atypical sensitivity on Sakina’s part. Instead, he decided to press on with their earlier talk.
“I’m sure you are also aware that the clan head is planning to sell me off to the Malhada during this upcoming harem Selection.” Yuer tilted his head to the right, dredging up recollections from the unpleasant corners of his past life. Earlier when he was putting on his boots, he did notice the bruises of varying shades on both of his feet. Some of the fingers were uncomfortably swollen and the skin of their toes looked tender and irritated. Naturally, he had his beloved consort mother to thank for them. She had him practice the Red Dawn dance for the whole of the ninth month, every three candle-hours of the day.
Back in his past life, Yuer heeded her instructions wholeheartedly because he believed her sternness toward him to stem out of genuine concern. He used to look up to her. He had envied her assertiveness, her decisiveness and commanding bearing. People tended to yearn for what they lacked most, so in a way he did unwittingly put her on a pedestal.
He still remembered the day she sent off to the palace of the Malhada in startling clarity. At the doors of the Ayaseen residence, she wiped off his tears, squeezed him in her embrace and told him to be happy.
She dared to say that to him, right to his face when she knew, when she had always known the kind of man Jarak Reznali was underneath his polished face. And yet, she still sent him off to that monster and even told him to be….happy.
Later, when Jarak ascended the throne, Yuer’s mental health had deteriorated so badly that he could neither eat nor sleep. All the letters he risked life and limb to send to her seemed to somehow never reach her servants. It was at that stage he realized how a big of a fool he had been his entire life.
The Ugafir flowers of the palace’s inner gardens had always held a special place in Yuer’s memories. Why ? Because they never failed to remind him of this particular woman. Those white, lovely-looking flowers had toxic stems hidden underneath the soil in which they grow. Unseeingly, the Ugafir would insert its poisonous stems into nearby plants, steadily cutting off their ability to absorb nutrients. Once the plants began to crumple and die, The Ugafir would start to feast upon their dying bodies from the inside. Those callous, cannibalistic flowers were the most fitting analogy for the esteemed Dasiri of his clan head. Nonetheless, Yuer was most grateful to her for the many lessons she had taught him. Her insidious and ruthless ways would benefit him a great deal in the days to come.
According to Sakina, today was the twenty ninth day of the ninth month. The harem Selection Banquet took place on the first day of the sixth month in his previous lifetime. So if things were to remain unchanged. Yuer had precisely today and tomorrow to take certain measures.
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“Does esteemed young master oppose the idea?” Sakina spoke, “I know the Law of the First decrees that an Alikana-marked cannot be bonded outside of Reznali blood. His imperial majesty, the Rezas, is far too old for your esteemed self; he is also an already bonded man. However, the Malhada is a distinguished and illustrious person. According to what I have heard from the residence servants, he has the gentlest temper out of all his brothers. People on the market streets say he is pleasant-looking and kind.” She pensively fingered the cuffs of her robes before adding, “I think since esteemed young master can’t escape this one fate, then wouldn’t the Malhada be the most fitting choice? His mild temperament and esteemed young master’s thoughtful disposition would be well suited.”
Her young master froze for a bit before he tilted his head her way. His face was strangely devoid of any emotions and his eyes were so chillingly flat that they might as well be dead. Then, as if she had imagined it all, a smile so brilliant it nearly blinded her senses broke across her master’s face, “Yes, indeed. He and I are most suited.”
Sakina’s heart thumped madly against her chest. She didn’t know what it was exactly but for a moment there, her master scared her. Since he woke up yesterday and asked her for his esteemed concubine mother’s mirror, her master had been behaving somewhat...odd. She had been by his side since he was eight summers old. She knew all his moods, quirks and habits. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that she knew him better than anyone else in the entire Ayaseen residence.
But lately, she had been having this strange and nagging feeling as if something had happened to her master. She was too scared to even think it out but sometimes her master felt like he wasn’t himself. He didn’t behave his age. Other times when he talked or when he was thinking, it felt to her like his mind was somewhere else, somewhere that wasn’t...here.
Sakina shook her head, as if trying to dispel those bizarre thoughts. Maybe she shouldn’t have stepped out of bounds and spoke her mind? But then, her master ordered her that as long as they were in this carriage, she was to talk to him freely.
“What about the fourth Reznal? Don’t you think he would make a suitable choice as well?” Yuer asked.
Sakina thought her young master must be jesting but when a moment passed and he offered neither a chuckle nor a smile; she realized that his question was in all seriousness.
“I know esteemed young master doesn’t like to leave the residence often so you might have not heard of this but his highness, the fourth Reznal, is…hmm…” Sakina struggled for a bit, trying to find the suitable words which wouldn’t offend her master’s ears, “he enjoys drinking… a lot. He also has a notorious reputation for preferring the company of…what one would call men and women of pleasure.”
“Is it that so?” her master lifted his fine, dark eyebrows in askance. “But don’t half the Dasra also enjoy the company of what one would call men and women of pleasure? I’m sure our esteemed Dasi had sampled some of them here and there.”
Sakina nearly choked on her own breath at her master’s words. She stared, wide-eyed, at him as if he had grown an additional head.
Yuer countered her unbelieving stare with a small, sly smile. “What? Can’t I speak of such things? Or maybe you are thinking, how can, my esteemed master, a twice-blessed person, sully his tongue with such crude talk?”
Sakina was dumbfounded, “Esteemed young master, this is…..”
“Sakina. It’s alright.” Yuer shrugged, “I may be an Alikana-marked but I am also a man. I can’t have lived to this age and not have known some of these matters. I am to be bonded in matters of days. Sexual intimacy and bonding come hand in hand, don’t they?”
Sakina didn’t know how to refute her master when he spoke so reasonably but she couldn’t let go of the matter just yet, “Esteemed young master. This matter, it will be taught to you by the Kumatani on the day prior to your bonding ceremony. Your esteemed self is an Alikana-marked person. This means that everything pertaining to your sacred personage must to be sanctioned by the holy Tewekaga himself, specially the matter of your bonding. In this sense, you are bound to the laws and the customs of the Zaradate Temple.”
The young girl’s tone grew more serious as she added, “The Law of the First does restrict your esteemed self’s bonding choices to the Reznali but as long as the Temple stands, not even the Rezas himself can force esteemed master’s hand on whom to choose. So, your esteemed self must choose wisely. The fourth Reznal, although jovial and lighthearted, might not be the best choice. Bonding is a lifelong vow, esteemed master must choose the man who can make him happy, and who would keep him so for many years to come.”
Yuer stared at Sakina for a while. He wished he could her that the fourth Reznal, she had found so ill-suited for him, was the smartest young man in the entire Reznali clan. He wished he could tell her that Temple would stand for no more than few years before it would collapse to the ground. He wished he could tell her that the Malhada she believed to be mild, kind and gentle was but a beast in human’s skin. He also wished he could tell her that no man in this entire world could make him happy or keep him so. He wished he could tell her that broken glass, even if glued back together, can never be what it was again. Alas, he could not tell her any of those things so instead he said, “I understand. I promise to think on what you said.”
Sakina nodded, seemingly pleased with herself for deterring her young master’s from unwise choices.
At this conjecture, the carriage halted. Sakina parted the carriage room’s curtains and stuck her head out. Her brown gaze met the driver’s as the latter placed a portable set of darkwood stairs against the door. She turned back to Yuer and announced, “Esteemed young master, we have arrived.”
Yuer lowered his hood before getting off the carriage. Sakina followed closely behind him. Yuer turned back to the driver and said, “Wait here.” The middle-aged nodded, leaned his body against the carriage and folded his hands.
The pair briskly walked toward a gigantic, gold-marbled plaza upon which three triangular towers sat. The towers were painted in startling white. Their heaven-piercing peaks were encircled in suspended, gold-colored rings constructed of Light Echo. Beside each tower’s entrance, there was a pair of colossal white pillars. Huge, gold-colored banners were hanged down the structures. The sound of the wind beating against their fabric could be heard from afar. The banners bore the crest of the Zaradate Temple, a single circle of pure white. This circle was meant to symbolize the moon. The Sacred Records spoke that the day the Mahatir ascended to the realm of mortals; she pulled down the sun from the heavens and had the moon rise in its stead. It was not a mere coincidence that the Reznali had long chosen the sun as their official crest. It had always been in their blood, the desire to challenge and provoke even the gods.
Men and women in long, white robes scattered about the place. Some held books and scrolls tightly to their chests as they hurried along to wherever they wanted to be. Others stood in circles as they practice Light Echo control and chanted some passage or another from the Scared Records. Those were the Kumatani, the backbone of the Zaradate Temple. Amidst the sea of white robes, there would be the occasional glint of silver. Men and women armored in plated-argent would stride across the plaza, the clanking of their heavy armor audible even among all the hustle and bustle. Their golden cloaks fluttered behind them as they walked, trembling against the wind like wings. The white of the moon sown into the fabric of their capes was easy to glimpse amidst the gold. Those were the Helisari order, the shield of the Temple.
Sakina and Yuer reached the middle tower and stopped at its entrance. A stoic-looking Helisari warrior marched toward them. She scrutinized their hooded figures with her dark, deep eyes before she stretched an armored hand out, “Token.”
The middle tower was not a public building because it was where the Tewekaga resided. Therefore, without an entrance token, no one would be allowed inside. Those tokens could be only obtained through senior Kumatani or Helisari commanders.
Yuer fished out the token that the Tewekaga had gifted him during his coming of age ceremony. He handed it to the Helisari woman to inspect.
She was startled by whatever she saw engraved on the token and rushed to bow on one knee. Yuer held her hand to stop her. She looked up at him, her dark eyes brimming with reverence and veneration.
“No. Don’t alert the others. No one must know I came here.”
She nodded, rising to her feet. Instead, she greeted him with a hand against her heart. She patted her chest twice before dipping a chin in a shallow curtsy.
Yuer acknowledged her greeting with a curt nod and followed her into the tower. Sakina tagged wordlessly behind them.
The Helisari warrior led them to an expansive, marbled hall. Banners of the Temple hang from the white walls. Golden orbs of Light Echo floated underneath the ceiling, like hanging lanterns. White stairs,elegant and bereft of any form of railing, curved their way into the floor above them.
Yuer had been to the Temple once in his past life. It was after his bonding and because the Tewekaga personally requested his visit. The Tewekaga, then, led him to a secret structure underneath the middle tower, where the eyes of the Rezas could not follow.
Yuer turned to the Helisari warrior and said in a low voice, “I will wait for his Holiness here.”
She nodded her understanding. Before leaving, she offered, “Then please, take a seat while you wait. I will inform his Holiness.”
Yuer and Sakina walked to a corner of the hall where a table and several chairs were arranged. They seated themselves and waited.
Yuer used the opportunity to lean his head against the chair and think. This year was year 1552 of the Solis calendar. Jarak ascended the throne in 1559. In the seven years in-between, he built an intricate network of capable subordinates, mostly young men and women of common blood as well as ill-favored immigrants, Dasrari and even Shefrin. He established an alliance with the Aknar, an underground order of Echo Listeners. Naer Ayaseen had all the credit for facilitating this association. The Aknar and Naer went on to help Jarak achieve many things including the framing of both of his brothers, Sinrad and Ivak. The former he framed for treason and the latter for rebellion.
He also turned his third brother, Mayir, and his strong maternal clan, the Feimari, against each other. The conflict ended with the suicide of Mayir’s concubine mother and her clan’s subsequent extermination. At that stage, Mayir went mad. So, Jarak had him sent off to the Reniqia Isles for ‘recuperation’. In the summer of the year 1558, he started to feed his father slow-acting poison. The old Rezas died five months later.
As for the collapse of the Zaradate Temple, Jarak had the Tewekaga send to the netherworld by the hands of his most favored disciple, Tamine Nakari. Jarak had recruited the young man long before he entered the Temple. He had him infiltrate the middle tower and steadily win over the trust of the Tewekaga so that he could know his every move. At that point, the Temple was barely hanging on to its authority. The Helisari were the least in numbers they had ever been and they couldn’t afford a direct military confrontation with the much more numerous Reznali arms.
However, once an already weakened eagle lost its head, the talons and the wings would naturally follow. Chaos entered the ranks of the Kumatani and many of them defected to the Malhada out of desire for survival. The Helisari held on until the end but most of them were ultimately slaughtered by Reznali arms during the bloody civil clash that took place in the winter of 1558. By the time the new year of 1559 rolled in, Jarak was officially crowned the new Rezas of the Semani Empire. A month later, Yuer died on the hunting gardens of the palace. Prior to his death by few days, Yuer remembered that Sinrad and Ivak were still jailed at that point. Mayir was a banished madman. The Tewekaga was long dead. Naer Ayaseen was appointed the new Kejan and the Ayaseen clan rose from a middle-tier Dasrari clan to a prominent ally of the young Rezas.
Yuer was lost in his thoughts when a gentle, deliberate clearing of throat returned him back to his currently reality.
The Tewekaga stood a few paces away from him. The elderly man wore heavy white robes that dwarfed his aging and thin figure. The hems and the cuffs were trimmed in intricate, gold-colored threads. A golden sash was wrapped around his meager waist, keeping the robes from falling apart. A moon-shaped headdress, the color of gold, sat atop his white-grey hair. His failing, kind-looking eyes creased at the corners in genuine delight at seeing Yuer.
Yuer looked at this elderly man and one thought kept bouncing within the walls of his mind. Old man, you cannot die yet. This time around, you and I have a pact yet to sign.