The Journey - Part 12

Leiyu’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped. “I wasn’t expecting that, Your Highness.”

“Yes, they were good at keeping up appearances in public,” Prince Thallios said. “To any visitor of the palace, they would appear as nothing more than a king and his advisor. In fact, I would say they acted overly formal. But servants talk, and I, with nothing better to do, sometimes listen.”

“How did it happen?” Leiyu asked. The prince gave him a look. “Sorry, Your Highness, you don’t have to say if it’s too personal.”

The prince sighed. “I can talk about it. I don’t have all the details anyway. Only what I’ve observed and heard from others. But in order for any of it to make sense, I have to go back to the years after my mother’s passing, when my father was still in deep mourning. He pretty much locked himself in his chambers and refused to go out unless it was necessary. I heard that he caused quite an uproar at one of the High Council meetings when one of the ministers suggested that he get over his malaise by marrying again. I don’t know what happened to that minister. I hope he wasn’t punished too severely.”

Leiyu gulped.

The prince continued. “After that incident, my father refused to attend any more High Council meetings and retreated even more into isolation. The servants whispered that he had the court artists create a mosaic of my mother in his chambers. It was only that final day when we left the palace that I finally saw it with my own eyes.”

The prince took a deep breath. “During the five years after my mother’s passing, the palace was rather silent. There were no Summer Festival celebrations, or any festivities really. The ministers took care of governing the empire, and I was raised by servants. As I’ve mentioned earlier, the Palace Elder brought along Izel to help with my tutoring. I was about thirteen when the Palace Elder finally stepped down as my main tutor and let Izel teach me all my lessons.”

“Your Highness, pardon me for interrupting, but you mentioned earlier that he came from a village where no one could read.”

“Ah yes, I did. He only learned to read after entering the palace. He mentioned once that he had started off as a regular servant, washing dishes and clothes, but somewhere along the line, the Palace Elder taught him to read, and started assigning him to recordkeeping. The Palace Elder also let him access the library, and he spent his time there when he was done with his daily duties. Then of course, he started his tutoring duties.”

“How long was he your tutor?”

“As my main tutor, between when I was thirteen and fifteen. It seems like a short time, but he taught me a lot during those two years, even though I often acted like I wasn’t listening. And the odd thing was, even though he was a servant, there was something different about his demeanor. Most of the other servants just did whatever I asked of them and would act highly deferential. But Izel would challenge me, albeit subtly because he still had to stay within his social role.

For example, with the history lessons, I told him to his face that they were boring and that I didn’t understand why I had to memorize all these people and dates. He said that it was important for a future ruler to understand the past in order to govern well. Also told me to think of history not as a dull list of dates, but as a perpetual push and pull between different factions fighting over the same scarce resources.”

“Hmm, that makes a lot of sense,” Leiyu said. “Reminds me of the border conflicts between the Northern steppes and the Eastern Region.”

Prince Thallios turned and edged closer. “Oh? I’d be interested in hearing about that. I studied a little bit of the history of the other regions, but not in great detail.”

“Um, I don’t really have too much to say, since I haven’t really ‘studied’ this. I’m no scholar. But I have lived in both places, so I know how the Easterners view the Northerners and vice versa.”

“How do they view each other?”

“These aren’t my own views of course, but a lot of Easterners see the Northern nomads as uncivilized. They look down on them for not living in ‘proper’ houses and for not having any culture. The nomads also used to raid the Eastern towns that bordered their steppes to get things that they could not make themselves.”

“Oh, that doesn’t sound good.”

“It really isn’t, so I’m not defending the Northerners who took part in those raids. But I traveled to the steppes and lived among them for a year. They were quite welcoming since I didn’t pose a threat, and I was willing to learn their ways. And it’s definitely not true that they don’t have a culture, no matter what the people back home say. They may not have had fancy palaces, painted scrolls, or thick books full of classic poetry, but they had their legends, songs, and dances.”

Prince Thallios’ eyes lit up. “I’d like to see their dances.”

Leiyu smiled. “It’s very different from the one you did at-” He stopped. “Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t mention it.”

“Oh no, it’s fine. It is painful to think about, since it’s all gone now, but I still cherish the good memories.”

“Anyway, I think we’ve gotten very off topic.”

Prince Thallios sighed. “True. I was supposed to be talking about those rumors. Well, back to Izel. One time when I was around fifteen years old, I was daydreaming during a history lesson and Izel was trying to get me to pay attention. The Palace Elder showed up looking for him, and I was more than happy to end my lessons early, so I told Izel that he could handle his more important matters first. I ran off, but then hung around the corner to see if I could overhear their conversation.”

“Eavesdropping?” Leiyu said.

“Erm, yes, I know I shouldn’t have.”

“It’s fine, I do it all the time, Your Highness. Can’t be helped since my hearing is so sharp.”

“Anyway, I overheard the Palace Elder tell Izel that my father’s health was deteriorating and that he was now refusing to eat while staying locked up in his chambers. He asked Izel if he could help out by playing music for my father, since he used to enjoy it very much back when my mother was still alive. I actually didn’t know that, since I spent most of my time with her when I was young.”

“So did he play music for His Majesty?”

“He did. Izel was a skilled barbat player. Taught me how to play actually. He didn’t mention it much, but from that day on, he would arrange all our lessons in the morning. I’m assuming he did that so his afternoons would be free to play music for my father.”

“Did it work?” Leiyu asked. When the prince shot him a confused look, Leiyu elaborated, “I mean, did His Majesty get better?”

“I believe so. I think they might have hit a plateau at some point, since I heard from the Palace Elder that my father was deteriorating again. I’m not sure what happened there, but I remember Izel becoming more unfocused when he was trying to tutor me. However, whatever obstacle they ran into, it seemed to not last more than a week, since Izel went back to normal after that, and I overheard from the Palace Elder that my father was eating again. Eventually, I overheard very surprising news from the other servants that my father was spotted strolling in the gardens with Izel accompanying him. Some time after that, I heard that he returned to the High Council meetings after many years of not attending. The biggest shock to everyone was that he brought Izel along, and told the ministers that Izel was his new advisor, Lord Oganesson.”

“That’s…quite a story,” Leiyu remarked.

“Yes, indeed. Again, I don’t have all the details. I hadn’t spoken to my father in all those years, and I didn’t want to pry when Izel was tutoring me, so I had to gather all this information from servants’ gossip. Izel eventually stopped tutoring me anyway. I think he didn’t have time since he was now my father’s advisor. He did tell me to continue my studies on my own and to make good use of the library.”

“Oh, is that why you brought me to the library that one time?”

Prince Thallios laughed. “Yes, I suppose, although that book I showed you was one Izel would have thought was too fanciful. But apparently the Sword of Ages is real…”

“So…I am a little afraid to ask, how did the rumors start that His Majesty and his advisor were…”

“Lovers?”

Leiyu nodded timidly. “I mean, them spending a lot of time around each other and His Majesty granting him the new title could imply it, but not for sure, unless there was something else-”

“Oh, there was. The servants gossiped very much about this. They said that Izel stopped staying in the servants’ quarters. Part of this was their own doing, since they started treating him differently once he started spending more time around my father. Especially once he became my father’s advisor.”

“If he wasn’t staying in the servants’ quarters, where was he staying?”

“Leiyu, do you remember when Izel led us to my father’s chambers that last day in Ishkhandar?”

“Yes.”

“He had the key to my father’s chambers, since he unlocked the door. Very few people have access to my father’s chambers. My mother probably did, although I can’t tell for sure since she was always in her own chambers. The Palace Elder does, since he used to check in on my father when his health was deteriorating. But the Palace Elder stayed in the servants’ quarters.”

“Are you saying that Lord Oganesson was staying with His Majesty?”

“That’s what all the rumors were about.”

Leiyu turned his head and stared at the ceiling. This is way more information than I needed to know about royals’ lives. His head began to throb. He turned back to face Prince Thallios. “Your Highness, how did you feel about all this?”

Prince Thallios took a long hard look at him and sighed. “Um, I’m not really sure, honestly. My father was suffering for a long time after my mother’s passing, so I am glad he was able to feel better again and rejoin public life. However, I do wish he could have spoken to me more after he recovered. I would often see him looking at me from a distance, standing on a balcony or further down a corridor. But it was always that, a distance. Even when we managed to speak, it was awkward. Like talking to a person you scarcely know. I think he didn’t know how to talk to me anymore after all those years in mourning.” A stray tear escaped from his eye and rolled down his cheek. He wiped it away.

“Your Highness?” Leiyu said, turning to his side. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Can I stay here?” Prince Thallios asked, moving a little closer.

“Of course, Your Highness.” Leiyu also unconsciously moved closer. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel very cold right now. Could I be next to you, if it’s all right?”

Leiyu picked up the edges of his cloak and draped it over the prince. Prince Thallios leaned into him and buried his face in Leiyu’s chest. Leiyu wrapped his arms around the prince and held him close.

“Thank you,” the prince whispered as he closed his eyes and let his tears dampen Leiyu’s robes.