Chapter 3: Chapter 1: Context

“My Dear Husband… You look more distinguished and noble than ever before.” Sophila tells me, after studying my new form for a few moments. I can hear the truth in her voice, but I can also hear the unwholesome desire in it.

To be fair to the woman who seems to pride herself on being my wife, being close to her is an arousing experience as she is rather beautiful. But before I can gaze at Sophila for terribly long, Stool begins to speak.

“My Liege, I am sorry to interrupt your reunion with one of your wives but I need to question you about your current condition.” Stool says, speaking rather lightly. But the fact that she says “one of your wives” does not escape my notice. I have no recollection of either of these women and even when I actively wrack my memories for knowledge of these two I find nothing.

My memories are currently nonexistent, at least at the moment. It should frighten me that as far as I can tell I have no memories, but instead, I am able to silently accept it. Panic does not grip my throat or make it harder for me to act, I simply am able to move without relying on any sort of memory of my surroundings or the two women gazing at me.

That aside… I still need to figure out how to behave moving forward. I allow myself a moment to contemplate doing something like deceiving those around me and attempting to bluff my way forward, but such thoughts only last a moment. There is no point in deception here.

I can tell that I am someone of influence, clearly at least some kind of ruler, and as such, I likely have the ability to demand a certain amount of leeway and space to see if I will gain memories in the days to come. If I am honest there’s a real chance I’ll be able to give myself a grace period to catch up and get my bearings. The more I think about it the more it becomes clear that the best option is for me to be honest. Doesn’t make actually saying it any easier though…

At the same time that this is occurring, I can still hear various prayers directed to Perandor, the Creator, the Devil, and a few directed to my ancestor-emperors and myself. The voices in my mind belong to a staggeringly diverse array of people, some children, some wizen, all speaking a variety of languages and speaking to their gods with an assortment of emotions.

I decide to take the initiative at this moment and I begin to speak before Stool can question me.

“Stool, please allow me to stop you right there. I… I do not remember anything. I only know what is either your title or your name because I heard you and Sophila muttering as I was waking up. If you ask me anything about my current situation… I will not be able to answer you. I can only hope that all of this is temporary.” I explain, opting to be honest. To my surprise, and to my relief, neither Stool nor Sophila seems surprised by this revelation.

“I see… Well, My Liege, allow me to not mince words. You are the Emperor of Juttun. You have been the Emperor of this sizeable empire for about a month and a few days ago you suddenly collapsed and one of your servants found you unconscious, and promptly reported the sudden change in your health to the proper authorities.” Stool explains, gently.

“Your name, in case you do not remember it, is Zachary Grey. You are the only child of the last emperor, who was, Perandor bless him, a saint of a man who saw our home through a series of difficult national and continental crisises.” The young woman continues to explain. As she speaks about my father tears fill her eyes. Sophila, seeing the tears in her friend’s eyes begins to speak up in her stead.

“Nathaniel Grey, despite his hedonistic attitude only ever had one child, my husband. The reason must be magical in nature, but either no one in his harem knew why it happened or they refused to publicly share why.” She says, gently.

“You were your father’s pride and joy, raised by his dozens of wives, a palace full of servants, and the emperor himself here in the capital of the empire. Both Stool and I knew you back then, I was one of your first playmates and Stool was a slave you personally took from an abusive, law-breaking noble.” Sophila tells me, her gaze softening as she recalls some of the earliest memories of me she happens to have. A second later she refocuses and begins to speak about the present.

“As odd and nerve-wracking these last few days have been, not everything is negative. The last of your own wives arrived in the palace last night and have been briefed as to your condition. Fortunately for those of us with the resources to afford skilled doctors and professional healers copious research has been done into a litany of medical and magical conditions.” The woman begins, speaking rather vaguely.

“Our doctors and magicians are some of the best in the world. When you were properly examined it became clear that something was occurring to your very soul. While even our professionals couldn’t fully identify what was happening we were able to theorize that you should recover in time, and we prepared for a number of eventualities regarding unusual symptoms that might appear in the wake of you regaining consciousness.” She continues, speaking eloquently but still imprecisely.

“One possibility we considered was that you’d awaken with amnesia. It seems that it was prudent of us to prepare a plan in case that occurred. Though it helps that your wives were coming to the palace anyway.” She says, reaching something akin to a point. Stool looks at her, and Sophila glances back at the woman curiously. Eventually, Stool sighs and speaks once more.

“Your Majesty, the reason why your wives were on their way to the palace organically is that in a few days it will be time for you to finalize and formally declare the various positions on the imperial court and the national government each of your wives would be receiving.” Stool begins, even as I move to get out of the bed I have been sitting on for the past few minutes.

“As the Emperor of Juttun, you are at the head of a sprawling and complex imperial harem. The imperial harem of the emperor is a political minefield with a storied history in Juttun harkening back to some of the first emperors in the nation’s history. Your wives will each have complex and real jobs in the labyrinth government of the empire, in addition to being your wives and thus likely to be the eventual mothers of your children.” Stool reveals, sounding a little bit excited as she talks about this odd cultural norm.

As Stool explains this I opt to consciously listen to the prayers I am passively overhearing. Unsurprisingly this leads to me hearing a handful of voices whispering prayers to gods that concern me right now.

I can listen in to the private thoughts and frightfully shared wishes of a few of the individuals who know of my condition and do not yet know I have woken up. Listening to such conversations gives me a chance to hear what some of my wives sound like for the first time!

While continuing to listen to the softly uttered prayers I part the veil that separates me from Sophila and Stool and I grin as I stand up. As I exit the bed my wife and our companion both watch me, Stool concernedly, and Sophila confidently. I am able to stand up quite easily, and I smile at the two of them brightly as I allow myself a second to adjust to the sensation of my bare feet on the cool tile beneath me.

“Your Majesty! Do you… wish for shoes?” Stool asks, concern slipping into her voice as she carefully and compassionately watches me. I smile soothingly at her and nonverbally reassure her that I am fine, my body language putting in the work to soothe her worries. Nevertheless, she efficiently retrieves some shoes and hands them to me speedily. I silently thank her and slip them onto my feet to make her feel better for doing this for me.

“Sire… Okay, so basically one of the last things you really ought to know is that in the contingency plan the government prepared in case something like this ever happened we have been told and even trained to allow your memories to come back on their own barring exceptional circumstances.” Stool gently says before sighing almost imperceptibly.

“The fact that this happened now is… less than ideal, but if we were to take a ‘Glass Half Full’ look at this then I suppose it is good that you can grow confident you are making the right decisions for which of your wives should do which jobs.” Stool tells me, before trying and failing to smile.

Her remarks actually do bring a smile to my face, and I turn to focus on her. I allow her a second to breathe after speaking for so long without doing so before I begin to speak.

“‘Stool’... Thank you for your aid and your dedication. I can feel your concern for me with each word you have spoken. I can also feel it in your gaze and in the tenderness of the way that you have opted to stay beside me for Perandor knows how long.” I say to my first companion. She lights up, appreciably, at my words. It doesn’t seem to cross her mind that there’s no way for me to know who, or what, Perandor is.

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“And yet I am afraid that the aid I will need is only going to increase from here. For a short time at least.” I say to the young woman. I watch the subtle shift in her face as she listens to my comments and realizes that I am openly, earnestly asking her for her help.

“My Liege, I am always happy to help you. I became imperial property because I love you. In time your own memories will return and you will get to experience the ups and downs we have endured. And not just you and I, but you and the various members of your harem. You have lived an… exciting life so far. And it’s only gonna get more exciting from here.” Stool says, softly. It is at this point that Sophila speaks up.

“Stool is telling the truth, Dearest. Not every emperor has been as lucky as you are, as far as having marriages that mix love and politics so thoroughly. Your harem is truly something.” Sophila tells me, gently. I can hear the sincerity in her voice.

“Anyways, my love, I think you’re being unfair to your other brides. Come with us to the odah, where the rest of your brides are most likely waiting for you even as we speak.” Sophila tells me. I let out a soft sound and smile at her.

“You are correct. It would be good for me to reunite with the rest of my family.” I say, admitting Sophila’s point. But before I move I look at my two companions and I ask a single quiet question.

“Is there any way I can get a briefing on the… overall context of the empire?” I ask, curiously. As I ask the question I turn in the direction of the door that Sophila came into the room from and my companions get up.

“Of course My Love. I’ll ask Marazine, Pylia, or Kaltherine to prepare a report on the empire after they get to meet you.” Sophila replies, speaking of three individuals I assume must also be wives of mine. The knowledge that I have wives, as in more than one, feels odd to contemplate. It doesn’t feel unpleasant, but it does feel a bit strange.

“How many wives do I have?” I ask as I gaze at Sophila. She smiles serenely at me and tells me a number that actually causes me to stop and ask her to say it again, in disbelief.

“My Love… You have 53 wives. Each of which is a woman who has had at least a few interactions with you prior to the imperial wedding a month ago. That day was also your coronation. Some of your wives, like me, have known you almost your entire life. Others, such as the famed alchemist Alilov, you only had a few meetings with prior to them agreeing to join your harem.” Sophila says gently.

My companions walk towards the door and when they reach it they both wait for me. I walk towards them and smile casually when I am standing beside the pair of them. Sophila takes my arm and smiles at me before she guides me out of the room and into a long, outdoor walkway.

“Come dear. We are close to the Odah, we just need to walk past one part of the imperial garden to get there.” My wife explains, lightly. As we begin to walk out of the bedchamber I was just in. As we walk Stool walks behind us, and speaks lightly about the palace.

“We have just left your old childhood bedroom. It was so plainly decorated because we never intended for you to go back there. Ever since the wedding you have spent your nights in the odah, which is the norm for the emperor. Our plan for your bedroom was to use it as one of the nurseries for when you and one of your wives have royal children.” Stool tells my wife and I as the three of us walk and collectively gaze at the garden off the walkway.

Various plants grow in the open-air space beside my small group. I can see incredibly thick vines hanging from the walls of the walkway, as well as various kinds of shrubs growing in massive ceramic pots. I can see fruits that I can vaguely name and I can see plants that I am sure do not have Earthly counterparts being tended to by lightly dressed palace staff.

“The palace garden is well-tended year round. Though I am certain we owe this unusual prosperity to the proximity of Reacla. She has been in the odah for over twelve hours, and her presence is always good for the plants.” Stool explains, as we swiftly make our way further and further from the room I awoke in.

I mentally file the name “Reacla” away, having done the same thing with the names “Marazine”, “Pylia”, “Alilov” and “Kaltherine” when I first heard them. Knowing the names of some of the people I am a short walk away from meeting makes it a bit easier for me to relax. As I walk I ask Stool what my immediate priorities ought to be. Her answer is simple.

“Your immediate priority ought to be your recovery. For all we know amnesia is only one symptom of whatever is occurring to you and we want our emperor to be as healthy, healed, and strong as soon possible.” Stool says as we wander far enough for the door into my old bedroom to begin to seem to shrink in the distance.

“Your secondary priority should be to familiarize yourself with your empire and, equally importantly, to determine which of your wives you will be giving out which jobs. Much, though far from all, of the day-to-day running of the empire will fall to your wives. Assigning the right wives to the right positions is essential in determining the direction of the empire.” Stool tells Sophila and I.

Her voice is gentle as she speaks and I can sense her steadily growing calmness. She is still a bit nervous, and her feelings are readily visible to me. I can tell that if I gaze at her intently I may well be able to determine more than just her feelings about stuff at the moment, I could even learn how she feels about things that are far from her mind at the moment.

I am somewhat envious of Stool. She has steadily been losing bits and pieces of her anxiety as we walk and she has slowly become able to relax as she adjusts to me being awake again. Unlike her, I have been hiding the true depth of the emotions I have been feeling, but I am filled with a great deal of curiosity at the moment. I need to speak to a scholar of the divine or some sort of priest to see if there’s a reason why I can overhear the voices of those praying to three seemingly distinct deities.

Sophila and Stool squint as we begin to approach a distant wall and both begin to smile. I can see what they are staring at as well, without even narrowing my eyes to try and help; the two women just smiled at a faraway door on a large wall made of what appears to be some sort of magically modified brick of some sort, affixed to a part of the walkway made of dimly glowing red gemstones.

The door is angled in such a way that even with my enhanced eyesight I cannot see what is occurring on the other side of it. Nevertheless, I can hear distant conversations within the grand area. The of topics of conversation are therapeutic things given the tense circumstances, like rest and relaxation. It is curiously heartfelt as I can hear the ways the occupants of the place are attempting to comfort and help each other. It’s all very lovely.

“There it is My Liege…” Stool tells me, as we move closer and closer to the door in the distance. As we close the distance between us and the odah I sense a small wellspring of curiosity bud off from the curiosity which allows me to listen in on uttered prayers. The secondary bud of interest within me wonders what my wives will look like, and who they are as people. I am excited to get to meet them!

All while this is happening, my senses have steadily increased in range as well. I can hear distant conversations occurring out of eyeshot, conversations which involve some of the voices I heard praying to past emperors or various gods throughout they either outright worship or know of and respect.

I begin to smile as I sense Sophila tighten how firmly she has coiled her arm around mine, as she is eager to show off that she was the first of my wives with me when she awoke.

When we reach the exterior of the odah we pause. Stool and Sophila both look at me curiously, waiting for me to give them the go-ahead. I nod and we step towards, and then through the door leading to my bevy of brides!

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