Chapter 39: Chapter 38 – Understanding at Dusk

I opened my eyes to see Zhunil sitting with her head hung low.

“Why is the world unfair to us?” she muttered to herself.

I remained silent. From the stairs, I saw two small forms coming down.

“Sister, are you here?” a voice said.

The forms became visible. It was her brothers. They saw me and the boy-guards seated. They raced down the stairs and prostrated to me.

“What is the prince doing here, sister!” said Berha quivering. “Did you do something wrong? Are we going to be killed?”

Juya cried. “I don’t want to die!”

While I didn’t show it, I became quite irritated over the assumption that a formal visit from me would result in anyone’s death. I thought my name to be rather ill-fitting on that part.

I lifted the two of them. “We already met once before Berha and Juya.”

They recognized my voice and became even more fearful. Berha clasped my feet and kissed them. “That was you on the rooftop! Forgive us, forgive us, O prince.”

I sighed. I looked to the sister, who only giggled at her brother’s misunderstanding.

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“So you really don’t mean to execute us?” Berha asked, still shaking.

“Again,” I said, having repeated myself nearly thirty times, “no. You, your relations, your friends, and any other you knew, know, or will know, will not in past, present, or future be touched in malice, let alone be executed by me! What more must I say to get through to the two of you?”

“Relax, Berha, Juya, he’s a friend now,” said Zhunil, laughing. “Treat him like he’s a part of the family!”

While I didn’t mind her nonchalance, it was rather irritating of her to decide everything for me. But I couldn’t complain. This was just another part of paying my dues.

We ascended the stairs to a second floor, where there were mats and sheets thrown about the place. We continued up the stairs, spiraling above, until we reached a door at the top. Zhunil opened it. Light flooded our view. Moving past the exit, we came to the rooftop.

The sun fell on the southwestern quarter. The blue of the sky was slowly replaced with red and orange.

We sat near the edge of the roof, looking toward the horizon. We couldn’t see below the pale of the buildings, but the sight of the structures and walls in the distance was enough to distract our minds.

A thought occurred to me at this moment. I asked, “Why don’t you or the other children work?”

Zhunil gave me an odd face. “What do you mean?”

“Couldn’t you work for someone else and get money that way?”

She became irritated. “Do you mean to suggest that we sell our bodies to toil?”

“That’s not what I mean,” I said.

“Then what do you mean?”

“Can you not be employed by the guilds or artisans in town?”

“And work for free until we’re able to surpass them?” she scoffed.

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“But you’ll have food and room for that time.”

She gave a face of disgust, and I became visibly confused.

“Don’t you understand that we’re no better than slaves in their eyes!” she cried.

The others hung their heads low. This was all unusual to me, for I expected the citizens to aid those in need. If what she said was true, there was a lack of respect running through the ranks of the city. To live in the highest of ages, yet still see the toil and turmoil of the downtrodden. I had expected better.

“I see,” I said. “I think I nor better understand your plight.”

“Which you should’ve understood earlier if you’re to become king!” she said.

That I couldn’t deny, but shielded as I was, and unable to come to terms with my past—something I still worked to mend—left me behind in understanding this world. There was much yet to learn, and I supposed at the time, that the game of question and answer-seeking related to the world at large wouldn’t end for a long while.

“There’s one more question I have if you don’t mind answering,” I said.

Her ears perked. “Let’s hear it, prince!”

“What will you do when you’re older?” Suddenly, things became silent. As if a ghost had come in our presence and left them transfixed. “If you can’t be employed, and if you can’t count on the assistance of the people, how will you get by? You don’t expect to live from the proceeds of the shelters for the rest of your lives, do you?”

They remained silent a while. For the first time, I saw them mulling and contemplating with a level of seriousness that seemed lacking outside their underground hold.

“I had the idea of joining the King’s army,” said Tet. “Tethra’s onboard with it too!”

Tethra nodded his head fervently.

“That was what we were thinking,” said Berha, “but, sister has some—reservations about it.”

I looked to her and saw her teeth gnashed as her face contorted in anger. She struck the roof, cracking the surface. A yelp came from the two sets of brothers.

She cried, “To hell with the King and this land! We have our pride as the children of farmers, and yet we must abandon it with the death of our parents and the relinquishing of our lands. The refugees will leave when the Demons are gone. To return home. But what of us? The aristocrats that vie for power will secure what they’ve gotten and won’t release their hold to return to those who need it!”

The others hung their heads low and seemed ready to cry. The issue, at last, became clear.

“Then what for am I here?” I said. She turned my way with tears in her eyes. The others raised their heads to me. “I can’t promise that this injustice will completely remove itself. By the time I die, it may return in full force. Yet until that day, and so long as I rule, I won’t let the lowest of our people fall to the wayside in the aristocrats’ march to greed. I’m here to stand by you, to aid in the defeat against the Demons, and now to rise you to fulfillment. Is that not enough?”

She wiped her tears and embraced me. “No, no, it’s more than enough!”

The others prostrated to me. Now without fear.

“Please aid us in all you can, O Prince of Death,” they said.

Their voices and thoughts were as one. They spoke for all those in their position, and I resolved to do right by them.

“Regardless of the path you all choose,” I said, “I will do the best I can to aid you. This I swear.”

Time passed, the sun set, and I was once more content. I gave my gratitude to mother.

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