2 The Meeting

*You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find it… By Rolling stones *

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Present-day

"What do you mean that you will not marry the chosen lady!" … The first elder shouted. The whole room became deadly quiet after this exclamation. One could hear silence; that is if it existed. He immediately realised that he had just made an open exclamation at the King! With wide eyes, he stammered … "I mean, your majesty please reconsider" he continued and bowed deeply "This is unheard of; the marriage committee just spent weeks on this candidate, and she is ideal. We are going to gain a lot for the kingdom with this marriage alliance".

Whispers could be heard from all around as the rest of the elders started wondering if King Indicy was about to, 'take care of' the first Elder, Fiesty.

Surprisingly, it looked like Indicy was in his less volatile and spontaneous mood today as he looked visibly bored at the scene going on before him.

He sat on his throne and leisurely swept his gaze across that room that was filled with various heads and representatives of factions in his kingdom. As he did this, he glanced at a vase filled with blue roses at the corner of the room and the corners of his mouth lifted subtly in a small smile that was so conspicuous that elder Fiesty thought that he imagined it and shook his head.

The meeting was being held in one of the many rooms in the castle, and like the rest, it was decorated elegantly. It wasn't the main throne room, but the king sat on a beautiful large gold chair engraved with the symbol of the Kingdom and royalty; a large Ant which symbolised wisdom. The small creature was revered because it had immense tactics and intelligence. It was also draped in royal red colours. The chair, more like a throne, was on an elevated podium so that king Indicy looked down on the other occupants in the room.

The room was decorated in red velvet silk with intricate flower designs carved on the walls. The Elders were seated in a semi-circle a few meters from the King, Indicy.

One of the elders, Morran, whispered: "I guess he is in a better mood today as Fiesty has kept his head and limbs after that utterance".

Elder Fiesty was well-respected amongst all of them and had the best chance of coming out unscathed in delivering any news to the King.

Indicy looked up to him as a father figure, but the issue of marriage had always been unwelcomed by the King and with just months to his 40th birthday, the marriage committee was at their wit's end.

Over the years, the royals of the Ant Kingdom had always followed the tradition of their oracle and married as early as their teens. Their betrothal happened even earlier than this. Indicy had been the only exception over generations past.

The marriages were always based on resources that the Kingdom wanted or needed, and this was the sole reason for the existence of the marriage commitment. No intimacy or personal feelings were allowed even among the commoners.

This practice had gone on for generations and had been passed down meticulously so much that any such relationship looked alien and weird. The laws of Ant Kingdom had strict stipulations for this, with some leading to the grave and sometimes capital punishments.

The main reason for this was that the maidens and young men were pre-selected based on certain strengths and characteristics in exchange for things needed both inside the land and between distant lands as well. There was a hidden reason backed by the oracle but not many were aware of this.

The grand prize was the marriage of the King and royals, and the committee members clamoured to be part of this. But now…

"Your majesty," Elder Fiesty bowed deeply again and continued: "We cannot win a war with the Fireland".

Fireland was a distant neighbouring nation that had strong forces always ready for combat. They were famous for burning everything to ashes after their spoils of war were taken, hence their name Fireland.

"Our Treaty with them is coming to an end and you know how sneaky they are", Elder Fiesty continued.

"We are indeed lucky that they now have a maiden of age that is worthy to be paired with you". She has been rumoured to be a "Beauty beyond words", "A fair maiden that can melt the hearts of many", but also "A maiden that no man has laid eyes upon and lived to tell the tale".

"She is the worthiest candidate suitable to sit by our King and be our Queen" Elder Fiesty elaborated.

"With her, we will have gained a worthy alliance in Fireland, and we can make use of even their elite warriors in our time of need", "Please reconsider my King."

A slight shuffling noise could be heard from the doorway that caught the attention of Fiesty. He turned and indicated with his head. One of the guards in the room bowed to acknowledge the command and went out to investigate.

When the guard went out, he stood out in the hallway and checked the surroundings, he saw a cat playing around and returned to the meeting room. "It was just a cat my Elder", he reported.

Elder Feisty gave him a small nod and turned back to continue…

*** *** ***

A servant walked down the hallways of the castle while pretending to be working but was listening in on conversations and gossip from others to send back to his master. It had become widespread knowledge about the impending marriage of King Indicy.

The low and almost suppressed excitement could be felt all around.

Finally, there was going to be a royal marriage!!!

The servant was clad in a green silk sash diagonal over his upper body barely covering it. He also had anklets made of beads that slightly jingled when he moved. With his head slightly bowed and not looking at anyone directly in the face, he hurriedly moved to his destination.

Upon arrival, he knocked on a chamber and waited to be called in.

After he had entered, he bowed even more deeply and said: "My lady, the meeting was about the proposal of a suitable Queen for the King" "It is still ongoing" he continued.

A sweet feminine voice was heard from behind a curtain. "Why is it taking long then?"

The servant stammered a bit and replied: "It seemed like they were trying to convince King Indicy of the match"

The lady got up abruptly and opened the curtain separating them. "What did you say?!"

"Why do they need to convince my brother of a match?!"

Quickly falling flat on the ground, he tremblingly said: "I'm not sure my Princess, but the Elders are indeed trying to convince the King of this"

Hahahahahahahahaha…. Princess Mugda laughed hysterically. "I never knew he would get to that juncture as well",

"I wonder what is preventing him from taking the advice of the marriage board," she said thoughtfully.

"Why in the world is he hesitating?" she continued while she tapped her delicate fingers decked with jewellery on her nose… a habit she did unconsciously when she was in deep thought.

"This is so unlike him," she thought to herself.

She took a seat by the window of her room, stretched out her hand and one of her maids poured her a cup of chamomile tea to calm the excitement that was building up in her. Her maids had been trained to cater to her needs without her vocalising them.

The Princess, Mugda, took a sip of the tea and sighed deeply, she closed her eyes briefly and savoured the taste. She paused and looked around her room and wondered when it would be and where she will be sent to for her marriage.

"Those are thoughts for another day", she muttered to no one in particular and added, "I do not have to dwell on that for now,"

Since her birthday was fast-approaching, she knew it won't be too long. Like her brother, Indicy, her marriage set-up had been delayed a little too much for a princess, as a betrothal would have usually been set by her current age.

The reason stemmed from the fact that the King's marriage had to be arranged and set before all others. This was why the marriage committee was in a bind.

Princess Mugda was dressed in a short green flowy dress which was to her mid-thigh. The dress hugged her upper body and flowed down from her waist clearly showing her budding womanhood and curves. The dress was delicately lined with pearls and danced around her thighs as she stood up and gracefully walked across her room to the tall windows still deep in thought.

The main lady-in-waiting dressed in a silk long white and green dress quickly took the tea and followed the princess while maintaining a couple of feet behind her.

The servants were dressed to show the rank of their master and usually in similar colours to show which quarters they were from like, green, for the Princess. Because of this, the main lady-in-waiting, Aile, was also adorned in a priceless gold necklace covering her whole neck and her biceps.

Princess Mugda's eyes lit up suddenly.

"Don't tell me it's because of that!" she exclaimed to herself with her eyes wide open in surprise.

Mugda called one of her two guards and whispered a command to him. The guard bowed deeply and left the room.

*** *** ***

In the main township marketplace, whispers could be heard all around between small gatherings of people. Walls indeed did have ears as the agenda of the ongoing meeting between the King and the marriage committee had already reached the townsfolk.

A year before at the same marketplace, two lovers had been gravely punished after they broached the subject of their love marriage to their families.

Their sentence: the male was put to death as a lesson and warning for all, while the female was demoted down the societal ranks and was imprisoned, never to see the light of day again and worked to the bone.

Their crime, … not necessarily love but misuse or waste of Kingdom resources!.

This is because marriage was viewed as a sacred union as well as an opportunity for the exchange of resources. For the man in question, he was promised to the daughter of the third Elder, Conrad, of the marriage commitment. In exchange, the debts racked up by his family were to be paid off by the Elder.

This was the usual sentence for such deeds and was usually trialled by the Marriage committee which had the absolute mandate for any issues relating to setting up a union, interests, the details of the exchanges and the punishments.

This incident which was the most recent and was still vivid in their minds made the news from the palace disheartening for them. The people of the kingdom expressed their views with bitterness.

"I don't think that the news is true", one man said hesitantly. "I mean… why would King Indicy reject the royal marriage!" he said a little louder to get attention from the gathering. "It's unheard of and I…I… frankly do not believe the news unless it is officially announced". "Our King is wise and the issue about the King's marriage is essential to the Kingdom itself!"

Thud! one tall burly man pushed him aside. "What is this drunk saying?"

*** *** ***

Back in the meeting room, the expression on Indicy's face remained the same and the Elders now had helpless looks on their faces.

Indicy asked them, "what is the threat landscape to the south of the border now?" One replied, " there is a little unrest along that line, but we do not have definite evidence. We however must use this marriage alliance to give us more backing to settle it once and for all. Therefore, we need backing from the Fireland. We do not want them as an enemy now. They should become our allies."

"Do you have definite evidence of the unrest you talk of?" "Why haven't I received a report on this yet?" "Have any of our warriors been deployed there yet to check on it" Indicy threw the questions successively at them in the room?

Fiesty stood up once again and bowed deeply but did not say anything. King Indicy stood up causing the whole room of elders to also stand up and bow. He walked majestically out of the room and threw these words over his shoulder: "Let's discuss this once you have all the facts" Also… he continued "Send warriors to the southern border immediately!"

After he left the room, Fiesty sighed and looked at the other elders, "Well, I didn't expect that" "What should we do now?!"

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