When You Are Dissatisfied (1)

"Presenting our Sovereign Lord!" Eunuch Iroro announced.

The young king entered the polished white marble room. The venerable elders seated at the table, and record keepers at a desk in the posterior of the room, stood to pay obeisance, bending their waists in deep digwes.

The room was circular in shape. The ceiling, floor, as well as the highest and lowest points of the walls embellished in neat flourishes. At its center sat a large round table of pure green jade, atop it arranged a multitude of dainty refreshments.

Standing around the table were the four elderly counselors. All had graying beards; rich robes and ornaments evincing their revered statuses.

Seated at the head of this gathering of illustrious individuals was none other than the Royal Queen Dowager.

A woman in her early forties, the Dowager Queen was regal in frame and daunting in bearing.

She was adorned in jewels and finest silks from head to feet. Her gleaming copper red locks wound in a profusion of curls around her head and shoulders. Her amber eyes, captivating.

Her beauty belied her age, and her appearance could only be described as entrancing. Her form graceful, her features soft.

Behind her stood two of her attending Aye, both delicately cooling her with great fans of peacock feathers.

"Welcome, Ovye," the Queen Dowager greeted, nodding elegantly from her seat.

The young king stiffened. As he often did since he was a child, whenever faced with the Queen Dowager's domineering presence.

He decidedly pushed past the tension and cupped his hands before him, bowing his head in greeting to his mother.

"Miguo, Sovereign Mother. To what occasion do we and our honored counselors owe the grace of your presence?"

The Queen Dowager's mouth was drawn in that pleasant smile which almost always decked her red lips. The warm look in her eyes a chilling façade.

There was a time when he had been deceived by that inviting look and ran to the Dowager's arms, only to be met by a brick wall.

Her enticing exterior yet cold emotions had made him grow cautious. Her exacting and sometimes cruel nature filling him with dread.

"Ovye," the Queen Dowager replied, "your announcement at court that you will now independently attend these meetings with your Council of Advisors brought me much assurance. But as your mother, I cannot dispel my worries for you and for our kingdom.

You are taking great strides to becoming a wise ruler, and it is my responsibility to see that your steps are tempered and well-informed. It is my will to continue to watch over you. And my duty to guide you through the proper conventions of even a meeting such as this."

In short, you wish to check my movements, the king thought.

Holding his head high, the young king fortified his resolve.

He imbued his voice with authority as he answered measuredly, "We thank you for your concern, Sovereign Mother. However, your presence here is neither proper nor deferential to our position."

He bowed his head. "We respectfully request your absence."

The Dowager Queen's smiling red lips tensed to a grim line. Her beautiful eyes cut to the elderly counselors.

"Ovyeme," one of the counselors spoke up, "though Her Majesty's presence here is in opposition with court etiquette, I petition that Ovye be understanding. Her Royal Majesty has filled the position of Regent for many years now and requires a period to transition."

"Yes, Ovyeme," another counselor pitched in with a bow of his head. "Her Majesty's grace is such that her motherly love bore her here despite Ovye's proclamation. I pray Ovye will forgive her, and honor her by yielding to her affections."

Motherly love was not a sentiment the young king had ever perceived from the Dowager Queen. But the counselors were all in agreement and petitioned for him to be understanding.

He had no choice but to yield dutifully in filial respect.

He took a seat at the head of the table beside the Queen Dowager, who sat calmly, smiling, asserting her dominance.

****

Three more years passed Emeravwe by as she worked in the Bureau of Halls and Chambers. After hers and Akpokene's fight with Omote Oluchi and Ngozi, life in the palace resumed its characteristic monotony.

But though these years were mostly peaceful and uneventful for Emeravwe, it was not so for the rest of the royal palace.

It occurred slowly at first, but more and more the Outer Palace came to be filled with news of a power struggle between the king and Dowager Queen.

Emeravwe, of course, knew of the king. He had been enthroned the same year she entered the palace.

He was crowned at the age of twelve, upon the sudden death of the previous king (a topic which was forbidden and which the Maidens only occasionally whispered about). He was also said to be one of the youngest kings in Xxenen history. Thus, the Dowager Queen took control of the kingdom while he was educated.

According to Maidens' gossip, however, now that the king was older, he wished to take part in the governance of his kingdom. But the Dowager Queen was ill-disposed to relinquish her control, and this caused dissension among the ministers and other officials.

Some argued that the king was still too young to handle the nation's politics, and that the Queen Dowager should continue her vicarious rule. Others disagreed and were for the young king taking the helm of the kingdom.

While the effects of this dispute and the divide it created were not strongly felt in the Bureau of Halls and Chambers, Emeravwe heard it caused much disruption in departments in which official government work took place.

She witnessed the toll it took on others in the palace mostly through Aslan. For she saw him less frequently throughout these years.

When she did see him, he often looked as weary as the priests of the Palace Chapel, when they stayed up fasting and praying for three days and nights in the days leading up to the Day of Rebirth.

On these nights, Aslan did little more than lie on the garden's bench and listen as Emeravwe spoke of her days and the goings-on of the palace.

Still, she preferred such nights to those in which she did not see Aslan at all. For as the years went by, she found more and more things to talk to him about.