Season 1: Change is Coming

Felicias Moore dreamed of becoming the general of the Common Army. It didn't matter to him that there was no Common Army - or that Commoners did not go to the military school meant to groom officers. No, Felicias Moore had his mind set. His ambition was immeasurable. He had decided he would live as long as an Imperial Emperor. He didn't care that Commoners had a fifth of the lifespan everyone else experienced due to famine and no resources in their region. Yes, Felicias would not only live to be five hundred years and counting, but he would find a way to command the greatest army on the planet. His army would be so vast and so fierce that the Navy would scream in fear when they witnessed the Common Army on the shores. The pirates would flee as quickly as their sails could carry them. The Imperial Army would -

"Felicias!" His mother nudged him awake as their cart arrived just inside the Imperial City. Buildings so tall that they blotted out the sun for hundreds of feet loomed over them."Wake up, bairn. We've arrived." She smiled down at him, her heart shaped face the center of his world since the day of his birth. Her teeth were full and even, her hair was voluminous and the color of ashes. She had eyes that reminded Felicias of birds of prey with their yellow. She was uncommon in The Commons - her father rumored to be a foot soldier from the Glaciers, just as Felicias's father was rumored to be someone from The Imperial Palace itself. Rumors that tainted both of their shadows as they slept. Something his black hair gave truth to.

Envy and jealousy kept them from living a content life when the working season rotated and they were at their small house in Rielfil. Being special and privileged was not for The Commons, not when people starved and froze to death each cold season. Here in the Imperial City, his mother never ached for work. She was always whisked away from the work lines to go to the Imperial Palace. To this day, Felicias had no idea what position his mother held there, only that he must wait at the barracks with the rest of the children.

They left the cart behind and his mother lined up in the same spot she had stood in since Felicias could remember. He held his breath - no matter how often his mother was picked, there was always that anxiety that they would not take her in this rotation. If that happened they were doomed to return to The Commons with no work and his mother would be forced to sell her body for food, much like his best friend Tibiden's mother.

Poor Tibiden, his mother was so plain and forgettable that she almost never received work, no matter how long she stood in line, and he would stand next to her with his head held high.

Felicias exhaled as an Imperial guard plucked his mother from the line and gave her papers to allow entry and housing at the palace. She returned to Felicias with a somber expression. The line was all gone, except for Tabora. She stood arms at her side, chin raised, as the handlers who found workers for their masters began to pack up their things and leave.

Tibiden clutched his tattered clothing, his mother's desperation reflecting in his eyes. If she could not find work, they would starve this winter.

"Mither, hulp thaim." Felicias dug his heels into the dirt and pleaded as his mother. Galora gathered their belongings and ignored her child.

"That insae howfur th' world wirks, Felicias." His mother sighed reaching for his hand, but Felicias couldn't let go. Shaking his head, he ran and caught the arm of the Imperial Guard that had hired on his mother. "Felicias! Na!"

"Sur, whit better a maid than yin yer cannae see?" Felicias scrambled back as the guard turned to him, anger flashing across his face.

"Stupid, boy. There are no maids like that." The guard raised his glove hand back behind his head, his palm open ready to strike.

"Sae ye say! Sae ye say!" Felicias ducked under his mother's grasp again. "Dae pray tell, hae ye seen that lassy ower thare? - Nae at all. Am ah richt?" Felicias pointed at Tabora repeatedly and she lsquared her shoulders as the guard's gaze landed on her. "Invisible tae th' yak, bit a guid worker - a silent worker!" Felicias sidestepped his mother once more and braced himself for the guard to lay a strike.

"Woman!" He shouted and Tabora causing Tibiden to jump before they both rushed up to the guard. "Gather your things. The boy is in luck. Our Lady Empress requested a silent handmaid."

Tibiden's mother moved like lightning, gathering her few items and her son. She climbed into the palace cart and kept her eyes on her child, running her fingers through Tibiden's rust colored hair. Felicias and his mother sat across from them and the palace cart began moving towards the center of the city.

Felicias tried to ignore the tears of relief from his best friend and the shaking from Tabora. His own mother gripped his arm so tightly that it began to bruise. Things did not change for Commoners, but that didn't matter to Felicias, for he was uncommon. He had already decided so.

Staring past the rest of the workers he took pleasure in the landscape. The buildings reached to the three suns and were grouped tightly together. They were all fading in and out of pastel colors, creating a shimmer of light when the suns set or rose. The trimming on the houses were some type of metal, glinting left and right.

When they reached the shopping district, Felicias turned around to get a better look. Unlike Commonwomen, the Imperial Ladies wore giant hoop skirts and large feathered hats. They even had domesticated wolves and birds that traveled with them. The men wore top hats and coats that buttoned at their hips. Some had a round glass on one eye, with a chain that clipped to their breast pockets. They all walked with canes, umbrellas, or arm and arm with one another or a lady.

The cart paused to allow motorized vehicles through. Several motorized cycles and convertibles drove by, carrying laughing ladies and focused gents. Felicias shut his eyes, imagining Saphera, his neighbor, riding on the back of his motorized cycle. He imagined her in the festival skirts that Commonwomen wore twice a year and smiled.

"Felicias, come." His mother pulled him from the cart, her grip still too tight. The same guard from the workstation began directing workers to their check-in posts. He gestured at Tabora and Galora to follow him. Galora walked first and left Tabora behind.

One of the palace ladies approached him and waited patiently. Her hands holding her giant skirt a breath's space from the grass. She gestured for the maids to follow her and they disappeared. Tibiden gathered his mother's belongings and followed the other children to the living quarters. He paused for a moment and turned back to Felicias before grinning.

Satisfied with his day's work, Felicias reached for his mother's bag when he was snatched by the back of his shirt. Someone lifted him up and threw Felicias over their shoulder. He struggled to break the grip and began kicking.

"Come you." The soldier pulled Felicias along as Tibiden watched, eyes wide. "Seems you've been abandoned"

"Na, sur - ah dinnae think that at a'll." Felicias gave up fighting and moved laid limp, trying to figure out a way to out think his kidnapper.

"Then why did you stay standing there alone?" They had stopped behind a horse stable and the soldier dropped Felicias like a sack of potatoes. The man was tall and broad - built like the rocks of the mountains. His hair was a shade of black born only to Royals. He towered over Felicias's lanky body that had yet to fill out and grow.

Scrambling to his feet, Felicias brushed off his pants. "Th' palace is sae grand, sur. That ah juist wanted tae gander at it." Felicias squared his shoulders and braced himself for a punch that never came.

"Is that so... and what post does your mother work?" The soldier sat on a stack of hay and crossed his arms, his blue eyes sizing Felicias up.

"Uhm... somewhere in th' private suites... Ah think." Felicias muttered looking down at his feet while kicking dirt. He couldn't bear the thought of his mother being fired for something he did.

"Bad place to be, I hear." Smirking, the man crouched down to Felicias's eye level.

"Na, sur." Felicias raised his gaze. "It's a coveted position."

"And where is your father, boy?" The soldier uncrossed his arms and rested his hands on his legs.

"Rumor says he's thare in th' palace." The boy regurgitated the whispers that followed his mother everywhere they went as if it were fact. He screamed as the soldier snatched him off the ground for a second time.

"Listen to me, boy, and listen to me good. Never repeat those words to anyone ever again." Rotan leaned forward, his eyes boring into Felicia's soul. "Do you understand... what's your name?"

"Felicias Moore." Felicias observed the captain noticing the lack of any marriage markings on his wrist.

"Wistemere Rotan is my name and I am one of the Emperor's cohort captains and relatives." Wistemere Rotan stopped speaking. Something seemed to draw his attention inward. Felicias's eyes darted around. This was not a good situation to be in. "Are you quick?" The Captain shook him.

"Yessir, I'm slippery." He measured how many steps it would take for him to hide in the stables. Ten too many.

"I've no interest in children of my own, Felicias Moore." Rotan raised an eyebrow, understanding the boy's hesitation.

"I see no point in discussing that with you, Sir. I'm nigh a woman and I'm only twelve." Felicias shrugged. He took a careful step backward.

Rotan laughed heartily. "You are funny, Felicias. No, boy'o. I'm a captain in the Imperial Army. The Emperor requires that we send successors to Takturn this year. Each officer must send at least one and no more than three."

"But you have no interest in children, Sir." Felicias took two more steps back. He tried his best to think of a solution to Rotan's problem, but could find none that ended with him going home with his mother.

"For a clever mite, though you're a wee bit slow." The Captain stood and brushed off his uniform. He grabbed Felicias before the boy could run and tucked him under his arm.

"Nossir - I'm fast. Much so. So fast that if you need me to take a message to the palace I could. Right now even." Felicias had to force himself not to cast the captain a dark look. He bowed his head in defeat. To fight was to accept death.

"I've interest in sending you to Takturn, Felicias. I've interest in a good lie." The Captain ran a hand through Felicia's black hair.

"Me?" Felicias had dreamt of this scene since he'd learned of Takturn, the military academy, as a young child. He'd known that he was born to be different, perhaps this was his chance. What had his mother said? Some of us are chosen over others. "Yes. Yes. I will go."

"Mmm. You will have to leave the Commons behind and you can never go back."

"What-no." Felicias hadn't figured a price for his dreams. What would his mother say? Would she be okay with never seeing him ever again? "Me mother-no. She'll never agree."

"She doesn't need to. Better f'er them to think you dead. I will raise you as my own - present you to Takturn. This is an opportunity you can't resist, Felicias." Rotan continued walking off the palace grounds as he spoke.

"Commoners keep their place, Sir." Clearing his throat, Felicias tried his best to mimic the imperial speech pattern.

"Your hair is as imperial black as my own, Felicias. You don't belong. You never did."

Images of other children shoving him into the clay dirt and pouring red mud into his hair flashed in Felicias's mind. Their fists colliding with his face, as his mother was busy at the market.

"Bit me mither... It'll murdurr her." Hot tears poured out from Felicias's eyes. He wanted his dream more than anything, but was it worth it?

"Will it?" The Captain harrumphed without breaking stride.

Felicias thought of a family that had lost a child in the Imperial City. They had mourned and moved on within days - it was the way of the Commoners to survive.

"Na, sur." Felicias knew his mother wouldn't even leave her position in the palace to look for him.

"Come then, Felicias." Rotan set Felicias down and held his hand out for Felicias to go with him. A single thought seeded in Felicias's mind. He would be general of the Common Army - but all generals went to Takturn. He could leave his mother behind this day and return with knowledge and riches on the morrow. All of that was possible if he went to Takturn. He could have it all. He clasped the captain's hand and they left the Imperial Palace. There was no word to his mother, nor Tibiden. They walked through the marketplace and stopped in a beautifully decorated shop that stood alone in a courtyard.

"He can't be in here, Commoners are not allowed-" The shopkeep stopped tittering when Rotan raised his hand.

"My boy was playing with ruffians and they robbed his clothes. I'm in need of a pair."

"Oh! Oh thank goodness. Oh Captain you scared me." She laughed, Her hair a lighter shade of black than the captains. Her eyes were a striking green. She quickly bathed and dressed Felicias in clothes so fine he wished he could show his mother.

"I'd like to purchase a wardrobe as well. Little bastard lost his trunks."

"Of course! Shall I send it to your residence."

"If you will."

They left the shop and continued walking into the very square the cart had passed through. Rotan led Felicias up a set of steps and a red-haired butler opened the door.

"Welcome home, Captain." The Butler stepped back to allow them passage. "Who is your young friend?"

"My son, Felicias Rotan." The Captain and his butler exchanged expressions, and Felicias waited for the other man to call The Captain on his lie.

"Wonderbarr! We all thought you had a wife near you on the field. Your family must be pleased." The butler gave Felicias a strange look before stepping aside to let them in. His eyes didn't match his smile.

"Yes, of course. Give him the heir chambers on the top floor."

"As you command." The butler bowed sweeping his arm to the ground and back to his chest. He moved with a fluidity that made Felicias nervous.

"Is this nae suspicious tae a'body?" Felicias's brow crumpled, he was past disturbed. "Dinnae thay ken ye dae nae hae a son."

"Why would it be? No one breaks the rules in the Imperial City. You cannot suspect something that's not probable." Rotan responded as he lead Felicias to the kitchen. A cooking maid had already laid out several plates full of meats and cheese. "While we're at it, you'd better not speak with that commontongue under my roof again."

And so Felicias learned a lesson of politics that he would carry his entire life. He ached for his mother's reassuring smile, but it would never shine for him again. The first step in his future had been taken and he'd left the shackles of the commons, but a liberated prisoner could not take the prison with him. So Felicias set his heart on freeing them all.