The Throne

It was raining; the droplets of water softly splashing but in the throne room, none of this could be heard. The Throne was empty, and the supposed next King was barely a year old. The one who should have been showing his grace on the throne was now lying on the pyre on the ground which had dampened due to rain. The widowed Queen was standing upright, no tears in her eyes; they say, it was an insult to the warrior to cry when he died for his kingdom.

That's why, she wouldn't cry. She would send him off to heaven with a smile, with pride. There was no one accompanying her except her son, her maid, her bodyguard, and the King's most loyal minister. The others were either dead or injured.

The war had ended with their victory but the prize of this victory was the King's life. It was a victory because their army had managed to kill every one of their enemy soldiers and their King and occupy their region. The enemy king's family had long since surrendered and for some time, there would be peace. But what after that? Who's to say that they wouldn't be prey to the other Kings? Who would protect her son? She could handle a sword, but how many could she fend off alone? Her people would likely take more than just a few months to recover. But even if they recovered, even if their kingdom had always been prosperous, a kingdom without a King was no less than a drowning warrior who couldn't swim.

She crouched down and, even though her maid tried to stop her, collected her husband's ashes and put them into the pot in her hands. She would later give them to her son when he would stand as high as his father once was and tell him to offer them to the Ganges. And then she would retire to live a life of solitude in a forest, peacefully. When people would come to visit her and ask for advice, she would hear about the glories of her son and her chest would be filled, up to the brim, with pride. And then she would join her husband and together, they would watch over their ruling son.

But until then, she had a duty to be fulfilled; a duty of the Queen, her duty towards her kingdom, to not make her subjects feel like fatherless children and to lead them to be stronger than they had ever imagined themselves to be.