A Disguised Singularity

Chapter 7 - Zuri

Several times a year, Renata would accompany her grandson to various annual events throughout his expansive empire. Among these was a festival held each spring to celebrate the end of winter and the onset of the planting season. The more superstitious Rurdinians still held the belief that their annual gathering ensured a bountiful autumn harvest. Moreover, the emperor's attendance at the festival was regarded as something akin to a divine blessing and brought with it the promise of an even greater yield. Since the southern flatlands of Rurdinia provided the majority of the nation's food, it had quickly become tradition for the emperor to make the journey every year, even though most Rurdinians no longer believed that the royal presence had any effect on the harvest.

It was rare for Renata to spend an entire day alongside her grandson, but whenever Emperor Benat left his palace, she would typically go with him. Renata regarded Benat's short trips around Rurdinia as the perfect reason to escape the confines of the palace, while also ensuring she would be right there to offer counsel should he require it. Since Zuri began her "service" to Renata almost a year ago, she had consistently managed to find a convincing reason not to join her mentor on these random trips. Sadly, her regular excuses — such as family obligations or not feeling well— ran out and Zuri was forced to admit the truth. She had never spent a single night away from her family. After enduring days of lighthearted teasing from Renata and Tadeo, along with a few encouraging stories about all the fun the three of them had last year, Zuri reluctantly agreed to join them on the upcoming trip to the flatlands. Since this was her first trip away from home and it was going to be in the company of the Emperor of Rurdinia, Zuri started asking her usual informant more questions about everything, including Renata's grandson.

From what Zuri had previously gleaned from Seber and Renata's quiet conversations and Tadeo's gossip, the young emperor had a bit of growing up left to do. Emperor Kemen, Renata's eldest son and Benat's father, died in his early fifties under mysterious circumstances. There was a bit of speculation around his untimely death, but as far as the people of Rurdinia know, no one was ever found guilty of any crime. Either way, Kemen's early demise put his son, Benat, onto the throne when he was only twenty-three. When she started asking Tadeo more questions about the emperor, he quickly divulged everything he knew about him as well as his relationship with Renata. At that point, it was up to Zuri's intuition to decipher if anything Tadeo told her was true or nothing more than palace gossip.

According to Tadeo, the young emperor cared very little for foreign relations or the welfare of his people and far more about what his newfound power could do for him. After assuming his role as emperor of Rurdinia, Benat quickly cast aside the counsel of his grandmother as well as his father's old advisors to rule on his own. However, he soon discovered that with some guidance, particularly from his grandmother, things progressed much more smoothly. Initially, Renata's lingering influence on Benat's decisions was viewed as highly unconventional by his other advisors, simply because she was a woman. However, after Benat's solo efforts proved inadequate, the advisors soon welcomed and leveraged Renata's assistance and the influence she had over him.

The reason Renata and Benat became so close was because she ended up taking on the role of a maternal figure in his life from a very young age. When his mother passed away just days after giving birth, Renata stepped in to fill the gap as best she could. Apparently Benat was a headstrong child, not unlike his father, and as he grew older, he seldom heeded her wisdom or authority. Renata did her best but after years of resistance, she was forced to demand Kemen's help with his teenage son. According to Tadeo, Emperor Kemen avoided parenting Benat for because he resented his son for his wife's death. Thankfully, after Renata relentlessly pleaded with her son to become involved in Benat's upbringing, her son finally stepped up and Benat's attitude seemed to improve. Unfortunately, after being neglected his entire childhood, Benat harbored some deep-seated resentment towards his father which strained their newly forming relationship.