The Dragon Star (Realms of Shadow and Grace: Episodes 1-3 of 7)

THE THRONE - TIN-TSU

JASMINE, HYACINTH, and clovatt permeated the air as hummingbirds hovered to suck the nectar from the petals of nearby lilies that lined the stone path, a few daring to hang above the lotus flowers blooming in the gazing pool. Tin-Tsu ignored the bees buzzing around him as he disregarded Tonken-Wu and the retinue of wardens, attendants, and servants trailing a respectful distance behind him. Rin-Lahee did not find the presence of the bees so easy to overlook. She swatted at one that came too close to the folds of her hair, expertly arranged in several layers of ascending curls.

"If you anger them, they will sting you." Tin-Tsu laughed.

"If they sting me, I will squash them." Rin-Lahee adjusted her hair with her free hand. Her other hand sat atop Tin-Tsu's, her elbow entwined through his, both their forearms held parallel with the ground, maintaining the appropriate distance and intimacy for a courting couple.

Tin-Tsu laughed again, and Rin-Lahee smiled in return. He realized, much to his continued surprise, that he quite enjoyed his time with his future bride. A woman possessed of both intelligence and charm, she made the conversations that could have been awkward and unendurable into pleasant respites in his long and conflict-ridden days. She held the additional advantage of being very beautiful. He found that while her womanliness did not arouse his desires, a smile from a lovely face did make the day's cares fade, if only briefly.

He needed momentary adjournments from the burdens of his station, and his walks with Rin-Lahee, while intended to help acclimate them both to their future life together, also gave him an opportunity to consider that life in greater depth. His decision to accept the counsel of Kao-Rhee and his mother and the rest of his advisers regarding the necessity of a marriage to Rin-Lahee in order to stabilize the fortunes of the ascendancy and the nation still troubled him. He saw the heartless logic of the matter, the need to solidify the familial ties that provided the power to rule, especially in a period of protracted war. However, this presumptive nuptial came at the cost of vacating his long held and devoutly adhered-to vows. He felt positive the power of Ni-Kam-Djen had saved him from death at his coronation and that his god's intercession hinged upon Tin-Tsu's fidelity to his faith. If Ni-Kam-Djen might move falling stones to save him and his subjects as reward for his piety, how might The True God respond if Tin-Tsu wavered from the path of the righteous?

"You are thinking about your vows again, aren't you?" Rin-Lahee's voice called his eye toward her smiling lips.

"How did you know?" Tin-Tsu sighed. She had begun to read his moods better than his family in the weeks since the coronation. This pleased him, in that it suggested a future wife sensitive to his state of mind, but worried him in the loss of yet another aspect of his privacy he had taken for granted.

"Your eyes have the look of seeing invisible things at an impossible distance." Rin-Lahee turned away, her smile fading. "It is hard, but it is the right choice."

Tin-Tsu could not be certain if she attempted to persuade him or herself of the rightness of the course they followed together. Probably both.

"Vows are not usually broken without repentance." Tin-Tsu watched a dragonfly land on a lotus leaf in a nearby gazing pond. "We have seen the greatness of Ni-Kam-Djen's protection. I have no desire to see the power of his wrath."

"You could make prayers of atonement each night of our marriage. Surely that would appease." Rin-Lahee's lips curved mischievously.

"It might appease my god, but I doubt it would set me in the good graces of my future wife." Tin-Tsu saw the dragonfly take flight but quickly lost sight of it among the many flowerbeds of the palace garden.