-Ryo-
Even as the Queen Mother, Bi Ki, had gone to Zelda to make her demands, Chancellor Ryo was by no means lazy. He made his own moves to resolve the issues within his faction. While he had gained a large boon in the support of the three houses to support him alongside the royal harem, including that of the Ki family, he had lost even more support from his own foundation. Ministers and governors withdrew support of him to support Zelda. His secondary holdings were sold and the officials fled from him. His primary holding, with his own personal city of Kanan, dwindled from a large city of one-hundred thousand households to eighty-thousand.
All of this occurred within a matter of days.
If this was not handled quickly and immediately, he would lose everything. Ryo, as chancellor of economics, knew the instability fear brought on a land, and saw its signs. He needed to assure them all was well. The collapse would hurt Qin, but what he feared more was how it would destroy him.
It was a scheme, but it was quick and costly. He hired all of the royal harem girls in secret, took all of the exotic and foreign animals from his herds and zoos, and bought more he did not possess, painted the inner walls of a mansion in liquid gold, planted exotic trees and bushes in a fine garden arrangement, placed couches and comfortable, colorful furniture about, filled the mansion with wine and hallucinogenic herbs, and finally drugged all of his ministers and officials. When his attendants awoke they found themselves in a spectacle, both alien and beautiful, filled with delights for every sense.
Seeing the amazement in their eyes, Ryo stood before them with a priest by his side and declared, "Look to me! I hold the three keys to the heavenly realms and so have brought you here to taste what comes in the afterlife. Look about you, gentlemen, and explore. Taste every fruit! See every animal! Find your choicest angel and see how they want you! Do not withhold yourself a single delight, for today is yours! Consider it a gesture of what I can do."
So the men did. At first they were tame, merely resting and eating, but as the alcohol and herbs took effect they were soon exploring every debauchery and perversion available.
Ryo stood on a balcony watching the events play out when a voice came to him, "You know you cannot return the girls in this condition. It will damage the Queen Mother greatly if her girls are found used." He turned to see Shou Hei Kun, his minister of strategy and war, step out after him.
Ryo Fui grunted, dismissing the notion. He turned an aggravated eye out onto the party. "Then she shouldn't have overstepped herself. She gave her power to me to use against Zelda, but if she is going to ruin everything before it begins, then I will use that power to salvage myself from her mistakes."
"Even so, how much did this cost?"
Ryo's knuckles turned white on the railing to which he leaned. Rather than answer, Ryo asked, "Did you find the man, that I might be rid of this woman?"
"Yes, I found a man of the quality you requested named Lao Ai. Even now he is in the party. He is a nobody, a lower official of no prestigious family." Shou pointed towards the man in question. Lao Ai was among the men below who, while drunk, stoned, and naked, confused a woman for a cart wheel. The wheel was largely made of wood but the center joint that locked in with the rest of the cart was of metals, and so made it very heavy. The diameter was about five feet.
Ryo's eyebrows rose, in amazement. "I am impressed. I did not think it possible to lift such a thing without hands... yes, he will do nicely."
When all of the men had worn themselves out, Ryo drugged them again, returned them to their original abodes, returned the condition of the mansion to its prior self, sold the girls as slaves across Qin, and bought new girls to stockpile the harem. It would take some time before this could all be done, but thankfully Zelda and her faction seemed quiet and content to sit in themselves gobbling up his power and likely wouldn't notice the exchange. Not that the princess took note of any of the harem girls beyond her favorite anyway, he thought. When the men awoke they swore themselves to him more than ever.
At the same time, Ryo took Lao Ai, dressed him as a eunech, and took him to the royal harem. There, he walked in to find the Queen Mother in debate with representatives from the three major families, including her brother, Kai Ki. He did not come in time to hear it, but their countenance as they departed was all he needed to know. Ryo stepped aside as Bi Ki threw pottery at her brother. It missed and hit the wall next to him.
"I take it that they did not take well to the thought of paying your increased rent?" Ryo questioned.
"Leave! I am in no mood for your games!" Bi Ki yelled.
"Then it is good that there are no games, you made sure of that," Ryo replied, heatedly. "You just had to do nothing. Just sit back and watch. Yet you disregard the ways of men so much that you had to go out of your way to ruin everything for all of us."
"Said by a man driven by his passions and greed!"
"My passions sharpen me and my greed gives me ambition. Your passions and greed are a twisted poison that tears down dynasties and great houses over flighty whims. They are hardly the same. -No! Before you utter a word, you will be quiet, submissive, and listen. I am not here for games, nor to debate. I am here to order you."
"I will not take orders from you! Not after what you-"
"One more word and you will be exiled to Gerudo to be enslaved as a gladiator's whore!" Ryo roared. Bi Ki shut her mouth fearfully. "I lifted you into the king's favor, lowered you into Zhao, and picked you back up again to this harem. Now, the only reason you are still alive is that, ironically, you have destroyed enough of my power this day that I am not invulnerable to its repercussions!"
Ryo walked up to her and took her by the mouth to force her to look at him. "Here is what you will do. Follow my orders exactly and I will spare you. Fail, and even if I damn myself I will send you through hells worse than Zhao. You will take this man, Lao Ai, into your bed. I don't care if you enjoy it, but you will be both loud and secretive about it so all hear of it and know of the kind of bitch you are, and that they may know I have nothing to do with you. Then you will shut your doors and be quiet as you once were until the ceremony of kingship. Then that day, and only on that day, are you to show your face again. I don't care what excuse you use."
(Note: Historically the Queen Mother would have to be present to honor the rise of the new king as he/she comes of age to be officially crowned and named.)
Content with the terror in her eyes, he threw her aside. "Do this, and I will pay your rent so you may fulfill your offical duties. Otherwise you will find the full weight of the law brought on you, and no allies with which to save you."
Ryo departed.
-Zelda-
Zelda giggled.
Impa and Shi Ketsu shared a worried glance. The rest of the ministers adjusted their weight uncomfortably in silence. The servants gulped. Even the Fae looked worried. All in attendance were quiet and waited to hear of what the message said, while Zelda giggled happily like a little girl.
Impa worried most of all. When was the last time she heard Zelda make such a happy sound? In some ways it was so innocent that it reminded her of when Zelda jumped in the river during their escape from Zhao, but now as Zelda was older, it had an ominous tone.
Smiling, Zelda rolled up the scroll and passed it to Impa. "Read it! It is good news."
Impa read the scroll briefly and announced, "The Queen Mother says she has been given a vision by divination-" Zelda snorted. "-and will depart for the city of Yong to sit in spiritual meditation to discern the vision. She does not know when she will ascertain its meaning, but wishes to be left alone by everyone until then."
"And left alone she will be." Zelda said.
There was little more to the meeting, so Zelda left after making her decisions. Impa followed after her.
"Princess, what was that?" Impa asked worriedly.
"What was that?"
"Do not get me wrong, I have dreamed of the day you would be so carefree, but for there to come a time when you behave so young in public... it goes against how you have always been."
Zelda laughed. The sound gave Impa goosebumps. "It is victory, dear Impa. I have finally dealt a blow to Bi Ki and Ryo large enough for them to feel it, and I am enjoying the moment. I won't deny I feel different. Since I cut myself, since I cut the connection between me and that woman, I have found myself clear. Her power has been fake, nothing more than her position as my mother. Now that I don't care anymore, I find that power over me lifted, and every blow to her, every bit of revenge I take, is a balm to my throat."
Impa stopped briefly, at once equally relieved and horrified. She hurried after the princess. "But, my lady, did you not say that the king should not take up the sword unless in defense, not revenge?"
"I have taken up no sword-"
"You have taken up the sword of the mouth."
"Then I have taken it up in defense, but choose to enjoy the success of my defense," Zelda argued. She shook her head and smirked. "Impa, did you not want to murder the woman for what she did to me? That is hardly defensive."
"Wanted to. I still want to. I restrain myself. But you are right... this is not so clear as to be easily defined. Such is the nature of politics. I'm sorry, but I cannot stop myself from fretting over you as a-" Impa stopped herself.
"As a mother?" Zelda wondered. She stopped momentarily and looked to Impa. Impa avoided her gaze. Zelda inquired, "When we met if the thought had struck you to forsake Qin and take me away from all of this, would you have?"
"Yes!" Impa answered without hesitation.
"Then the fact that the idea, of raising me yourself in place of my mother in peace and quiet and happiness, did not strike you, tells me that there will always be politics at play even from the start. I appreciate the desire, and I return it. I'm sure I would have been happy as your daughter. Yet you defined yourself from the start as my servant. Fret if you must, but be careful to keep from overstepping yourself again as you did with Link."
Leaving Impa speechless in the hall, Zelda continued to her room to retire for a short time. Her words with Impa were rather dismissive and hurtful, despite how fond they were of each other, so Zelda made a note to have a nice meal with her friend to try and mend their relationship. It had not passed Zelda's attention that her own way of thinking and speaking had grown colder of late, and though her mindset was necessary, the last thing she needed was to push away Impa. Impa was Zelda's final weakness, the last connection her curse had not taken away from her, and though Zelda was willing to compromise with her curse and embrace it, she was not willing to lose herself to it and become someone unrecognizable to even herself.
The fact that Impa fretted over her was a warming thought.
It was with this thought that Zelda returned to her room and found, of all people, Prince Kyou.
"Truly is nothing sacred?" Zelda wondered to herself.
Hearing Zelda enter, the prince stumbled over himself and turned sheepishly to her. "S-sorry. Did not hear you come in."
"What are you doing out of your cell, Kyou?" Zelda narrowed her eyes at him. "It is too soon to reveal yourself. Our plan isn't finished."
Zelda swore, if any guards or servants saw Kyou it could ruin everything. They had momentum and needed to bring it to completion at its proper time. If Kyou ruined things for her she would make things very unpleasant for him.
Kyou avoided her gaze a moment, looking around the room. He brushed his hand across the chest beside her bed. "It's been years... its so different. Father's room is not as I remember it."
"I changed his room. Its now mine."
Kyou blinked in surprise, thought about it, and nodded. "Right, yes. It would be... I had not taken his room, but I guess you would."
"I'm not restrained by nostalgia as you seem to be." Zelda remarked.
Kyou snorted. "Nostalgia? Is that what you think draws me here? No. It is anger."
With his back turned, Zelda took a silent step towards her weapon rack. Her left hand graced the hilt of a short sword. If he was here to make an attempt on her life, he would find her prepared to finish things, permanently. "Anger? Towards whom?"
Kyou was silent a moment and still. He gazed at Zelda's bed. His expression was conformed, his brows pressed together, his cheeks were red, and furious veins popped out of his face. "Him. The coward. Do you know what it is like to be cast out and rejected by a parent and replaced by a stranger? I remember his death... though your furnishings are different it was in this spot where he breathed his last." The prince spat. "He had nothing to say to me. He wanted nothing to do with me!"
Zelda observed him closely. His rising emotions alarmed her, but his words gave her pause. She had never considered his perspective of their conflict.
"You, at least, had a father who raised you. He didn't raise me."
Kyou laughed mockingly, "You really think so?! Father was so weak and lowly in our house that it was grandfather who raised me! It was Ketsu that taught me!"
'The Betrayer King...' Zelda thought.
Kyou continued, "I did not understand. How could I!? I was a child! Was I supposed to know why he spoke so harshly to me or ignored me? Was I supposed to see his anger towards me as anger towards grandfather instead?! No! He was a coward who gave up on me the first chance he had! From the first time grandfather put me on his lap father would only see me as a demon!"
His rising emotions reached its peak, and in his fury, he took hold of the bed and upturned it. With a moment of physical exertion taken, Kyou stood in place panting angrily, his muscles flexing in adrenaline.
Zelda had a thought, and decided, for the sake of compromise, to appease him. He clearly needed something. Having spent time with Ganondorf, she came to understand the nature of anger to a degree. It needed a vent before it exploded and it seemed Kyou had been sitting on this for quite some time. It was a need she understood in herself as well. Cutting herself and attacking her mother had been a balm for her soul. Now it seemed Kyou needed one as well.
She tossed her sword across the floor to him. It clattered at his feet, and in a moment of clarity he remembered her. He started to stammer in embarassment, but Zelda interrupted him.
"You are not the only one he abandoned," She informed him. "Remember, I am the elder. I was his firstborn! And he left me in Zhao! He abandoned me to be raised by a monster and left as a hostage in a land that tried to kill me every day!"
In similar vein to Kyou, Zelda allowed some of her pent up frustrations out and, taking a sword, cut into her bed. Zelda yelled, "He was so desperate to escape he left me behind! He fled without me!"
"It wouldn't have been just once, it would have been every day! How many times could he have put me on his knee and told me to not listen to grandfather, to correct me?! To allow me to know what he approved of!" Kyou yelled back. He also cut into the bed. "How cowardly of a man is a father who is afraid of his child!?"
"He didn't bother with me until he was dieing!" Zelda also yelled. "When he 'finally' decided it was time, he sent Ryo and Impa after me. From then it took... what? A few days? A week? How many weeks did he have the oppurtunity!? Just as it wasn't just once for you, nor was it for me. He abandoned me not once, but every day he refused to do something so basic, so simple, so fundamental for a parent to do as think about the child they have shat out! Mother may have tried to kill me-"
"Ketsu used me! I was nothing more than a puppet to him!"
"But it was father who knowingly left me in hell!"
"The coward couldn't be bothered even staying alive long enough to face us, to see what he had done!"
Again and again they cut into the bed with their swords. No more words were spoken at this moment. Andim squawked worriedly as the swords came down, and flew out the window when the bed collapsed on itself. Its frame was cut and could not longer sustain its weight. In the thrall of their combined venting, the two continued thruought the room tossing aside lamps, cracking mirrors, overturning chests and cabinets and desks. Cuts adorned the walls and furniture. Quickly the guards entered the room, alarmed, but stopped and watched as the royalty went about their work, making sure they didn't harm each other or themselves.
When everything in the room was destroyed, in disarray, and upturned, they stopped, panting and sweating, and looked to in each other in, for the first time, true understanding.
"The library," Kyou said.
It was connected to this room by a door and would have personally belong to the king, their father, as well.
Zelda nodded.
The two entered the library and tore it apart. Zelda kicked out the window and Kyou, having grown physically stronger as a young man would, pushed their father's desk out the window to fall onto the stone courtyard. They threw the ceiling lamps and ornaments to the ground. The shelves were shoved over and scrolls scattered. The maps were cut to pieces and flag of Qin torn by hands. At last was a portrait of their father they found tucked away. Zelda would not have known it was of him were it not for Kyou. She had never seen him.
Zelda took a moment to look at the painting, but ultimately felt nothing but contempt and anger. She handed it to Kyou.
"The honor is yours," Zelda said.
"You don't want to?" Kyou wondered.
"I hurt one parent. You can have the other."
Kyou smirked, a twinkle in his eye, and slowly he lit a lamp and held the paper over it until its corner burned. They stood in silence, in the center of the destruction they had brought, and watched the portrait burn. The physical exertion they had done and sheer outpouring of emotion left them both sweating and tired. They lost their loud, angry tones, too tired to continue.
"One of the things I learned in my meditation with the Fae, having far too much time on my hands these last few years, is that it wasn't really you I was angry with." Kyou whispered. Zelda looked to him curiously. "Sure, yes, I was angry with you, but not because of anything you had done to me, but because you were a tool of our father. Father took my home from me and cast me out to be replaced by..."
"A nobody." Zelda supplied.
Kyou nodded. "And then before I could take my anger out on him, before I could yell at him or do anything of the sort... he died. His final cowardly act was to die when he did, so no answer could be demanded of him. I was angry at him, and he, again in his cowardly way, put you up as to be the target of my anger, since I couldn't very well take it out on him. When I hurt you, it wasn't you I saw in my mind's eye, but our father I was trying to hurt."
The last of the portrait burned. Kyou let it go onto the floor. The final ashes of it smoked and were scattered into the wind.
Zelda said, "This doesn't change what you did."
"I know." Kyou gulped, "But, the Fae thought it would be good for both of us that I tell you."
"So you don't hate me?"
Kyou looked to her a moment, and shook his head. "The only actions you have taken against me is retake the throne, stab my arm, and throw me in a prison. At first, yes, I hated you for this, but I'm past it. I won't deny I was a very obstinate person with the Fae in our many talks, but over time, I realized you had done nothing to me I didn't ask for. Sister, if I had not taken the throne from you first, if I had not tried to kill you, would you have done those things?"
"No, I would not have," Zelda answered. "I was too happy having a home at all to care who I shared it with. It was never about power. Just about having a home."
Kyou breathed in and out heavily.
Zelda nodded. It seemed he had changed since being in prison. She had told the Fae to talk with him, hoping it would make him more manageable, but she hadn't expected them to seek to repair his soul.
"I don't know what to do." Kyou admitted. "I... I was raised by a monster and abandoned by the very one who should have taught me otherwise. Just because I have learned enough from the Fae to understand that I failed, doesn't mean I know how to do what's right. My instincts are no different now than before without a path forward. It is easy to say 'dont be as you once were' but then what shall replace it? I feel like an empty vessel. There's... nothing there."
"Then cling onto Reida, Kyou."
"Reida?" Kyou wondered. "But, she is not a teacher."
"She is a good woman with a solid head on her body and a good heart." Zelda explained, gently. Kyou nodded. "Whether you know it or not, she taught you some. Just because she is a girl, arranged to marry you from birth, and not a teacher in any official capacity, doesn't mean she hasn't tried to help you. She has already been trying to help you. Accept it, and may very well find our... relations improving."
Kyou thought about it a moment, and nodded. "You are right, thank you."
"With that said." Zelda cleared her throat and returned her mindset to business. "Your intrusion and the noise we have made will not go by unnoticed. Our plans must be accelerated before it is too late. We have to finish the plan immediately."
"And what would that be?"
"With your aid, we have hurt Ryo. We have hurt the harem. Ryo and the harem are on the defense and losing power with each hour. The harem queen mother has even fled the city, and it will take time before she can recover enough to challenge us again. This just leaves Ryo. From what I hear, he has had to lose a wealthy sum to salvage himself from further loss."
Kyou nodded, understanding. "It has gone well, then."
"Yes, but our position is not perfect either. This all started with the rumor, valid as it may be, that the royal family is not a solid foundation for the country. I have no child. You have no child. Therefore there is no heir to the throne, and us dieing will mean the end for Qin as we know it. If Ryo can disrupt the sovereignty of Zhao, then who is to say ours is not equally threatened? Just because we have hurt Ryo and the harem doesn't mean we are in a better position then them."
"So you wish to solidify our position, I take it?"
Zelda nodded. "We need to show the people that the royal family is stable and reliable and secure." She breathed in deeply and let out shakily. "Mother... may have helped us in what she did to me. I don't know yet." Seeing Kyou's curious gaze, Zelda supplied, "She had me raped."
Kyou gasped. Even in his darkest dreams he wouldn't have gone so far.
Zelda continued quickly, "We will see if anything comes of it, but for now I need you to show that the royal family, that our lineage, is intact."
Kyou turned bright red in embarassment. "Y-y-you want me to-"
"Not yet." Zelda smirked, enjoying his embarassment. "You are very young. I do want Reida to make you heirs as soon as you two are ready, but also no later than that. No, even as much as I am using you right now, I wouldn't blackmail you into that. Instead, I have a different idea. Do it, and you are free to return to the palace with a full pardon."
"I'm listening."
"Not right now. Go bring Reida. It involves her, and I will respect her enough to allow her input as well."