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-Luckycharms
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Handling a peasant or warrior or servant that committed the treasonous act of rallying against the king was actually an easy feat. It was easy to throw a few nobodies into a prison, or to execute them.
Having that same act be committed by a family member, let alone your own son, made everything much more complicated.
Though Seetha had thoroughly succeeded in uprooting old traditions, upsetting my father and winning the disapproval of every noble in this room, she had not necessarily done anything that would warrant punishment. Feelings were hurt, people were upset, it may come and bite us back in the future, but she committed no crime.
Aayu was confessing to a crime.
"Aayuraavanan, it would be wise to not joke about this," my father said sternly. When I looked at him I saw him wearing an expression that I was not too familiar with. My father had always been known for maintaining his composure during tough times... it seems my brother has really crossed a line.
I looked at Seetha, who chose not to look at me, or at least, not to look me in the eye. A thought flashed through my mind that made me uncomfortable. I wondered if she herself had anything to do with this. They spent a lot of time together, mostly when I was gone. Could they have planned something? Or at the very least, did he maybe run the idea by her?
And if he did, was he going to sell her out as well?
"I'm not joking, father," he continued, shrugging. "I saw the displeasure that these people were feeling and so I threw around a few suggestions-"
"Do you realize what you are saying?" My father shouted, startling many in the room, many of whom had possibly never heard him shout like that before. "Rallying up folk against the King's law is treason! Prince or not!"
His brows furrowed though he smiled. "Father, it would be silly to call the decision for maids and servants to care for your grandson over his mother law."
"Aayu," I called, "I would suggest you keep your mouth shut." To be honest, it felt strange to be the one advising Aayu. Usually he was the one advising me, despite me being the older one.
Aayu looked at me. "I have done nothing wrong-"
"Did you think you could get away with such a thing?" My father asked, sternly, making his way down the dias and towards Aayu. "Forget the child, forget the girl, forget who you think you are helping and think about what you are confessing to."
Aayu stood his ground. "I'm the smart one father, you know I've already thought all of that through-"
When my father reached Aayu, he cut him off by slapping him hard across the face. The sound was loud enough to cause an overwhelming number of gasps in the spectators and even made my mother stand up in shock. Even Seetha recoiled.
She had mentioned once that there was only one time in her life that she could remember her father ever beating his children. One of her brothers, as a child, had rallied his friends up and gone after a sickly village boy with a limp and a hunchback. When her father had found out, he beat her brother so badly he bled and all the others cried as they watched.
Then her father asked her brother how it felt. How it felt to be beaten by someone who is stronger and overpowers you. How it felt to be beaten by someone who is meant to protect you. Then he told him to imagine he had beaten him for a reason he could not control.
Seetha said that her father then left him there, ordering his wife and other children to leave him to wallow in his pain and suffering and let him fend for himself, to let him feel what it feels like to have no one to help you. She said she could not sleep that night because she hated seeing her father so angry and disappointed and she also hated to see her brother hurting so badly.
And as she feigned sleep, she watched her father go to her brother in the middle of the night, while he still cried and sat alone in the yard where he had received his punishment, with bandages and medicine. He patched his son up silently, cleaning his wounds and tending to his injuries. And when he was finished, he looked his son in his eyes and said: "men with more must protect those with less."
The words were simple, but meant a lot. I remember when she told me the story, wondering what having 'more,' could mean. It could mean just about anything. More health, more riches, more status, more happiness... anything.
It seemed in this case, Aayu had more control. He had more power... and he chose to help Seetha, the one with less.
Yet my father chose to hit him for it. He chose to hit him so hard that his lip bled.
I felt, at that moment, that my father could have learned a lot from Seetha's father.
The Maharajah proceeded to grab my brother by the collar of his beige kurutha. "What were you thinking, Aayuraavanan?"
I walked over to them. "Father, please-"
"I was thinking the same things that everyone here has already mentioned," he said, looking rather unphased by my father's anger. "This child would be better off with his mother than a wetnurse-"
"And for that you opposed the throne-"
"And I would do it again!" He suddenly shouted, pushing my father away before readjusting his collar. My eyes widened as I tried to urge him to silence himself. "This child will thank us for it, trust me," Aayu continued. "I certainly would have."
"What?" My father growled.
"If our mother fought and cried for us the way Seetha has fought and cried for her child, then everything would have been a lot different," he said. "We would have been better people for it. Your sons would not be cutting each other's limbs off, or spending more time sleeping around than being a prince. Your sons could have changed the world for the better. And you wouldn't be here slapping your adult son because he chose to stand up for the people he's meant to protect."
My father glowered at him.
"So punish me all you want, because I can say with confidence, as General Sivakasi has, that when this child is grown he will see the blessing in this decision and free me from whatever it is you choose to put me through."
"Go to your room," my father ordered. "Aaryan, escort the fool to his room and keep him there. We will decide what to do with him."
I looked at my father and watched as he turned around and marched back to his throne. I noticed at that moment, the wide eyed Anbu looking at us with fearful eyes. Anbu and Aayu were close, I could understand his fear.
When I looked back at Aayu I saw that he was already storming out and Seetha was following after him, struggling to catch up as she was still holding Aathavan in her arms, and so I followed too.
I left the throne room and turned the corner, watching Seetha following after him. "Aayu!" She called.
Aayu stopped walking and turned, looking almost surprised that she had followed him.
When she caught up, she wrapped an arm around his neck and hugged him as tightly as she could while still holding Aathavan. I began slowing down and watched as Aayu closed his eyes and sighed.
After a moment he spoke up. "I didn't arrange anything," he said. "It was a lie."
My eyes widened.
"I know," Seetha said.
After a moment of hesitation, I narrowed my eyes. "Why would you lie?" I hissed. "Father will punish you, especially since you came out and said what you did in front of everyone!"
"Exactly," he responded. "Father can't hurt all of those other people now that I've said what I have."
My brows rose.
"Everyone in that room was at risk of death," he continued. "Whereas I am not. Now that I have said that, father cannot punish any of those people... if he does it would cause an outcry. Besides, what's the worst father will do to me? Strip me of my lands? My titles? My riches? Conveniently, I never cared much for those."
Seetha looked at him. "But-"
"You don't need to worry about a thing, Seetha," he said. "None of this is your fault... and to be clear, it was a half lie. I suppose I was involved in the sense that I did not do anything about it when my father asked me to end it."
"You didn't need to-"
"Yes I did," Aayu smiled at her. "And let me add, I didn't necessarily do it for you." He looked down at my son. "General Sivakasi is right about everything. The fates of my brothers and I are already sealed. Our personalities have already been molded and it would be hard for us to change our ways at this point. Your son, however, is a blank slate. If I was confident in the maids and nurses ability to raise him then I would have stood by... but I'm not. We had the best of the best, we were raised by Lady Suhanya, and look how we turned out-"
"You turned out fine," Seetha said, firmly.
I noted that she was only referring to him.
He chuckled and shrugged. "I'd beg to differ."
Seetha smiled at him.
"I have more confidence in you," he continued. "You've been raised well... by a mother and father who have instilled nothing but good values and lessons into you... You have never given me any reason to suspect that you would be anything less than a remarkable queen, so I'd rather you be the one who raises the future King."
She hugged him again and I watched as my younger brother, who so often acted as the older one, kissed my wife's head.
I wondered then if maybe he would be a better king than I would.
"Whatever father decides to do with me, I'll be fine," Aayu said, pulling away from Seetha. "Don't worry about a thing."
Seetha looked down at our son. She didn't seem to stop worrying.
"Big brother, I don't need to be escorted to my room," he said. "I can go there myself. I ask simply that you remember who those people were standing up for and go back in there... make sure they are treated with respect and make sure they leave without a single regret. If you can do that, you can count on them to stand by you for the rest of your life."
With that, Aayu bowed his head, smiled at Seetha, and then walked off.
Seetha and I stood in silence for a moment. The halls were empty, as most of the palace dwellers were crowded in the throne room, and all I could really hear was the continued chaos in the throne room as well as the sounds that my son was making with his mouth.
He looked happy.
At least one of us was.
"Do you need me to walk you to our room-"
"No," she said, too quickly. She still didn't look at me.
I wasn't mad at her. Of course I wasn't. Seetha had done nothing wrong.
And it seemed like she too was not mad at me.
However, there was something in the air between us... a nervousness, maybe. And I was certain she felt it too because at the first opportunity she had, she walked off.
I watched her, letting out a breath.
I certainly was not one to leave questions unanswered... especially with her. I realized of course, that now was not the time to handle whatever it was that was bothering the both of us. So instead, I turned and returned to the throne room in the hopes that I could do what Aayu suggested.
And I did.
I took over, seeing as my father was too distraught by the feeling of betrayal, and I let the men and women return to their daily tasks with the simple warning that if it were to happen again, it would not be handled so lightly.
They were happy with that, though all the nobles and my family seemed the opposite.
So I wondered then... who was I meant to keep happy? The people I ruled, or the people who supposedly allowed me to keep my rule?
Everyone seemed to have a different response to that.