Hanging in the Balance Olden Stars - Casius 👀
So I conceived of this along with @tieflng as a sort of faux-academic look at the fairy tales of the Olden Stars... ve took it a lot farther than I ever did but I did write about half of this little fairytale:
HOW THE SEVENTH JESTER LIFTED THE CURSE OF THE WHISTLING PRINCE
Once upon a time, in the days before the stars were old and Aqueth Song-Fisher began the aging of the world, there lived the First Empress Geminian and her two beautiful children, Sagithol and Chirani. Now the Empress had already lost her wings, but she ruled fairly and well with the aid and help of the Mantle and Sceptre, raiments granted her from the stars’ birth.
Chirani had been born with wings dark as night and red as hearts’ blood, the eldest by a few minutes. She was to be the heir to the Empire and had a merry, cheerful disposition that hid her great pride. Her brother Sagithol, however, had been born wingless and male, shocking the court. The Empress had merely sighed when asked her wishes for her son, and said, “All good things come with price.” Thus, Sagithol had grown up knowing he was the price of the Empire’s prosperity. He was a solemn child, although fair and bright of face and mind.
Chirani spent much of her time following in her illustrious mother’s warlike footsteps, ever training in the ways of battle and statecraft, while Sagithol sought the company of books and the wisdom gained from the study of alchemy and magic. As she learned the ways of the spear and the talon, he learned to wield ink and reagent. Yet both grew in mastery of their craft, and they were fond of each other, despite their great differences.
Now the court had many musicians, acrobats, and tellers of tales, but the undisputed reign over these entertainers was held by Casius, the Seventh Jester. Eirs was the lineage of Fools, stretching back seven generations, and ey, so they say, was the crowning glory of eir line. Eir command of wit, eir mastery of the art of comedy, eir great wisdom at dismantling the courtly squabbles with an impeccably timed joke, was well-known to the court and to the Empress, and she looked upon em with great favor. And yet Casius eirself was often frustrated, as ey felt ey were not taken with the respect ey felt ey deserved. But Sagithol, who took everything and everyone seriously, found a friend in Casius. Thus the princess, the prince, and the jester grew in cunning, knowledge, and wit, an inseparable trio until they neared the age of adulthood.
When Time’s Singer, the great Titan known as Harn, attacked, days after the heir and her twin reached the age of majority, Chirani made so bold as to tell the Empress that it was she who would take command of the troops and ride to war. Although both Sagithol and Casius begged her to rethink, to stay out of danger, her great pride and dreams of glory would let her do nothing but take the field. Geminian herself was swayed, saying that an Empress of Sahr must be ready to ride to war and to make peace, both in their time. She too, however, decided to go to the front lines, both to guide Chirani and serve, as she always had, as both warmaker and mediator, weaving the warp and woof of the Empire as she had the Mantle. She took that holy raiment with her, for what guidance and wisdom it could provide, and left Sagithol with two things: the regency of the Empire and a great puzzle, one which had stymied many fine minds.
The Holy Scepter of Sahr, the sign and sigil of royalty, had long been a conundrum. The Empress wielded its boundless magic in service of Sahr, but from whence it had come, or how it had been wrought, none could say. She had emerged from her great choice with the shining Scepter in her flightless grasp and wielded the magics it bestowed upon her with the wisdom she gained from the Mantle. Thus, Geminian had created the Empire, and long may her legacy guard us all. The shining stone that formed the crown of the Scepter granted magic beyond comparison or knowing, and Geminian asked Sagithol to bend his intellect toward discovering the mysteries it contained. He accepted with seriousness, as he did all things, and went straight to work.
