The Crown: Prologue
#1 of The Crown
"The Crown"
by Calypso
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I drew from many inspirations to write this piece, most notably Avatar: The Last Airbender. I also got ideas here and there from works such as The Sleeping Beauty Trilogy, written by Anne Rice as A. N. Roquelaure. Hence, I'm warning readers, many of the concepts in this story aren't exactly original, nor do I take credit for being the mastermind behind them. I just love magic and wonder and imagination, and I made some things my own in writing this. I hope you all enjoy this piece, as it is very different from others I've written. Thanks! <3 Calypso
PROLOGUE
"What is it that you see, Elder?" Ryoshi asked feebly, bowing on his knees to the Elder, who was named Kon-La.
Elder Kon-La, whom many thought was getting too old to be having Spiritual visions, was sitting cross-legged, opposite the kneeling Ryoshi, a blazing fire between them. His eyes were as white as his long hair and beard, a sign of his vision state, and his breathing was slow, methodical, practiced. A true master was communicating with the Spirits to seek knowledge of the future, and the few who practiced in his craft knew that his age mattered not. In fact, it only signified the many years he had honed his abilities, acquiring a wisdom and power beyond any other.
The old cougar sighed; it was a heaving, great thing that only confirmed Ryoshi's worst fears, which somehow were unknown to him, yet completely present in his mind. "You will father a daughter, Ryoshi," he said in his deep, rich, melodic voice.
Ryoshi looked stunned, but relieved, and finally, happy. "That...that is wonderful news, Elder!" he said with a smile. "My wife has been ill, we had suspected this might be the reason-"
"Silence," Kon-La proclaimed without anger, and yet silence fell instantly. "Ryoshi, your daughter will be healthy, will be beautiful, in fact...but you must not hate her, nor your wife, for what she will be."
"Hate her? Why would I hate them?" the younger cougar asked, his dread returning. The Yunka-Shu was a tribe of cougars all.
Kon-La sighed again, blinked, and his icy blue irises returned. His vision was done. Clearly, it had placed a great weight on his shoulders, a burden he was hesitant to transfer to its rightful owner. "Ryoshi, I love you dearly. You have been so kind to my daughter. When you were married, I saw the love and devotion you felt for each other, and I was in awe." He smiled weakly, the expression dying before it really lived.
"I love Yumika with my whole soul, Elder, of course I do. I will love our daughter even more, more than the sun and moon and stars!" Ryoshi declared adamantly. "With all due respect, how can you imply that my devotion would falter?"
"Because, Ryoshi," the Elder sighed, "have you not wondered why after four years of trying, my daughter is only now pregnant?" Kon-La paused, allowing this statement to sink in, but did not wait for an answer. "Four years you have had the attentive care of our Healers, who have tended to my daughter in the hope that they might find the reason for her problems conceiving. Yet, after years of treatment, only now does it work?"
"The Spirits have blessed us at last!" Ryoshi exclaimed, not wanting to hear the implications, what he hoped were awful lies.
"The Spirits...have not, my son," Kon-La said, his eyes sad. "You remember that after these years of treatment, it was I who finally sent two Healers to you to make sure you were in good health as well?" Ryoshi nodded, his mouth hanging open slightly in what could best be described as incredulity. "Well, my Healers returned to me with very sad news...you cannot provide my daughter, or indeed any woman, with children."
Ryoshi just sat for a moment, bewildered, confused. He stared at the Elder, trying to discern the lie, trying to find it in Kon-La's fathomlessly wise eyes. He could see no deception, only the glaring, blinding light of truth. It stabbed him in the heart, made him bleed as no other wound had, and he felt tears well in his eyes. "No..." was all he could say.
"I'm afraid so," was the sorrowful response. "I am so sorry that I kept this from you for so long, Ryoshi...you should have known a year ago. But, I think I was in disbelief...I didn't want to hurt you with knowledge that even I questioned, did not wish to see. But my daughter, Yumika...that night, when the Healers came to me, she followed them, hiding in the shadows...she heard everything."
Only the crackle of the fire and the breeze from outside the room could be heard in the absolute stillness, the silence that stole the soul of the spindly, handsome cougar right from his breath.
"Yumika...my Yumika knew for a year that...that..." Ryoshi stuttered, his eyes welling, his speech faltering. His bride, the love of his life, had known...and now that she was pregnant...
"She did. And as soon as she heard, she confronted me." Kon-La looked in pain, his heart aching for his son, the husband of his dear sweet daughter. "She was devastated, you must understand, completely heart-broken, and she cried and cried, her dream of mothering your children stolen from her by fate. She vowed that she had never wanted anything more than to be a mother, but she said that she loved you, that she was yours always...and she left," Elder Kon-La said, his voice cracking.
"But...but she never told..." Ryoshi cried. He was losing his composure, his will to prevent the floodgates from opening, and flushing his entire being with sorrow.
"She didn't want to hurt you, son," Kon-La replied, his expression weary and drawn. "She would rather you believe the rest of your days that it was she who was infertile, that it was because of her that you could not produce a child, than to find out it was you who were the reason."
"Oh Spirits help me!" Ryoshi cried pathetically, his body limp in its sitting position, hunched over and broken.
"But," Kon-La said quietly, and his tone suddenly became ominously grave, "someone else was listening that night. Someone else heard what Yumika said, that she would do anything to mother your children. Someone who has evaded my vision for a year now by guising his activities, shrouding himself and my daughter in darkness. I only now know he was there, for he has lifted the enchantment, he no longer needs to hide." The Elder's voice was building with rage, his anger quiet and reserved, yet terrible to behold. The very air tingled with malice, and the fire between the two cougars leapt and sparked in ways it hadn't done previous.
Ryoshi merely sat, his head lifting back to gaze at his wife's father, amber eyes wet and reddened. He didn't know how much more he could take, but he had to know who this stranger was, what his involvement was with his wife.
"This someone has been watching you and my daughter Yumika for quite some time. I am convinced that he has followed you since your marriage, and it is likely that he has used his own methods of Spirit communication to spy, to gather knowledge of you from the air and the earth." Kon-La paused again, and he looked older than he ever had before, the folds in his skin and fur shadowed deeply, his frown accentuating them horribly. And he spoke so gravely that Ryoshi hung on every syllable, desperate to hear them, as if each one could be the great Elder's last. "Ryoshi, that night, an emissary from Zanat-Ven was listening, and he told his master of your plight."
"NO!" Ryoshi shouted, backing up on his paws and scuffling away slightly, abhorred. "Why would those bastards be listening? Why would they care about such a thing!" he shouted, all pretense of respect forgotten. The earth trembled beneath him, vibrating with his fury.
"Surely in your heart, you must know," Kon-La said, as if he himself had trouble with the words. "I am convinced now, Ryoshi, that once the black wolves of Zanat-Ven learned of my daughter's wish to conceive, King Hyusith saw a great opportunity. How better to conquer our tribe, to claim our power and our land, than from the inside? And...so the Spirits have told me...he sent his son, Prince Ka-Ali, to..." Kon-La's voice broke suddenly, and he breathed deeply, trying to calm himself. "Prince Ka-Ali came in the night, and he seduced my daughter with empty promises, making her believe that he could channel your Spirit energy, that he could impregnate her with your child as you yourself could not. And, under his spell of deceit, my daughter...succumbed."
"NO!" Ryoshi repeated, the fire exploding with heat and flame, a huge gust of wind blowing through the room. His Spirit was overcome with grief and horror and wrath as much as he was, and it was manipulating the physical in its agony. "My wife, my Yumika? Mother of HIS spawn, his despicable...loathsome...evil...!" he raged.
"Ryoshi, STOP!" commanded Kon-La, and the energy of the room ceased its turmoil.
At this, Ryoshi only broke down again. Without his anger, he was left with terrible, terrible pain, a grief and sadness beyond any of his life.
"I am sorry that Ka-Ali was able to elude me, that his father's plans have succeeded... It is my fault you bear this burden," Kon-La said sagely.
Ryoshi stared, dumbfounded, and said nothing.
"But, all is not lost, Ryoshi. Hyusith was always a fool when it came to real power, the real truths of this world, and he will prove a fool again. He thinks that by breaking into your family, that by betraying your trust, his grandchild, my own grandchild, will spawn enmity and fury in our tribe, which will eventually destroy us. But he does not know the power that love has, to conquer these things, to mend the wounds and dull the pain. He knows of love, and I believe he loves his sons as much as he is capable, but he is far from understanding the mysterious power that bond has.
"And so, I ask you, Ryoshi...please, love this child as if she were your own, because Yumika would have her be no one else's. She is your daughter more than she could ever be Ka-Ali's, for her mother thought only of you in creating her. Love her, protect her, guide her, and cherish her above all others, for she will need a father who is strong, kind, and true, as you have always been."
Ryoshi stared at Kon-La, the old cougar's salt-and-pepper face tired, his eyes seemingly desperate to impress upon his son the importance of his words. "How can I love this child? She will be...she will be half black wolf, a constant reminder of my wife's betrayal, of that loathsome beast that calls himself Prince!" Ryoshi said in gasps, horrified and sickened by the idea.
"You will love her, Ryoshi, because she is your daughter. Because despite my daughter's moment of weakness, she loves you more than anything. You'll love them both because they're your family."
Suddenly, Elder Kon-La started to cough, covering his mouth as he wheezed and hacked, sounding ill. He had never sounded or looked more fragile to Ryoshi, which only scared him further. He felt as though everything were crashing around him, like he was descending a downward spiral, trying to gasp for air, but only faced with more misery.
"Ryoshi, I...I will not live to see my granddaughter enter this world," Kon-La intimated with resignation, his breathing firm. It seemed he had accepted this quite readily.
"What? How can you say such a thing, Elder?" Ryoshi replied.
"I have seen it, my dear boy," said Kon-La quietly, adopting that weary tone once again. He really was very tired. "My eldest daughter Leev will become Elder when I go, as is custom, and shortly thereafter, Yumika will give birth."
"But...but Elder Kon-La...Father..." Ryoshi cried, tears rolling down his cheeks. He was shattered beyond repair, at least for a while.
"Do not cry for me, Ryoshi, I accept death with open arms, as I have accepted all that has befallen me in this life. Simply love your daughter. Love her fiercely, tenderly, more than you've loved anything, even Yumika. She must be held above all others." And finally, after so much terrible news, Kon-La gave a small smile.
And Ryoshi, aching with the pain of it all, nodded in agreement, his heart torn to shreds.