Title: General Ceremony
Chapter: Upon the King
Author: smilingsoprano
Rating: T for the whole series, K+ for this chapter.
Pairings: None here, a touch of Jon/Zahir later.
Summary: A series of loosely connected ficlets inspired by a soliloquy from Shakespeare's Henry V, musing upon the nature of monarchy and the relationship between King Jonathan and his squire, Zahir.
A/N: Some of these are sequential, some not. They all start with a quote from the soliloquy and vary widely in tone, though the prevailing theme is angst about the burdens of power. Jon-focused for the most part. Mild to moderate slash in three of the later ones (which will be warned for, so you can skip them if you like), but overall very gen. I'm posting this in chapters so as to not end up with a million and a half stories, but they do not form a coherent arc or plot, and are meant to be read as one idea, not narrative. Written for Goldenlake's 2011 SMACKDOWN competition, which is made of love and awesome. Enjoy!
Upon the king! let us our lives, our souls,
Our debts, our careful wives,
Our children and our sins lay on the king!
Jon stalked into his rooms in a black fury. He slammed the door and began pacing, his hands balled into fists at his sides, muttering to himself. Of course he could fix the food shortages. And the raise in prices. And quell every group of bandits in Tortall. And dispatch with every last one of those pesky immortals. And eradicate diseases; those were hardly necessary or proper. Of course he could make the weather more agreeable. He was the king!
He slammed a fist against the wall just as his squire entered, the carefully blank expression he cultivated so well firmly in place. "Is there a problem?" he asked.
Jon wanted to yell, to scream an unconditional YES! I'm expected to be omnipotent, and I'm not! I'm just a man, just a normal person, but for an accident of birth, and they want me to wave my hands and make everything better! But then he looked into Zahir's dark, cool eyes, and the calm concern he saw there steadied his raw nerves. He took a deep breath.
"Yes. But it's nothing I can't handle."