Feb. 4, 2006; 10:05 p.m.

Disclaimer: Story ain't mine, characters ain't mine. Though I wish they are. Oh, and a few warnings: OOCness, het (which will be remedied, people), gore, deaths, and angst all around. Feel free to click the 'back' button. Ja!

Advanced Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Shahrastini

By Ninetails

Chapter 3: Sorrow

Not long after what I have just related, a great sorrow came to Duo and his father. Helena the Storyteller fell sick of a fever that would not abate. No healer's potion would make the fever fall. For many days she lay upon her sickbed never moving, never speaking, with her blind eyes closed. Then, one day, she summoned all her strength, opened her eyes for one last time, and called her son to her bedside.

Duo came at his mother's bidding. He sat beside her for many hours. In those hours Helena told her son many things, and Duo came to understand much that had been painful and troubling. But what passed between them, what Helena spoke and what Duo answered, Duo would keep to himself for many years to come.

Toward evening, Helena closed her eyes once more. At this, Duo left her chamber, carrying in his arms the ebony chest that had been the only possession his mother had brought with her when she married his father. No sooner had Duo reached his own chambers and placed the chest beneath the window than Helena the Storyteller took one long breath and released it slowly. And with that, she died.

The moment his mother breathed her last, Duo collapsed upon the floor. For many days he lay as Helena had, without moving, without speaking, his eyes closed fast. The vizier was truly in despair, for it seemed to him that the fever that had claimed the wife he loved would now also steal away his son. He left his apartments only to attend the king. All other hours he'd spend at Duo's bedside.

But it was not until the vizier had almost given up hope that his long vigil at last had its reward. For Duo's limbs stirred, and thus he spoke, "Be comforted, my father. For I am still alive and will remain so."

But when he opened his eyes, the vizier learned a bitter thing. Though his son still lived, he had not escaped the fever unscathed. He was blind, like his mother before him. He silently grieved for the loss of the brilliance in those amethyst orbs. From that day forward, the vizier beheld a change in his son. Though his child's love for him remained constant, Duo now made good the boast he had made to Helena beside the fountain: He never left the vizier's quarters, never received visitors. Instead, he schooled himself in how to live alone.

Also from that time forward the tales about him began to spread. Throughout the land it was whispered that Duo was as his mother Helena before him and her father before her had been. A Storyteller. And those who had been with the vizier when he had first taken Helena to wife remembered the prophecy of her people: that Helena's child would come in time to be the greatest storyteller of all.

Duo and his father mourned Helena the Storyteller for a year and a day. At the end of this time, though their hearts were still heavy, they put aside their mourning robes. That very same day, as if he had only been waiting for the moment, the king, Treize's father, called his vizier before him.

"Old friend," he said. "You have served me well. Now, I desire to serve you well also. I will give to you a beautiful wife to ease your grief, for the time has come to put an end to sorrow."

Now, the vizier had no desire for a beautiful wife. He had no desire for another wife of any kind. For, save for the love he had for Duo, he had buried his heart with Helena the Storyteller. But the vizier had not served the king for so many years without learning his ways. He knew a command when he heard one. And so he bowed his head and said, "My lord, you do me too much honor."

"Nonsense," said the king. This too had been his solution once his first wife passed away, leaving him with a desolate feeling until his new wife. And he brought forth the bride that he had chosen. She was a great court lady, as beautiful as the morning. He married her to the vizier that very hour. And so, though he had set out alone for his audience with the king, when the vizier returned to his quarters he brought with him a bride.

Now, the vizier's wife was proud and ambitious. Never had she doubted her own value or her beauty, for all her life others had told her of it. She had not loved Helena the Storyteller, and she had no wish to love her son.

"Do you not think he would be happier with his mother's people?" she asked the vizier on their wedding night. "Why should he wish to stay here, among foreigners?"

The vizier looked his new wife up and down. That was all he needed to take her measure, though he was careful not to let her know it took so little time.

"He is my son also," he replied. "My people are his, and his place is at my side. I will hear no more talk of sending him away."

So the vizier's new wife had no choice but to bide her time. But she had a plan, and she was sure it was a sound one. She spoke no more to the vizier of sending his son away. Instead, thus she spoke to Duo: "Wait till I have given your father a son of true noble birth. I will have done something not even the great Helena could, and then we shall see how soon a storyteller's son is forgotten."

Though the words were designed to cut deep, Duo bowed low his head and made no reply. He was still a child and had fears as all children do, but he had no fear that he might lose his father's love.

At last the day came that the vizier's new wife had hoped for: the day she could announce she was with child. Though his stepmother did not intend it should be so, this news was pleasing to Duo. For it meant the vizier's wife spent all her time making arrangements for the birth and no longer had time to pick and poke at Duo. The months went by, and in due course, the time arrived for the coming of the child.

For many hours the vizier's wife labored to bring forth the pureblood son she so desired. When at last the child was born, and it truly was a son, her black heart would not contain her excitement, burst, and she died.

And so it was Duo's arms that first sheltered his brother from the world. And it was he who named him Quatre.

The vizier and his sons lived together quietly and joyfully. Though Quatre sometimes accompanied his father outside their quarters as he grew, for he truly was interested in the court happenings his father attended, Duo did not. He kept true to his vow and always stayed within his own quarters. Many hours did he spend with nothing for company save his own thoughts and the contents of Helena's ebony trunk.

As the years went by, the vizier and his sons grew in affection, as did the king and his two sons. The vizier's first act upon returning from his duties each day was to retire to Duo's rooms. There, he would tell him all that had befallen him during his day. In this way did Duo learn what transpired in his own land. His father also placed a special set of servants always at Duo's disposal. At any hour of the day or night, they might read to him any subject he desired. In this way did he learn about the wide world around him.

The cleverness of his mind and the depth of his splendor grew with each passing year. And, as these things grew, so did the curiousity of the king's courtiers. Their earlier animosity toward Duo's mother was all but forgotten, and they longed to see the storyteller's child. And the greatest longing of all lived in the breast of the young prince, Heero, though he kept it locked away inside himself and spoke of it to no one.

But Duo still kept to his own rooms and satisfied only his own curiousity.

When Duo was sixteen, another sorrow befell him and his father. For in that year, the old king died and the whole kingdom was plunged into mourning. At the end of this period, Treize ascended the throne. He divided the kingdom with his stepbrother, Heero, as has already been told you. The brothers embraced. Then Treize took his servants and his goods and departed for his capital city. And so a year went by.

Then, on no less important a day than the anniversary of their father's death, Heero conceived a great desire to see his older brother. He had missed him dearly for they had never been parted until now. Therefore, he sent for the vizier and commanded him to make the journey to the Capital and bring Treize to his side. He was newly wed, and the young bride didn't wish to travel too far.

The vizier made preparations without delay. He mustered a great caravan. On the day it was to depart, the streets of the city thronged with people, all loudly proclaiming their good wishes to the vizier, and their love for King Heero. The king himself stood on the palace steps to wish his vizier godspeed. The child Quatre stood near the young queen and her ladies, waving enthusiastically and giving his father one of his warmest smiles. But of Duo, there was no sign.

The vizier's caraven traveled for many days. When it reached the Capital, Treize gave the vizier a warm welcome. When he learned the reason for the journey, he was overjoyed at the prospect of being reunited with his younger brother. Because the city was full of traders, Treize bade the vizier make camp outside the city gates. Then he set about making preparations for his own departure. It took several days, but at last the evening came when he kissed his wife and infant daughter farewell, and she presented him with a skin of his favorite wine.

"Tonight as you sit in your tent, drink this, and think of me," she said. "It will ease the sorrow of this parting."

"My wife," Treize answered, "I would be honored to do as you desire."

Then Treize went to the caravan of the vizier. There, he would spend the night so that they could depart early the next day in the cool of the morning.

But late that night, as he sat in his tent, a cup of the wine she had given him in his hands, Treize's thoughts circled back to his young family. Much as he longed to see his younger brother again, Treize's heart was sad, for he loved his young daughter dearly, and didn't want to part with her so soon. His marriage to his wife was preordained, but he cared for her deeply as well. Deciding to hold his wife and daughter, Mariemaia, one last time, Treize set down the wine untouched, rose from his couch, and made his way back to the palace.

He first set out to his daughter's nursery, seeing her peacefully sleeping on her bassinet, her eyes crinkled up in the most adorable expression he has ever seen. Smiling gently, he kissed her satiny brow and murmured a prayer of safety.

When Treize reached his chambers, his wife was nowhere to be found! Great was his dismay and alarm! He had just opened his mouth to give a cry when he heard the barest thread of sound. This was enough for him to recognize his wife's voice. Wary now, for he feared that something was amiss, Treize followed the sound. Soon he found himself on a balcony overlooking his wife's favorite garden. In the light of the moon he saw her – wrapped in another man's arms.

"What a fool is this Treize," he heard his wife proclaim. "For I have played him false before he has even departed. But he will never know it, for the wine I gave him at our parting is poisoned."

When Treize heard these words his blood ran cold as newly melted snow. The love he felt for his wife fled from his heart, never to return.

At Treize's wife's words, her lover pulled back. "By the love of god!" he cried. "What have you done?"

But Treize's wife merely laughed, a sound like tinkling bells which, as though the feeling belonged to another life or another man, Treize remembered had once greatly charmed him.

"Calm yourself, my beloved," spoke his wife to her lover. "For the poison is as a thief in the night. So cunningly made that no one will be ablt to detect its coming and going. Now let us go in and repose ourselves, for we must be ready to rule in the Capital on the morrow."

So saying, Treize's wife and her lover prepared to go in. But before they could, a great rage swept Treize. How dare this woman deceive him! He drew his sword and leaped down into the garden. With the first stroke, he severed his wife's lover's head from his body. The second stroke deprived his wife of her head as well. Thus did he dispatch those who would have destroyed him.

After these deeds were done Treize summoned his most trusted councilors and made known to them all that had taken place. They pronounced his actions true and just. Though they begged him to remain within the city lest there be other conspirators, Treize would not delay his visit to his brother. For he discovered that he had no wish to remain in the Capital where everything he looked upon reminded him of the treachery of the woman he had loved.

But he could not leave his daughter behind. And so, as silently as he had left it, and carrying his daughter in his arms, Treize returned to the caravan and departed with the vizier the following morning without ever revealingto the vizier what had transpired. They traveled together for many miles until at last they reached Heero's palace. Ah! How joyful was the reunion of the brothers!

But it did not take long for Heero to realize that a profound melancholy had settled upon his brother, especially when gazing at his daughter. Though he would converse on any topic Heero wished, Treize neither laughed nor smiled. Nothing seemed to delight him, even at the sight of his daughter's first smile due to young Quatre's attentions. He decided to arrange a great hunt, a thing that Treize had always enjoyed above all others. But when the time came for the hunt to begin, Treize begged his brother to go without him. No words Heero could say altered his brother's decision to stay behind, and so at last, he obeyed Treize's wishes and set forth without him.

Now, since the night he had discovered his wife's treachery, Treize had not slept. For it was in the night that he had discovered there was more to his life than his eyes had been able to perceive, and so he feared to close them.

And so, on a night much like the one on which Treize had uncovered the plot aimed at his own heart, he discovered one aimed at his brother's. For Heero's wife, too, did conspire against him, to deprive him of his life ans set another in his place – both in his bed and on his throne.

Treize was filled with anger and overprotectiveness when he heard his brother's wife plotting against him, yet his heart was also filled with a strange surge of joy. For now he understood that it was not he, alone, who could be deceived. All men could be blinded by their faith in the women they loved. Thus reasoned Treize. And so he cast off his melancholy and waited for his brother's return. But he kept a close eye on Heero's wife and her lover.

Great was the rejoicing in the city at the king's safe return! And great was the change Heero beheld in his brother. Before, Treize's countenance had been dull and downcast. Now it shone so brightly it dazzled all who looked upon him. At dinner that evening as they sat at their ease, Heero said to his brother, "When I departed, you were as the ray of a lamp shielded by a hand – shuttered and shrouded. Now, no brightness can outshine you. What has brought about so great a transformation?"

At Heero's words, Treize's expression dimmed. "Ask me anything but that, my brother. For my answer will bring you a grief as great as that which I have lately known – a thing I cannot wish upon you. Therefore, let us find another topic."

But Heero was not to be dissuaded. Over and over he urged his brother to unburden his heart. And so at last, Treize related the treachery of his wife, and what he had done about it. Great was Heero's sympathy when he heard his brother's story.

"Now I understand your unhappiness," he said. "But this story does not explain why you have lately set aside your grief. Surely some other tale must follow."

"It does," Treize replied. "I know you have the ears to hear it, but have you the stomach and the heart, Heero?"

"As we are both the sons of our father, I do," Heero answered steadily, though the truth was that he was beginning to feel alarmed.

"Then hear me, and grieve also," said Treize. At that, he related what he had lately overheard concerning Heero's own wife. How she, too, had taken a lover, and how she plotted to kill her husband and set her paramour upon his throne.

When Heero heard this, he was filled with hurt and anger such as he had never known. But even in his extremity, he strove to be fair, for thus did he honor the teachings of his father.

"All that you have spoken I believe, for you have always been true, my brother," he told Treize. "Yet before I condemn these conspirators, I must hear their guilt from their own mouths."

"That is easily arranged," Treize replied. "I will convey you to the place where they meet. I have kept watch over them each night, for they have yet to reveal how they intend to do you harm. But I warn you, guard well your heart, Heero. There may be more pain to you in this than I have yet spoken."

"I thank you for your care," Heero replied in a peculiar deadpan tone. Then the brothers embraced and went to conceal themselves.

-----------------------

When Heero saw the place to which his brother conveyed him, he felt the first swift inklings of the pain which Treize had warned. For Heero himself had caused the courtyard to be built as proof of the great trust he had in his wife. None could walk there, save by her consent – not even Heero.

"Come," Heero murmured to his brother. "Let us conceal ourselves behind that vine."

And so they hid themselves behind a vine whose sweet white flowers made the night so heavy with their scent that the very air was as a perfumed cloud. Yet it seemed to Heero that the scent was bitter in his nostrils. Rank and putrid as dead meat. It was not long before the young queen and her lover arrived.

How they enjoyed each other; what words of affection they murmured, it is not seemly for me to tell. But I can say that when he beheld the man with whom his wife betrayed him, no warning Treize could have given would have prevented the pain that then pierced Heero's heart.

For here was one he had known since childhood, second only to his brother in Heero's affections. When at last the vizier joined Heero's father in the next life, this was the man whom Heero would have promoted above all other and placed at his right hand. There was no one he had trusted more, save for Treize.

How many minutes he stood stricken, his senses muddled with rage and pain, Heero never counted. But when at last he was himself again, he saw that, from a pocket stitched into the lining of her cloak, his wife had brought forth a dagger. Ancient symbols were etched upon its blade, and in its pommel was set a ruby red as heart's blood.

At the sight of it, so great a fury shook Heero that the vine around him trembled, and many of its flowers showered to the ground. Treize seized his brother by the arm to hold him still. But the queen and her lover never noticed, so intent were they upon themselves.

"See what I have brought you!" said the queen. "It is my husband's parting gift to his brother. At my urging, he will present it to him at a great banquet the evening before Treize departs. But I will drug Treize's food so that he sleeps like one dead. Then, in the night, we will steal this dagger and use it to slay Heero."

When he heard these words, the queen's lover rejoiced and took her into his arms.

"Your mind, as always, is most excellent in its cunning, my beloved. For by this device we will rid ourselves of both these brothers. When his blade is found in the king's body, all will believe that Treize has slain Heero. Then we will seize Treize and put him to death. And then there will be an end to waiting, for all that was theirs will become ours."

"Not in this lifetime," said Heero. And so saying, he stepped out from behind the vine. At the sight of the friend he had so betrayed, the queen's lover fell to his knees.

"My gracious lord, forgive me!" he cried. "See how I have been bewitched!" but now that I behold you here before me, I regain my senses once more. Tell me how I may serve you and it shall be done!"

"Be silent, you fool!" Heero's wife hissed. "Do not humble yourself so before him. Rather let us be bold and make an end of things here and now."

So saying, she raised the dagger high. But before she could strike, Treize stepped from his place of concealment and wrested the dagger from her, knocking her to the ground. Then with one swift stroke, Treize stabbed the queen's lover through his traitor's heart. His blood ran freely, forming a great pool around him. The queen knelt before her husband, her lover's blood staining her fine robes.

"Two choices lie before you," Heero said as he looked upon her blue eyes, and his voice was both stern and cold. "You may die by my hand, or by your own."

But the queen was defiant, even in defeat. "Give me the dagger," she commanded Treize. "I shall die by my hand and no other." At a nod from his brother, Treize placed the dagger in the queen's hand. Then she rose and faced Heero.

"My trials may end tonight, but yours are just beginning, husband. For now you know that even the most deadly of desires may be concealed in the heart you trust the most.

"Until you have found a mate whose heart you can see truly and therefore know it – one who can do the same with yours – you will find no peace by day or by night. Think well on these words, and remember me when I am gone."

So saying, she put and end to her life.

And thus began the trial of King Heero.

TBC

Author's Notes:

Thus the true story begins…

Yes, I made Treize and Heero too OOC here. GOMEN NASAI, people! I could not for the life of me catch his suaveness in words. Gah.

Three tries on who the brothers' wives are… ehehehehe…

Oh, and people, I am begging once again for reviews. This is the last chapter I'll be making untilI feel inspired again. And why am I so uninspired? My grandfather died last Thursday; my whole family was there in his final moments - except for me (since I'm in boarding school). Plus the fact that the reviews are too few.

Thanks to: camillian (I love your consistency! huggles)and nicko. Gomen, I can't PM you so I'm just gonna thank you here.

Oh, once again, advanced Happy Valentine's to all who care to celebrate it.