Rumors and Whispers

When Queen Ishtar gave birth to a young prince, the kingdom of Pheliosta rejoiced. The line of succession was secured, in their future was a King who would hopefully be more sane than their current impulsive and barely tamed Queen.

They celebrated for all of thirty minutes, until the announcement came that Queen Ishtar had given birth to another young prince.

The rumors didn't start circling until a few days later, after the citizens of Pheliosta recovered from the shock. Razenia was not the only place where tradition and old wives' tales spoke about the evil and bad luck that followed the birth of twins. Those who were particularly supersititious spoke of demons, vampires, monsters who could weave such spells as to share a human birth in the guise of a twin brother or sister. Those who were far more sensible and politically minded spoke of problems with the line of succession, and a dangerous rivalry between the twin princes in the future. (Not that there wouldn't have been a rivalry between princes if they had been ordinary brothers. But at least the law was clear on brothers - twins just made a muddle of everything.) In short, absolutely everyone in Pheliosta, except for those who were closest to the realm's eccentric Queen, loudly wished that only one prince had been born, and silently wished that one prince would disappear - and the sooner the better.

Over the course of the next few months, various members of the palace household "died bravely defending the princes of the realm from assassins", according to announcements from Queen Ishtar and General Darres. But the rumors that flared to life after each announcement whispered that some of those "brave" defenders had been would-be assassins themselves, killed by magic the Queen herself wove around her children.

For the longest time - a good two years - no one outside the palace really knew what the Princes's names were. There were rumors about Sir Keld having a fit over the names Queen Ishtar had chosen, but Queen Ishtar was always doing crazy things, why should this be any different? Mostly, the servants and the guards in the palace (the main sources for any Royal Family rumors) only heard the Princes referred to as "Li" and "Du" by their parents and Sir Keld and General Selen. (Those who had heard more ... well, they did not live to tell anyone why they had immediately tried to kill their princes.) Slowly, rumors from the surrounding fiefs of La Naan and Zi Alda trickled back to Pheliosta, rumors that the royalty in Razenia, La Naan, Zi Alda all referred to the Pheliostan Princes as "Duzell" and "Phelios" ...

Revolt was really not outside the realm of possibility when the people heard these rumors. Having twins was bad enough - did Queen Ishtar really have to thumb her nose at the gods in such a way? She named one twin after the Devil who had nearly destroyed Pheliosta in the past and gave the other twin a name that - if had been anybody else - would have resulted in being brought before the Holy Knights with a charge of blasphemy! Really, Queen Ishtar was just asking for trouble! But the people of Pheliosta were rather used to Queen Ishtar pulling crazy stunts, and the crisis passed without much fanfare - just one riot and a spate of assassination attempts that only killed three guards and only once came close to killing a prince.

Over the years, public opinion on the two princes swung back and forth wildly, sometimes favoring one, sometimes the other. At one point, coinciding with the discovery of the princes' names, it was Prince Duzie the public disliked. He was three years old at the time, and the rumors from the palace spoke of his quiet intensity so unlike most other three-year-olds (including Prince Lios) who were energetic chatterboxes. He had dark eyes that stared and stared until you wanted to look away, but couldn't, eyes that hypnotised you. He refused to play with the children of the other nobility, preferring to read in the palace library (and when did he learn to read?) rather than socialize. He spoke in full sentences, when he did speak, and was a rather creepy child all around. Prince Lios, on the other hand, was adorable, always smiling and burbling happily. He made friends quickly and easily with any visiting noble children, and charmed every adult who met him, even those inclined to dislike children. Thus it was rather easy for the public to cry that obviously Prince Duzie was the evil twin.

But eventually whispers started about the Queen's ... care for Lord Seiliez, from neighboring La Naan. Lord Seiliez, who Queen Ishtar had reportedly loved at one point, and might have married if things had taken a different path. Lord Seiliez, who had spent a good 3 months in and out of the Pheliosta palace about a year before the twin princes' birth, when Lady Ramia kicked him out of his own castle to "go out and make yourself useful and meet some nice girls!" Lord Seiliez, whose blonde hair and grey eyes resembled a growing Prince Lios' just a little bit too closely ...

Not long after, one of the midwives who had attended the princes' birth (all of whom had been astonishingly quiet for a long time on any real details of said birth) let slip that the firstborn prince had had a swath of black hair, and the younger prince had blonde.

Add to that, Prince Lios had his first mental and magical breakdown, barely a week later ...

By the time the twin princes turned seven years old, public opinion had split sharply down the middle.

One side supported Prince Duzie as the Crown Prince, citing his martial arts abilities and a scholar's knowledge of all things from magic to history to modern politics. They also whispered (and shouted and started barfights) about Prince Lios' possible status as bastard, as the evil younger twin, who had stolen magic that rightfully belonged to Prince Duzie.

And the other side supported Prince Lios as Crown Prince, citing powerful magic (Saint Phelios' magic, thank you very much) that he'd grow into and a far more charming personality. They whispered (and shouted and started tavern brawls) about Prince Duzie's unnerving presence, lack of any aptitude for holy magic, and complete inability to relate to any human being other than Queen Ishtar, General Darres, and Prince Lios.

(And more than a few just prayed for the Queen to have another son who everyone could agree on.)

Tavern brawls and barfights escalated into a riot and could have exploded into a full blown civil war, except for one thing:

"Mother, I swear to God, if you make me Crown Prince, I will run away and join the Vampires. I'm not having any of this shit dropped in my lap."

Words that a guard heard while eavesdropping on a conversation between Prince Duzie and Queen Ishtar the night before the princes' eighth birthday. Words that spread like fire through the city all the next day, part and parcel with all the other rumors - both old (taken out of dusty old corners, polished til they shone) and new (freshly minted pet theories, brought out into the light for the first time) - about the princes. Words that made the Queen's announcement that day unnecessary:

"We have decided that our beloved Prince Phelios II, namesake and great-great-grandson of Saint Phelios, will be the Crown Prince of Pheliosta, first in line to inherit the throne and kingship of this land when we die."