Ju-Long Lei: Chapter Eleven

After the markets, I quickly took Ponderrah to the stables where he can have a message and to get his scales properly cleaned. Zheroh and I quickly headed back to my room. I had to remove this commoner disguise and had to quickly put on my royal Montsuki. Even though this garment is used mostly in the south region of our country my parents allowed it to be worn since they have been under our rule for a long time now.

"Help me get this on Zheroh!" I admit I am not great at putting on these complicated layered clothes. There is a reason why I have stewards and handmaidens, but I could not notify them that I have snuck away. Zheroh rolls his eyes and slowly walks towards and helps me put on the outfit.

"You can walk faster you know… I know you can you slow poke" I yelled at him as I struggled to tie up my robes.

"You know this is why I would hate being royal… Because at least I can put on clothes on my own. Put up your arms." He laughs right at my face and starts straightening my outfit and tying my robes together. Once he was done I quickly rushed to my vanity desk and mirror to brush my hair.

"You know, I like it when your hair is out. You should have it out more often. It's so beautiful, long and soft..." Zheroh then proceeds to play with my hair. I gently tap his hand off as I had brushed it since it was messy from the wig. "I know you do… I love having my hair out. I also like that you deliberately try to make your hair as glorious as mine…"

"I would never try to compete! I love my hair care on my own merit thanks!" He chuckles in retort. Once I was done brushing my hair I put it into a high ponytail. My dark blue hair looked shinier than ever now it was brushed. I was all ready and dressed to meet my family for today.

"Do I look good?" I quickly asked Zheroh as he is always truthful to me…

"You know you always look amazing!" He kisses my forehead quickly. I happily embraced it. He always makes me smile and I kissed him on the lips in return. It was a shock, but he quickly kissed me back. But this sweet moment was short lived when I hear the knock on my door.

"Come in!" I allowed it. Zheroh took a few steps away from me to try and make sure we were not too close to each other. It was my older brother Chin who is the future Emperor of our kingdom. Much taller and I admit much more handsome than I. His blue hair much longer than mine and his kimono is multilayered with the layers being in different tones of blue. This with extravagant details of lightning bolts. Also with his title, he wears a small crown on his head that easily makes him recognizable as the heir to the crown.

"Hello, Lei! Oh and hello Zheroh." As he happily walks into my room. Zheroh kneels and I luckily don't have to bow to my brother in privacy. He hates it when family members bow to him in privacy. My brother ordered his guards to stay outside of my room.

"You owe me one Lei…" As Chin smiled and quickly poured himself some wine from the bottle that I usually leave in the room. He knew I snuck out of the palace… Probably made some excuses to mum and dad why I was gone. I could only smile and look at my brother. Zheroh kindly asked my brother if he wanted him to stay. Chin quickly said that he actually liked him and gave him permission to stay in the room.

"The Sazan family has arrived early in the morning from the south… The first time they are ever early… But right at this very moment mum, dad and they are deciding on our fates… Mostly mine anyway… Funny that I'm the future Emperor and they are all deciding my life for me." Chin takes a large drink of wine and chugs it down. I couldn't help but look at Zheroh's expression he has never seen the prince drink in such a way before. "They tried to summon you this morning. But I managed to make an excuse to mum that you are off meditating at the peace temple with the priests. So if she questions you… Say you were there". After saying this sentence he collapses into one of my seats at the table where I usually eat breakfast. He sounds so defeated… But then I don't blame him. When he says they are discussing our fates. This means that they might make a marriage alliance. None of us likes this idea… Especially me…

"You think at the end of the festival they will be announcing a royal wedding?" I sat next to him on the chair. Pouring myself a glass of wine. Its only early afternoon but who cares… When my brother wants to drink he will drink.

"Oh, no doubt… I am now twenty-two… I should have been married off years ago. But bless our parents they saw no one fit to rule the kingdom with me. However, Sazan is an annoying family. They want some grateful gift for their loyalty… Why not a kingdom? Everyone knows they are power hungry… this is just handing them what they want." He sinks lower into his chair. It is kind of funny seeing my brother disappear into his large kimono. "If our parents marry me off to their eldest daughter whom I have only met on a few occasions, I will be spending the rest of my life making sure that they don't get their hands or minds on the throne."

After when Chin said this we heard other knocks on the door. "Who is it?" We both shouted and in unison, we heard three different names being called out. We all smiled. "They are welcome in" My bother demanded and the door quickly opened with our three other siblings running into my room. There must be so many guards outside my door at the moment it must be quite funny to look at. Well if my parents need to find us just find the amazing amount of guards outside my door.

My other older brother Cheng and my two younger sisters Ning and Fen. Took seats around my table and made themselves comfortable. Cheng is chubby than the rest of us and is short like father. He is not athletic and is not as politically smart that my parents hoped. But he is well loved like the rest of us. He does love to sail and one day hopes to visit Aquarius City. He has his hair in a ponytail like Chin and me as a tradition with unmarried men. If anything happens to Chin he will be next in line to the throne.

Ning is four years younger than me and is smart with Draconium sciences. She works closely with our priesthood. She finds gear and machine making interesting. She once built a dangerous handheld blue star gear with a bunch of scraps and showed it to our parents on their wedding anniversary. She grabbed it out and shot multiple shurikens at a practice dummy. I believe they still keep that gear in their room… With her inventive brain, she always wears the most beautiful kimono that she could wear. Her friends are ladies of the court to she attends political matters often. On lucky occasion, she can wear mums older regalia like she is today. She always keeps her hair out as expected of her, since she is not married. Dark blue like the rest of our family it's so long and straight you would swear it is a wig.

My youngest sibling Fen is eight and she is a silent warrior. She keeps to herself when she is around strangers. But I have seen her with daggers and shurikens. Definitely, do not want cross paths with her when she has them with her. She trains with our master of arms every day. Even her stare is something to be afraid of. As a deliberate act, she ties her hair up similar to us. Looking at her outfit I noticed that Fens looked similar Nings but shorter and with pants. She dreams of being an explorer and discover all of the lost temples of old. A dream she fears will never come true… After all, she is a princess and royals we have our duty to our country.

We were all anxious as none of us was expecting this… Not this early anyway… Fen who is only eight did not have to worry as much since she is the youngest and nowhere near in line for the throne.

Cheng quickly grabs his glass and pours wine for himself. "They want a gift for their flimsy loyalty, we cannot let the Sazan family get anywhere near the crown… Remember fifteen years ago they tried to side with the Black Empire? Even after when mother said that we must be neutral in the conflict." Cheng remarked.

"I was only a few months old brother, Lei was only four and you were five… Not to mention Fen was not even born yet so how would we remember?" Ning grabbing a dragon pear and began eating it. "I may have only met them a few times and all I know that they're power absorbing jack asses". She slices a small part of the pear and gives it to Fen as she kept poking her.

Usually, when we sat around the table we always had things to talk about… But not today. Things have definitely not gone for what I hoped or what we all hoped. I just wanted to have fun at the festival with the man that I love, now it's all back to political drama. Such as the life of being a royal.

Ning glances at me and at that moment I knew she was going to say something. "We will be meeting them again tonight for dinner… Just remember this is the Sazan family and they are assholes, Lei. They have already tried to use gossip to turn the other families against us... Just for now please try to be discrete with Zheroh." Ning grabs my hand looks behind where Zeroh is standing. In other words, we have to keep on hiding our feelings for each other. By looking at my sibling they certainly know… This means we are terrible at hiding it. We have to be smarter…

Chin grabs his glass and tries to take another drink but Cheng quickly grabs it out of his hand. He is obviously trying to make sure the heir to the throne is not drunk for tonight. "If their trust is so flimsy… Why can't we just kill them? I mean they have shown how untrustworthy they can be… Better just to kill them off." Cheng then drinks the wine that Chin poured himself. I couldn't help but laugh as Chin looked so annoyed… He really wanted that drink.

Cheng brought up an interesting question. However, it is a complicated matter I had to try and make this clear. "Because of Cheng if we kill members of the Sazan family without justification or hell even if we had a great reason. The people of Unmei will uprise against us… There will be civil war and our stand on neutrality will be gone… Unmei is our nation's second largest city and has an army that can almost equal our own. Like us they have honour, however, they also treasure their pride. A trait that we very much differ in understanding".

Ning look at me with pride and Fan just sits there looking confused.

Chin looks at me and smiles. "You see Cheng this why I want Lei to be my Advisor. He ACTUALLY knows things unlike you… You know he listens to the Senate, priests and reads a magical item called a book. I do suggest you get acquainted with them".

Cheng then punches Chin playfully on the shoulder and they begin to play wrestling like they did when they were younger. Good thing our parents are not here otherwise they would have been in so much trouble. After a short while, they mucked around and played Tangram which we tried to teach Fen.

However, our fun was short-lived when our mother's handmaiden Wenhe walked in. Our mother the Empress is expecting us… The mood became solemn. We all followed Wenhe to a small chamber where we host private family meetings. It is on the highest floor of the palace. It had no decorations, colour, fancy items or tapestries only a large table and chairs. It is the most boring place to go to in the palace. This is where our family makes sure that no one can just stumble when they are outside and listen in on us.

The chamber is so small you can only have so many people and dragons in here. Zheroh had to wait outside with the rest of the guards this time as we waited for our parents to arrive. We all took our respected and waited…

It must have been late afternoon now when I see my mother's dragon Shun Shun and my father's dragon Shinsen walk in. We bow as they walked in as we all deeply respect them. Shinsen is small and is half the size Ponderrah he like many blue dragons have elongated shoulder spikes that look like wings. His bonemark is shaped like a lightning bolt on his head. He had a small head and had long legs compared to his body. He smiles at us he heads to the other side of the chamber next to my father's usual seat. He is from Unmei he saved our fathers life when a runaway dragon almost ran into his carriage when he was younger.

Shun Shun is the dragon leader of our country, he is old and wise. He has been holding the dragon ambassador position for thirty years. He speaks human tongue and tries to teach it to the other dragons. All dragons in this city respect him. It was all thanks to him the dragon separatist regime did not even have an effect here. He made our neutrality during the war possible. He is our mother's personal dragon, friend and one of her closest allies. He is the dragon's voice for us. If dragons need equality such as working conditions he sees to their concerns. Not only is he smart but he is also powerful as he was raised from the priesthood. You can tell he is powerful from the bright blue draconium mutations that have affected him. His patterns and colours greatly vary from other dragons. Some dragons have basic patterns however Shun Shun has intricate lightning bolt marks around his body that glows.

When they both walked into the room they took their respected seats as we did and soon after them our parents followed. My father wearing high sandals so he can try to measure up to my mums' height. He wore his royal regalia outfit that he has to wear for court. He quickly moves to his seat and then my mother walks in. She is still in her full regalia get up. The makeup on her face is still in perfect condition after the long day. Whiteface foundation with maroon lipstick with a pink blush. Her hairstyle is so elaborate it can get anyone's attention. Her hair looks like it defies gravity with the way it is tied, but it is beautiful. This time they put in some glowing Biru petals to give the illusion of the tree. Her Kimono also blended in to look like a tree trunk which really adds to the effect. Just looking at Ning across the table she is just staring at mum in complete awe… After today she will probably ask to see if she can do that style one day.

We all bowed as she walked past us to her chair. She doesn't have a throne in here so a fancier chair will have to do. She then preceded to sit down and we follow her shortly after. The meeting is about to begin…

"Hello, Lei it is nice to see you today. Did you have fun at meditation?" My father happily remarked I could not tell if he was being sarcastic or being serious. He does this all the time to put us on edge, especially if he knows something. I just smiled back nicely and said I had a great time. A nice quiet time… Eating food and enjoying myself at the festival.

Mother then perfected her outfit, posture and took out a scroll. "Onto important matter children… As you are now all aware the Sazan family has decided to actually show up early… I ordered all of our noble families to the court to discuss matters as they were demanding a marriage allegiance. It was lucky that most of them arrived before the festival began. But before we discuss, I must remind you that we are honour and duty. We all must do what is required of us…"

It is nice to hear mum speak normally. When she is in court she must disguise her voice and sound monotone. It is part of the tradition for the leader to try and not to show their emotions as it is known that it blinds their leaders… She had to train at an early age to always act like this in public. Sometimes she even keeps it up during private family dinners because she does it so much. Chin and Cheng even go through this monotone training and it is draining for your emotions. You cannot cry or act angry in front of the public. Mum has the marks on her arms and legs to prove of this training. What has me even more worried is that she reminded us of what the Blue Empire is known for… Honour and duty. We never let our own feelings get away with progress. We always keep our promises and never break them. It is the ominous sign of remembrance of what news she is going to give us…

Mother then took a long breath and then a long drink of wine. We all just sat there nervous staring at her, she is clearly upset.

"Chin you have been betrothed to the young Shu Lan. A trained warrior daughter from the Yang family. She is sixteen, resourceful and is beautiful. Her father has sent for her and she will be here in a day or two. She will be our country's next Empress Consort."

Chin looked surprised, in a way I bet he is glad he is not marrying anyone from the Sazan family. The Yang family rule hills stead located a few days north of our city, they are the people who train our armies. Now known to be one of the best warrior families in the world. I have met Shu Lan a few times on my trips there with father, and mum is right she is beautiful. And if my memory is right she did like to show off her skills in her fighting prowess.

"But mother I have never met this girl… I know nothing about her… I have never even seen her before… Marrying someone…" Chin looked clearly worried and more so scared. I don't blame him this is so scary to know he will be spending the rest of his life with someone he doesn't know.

"You have nothing to fear Chin… Yang Ming Jei is a good man. He has trained our soldiers well and has always shown us true loyalty to the crown for many decades. I haven't met his daughter in years, but if she was a bit as delightful she was then. I'm sure you will love her… I know how to arrange marriages are intimidating."

"Darn right it is intimidating!" Chin slumping in his chair. Usually, he gets punished for doing this but mum actually allowed him to do it. He knows he can't show anger towards mum and dad.

"Your father and I were arranged… Our marriage was arranged long before I was even born. When I was five I was officially told that I was going to be married when I come of age… I admit I did postpone it a few years but that was because I needed to sort my Empire because my father died. Luckily your father understood, we became close friends and built it brick by brick. You might not feel it right away, but there will be a moment in years' time when you realise you truly love them."

My father grabbed mothers and held it tenderly. We can only hope for that scenario, at least mother is trying to make this easier for us. We have never doubted that they loved each other. But it is still unfortunate that we will never be the masters of our own destinies.

"Next Ning, you will be wed to Tao Wen."

Before she could finish the sentence Ning quickly stands up interrupting her. "The master of coins son? That string bean!? The man is afraid of his own shadow! Not to mention he is a freak! I'm better off marrying a cabbage!"

We all couldn't help but giggle. But we also felt so bad for her… We all know he is a weird man with weird tastes. I heard a rumour that he once mated a goat. It's a rumour… But it certainly feels like it's something he will do… But looking at mother she was just giving Ning the death stare. She HATES being interrupted.

"Sit down Ning… You will marry Tao Wen and do not ever interrupt me again".

The vain in her voice is terrifying. She rarely uses it but when she does it can cause a frightening chill in your bones. Ning quickly sat down as soon as she stood up in anger. But looking at her face she just wanted to cry and I wanted to give her a hug.

"Now Cheng… You will be married to Saito Aika and yes you will be marrying a girl from the south. The Saito family are lovely who have also shown us great trust over the years. They may be a minor house but we will honour them with this match. Treat her well Cheng I hear she is a gentle and shy girl."

I can hear Cheng's breathing of anger from here. He has never liked the southerner's since they have shown distrust to our kingdom. Strange considering not many people show anger about them as he does. But he tends to get confused that it was mainly the Sazan family that caused it. He should not have to treat his new betrothed ill will because she came from the south. She doesn't even live in Unmei… The family is from Mabushi which is east of Unmei.

"My youngest daughter Fen… My darling Fen… You are engaged to Sazan Sana…"

Everyone just looks at mum in silence. I cannot believe it… Mum has engaged her youngest child to a Sazan family member… WHY? WHY? WHY? Looking at mum she was going to cry… She really did not want to do this. We never see her cry, but at the moment she is very close to doing so… Fen was just staring in shock. This was the last news that she wanted to hear.

"Sana is the youngest child of Sazan Jona who is head of the family. He is ten years old and as far as he told me he loves archery." Mother is trying her hardest to make this situation easier. "With these betrothals. This means that Cheng and Fen will travel south to Unmei and Mabushi. They will live there until the few weeks of their weddings which will be hosted in the great temple as tradition. You will be moving to your new respected homes with your new in laws after when the festival finishes."

I had no choice but to interrupt mother I had to do something. "But mother! What about me? Everyone else has had a betrothal except me. I will be more than happy to take my place in the betrothal for the Sazan family! I know they have an available older daughter! Mai? She is my age! Fen should not have to as much royal responsibility as us!"

"Sit down Lei..." Mother is giving me a softer tone than what she did to Ning. It's a sympathetic tone.

I had to sit down as soon as she said it. But I have noticed that everyone else has been betrothed... Except me… This is now a thought I can't get out of my mind now.

"I have tried to betroth you, Lei. But it is obvious that you do not like the comfort of women… The word has already spread. All of the lords and ladies have flat out rejected you… The Sazan family took great offence when I offered you. Even though I have a firm feeling it was they who spread the word. I will spare you the details of what those bastards said. But I was very close to punching Jona in the face, even with all my training. It took me everything to restrain myself. To keep them at peace I had to give them Fen as she is the only heir left to give… I know you would have done everything you could to try and take the place of your sister. But they would have none of it… They want children that can be born from loins of royals without the long life scandal behind the scenes male relationships."

This is all my fault… I love Zheroh I love him so much… But this caused my little sister so much pain. My love has caused this… but it is true I love men not women. All my life I have always fancied soldiers differently to other boys. It was even worse when I reached teenage years when I noticed it fully. When my brothers and I used to sneak into whore houses to stare at the women. I did not feel the same as they did. I never felt the same excitement until I met Zheroh who made it abundantly clear that after seeing him half-naked through training. I definitely liked men. I look around me and everyone is staring at me. I could not tell if it was from anger that I did not get a marriage deal out of all this or sympathy that I am useless for political gain. I usually can tell what people are thinking by their expressions, but this time I don't know.

"I don't hate you, Lei…"

I turn around to see my littlest sister looking at me. It broke my heart… When she leaves we cannot have fun in the kitchens anymore. Playing in the snow and watching her practice with the master of arms. As soon as she leaves she will be forced to grow up. The next time I see her will be at her Chins wedding… She is already acting beyond her years by accepting this without question. I think with everyone looking at her they needed to remind themselves that she is only eight.

Shun Shun then stopped the quiet atmosphere and tells us to sit down. Which we all quickly did. This meeting is not yet over… It is now his turn to speak.

"Do not worry young princes and princesses. My pups have been told what they're future holds is as well. They were a part of the meeting. My oldest and wisest pup Sheru will be going to Unmei with Fen. Not only to protect her but to also make sure the dragons there don't fall into bad influences. I have heard rumours from dragons who live there that needed to be checked out. My youngest son Shurrah will go with Cheng to Mabushi for the same purpose."

"I am very grateful for this Shun Shun. I couldn't have asked anything better of you". My father actually said something throughout this entire meeting. But knowing him he would have a huge part of these negotiations. He knew he wouldn't be able to break the news without crying. He always leaves the harder emotional tasks to mother. He is trying his hardest not to cry now.

"It is getting late now we must get ready for the dinner".

Mother then stands up and we all stand up to bow. She then tells us that she and dad will meet us all individually tonight and lets us all take our leave except me. Now it is just me, dad and mum.

"Oh, my poor Lei… Please try not to feel ashamed. This is hard on all of us… Everyone's life is now changing. But we all knew it would at one point. My question is now what to do with you… Even though you cannot be wed away you can still be an adviser and emissary. Just because you like men does not mean you're not smart." Mother then gave me a sweet smile and rubs my right cheek.

My father then pokes my mother with a small parchment of paper. She looks back at him and then has a sudden look of remembrance. "Oh yes… I do have something for you Lei. I today have received a letter from our Empire ambassador from Macdan. I know they send heaps of letters all the time because of their war but this one piqued my interest. They are best friends with Queen Hara but apparently, their meeting was abruptly interrupted. Which is something that never happens apparently… When they were ordered to leave the room they saw this person walk past them as he entered Queens Haras' personal bedroom. They said that this is someone of high value was found on the battlefield near Straaghold in the Green Draconium Empire whose descriptions sound very familiar to someone I used to know. They then immediately ask for an important emissary from Aquarius City. And by emissary not just any emissary they asked King Marlowe or Queen Darya to come over themselves. Our Ambassadors have asked Queen Hara as to what this is all about but she has kept her dragon chin shut. This has nothing to do with the war that they are apart off, because they were happily telling us all the details of what is happening there. They are hiding something…"

"So… mum… You want me to travel all the way to Macdan… Just to find out who this guy is? Why this is important? And to find out why they're asking for King Marlowe to go over there? Has it occurred that Macdan has also been bugging the Light Blue Empire to join their war?"

"King Marlowe and Queen Darya never wanted to join their war. They want to save their armies and navies for a bigger war. As they called it… A feat that will never happen anytime soon. But Queen Hara is no subtle leader. She is sharp as an arrow and is usually straight forward with the truth. I trusted her… Until now. She makes for a terrible liar, good thing she can easily make this up with wits and brute force. Just because we have no part of their war and usually keep to ourselves. This does not mean that we remain ignorant about what is happening in the world around us. If it is nothing… Just say you found nothing. I trust you, Lei… Like Cheng and Fen, you will leave as well soon after the festival."

"Okay… I'll go. Who is this guy that you said that you used to know?"

"Stein Prudens… "