Discovering the west

High King Shanjahen paced through the tiny room in the cellar of his castle. The bright red stone shone even brighter than it had always done in the past. Ever since a few weeks, its glow had intensified. Surely, he was on the right path. Surely, that was what it meant, though he did not know why now, of all times, it had decided to confirm this. But what to do next? He had almost finished all the works the prophecy in the ancient book had told him to do. The ancient book, which had told him about the special red stone that would grant a person’s every wish if certain conditions were met. He had followed it word for word, and he held it above everything else.

He had gathered the silver for the seven silver offerings. His silversmith was now forging the sixth one, the silver spoon with pearls carved in it, and would soon begin on the seventh. He had made sure the Prana in his garden was plenty, and readily available. Surely, it would be enough for the summoning. He had written down his dearest wish in a book with a red cover, so it could be fulfilled instantly. All that he needed to gather now was the one thing that had taken so long, but which was now almost within his grasp. The winter in the diamond’s eyes…

It had taken him a long time to figure out what they meant with that. For years, he had thought it might be a special kind of jewel, or a diamond, or maybe something out of the mountains where everlasting winter reigned. No where in the book it had been more specified and he had been unable to find more information on it. He just hadn’t been able to figure it out, until one of his scholars had found out that another name for unicorns, used in ages past, was diamonds because of their special symbols that covered their entire body and glittered in the starlight like diamonds, and then he was finally able to figure it out.

Unicorn boys were a rare thing among ponies. They could only be conceived if both their mother and father were able to wield prana, which on its own was already a very rare thing. And this condition did not guarantee a unicorn baby. But if a unicorn baby was born… it was a special occasion. When fully grown, unicorn boys could wield prana like no other because they were able to concentrate it strongly. Not only that, but they were able to communicate with every living thing that existed on this planet, as long as it channelled prana, which included not only ponies and animals but also plants and flowers and trees. When a unicorn pony was born, he was seen as an omen of great change, and he was honoured and worshipped his entire life.

The moment they had realized the prophecy might be referring to a unicorn, the high king had ordered searches to find him one, but none of the royal families across the country had a unicorn child. In fact, none had been born in over a century. Ah, Shanjahen remembered the pain and desperation he had felt when he had realized that. Was his wish not going to be fulfilled? But his scholars had searched on for a solution, and they had found out that someone who had a unicorn in his direct line was carrying the same blood, and while they were not able to perform the same things as the unicorns, they were always seen as special ponies.

So, he put them back to researching family trees. They quickly found out unicorns usually stayed without child. They got married, but their wives just did not get any children. Why, he was unsure. It was not stated anywhere, and it did not really matter. In the end, his scholars only found one unicorn male who had produced a child. This child became king of a small country all the way in the south, because the older brother of the unicorn, who was king, died before he even got married, and he had no other brothers, or even more distant male relatives. Ever since then the line had stayed pure, their small miserable crown going from father upon son for generations.

He had already invited their current king. The invitation had been sent out the day before. He would come. Oh, he would not deny such a request of his High King. In the end, none of them did. And after he could perform his ceremony… Everything would change once more. Yes… it was only a matter of months now. For years, he waited. And now… his time was drawing close.

“So…” Hikary said, looking around her – now perfectly clean- room. Where to start, where to start? After she had told her mother, Taira and Queen Katine about Yuuro and her discovery about the west, they had agreed with them that researching the possibilities of the stones being in the west was the best course of action. Regina had gone through the library with them to look up books about the west. Most of them were old and not of good quality, but Regina had been gathering them over the years, to rebuild the large library she once had, and she had not been able to be very picky.

They were standing in front of them now, after three days of searching and one day of visits to the countryside with Katine. It wasn’t that large of a pile, especially considering the amount of books they had gone through to find these, but they would do for now, hopefully. Time to get to business.

While they would start making plans of actually travelling to the west in two days, Hikary and Yuuro had decided to do some research first, because their knowledge of the west turned out to be rather minimal. Taira, during her stay in the west, had stayed in Batafurai and even on their previous journeys there the past few years, they had not travelled from the road. None of them had had any contact with western people apart from some merchants and innkeepers, and beyond the standard lore they knew nothing, which would never be enough to get them a stone.

They knew that in the west, the High King still reigned, but even Regina had to admit she did not even know his name. They also knew the west was, just like the east, divided in smaller kingdoms, but in the west, the men ruled instead  the women because only the men can use the power that flows through the west… called prana. But beyond that, no one knew anything that could be of interest.

“Okay, let’s do it like this. I give you a book and I take one, and once one of us finds anything interesting or something that could point to a stone, we’ll let the other know right away. If it’s interesting enough for the others, we write it down.” Hikary proposed. “Yes, that sounds fair.” Yuuro agreed. They both grabbed a book from the pile, and began to read.

Hikary’s book turned out to be a book about the history of Asterian. Asterian was the country of the High King, where he resided in his castle located in Zoroaster, the capital city. Asterian was by far the largest country of the west, and, according to the book, there was no city in both the east and west that could match Zoroaster in size and wealth. Hikary found out that the book was written about fifty years ago by a traveller from the east, which explained why she was able to read it. The author had been highly impressed by the buildings of Zoroaster and their largest attraction was a gigantic chapel build in order to worship the supreme Goddess Vitalia which was located at a huge square. Both Hikary and the author had been highly surprised to learn Vitalia was not only worshipped in the east, but also in the west.

When describing the palace of the High King, the author frequently referred to the castle of the Friendship Lands. Apparently the castles looked alike, but where the castle of the Friendship Lands was curved and round, the castle of Asterian was square and blocked. Well, it was not that strange that those castles looked alike…

“Anything interesting yet?” Hikary asked after she had read a bit more in the book. “No, not really. This book is from the west and deals with how lords can help their farmers with prana. It’s interesting all right, but not very useful. You?” Yuuro asked. “Nah. This book is about the kingdom Asterian, which is where the High King rules and lives. He’s both king of Asterian and High King of the entire west. This book was written fifty winters ago, when Sqaran was High King. I think his son Shanjahen, or maybe even hís son is High King now. I dunno how he is called though. Also, they mention a chapel build for worshipping Vitalia… I thought that was rather interesting.”

“Hmm… I suppose we should start our search in the west in Asterian… in Zoroaster then. Maybe we can arrange an audience with the High King, or at least visit that shrine. It might be really important.” Yuuro said. “Yes, I think that might be the wisest thing to do. Even if we do not get to speak to the High King… Zoroaster sounds like a city that might hold answers to the questions we have.” Hikary answered. “That it does.” Yuuro agreed.

As they searched on, they quickly realized most of the books held no real information at all. A guide on plants that grew only in the west, a book about the history of a town by the sea, a book describing the ancient forest of the west… All very interesting, but nothing that held any valuable information for them.

“Heh.. it’s a fairy tale book from the west.” Yuuro said when he picked up another book. “Oh? What kind of stories are in there?” Hikary asked, realizing she had never read a fairy tale book, not even one from the east. “I dunno… I can’t read it.” Yuuro said, and Hikary realized that it of course was written in the language of the west. “Based on the drawings though, I’d say they look like normal fairy tales with princes and princesses who fall in love and have to overcome evil. The drawings are cute, here, have a look.” Yuuro said smiling, and handed her the book.

As Hikary flipped through the pages, she had to agree with Yuuro; the pictures were cute. They were drawn with bright colors and happy faces. Any little girl would love to be read from this book. “It is really cute indeed. How ponies idolize us royals… as if we are something so special.” Hikary grinned. “Yeah, they tend to. And there’s no way you can get it out of their heads.” Yuuro sighed.

“Do you actually have a girlfriend at home, Yuuro?” Hikary asked, realizing that she had not heard the boy talk about his life in Kist much. Yuuro blushed. “No, not really. As a kid, I was crazy about the idea that maybe, somewhere out there, there was someone born for me, meant for me, and once I met her, we would know. I loved that romantic stuff.” Hikary smiled. “And you haven’t met her yet?” she asked.

“Nah. I haven’t. I kind of stopped believing that a few years ago… it was just a childhood thing. Though a few years ago I saw a girl who fit the description…” Yuuro said. “Oh? Tell me.” Hikary asked, curious about the boy’s first love interest. Those kind of things were just so cute.

“Nah, it was nothing. I was just studying history in the big library one day, and I saw a girl there… She was just so busy reading up on things, that she was completely unaware of her surroundings. I just kept staring at her, and forgot all about my own work, which got me a scolding later. But she was just so beautiful… I had never seen someone like her before. It was as if she was made of gold, with her yellow mane constantly getting in front of her eyes while reading, and her coat reflecting the candlelight. But when I got back the next day, she was gone. I never even got the chance to talk to her. I never saw her again. I think it was then… when I decided not to believe in those childish dreams anymore.”

A golden girl, eh… Hikary had no doubt who the girl was who Yuuro spoke off, but she instantly decided not to tell him, or anyone else. What Yuuro had told her had occurred years ago, after all, and she was sure Yuuro would have known if she was still around. It was no use to get Taira or anyone else all worked up. It would only distract their attention from more serious matters. But she was glad with this information. On the proper time, she would share it with her mother and sister. Ruki was still alive.