The Asterian Kingdom, where men rule

Ruki stepped out of the mansion, the weak spring sun hidden from her view by the hat she was wearing. The hat was the latest fashion for rich women from Asterian, and Ruki was forced to wear one whenever she went outside so she wouldn’t stand out. She thought it was ridiculous, of course, but she didn’t want to risk anyone getting suspicious of her. If they lived in a fancy house as this, it would be silly for them to look poor.

They had been living in this house for a week now. Ruki still shivered when she thought of the night they had moved in. After travelling for about two weeks, they had arrived on the borders of Asterian. Not even when she had visited the eastern kingdom of Kin had Ruki ever seen such a densely populated area before. From the top of the hill where she was standing, she could see villages and houses and farms wherever she looked.

In the centre of all this, was the gigantic city of Zoroaster. Even from afar, one could see the huge palace that stood against the back of the city on a hill, and the broad road that led up to it. The king’s road it was called, and it was the heart of Zoroaster. Running from the city gates at the bottom all the way up to the castle in one straight line, this road was so broad it reminded Ruki of the breach.

The road was divided in two by two lines of trees that shone bright purple with prana. Ruki hadn’t even been able to figure out the natural color of the leaves. On either side of the trees was a road, which both had lots of side roads that led to different parts of the city. One day a week there was a market on one of the roads, but Ruki had not yet visited it.

Ruki remembered the night they walked over that road to the mansion. It had been such a long walk, as the mansion stood almost next to the castle. The hardest part had been disguising Takato. As his face was known all over the west it was important that no one would be able to recognize him. If they did, the High King would surely find out his son had been located. And he would not rest until he had found him, and who knows what else.

So, in the end, Takato was dressed up as a girl. It had been hilarious to see, of course, but necessary. No one paid attention to a girl under the company of three men. The city guards has been no problem as they had official trading papers which Guwain’s father had also arranged for them. They had been able to walk over the main road to the mansion, without anyone even giving them as much as a glance. When they had arrived at the mansion safely though, they had all been relieved.

Now, Ruki was on her way to the big market for the first time. Some of the others had been there already the previous time, but it was her turn to go. Some of the others were usually not allowed to go outside, because there might be a chance that someone recognized them, but for Ruki this was not something to be afraid of. No one would recognize her here.

Ruki walked along the long, quiet road. On one side, there was the tall, long wall that was covered with leaves which even in night time shone brightly with prana. On the other sides were the gardens of the various mansions that belonged to rich ponies, and the small leaves revealed the purple glow that would soon cover these gardens, too.

At the end of the road she stood before the large square at the top of the main road. On the other side, the large gates of the castle gardens blocked her out. She hadn’t even seen a glimpse of the castle yet, in the entire week that she had been here. The walls were simply too high to look over and the gates were always shut. The only time she had seen a glimpse of the castle was right before they entered the city.

Ruki turned her back on the castle and walked down the main road. She had expected to see the market doom up before her, but she didn’t see anything. Only when she had walked for over five minutes did she see a few stalls on the other side of the trees.
“Ah, so that’s where it is…” she mumbled, and took a small path that led her to the other side.

She could see most of the market was even more down, close to the city gates. This wasn’t surprising, as most of the ponies coming here to sell their wares came from the countryside, so it was easiest to just keep the market close to the gates so they didn’t have to travel too far. Still, Ruki pondered, there probably was an alternative motive to this… most ponies that lived in this city didn’t want the country folk too close to their homes.

Ruki walked down the road, passing loads of beautiful houses which she had never had time to observe. Richly decorated with a golden yellow paint that matched the stones in the road, all of the houses looked well-kept and orderly. These houses had no gardens. Their front doors opened up on the street, which was only logical seeing as most of these houses contained some kind of store on the bottom floor. It were not standard stores, Ruki noticed, but rather stores for jewellery, house decoration and more things only the richest of rich could afford.

When Ruki reached the market, she was amazed by all the different stalls and ponies. Not only were there stalls full with fruit and vegetables, but also stalls with sweets, cloth, cutlery and even an exotic one full with items from the east like vases and small statues. One stall even claimed to sell herbs that only grew in the eastern lands. Ruki was surprised; she had never expected there to be any kind of trade between the two parts.

“Right, what do I need…” Ruki said as she took her note out of her bag.
Flora had given her an entire list of things she had to buy. She bought the vegetables, herbs, oils, the cloth, and last on her list was some flour. Ruki noticed the many different accents of the salesmen and she realized they probably came from all over the west.

Ruki found the correct stall and as there was no one there, she tried to get the attention of the salesman.
“Excuse me?” She said to the male pony on the other side of the stall.
“Hmm?” He looked up, grumpy. “Whot?”
The bandana around his neck was dusty, and he didn’t seem to have any intention of getting up.
“I would like a bag of flour, please.” She said on her friendliest tone.

The guy looked at Ruki, and then looked behind her.
“Where is yer husband then?” he asked.
“Ehm…. I’m not married.” Ruki replied, not really sure what that had to do with anything.
“Yer old man then?” he asked.
“I’m here on my own, sir, and I would like to purchase a bag of flour from you.” Ruki stated once more.
The man blinked, looked at her, and finally got off his chair.

He mumbled something about “idiotic kids”, “stupid parents” and “the demise of society” while he got her a bag of flour.
“Two silver pieces.” he stated when he handed her the bag.
“Excuse me?” she said, amazed by the price he stated.
“Two silver pieces.” He repeated.
“Two silver pieces for one bag of flour?” Ruki asked, looking at the bag that appeared to be a lot smaller than she thought it would be.

“Yes. Now pay up or I will call the guards on you for swindling.”
Shocked, Ruki handed him the two coins and took the bag of flour. She didn’t want him to call the guards, even if they would say she was correct. She didn’t want to draw attention to herself. She took the bag and left, not even saying goodbye.

Ruki walked home, trying not to look too upset about what had just happened. Why had he been so rude? True, not all of the other ponies had been very friendly but none of them had treated her like this. Was it only because she was a woman? She had travelled to many different places for the Bond, and while it was true that she had less status as a male she had not been treated this badly anywhere.

After what seemed like an hour of carrying heavy bags and fighting down tears, Ruki finally made it to the mansion.
“I’m home!” she yelled, but there was no reply, so Ruki put the cloth in the living room and all the other stuff in their proper place in the kitchen. She went to the second floor and noticed Takato’s study room door was open.

“Hello?” She whispered.
“Hello Ruki, come on in.” she heard Takato say. Ruki entered the room and closed the door behind her. The dark wood of the furniture matched the dark curtains that blocked out the sunlight. A small oil lamp and a large candle where the only two points of light in this room which had all it’s walls covered with rows and rows of old books.

“Where are Flora and the other girls?” Ruki asked.
“In the cellar. They’re trying to clean again… I don’t think it will work.” Takato sighed.
“Ah. I see. I will go tell them I’m back and help them, then.”
“Ruki… did everything go okay at the market?” Takato asked as she was about to leave the room.
“I guess so.” She answered.

“So it didn’t. I already thought you looked down. Tell me what happened.” Ruki was surprised at the tone of Takato’s voice. She had never, ever heard him talk to her like this while they were close to others.
“I just… had a nasty encounter. A man cheated me out of a lot of money, I think, because I’m a girl and he thought it was scandalous that I was out and about alone.” Ruki explained, feeling her eyes sting.

“I see… he was probably from Asterian then.” Takato replied.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Ruki asked, surprised that Takato did not seem very upset.
“Listen, Ruki…” Takato said as he got up from his chair, “You and I may not agree with this, but there is a long, long tradition in Asterian where women were not given much freedom. It was a symbol of status, you know, if you could keep your woman free of work, pure and clean. Even though this has changed somewhat over the years in other countries, here in Asterian, the capital country of the west, there are a lot who do not think women should have much freedom.

Those ponies… sympathize with my father, and are happy my sister passed away as she shamed the purity of the royal family. They think it is only natural that women do not get much freedom. If they should have more freedom, they argue, prana would have chosen them, too. They do not understand anything about the complexity of these things, or the eastern powers that only women can wield.”

“But… that is unfair, isn’t it? These women suffer now, and are discriminated, only because of some stupid tradition! Promise me you’ll change these things should you ever become king!” Ruki begged him.
Takato stared at her, and smiled the smile she never wanted to see in a place where she could not give in to the emotions that it triggered.
“I can’t promise you I will change this, because I do not know if I can. But for your sake, Ruki, I promise you that I will do everything I can to establish that.”

“I… thank you.” Ruki blushed. Why? Why did he have to say this? Why could she not express her anger, her desperation? Why were her strong emotions not allowed to exist?
“I will go help out Flora and the others now, I guess.” She managed to say while all those questions raged trough her mind with the emotions that spawned them roaming freely through them.

“Okay. Good luck, Ruki.” Takato said, and he sat down again behind the large dark wooden desk which was as much a mess as his room had been in the forest cottage.
“Thanks.” Ruki said, leaving the dark room.
Once she had closed the door behind her, Ruki went to the bedroom instead of the cellar because of all the ponies in the world Flora was the only one Ruki could not face right now.