The new rules of the High King

High King of the west Shanjahen du Larq slammed the door of his private quarters shut. This was the final time his son Jaan bothered him! Every single day, he was forced to endure those stares. Oh, how he hated them. Jaan, his youngest son and currently second in line to his succession, did not trust him, and Shanjahen was all too well aware of that. In fact, he was absolutely sure Jaan would do whatever he could to leave the castle and go look for Takato, if he was given the chance.

But after Takato had run away, Shanjahen had made absolutely sure neither of his two remaining sons could step outside the castle grounds. Nor, for that matter, could Takato enter them. He would know, oh, he would know if Takato tried. His weak, unworthy eldest son… As Shanjahen sat down on his relaxing, comfortable, large couch, it occurred to him that, with his project so close to completion, he had to make sure no one would ruin his plans. Of course, he had realized this long before, but with the letter he had received this morning it became all too real that the final stage would soon begin.

This morning, he had received a letter of the king of Andalash, a heir to a unicorn. He, of course, accepted the invitation of the High King and would arrive in the capital in approximately a month from now. This was perfectly timed, as the final silver piece would be done by then, too, and thus, the ritual could start. Of course, Jaan had seen him when he had read the letter… and he didn’t look very pleased. Jaan didn’t know anything about his plans, of course. But he should not find out, either. Nor should anyone else.

Still, his son was not the biggest threat to his plans. The prophecy was very clear on that, and he had to stop it from happening at all costs. Of course, he had taken the biggest precaution a long time ago. Only she who wields prana and atma… For a long time, Shanjahen had pondered over what atma would be, what it possibly could be. But when his daughter Asana ended up being able to wield prana, he knew he had had no choice.

Thinking about how he would soon have all of it within his grasp, he felt empowered once again, and he got up from his couch and grabbed a quill and some parchment. Some new rules had to be forced upon the city. He did not care what the citizens thought of this, at this point. All he cared about was the success of his plan. Beyond that, there was nothing in his mind.

“So, these do not require any water the next few days, right Flora?” Ruki asked the pony sitting on the other side of the table.
“No. If we give them too much they will drown. They will be fine for now.”
Flora smiled at Ruki, still thankful for her help. Ruki knew how much time Flora had spend on her old garden, and on the herbs she had grown there. As she couldn’t take anything with her but a few seeds, Ruki had offered to help plant them.

Truth be told, she did not know why she had offered it. The words had escaped her lips before she realized what she was saying. Usually, Ruki tried to avoid Flora, because being with her triggered feelings Ruki didn’t dare to face. Maybe, she had thought, this was a way she wanted to make up for all the things she had done that would definitely hurt Flora if she would ever find out. Not that it was something that she could ever make up for, but it put her heart at ease, at least a little bit.

“There, we’re almost done. These should do fine.” Flora said while she put the last of the seeds in the ground. The mansion was of course in the possession of a huge back yard, which had plenty of space for Flora to grow her own plants and herbs. Now that spring was almost here, it was time to put the seeds in the ground.
“I can’t wait to see how they will do!” Ruki smiled.

“They will do just fine. This castle, this city… was build here for a reason. It is said that the first high king spend all of his reign looking for the perfect place for his castle, so that if it was needed he had fast access to prana. When he found this place, he had exhausted himself, and passed away. The last thing he said to his only son and heir was, build it here… the castle, and the capital, and fortune will always smile over our bloodline. Well, what I’m trying to say is… prana flows strongly here. The seeds will do just fine.” Flora smiled.

Ruki had never heard that story before, and she was sure it was nothing but a legend, but it did make sense… prana seemed to flow here even stronger than it did in the ancient forest. The trees were so… purple. Even the grass on the ground and the ivy on the walls were shining such a bright purple colour that it was sometimes hard to look at.

“Shall we clean up and go inside then? It’s almost time to start cooking, I’d say.” Flora proposed.
“Yes, all right.”
Even though cooking was usually not part of Ruki’s duties because, well, she wasn’t very good at it, she knew Flora would have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen to cook for everyone of the Bond that lived here. As they were putting away their tools and swept the soil off the path, one of the ponies of the Bond came storming out of the house.

“Flora, Ruki, please follow me. Some urgent matters have come up.” He said.
Ruki blinked at Flora, but as the guy had already turned around again, they simply followed him to what turned out to be Takato’s room. Besides being filled with books now, the room was full with ponies. Gurain was there, and Takato of course, and two older members of the bond, and now their messenger, Flora and Ruki. Of course, the room wasn’t large enough, but they just had to make it fit.

Ruki looked at Takato who had an extremely worried look on his face. She fought to suppress the need to rush towards him, and hold him, and ask him what was wrong. As she was fighting these emotions, she saw Flora move towards him and do exactly that which she tried to hard to avoid doing; she gently touched him, and asked him what was going on.
“I’ll explain.” He whispered to her, and Flora smiled and went back to her place.

“Just now, Gurain came home with this.” Takato said and he showed a piece of paper.
Several ponies gasped as they were handed the paper and had a worried look on their face. When Ruki finally got the paper from Flora she, too, couldn’t suppress her surprise. The piece of paper was a flyer, handed out by royal guards to the citizens of Zoroaster.

“TO ALL RESIDENTS OF ZOROASTER

BY ROYAL DECREE IT HAS BEEN DECIDED THAT FROM THIS MOMENT ON NO WOMAN SHALL BE ALLOWED TO GO OUTSIDE ALONE BETWEEN DAWN AND DUSK.

FURTHERMORE, ALL WOMEN WILL BE TESTED ON THEIR ABILITY TO WIELD PRANA OVER THE FOLLOWING WEEKS. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR WIFE OR DAUGHTER WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THIS TEST AS ABSENCE WILL BE PUNISHED.”

“What… does it mean?” Ruki asked.
“It means…” Takato began, “That my father is up to something. However, I have no idea what this is exactly. Is this due to his plans, or does he suspect someone is trying to stop them? In other words… does he need to make sure there is no woman who can wield prana because if there is, she might interrupt his plans, or is he afraid that someone is trying to stop him and he is trying to limit their moves?”

Silence took over the room, while everyone pondered over the meaning of Takato’s words.
“Do you think he knows about us? Have we not been careful enough?” Flora finally broke the silence.
“I will not lie to you all… that very well might be. But I do not find it likely. If he really knew about the Bond, about who was in it and what we are trying to do, this would not be the measures he would take.

However… that does not mean that he might not suspect that somewhere, out there, are ponies that want to stop him. My father knows very well that I am still alive, and he is no fool; he know there are those in the kingdom, in the entire west, that oppose him. Therefore, he is getting more paranoid. And because of that we are given an opportunity; due to these matters we can get more insight in what it is he is trying to achieve, and, hopefully, we are shown a way in which we can take his position from him.” Takato explained.

“But what do we do now? What do we do about these new rules?” Ruki asked.
“Well, as for the first one, we will have no choice but to accept it. I’m really sorry, Ruki, Flora, but neither of you are allowed to go outside after dark alone anymore. Nor are any of the other women. I do not agree with the rule, but we have no other choice, for now. We cannot risk any of you getting caught.”

While she agreed with Takato’s vision, Ruki felt as if she was being locked up, forced to do a man’s bidding. Why should I not be allowed to go out after nightfall? What threat is my being out alone in the dark to the High King? Of course, thinking about herself, she knew she was part of an organization that was a very real threat to him. But those countless other women who are already forced to live under their husband’s reign… they had nothing to do with any of this!

“It’s just not fair…” She whispered, thinking of the market man who would, no doubt, be pleased by these new rules.
“No, Ruki, it is not, but I do fear that, for the moment, there is nothing we can do about it. We will continue our work as planned.” Takato replied.
“But what about the second rule, then? That all women should be checked?” One of the older advisors asked.

“Yes, that is a different problem altogether. While ponies like Ruki do not have much to fear, as they will not be recognized, Flora and some of the other girls might be. So going to those checkups might be a very real danger to them and our organization. However, we do not know yet how these tests are planned. Will they come by the house? That might be the most dangerous of all. Will they summon the citizens by letter? That might be the safest, as none of us are, of course, officially registered here. And there are loads of other options.

So, how we will deal with this is currently unsure as we do not know for sure how it will be carried out. But I do think we should make sure no officials will test Flora, or any of our other women. Not because I’m afraid they might find something, but rather because I do not want them to run any risk. This goes for all of us; we are not sure if my father is on to us, so we should all be extra careful on the streets and we should make sure we do not draw any attention to ourselves.”

Ruki knew the meeting was over when everyone agreed with Takato’s words. The other members of the Bond left the room. Ruki wanted to say something, anything, but she had no idea what. This was all so unfair, and there was nothing she or anyone else could do about it. It was just… so unfair.

“Is there anything more, Ruki?” She heard Takato ask, and she looked up. The room was empty except for Takato and Flora and herself.
“I… no. I’m sorry. I’ll go see if I can be useful downstairs.” She smiled, and slowly left the room.
As she closed the door behind her, the image of Takato and Flora standing there, together, wondering why she was still around, simply refused to leave her head.

Its message was clear; Takato does not need me. In the end, she knew, Sakurako was right; he was only using her. No one would be helped by this; she would only end up getting hurt, he would get hurt, and she didn’t even dare to think of what it might do to Flora should she ever find out. But why, if she knew all of this, could she not force Takato out of her mind?