by W. C. Jasper
King Jeraash faintly shook his head.
General Thayman: “Jahous… I mean King Jahous always said that he would not have been able to accomplish all that he did without me at his side. Someone simplistically humble would say, ‘That’s just modesty… I was merely assisting… and x and y and z…’ But I am humble enough to admit that he was right. He needed someone like me by his side. And Jerudia needs Jared to be the one who gets in the filth to do that which is necessary. You always respect your elders and their wisdom. There has never been a better time for that than right now.”
The King and Prince shared a common thought at that time that they wished to not reveal to anyone else. And fortunately, none of it could be seen on their faces.
King Jeraash took a deep breath and unwillingly digressed, “Fair enough. Does anyone else have anything to contribute?”
Some shook their heads and the rest made no response while Thaymas raised his hand like a child asking for permission to speak.
King Jeraash nodded, and Thaymas proceeded to ask, “What are these bioweapons?”
Prince Jared responded, “Oh yes… That would be my fault. There is far too much we know about Gessold. Satya and Lord Yuvan used to write to us quite often, and have educated us extensively about a lot of things, including the culture there. Bioweapons are something that we will soon address in our lessons.”
King Jeraash: “Is there anything else someone would like to discuss?”
Lady Heidi: “Something tells me we should have a name and some sort of a secret identification or a secret passphrase for the inner circle.”
General Thayman: “That would be good sense for an operation such as ours. And here I was, thinking you are just our spiritual advisor.”
Lady Heidi smiled sweetly, accepting the compliment.
Queen Maomi: “I agree. Any suggestions?”
Noticing that no one had any suggestions, Lady Heidi spoke, “Blue Lily.”
Akini, Thaymas, and General Hana had visible confusion plastered on their faces.
“A bit dramatic…” Lord Akula chuckled and added, “But, I like it.”
Akini had to interject in her typical annoyed tone, “Can someone please explain to me why we are naming ourselves after an extinct flower and people are even happy with it?!”
King Jeraash: “I don’t think anyone else here is more qualified than you to explain this.”
Lady Heidi spoke with her almost magical smile, “Yes, the blue lilies are extinct, young lady. But the 2000-year-old Holy Scriptures say, and I quote, ‘For though all the flowers and trees of the Earth wither away and vanish, the Blue Lily shall rise forth once again. Reborn from the prayers of all the living souls within the Blue Ball of Life, she will resurrect life on the Earth and bring forth a new hope.’”
General Hana: “Is it not a little… I mean why are we calling on symbols of resurrection? Are we not supposed to defend people and avoid death altogether?”
King Jeraash laughed softly as Queen Maomi told him to control himself with her eyes.
General Thayman was quick to provide an answer to General Hana’s qualms, “Quite logical, dear one. But sometimes death is necessary for something better to be born. And never forget that while the death of people brings sorrow and pain to the ones they leave behind on Earth, they themselves move on to a better, a more complete realm, a higher plane of existence and life.”
Lady Heidi: “I suggested the Blue Lily for the hope it symbolises. And since it is an extinct flower, it seemed like a good idea for a secret council.”
As everyone thought about it and were impressed with the idea, General Thayman spoke, “And I have an idea for the perfect secret identification as well.”
Akini: “What is it?”
General Thayman: “Patience, dear girl. All in time.”
King Jeraash: “Is there anything else anyone would like to discuss?”
Yaakub: “I have been wondering why Kaveri, Ribon, Yuroichi, and other people who are so close with you… Much more than I am, not included in the Blue Lily?”
General Thayman laughed heartily, “Well, you took to that name rather swiftly, huh!”
Yaakub: “Kaveri is also a far greater warrior than me, much higher ranking in the military, and even Satya’s sister… I am just quite puzzled about this…”
King Jeraash: “A very reasonable question to pose, Yaakub. But each and every person who is part of… the Blue Lily… I won’t lie, this name sounds weird… Anyway, as I was saying, everyone who is a part of the Blue Lily is here because of absolute necessity. We do not want to include too many people in this because maintaining a secret with such a large group would be extremely difficult. Someone or the other would be bound to notice something. The plan is not to include everyone we can trust. The idea here is to only include whose participation is absolutely necessary. Everyone else we trust are playing their parts in other ways.”
As Yaakub nodded, King Jeraash asked once again, “Is there anything else anyone would like to discuss?” Noticing everyone’s silence, he added, “Okay. Jared may send out the response whenever he is ready,” and dismissed the meeting.
Prince Jared went into his room and penned a message to send back at once, “You two have nothing to apologise for, and not in the least to be ashamed of. No one else could have infiltrated the way you two have. It is, in fact, a miraculous feat that you have managed to accomplish this much under Thon’s nose. You deserve praise for that. The attack was most probably just retaliation to finding out that we have spies in his castle. I repeat, if at all you two believe he is close to uncovering your identity, leave at once! That is an order from your Crowned Prince. Jerudia could not be prouder of you two and the Royal Family could not be more grateful. Your Prince thanks you for your service. Your primary mission remains the same, stay focused on it, and be alert at all times. Stay vigilant and safe. Kaveri misses Satya and sends her love. Tell Lord Yuvan that Jeniah might forget his face soon… I’m joking, Jeniah keeps asking me, ‘When will Paaya-Yuvan make pavajhib for me!?’ I hope that it will be soon that we will both be able to eat those. May Sathyam protect you and bless you. Blessings and Peace.”
The falcons stayed at a huge birdhouse built on a tree about 12 to 15 feet away from the pond. Prince Jared sat on the platform of the pond with his legs crossed and intertwined and called out, “Luka! Lufi!” The falcons flew out at once and sat in front of him and solicited petting. Prince Jared petted them and said with an affectionate voice, “It seems you two need to go now. I know that you two are making a sacrifice just as Satya and Lord Yuvan. I’m sorry, you have to do this. I love you both!” and kissed their foreheads. While the falcons certainly did not understand all of it, the Prince had a special way of communicating with animals and birds. A higher mode of communication, perhaps. The falcons were not even half as smart as the wolves and lions. Taught by the Prince and the King, the wolves and lions understood human tongue almost as much as a human child. Regardless of how much training they received, the falcons did not possess the cognitive capacity or intellect to ever rival the wolves and lions. But they understood a great deal more than what they needed to understand for being spy messengers. They could also remember addresses and carry out orders of a certain level of complexity and precision. And even in cases of animals that did not possess even a minimal amount of intellect, the Prince and King had a habit of speaking to them in anthropomorphised language.
He spoke to them for a few more minutes as if they could understand what he was saying and gave them the scroll and instructed them to be extra careful on their journey. They flew away slowly, climbing higher and higher into the sky as Prince Jared watched them fly away, lost in thought. He sat there until they were almost out of sight and then got up, leaning his left hand on the platform with a heavy body as if his legs had somehow grown weak. He turned his head back to once again see the falcons flying away and then retrieving his gaze he walked away into the royal residence with a weary gait.
After dinner that night, the King, Queen, Prince, and Princess spent the night by the pond. Each and every stone and rock that was a part of the pond was emitting pure, entrancing light of all colours. For each and every stone and rock that the pond was built with were in fact oliones. While there was some difference in how powerful the light of each olione was, King Jeraash had made sure that he chose oliones within the perfect range that were neither too powerful nor too weak for ensuring a pleasant sight. Not only would it have seemed like wizardry to someone of today’s age to look at it; but it was designed to be so enchantingly beautiful that even to the eyes of anyone of SHAR, it looked outwordly. Princess Jeniah sat on Queen Maomi’s lap, reading a book while Prince Jared lay on the platform shirtless (as usual) with his head on the King’s lap, who was sitting facing the Queen.
As her father munched on roasted almonds and pistachios, Princess Jeniah decided to dip her feet in the pond and did so without cleaning her feet. Queen Maomi pulled her out of the pond and slapped her leg in reproach, “You know you are not supposed to do that! Go wash your feet and come back.”
Princess Jeniah’s eyes expressed remorse as she replied with a sad frown, “My feet are already clean now, so please let it go. I will never do it again.”
Queen Maomi caressed her temple and said with an affectionate voice, “My Love, it’s not about whether it makes sense in terms of practicality. We know that the pond purifies itself of any dirt instantly, yet we have a rule to wash our feet before dipping our feet, don’t we? When I tell you to wash your feet now it is to establish it in your mind that rules and discipline are important. When you now go and wash your feet as punishment after having done something wrong, your mind will cement this principle in a way that it will be extremely difficult for you to ever go against it even after you have grown old. If I instead let you off without punishment now, your mind will instead register that it is alright to break rules because there will be no consequences. You are now reading books about psychology that are extremely basic in their study of the mind. When you read more advanced books, you will learn that when people are set in a certain way of thinking when they are young, it becomes almost impossible to change it later in life. Now,” she took her by her hands and kissed them and continued, “you are undoubtedly the smartest child ever. In fact, this conversation that I am having with you would be almost completely meaningless and of no value, if I had it with most other five-year-olds. No other five-year-old studies books as advanced as you do. So it is that much more important that someone as wonderful as you is raised perfectly, correct?”
Princess Jeniah asked in response with her adorable and musical voice, “Like how it is said that those who are mightier carry greater responsibility?”
“Exactly like that!” exclaimed Queen Maomi, thoroughly proud of her, and sent her off.
The Princess ran over the platform of the pond to a small bucket of water placed near the pond and washed her feet with it. Prince Jared sat up as all three of them admired how adorable and beautiful the sight of the Princess running was.
“Everything about her, Brother… Every little thing… It makes me…” said Prince Jared like he was falling into a spell when King Jeraash interjected, “There will never be a word for it. I keep thinking the same thing every day I look at you. I assure you, there will never be a word for it.”
Prince Jared: “Yea… I’m quite sure that Jeniah and I will not register as equals on a scale of cuteness…”
King Jeraash: “Depends on whose eyes are beholding…”
Prince Jared: “Exceptions to every rule…”
King Jeraash: “Which means that there is an exception to that rule itself as well.”
Prince Jared repeated mockingly, “Which means that there is an exception to that rule itself as well.”
King Jeraash laughed and kissed his forehead and whispered, “Still a baby!”
After spending some more time talking about the fundamentals of psychology to Princess Jeniah, the King and Queen decided to go to sleep. Prince Jared lay on the platform shirtless with his shirt bundled up below his head like a pillow with the Princess lying on top of him. Once again, both of them stared at the sky in such identical fashion that the Princess might as well have been a female clone of her father (perhaps even an improved version… a version 2.0 as we would call it in our world).
Princess Jeniah sat up suddenly. And after a couple of seconds, turned back to face the Prince. Sitting on his stomach, she looked into his eyes for a few seconds silently as he too looked back into her eyes wondering what she wanted to say. She spoke eventually with a tone that reflected unnatural maturity, “Sometimes… I get a scary feeling. As though Appa will leave me.” Prince Jared listened with care as she continued, “I never got to see Amma… What if you too leave me like Amma did?” Prince Jared sat up with his legs stretched out straight and sat her on his legs. He took her hands in his and looking intently into her eyes, replied with the softest voice, “Do you remember what Papa-Jur says about why we exist?” “To serve and to help others,” replied the Princess in her incomparably adorable voice. Prince Jared nodded and continued, “Yes. But, there is a secret to it. What Jeni-ma said is my second reason to exist, because my first reason to exist,” he held her face, kissed her forehead and continued, “is Jeni-ma! Also…” he whispered as if speaking a secret, “Papa-Jur’s and Maomi-ma’s first reason for existence is ME! And that is how it is for every parent.”
Princess Jeniah asked in response, “But how can I be sure you will not leave me like Amma?” Prince Jared answered in the softest voice as if speaking to an infant, “You see… Appa does not exist without you. All that I am, exists within you. Without Jeni-ma, there is no Appa. It is not possible for Appa to leave you… Appa cannot live without you.” He took her palm, placed it on his lips, and kissing it; he continued, “Appa promises Jeni-ma, I will NEVER leave you!” “How long?” asked the Princess. Confused, Prince Jared asked, “What?” Princess Jeniah was quick to clarify, “How long will you never leave me?” “Hmm…” Prince Jared dropped his head and replied instantly as if the answer to that question had always been tattooed in his DNA, “What is the longest period of time that Jeni-ma knows?” “Forever!” exclaimed the Princess. “Ahh…” replied the Prince, “But there is something that is longer than forever!” Princess Jeniah responded with a sceptic look in her eyes, “Nooo… Forever means… I mean, it means for all time!” Prince Jared chuckled and replied, “Exactly! But eternity means something that transcends… uhm—” The Princess interrupted, “Transcend means to go beyond or not be limited by,” thoroughly pleased with herself. Prince Jared’s eyes lit up and his eyebrows hopped up in pride as he continued, “Yesss! Eternity transcends time! Eternity is not limited by time. Eternity is bigger than time! Eternity is beyond time. So if I promise for eternity, it means I cannot leave you even after ALL OF time ends.”
Princess Jeniah drifted into deep thought at which Prince Jared added, “Okay. Let’s make a deal.”
The Princess listened intently with the face of an expert interrogator trying to read their suspect, “What deal?”
“I promise,” said the Prince, “to never leave Jeni-ma Forever + Eternity.”
The Princess’ eyes exploded in excitement and her lips started to ever so slowly form a smile. As her lips blossomed into a full smile, she exclaimed with the sweetest, most magical voice, “Deal! Forever + Eternity!”
Lying on top of him at the platform of the pond, Princess Jeniah fell asleep listening to the rhythmic melody of her father’s heartbeat. As she fell asleep, Prince Jared wrestled a terrifying feeling. Even as he promised her that he would never leave her, a creeping sensation rose along the walls of his soul that they would somehow be separated. He knew with absolute certainty that he would never leave her, yet this fear that they would somehow be separated haunted him as if it were an ominous prophecy. But he was not going to entertain such a possibility and dismissed it quickly. As he now watc
hed her fall asleep, he wondered why such a fear would rise in him and wished he could punch the thought, thinking he could make it untrue by simply pulverising it. As she lay on top of him, sleeping to the rhythmic pats on her back and the bassline of her father’s heartbeats; he battled away the ominous thoughts successfully.
Late at night, once he was sure that she was fast asleep; he picked her up and took her to their room. He put her in her bed and lay beside her watching her sleep and patting her abdomen for about 20 minutes when he realised he needed to get some sleep too. He kissed her forehead, prayed over her, kissed her forehead three times again, grabbed a pillow, and proceeded to sleep beside her. They had their own beds, but seldom did they sleep apart. Most times, the Princess slept on top of him in painfully awkward positions, and those painful positions somehow provided him the most satisfying sleep.
As he had almost fallen asleep, there was a very soft knock on the door and it opened as he looked at it. King Jeraash spoke in a very soft voice, “It’s ready. Come.”
Prince Jared shook his head and replied, “Her wizardry will let her know as soon as I leave and then she will chase me down and beat me up for leaving.”
“Oh yes, of course… Come to my workshop in the morning. Blessed night,” said the King as he closed the door gently and left.
The next morning, Prince Jared showed up at his brother’s workshop at the start of the tenth hour. King Jeraash welcomed him with an excited face, “As you ordered, My Prince. The greatest and most beautiful piece of jewellery I have ever created.” He turned around and picked up a ring and presented it on a velvet pillow.
