Page 126 of Firebird

The king made a noncommittal grunt while his queen glared at him with arms folded in front of her chest. He seemed in a foul mood every time the duchess and his son came to the palace. Erani suspected it was because the boy, who was about a year older than Metheus, looked so much like Doro. Tongues had been wagging. Still, the queen kept her cool. There were times when she wanted to return to the Touch, but even that was not something she would do just to escape the truth about her husband.

#

In the fields, Metheus was glad to see his friends. Cora was there, too, a shy smile on her face. Razuku had teased him about their friend, who was growing to be less inclined to run around with them.

“She has changed,” Razuku observed. “She likes staring at you too much.”

“Never mind that. We need to work.”

“Why are you so eager to do it, Your Highness?”

“I told you not to call me that here. Call me Metheus.”

“What if somebody hears? I do not want to get punished.”

“Who will punish you? My father? My father does not mind breaking the rules.”

“But he may not want people to know that, or would he?” Razuku asked, half-heartedly digging at the soil. “Why are we even doing this? You have farmers. Since your father has given them so much land, they would gladly do everything. Prozeus is bountiful. What is all this?”

“It is a pledge. A prayer. My mother said that when I was born, the soil had become fertile, and Prozeus started changing.”

“Started changing, becoming almost like Mogochislenia, you mean?”

“No. Why are you comparing us to the other continent? We are what we are. Our land is better. It can bring forth more crops.”

“How is your pledge helping?”

“I felt it. A decade ago, when we were two summers old, there was a slight lull. A dry season. All of the things we enjoy can easily be stripped off us. Weeks ago, I felt that sudden heat again. It was like something was taking away all the moisture from our land. However, it did not last long. It was like a constant struggle for balance.”

Razuku shook his head at Metheus philosophizing.

“Your High- I mean, Metheus, let us just work then.”

As they worked, Metheus felt his hands warming. He felt heat coming out of the soil, entering his body. His skin welcomed the fire that was building under the earth. A buzzing sound in his head started to form words.

“Metheus. Metheus. Are you hungry?”

He was startled that he had lost his balance and ended up sitting in the mud. Razuku laughed.

“Are you alright, Metheus? You looked like you had seen a ghost.”

More like heard one.

“Tis nothing. I lost balance. That is all,” he said and continued with whatever it was that he was doing. He knew that he must do it, and he vowed that if it did the soil right, he would help other places, too.”

The dry spell that was threatening Prozeus was gone. The people commented on how skilled the young prince must be. The fertile soil brought forth more crops, and the kingdom became even wealthier. Other kingdoms felt a greater scourge of heat and suffered through it all except for little oases such as the Seers’ Village. Even these little patches of cool land and water had invited the prince to come and visit.

“It is the prince that we have been waiting for,” Aruna had said then, touching the still soft, pliant cheek of the young boy.

“Are we in danger?” he had asked then.

The Seers only looked at each other. In truth, they had always been waiting for something. They tried to hear for the added rumble of the wind, the drying up of more lands, or storms that came from nowhere. Any sign of imbalance meant that one of the gods was dying or becoming stronger than they ought to be.

#

When Metheus turned eighteen, he was fully educated with books and the land. Sometimes, he would go to the northern shores of Arrowspear to take a plunge in the sea. It was the sea that separated the continent from Mogochislenia.

One night, the young man had gathered his friends to camp by the shore. Razuku and Emir gladly joined him, but Cora was disappointed that she could not come. Even a peasant young woman should not spend time alone with young men. She still asked her mother, and she got her ear pulled for even considering.

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