The King Who Won't Marry

DEATH (cont.)

FALLON

The coronation took place a day after Father's burial.
"Sorah, I now give you your new king!" The high priest exclaimed as he placed a crown on Aspen's head.
He stood up and the people roared in his name and they cheered for their new 16 year old king. My brother was dressed in this beautiful ceremonial robe, which was only worn during coronations. It suited him perfectly. He looked much like dad.
"Make way for King Aspen!" The people shouted as they saw him. We were at the carriage on the way back to the palace where Aspen will deal with his first royal matters. And by that I mean choosing the new council, staff, and stuff if he wants to. He rode his white stallion as he lead the parade to the palace gates. There was a festival everywhere in honor of my brother.
It touched our hearts that our people did their best to celebrate. Everyone knows how hard it is to be happy today when you just came out of devastation yesterday. It's not the best feeling in the world, trust me. It hurts just trying but hey, these are the perks of being a great ruler. You earn great people who will stop at nothing to show their love.
Finally, we reached the palace. My sisters and my mom went to their respective ways and affairs.
"So, King Aspen?" I teased him as we were walking.
He chuckled," I'm still not used to it, Fallon."
I sighed in happiness, "As if it was only yesterday we were still calling you Prince Aspen."
"It was yesterday and the 16 years before that."
"Well, things are different now. Our little frog prince is now a king." I laughed.
He grunted in irritation, "Please don't remind me of that incident in Diora. I swear I'll sent a battalion to wipe them away."
I laughed again as I remembered that event in Diora. He was seven and tagged along with dad to that place. It was a strange kingdom. They served fried frogs and Aspen ate it not knowing what it really was. He liked the taste and ate some more, even joined an eating contest. He won and was declared the "Frog Prince." When he asked why it was the title given, let's just say some frog legs were found clogging one of their toilets. It was really funny but he didn't like it one bit. He was so angry at the people for laughing at him.
"Aww, I'm sure they forgot it by now." I assured.
"Yeah, right." He smiled. But then it was turned to a worried expression.
"Aspen," -I held his arms- "You're gonna be a great king." I said calmly.
He looked at me in confusion," Of course I know that." He smirked.
I blinked, "Then why do you look so worried?"
"Well, I'm not sure if the council will agree to my plan."
"What plan?" I asked.
He didn't answer and kept looking at the ground as we walked.
"If it makes you feel better, there's nothing they can do. Perks of being a king. They have to agree." I said, trying to ease his worries.
"Hmm. I guess you're right." He smiled, making me feel relieved. We continued to walk towards our destination.
I, being the eldest and also the secretary, accompanied my brother to the king's court. One of the joys of being the firstborn. That, and because though wise, he can't really handle all of the matters alone. He has a whole lot of homework.
You see, Sorah's fairly a large kingdom. Sometimes we are even seen as a small country. We did well in wars, as our history proved, but not necessarily great. If anything, we are best known for diplomacy and negotiations.
Where we live is the capital, which was also called Sorah. So, our location is well.... Sorah, Sorah.
In addition to that, our kingdom has 5 main cities, named after our founders. There's Sorah, Kenan, Zohar, Aldon, Reevas .We can't really place our entire territory in one big metropolis so we divided it instead throughout the whole kingdom. Each of our cities are special due to it's location. Others are for barter trades with other kingdoms, others are for resources, one is a city for training, or for tourists, and other special stuff.
It's ruled by our chosen leaders, which would mostly be our relatives. They're automatically a member of the royal council, which is composed of 20 members.
So, if you don't think that's enough pain to manage for Aspen, there are still things he needs to worry about like alliances, the court, defense, economy and things that'll probably give him headache.
See why he needs me now?
But, based on how wise, fair, and did I mention he's a prodigy? Yeah, finishing almost all the books in the royal library and having the mind of let's say 15 scholars put together, I bet he'll just look at these matters as if it were horse stool. Still, he's just one person, no matter how good he is.
"Your highness." The ministers of the council bowed as they welcomed my brother to the King's court. I never really liked some of the council members. Some act as if they rule the king, sharing and interfering in his decisions. In short, they're pretty crappy people. I even heard that some opposed the idea of Aspen being king.
Aspen sat at his chair in the table and so did the others. He sighed heavily as he started to take in everything around him. The council was staring at him intently, waiting for his next actions. He then smiled,
"Take it easy on me. I'm barely a king yet." He said, probably getting creeped out by the stares. The council managed a faint chuckle though.
"Of course, your majesty."
"We wouldn't want to pressure you but-"
"You have to." He finished. He then straightened himself up.
"So, King Aspen, the first thing you-" The minister was cut off when Aspen raised his hand.
"Whoops. That's kinda my line and I know what I have to do." He grinned. The minister coughed in embarrassment but he didn't give it a second look. Aspen stood up from his table and walked around the room as he spoke.
"I was trained for this, though I didn't know it would be this soon." He bowed his head and so did we as we remembered my father.
"I promised to rule in his honor and I may be a lot like my father but we're not entirely the same. Now that I am king, things will be different around here, better, and if possible, best."
He walked back to the table and sat as he clasped his hands together.
" I saw some faults and some things that used to tick my father off when he was around..... and I want to eradicate that first. I don't want it happening again." He looked back at the council mischievously.
I rolled my eyes and smirked as I anticipated what he's about to do. I watched as the ministers seemingly swallow a stone in nervousness.
He continued, "So, as I presumed, first things first is... I have to select the people I can trust. The council, for example." He grinned sadistically.
The ministers' eyes widened in horror and some of them was close to leaving the chairs to beg for the king's mercy on their position.
"Your majesty, I have served for 20 years straight, you can't just-"
"Yes, I can. Don't you dare question my authority." He rolled his eyes.
"King Aspen, there are other more important things to discuss." The other persuaded.
"Aww, come on. You're more important. Don't you think? I mean you treat yourselves as if you were." He glared, scaring the man a bit.
"My king, I have never interfered in the kings' decisions, not once." One complained.
"Well, you are now. Congratulations." Aspen grinned.

"Your majesty, please reconsider!" One wailed.

"Not today, my lord." He said.

"Your majesty!" And they stood up, started bowing back and forth, begging. One was even on his knees.

Aspen looked sternly at them, but couldn't resist it any longer. He finally let out his long-held laughter.

"Ohhh! I know that this was gonna be funny, but not this good! Hahaha!" His laughter roared.

The ministers blinked in confusion. "King Aspen?"

Why was he acting this way? I guess I forgot to mention that Aspen is a little bit waggish. If you don't know what that means, here are some other translations: devilish, prankish, mischievous, and you can look up the others if you have a dictionary.

Yeah, so if you put his traits altogether, you have a half king, half jester. I thought it was cool at first, but he tends to take it too far sometimes, and that's where the problems start. Because of it, some thought that he was too immature to be king. My sisters thought he would be a fun and confident king though.

For this part? I go with my sisters. He maybe be playful at times but when it gets serious, he knows how to act in accordance to the situation.

"I'm sorry. I just had to do that, part of my own initiation as king you know." He explained, his laughter dying down.

"Initiation, your majesty?" They asked.

"Yeah. The coronation was the kingdom's way of celebrating it. This was mine." He grinned and laughed lightly.

"You think the king's position is a joke?!"

Aspen didn't respond and was still laughing and only looked at him after he spoke, "Were you saying something?"

The minister stood in silence, as he was taken aback at the embarrassment. Aspen sighed and stood up.

"What I did was a joke but the idea of getting rid of the present council was not. So you better let me do the talking if you wanna stay, minister of- Who are you again?" He asked.

The minister coughed, "Richard Vernon, my king, minister of external affairs."

"Hmm. Well, Lord Richard Vernon, if you don't want to be as external as your affairs, I suggest you let me do this thing my own." He glared.

The minister lightly nodded in agreement and compliance, finally sitting down. Aspen stood up once more and walked around the table.

"I won't remove you from your position."

As soon as he said that, they heaved as a sigh of relief. My brother noticed this and went to the ear of one minister but whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I won't but that doesn't mean I can't. I'll still do it if I see any regrets in my decision of keeping you guys." He warned.

"When you were with my father, though some of you seem annoying," -He looked at each one of them in an irritated way- "the kingdom still prospered and was in a steady state. Nothing bad happened therefore, I've decided to keep the present council members."

"BUT.." He suddenly shouted making the council flinch and making me chuckle.

"Remember my warning." He smiled.

"Anything more, your majesty?" I asked.

"Why, yes. "-He started walking around the table again- "Unlike my father, I'd like to have a right hand man, an assistant in other words."

"Well, you have 20 council members, you can choo-" I was cut off by Aspen.

"I could really use someone not from this group." He said, referring to the irritated council, who was now glaring at him.

"Oh. Well then, I suppose you can choose others, as long as they are capable and experienced of course." I said, agreeing.

Aspen grinned, "Mmm, he's very experienced and skilled at a lot of matters. In fact, he's a royal and knows the kingdom as much as I do. He'll serve me well."

"As he should. So, when are we going to have the honor of knowing this man?" I asked.

"Now." He smiled. He then looked at the doors, waiting for someone to enter. We looked at the door also but nothing happened.

Our king coughed sheepishly, "I said NOW."

Still, nothing.

"Ugh." He then went to the door and opened it. We didn't see the man he was talking to but we can hear their loud whispering.

"Man, what are you doing? You were supposed to enter when I said the signal so it would look cool!" Aspen said.

"Wait, that was the signal?!" The other said.

"You're such an idiot. You're embarrassing me." Aspen scolded.

"Oh. Sorry, sorry. I didn't quite hear."

"Okay. Do it right this time or else you won't even get the job."

"Yeah, yeah."

Then Aspen closed the door and went back to us.

We looked at them dumbfounded but I just played along, repeating my question.

"So, when are we going to have the honor of knowing this man?" I asked again, but this time emotionless.

"Now." He smiled.

And like before, nothing.

Irritated, Aspen shouted, "Dang it, just come inside!"

Finally, for the first time in forever, the man came inside, rushing towards us. When I got a closer look at him, I can't believe who I'm seeing.

"Sweet mother of- are you kidding me!?" I looked at Aspen incredulously, who was smirking.

"Hey, Fallon." The man waved at me, smiling as I glared at him.

"Your majesty, the royal cabinet is not a jest. The council will not approve of this." They complained also in disbelief.

Aspen sighed jokingly, "I knew it. I should've eradicated you when I had a chance."

"I, also, will not approve this, Aspen." I said.

"What?! Why Fallon? Why?" He protested.

"Come on, Fal. You used to be cool." The guy that Aspen brought said.

"Ha! No one would be cool about this. Aspen, you can't be serious?"

I know you're wondering who the heck did Aspen choose that even I, the normally supportive sister, won't support.

The guy he decided to be his right hand was Prince Daniel, our cousin.

Sure, he's a royal and has experience in these matters, given he's a prince. But let me tell you, if Aspen is only like 40 percent a prankster, that guy is 99.9 percent! He's Aspen's partner in crime. They share almost everything. Good looks, attitude, swords, opinions, views in life. They've been together since I don't know... since they were still not made?

Yeah, these two are inseparable and have pulled off some of the pranks that are too dangerous to write in history books. Some of their famous works was when they messed up a painting of my good friend, Leonardo, who was the one responsible for our beautiful chapels. He painted the portrait of this woman as a gift. Before it was displayed, they erased the eyebrows! The woman was cool with it but the husband was not. Well, there goes our friendship with Leonardo.

In short, Daniel is bad news. He takes practical jokes too far.

"Fallon, trust me. He's smart, resourceful, skilled, and capable." Aspen encouraged along with Daniel who was agreeing to every word.

"Aspen, he once blew up one of our ports with his schemes!"

"It was not a scheme. It was just a prank....that turned into an accident." Daniel explained.

"Yeah, and the port was rebuilt, now stronger. He made the opportunity for that. And how bout that time he built this canon for the army? See he's even skilled at weaponry!" Aspen added.

"The stupid canon fired on its own and destroyed half of our training grounds!" I exclaimed, the council shaking their heads in dismay with every word.

"But, no one died." They defended.

"That's not the point!" I shouted.

"Look, Fallon. Trust me on this." Aspen sighed.

"I trust you, but him?"- I pointed at Daniel- " I don't." Then Daniel glared at me.

"We have to agree with the princess on this, Your Majesty." One minister added.

Aspen rolled his eyes in frustration and irritation upon our disagreement.

"Look, Aspen. You want to be a great king, right? Then, please start by making wise choices. I mean, even father wouldn't want this." I said as the council agreed with me.

He chuckled lightly, "That's where you're wrong, Fallon. This is what father wanted."

Taken aback, I blinked in confusion, "What? What do you mean?"

He walked towards the window as he explained, "Father, before his death, personally suggested Daniel to be my right hand."

That, I can't believe.

"Your majesty, that can't be possible. The king knows how your cousin is." One minister said.

Aspen glared at him, "Yes. He knows how he is and that's exactly why he chose him."

"But, my king-" he tried to complain but Aspen cut him off by raising his brows at him.

"Well, that explains it. Father was dying at that time. His brain cells were dying too. Maybe it was just a lapse or you heard it wrong, or maybe he didn't think this straight." I tried to reason.

"No. As a matter of fact, I think his decision was very essential and wise according to his wishes, according to what he wants for me. He requested Daniel to be my right hand so that I will successfully grant his wish." Aspen explained.

Now, the council and I were very confused, "What are you saying? What was dad's wish?" I asked.

He turned his back on us, facing the window, facing the kingdom, as he spoke.

"He wants me to be a great king for Sorah. But, he wanted me to be my own great and not live in the shadows of the kings before me. In other words, he wants me to be me. Because, I'm the greatest I can be when I'm myself."

He then faced us.

"He didn't want the position and title of king to change who I am. And so do I. If I wanna be a great king, I have to be myself. I won't follow any of my predecessors' customs or standards. I don't want to be another Jethro or any other king, I can't have or share in their greatness. I want to make and live in my own. I'm gonna be greater, different yet better."

"Aspen...." I never knew that this how Aspen would turn out, a man of principle. I know that he'll be a great king just like dad. As it's turning out, he won't be a king like him.

"Daniel knows me best, better than myself even. If I'm gonna be myself, I need him. If I want to make Sorah known of my greatness, he's the one I need to rule this kingdom."

He's gonna be different, greater.

He faced the window once more, smiling, "I want to rule this kingdom in the honor of both my father and I." He turned around and gave us a very determined look.

"I'm gonna rule Sorah....my way."

I smiled, overwhelmed by happiness over my brother's virtue and valor. Now, I understand. I remember now, what he promised father. He promised not only to be a great king, but a great man as well. And to fulfill that, Aspen decided to rule as himself, to do everything his style.

For him, to be great, is to be different.

And I couldn't agree more.

"Well, I can't wait to see what kind of great you'll be, brother." I smiled.

"I'll help with that, Fallon." Daniel said.

"W-well. If that's what the king wants, we couldn't be more happier." A minister smiled.

"Agreed. I think it's about time we make things different around here. Better." Another said.

"My king, if you wanna do it your way, so be it." Another encouraged.

"Sorah is now thy clay, King Aspen. Mold it in thy most magnificent form, if you wish." Another agreed. It was minister Devon, the oldest and wisest.

"Okay, my lord. Thy words were too deep. I think he gets it." I joked, making them laugh.

Aspen smiled widely at them. "So, WHO'S WITH ME?" He shouted.

The whole court cheered and clapped in agreement, sounding like they won a war.

I couldn't be more happier and I'm sure that father is too.

His son is turning into the man he always wanted him to be.

At first, when I look at him, I only saw my father and our other great kings in him. Turns out, I was very wrong. Yes, he may have the blood of a king. He may have the attributes too. But, he's very different. He's turning out to be.

I'm sure that he'll be a fair and just ruler. He will lead Sorah in his own glory. He wants to be the best he can be for the kingdom. With just that, I can tell that the best king in Sorah is yet to come through him. In no time, he'll have the biggest portrait hanging in the hall of greats.

With the death of a great king, comes a greater one.

He loves this country and will do everything for it.

That's what I thought.

I didn't anticipate that he'll go this far in being different, to the point where he won't even follow the unbreakable condition essential for the kingdom's survival.

Yes. He turned out to be the greatest king at his young age. He's willing to do everything for the kingdom. Everything, anything but one thing...

And why is it so terrible?

That one thing is the most crucial, indispensable, most important tradition that is the very reason why the royal bloodline of Sorah lives up to this day.

And those struggles will bring us to the present.

____________________________________________________________

Kinda long for a flashback of 4 years, don't cha think?

I only meant this to be an introductory chapter because the rest will focus more on...you'll find out what.

So, in here, you get a sneak peak of the plot and what the other characters are like, especially Daniel and Aspen, my favorites.

I know, there might be some faults and clarifications. I'll try to edit asap. I also thought that I would italicize everything since it's just a flashback chapter but that would raise confusion. So, just remember that this was from 4 years ago. This chapter only.

I hope you liked the chapter and everything in it and that you were encouraged to read more. Rest assured, the next part will be more fun since we'll all be going to the present.