Dawn of the Unconquered Sun (Part 8 of the Ignaius-Saga)

Getting Friendly

"May I sit with you?" the king asked the councilman, not really waiting for an answer, as he had noticed that his approach was met with a smile and obvious anticipation.

"This is a wonderful party, thanks for allowing me to be here," he addressed the host and added toward his wife: "You have a fine son. Actually a few of them, I was told." As expected, she now pointed out all her children to him, at least those they could see: Two more boys and a girl. Or rather: Two young men and a woman, as Tanier reminded himself. As she introduced her children by name, he noticed something that seemed odd: He understood Auroran family names well enough by now to know that a boy would usually have the first name of his father, preceded by his own first name. For girls it was the same, just with the mother's name. So when Kayla-Sidet introduced her oldest son as Lekal-Kayla, he first hesitated, but eventually his curiosity won - as usual.

"Why does your oldest son have your name instead of that of your husband?" he asked, hoping he was not commiting a faux pas by asking, but she only seemed a little surprised over such an obvious question: "Because we were not married yet when he was born," she stated, almost like she was talking to a child. Which he admittedly was, when it came to Auroran customs and traditions.

The councilman didn't seem so surprised at the king's question, and when he spoke, his tone was casual. "At five years of age, I could have petitioned to have his name changed to mine, but Kayla-Sidet and I decided it was not so important. Some young men grow defensive over having a feminine second name, but we refused to allow one of our children to be so petty. His name would not diminish his merit as a man, and he has lived up to that."

The man in question was currently in a conversation with a group of other men and not paying much attention. Otherwise, he might have been rather embarrassed at his parents' boasting.

"But I am sure we do not need to give you tips on parenting," Anan-Athas remarked with a grin at Tanier. "The tales cannot quite agree, but most claim that you have hundreds of children. Tell us - is it three hundred, or closer to five hundred?" His smile made it plain that this was intended to be light, humorous conversation, and that he was aware the stories were probably exaggerating... Probably.

The king smiled at the hyperbole. And he noticed the curiosity behind the question.

"Sixtyfive - that I know of and that are officially mine. Still you may very well be a better parent than me. Surely you could spend a lot more time on your children than I ever could. I aim to be a good parent and put every effort into raising them with a good education and well prepared for life, still I can't say I truly know all of them. All praise for giving them a real family truly has to go to their mothers, adopted or biological."

"So not all of your children are raised by their biological mothers?" Kayla-Sidet obviously found this even stranger than having a few hundreds of children.

Tanier didn't mind to explain and had expected exactly these kind of questions after Vis had pointed out to him, how exotic and strange his family arrangements would be to most Aurorans.

"If any of my concubines gets pregnant, she can decide, if she wants to keep the child or not. Their life with me is temporary. Some will want to keep the child, some will want to start with a clean slate. And sometimes this is what their future husbands wants. Then one of my wives will take in the child and raise it as one of her own. If the woman decides to keep the child, it will be seen as hers and potentially her husband's, not mine. So the number of biological children I have may indeed reach or even exceed the one hundred mark."

Obviously Vis had not exaggerated when he had predicted that his compatriots would find this fascinating and strange, as he could clearly see on the councilman's face.