Sun-King Avad's Selection

Chapter 3 - Bachelorettes

"So tell me about yourself,"

"Well, your Radiance. My family used to live in Brightmarket, but then we moved to Sunfall after the death of Helis. My parents never supported your father's beliefs, though. We just wanted a change. Now here I am, hoping I can be a good wife to you," the pale blonde girl donned in noble Carja silks lowered her head before Sun-King Avad, seated on his throne after he requested her introduction. The girl's words rolled of her tongue monotonously like she had rehearsed before meeting him.

Avad shifted a little to the right on his throne like he seemed unmoved but kept a friendly smile to hide it. "That is, very interesting, Aylah. What else can you share?"

Aylah looked at her feet, trying to find the words on her lips, and turned to her right to see her father whispering something and quickly popped back to reality. "I will, uh... be of age next summer, and I think I could......." the girl was too nervous to speak and her father who was watching from the stairwell, sunk his face into his hand, "I'm sorry," she said, and fled Avad's sight before he could console her.

Sighing, Avad summoned his advisor. He had seen ten eligible women since dawn on this very day, and that girl had been the youngest one to approach him yet. Even though he had instructed Marad to allow the women to come freely no matter their tribe or status, most of them were still Carja nobles that came first and it made Avad realize there were lots of those living in Meridian.

Avad once recalled his advisor bringing him nobles earlier, a story he shared with Aloy before she left for the Forbidden West. Not long after that, Avad succumbed to heartbreak and ordered Marad to cease the matchmaking.

Or, perhaps it wasn't Marad's doing. They were just coming on their own? Other than that, one younger girl, another who stood out, was a Banuk woman who ran a small shop in the market. She seemed friendly, wanting to marry. Avad offered to take her on a tour through his palace, which had lasted through the majority of the late morning. She walked beside him, arm linked to his chatting about her various finds in the shop. Avad answered kindly, but there was something that still told him inside that she was not the one.

For one thing, as Avad did his best to listen to Cantarah's stories, he could easily tell she was hoping that marrying him would give her tribe sponsorship in Meridian's market. The Carja merchants would be displeased with that. He wanted to remain on good terms with any Banuk residents, though, so Avad concluded the tour by saying to Cantarah:

"Thank you for sharing your stories with me, Cantarah. However, duty calls now, but please, do not hesitate to visit again,"

Cantarah's cheery personality prevented the Banuk woman from taking Avad's gesture as rejection, even if she fully knew inside that it was, and she departed the palace gracefully like a patrolling Tallneck.

Finally, Blameless Marad arrived with a bright smile on his face.

"Quite the turnout Your Radiance! So, any of them set a spark in you?"

Avad was hunching on his throne. "No, Marad, would you look at that lineup? They're all nobles, and none of them stand out," he glanced at the line of women from the entrance to the palace without making it obvious that he was doing so.

"You don't know that,"

"Yes, I do," the Sun-King whispered, "look, there is Bathina. She is beautiful but all she really wants is to give me an heir. She's all about duty. I don't want someone who feels tied to me like that. Deep down, she might secretly hate me. Right behind her is Velarys, charming, actually too charming. She tries too hard and doesn't fit. Most of these nobles, Marad, are the same women you brought before me earlier,"