All the Drops of the Sun

The Ritual Of Sun

It has been a long time since the skies of the Geming Shidai Empire have seen the Sun. There is darkness and that darkness covers the sun. People are falling prey to despair and diseases. This terrible calamity doesn't seem to have an end and the populace of the empire is becoming less loyal to the country. Thus, the Royal Family's power is beginning to wane significantly. I, Shamsuddin IV, ardently pray for the mercy of God to be bestowed upon this land. I must walk on the righteous path for this empire to thrive once more. The darkness enshrouding this land is only exacerbating this situation. Please bestow on us the Sun that will grace our lands with its light. When you do finally allow the light to shine on this land, peace will finally come to this land, the royal family and the citizens.

Everyone wore white clothes, from the great Queen Bai Lei to the any local maid. The quality of the robe obviously varied. The Queens and the King wore robes of white silk with embroiled lace of gold wires, Princesses and Princes wore white robes with straps of golden lace. Locals wore their plain white old robes. They were all gathered at the royal grounds, praying their heart out.
"Psst." Whispered Rafi in his younger sister's ear. "Listen."
She ignored him. He poked her on shoulder.
"Why are we even doing this?" He asked.

Name: Rafi Shamsuddin

Son of: 2nd Queen

Position: Oldest prince

Hobbies: Flute, poetry

Specialty: Sword fighting

"Don't act as if you don't know. It's the Imbrius Ritual." His younger sister, the Fifth Princess Fatima, replied, without looking at her brother and keeping her eyes on the people in front of her. Rafi shook his head.
"I know that, but why are we having it?" Rafi rephrased his Question. Fatima sighed.
"Brother, for the Sun, of course. Without the ritual, we won't have any day. Only endless night." She replied, grimly. Rafi looked at the brightly shinning sun.
"How much more sun do we need? It's too hot already." He replied with fanning gesture. Fatima shook her head and sighed in defeat. Parallel to the Second Queen's platform was the First Queen's. The Queen sat in her Gold throne with embedded rubies. On Queen's right side sat her two sons, the Second prince, Fahd and the Third prince Amar. On her right side sat, her daughters. Right next was her eldest of princesses, the First princess Anushay, Next to her sat Second princess Sijil, with her usual head scarf on, with her was Fourth princess Hadiya, and Sixth princess Emaan. Rafi caught a glance of a piece of breakfast, which she was sneakily eating.
"Talk about the respect of the ritual." He snorted, he was obviously pointing Emaan's behavior.
"Don't hate them so much." his other younger sister, Eighth princess Muntaha interrupted.
"She is right. If father finds your behavior disrespecting towards his other wife and children, he'll choose Fahd as successor not you, and then we'll have to spend rest of our lives kissing their feet." 7th princess Laraib interrupted.
Ever since Rafi was a boy, he stayed out of the matters of court but not many people knew that. The people in the King's court deemed Rafi unworthy of being next-in-line to the throne. Rafi, if he had the choice, would stay far away from the royalty that was embedded in his DNA but if he abdicated the throne, his mother and sisters would suffer. He considered himself the only support of his family, in which he don't include the First Queen and her children. Rafi had a brother, the Fourth prince Haroon, but no one knew where he is. Whenever he tried to ask his mother, she ignored the question and changed the topic. His sisters told him that only the first born knew where he was, but talking to a child of First queen to him meant kneeling in front of them.
He noticed that on the third platform was the lonely daughter of late third queen Han Ji Ok, Maryam. The youngest of princesses, the Ninth princess Maryam, was mostly found with the first Princess or the second. Maryam never spoke. In all the years he had known his half-sister, he had never heard her voice. The third Queen's chambers were emptied for royal daughters-in-law. Princess Maryam lived in the First Queen's Chambers. He didn't hold a grudge against her and he wasn't sure why. Either, he pitied her or thought her harmless. She was not like the first-borns. Other than a selected few of the first Queen's children, most of them did everything but spit at the other royal children.
"Emaan! What are you doing?" Anushay whispered, harshly. Emaan, stuffed the bun in her mouth and tried to gulp all at once.
"Have some respect." Anushay scolded. "It's a holy ritual."
"Why do we have this ritual?" She raised her brow. Anushay sighed.
"It was performed 20 years before, when Geming Shidai Empire had to face harsh weathers." Anushay replied, assuming an upright position.
"Yes, but that was 20 years before, we are all good now." Emaan replied in a relaxed tone.
"Father believes that we have to perform this every year so the god won't take away his mercy." Anushay replied. "
I don't like it, either, Emaan. But we're Royals. It's our duty to deal with it." She added, bitterly.
Emaan slowly nodded her head.
"You two have already ruined it. Now, shut up." Sijil shushed them. She shrugged as she saw the icy stare of Rafi. Anushay's stare was just as icy.
She could also see a strange sneer on Queen Gul's face. Her green eyes matched the emeralds embedded on her throne.
The king stood from the throne and bowed a final bow. The locals bowed, and so did the Queens and Princes and Princess. This was a gesture that marked the end of the ritual. The ninth rank lower servants laid white sheets on ground while the sixth rank lower ladies placed all sorts of food on those sheets for locals.
'Langar' is what the Second Queen Gul liked to call it. All the locals ate from there on the Imbrius Ritual Day.
There was a silence in the Palace that the ritual left in its wake. The King left the palace to visit the Augé Palace. The First Prince Rafi and the First Princess Anushay were called before he left. When the Prince and Princess entered the court room, the king smiled.
"I am going to go check on Augé palace, Will Anushay substitute me and aid my wives in my absence?" He smiled at his daughter. Anushay gently bowed.
"An honor, Your Majesty." She smiled. Rafi clenched his jaw.
"And Rafi I have heard that there are bandits on the loose in the southern Imbrius. Why don't you go and check?" The King added, with finality.
Rafi was affronted. How could the King trust a girl with the hold of an Empire more than his son?