A Tale Of Queens

To Lose Something

Queen Mother Kalansa fell ill when Sa-Alti was two years old.

It started small at first. Mild headaches here and there, dizziness and heart palpitations. Some days were better than others. She would be walking just fine oneday but would struggle to even get up from bed the next.

Alti grew increasingly worried for her mother-in-law. She loved her more than her own mother and this made sense. Kalansa proved to be a far better maternal figure to her.  Much more loving than the one she was actually related to.

Alti fawned over her when she felt weak, inviting the best physicians around to find out what the problem was. The woman rolled her eyes at the attention, insisting to her husband and daughter-in-law that she was fine, just getting old.

But she wasn't. She was only in her mid fifties. This was exactly what caused everyone to worry even more.

Her son was far more relaxed about the issue. In fact, he had been acting distant towards his mother in the passing days. Sure, he visited her once in a while to see how she was doing but there was something cold, something strange in his eyes. This hurt the Queen Mother more than she would admit.

Alti herself was going through the same thing with Phelon. It was as if he was purposefully detaching himself. She could handle it but his sick mother and their baby daughter were suffering because of it. Knowing that he would push back at her and deny it like he always did when she raised her concerns, she consulted the one person who her husband regarded more than anybody else; his father.

The King Father had also noticed these changes in his son but chalked it up to a coping mechanism. Since Phelon was a boy, his way of dealing with loss or it's imminence was to distance himself from the situation. He'd acted like this when a close friend of his fell ill and died so he was not too surprised.

Still, he had a talk with him as it was affecting his wife and daughter-in-law. Phelon seemed to see reason with his father and promised to improve his attitude.

He did try. He played with his daughter, talked to his wife more, stayed with his mother and held her hands while the physicians attended to her.

But anyone who knew Phelon well could tell that it was all plastic, that he was only acting for acting sake.

They could not have known the real reason behind this.

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The Queen Mother was having a good day and insisted on strolling through the palace grounds one morning. She dismissed her guards, only wanting the company of her grandchild.

The toddling Sa-Alti followed her, babbling the few words she knew to the delight of her nena. They entered a private garden, reserved for only the members of the royal family. She sat on the low grass and watched Sa-Alti run around.

How undignified of me, she thought to herself, chuckling a bit. Feeling the need to rest a little, she lay down and closed her eyes.

The toddler exhausted herself after playing for almost an hour. Running back to her grandma laying on the cool grass, she tapped her arm repeatedly, trying to wake her up.

On getting no response, the child whined, "Upupup, Nena. Upupup."

Few more attempts and the cranky girl began to cry. It was this sound that attracted the attention of some nearby guards.

Spotting the unresponsive woman, they assumed the worst. One grabbed a now wailing Sa-Alti and ran for the palace while the others tried in vain to revive the Queen Mother.

Alti was the first to spot the approaching guard from the balcony of her room. She saw her daughter in his arms and her heart dropped. How she descended the long winding stairs in seconds, she did not know. But she found herself trying to comfort Sa-Alti, while questioning the guard, while also crying herself.

There was a ringing sound in her ears and she heard nothing of what the guard was saying. Alti wasn't even sure of what she was asking. Her daughter, seeing her mother panicking, began to cry even more loudly.

This alerted the palace attendants as well as Phelon and his father. They all rushed to the unfolding scene.

Phelon took the baby from his wife and handed her over to a maid. Alti, with her hands now free, ignored the shouts of her husband and father-in-law and made her way to the garden as fast as her legs could carry her, leaving Phelon to chase after her.

She met the guards gathered around her mother-in-law and attacked them, succeeding in hitting the ones in her reach.

"Have you gone mad?! Where were all of you?! How dare you leave her unattended?! How dare all of you?!"

She was filled with rage. Her eyes were red and blown wide with a madness associated with grief. Nobody tried to touch her or restrain her.

The leader of the guards tried to explain that the Queen Mother had specifically dismissed them but Alti was not having it.

Her rants continued and she was in the middle of threatening to have their heads when Phelon finally caught up with her. He tried to take her in his arms to get her to calm down but she clawed at him too. He let her go and watched as she approached the body.

The guards gave her way.

Alti knelt beside the woman who had more or less adopted her. She felt like she was out of her body, seeing, not feeling. She could not be gone. Only this morning, she had been arguing with her and insisting on strolling alone with Sa-Alti.

Now, she was lying here, as cold as ice.

She laid her head on her chest for a few silent, tense seconds.

Then gave a long miserable wail.

Phelon approached her and pulled her up. She let him, seeming to have lost all the fight in her. He handed her over to a guard and ordered him to take her back to the palace where her personal maids were waiting. She would need them for comfort.

He however, needed to take charge.