A Tale Of Queens

Zero to One Hundred

They were in the private garden.

Sa-Alti, Jyaret and Mahlon.

Recently, Mahlon was beginning to formulate words, albeit incorrectly. Sa-Alti made it her mission to teach him to say them right. Currently, she was in the middle of telling him how to say her name.

And was failing woefully.

“Sa-Alti,” she said.

“Saaaaa,” Mahlon screamed back for the umpteenth time. He was a loud one.

Jyaret chuckled from the mat where he was lying down. Sa-Alti glared at him.

“Let's try 'Sati'. Say 'Sati', baby.”

“Saaaayi baaabiii,” he shrieked yet again, bursting into laughter at his aunt's expression.

She squinted at him. This rascal was doing this on purpose. Jyaret found this amusing as well and laughed along with him.

“You should be on my side here!”

“I am,” Jyaret claimed, still chuckling. He was enjoying this too much. Turning his attention to the boy, he called out, “Come, Mahlon, come to me,” clapping his hands.

Immediately, Mahlon stood, though unsteadily and began to make his way to Jyaret. Sa-Alti sighed as she remained on her mat, giving up.

“Mahlon, you are a traitor. I was there when you were born!”

Mahlon turned to her for a second and squealed something unintelligible. Sa-Alti heard him loud and clear though. Who cares, he said.

Ungrateful!

Jyaret grabbed Mahlon when he was close enough and threw him in the air. Mahlon screamed excitedly, looking very pleased with himself indeed.

“We men must stick together,” Jyaret proclaimed as he placed Mahlon on his shoulders. Soon enough, he looked like he was going to eat his words as the baby enthusiastically dragged his hair this way and that. It was Sa-Alti's turn to laugh at him.

When it is all over, I want this.

Lately, random thoughts about having a family with Jyaret popped into her head. Vileytna would be back with her family and she and Jyaret would have a little one and they would play with them just like this.

She sighed.

Feeling his gaze on her, she turned to him.

‘What's wrong?’ he mouthed.

She smiled at him, about to answer ‘nothing’ when his eyes focused on something behind her.

Or rather, someone.

Sa-Alti turned around to see her mother entering the garden.

She had a stony expression on her face.

Again, Sa-Alti sighed.

+*+*+*+*+

There was a bitter taste in Alti's mouth.

This morning, she had summoned that bufoon of a blacksmith to question him about the swords. He had stubbornly kept his mouth shut, refusing to say who had put him up to it. After a long, unproductive hour, she'd considered throwing him in prison for a few days to teach him a lesson.

However, she decided that it did not matter.

She knew what she had to know and that was what was important. Instead, she sent a few guards to trail him without his knowledge. If he tried to communicate with Sa-Alti or Jyaret, she would be the first to know.