A Reminder
Dec. 21st, 2014 02:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feredarStory: A Reminder
Year: 1007 FY
Characters: Kesshare, Ineku
Warnings: References to familial murder.
"You cannot be serious," Kesshare said, staring at the twelve-inch model Ineku had handed her.
"All you have to do is decide where I should build it," he said, with a faint smile. "I've already paid the artist, and it will be ready for the tenth anniversary of your accession."
"It is ridiculous."
"It is a monument to your grandeur," he said, with that same enigmatic smile he always wore when he was daring enough to mock her. "And your ambition."
"I do not want a twenty-foot statue of myself. Anywhere. Let my empire speak for itself."
"Fine, then," he said. "I'll rework the commission. But we're keeping the model."
She arched an eyebrow. "Oh, we are, are we?"
"Yes," he said, and the traces of mockery left his eyes. "Look at the base."
She tilted the statue, and read what he had had etched there. "...this would not have gone on the full-size version."
"I knew you would never agree to it," he said. "But, as I said. A monument to your grandeur...and your ambition."
"Hm." She traced her cousins' names with one finger. "Everything of value has a price."
"And that price should be remembered."
She didn't want the fight with him, not again, so she inclined her head. "I will treasure your gift, husband." She kissed him lightly--he appreciated little gestures like that--and settled the statue on her nightstand.
For him, it was a constant reminder that the woman he loved, the woman of grace and vision, his desert rose, had poison thorns.
For her, it was a constant reminder that if she went too far, she would lose the support of her most valuable assets.
On the hundredth anniversary of the great Queen's death, the statue her consort had commissioned to make a point was finally constructed, installed in the Imperial square in Feredar.
Her great-great granddaughter, Grand Duchess Pesshari, who spearheaded the project, saw to it that the model was replicated exactly. Names and all.
As a reminder, of all the Empire stood to gain--and lose.
Year: 1007 FY
Characters: Kesshare, Ineku
Warnings: References to familial murder.
"You cannot be serious," Kesshare said, staring at the twelve-inch model Ineku had handed her.
"All you have to do is decide where I should build it," he said, with a faint smile. "I've already paid the artist, and it will be ready for the tenth anniversary of your accession."
"It is ridiculous."
"It is a monument to your grandeur," he said, with that same enigmatic smile he always wore when he was daring enough to mock her. "And your ambition."
"I do not want a twenty-foot statue of myself. Anywhere. Let my empire speak for itself."
"Fine, then," he said. "I'll rework the commission. But we're keeping the model."
She arched an eyebrow. "Oh, we are, are we?"
"Yes," he said, and the traces of mockery left his eyes. "Look at the base."
She tilted the statue, and read what he had had etched there. "...this would not have gone on the full-size version."
"I knew you would never agree to it," he said. "But, as I said. A monument to your grandeur...and your ambition."
"Hm." She traced her cousins' names with one finger. "Everything of value has a price."
"And that price should be remembered."
She didn't want the fight with him, not again, so she inclined her head. "I will treasure your gift, husband." She kissed him lightly--he appreciated little gestures like that--and settled the statue on her nightstand.
For him, it was a constant reminder that the woman he loved, the woman of grace and vision, his desert rose, had poison thorns.
For her, it was a constant reminder that if she went too far, she would lose the support of her most valuable assets.
On the hundredth anniversary of the great Queen's death, the statue her consort had commissioned to make a point was finally constructed, installed in the Imperial square in Feredar.
Her great-great granddaughter, Grand Duchess Pesshari, who spearheaded the project, saw to it that the model was replicated exactly. Names and all.
As a reminder, of all the Empire stood to gain--and lose.