The Queen Regent
Mar. 4th, 2019 12:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feredarStory: The Queen Regent
Year: 990 FY
Rating: R
Characters: Fera, Sola, Sorell Younger
Warnings: War, and death in war, oblique reference to genocide.
Things moved very quickly, after they brought Kellom’s body home.
Fera sat in her rooms, thunder in her ears, waiting for the guards to secure her son and bring him to her, while Sola advised her rapidly in the background.
“Keta is getting Tana out of the city,” her sister-in-law was saying. “You are probably going to have to cancel some of my brother’s more extreme policies if we are going to survive this.”
She nodded once. “Yes, I understand.” And she did. It felt like a betrayal, but at the same time--she loved her husband, but he had done terrible things, such terrible things. And even if they weren’t, her priority had to be her son’s survival now.
“You’ll need to claim the regency quickly, before Andrell can,” Sola went on.
Fera blinked. “Andrell?” He had always been so sweet; she couldn’t imagine him as a threat to her and her child.
“He means well,” she said. “And he might be more attractive to King Amassa or Grand Duke Veshir, and gods alone know what the Lady and the other powers might think. But Andrell risks internal destabilization.”
“Oh.” Yes, that made sense. Poor Andrell--she had always grieved his defection, almost as if he had been killed. That, as much as she hated to admit it, would have hurt her husband less. Things had been so much darker at court after her brother-in-law had disappeared.
“In the long run, the two of you may end as co-regents, to keep everyone happy,” Sola explained. “But for now, you must maintain and defend your prerogatives.”
Again, she nodded. “I understand.”
“Mamma!” Sorell wriggled free of the guards and pelted towards her, clinging tight.
She held him close and ran a soothing hand over his head. “It’s all right, darling. Don’t worry. We’ll keep you safe.” She looked up at Sola, with as much fierceness as she could muster. Because she was not the large-scale politician her sister-in-law was. She, frankly, would be willing to play to whichever side she had to, risk whatever she had to, if it kept her son safe.
But Sola nodded once, and knelt down to the boy’s level. “Your mamma and I will handle everything,” she promised. “Do you trust us?”
He nodded against Fera’s chest.
“Good.” Sola rose again. “You should meet them, Fera.”
“It’s too risky.”
“I’ll stay with him. Remember what I said.”
She made a face, but nodded and reluctantly let her son go. “Stay with Aunt Sola, darling.”
“Mamma?” He looked up at her, crying.
“It’ll be all right,” she said. “Mamma just needs to go speak to some people, and it’s safer for you here.”
“Don’t go!”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she promised, and she wished it didn’t feel so hollow. But they’d both heard that from Kellom so many times and…
Well, sooner or later, that promise would get broken.
Let it be later.
Heart breaking, she gently detached his hands from her waist and passed them to Sola. She bent down to kiss her son’s forehead, then, escorted by the guards who had brought her son to her, went to present herself to her enemies, for the first of what promised to be far too many times, as Queen Regent of Feredar.
Year: 990 FY
Rating: R
Characters: Fera, Sola, Sorell Younger
Warnings: War, and death in war, oblique reference to genocide.
Things moved very quickly, after they brought Kellom’s body home.
Fera sat in her rooms, thunder in her ears, waiting for the guards to secure her son and bring him to her, while Sola advised her rapidly in the background.
“Keta is getting Tana out of the city,” her sister-in-law was saying. “You are probably going to have to cancel some of my brother’s more extreme policies if we are going to survive this.”
She nodded once. “Yes, I understand.” And she did. It felt like a betrayal, but at the same time--she loved her husband, but he had done terrible things, such terrible things. And even if they weren’t, her priority had to be her son’s survival now.
“You’ll need to claim the regency quickly, before Andrell can,” Sola went on.
Fera blinked. “Andrell?” He had always been so sweet; she couldn’t imagine him as a threat to her and her child.
“He means well,” she said. “And he might be more attractive to King Amassa or Grand Duke Veshir, and gods alone know what the Lady and the other powers might think. But Andrell risks internal destabilization.”
“Oh.” Yes, that made sense. Poor Andrell--she had always grieved his defection, almost as if he had been killed. That, as much as she hated to admit it, would have hurt her husband less. Things had been so much darker at court after her brother-in-law had disappeared.
“In the long run, the two of you may end as co-regents, to keep everyone happy,” Sola explained. “But for now, you must maintain and defend your prerogatives.”
Again, she nodded. “I understand.”
“Mamma!” Sorell wriggled free of the guards and pelted towards her, clinging tight.
She held him close and ran a soothing hand over his head. “It’s all right, darling. Don’t worry. We’ll keep you safe.” She looked up at Sola, with as much fierceness as she could muster. Because she was not the large-scale politician her sister-in-law was. She, frankly, would be willing to play to whichever side she had to, risk whatever she had to, if it kept her son safe.
But Sola nodded once, and knelt down to the boy’s level. “Your mamma and I will handle everything,” she promised. “Do you trust us?”
He nodded against Fera’s chest.
“Good.” Sola rose again. “You should meet them, Fera.”
“It’s too risky.”
“I’ll stay with him. Remember what I said.”
She made a face, but nodded and reluctantly let her son go. “Stay with Aunt Sola, darling.”
“Mamma?” He looked up at her, crying.
“It’ll be all right,” she said. “Mamma just needs to go speak to some people, and it’s safer for you here.”
“Don’t go!”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she promised, and she wished it didn’t feel so hollow. But they’d both heard that from Kellom so many times and…
Well, sooner or later, that promise would get broken.
Let it be later.
Heart breaking, she gently detached his hands from her waist and passed them to Sola. She bent down to kiss her son’s forehead, then, escorted by the guards who had brought her son to her, went to present herself to her enemies, for the first of what promised to be far too many times, as Queen Regent of Feredar.