Sonavr
"Another one", sonavr said.
"Your father would kill me lad. If he finds out that I am giving you ale of Aravan. You had too many of them already. It would be wise to-"
"That should be least of our concern", sonavr hissed. "Another one".
Iken looked at him for few seconds before gesturing fronn to pour another round of ale...for both him and sonavr.
"Ale of Aravan has already claimed him", fronn said. "Any more of it and we'll get an earful from jemriah".
"What do you think I was trying to say?", iken bellowed. "I have been saying the same thing for past hour or so but this lad is as stubborn as his mother".
Sonvar could barely hear their voices. Five ales had already dulled his senses. They sat in a tavern just beyond the borders of their home, Sоver.
"I don't see another glass of ale in my hand", sonavr shrugged. "Quickly, I need another one".
Just hours ago, this tavern was filled with laughter and shouts. Now nothing remained except for three of them.
"No, stay quiet.", fronn argued. "Serving your father doesn't bind us to your stupidity."
Iken frowned. "Don't be harsh on lad. He...well he found out. Half of it anyway".
Sonavr could see concern in iken's eyes. Yet, none of it seemed to be reflected in fronn's eyes. He was father's most trusted underling, doing everything for him. Be it bringing information around the world or trading for supplies or even cleaning Shavy.
He can do it all.
"So? What if he found out? Sooner or later that was expected", fronn turned his eyes to sonavr. "By the Aravan! You are seventeen boy, it's time for you to take after your father and see after his burdens not make him worry more".
Sonavr forced his eyes open, only for them to droop again, the empty tavern wavering before him. Nothing held him steady now but ale, and now and then, Iken.
"How... Can I see a-after his tr-troubles if I don't even know what troubles he is facing?"
For the briefest instant, Fronn flinched. Sonavr saw it, and a slow smile crept across his face.
"The truth is, he wanted a son like you... Obedient and hardworking. I can't blame him... Every father wants that", sonavr said.
"I work hard, harder than he knows but never at the work he wants from me. In his eyes, I am meant to be a merchant, not a swordsman. He would rather see me clean stables, rather than be on a horse with a sword and an army of knights on my back. He would place an axe in my hands and swear it is enough, but only to cut into trees, never into a man. He would prefer that I sell swords to high lords then wield one... I understand that very well... I can see that...truly I can... But I am not sure if I have the will to obey it".
"You don't have to lad", Iken said. "Just know this, that you still know the half truth. I would advice you to go to your mother and ask her... honestly".
"I am not sure if I want to", sonavr's eyes were stinging. He did not want to cry...not infront of fronn.
"They have been through a lot. Trust me I know this very well", fronn said, his voice softer than before. "Your father bears no ill intentions, neither do I".
Sonavr looked at him. His expressions were changed from his initial anger. He was smiling now. He was a young man, no more than five-and-twenty. Some thought him too fair, with his long red hair and green eyes, but there was strength in his bearing. He was solidly built, a sword resting at his belt with several daggers.
Sonavr shrugged. "What If I don't like what I hear? What then? What if he actually convinces me to stay here and not go to capital?"
"Why do you even want to go there? I lived there... Nothing good came out of it except that I met your father there". Fronn said shaking his head.
Sonavr turned with shock. "You? In capital?what did you do there?"
"You want to hear my side of story?", fronn asked.
"Of course... Tell me".
Fronn smiled. "I will, if you promise that you won't drink more ale and will go to your parents and give them chance to explain themselves".
"I was thinking of doing both regardless".
...
Fronn
Eight years ago, I was scarcely more than a boy with borrowed steel and a heart too large for my ribs. I stood at the edge of the training yard and watched Jemriah move, How the sun bent itself along the lines of his armor, how the ground seemed to yield beneath his stride. To us, he was not merely a knight, he was the promise of what a son of Kaisran could become. Every boy whispered the same dream into the dark, the Oath of Aegis, the living armor bound to soul, proof that one was chosen, that one was worthy.
All of his sons wanted the Aegis.
But Jemriah did not want it the way his brothers did.
Where others burned with hunger, he carried devotion. Where others dreamed of glory, he carried obedience like a second blade at his side. To his father, the king, he answered every command with the same words, spoken gently and without pause
"Yes, Father."
He said it to war.
He said it to judgment.
He said it even when the weight of the crown's will pressed him thinner than a shadow.
Until once. Just once.
That single refusal of jemriah fell louder than any shouted defiance. It cracked the hall, split the air, and turned love to ash in a heartbeat. The king's face hardened, and with it, the faces of all who had once adored Jemriah, lords, knights, even those who had spoken his name like a prayer. Their eyes, once bright with pride, filled with something fouler. Disgust. Betrayal. Fear dressed as righteousness.
All because he loved your mother.
Love, so quiet, so human, became his crime. For that love, the Oath was denied him. The Aegis turned silent. The kingdom recoiled as if he were a wound they dared not look upon. In a single breath, he was stripped not only of titles and inheritance, but of belonging itself. Father became judge. Brothers became strangers. Home became exile.
And I, who was still in awe of him, watched from the margins of history, learned something none of the banners would ever teach.
That jemriah had loyalty for every single one of them, he had love for everyone, he doesn't hate. He never does. Even if a enemy comes and ask for his forgiveness, he will gladly put him under his banners and make him a proper knight.
Unfortunately for him, the capital was filled with treachery and schemes....
"Why did loving my mother made such a ruckus? He was a prince wasn't he? He can love anyone he wants", sonavr said.
Fronn smiled. "Jemriah did not love lightly but when he did it was not to be taken of lightly".
"They could not marry," fronn said quietly, as if the walls of taverns themselves might still be listening. "Not by law, not by rite, not by the old bindings that predate the throne."
Fronn lifted his gaze. "Because she was a light elf."
Sonavr looked at Iken and Fronn, his eyes so wide that his drunkenness no longer seemed to matter.
"Yes. And because your father was bound to the Oath of Aegis."
Fronn let the words settle.
"The Oath is not merely armor, Sonavr. It is a vow written into stone and breath. A knight sworn to it belongs wholly to the realm, his body to war, his soul to duty, his bloodline to permission. He may defend kingdoms, but cannot marry their princess. No heirs. No union. No love that binds deeper than the crown."
"And Irene, you ask?", fronn continued...
"She was forbidden for different reasons," fronn replied. "Light elves do not wed outside their kind lightly. Their lives move to older rhythms. Their blood remembers ages ours forgets. A union between her and Jemriah threatened laws on both sides,
mortal and immortal."
"They are ancient keepers, they don't marry, they only keep records of history and tombs", fronn said.
Iken smiled and patted his hands on sonavr's back. "A light elf maintains laws in capital, your mother was chosen for that. That is where they met for the first time".
Sonavr was struggling, of course he was ...
Fronn could see clearly from his eyes that he was stumbling yet pretending to be still.
"I am guessing they married in secret", sonavr said. "Of course they did... Father and mother got exiled for that".
"Yes... They did. Your mother was already with child. Jemriah, without hesitation accepted the exile even when several others objected... Trying to gain favours from both sides... Puny little cunts!", fronn said. "Sonavr, did you ever wonder why you were already seventeen when you were born just five years ago?"
World of sumaka through eyes of light elves-
Our queen betrayed us. She married a prince already bound by the Oath of Aegis. In doing so, she broke not only our laws, but theirs as well.
War should have followed. It nearly did. But our king, who bears the power of five tombs within him...was ready. That is why they have not yet dared to strike.
One day, our king will kill Irene and Jemriah.