My Liege And I

Purpose

Chapter 66

Princess Elora
Furia

When does a person fall in love? And at what point do they realize they are falling in love? Speaking of time, what is the appropriate length of time to pass for it to be acceptable to be named love?

What is so frightening about love is how you may have felt the deepest of feelings for something you once considered home, only to later meet something else that will capture your heart obsessively and get you questioning whether what you felt for the other was even love.

Furia was built as the goddess meant to reign forever. It functioned in pure perfection more than a colony of ants would. Who would not fall in love with such a nation?

The rural towns exuded a delightful atmosphere filled with laughter, and experiencing the beauty of Furia was as happiness encountered when meeting a dear friend, intensified by the warmth of familiarity.

Elora was born there, after all, but for the first time she was experiencing the nation for herself.

Scattered all over, according to its ever growing population, were stony houses hugging each other amid the chattering trees and mirth of laughing meadows. She fell in love with the green farms that spiraled endlessly, well-kept and rich with resources as ever.

Elora was as if in a trance when she visited the underground mines with jewels as one-of-a-kind as a shooting star. But thereafter, her mother had then taken her out to point to the mountains that spiraled forever, landscape a marriage of rainbow hues congregated in the greens, and declared that unmeasurable wealth lay beneath.

And as if that was not enough, the culture was phenomenal. The people of Furia loved to dance whenever they got the chance. The grace and pose they posed as they lightly tapped the ground was bewitching, though even more remarkable when they demonstrated the wing dance that attracted birds' presence to surround them as they floated and showcased their talent.

Poems, singing, dancing, there was no art that a Furian could not specialize in. Furia had always been whispered to be the pioneers of art, and indeed they were.

"I do not understand why Furia places such importance on women, should they not be on equal footing with men? I thought Furia would set itself apart and not bias against one gender," Elora had posed the question to her mother as they took a walk back to the palace from an event of royal commitment.

"A Furian woman is the most fragile. She needs protecting." Her mother sighed tiredly before going on. "Two among five Furian women die during birth. Three in five women who choose to breastfeed risk getting sick and dying. More than 20,000 out of a population of 500,000 are abducted each year, two of three being a woman.

But not only that, the wealth of Furia depends on the women with the ability to extract jewels. Those men do not have the capabilities to mine with vested magic. And those women who mine risk their lives by using their bodies strenuously. So yes, women must be worshipped in this nation because if not, Furia will fall."

The next day, the queen took Elora to a place that would break her heart. They sneaked across the nearest border that separated Nevoria and Furia to the courtesan house owned by one of the well-known merchant lords of Nevoria.

There would she be forced to watch women of her own being abused, oppressed, and living a life lesser than a beggar in the street. At least a beggar has the freedom to go where he desires, back and forth. Choose what to hunt for food and pick where they want to sleep. It was not so for the women of Furia, captured by Nevorians so as to be sold to people who would enslave them for their lustful wants.

With hearts heavy would they journey to the receiving house in Furia, where they took in women who managed to escape or were rescued by the Fukaj, the Furian soldiers who specialized in bringing home abducted Furians.

The woman who broke Elora's heart is one who had finally come home after being away for 20 years. She was kidnapped when she was only five. After such a long time, she was back to a Furia she did not recognize as what was home to her, her family, had all passed on.

To Elora, she had said, "Whether I am in Nevoria, or in Furia, am I really free? Here I am enslaved to the heartache and pain of loss. Was it not better I was not rescued and stayed in Nevoria with the hope of freedom and being reunited with my family than to come here where I am shot with the reality that I am left alone in this world." She had sobbed helplessly.

Mothers were being separated from their children and wives from their husbands. But Nevoria?

Nevoria cared not to stop. All they knew to do was to take and take. Their officials and ministers turned a blind eye to it because they also partook in paying a fortune to visit illegal courtesan houses with abducted Furians.

Some even indulged in the disgusting slave trade where the highest bidder would buy a freshly abducted Furian for their own.

But the worst of all the above that Elora could not stomach were the Furian breeders. They captured both Furian men and women, forced them to sleep with each other until the woman was pregnant so as to keep their lives. The child would be bred as a cow meant for slaughter. When they were old enough, raised appropriately for a Nevorian man, submissive and artful, would they be sold away.

Apparently, such cases were where the most money was made.

Nevoria would not stop. Their abuse would only get worse the more their emperor attained more power and dominated more land. At the rate they were going, it would not take time before the people of Furia were forced to reunite with Nevoria. And after that, what would be left of the helpless nation?

Although the agreement was present that such mistreatment was to stop, it was only there in signed words, yet in reality, harmless and holding no power. And the fact that her Yuwen Hong knew of this and over the years had done nothing to control the greed of his people did not sit well on her heart.

The first time Elora stepped foot at the temple was when her mother took her there to meet the Highest Priestess. As she bowed to pass her greetings to the Highest Priestess after her mother's introduction, the old greying women had simply muttered, "From ashes, the Phoenix has begun to rise."

With eyes of reverence and adoration, the woman assessed her proudly before turning to her mother. "My Queen, you can rest. Your hands are free from the taint of the blood of the Furians. The rightful Crown Princess will sit by your side."

For the first time after that meeting, Elora started doubting her desire to go back to Nevoria. Because maybe she was destined to be the queen.

From that day did the fight within her begin. Conflict and confusion caused her to be unstable. In the throes of the night, she dreamt and yearned the coming of her lover to fetch her. During the day, she fell in love with the culture and her people.

An uncontrollable feeling of possession and protectiveness did she start to feel for her people. If she failed to protect and lead them, who would?

Her mother had once told Elora that she would only understand her heartbreaking decision not to be with her father only when she wore the weight of her crown. Duty to the queenship of Furia was a calling more than it was a choice. It came first before love because only that way could it protect Furia.

Though she hated it, but slowly did she start to understand why Yuwen Hong made the decision he did. He was called to be the sun of his brooding kingdom. If he did not continuously choose Nevoria first, would Nevoria be where it was now? Unstoppable, domineering and fierce.

Maybe it was time for her to choose her nation first, as well. Because if she did not stand and step in for them, who would?

After all, she was falling in love with what chose her first before anyone looked at her and knew her; her purpose.

S.V