Chapter 15 – Children

Dear Reader,

Are you the same reader who has been with me all these years?

I know that I have been neglectful but writing in a journal hardly seems to be a good use of time though I suppose some form of self-reflection might be beneficial.

The palace is alive with children, and not only my own Safin and my beautiful baby girl, Zeinab.

Anthea was digging through an old chest and brought me this old journal which I had hidden under some old baby clothes. Thankfully, the buckle sealing it had not been undone. I felt a flush come to my face and quickly took it from her hands, telling her that she must never look into it for it contained terrible revelations.

Anthea, the daughter of the Second Princess of Talos. is a year younger than my son but is as tall as he is; such are the [genes] of Talosian royalty. She is an adorable and somewhat precocious four year old who takes lessons from a myriad tutors despite her young age.
I don't know if I quite approve of this but I am only allowed to interfere in her upbringing when her mother, Sabine, is absent. I am sure that many of my own attempts at parenthood would fall quite short of the standards of my homeworld of Ki so I will set limits on my criticisms.

While Sabine certainly keeps her daughter at arm's length, she could never be accused of neglecting her child like many a royal parent. Any expressions of love are shown through minute attention to her progress in her studies. She has never laid a hand on her daughter but is quick to treat her with icy coldness if she lapses in productivity or progress.

Sabine has even asked that I give her daughter lessons in self-defense. I declined and did so repeatedly in response to her constant pestering. A four year old has better things to do than to learn how to wield a dagger. Instead, I taught the children simple [qi] exercises with the emphasis more on fun than on maiming. I assume they will soon get bored and move on to the ample supply of toys in the playroom. Having said, that all the children could not fail to notice that I was the only woman in the entire court that could be found fencing with the instructors or taking regular practice with the composite bows favored by the warriors of Qin and Balhae. I hid nothing from the children who I felt needed to know the reason why their mother was often too busy to play with them.

I am quite aware that I am being used as the carrot to Sabine’s stick. If and when Sabine appeared in Thamud, she would say to Anthea, “If you finish this, you can spend time with Auntie Zhou down at the souk,” or “Memorize this primer on Qin characters and you can go with Auntie Zhou for a two week holiday to Qin.” –as if the Flaming Mountains was a kind of spa town, the abundant hot springs there notwithstanding.

Sabine had already asked me on more than one occasion whether I would bring Anthea to Qin the next time I traveled West. The Qin would never accept the Second Princess herself if only because of the political sensitivities of such an invitation, but a royal child of no consequence to the succession is perhaps on the threshold of acceptability considering I was her guardian.

My daughter Zeinab and Anthea are like blood sisters with the latter always looking out for my daughter and sharing any treats she is given. Whatever one might think of the Princess Sabine, her daughter seems impeccably brought up.

Seeing them at play did make me think whether I should have another child. Idris would certainly not disapprove but he has mentioned Eumelia's death on more than occasion and feels that we should count our blessings. It is not as if Thamud lacks for heirs since the Princess Farah (my sister-in-law) has two children as well.

Safin takes after his father and was brash and outgoing even at a young age. He has begun to ride a small pony under close supervision. The [Mongolians] of Ki were said to start riding at the age of five so while I was very concerned with the risk of potential injuries, I left it to my husband to decide what was best for our son. There were Thamudi traditions to be followed and I told myself that I was thinking like all other mothers.

Almost every evening I would read to the three children from a book of Thamudi myths skipping over any of the more risqué parts.

I often watch over them while my kitchen maids teach them how to bake various pies and grilled dishes. They are frequently roped in to pluck bean sprouts and grind chilies with a mortar and pestle in preparation for the evening meal. I think these would be skills that many women and potential partners would admire back on Ki, but I am not quite sure whether they have any utility for a prince or princess of the realm. At least it gave them some sense that real people were doing real work to place dishes on the dinner table each and every day. I was already known as a soft touch with the many servants in the Palace, and was always carefi; that the children would not turn out to be spoiled brats. I did not allow my husband to ply any of them with excessive gifts.

*
I would sometimes speak to the children in the language of the Qin so that they would have some basic comprehension, but I did not hold much hope that they would be able to master three languages even at this early age.

My old mistress and friend, the Princess Pingyang of Qin continues to delve into the old philosophies of the Qin of Ki and has tried with some success to interest the children in her hobbies.

In her spare time, Ping oversees our shared experiments in gunpowder and metallurgy. Hundreds of Thamudian engineers and smiths have made the Flaming Mountains their second home, creating both small and large arms much of which have been shipped back to Thamud. My husband has ensured that the armies are sufficiently trained in the use of these in case of exigencies.

The arms currently consist of fire lances consisting of bamboo or metal tubes depending on the strength of the explosive blast desired. We also have a reasonable number of metal lances filled with gunpowder and laced with iron or pottery fragments to increase their destructive power

Under my instruction, I have asked both the Qin and Thamudian engineers to begin work on small hand-held versions of the above but I have no idea when I will be able to hold the first [gun] in my hand. Our metallurgists have been experimenting with various sizes of these hollow metal tubes so as to recreate the cannon or huopao (in the language of the Qin) which I was intimately familiar with while back on Ki.

Some of these are small enough to be carried on the backs of men, while others are so big they can only be moved by a team of horses. I have hopes that we will soon reach a point where we can begin work on rifling these barrels, perhaps with manual cutting before proceeding to more economical and faster methods.

*

It is the interest of all of the continent that the Talosian Empire remains benign and inward looking. The Princess is happy to use us and to be used by us as she consolidates her power with the royal faction in the Talosian capital while maintaining sole access to her father.

I knew long ago that women are very much the equal of men in their capacity for evil; they simply lack the opportunity to practice it with sufficient regularity. I am not so different from Sabine in this sense. In the past, as a soldier, I was simply earning a living but now I have things to protect – this kingdom, my husband and my children.

The war between Thamud and Talos was won more through guile than force of arms. We needed the same to weed out the Talsosian spies in our midst; and to instigate the lords of Great Albion to quarrel among themselves lest they lend aid to Talos in their hour of need. If my husband does not have the stomach for such distasteful deeds, then I would have to persuade him or undertake them myself.

It is best to pretend ignorance and a plausible naivete with our enemies. I hope they all believe me a simple woman. If Sabine believes that she acts alone in her palace intrigues, then that is all we had hoped for. If she succeeds at this game, then Thamud's future is secured; if she does not, then Talos is weakened by endless infighting.

Why does my husband trust me? Is it simply that I have shown my competence time and again both on and off the battlefield. Perhaps there is some truth in the tall tales that permeate the streets and alleys of the main souk of Thamud – that the emissaries of the Seven appeared to my husband in dreams asking him to go to the market place on such and such a day to buy and marry that woman who fell from the heavens and upon the steps of the Temple of Ea.

Is that why he listens to me as if my words were informed by the Gods and my taskmasters the Qin. Or does he respect me as a friend and partner? I only know that he loves me