1. It begins
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Queen Teene of Ea, a small trading town ruled by a small noble family was facing a situation which many lesser noble families were facing across the country:
The threat of eviction.
The Zanderlotts were not the most sociable aristocrats in the area. Their notoriety lay in their reclusiveness and at the moment, they as well as five other noble families situated around the semi-arid Dube were neck deep in debt to the Crown.
The Zanderlotti matriarch, Lady Sese, locked herself in her study for days on end with her husband. The poor man, at his wits end, shuffled through notes and letters, each detailing uncollected levies from the local businesses, and letter upon letter from the royal offices of debt collection.
"Sese please, we have to at least respond to the letters," Lord Zanderlott pleaded with his wife. "Even if it is just to acknowledge that we received them."
Lady Sese shook her head violently, causing her gradually graying hair to slips some of its pins. "You know why I won't answer them, Yome. Step off the matter, will you?"
Yome Zanderlott folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "Again with this speculation of yours, Sese. Don't you get tired of it?
Sese glared at him. "You know I'm right. The Duma are only collecting debts from the non-abled. Every other family with at least one—" and she made sure to emphasize it—"abled member got their debts forgiven. All of them."
Yome sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was tired of having this argument with his wife. He was tired of it. For fifteen years, he had had to endure argument after argument during sessions with the Duma. For fifteen years, the abled members of the Duma passed more and more restrictions on the non-abled people of the kingdom—all with the blessing of the Crown.
Sometimes, he wished his family had an abled person in their ranks. He could not care less about the abilities which came with being abled. Even the telltale green eyes would have been enough.
He knew Sese was right. She had suspected for years that the abled Duma and the Crown would come down hard on the non-abled within the Duma. Their influence had been steadily curtailed. Their ability to represent the population who were unfortunate enough to have been born ordinary, limited. Now, they were awaiting expulsion from the ancestral home for debts they had long thought written off.
"At least consider it, my dear," he asked of her. "Senator Vaan has written to me from Edensvaan. He will be here tomorrow and he hopes we will have a response for Her Majesty before then."
A brow rose on Sese's face. Yome noted which one it was. Her left. She was not pleased.
"What does that bootlicker want?" She wanted to know. "Fourteen wives in his house and somehow, he always has time to go sucking the dust from the Queen's feet." An unladylike snort exited her throat to her husband's amusement.
"Come now," he chuckled. "For all we know, he might be trying to help his father's old friends out. His coming could be a blessing for us."
Sese snorted and rolled her eyes before leaning back into her chair. "Old friends, my foot. Our fathers hated each other with passion. As did our mothers and sisters."
"Yet, you didn't," Yome countered.
"I tolerated him, Yome and would have ended up as his first wife had you not come along." A wistful smile painted her lips. Yome smiled in return.
"You make an old man blush, Sese," he answered with a laugh.
"You should do that more often," she chuckled in return.
The day had darkened into night and between them lay piles and piles of papers yet to be sorted. Soon, servants would be carrying the lighting lamps around the house to light the candles for the night. Those assigned to light the lamps in the gardens were already doing so.
Sese's head was bent again, her eyes parsing the tiny script of the debt collectors. He knew all of them by name and face, the unruly fellows. They would write in tiny letters but the numbers owned were always large and written in red. Both he and Sese disliked them for it.
From time to time, Sese would grunt. Her grunts were different or so he supposed. More than thirty years of marriage and Yome was certain he could tell the difference between them all. This one was from annoyance,judging by the way she thrust the paper aside as if it were a nuisance just waiting to be burned in the fireplace.
He wished he could find away to clear the debts from their family's name. The Zanderlotts had always been a respectable family, even before he had married their heir. But they had no one to lean on; no one to vouch for them at court. All of Sese's father's debts had come back haunt them and for this small family, they could see no way out of impending disaster.
