The house was huge and there was a line of servants waiting for them. Goed had seen similar sights so many times that he didn't need to think what to do. He greeted the head of the staff, asked their names and positions and apologized for the future mistakes he was surely going to make in the near future. "After all I have to learn forty names, when you need to learn only two. And I have to learn to answer the name Thalesin without flinching, as my mother used my whole name only when she was angry with me…" The staff returned to their duties smiling. The young prince had made a good impression and they were feeling cordial towards him. It was a pity, they talked among themselves, that the poor boy had lost his mother in such a young age and that his father had shirked his duties and dishonoured himself.
The news about the king's grandson and his lineage soon spread all over the faerie. It was now common knowledge that Finuilathan, daughter of Aine and Fiorn, was his mother and she -like everyone knew – had not inherited her grandmother's mortality. It was befitting that he had been given the rights to the house of Aërenduil people said. After all, lady Urdiel's sons, Beorne and Caerran, were his great-grandfathers from his mother's side. And Anethyriel, Urdiel's twin, was the king's mother. Aërenduil was a royal house of old, and the king had been the only heir to the house as his daughter was to inherit her mother's house. The servants were hopeful, but wary. The young prince seemed to be a decent boy, but they were not sure what he'd be like in the end. After all he was the son of the banished blood.
Colbyn was quite impressed with Goed's ability to deal with the servants. He was a natural leader and had impressive skills in pacifying people. And even without knowing the elven customs he had used what he had and made a good impression with his servants.
" Tell me young Thelasin, how trained are you with the ways of the crown and the leaves?"
"I don't know what you speak of"
"Interesting. Do forgive me, I'm assuming things I should not." Colbyn smiled and explained: "The king is considered to be the root of the state and the state consists of people, who have formed bonds between their families. The bonds make the trunk of the tree, and the people are the leaves sprouting from the family branches. The king nurtures the state, and the leaves, the people nurture their king. Servants are the leaves closest to the crown, right after the family. Thus we speak of the crown and the leaves when we speak about people with servants."
"That is a very poetic way of explaining the relationship between a master and a servant. But how to answer your question? My mother did not believe in keeping servants the way the humans around us did, even though dad was more than willing to hire help if needed. When ever there was a big event coming he'd hire people from one family to manage the food and the serving. He and mother treated them as equals, who had their say in every aspect of the event, for they were skilled workmen and -women, who were willing to hire their talents for our benefit. But in the guard, I was among those guarding the king of the western lands and his ilk and saw what worked and what didn't. In a way it assured me that the way how mother and father had treated the servants was the right way to do."
"I see" And Colbyn did. The boy would treat those in his household with respect and that would give him a reputation as a just and honourable man among the common folk. The nobles would be puzzled and shamed, for he would count the servants as a part of the household the same he would count his family. He still needed some training with the elven protocol, but not too much, so that the customs of old would not tie his hands. They needed fossilized crown prince as much as a soup needed a fork. But the king had issued an order to train him and Colbyn knew he would take a close interest in what was taught and what was not. Language was the key to the culture, and that meant he needed to teach Thalesin to speak and write Elvish.
"How much Elvish do you know? I have to ask, as the king wishes to introduce you to the Court and to the Garden. Some of us don't speak human languages at all, and some have gone silent speaking only by hand signs."
"At home I spoke one language with mother and other with father, but I'm not even sure if the language she taught was Elven or Elvish. I write and read both languages."
"Interesting. Let's see what language your mother taught you, though I'm almost certain that she'd taught you Elvish. Here is the wax tablet, usually used by the head of the house to give day to day orders for his household if there is something special that needs attention. And here is the stylus. Try it."
"What should I write?"
"How about introduction?"
The young man wrote as suggested. Colbyn left a sigh of relief when he saw the neat letters of the formal script. He wrote well. His handwriting was easy to read and there were no mistakes. And he knew the proper wording of a formal introduction – in Elvish.
"Of the house of Aërenduil am I, the firstborn son of Finuilathan, daughter of Aine, and the Dreamer of Blood, son of Thelesar. Goed Thelasin Finuilathan is the name I was called by the people of my childhood."
"Your writing is exquisite young man, better than the writing of the court scribe. Your letters are easy to read, beautifully formed and stay in line. It's good that you tried to modify your childhood introduction to fit present day, but it needs a little bit more modification. Let me see… Your father was Ern… Here. I'd write it more like this."
" Of the house of Aërenduil am I, the firstborn son of Finuilathan, daughter of Aine. I was fathered by Ern of the Western kingdoms, soulmate to Finuilathan, and sired by the Dreamer of Blood, son to Thelesar. Thelasin Finuilathan is the name I was called by mother, Goed was the name I was called by my father. Prince is what I am called by the people of my Sire."
"That… That is not like my mother taught me." The expression on Goed's face was slightly panicky.
"This is the formal version to be used in the formal documents. All of your main relations need to be mentioned here to ensure that the future generations know who is speaking and what was your position at the time of the writing. there will be time when we both are forgotten, and the only thing telling what we really were are the files we have left behind."
Goed nodded. The reason to use such introduction was valid. But still..
"Why should I be mentioned as a prince in the introduction? I'm but a bastard grandson to the king, sired by an abolished prince, far removed from the crown. And why did you add my father Ern there too?"
Colbyn stared the young man in front of him and was visibly puzzled by the question. Then he smiled.
"Ah, now I understand. For a moment there I forgot that you are not yet an adult and lack the elven upbringing. You are thinking on the human terms now.
How should I explain this... Ah yes. Do you know the way how the human title "duke" is inherited?"
"Why yes. There are two ways: it can be passed to the duke's firstborn son, or if he has none, to the one among his brothers he has named as his heir. If there is no heir when he dies, then both the title and the land will return to the crown."
"Nicely put. That is indeed the way of the humans. Now in the fairie we have strict laws about the ways how one can inherit the crown. The law says that the crown of the high king can be passed solely to his firstborn son, or if the firstborn is unfit to rule, to the firstborn of his firstborn. If there is no direct descendant, then the council will choose the heir from three candidates. They are chosen by the king, and must be from the houses of the first high king."
"Do you mean that there is no right of inheritance for the high king's other children?"
"The famales can only inherit their mother, so they are not eligible. As for the males: in the royal family, each male sires only one male child. And they can't sire another unless the firstborn dies."
Goed stared him trying to fathom how this law of succession could affect the way he was supposed to introduce himself.
"I think you lost me there. I can't see how this relates to me."
"Your sire, the heir apparent, was the Prince of Blood, or the crown prince, if you want to use the human term. You are his only son and on top of that, your mother was from the second house of the first high king. That is why the king had to acknowledge you as his descendant the minute he knew that you're his blood. So, by calling you grandson and heir... He basically crowned you as the crown prince."
Goed stared Colbyn in disbelief. He just stood there, thoughts and scenes flashing through his mind. But I'm just a nobody, he thought. Just a common guard, one among many guarding the king. He remembered the look on his mother's face when she finally told him that Ern was not his biological father.
"I wish that he was, my son, but the fate can be a cruel mistress. I was very young when I was given the honour to serve the Dreamer of Blood. We were to stay in the House of Dreams for one year. One evening when he was drunk, he decided that I was to become his wife and did not take a no for an answer. He controlled me with his magic, called the Dream Guardians to witness the pledging and took me. For three months we lived as a husband and wife. But his want died as quickly as it had aroused and he regretted it. So, he broke the threads of the marriage binding before I managed to tell him that I was pregnant. When he heard it, he told me to conceal my pregnancy and go to West. Your future waits there and mine is already sealed, he said. Next week our time in the house ended and I left and saw him no more ."
Colbyn was waiting for reaction and questions, but Goed stayed silent and had a pensive expression on his face.
"My mother said that she never understood why the guardians bowed when she left the building and then detained the Dreamer. She thought that they took pity on her and bowed to avert their eyes as they had witnessed the marriage ceremony, but did not see him unbind the cord."