B2B 02 – The Third Woman

In a land of Kings and Queens, of Princes and Princesses, in a time long long ago …

This is still not the start of the story, and still near the fag end of an epic waiting to be retold. An epic that may have defined what many generations believe and expect of relationships …

The Old King – with three queens – was known to the world as the Charioteer-of-Ten
– First – the Dark One – was Chief Queen and wedded to combine the kingdom next door 

Queen from North – the Favorite – beloved for her Fairer Skin and bedded more often
– The Third – the Friendly One – her maternal home well hidden from known lore. 

She was a queen without the capitalization, 
– her twin-sons were princes just in name. 

Their step-mothers were Queens of the nation, 
– who had borne the Princes with kingly claim. 

The twins looked similar but in nature were like Cheese and Chalk,
– The first known for his adherence to their Eldest Half-Brother

Let’s call him Spencer, known formally though as the One-with-the-Auspicious-Mark
– The second, the Slayer-of-Foes, the irreverent Joe we will meet in an earlier post but later.

FADE IN

The Friendly One, as was her wont, was sitting in her chambers, with a few ladies-of-the-court, and gossiping discussing about the going-on’s.

ENTER JOE

The ladies-of-the-court pay their respects, and take their leave.

THE FRIENDLY ONE:
Sit Son. Heard you propose to travel ahead to welcome your Eldest.

JOE: (smiles indulgently)
There is nothing that goes around here mother, that you don’t know. It’s true. I would prefer that the Eldest is not angered by the actions of our half-brother.

TFO:
It’s not the Eldest you need to worry about. He has always been the one who thinks before he acts. Spencer, with his propensity to act first think later. Him you need to feed the revised story.

J: (hesitantly)
And what story that would be mother?

TFO:
That The-One-Who-Maintains, let’s call him Mark, had not usurped power, but “maintained” it in the Eldest’s absence. That he lived in the erstwhile Pleasure Palace in the outskirts. Not so that he enjoys and you take care of day-to-day activities, but because he had exiled himself as a form of obedience to the Eldest.

J:
Hope that’s the story you would also spread in your inimitable way.

TFO:
(smiles sadly) That I have already started to do. I have not survived in this palace due to my good looks alone, son. With the armies of your eldest Step-Mother, the Dark One, Emilia, only a few miles away. And the other Step-Mother, The Fair One, Blanca, with her beauty and her feminine wiles. I have always kept a lookout, and spun stories from truths and half-truths to ensure the continued existence of myself and my two jewels of sons.
Why do you think I asked Spencer to always accompany the Eldest and you to keep in the good books of Mark?

J:
Yes, mother dearest. To ensure whichever Mother’s camp became victorious in the palace intrigue, one of your sons would be on the winning side, and ensure the survival of the other.

TFO:
And made you marry cousins of the eldest sister-in-law.

J:
That too helped. Mother Blanca too, in spite of her pride, understood that this was important, so Mark married the eldest cousin. To ensure that the kingdom of their fathers would not throw their might behind one of the sides.
But I believe the best stroke in recent past, was by Mother Blanca, who put the blame of her intrigue to put Brother Mark on the throne, wholly on the beautiful back of the concubine she brought with her from her kingdom. I don’t remember her name.

TFO:
But the world will remember her. The songs the bards will sing will colour her ugly. Her physical appearance tarnished to match her evil deeds. From a beautiful concubine to an ugly hag of a servant. No one would question that someone that low could affect the lives and the minds of royals so high.
(shrugs off) But that brings us to the fact that you and Mark were as blameless as can be. Blanca would never win back her former glory, but she would remain in the palace while the concubine takes her place – in chains, in rags and much worse.

J:
Yes mother. I understand that. Spencer’s place is certain next to the Eldest. Mark, too, shall be given important sounding – if not actually important – positions. The threat of the ire of the Northern tribes, Mother Blanca’s brothers, shall keep him safe and in the capital. I – on the other hand – would have to play fourth fiddle, so to speak. To be known henceforth as the Fourth Brother.

TFO:
It’s better to be that, than the Posthumous Brother. I have been, my whole life, The Third Woman. When I was not the youngest. Blanca was. All because I hail from the East. Not the Fair North – with claims of pure blood. Nor from the Dusky South – with claims of old blood. From the East – known for the Naked Tribes. The Head-gears. Neither the oldest people in this world, nor the youngest. Just the weakest. Learn from me, my son.
And you took care of the kingdom these last few years. Administratively as well martially. This will be remembered.

J:
Not for long, Mother. That’s why I had to ask your advice. As we are from the East …

TFO:
… You would ask permission from your Eldest to carve out a kingdom in the East, and act as a line of defence, always under his authority.

J:
(with surprise on face) How did you … (laughs awkwardly) but why not. Maybe you have this all planned out. Then I will take your leave mother. Spencer needs a forehead pressed firmly pressed to the Eldest’s travel-stained feet, or his famed temper may convert the planned Festival of Lights on the Eldest’s arrival in city to a Festival of Fire.

TFO:
Carry on my son. While I, the Third Woman, plan to make you, The Fourth Brother, not the KING, but a king. I think this better start with a Horse-Sacrifice Ritual to expand the borders …

FADE OUT

Note:

The Dramatis Personae are the quintessential background characters.

First is the Third Queen of the Patriarch. The Third Women. The mother of the twin half-brothers of the Hero. The fact that while the other two Queens have names that evoke the kingdoms they originally hailed from, and she actually is denoted by a name meaning the Friendly One, we can see that the original bards didn’t consider her important enough to sing paeans about her royal genealogy. Also, given the fact that one of her twins is inseparable from the son of the first Queen and the other, the trusted aide of the son of the other main Queen, we have surmised that this was by design, and to ensure the closeness to power, whichever way the internecine intrigue turned. We have made her the one with a plan. Not conniving, just pragmatic.

Second is the other son of this Third Women. The Hero is the hero. The Twin who was close to the Hero… well he is the action star. The son of the Favorite Queen is denoted as the person for whom the palace machinations were put in action, but turns out to be a devoted brother to his step sibling. The fourth brother has not much of footage in the epic. Just that he was the only other brother who has a major military victory against his name, as well as the only one, other than the Hero, who becomes a King (under the suzerainty of his eldest brother). He is even named for his martial prowess. We have made him the dispassionate observer, as well as granted him independent thought. High time, in my opinion.