Ki’s Speech

The music came to a stop after a couple of songs being performed and Ki, Lumi and Rayleigh put their instruments to the side neatly.

While Lumi and Rayleigh made their way through the crowd towards where most of those affiliated with the Bombyx family had gathered, Ki was still stood in place at the centre of attention.

She bowed a little and then spoke up. "I am Ki Bombyx, the heir to the Bombyx family and its many businesses. Welcome to my coming of age ceremony and thank you for being here to celebrate my sixteenth birthday with me. I am happy to be able to use this day to meet new people from the Northern Lands.

You all may not know much about my family but we have lived by the border for hundreds of years now and during that time, many battles may have been fought at those borders.

Those borders divided us and did not allow for our two lands to communicate and trade which had lead to the Northern Lands missing out on so much while we have missed out on learning a lot about you all.

My family have been trading some essential supplies towards the capital and the city in between so that everyone can have access to things that many in my lands take for granted and you may desperately need.

I hope that relationships can be built to maintain this and that you all have come to understand that my family wish to be good neighbours to you who are just on the other side of the border to us."

Ki made a gesture towards the side and many people removed a cloth that was placed over a table to reveal what was underneath. "All the guests that have accepted the invitation and have come today will receive some gifts so when it is your turn, you may go to get yours. There should be enough for each person so you do not need to fight over them."

Once a glass of wine was placed in her hands, she raised it into the air and said. "To the future trade between our two lands. Here is to it being long lasting! Here is to our two lands learning more about each other!"

The north and central landers did not get along and there had been a long history of war on the borders while there were times when one side had broken past the borders and attacked deep into their lands.

There was bad blood built up over that time and they had failed to understand each other in all that time.

To the central landers, a lot of those outside of their borders belonged to the savages of the other lands that wanted to take their bountiful lands for themselves.

To the northerners or others living beyond one of the borders, the central landers had so much but refused to share it or offer aid during their suffering so they had no choice but to seize things for themselves.

Either side had not tried to talk to the other and did not care enough to learn about who they were fighting with the whole time.

The north was far too cold and there was a shortage of food along with many other essentials that would be needed to survive and prevent starvation, freezing and sickness.

The west was far too hot and filled with scorching deserts with little water around so it was very easy for those living there to die from too much heat, a lack of water or food.

The south was closer to the sea and had many rivers flowing through so it had access to a lot of water but it had many dangers that were man made or natural that came with it like large waves hitting those living close to the sea, suffering from strange sicknesses and being attacked by pirates.

The east was filled with many poisonous creatures, wild beasts and the people living there lived inside old ruins, caves or out in the forests so their lives were constantly under threat from the many dangers around them.

Each land had their own culture and history while they had their own power structure or rulers in place.

Some sects, families or tribes played a big part in supporting the people of those lands and helping them survive but not everyone would be so selfless.

There were those that aimed for more power or chose to cause chaos just like how there were groups that went against the Martial Alliance of the central lands.

It would be difficult for both sides to suddenly accept each other after s long history of hatred and war but Ki was taking those steps forward one small step at a time.

It was too easy to call the outsiders savages or barbaric than to try to understand their struggles and their ways of life.

Ki hoped to learn a little more about them and to establish a small connection that could grow over time to help gradually overcome the hatred and ignorance between the two sides.

Even if those things could not be overcome, the Bombyx family could still establish a closer relationship to the northerners.

Her birthday was the best time to have a valid excuse to make her appearance before the northern nobility.

They would have thought that Ki was an ignorant daughter of a merchant family from the central lands that wished to see the north and what it was like but would then run away crying once the cold touched her skin and the harsh reality set in but they were proven very wrong.

Ki stepped down after giving her speech and walked towards her family.

New performers arrived in her place with their own instruments and began playing in a quieter volume that allowed the guests to talk among themselves without the music playing over them and interrupting their conversations.

The speech had made some among the northern nobles think about some things and they looked towards the direction of the Bombyx family as they considered if they should start a conversation first.

The Bombyx family seemed a little out of place and excluded at first but there did seem to be some among the northerners that would go over.