Arc 8.31

"WHY DOES THAT MATTER!"

With a voice much louder than mine, Asha says, "PARIBANOU!" Which causes me to quiet down. "You're a mere lizard of 7 years, so listen well to these words; The reason this city carries your family name is because long ago the dragon god gave your great grandpa this city as his own, a sign of respect of the highest order. But that was given as a sign of the Damavand family's strength at the time; strength is what allows you to hold such a title and rule over the dragons of Damavand, not blood.

If that strength vanishes or is seen as fractured, any dragon is allowed to come and take all you are, including your pathetic lives, and being killed by a human is enough of a shame to warrant such an act. The greatest sign of disrespect for your heritage as dragons."

As I understand his words, my heart starts to race, then I ask, "So what am I supposed to do?"

"Even after all that, you still ask for help?" Sighing, he says, "I will think of this as the last favour I do towards the Damavand. The answer is as clear and beautiful as the eyes of our god, simply take over."

"But I can't do it by myself."

"That matter not, aren't you a dragon Paribanou, the greatest form of life on this planet, that single fact transcends any reasoning as to why you couldn't do it."

"But what if the murderer comes back?"

"Then I would suggest fighting them off because unless you claim their head, a constant threat will hang over your family's head."

As I shake with fright, I say, "But he was able to kill mother and father?"

Annoyed again, Asha says, "If you're so scared for your life, you could always simply find a marriage pack while your family still has some worth in its name."

"Marriage pack?"

"The family in question will take care of you, and in return, once you are finally able to reach adulthood by turning into a full dragon, you will be married. But only you will be accepted into the family, and you must remove both the Damavand name and leave any family behind."

"But I can't leave Cyrus behind, can't they accept him too?"

"Your brother is useless trash, they already have the blood of the Damavand's with you, so I doubt any family would take on a burden to their family."

"But, but."

"Paribanou, out of the 1286 years I have lived, I have learnt one thing and that is that the weak have no right to choose how they live. You have your options, so choose one."

As Asha walks away, I feel my mind about to collapse inward. What am I going to do? How am I going to defend myself? I have too many enemies and no apparent allies, Mother, Father, what am I supposed to do?

Hearing a sound to my right, I turn to face it. Where I see Cyrus lying on the floor. I run over to him and say, "What are you doing?"

"I-I-I-I-I wa-a-a-ante-e-ed to giv-v-ve you a-a-a-a h-h-h-hug."

Looking at the sight of Cyrus beneath me, I hold him tight and say, "You're a good boy, Cyrus, and everything will be ok, I promise." This little creature in my arms doesn't deserve to die or be alone, so I will protect him with all my might.

-Break-

The next morning, I announced to all the dragons in the city what had happened, but omitted the cause of death. Then moments later, I told each and every one of them, "But don't fret, my followers of the dragon god, since I, as next in line to the Damavand name, will take over and lead you towards Nirvana!!"

As the crowd erupts with joy, I can feel every single one of their gazes towards me, and they poke at my skin like sharp blades. They are hungry for me to falter.

Later that day, as we celebrated my rise, I sat in front of everyone and looked down at them. As the party became more and more energetic, a dragon walked up to me.

It was Ashatam, the son of Asha. With an overbearing voice, he says, "Did you know that on every single Damavand's ascent to the position of shah, they have shared a drink with the person who would one day be their best friend? So, I offer this drink to you, Paribanou Damavand."

Asha, walking up, says, "She can't drink until she is an adult."

"I know that Father, so I prepared for her the blood of the manticore just as tasty."

Hearing this, my eye opens up. I utterly despise the blood of a manticore; it is the one food I have refused to eat ever since I was born. But the only person who knew was my mother and the servants. The servants!!!

Are they reporting information to others? If so, that means this man and others could know how my parents really died. In that moment, I noticed that everyone who has caught on to Ashatam's voice is looking at me. Their eyes stare at me full of hunger, as if they are looking for a moment of weakness.

Grabbing the drink out of his hand, I drink it all, as Ashatam drinks his own, and say, "I hope I can count on you, Ashatam."

"Same to you, my shah."

For the rest of the party, till I got home two days later, I was overcome with fright. Who did they tell? How much did they know? What are they plotting? These questions ran rampant through my mind.

When I entered my home, I couldn't even relax for a moment because even my own house had turned into a battlefield for me. I need to be strong because if I don't, I am dead.

Walking into my room, I lay on my bed and sank into my thoughts. Did I look strong enough during the party? Did I make any bad moves? Who wants to take power from me? Is it the younger dragons or the ancient dragons? How am I going to do this? Who are my allies? Do I even have allies? I still don't know who killed my parents. What if they come back? Can I protect myself from anyone?

"S-S-S-ister!"

Looking underneath my blanket, I see that Cyrus is in my bed. "Why are you here, Cyrus?"

"Al-l-l-l-l-l the ser-r-r-rvants were sca-a-a-arying me, so I hid-d-d-d-de here. Are you o-o-o-o-kay?"

Hugging Cyrus, I say, "Everything is fine, I was just a little tired. But never worry about anything, Cyrus, because I am here."

Moving closer to me, Cyrus falls asleep in my arms, but that night I didn't sleep, I couldn't, I had to watch for anyone coming close to us, whether the servants or the murderer.

-Break-

The very next day, I took on all the jobs of my father, and it was then that I truly realised the weight of all the work my father does. He had to maintain all of the city's systems and double-check that each one was working efficiently. He had to monitor all the officials and make sure every single citizen was performing the correct religious ceremonies. He was in charge of all the trade that goes on in and out of this city.

Justice, finance, appointments, infrastructure, I had to handle all of this and keep extremely detailed notes of everything. But the real issue was with the fact that my father did everything so much better than I did, so my work was very clearly inferior to his.

As I sit behind his desk, I panic. I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this!

Walking into the study, a servant says, "My lady, Cyrus is awake."

Getting up from my seat, I tell the servant with a bright smile, "Good job," Then make my way towards my second issue.

Over the last few days, I have also come to realise the intensity of my mother's work. She had to keep all of the activities around the home in order, and for a house as big as this with all these servants, it wasn't easy in the slightest.

But the true task my mother dealt with every day was Cyrus. I have to dress him, feed him, bathe him, groom him, walk with him by hand everywhere, and even sleep beside him.

I always thought it was weird why my mother never let any of the servants who cared for him like they did with me, but I know why this happened. It is not that Cyrus should be able to do it for himself, it is that he can't do it for himself, he is literally unable to do this no matter how many times you teach him, if any of the servants found out and reported it to outside families it would have been seen as a sign of weakness.

As I brush Cyrus's hair, I ask, "Hey Cyrus, is there anything you want to do?"

"N-N-N-N-No."

"You don't have any dreams?"

"Nothing of the sort, I don't need to think about such things."

Surprised, I say, "Cyrus, you just talked normally, how did you do that?"

"I do-o-o-o-on't k-k-k-k-k-k-know h-h-h-how."

"Well, that's fine, we will figure it out someday." As I continued to brush Cyrus's hair, I truly grasped the fact that Cyrus cannot function by himself.

-Break-

After entering my door, a woman bows in front of me and says, "Hello Shah, I am called Ariana."

Looking at Ariana, I notice from her clothes that she is a Sun maiden; they are a group of women who are in charge of religious ceremonies and education.

Considering the tattoos on her body, I would say she is rather high-ranked, but still walking into the room of this city's Shah without knocking first is rude; I must not be taken as weak. "Do they no longer teach manners at the Gathas temples? Walking in before announcing yourself to this city's Shah is rather disrespectful."

"Oh, I didn't mean any disrespect, it is just that the customs of minor cities like this change so much over millennia that I can't remember."

Hearing this, my eyes opened wide, "Did you just say millennia?"

"Of yes, I happen to be 6894 years old, I am the leader of the Sun maidens who report to one of our two dragon gods. Ariana Mehri."

Immediately, my body tightens up. I made a mistake! "Sorry for my insolence."

Ignoring my words, she says with a smile, "You see, the dragon god of destruction heard that a newborn lizard like you was forced to take over such a city and worried about your well-being, so I was sent to check up on you and give you help.

But considering your lack of basic knowledge about my rank and your discourtesy towards me, I feel as though you have just spat in the face of the dragon god's kindness."

"I am very sorry for my behaviour."

"But still, my decision or feelings don't trump that of the dragon gods, so heed the words I tell you, continue your basic studies. The reason we educate young dragons on certain things is that it is necessary for you to understand the greatest that is our nation.

And your lack of knowledge on such things will be the easiest way your foes might use to take you down. So, I will send my personal maidens to instruct you on such things, so no one will notice your lack of knowledge."

Bowing, I say, "Thank you!"

As she walks away, Ariana says, "Age and gender matter not to us dragons; the very fact you are a dragon demands supremacy and anything less is a disgrace to all you are."

Over the next few days, I spent time with one of Ariana's personal maidens, where I was educated on all the information I was missing out on. When combined with taking care of Cyrus, and all of my work as the Shah, I was working nonstop to the point where I couldn't sleep, but it didn't matter to me since sleep was already beyond me at this point.

And just like that, 3 years passed.