Five Neglected Wives ( Part One ).

 The kingdom of Agreya was divided into five provinces each having their own unique cultural way of life . These provinces were semi- autonomous ruled by individual governors . Under the governors were local chiefs who kept order in their respective towns and villages . As a means of maintaining social unity , intermarriages between villages and towns were highly encouraged . It is for this reason that the nobles almost always married from more than one of the provinces , with the highest ranking of them choosing to marry from all five of them. 

 Compass directions were used in the naming of these five provinces. The northern province was primarily composed of vast expansive dry plains with scattered lakes. The people living there were mostly either nomads with large herds of livestock .or miners who worked in the many quarries and mines scattered all over the region. It is from here that prince Lan's first wife , Sureya of the Madrib family , had come from .

 The second wife , Thelma of the house of Rivergrey, came from the western province . This province was a honey pot of cool and wet highlands with rich fertile soil for agriculture . The people here were farmers who produced the kingdom's vegetables and fruits. They kept dairy cattle which supplied milk , cream and butter to the markets while also breeding poultry for the eggs and meat . Most of the rivers and fresh springs that irrigated the kingdom had their origins from the high mountains of this area making an important and protected water catchment zone .

 The Eastern province had expansive plains but unlike the north , were covered in deep snow all year round. Blistering winds and bitter cold snow storms were littered all over the place . The population here was the smallest when compared to the other provinces and for the few tribes of people who decided to make a living there , life was anything but easy . Their main food came from the migrating whales they hunted during the earlier months of the year . Growing up here had made Meryl of the house of Wintersnow , the third wife to prince Lan Montreal , a very resourceful person who could survive on the scantiest of resources .

 The Southern province was always the last to be held in consideration owing to the fact that it was the most autonomous of the five . The Church was very powerful and influential in this province , turning it into a semi-theocracy . Because of this , the Southern province had earned itself the longest wrap sheet of conflicts with the interests of the main government under the crown's leadership. The people there were a mix of locals and foreigners owing to the high influx of refugees and immigrants employed to work in the wheat fields spread across the province . This is where the fourth wife , Britney of the house of Nalat had come from. Her close relationship with priestess Agar who was from the same great family was what had earned her her current position as one of the six queens to be , of Agreya.

 The central province had produced two wives for prince Lan . The first was Chelsea of the house of Springtide . She was a haughty city girl who loved the luxury life and never missed a chance to express her absolute disdain for the commoners whom she considered rats infesting the great cities of the central province . The other and most recent wife to Lan was Hazel Montreal , who never seemed to get along with the other wives especially Chelsea .

 As Lan entered his room , tired after a long day of dealing with the envoys from the Supreme Alliance and aching for some sleep , he was surprised to find all his wives with the exception of Hazel , seated on his bed waiting for his arrival.

 " Hello dear husband , we have a lot to talk about ," Chelsea Springtide spoke up , rising up and slowly walking over to where Lan had stopped at .