"Ren," I said, "good to see you. You know you can call me Theo within the inner palace, no one will be a witness."
"The moment I let my guard down, it's the moment I'll make a mistake," he said.
"You say that based on your own experience or Akcar's?" Ren just looked at me, the perfect poker face.
"Here are the reports you asked to see." He sat next to me, handing me the reports of everything in this Kingdom.
I smiled, even when he didn't trust me he would help me. He started staying close whenever I wanted to stretch my legs in the gardens. He ignored me the first days when I tried talking to him, later we actually had a conversation. He answered some of my questions, making sure not to give too much information. So we talked about the Creation Power. I could feel it, the energy in its electrical form. It was there, latent. Although I wasn't sure how to wield it.
When Ren didn't want to talk, I would spend that time learning the layout of the palace. It was built as interconnected rooms, each one always facing a garden, sometimes even two. At the north end, there was this waterfall at the end of the main garden, where the river that passes underneath the palace and surfaces in the city originates. In the middle of the waterfall, there was a small cave, the mourning grounds.
"What are you looking for?" Ren asked after a while, bringing me back to the present.
"Nothing in particular," I answered.
According to this system, the Electors voted for which of the blood heirs would be the new Emperor. That's why every brother, child, or even nephew of any given Emperor had a chance to become the next one to sit on the throne. Currently, there were no other candidates than Yurubi, the only surviving member of the royal family.
As with her siblings' case, Yurubi had been raised to be an Empress, but it was her older sister who quickly gained the Electors support due to her sharp mind and sense of leadership. Their father soon changed tactics and trained Yurubi and Nezo to be her right and left hand. If the previous Electors were here, they would have supported Yurubi since she shared her sister's ruling vision, but the problem was those Electors were no longer here, and the new ones wanted to rule in her stead.
From what I could guess of these papers, Ekcar made sure every new elector knew he was in charge of the troops, but a rumor started gaining strength. Ikcar, an outsider, had already caused so much grief to the Kingdom of Water. Akcar and Ekcar perhaps were traitors too, though Akcar was probably dead or dying somewhere in the inner palace. And poor Yurubi was too young and inexperienced to lead at only 20 years of age.
Tomorrow was going to be the final discussion where the Electors would vote. If it was favorable then Yurubi was to spend three days at the mourning grounds as the custom ordered, before her ascension to the throne. It was the way of being grateful for the past, in order to face the upcoming future. An heir entered and a ruler would emerge.
Something caught my eye.
"This report says there is some strange movement near the border with the Kingdom of Earth," I said. "To which elector is this part under his or her control?"
Ren glanced at the report. "That was Elector Birham's land, he used to befriend late Princess Dazania, he wanted his son to marry the future Empress. His son succeeded him."
That annoyed me for some reason.
"This seems weird, there used to be regular crossings between both Kingdoms, but now there are fewer enough to be remarked by the guards," I said searching through the papers, "yet Birham junior didn't write anything regarding the change in the border," I added after I scanned his report.
According to what I remember, both Earth and Water were on good terms, with some small commerce at the border. Was Water's current state driving them away? War was always bad for business, we were currently on bad terms with the Air and Fire Kingdoms since some diplomates were murdered by a water creator, we all suspected it was someone who belonged to the same organization as Ikcar.
"You can't talk to him," said Ren.
"I know," I said, "I want you to go to the border and see for yourself what's going on. Take a team with you just in case," I took my eyes off the papers to look at him straight in the eyes. "As soon as possible."
"I can't leave now. The Empress will meet the Electors tomorrow, Ekcar needs all the creators to keep the peace within the palace."
I seriously was expecting him to refuse or say I couldn't order him such things. I smiled.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it."
Ren narrowed his eyes and got up. "If you do anything to hurt the Empress or Ekcar, I'll kill you. Even if it means my execution."
"Then why are you helping me?" I asked putting the papers aside and leaning on my hands behind me, a rebellious and defying attitude according to my aunt, "You know I'm not Akcar."
"I know..." he seemed to struggle to find the words, "and yet you are."
I furrowed my brows, I didn't understand what he meant. It reminded me of the words of Yurubi the night I woke up. He was already gone through the garden before I could ask anything else. A swift breeze passing by.
I needed to rest, tomorrow was going to be a fun day.
---
I could hear the gasps of surprise and following whispers as I entered the conference hall in the outer palace. I walked to the right side of Yurubi, looking straight at Ekcar, for a brief moment the mask concealing his feelings felt, I could tell he was absolutely pissed, his scar giving him a deadlier stare. That's the face I ran away from the first time I saw him. I glanced at Yurubi she was pissed too, but with a glint in her eyes. I was amazed at their poker faces.
Ekcar greeted me with a warrior's embrace, grabbing me from the elbow.
"Brother, good to see you finally around." I was trembling internally at his tone, I was so dead after this. But, if my plan worked out as it always did, this would have been worth it.
"The same goes to you brother," I returned his greeting, "Empress," I addressed Yurubi with a small bow as I saw Ren do it many times. She nodded in response.
Ekcar moved to her left, leaving her right side for me to take my position. The meeting was about to start. This was going to be the last meeting of the Electors with Yurubi as heir. They were going to discuss the final changes of the new administration, everyone had already discussed the size and function of their territories, the only remaining thing was the budget each was meant to have. We were going to see their true colors.
Everyone started taking their seats, there were ten Electors, four women and six men. Thanks to Ren, I knew every face in this room. The more problematics were: Electress Michi the ruler of the Capital; Elector Harom whose land gave birth to most water creators and Electress Fen, who just couldn't let go of a perfect opportunity to strengthen her power.
Birham junior was visibly scared of my presence here, according to the rumor I was dying. The Elector Hass seemed genuinely happy to see me, according to Ren before taking his role as Elector, he was in love with the late Princess. He supported the Empress along with Electress Tessera and Elector Irah, so we could count on them for the moment.