L E V I A T H A N S E A : FAIRYTHING FOR AMB

The Imperial Prince Valhume was borne upon Midsummer's Eve to the reigning Empress Humeare of Savanylbeth, her side unattended by her chosen mate. It is most unfortunate to note that his father, the Emperor Valrehn, had fallen upon the field of battle but three months prior, his body interred in the ancient tombs of his forefathers. He had fallen to the greed of his brother, who in turn was murdered by his brother's kinsmen; there remains no living male to fill the position of Monarch. So, in the deeps of the Midsummer's Eve, the prayers of so many faeries were answered: from the womb of their beloved Empress was birthed a screaming male child, red of face and bright of eye. She cursed his father as she brought him forth, as so many new mothers are wont to do, and screamed in the same tones as he. Then, in soft silence of the afterbirth, he turned to her from his position on her stomach, lifted his head and cooed softly. She lost her heart.

She called him Valhume, a reinstitution of his father's given name, as so many of the Royal Lineage are wont to do. He grew from a ruddy child to an intrepid teen, finally setting his regal sights upon the daughter of a local merchant family. She was as bright of eye as he, with hair of gold and skin of morning dew; her voice was likened to the meadowlark, her song to the wandering rush. He came to her father in the dim of the evening, whispering in light tones of his intention. Valhume had no fear of being rebuked, for who, indeed, would refuse a Royal Prince?

But the elderly merchant refused him, dismissing him with an inconsequential wave of his right hand. He would not compromise his daughter's heart; and so Valhume was turned away with eyes that did not cry and a soul which finally knew sadness. And on that night, he swore an oath to all who had come before him: he would have Sysphene as his wife, be he forced to bear wind, fire or death. Persue her he did, day and night, until finally on the eve of his eighteenth birthday she swore to him her heart and he claimed her as his own in body, mind and soul.

They were married in the chapel of his consecration, beneath the adoring eyes of his mother and her retainers; he swore to protect her and she swore to obey him, and they exchanged blood and breath before the congregation. The Imperial Prince became the Emperor on that day, and the daughter of a lowly Merchant became the Empress of all Savanylbeth; together they reigned for long months until the birth of their first child, a male child who screamed with the same insistance of his father.

And they called him Ainur.