15 - Gavin's Unmasquerading

                                        

                                              
It was the first week of June, and thunderstorm season had started; ignoring the other Season already underway in the Capital. Since Gavin wasn't old enough to participate in the one Season, he gladly enjoyed the other. His eldest brother was Hosting a Masquerade at their Capital Estate, necessitating the overhaul of both the ground floor and the exterior of the property. The swings had been tucked away, the training grounds disguised with floral arrangements, and Alaric had even anticipated the weather, finding large connected fabric tents that kept the areas underneath as dry as if they were inside. Clearly heavily magicked and likely the most expensive aspect of the Event, they even had chandeliers hanging from the high points. 
Gavin could enjoy the scene his brother had set, but he wouldn't be around to watch it unfold; instead the moment the adult siblings were fully immerses in the Event he had plans of his own to attend. He was meeting Eniola at her house, and they were going to have a picnic in the green house, surrounded by all manner of foreign flower and pollenating butterflies. Her father, Duke Sikali, was on the Queen's Expedition to the Far Eastern part of the Eastern continent; beyond the dominant culture of Tashatia. That left her under her eldest sister, Aquene's, guardianship, but Aquene would be attending the Masquerade to chaperone her other sisters, Brissa and Colena. Leaving Eniola under her only brother, Deshay's, care even though he was only eighteen. 
But Eniola had already been told by Deshay that he expected her to stay home and keep quiet if he wasn't there the entire time the others were away. So she knew that meant he was sneaking out to go to one of the 'adults only' gambling halls he wasn't supposed to be allowed in yet, and she'd told Gavin about his absence which had led to their own date being planned. Not wanting to be as obvious as having him come over to her front door, they'd long ago arranged a passage in her fencing, and he'd go right to the butterfly greenhouse. 
Gavin stayed on the upper floor, watching the main level and surrounding grounds filling with the glittering efforts of all the adults wanting to participate in the Social Events of the Marriage Market. He understood the cultural hi온라인카지노게임 that had led to these customs, his courses this year had focused on the diplomatic aspects of Socializing, and explained how a century ago women who came of age were presented as Debutantes and carefully chaperones until married off. Familied treated female children like chattel to be traded for money or power. This changed with Queen Akiyama's grandfather, King Fujiwara, the Great King who ended decades of bloodshed. After ascending the throne, King Fujiwara changed Social practices, equalizing the sexes so his daughter, Queen Ebina, could inherit his throne despite his father's objections. King Fujiwara had won his throne when his blood thirsty father had eventually driven his elder siblings to their deaths. The Blood King, Adama, arranged a marriage between the eventual King Fujiwara and a foreign noble from Tashatia, who gave birth to a daughter before both she and the child died from poisoning. King Adama continued to control Fujiwara's life while he was still a Prince; each wife he was married to died after delivering a daughter, and none of the girls born lived to see their first year. Not until Ebina was born. The fifth wife, the fifth daughter, and Prince Fujiwara only managed to save the life of eventual Queen Ebina, the Bloody King Adama imprisoned on multiple counts of infanticide and murder. 
Under King Fujiwara's reign, Debuting became the acknowledgement of adulthood for both men and women, and the customs of selling daughters all quickly faded into the annals of hi온라인카지노게임. To encourage internal bonds, King Fujiwara established Debuting families Hosting in the Marriage Season, and the Taroton nobles quickly adapted from there. Once King Fujiwara had assured that his daughter, eventual Queen Ebina, could take his throne without overt objection, he proceeded to not only eliminate the Bloody former King Adama, but then defenestrated himself as an act of punishment for the patricide. Queen Ebina had chosen to marry Azuma Hatsune, from the Ducal family, and gave birth to current Queen Akiyama, before her Prince Consort passed away, Princess Akiyama had been 10 at the time, and Heir apparent.