Queen Geyla and Family by crazyangie

From what Heleen had told me, Duzon was a matriarchy, ruled at all times by a Farees.  She was apparently revered among her people, not just as a leader but as a sort of mother figure, literally and figuratively.  Instead of taking a husband, the Farees of Duzon took a string of chosen consorts to be the fathers (the plural there being fully intended) of her children, of which she was expected to have as many as she could while she was still fertile.  Once she passed the point of being able to bear children, she was expected to step down, abdicating her position to her eldest daughter.

It was also said that the Farees of Duzon rarely left her penthouse on top of the village.  Since she spent so much of her life being pregnant, she typically stayed at home and was cared for by attendants, usually only stepping out of the house to address her people.  Meanwhile, many of the duties of governing the village were delegated to her brothers and sisters, who served as her council, helped to advise her and acted as sort of go-betweens between her and the people.

When we finally reached the top of the pyramid, the guard led us inside the royal audience chamber of Farees Geyla.  We entered through the open doorway and entered into a lavish, luxurious chamber of polished stone, filled with scented oils and potted plants, with sunlight streaming in from the doorways in each wall but one.  The celebrated Farees herself was relaxing on a cushioned floor seat, luxuriating in her sweet-smelling, comfortable surroundings, and enjoying little bits of jojai fruit from the bowl beside her, as she cradled the unborn baby she carried in her belly.  She had a preening, Cleopatra-esque vibe to her, covered in beauty makeup and lots of gold jewelry, basking in the joys of her position, and looking up at us with a calm, Mona Lisa smile as we entered.

Surrounding her were her children, most of whom looked a bit less pleased to see us than their mother was. An adolescent girl with a fair amount of jewelry herself knelt by her mother’s side, holding onto her shoulder, as she watched us with a bit of trepidation, and a slightly younger boy stood behind his mother’s seat, gripping a wooden practice spear as if warning us that he was prepared to use it.  Three younger children knelt by their mother’s feet, playing with a furry little ruka.  One girl cradled the cuddly little creature in her arms while looking up at us curiously. The girl’s younger brother and sister, kneeling by either side of her, seemed more interested in the animal she held than in us; there was a little girl of about five or six holding out a vegetable for the ruka to nibble on, while a boy who couldn’t have been much more than three reached out to pet it.

There were two more guards, one male and one female, standing behind their Farees, coming to attention as we entered. The guard escorting us introduced Heleen, informing his Farees that the Veseed of Jivalika had arrived, and then the male guard in the back took a step forward and bombastically announced that we stood in the presence of Geyla, Farees of Duzon, using a few adjectives to describe her that I wasn’t entirely familiar with, but I think there were some that translated to “magnificent” or “divine” or something like that.  It was enough to make Geyla roll her eyes with amused embarrassment, and she threw a hand up and gave a quick command, effectively telling her overzealous protector “at ease.”  He relaxed slightly and stepped back again, while Geyla continued to examine us.

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