Crosses for the Peacock Throne

[Saaremaa]

Bogyoke U Setiawan

General Setiawan of the Blue Standard Army was in front of a small cavalry unit moving quietly on the Pansodan Boulevard. He was a short but fat man, with a big belly that was weighting on the horse that was carrying him. He was in his late 50s, with wrinkles and gray hair. He was wearing his long grey hair in a bun, hidden under a light cotton hat. He had a short moustache that still had some black hairs in it and very lively black eyes. On his left, Eko, the chamberlain of the Mara Zi Palace and of Emperor Krisna Lestari. He was a very tall man and big man who also had a prominent belly. He was twenty years younger than the General and was wearing his hair in a queue, a Yujiner fashion. As the unit was slowly moving on the street between wooden buildings in the dark city, General Setiawan stopped it by raising his hand. Immediately a soldier from the back came to him.
“Go in front of us and see if the Hcaung is in their barracks, as its planned.”

The soldier started galloping towards the palace without saying anything. Eko approached the general.

“Bogyoke U Setiawan, I told you that my part was done with utmost care and it was successful. The captains of the Hcaung know about our move and will open us the way for it,” he said with a weak voice showing some weak protest.
“Maung Eko, you are so naïve… If the Hcaung was so open and ready to join our action, they would have done it themselves and there shouldn’t have been any need to bring a unit of the Blue Standard Army in the city. They said yes to you but it may also be a trap. Maybe this whole city is just faking its quietness, whereas in reality, the whole Red, Yellow and Green Standard Armies may be coming after us by now,” said General Setiawan as he looked at the sky and then at the wooden huts that were forming the majority of the buildings in this, “lower” part of the city. There were flags hung at every five to ten houses. One thing was clear with the Arakanese; they really liked their golden peacock on red background flag.

Suddenly, a light was opened in a house to the left of the General. The road was so narrow, even if it was called a boulevard, that if ten men were standing in line, they could reach with their hands the buildings from one side to the other. Setiawan moved his horse to the right side of the road and took out his sword. The soldiers around his also prepared either their swords or their modern lever-action firearms. Setiawan wanted this unit to have the best equipment he could find for this action. A half asleep half awoke man got out of the house and literally got right in the middle of the soldiers. When he saw all the horses, swords and rifles pointed at him he started screaming at first and then he started to prostate in front of the general to beg for mercy.

“Just move away…” he said with disgust. The man immediately ran back into the house and he extinguished immediately the oil lamp. Darkness again has befallen on the street. Setiawan listened around carefully. He was afraid that this event may have started a domino effect that may have woken up the whole town. He was surprised. Other than the horses breathing and sometimes rumbling through their nostrils, nothing could be heard. He listened again, to be sure. This time, he was thinking that something could be heard. He didn’t know at first if it’s his imagination or he was really hearing something. No… There was something there… and its approaching fast.
“Stay prepared!” he told the soldiers near him.

A few seconds later, the soldier he sent to the palace returned. He saluted and then reported:

“Bogyoke U Setiawan, I report that the Hcaung is in the barracks. Their standards and banners could be seen, but there is not movement there. I even entered the palace grounds and no one could be seen there.”
“Good… Go back in line. Maung Eko!” As the chamberlain came to him, the general continued. “It seems that you were right and the Hcaung will back down and won’t intervene. Before we will finalize our plan, are you sure that Princess Sari and her nephew, Prince Yuda will do what we told her?”

“Yes, Bogyoke U Setiawan. Prince Yuda is just one year old and isn’t a problem while Princess Sari said that she wants the return of the Thihaka family back to the throne. She said that even if her nephew is a Minkhaung, through her daughter’s marriage to a Minkhaung prince, the untimely death of her daughter brought to an end the union between Minkhaung and Thihaka and thus she says that she will fully support our movement and when he will be crowned she hopes to manage to change the name of the future Emperor to be a Thihaka. “

“Good. Time to move! I want you to ride in front. I will stay in the middle of the soldiers,” as Eko nodded and the unit started moving, Setiawan took his cotton has and gave it to Eko, while he took a hat exactly the same as the rest of the soldiers and moved him right in the middle of the formation. The unit continues its march on the Pansodan Boulevard towards the Mara Zi Palace.

The unit, which was no more than fifty cavalrymen, entered the palace grounds. Setiawan looked around. The scout was right; the banners of the Hcaung were there, but no guards. The Palace was made out of three sections, each being determined by the presence of a courtyard. In the first one, on the north and south parts were defensive walls, while on the east and west were the barracks of the Hcaung, the Imperial Guard. The unit entered from the southern gate and was approaching the northern gate of the first courtyard. Passing through it, they entered in the second courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard, there was a big garden, organized through the Yujiner Feng shui rules. On the east and west parts of the courtyard there where buildings where the royal family lived and where the harem of the Emperor was also living; On the northern side of the courtyard, there was a bigger building, with an architecture a mix of the Islamic Arakanese, influenced by the Sikandari and the Yujiner decoration styles. Behind that building, was the third courtyard, the smallest, where servants of the Emperor were based. Setiawan knew that at this time, no one would be in the main building of the palace, as there could be found only the throne room, so he asked Eko to bring them to the place where the Emperor was living. As they were preparing to enter the building, he looked to the east, to see the first rays of the sunrise. “Insha’Allah…” he said as he entered.

As the soldiers were being led by Eko in the buildings, behind the dormitories of the members of the Imperial family, a member of the Hcaung appeared in front of them. He immediately freaked out, unsheathed his sword and was ready to attack and kill Eko, but immediately the soldiers with rifles shot him. The gunshots immediately woke up everyone in that part of the palace. Eko was afraid, because he had managed to buy the Hcaung units from the gates, but he couldn’t do the same with the ones from the palace interior. With all those noises, more and more Hcaung soldiers were arriving on the scene and the small gunfight evolved into a fully-fledged battle. He entered the Emperor’s dormitory and saw him there with his weapon, a small pistol ready to defend himself. The woman who was sleeping with him when everything started may have been someone from his harem, not his wife, as he didn’t recognize the girl. Emperor Krisna Lestari didn’t shoot him, as he was still too baffled with everything that was happening around and he also trusted his chamberlain. When he saw this, Eko, bowed and said:

“Your Sublime and Imperial Majesty, you must come with me, I need to save you. A coup d’état is taking place and the miserable rats are now attacking the palace. Hcaung soldiers at the gates have all been killed…” After he finished, he waited to see what the Emperor will do. Outside, the sounds of the battle were getting louder and louder; probably the Hcaung guards from the palace were storming the building and to help the rebel soldiers, the members from the Hcaung who were bribed also came to help them, knowing that if it ends badly, they will also be killed. The Emperor put down his gun and then said:

“Very well, Maung Eko, we must get out of here,” right when he finished the sentence, Eko hit him with his fist, making Emperor Krisna Lestari to fall down. At that point, General Setiawan entered the room with two soldiers. Seeing the emperor falling down, the woman started screaming and attacked Eko, trying to gouge out his eyes with her nails. At the same moment the emperor got up trying to defend himself and in the whole blunder that followed, one of the soldiers pulled the trigger and shot… hitting Krisna Lestari in the head…

Seeing that the Emperor was no more, the Hcaung started running away as fast as they could and the scene quickly became quiet. There was blood everywhere and the halls were filled with smoke and the smell of gunpowder. In the dormitory, the Emperor’s brains were shattered all over, leaving a puddle of blood in the middle of it all. The woman got down and started crying. Both Eko and Setiawan were still in shock. The general looked at the man with the rifle. He had a face like he just saw a ghost, the rifle was not in his hands anymore, probably dropped it immediately after he fired. He also pissed himself, as the uniform was wet between his legs and a small stream was dripping from the cloth of the longyi. Setiawan looked at him:

“You… you… you idiot!” he screamed as he slapped him. The man started crying immediately. “Arrest him!” he shouted to the other soldiers. Eko was looking at him and then said:

“What now?”

“I don’t know! We needed him to make the governors support us! Bring the rest of the family to me!” he then shouted to the soldiers and then walked out of the building by the garden.

“What can we do now? Everything was just destroyed by a small piece of lead…” Eko was close to start crying.

“No, it’s not…” Said Setiawan after it gave it a thought. “It makes things harder, Maung Eko, but they aren’t impossible to make them right. We still have the imperial family and even if we can’t extort the governors by holing the Emperor hostage, we still have the throne. The family is nothing without the throne. The Minkhaung house is shit without it… If we have no hostage, we must be ready to enthrone Prince Yuda as quick as possible. The best thing would be to enthrone him before the news reaches the other regions. It will end well, Allah Akbar…” he said as a soldier was coming with an old woman, in her early 70s.

“Bogyoke U Setiawan… there is a problem. The Emperor’s sons and daughters and his first wife have disappeared. We managed to capture only the Emperor’s mother, Daw Sinta Utari,” said the soldier as he gently pushed the woman in front of him.

“Daw Sinta Utari, your highness… where are your daughters-in-law and where are your nephews?” asked Setiawan.

“Where is my son, Bogyoke U Setiawan?”

“He is in his dormitory…” said the general with a disgusted tone.

“I heard that you killed him… It means that what is in that room is just a pile of flesh. He is now in Paradise, for he died defending the Godlike state of things, the ones that you disrupted, U Setiawan. That is why you will burn in hell for eternity, U Setiawan. Not for killing my son, that is nothing compared to what you have really done. You disrupted the natural state of things created by Allah… “

“Where are the wives and the children?” he asked again nearly shouting.

“How could I know? I live in my own part of the palace, with the mistresses of my husband, his Sublime and Imperial Majesty, Min Kala, the last Emperor of the Krisna Era.”

“Take her away…” ordered Setiawan to the soldier. As he was taking the old woman away, the general turned back to the chamberlain:

“I want you to send a unit to take Prince Yuda and his mother and bring them to the palace. As quickly as possible; if the children of the Emperor have run away with their mothers it means they are still somewhere around the town. If we lose them, it means that they will run away to one of the governors and then we may even end up with a civil war…”

“Yes, Bogyoke U Setiawan. I will also send soldiers to look around the city,” said Eko as he left the general. Setiawan looked at the garden and felt what an harmonic atmosphere it was emanating and then looked towards the east. The sun started appearing and the crescent from a mosque started to be seen.

“Allah Akbar…” he said out of habit.

OOC: There are some honorifics that need to be explained: Bogyoke=General; U=Mr. or Uncle Its a honorific used for older men. Maung=Brother - used for younger men. Daw=Aunt - used for older women and Hcaung=Imperial Guard

 

[Saaremaa]

Daw Sinta Utari

Sinta Utari was looking in the mirror as a servant was brushing her hair. Her eyes were red as she was ready to cry every time she thought about what happened three days ago. When she was in public, with the traitorous chamberlain and the general, she did her best not to present herself as being so affected by the whole thing, but when she returned to her room, she couldn’t stand it anymore and started crying. In the second day, she observed that the general knew she cried. It was clear that her servant was spying her for him. What she was asking herself now, would be how big this whole conspiracy is, if the emperor died but still, the Governor-Generals didn’t come with their armies to retake the capital and even her small servants are spying her… She sighed, which attracted the attention of the woman who was brushing her hair. As Sinta Utari looked in the mirror, one servant was folding her hair into a complicated Yujiner hairstyle, keeping it together with pins decorated with jade flowers, while another was preparing the make up for the ex-Empress to wear at the dinner with the general. Sinta Utari looked but shook her head. She didn’t want a Yujiner makeup, with heavy white foundation cream and a powerful red paint for her lips, instead she went with a traditional Arakanese makeup, based on thanaka cream, a cooling cream made from extracts from the leaves of the thanaka three, which also was protecting the skin from the rays of the sun. But she was preparing for dinner, so there wouldn’t be any power sun rays that would burn your skin, but still, the temperature was very high, combined with the equatorial humidity, so the cooling feel of the cream was helpful. The servant applied the cream on her face, creating two models on her cheeks, each representing a leaf. When she was over, Sinta Utari looked again in the mirror. Now, prepared, she tried to smile, but it felt as if it’s the hardest and most exhausting thing to do. Even if half an hour before, when she looked in the mirror she felt that those three days have aged her like some 30 years, now she finally returned back to her normal look, a slight younger that her real age.

She went out of her room, followed by her servant. On the halls of the palace, the members of the Hcaung stood firmly and respectfully on attention, as she took passed through, going outside the buildings and into the Yujiner garden. Outside, she met with Cho Hla, the concubine who was sleeping with the Emperor at the moment of the coup d’état.

“Daw Sinta Utari, I have prayed at the ancestors for luck so that we can see an end to this madness,” the concubine said with her light voice.

“What luck could the ancestors give us, when they are so lucky that they are dead?” Sinta Utari said grumbling. “Cho Hla, were you also invited by Bogyoke U Setiawan at dinner?”

“Yes, your highness… but I won’t go, as I want to mourn the Emperor. I will stay in his room.”

“You know that his room was barely cleaned, right?”

“Yes, I do, you highness… If you would excuse me, I would like to go and pray some more,” she said as she started to walk away.

Sinta Utari was annoyed by all this dialogue. She decided not to lose any time in the garden and went towards the dining room. “Ha, Yujiner bitch, those peoples from the north know nothing of manners nor their place in the society… a concubine talks to me as if I am an equal of hers…” she continued grumbling as she entered the room.

A big Arakanese carpet, decorated with dragons, peacocks and tigers was placed on the floor. A big but very low table and six pillows were waiting for the people to come to dinner. As she looked around two westerners were already sitting at their places. She couldn’t recognize them at first.

“Senora Sinta Utari, do you remember me?” she didn’t remember his name, but he recognized him as being the Aurarian ambassador.

“Of course, Senor Gonzales… May I ask if Senor Setiawan also invited you for dinner?”

“Yes, your highness. But first, I wish to offer you my condolences for your loss.”

“Senor Gonzales, I must say that I sincerely suffer for my loss, as Krisna Lestari was my son, but I feel that this country has lost more than me. Not only their Emperor but also a dynasty that brought progress to it and modernized it.”

“But, your highness, it is true that the great emperor Krisna Lestari has died and a great modernizer and a warrior against superstitions has died, but it seems that the Minkhaung family will still retain the throne.”

“What do you mean, Senor Gonzales?"

“Senor Setiawan and Senor Eko have declared that Krisna Lestari will be succeeded by a member of the Minkhaung family… by Prince Yuda.”

“Senor Gonzales, have you met… Prince Yuda? Have you heard anything from him, or about him?” Sinta Utari asked after a brief pause from the shock, when she heard about it.

“Sadly, not yet, your highness. I didn’t have the chance to meet him nor did General Setiawan say anything about him. I must say that I am a bit concerned about it, as I feel that with all this mysterious appearance, I feel that the interests of Auraria may be threatened. “

“You have a right to be concerned, as I fear I must give you grave news… Prince Yuda is a one year old child. Her mother is Princess Sari, a descendant of the old Thihaka dynasty. I feel you are right to be concerned, as…” Sinta Utari was interrupted when a soldier entered the room.

“No more dinner! The general is busy!” the way he said it made it resemble a bark.

“What did he say?” the Aurarian ambassador asked her.

“He said that the dinner is cancelled, as the General is busy with some… administrative work…” she said.

“Well, it was a pleasing conversation, Senora. Maybe in time, I can give you a gift in exchange to your friendship. The dragon is sympathetic to victims of injustice and a friend of your family,” he said in Spanish, which he knew the ex-Empress understood.

Sinta Utari thought of what the ambassador said. It may have meant two things, either an aphorism… a very bad one, or a coded message. The dragon meant good luck and it was never presented as a protector of the poor, as bad as the westerners are at understanding eastern philosophy, she was sure the ambassador was better than that, so what he said wasn’t an aphorism, but a codified message. In politics, the dragon was represented by the Emperor of Yujin. Could the Yujiners be ready to invade Arakan just to put the Minkhaung back on the throne? It would certainly mean that such an event would make Arakan their vassal, but she wasn’t sure. The current emperor doesn’t have an interventionist politic so he wouldn’t do that, as she believed that only with Seora as a vassal, it would be enough for him. But there is one more than one dragon on the continent… the Thuranda family also uses the dragon as their crest… It means that she may find some allies in the Northern Governorate and at the Green Banner Army.

 

[Saaremaa]

Maung Nu Khin

The sky was a deep blue with a violet tint, with great, huge clouds of all colors from light yellow to the deepest red. Nu Khin, a small, very thin man with powerful oriental features, pronounced almond eyes of dark color and with a straight dark long hair held in a bun was walking on dirt looking around. He felt at peace with himself, walking on the lush dirt, he didn’t feel lit neither too cold nor too hot. He looked around. Hills covered in tall green grass with a golden tint were surrounding him. He continued walking. A part of him was alarmed, seeing this heavenly scenery that didn’t resemble at all anything that he ever saw, but a much larger part of him felt at peace with this place and continued walking… and he walked and walked and walked, without starting to feel tired, even if he walked much, passing over three or four… or five or six hills. The scenery hasn’t changed; rolling hills were following each other in a never ending sequence. The vegetation also didn’t change, with tall grass up to one’s hip being seen everywhere and with a tree from time to time, from palms to thanaka, from oaks to teaks and from huge pepper trees to small vines which were full of grapes. He didn’t see any large animal, other than some hares, some small lizards and some birds, but he continued. As he walked and walked and continued to walk, he passed even more hills and then stopped to look around. Everywhere there were small hills. He looked at the sky seeing that the colors were even more intense, with a glowing orange sun and the clouds were red and violet. It looked as if the whole sky was burning.

As he continued walking, he saw on the branches of a teak a big bird, with a red head, and yellow feathers on its body. The bird’s tail was a mix of blue and green feathers. With its fangs, the bird was holding some pondweed. As Nu Khin saw it, the bird also observed him, both of them watching each other… more like staring at each other. Suddenly, the majestic bird screeched and started flying towards the sky. Even if he couldn’t understand her sounds, he wasn’t scared of it, more likely, he felt it as the whole bird is in some way part of him, so he followed it. As he was running, trying to keep up with the bird, the scenery started changing, with the hills slowly disappearing giving way to a huge plain and with the tall vegetation and the trees giving way to small bushes. The sun was getting lower and lower, redder and redder, with the clouds covering the whole sky. The whole colors disappearing, leaving behind an ashy dark sky with grey clouds and a dark brown land with an ugly, dry green foliage. Even if the whole heavenly scenery turned into an ugly one, Nu Khin was happier as now, he could see the bird clearly, so he continued running looking at the sky towards it. For a moment only he looked down and he saw a silhouette and he continued running, as the bird was flying towards that person. After a few minutes of running, the bird landed behind that person. It was a woman. Nu Khin stopped around 50 meters from them. The woman came close to the bird and started petting her. He was shocked to see it now, as it was three or four times bigger than the woman.

“Chit Aye, is that you?” he asked shocked. The woman was his late wife, but it was impossible… she died some years ago when a westerner hit her… but she is here… she is petting the bird.

“Yes, husband. It is me,” she said with her light voice that soothed him, smiling after she turned towards him.

“But… how is this possible?” he asked. “You… you were hit by that outlander… his horse… Where are we?” he asked agitated.

“Relax, my love… I am at peace. We are in paradise,” she continued with a calm and peaceful voice.

“Did I die?” he asked scared.

“No, you didn’t. The phoenix is here, so you will live. I am here to present you to the savior of humankind,” she continued.

“Whom?” he asked anxiously.

“Our lord and savior, Jesus Christ. You have seen the light, Nu Khin. It is time to share it with the whole world.” Nu Khin couldn’t continue to say anything else, as he was too shocked. The sun may be set, but the sky was illuminated beyond any description with colors of red, orange and yellow. The intensity of the lights was getting more and more powerful and a man appeared in front of him. He was blonde, with long hair and a full beard. His eyes were blue and his smile was very peaceful.

“Why are you afraid, Nu Khin?” he asked with a powerful voice.

“I…I… I am… humbled, my lord.”

“Rise! Rise, Nu Khin for you are my brother, my younger brother. I want you to continue my mission and spread the faith to the infidels,” said the man as he gave Nu Khin a great sword, with a white jade hilt. “Go, Nu Khin, go and end superstition and bring humankind to the true faith… GO!” he shouted one more time.

Nu Khin looked around. He was still in his wooden hut. People started to move on the street and its agitation could have been heard from inside the hut. He looked in the room. A dragon and a peacock were drawn on the wooden wall above the bed. They were drawn by his wife, immediately after their marriage. He went outside the house after he put a shirt and a longyi on him. The air was damp and hot. In front on his house, on the Pansodan Boulevard he nearly die a few weeks ago, when he wanted to go outside for a night walk and he ran between a group of soldiers that nearly killed him. This time, he knew what his mission was. Heaven will soon be created on earth and the infidels will all disappear.

He went on walking towards the fish market, passing through the rickshaws and the masses of people walking from one part to the other of the Pansodan Boulevard. The sun has barely risen but heat was already insupportable. The big houses from the boulevard gave way to the small huts from Dragon Square, where in the middle of a large opening was a big statue of a dragon, the one the place was named after. He passed through the square and stopped in front of a small building where a white cross was painted on the ashy stone. On the street, he kneeled in front of it and started praying. As he stood there, the people continued to pass by him, while others stopped, looked at him and then continued to their business. After some time, a woman came outside the building. She was shocked to see that a man was praying in front of the cross her husband painted on their house.

“Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity,” Nu Khin said as he rose and continued his walk.