Sakina looked up, eyes shadowed with something older than memory; older than books or scrolls. "Your highness… Because the power never belonged to them," she said. "The trinity; blood, fire, and water; it was never a gift to be inherited like land or titles. It was born from suffering. Birthed in pain. Forged in the wombs of women who were broken and still dared to rise."
She paused, fingers brushing over the embroidery on her sleeve, as though tracing threads of the past.
"When the curse took hold, it did not scream. It did not leave marks. It simply turned its face away. The trinity refused them."
Aeryn's brow furrowed. "Refused?"
Sakina nodded. "One by one, the male heirs were born hollow. They had the bloodline… but not the fire. They could command soldiers, but not water. They could light flames, but never with intent that shaped destiny. They ruled… but the blood did not obey them."
Aeryn's chest tightened as she listened.
"The blood remembers," Sakina continued, her voice soft now, reverent. "It remembers the men who broke Hama. Who laughed while she bled. Who held her down while her soul shattered. The blood remembers the kings who silenced Anya. The princes who sought to cage her gifts. It remembers every cry that went unheard, every blade that carved pain into women's bodies."
She met Aeryn's eyes.
"So the blood turned away. It whispered only to daughters. But no daughters came; not for a hundred years. Only sons. As if the blood itself was waiting. Mourning. Refusing to speak."
The silence that followed was thick with the weight of generations.
Sakina's voice turned solemn as she looked into Aeryn's searching eyes.
"Your father," she began, "he believed the prophecy spoke of him. He had his fortune told; years before your birth; that the trinity would return to the bloodline. Blood. Fire. Water. All three veins in one pure soul. And he thought... it meant him."
Aeryn's breath caught. "He thought he was the chosen one?"
Sakina nodded, slowly. "He was born with influence. Descendant of royal mothers, raised in the palace where symbols of ancient power whispered from every wall. He was a strong and commendable man. He commanded armies, ruled the realm with the weight of generations behind him. But no matter what he tried; no flame obeyed without struggle, no water bent without fury, and blood? Blood never once listened. Court obeyed him and people loved him, respected him, but only he knew he was nothing."
The old woman's gaze deepened, her eyes seeming to hold generations.
"And as I said earlier. He tried everything. Rituals. Seers. Forbidden rites from burned scrolls. All in secret. All to awaken something that was never meant for him. But he never knew… the power was never his to take. Because the trinity… refuses men."
Aeryn swallowed hard, as if the truth itself burned her tongue.
"Pain has a memory, your highness," Sakina said, her voice nearly a whisper. "The first awakening of the trinity was born not in triumph; but in torment. Hama's suffering. Anya's silence. Their power came from a place no man has ever understood; let alone earned. It remembers the ones who bled for it. Who bore the cost of its birth."
She reached out and gently touched Aeryn's hand.
"For generations, only sons were born. No daughter came to claim the inheritance. And so the trinity stayed quiet; buried in bone and ash. The men grew powerful in title, but the blood stayed still. It was waiting."
"For you. You, Aeryn; first daughter in over a century. Born of the old blood, under the eclipse, with eyes that see beyond veils. The trinity woke not because someone claimed it… but because someone deserved it."
Aeryn's voice trembled. "He never knew…?"
Sakina shook her head. "No. Not until the very end. Not until he realized he had reached for a crown the blood would never place on his head. His greed took his life. He thought he had the power. So did everyone in the realm. So everyone was scared of him. And finally the dark planned against him and took him away. He never knew this all his life, that the legacy he hungered for and searched for and wailed for was not sleeping within him; but growing inside the daughter he gave birth to."
Aeryn looked down at her hands, remembering the night they turned red in the firelight. Not from a wound. But from awakening.
"I don't know what to do with this," she whispered. Grasping her head once again.
The fire burned brighter in the hearth, as if stirred by the blood in the room. And somewhere deep in the castle walls, the voices that had once wept now watched in silence, as if they were feeling calm that their legacy was no no longer forgotten and it finally had a new name, AERYN
Aeryn was visibly disturbed.
Sakina started again, "Your highness!"
"Be Quiet Sakina!"
But…Your Hi…."
"Its an order!" Aeryn cried
"I don't want to hear another word!"
"Yes your highness" sakina bowed her head.
Go away!"
"Your highness…", sakina started again
SAKINA! GO AWAY! LEAVE ME BE! I WANT TO BE ALONE FOR A WHILE! PLEASE!
She pleaded with quavering voice and tearful red eyes.
Sakina though didn't want to leave her alone at this moment had to obey the order, so she went out.
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