Nikolonium slowly walked down the corridor towards The Chamber of Phobious, trying to dawdle as much as possible without looking inappropriate. The royal children were gathering for the funeral of their father, forty-sixth Doukar Holophian. Most of them disliked formal ceremonies, not only because they were invariably long and dull, but because they required the siblings to put on cordial faces for the benefit of the watching audience. Their father hadn't been shy about using the Doukar's privilege to take multiple spouses, using Ephrasmus' Law to take five empresses in total. Some of the bad feelings between their mothers had spilled over onto their children, and several of them couldn’t stand the sight of each other. Nik for one was not looking forward to having pretend to respect and love his older brother Cordelian.

There was over twenty years separating the eldest prince, Fornulus, in his mid-thirties, from the youngest princess, Helastus, fourteen, so they hadn't grown up together as one group. Age split them into two groups: firstly, the older siblings of Fornulus, Theodorian, Cordelian, Meronion, and Euphastolon, all in their thirties to late twenties. The second group contained the younger siblings: him, Ophelion, Pelagius, and Helastus. Between Nikolonium and Euphastolon there was a seven-year gap, but only there were only five years between him and Helastus, so their group was more tightly knit. It also helped that the younger siblings were too far from the Thirty Crowns to get caught up in the conniving and jostling for position. They were all currently in their teens, although Nikolonium's twentieth birthday was rapidly approaching. He was looking forward to seeing what Ophelion's gift would be.

The four youngest children got on well, unlike the older, so Nikolonium was happy to see two of his younger siblings chatting up ahead as he made his way to the funeral. He was especially pleased to see his beautiful half-sister Ophelion, the woman who he intended to one day make his wife. Her love was his strength. Pelagius was with her, the youngest prince and brother Nik was closest to. Nik had to admit to himself that part of what he liked about Pel was that he so obviously looked up to Nik. He did his best to be a good role model for the teenager.

In contrast to the affection he felt for his younger siblings, he disliked all of his older siblings. Fornulus was a crude boor, Theodorian was superficial, and Meronion was brutal and cold. Worst of the lot were Cordelian, a slimy reptile, and Euphastolon, a malicious monster. Oma only knew what would happen now their father was no longer around to keep them in line. But Nik would be ready, because he was smarter than all of them, and only he stayed on the straight path.

He finally reached his half-siblings. It had taken a while with these stiff ceremonial robes. All the clinking and jangling from the various chains and ornaments was irritating. There was a lot of gold plated armor, and the robes were heavy and stiflingly hot. Some of his siblings complained about the tight fitting cowl which covered the whole head except for the face, but it never bothered him. He found it a relief to swap the usual hair clips and other ornaments for the cowl. His family's robes were a deep blue, and his high collar, which extended past the back of his head, the mark of royalty, bore the gilt emblem of the north star, the sigil his mother Sophitia had taken upon being raised to Fourth Empress.

Nik had long wanted to get rid of some of the frivolous adornments, but he knew his father would never stand for it. Holophian had been a true believer in the inherent superiority of royalty, and thought this had to demonstrated by superior luxury. When Nik thought about how much food a single one of the pieces of jewelry he was currently wearing could buy, it turned his stomach. Now his father dead, he could donate some of them to the church, who would put the money raised to far better use. He'd have to keep some pieces for official occasions of course, but it wasn't necessary for one person to possess such obscene wealth when so many of the noumens could barely feed themselves.

Ophelion was wearing the yellow robes and stylized chrysanthemum emblem of her mother, the Third Empress Rigiarion. His little brother Pelagius wore the black with the silver hawk of his mother, Fifth (and final) Empress Trisogius. Unlike the rest of the siblings, Pelagius and Helastus liked to set off their robes with silver ornaments and armor instead of gold, heedless of the lower value. Perhaps because, as the youngest children, they were lowest in rank. Or perhaps they were sartorially motivated, as gold and black looked wretched together. Pelagius could be vain, so Nik wouldn't rule it out. Although barely out of childhood, and still growing, Nik had already heard rumors of Pel using his good looks to womanize. Without the Fifth Empress around, Pelagius was probably going to be even more licentious.

Immediately following the death of the late Doukar, their mothers moved to the so-called "widow wing" of the Trigon Palace. This annex was a holdover from the old palace. As he recalled, that particular building dated back over three hundred years to Doukar Mekarian, from long before Doukar Trigon rebuilt the palace. The move was officially to clear space for the wives of the impending new Doukar, their elder brother Fornulus. The empresses were not allowed back into the main palace except for ceremonial occasions, a clear message about their new status. It also prevented them from undermining the new Doukar, which had been a problem in the past. Doukar Ephrasmus had implemented these rules two hundred and fifty years ago in response to the Sabrian Succession Crisis, and the plague which had followed a few years later. The empire had gone through ten Doukars within fifty years.

Because of these rules, for the first time Nik was not accompanying his mother to a ceremonial event. The former empresses would be attending, of course, but separately. This funeral would be the last time the old family would be together, and in a way, represented his final ascension to adulthood. Now he would be the head of his family branch, not his mother. It gave him a thrill. His mother would have to petition him now for favors. He felt bad for her, as he loved his mother and she had been a loving parent to him, but he also looked forward to finally being his own man. As the siblings went through the formal greetings, Nik wondered if they felt the same as him.

Ophelion beamed at him as he approached her, and he couldn't help but return the smile. Their various attendants and strigulos, their personal guards, discretely retired to the sides of the corridor to leave the imperial siblings to talk. This was as much privacy as any of them ever truly got. It didn't bother the royals – any servant or slave who repeated what they heard would get their tongue and hands cut off, so there was motivation for them to keep quiet. Most of the time Nik didn't even notice they were there. Nik did notice, though, that Pelagius had brought an unusually young and good-looking female strigulos with him. Later he'd have to have a word with Pel about propriety.

As the eldest of this little grouping, Nik took it upon himself to begin the conversation proper, once they had finished the formal greetings.

"Ophelion, my heart, you're looking as lovely as ever. Pelagius, is Helastus not with you?" Usually she accompanied Pelagius everywhere. At fourteen she was only barely considered an adult. Ophelion should have been accompanying her older full siblings, Meronion and Euphastolon, but she preferred him and Pelagius, and never had cared about propriety.

After Ophelion's greeting, Pelagius told him Helastus was still getting ready, which was why the two of them were waiting here instead of proceeding to the main hall. Ophelion turned the conversation to the departed Doukar, even though this interested neither of her brothers. They'd get their fill of eulogies in a few moments.

"I can't believe he's gone," she said, shaking her head. "It always seemed like he would live forever."

"Yes, it did. It really, really did." Pelagius said. The man had never had much time or interest for any of them, with the slight exceptions of Fornulus and Meronion. Fornulus as he was the true heir, and Meronion because the Emperor had not found her to be a total disappointment.

Nik knew what Ophelion meant. Their father had been an imposing, massive man, who sometimes seemed to be just as much cut from a block of granite as the throne he sat on (and with about as much feeling as one). Which made it all the more amusing that the man had died after spending several unpleasant hours on the latrine. The official story was that he had died while sitting ramrod straight on his throne. Just expired right away while still glaring at some unfortunate supplicant, taken by Oma up to heaven. Well, the...sitting part was true.

"Pel, I know he wasn't the best father, but he was an excellent Doukar. Everyone always agreed on that. We need to at least honor that, on this day of all days." Ophelion lectured her younger brother, as if there was more than a couple of years between them.

"Everyone agreed the man who held the power of life and death over them was an excellent ruler? Fancy that. Let's see what they say in a few years." Pel was always cynical and ironical. To Nik's displeasure, these traits extended even to the faith.

"Pel you always think the worst of people." Ophie continued. "What about the way father put down the uprising in Hagor? Everyone agrees that his tactics were-"

"Brilliant? Inspired? Something like that, I bet." Pel ribbed her in good humor.

"I suppose Pel with his big brain knows better than anyone about what it means to be a great ruler?" Ophie mimed a huge swollen head on top of her own.

"If you want lessons, look at Mekos." Pel said. "You have to admire the way she took the empire from Loxon's feeble grasp and transformed it into a country rather than Doukar's mishmash of colonies.”

“She usurped the crowns.”

“Her reforms are the reason we're here today. If not for her, Doukar's conquest wouldn't have lasted a century."

"You can't criticize Doukar, he's our founder." Ophelion frowned as Nik watched the back and forth in amusement.

"That was Dardan."

Ophelion was getting annoyed. "You know what I mean! Dardan only founded the city. He probably wasn’t real anyway. Doukar founded the empire."

"Doukar conquered and captured a lot of land." Pel was lecturing her now. "That's different from founding an actual country. Mekos turned it into a true empire. Doukar was just a warlord."

"Father respected Doukar more than anyone."

"Of course he did." Pel snorted. "That fat old bastard was stuck in the stone age."

Nik decided as a good older brother he'd better step in to prevent any further squabbling. "Remember, we're going to his funeral at this moment," he said. Pel was starting to become too honest.

Pel and Ophie bickered like children. Pel was intelligent, but exceptionally lazy and unmotivated. Almost nothing interested him, which might be the result of being so far down in the line of succession. He could never expect to hold much sway in the empire. Ophelion was the opposite, not terribly intelligent, but quick to act, to the point of being rash at times. She would jump into whatever course of action struck her as best, without thinking about the consequences. Still, she was usually the most willing to help Nik with his projects for the noumens.

"Let's not fight on this sad day," Nik said, showing them how a mature prince should act, "which is a day to remember and mourn our Imperial Ruler. Let's remember His Exaltedness as he was, a terrible father none of us could stand." To be fair, he was only a couple of years older than Ophie himself.

"Nik, not you too!" Ophie wailed, throwing her hands up, as far as the robes would allow. The armor shoulder plates wouldn't allow you to raise your arms above the shoulders. Nik chuckled and reached out to hug her, but she playfully squirmed away from him.

A new voice broke in as their youngest sibling, Helastus finally arrived. She completed the formal greetings and apologized for keeping them waiting.

Hel's robes were the same black as her full brother, Pel. She was nearly as beautiful as Ophie now, Nik thought, and getting tall, just like her brother Pelagius. Nik disliked how the formal robes covered his sisters' long dark hair, which always framed their faces beautifully. Hel was quiet and meek, and rarely offered any kind of opinion beyond agreement with whatever Pelagius or Ophelion were saying at the time. It was lucky she and Pel were far down the line of succession. They weren't suited to the kind of scheming and backstabbing endemic to the upper echelons of the family. It was even more lucky for them that they had an older brother like him to protect them.

They greeted Hel and Ophie gushed over how pretty and grown up Hel looked. Helastus seemed to feel award at the praise, so Nik broke in.

"Who's your favorite Doukar, Hel? Pel and Ophie were arguing over it. Pel said his was Mekos."

Helastus mulled it over for a few moments. "Aristaphones maybe?"

"Really?" Her answer surprised Nik. Aristaphones was mostly remembered today for starting the last war with Monar, which had dragged on for decades and achieved nothing. "I would have thought you would have chosen somebody like Hagia."

Helastus just shrugged. Conversations with her tended to peter out. She had no talent for small talk. Pel and Ophie began to squabble again, so Nik suggested they all go into the main chamber.

Pelagius agreed with him. "The sooner we start, the sooner this farce will be over. Unfortunately, they won't start without us."

They began to move off into The Chamber of Phobious, the massive domed chamber which was used for important ceremonial occasions. Nik was not looking forward to the rest of this boring day.