Riot - a Story of Thalassa

                                                Riot: A Story of Thalassa

The riot started the day they announced formally the birth of a daughter to the queen, Thalassa.  Of course, the child had been born fully a week before.  The announcement could only been made when it was pronounced healthy, and the queen had recovered sufficiently to stand on the balcony, presenting the new baby girl to the crowd below.

There were the customary cheers, of course.  But not as many as expected.  And mainly from the women who were there with their men, whose sleeves were for the most part chained to their chests, as was traditional – and right.  Bodyguards only had their arms free.  Now there was a murmuring amongst the men, a suggestion of discontent.   Terchet, the queen’s chief advisor, spoke over the murmuring, bidding them welcome the queen’s daughter.  But the noise grew, and became a tumult.  Then someone threw a stone.

Instantly, chaos broke out.  Violence against any woman, let alone the queen and her advisor, was unheard of.  The chaining of men’s arms was only for show.  Now bodyguards, all eunuchs, all fanatically loyal, drew their heavy sticks and prepared to fight against those men who seemed to be willing to join in the lawlessness, and to brawl even in the Palace’s Outer Courtyard.

Despite Thalassa herself using voice-amplification to beg for calm, the disorder grew.  Now there was a scuffle on the ceremonial staircase leading to the balcony and Terchet hustledthem away from the turbulence.

Safe in the inner depths of the palace, Thalassa gave the babe to a nursemaid and faced Terchet.  “What is going on?”

“No need to worry, your majesty.  Palace Guards – with our top female officers, of course - will soon put an end to the upheaval.  The perpetrators will meet with summary justice.”

“That is not what I asked.”  Thalassa drew herself to her full height, ignoring the weakness in her legs, which was not totally due to the recent birth. “I asked what was going on.  What was that about?”

Terchet’s lips thinned.  “Your majesty.  Someone has been rumour -mongering. Amongst the men” – and the ice in her voice would have frozen water on the balmiest of days – “Amongst the men, the story has spread that should the queen have the misfortune to give birth to a boy, rather than the expected daughter…” She glanced at the baby, still sleeping in the arms of the nursemaid.  “They are saying that should this happen, we murder the boy and substitute a girl of the right age”

Thalassa, too, looked at her daughter, with love which almost overrode the horror of the rumour.  “How appalling,” she said.  “As if any in the Palace would countenance such a thing!”

“Indeed not, your majesty. We would never condone murder – that would be a male reaction to such an event.  Be assured that the male child you unfortunately gave birth to seven days ago…” She paused as she saw shock render Thalassa’s face bloodless.  “Be assured he is well-placed, and will be found a position as suits his limited male abilities.  You may concentrate on she who is now your daughter without any worries on that score.”

 (This was set as a writing exercise in our writing class.  We chose a word beginning with the third letter of our surname, and looked it up on a thesaurus, and used 10 of the synonyms plus the originalk word in a story.  I decided to move my Thalassa story on a bit)

Key Word: Riot.

Synonyms: Tumult, Chaos, Violence, Fight (v), Lawlessness, Brawl (v), Disorder, Scuffle, Turbulence, Upheaval.