Page 1455

~~((The 12 Pages of Christmas + Double Monday = Page 9 of 14))~~
Jasirok seemed to not know what to say.

“Ah, um, anyway.” Diego decided to take the seat nearest the door. “You wanted to discuss the Sosho’Diyu with me, didn’t you?”

Yangéra perched herself on his shoulder. ‘And you were going to tell us why this place is called the Paradise Vault.’

“Yes, of course.” Jasirok took a seat by the mirror on the other side of the room, which was still well within leisurely speaking distance. “I know only of the story, as I had not been born yet, but my elders have told it to me many times. It begins with Guong Seyos of Himmestat.”

‘Oh,’ said Yangéra, ‘is Himmestat the name of that city we found on the way here, then?’

“Yes,” said Jasirok. “The City of Paradise.”

Diego was still a bit lost. “Ah--sorry. Guong Seyos? What does that mean?”

‘Guong is the Ancient Hunese title for a king,’ said Yangéra. ‘Or at least, a certain type of king. One of divine appointment, as I recall. A normal king would’ve just been called a Guo. And “Seyos” was the name of that king, yes?’

“You are very knowledgeable,” said Jasirok.

‘I try my best.’

“Don’t compliment her too much,” said Diego. “That’s pretty much the only thing she’s good for.”

‘I’m also good for preventing my loved ones from making life-ruining mistakes.’

Diego shot her a look. Oh, how he wanted to dive back into that argument. But for now, there was something else he wanted to know. “So... this guy called Seyos was some sort of ancient king of the Hun’Sho?”

“Correct.”

The reason Diego found that interesting was because of something he’d previously learned about the Hun’Sho here in Himmekel. One of the very first things he had asked about was who their leader was. But all of the Hun’Sho had said that no one was. They had said that Himmekel was a “community of equals.” A few of the Hun’Sho hardly even seemed to understand what he was talking about, as if the entire concept of leadership was foreign to them, somehow.

Yet now Jasirok was saying that they previously had a king.

Of course, a thousand or so years left a lot of opportunity for a regime change, but he still found the discrepancy interesting. He wondered now if some of the Hun’Sho who’d acted the most ignorant had just been playing dumb with him. If Jasirok had heard this story many times, then surely, the other Hun’Sho would have as well, right?

Jasirok continued. “Seyos was a powerful Guong, supposedly the most powerful of his time. He had accumulated such vast wealth that even other Guong came to him, asking to share his fortune with them. Which he did. And he used that fortune as leverage over them, growing his influence even more. But the other Guong did not like this, as they were full of pride; and so, over many years, resentment slowly built between Seyos and the other Guong.

“Eventually, this resentment led to Seyos demanding all of his treasure back. But of course, the other Guong refused and even claimed that they would take everything else he had, too. So Guong Seyos built a grand vault to keep his remaining treasure safe. He made it much larger than necessary, because he planned to attack the other Guong and retrieve his borrowed wealth, but alas, this never came to pass.”