The Genesis Of Rubai (standard:fantasy, 3378 words)
Author: everlaster	Added: Mar 17 2007	Views/Reads: 3006/2224	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Queen Mab of Faerie, already the most beautiful and most loved Fairy on Aeval, knows that even her life is short. But she has a plan that will ensure her name and her beauty will be remembered for thousands of years.

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making her hands seem made not of flesh at all but of pearl.  It was 
the quality of her skin that had earned her the first of many epithets: 
the Daughter-of-Pearl. In fact, this unique aspect was what found her 
selected Queen before she had learnt to speak. 

For the Fairy civilisation at this time was a beautocracy. Every monarch
was selected at childhood from the general population, having to meet 
only one requirement: that they be, undisputedly, the most beautiful 
child alive. 

The selection process is far less problematic then you might think.  For
when confronted by absolute beauty even the most jealous beholder is 
rendered honest by awe.  Also, every Fairy has a preterhuman sense of 
good taste and their society is not dogged by the distortions of 
fashion and conformity that so inhibit the human race. 

The Carmine Crow  announced to his Queen, “though this can only come a
small way in repaying you for the privileges you have granted me, I 
have brought you this gift as an expression of my love and devotion to 
you.” 

Snow-Haired Mab kissed her champion on the lips.  A dozen pairs of eyes
looked away in pain, so their owners did not know how long the kiss 
lasted.  But even the shortest kiss is too long for those who love the 
Queen, and every man who met her loved her, and some women too.  This 
universal love guaranteed loyalty to the Monarch and was one of the 
strengths of a beautocracy. 

Those who diverted their eyes towards the sea saw now on its waters dark
green shapes, like giant leaves , coming towards the shore.  They were 
the sails of a Fairy fleet.  These sails caught, not the winds, but the 
energies of the sun.  Each ship was the size of a small human yacht but 
carried many hundreds of Fairies. 

The fleet came to shore a little way down from the dragon and within
moments the beach was crowded with thousands of Fairies unloading 
materials, livestock and machinery from the ships. 

With the speed and single minded efficiency of an ant colony a makeshift
town began to take form.  This town would house the thousands of 
labourers, engineers and artisans who would create the new palace. 

As for the Queen and her court, a pavilion was built for them which
afforded a good view of the creation process.  A lavish meal was 
provided, over which there was much discussion and speculation as to 
what exactly was taking place.  Snow- Haired Mab refused to tell the 
beautocrats anything and each of them was delighted and humbled by 
this, knowing that they were the privileged witnesses to a remarkable 
and, of course, beautiful moment in history. 

Some silently guessed what was taking place, having seen the type of
equipment and livestock unloaded from the ships, but they would not 
voice their notions, knowing they would only be ridiculed as 
incorrigible fantasists. 

When the meal was over and the world's most beautiful Fairies were made
dozy by their fullness, The Iridescent One took advantage of their 
vulnerability to announce that, this same evening, she would kill the 
ruby dragon. 

* 

All the worker Fairies had lain down their tools and were gathered a
safe distance from the dragon.  They watched as, like a comet, their 
Queen flew from the pavilion and towards the head of the dragon, 
drawing in her wake white tails of streaming silk and hair.  The 
creature's massive eye swivelled in its socket as it traced the 
approaching star and came to discern the Fairy Queen's form. 

Mab the Precious hung in the air before the dragon's sparkling gemstone
face and at the top of her voice she shouted, “I am Mab, Queen of all 
Fairies, and I have brought you here to discuss a matter of great 
importance.” 

The dragon could just discern the tiny Queen's shouts, while the
observers on the sand were beyond range to hear. Moving faster than the 
Dragon could see the White Queen unlocked the great muzzle that bound 
the dragon's jaw.  If she felt any fear before this ancient creature 
she did not show it. 

The dragon spoke with a deep voice that rumbled like pouring lava.  The
Fairy Queen felt the voice through the vibrating air more than she 
heard it: “if all you wished to do was talk it would have been simpler 
if you'd visited me in the jungle.” 

“I need you to see for yourself the empty canvass that you will help
fill.  I am the most beautiful Fairy alive today and said to surpass 
all Mabs that came before me.  Only the first Titania, the fourth and 
ninth Glorianas, could stop hearts more than I. 

“It was enough for them to have shadows of their beauty preserved in
art, so those of us separated by time could be touched by it.  But what 
of the beauty that existed behind their eyes? Nothing of that now 
remains.  I wish to create a work of art that means, not only will my 
outward beauty be remembered for millennia, but also my imagination, 
and the science and industry of my people. 

“You, dragon, can die naturally in twenty or thirty thousand years and
then be forgotten, or you can die now, to create a monument that will 
inspire and marvel until the dusk of time.” The dragon responded.  “I 
remember a time when your people numbered only scores and had not yet 
learnt how to gather twigs.  When my eyes first opened, but for us 
dragons, the only speaking creatures on this world were six giants, who 
could have held me between thumb and forefinger, and whose arguing 
split the land into six continents when before there had been only one. 


“My grandparents lived to see a race of spiders create a civilisation
more marvellous than your own, and yet who left it all behind when they 
rode in plastic ships to meet strangers on a world in the stars.  A 
world so far away that they can, not even now, be halfway there. 

“You, Fairy, wish to use me to create something timeless, but only
change is eternal.  These sands were once mountains, that sea will 
eventually be desert and one day that sun will sink for the last time. 

“You can not impose permanence.  I, oldest of all creatures and least
afraid of death, understand this the most.” 

“Thank you for making my argument for me,” answered the Queen.  “I could
not have put it so eloquently.  For it is the transience of the 
universe that I seek to celebrate.” 

And Queen Mab XXXIII explained to the dragon the details of her project.
 In the time it took for the sun to set, the dragon deliberated and 
made her decision.  To the great agitation of the crowd the 
Daughter-of-Pearl released all the restraints holding the dragon's 
body. 

In the twilight the dragon took four strides to the sea, sending tremors
along the beach.  She dipped her fabulous head to the water and drank. 

Never acknowledging the presence of those gathered, she walked inland,
just a short way, before stopping on a patch of limestone that emerged 
from the sand like the pate of a giant skull, dusted off by 
archaeologists.  She turned her body to face where the sun had set and 
stretched her gargantuan wings.  Sand showered the onlookers, but they 
blinked through it to see the ruby dragon rear back upon her hind legs, 
wings out wide and head held high in a gesture of triumph, before she 
slumped to the ground dead. 

All creatures die who drink from the Red Sea, as the dragon was well
aware. 

As each sparkle of her skin was extinguished by the strengthening night
a new star burned in the sky. 

* 

On the first day the excavation of the dragon body began. The problem
was to remove all the innards of the dragon (muscle, organs and fat) 
while keeping the skeleton and the crystalline hide intact. 

Vast amounts of bacteria and fungi were inserted into the dragon's
corpse via its natural orifices to speedily decompose the flesh into 
fertile matter.  Also inserted were a great number of flies' eggs that 
quickly hatched into thousands of hungry maggots.  When the flies 
eventually emerged they were caught in spider-silk nets and killed, for 
the Fairies did not want precious organic matter flying off into the 
desert. 

The broken down dragon flesh was shifted out of the skin with beetles
led by insect handlers.  In the mean time other Fairies worked on 
building a processing station that would pump water from the sea and 
free it of its poisons to make a reservoir of drinkable water.  Until 
this was completed the Fairies and their livestock relied on imported 
water, for the skies here were intolerant of clouds. 

It took thirty-three days for the dragon's body to be entirely cleaned
of its flesh.  The recycled matter was spread out inland and the Fairy 
horticulturists wasted no time in sowing carefully chosen seeds. 

The bulk of the Fairy workforce now moved in on the dragon skin,
erecting around it great scaffolding, cranes and the other devices of 
construction that were necessary for the engineering feat ahead. 

A team of architects spent four days exploring the insides of the
dragon, making measurements, tests and devising a precise plan.  Holes 
were bored through strategic parts of the skeleton, ready for the 
insertion of support rods and cables. 

Over the following weeks and months the ruby hide was raised back into
the position it had possessed the moment before the dragon collapsed 
and died.  To give the impression that the dragon was solid, the skin's 
shape was maintained with a frame, reminiscent of the farthingales that 
supported the wide dresses of Elizabethan ladies on Earth. 

Central to the suspension of this heavy gemstone hide was the skeleton. 
Hundreds of metal cables performed the function of muscle tendons in 
making the skeleton stand again. 

Every step of this erection, of which there were thousands, was fraught
with a myriad considerations.  A single oversight could see the entire 
structure crash to the ground, possibly killing any Fairies working 
inside. 

The dragon was eventually raised to stand on its hind legs.  The thick
end of its tail touched the ground, acting as an essential third ground 
support.  The remaining length of the tail was made to snake into the 
air, in that manner most pleasing to the eye. 

The entire structure was held in place with long beams that went through
the bases of the feet and tail and bore deep into the rock beneath.  
This was only a safety measure, though, as the dragon's pose was 
perfectly balanced and it would have taken great force to topple it. 

With the dragon set in her final position work was begun on adding the
floors, ceilings and walls to the inner cavities that would become the 
2,187 rooms of the Ruby Palace. 

Every object that went into the palace was laboured over by master
artists and craftsmen.  Objects, that to us would be merely commonplace 
and functional, were to Fairies each an unhewn sculptor's block 
awaiting metamorphosis by the hammer and chisel of imagination.  An 
equal wealth of creativity went into the landscaping of the gardens, 
which were intended to feed the eyes and stomachs of the palace's 
future inhabitants. 

At last the day came on which it might be said that the palace and
grounds were complete.  The Daughter-of-Pearl, who had been absent 
through much of the construction, attending matters of the state, 
arrived to gaze at the reality that had previously existed only in her 
mind. 

There was held a spectacular carnival in which all the workers and
artists swapped their hammers and paintbrushes for musical instruments, 
banners, ribbons, paper sculptures and all the paraphernalia that such 
an occasion calls for.  While the colour and marvellous sights on 
display would have matched anything produced through all the ages of 
humankind, the best our species has to offer in parades was not only 
doubled by the Fairies but cubed.  For their parade not only spilled 
along a horizontal plain, but also vertically through the air.  A great 
sphere of revelry wrapped around the dragon.  Like a multicoloured mist 
it obscured the palace and grounds from view and the whole space 
throbbed with all kinds of music. 

There is a popular conundrum amongst Troll theologians: if a group of
Fairies have a party in the desert but nobody is there to see it, do 
they have fun? 

In an attempt to find an answer, these trolls will contort their minds
over the behaviour of waveforms and matters of quantum emotion.  But 
the answer is simple.  Being short lived creatures, Fairies elevate fun 
above all else.  Everything they do is carried out in a manner that 
makes it as fun and exciting as possible.  Thusly, the most simple 
things are made complex and complex issues are reduced to simple 
matters of fun. 

Therefore, if you can not see a Fairy, the odds dictate that they are
enjoying themselves immensely. 

On an occasion like this, which is a celebration of beauty, art and life
itself, it would be useless for us to try and empathise with those 
Fairies flying in that super-dense mix of music and colour.  Their 
exquisite exhilarations we could not comprehend. 

* 

Queen Mab XXXIII sat on her thrown of amber, the back of which was
carved into a stylized sun.  She was in the audience chamber, whose one 
huge window looked out to sea and was in the place of the dragon's 
right eye socket. 

Seven years had passed since the Ruby Palace became the seat of the
Fairy empire.  Seven years it had stood as monument, parliament and 
home.  The gardens had spread slowly across the sand: an oasis rich 
with life in a place where nature had deemed there should be none.  In 
the grounds lived its keepers and some of the palace workers.  Their 
homes were the beginnings of a settlement that would eventually grow to 
be autonomous from the palace, but would be called Rubai in honour of 
it. 

By the Queen's side sat The Carmine Crow, and gathered about were
various ministers.  They were listening to the battle report of 
green-skinned Locust Breeze: one of the empire's best captains, but who 
had only been a puck when he witnessed the Palace being made.  He told 
of his leading a host of Deleriati against a force of Imps and retaking 
a peninsula admired for its coral reef.  He described the formations 
they took and the moves they made as though describing a ballet and not 
a battle. 

But as he relayed his tale it became evident to those present, and
especially The Carmine Crow, that the Queen was breathing hard and 
holding her waist as if in pain.  As this was her thirteenth year, it 
was clear to everyone that she was about to die.  For Fairies show no 
signs of ageing, but at the end of their lifespan they suffer a sudden 
and rapid collapse of the internal organs. 

The Carmine Crow took the White Queen in his arms and carried her to her
bedchamber.  Her children were called for and she was given the juice 
of a pitcher plant to relieve the pain. 

Her son and daughter arrived.  They had both recently reached maturity. 
The son was wine red, the daughter pale white but without the 
iridescence of her mother.  The pink of roses bloomed in her cheekbones 
and her hair was as red as her brother's. 

So the Queen died in the presence of those she loved the most. 

The Carmine Crow knew that his time would be soon also, but wished it
would be now so consumed he was with grief. 

* 

Queen Mab XXXIII was cremated.  Her ashes were added to powder of
paints.  Infant Fairies, the children of those who worked and lived in 
the palace, used the pigments to create their own painting.  They 
pushed the paint around with their tiny hands, filling the space with 
their will.  A quickening of form took place where their new minds 
shaped a tiny fragment of the universe, for all the world to see. 

The painting was hung in the hall of mirrors, which consisted of
ninety-nine portraits of the White Queen, each by a different beholder. 
 It would hang there, in pride of place, for as long as the Ruby Palace 
stood. 

Which, as the Daughter-of-Pearl had predicted and the ruby dragon
believed, was until the dusk of time. 

© Michael Horne www.everlaster.com 


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