The event was about to get underway officially when the Sheikh from Alakhwan arrived. Heydar, now with Prince Aali Akakois tucked into his arm, head over. "Welcome to Royal Seleucid cousin" Heydar used his free hand to shake the mans hand. They were now the most distant of cousins but their was still familial ties which Seleucid tradition meant would need to be respected. "We thank you for the gifts" Heydar replied politely "Sadly we'll not be able to prepare them for today but rest assured in the coming months we'll have plenty of celebrations and so they'll be put to excellent use. Please come this way." Heydar guided them towards the centre of the Rotunda at the top of the Palace. "Everyone" the King called across the buzzing room. "May I thank each and everyone of you, new friends and old, for coming here today to celebrate the birth of my two children. The birth of a new Soter is an occasion that is always a cause for celebration for our people however to have two born so close together is clearly a blessing from the Goddess and we are so very thankful. It was my fathers dream to have an extremely large Soter family, unfortunately growing up it was me and Hadi and a gaggle of girls meaning rather more pressure on continuing the Soter name fell onto me." The room gave a few nervous laughs. "It is my dream that this will be the first of a great many of these events and I do hope you'll all come back for each of them. Now sadly I must leave you for a few hours as me, Danyal and Golzar must go and introduce the new Prince and Princess to their people. Naturally you're welcome to come along or if you prefer you may walk the Palace grounds or explore the city at will. Now please forgive us, we must be going." He handed Aali Akakois to his big brother Golzar while Katayun was being carried by the King's cousin Danyal. The various Soter women present kissed the babies as they were first paraded round the Rotunda each either side of Heydar. The trio of Soter men then walked down the spiral steps to ground level with the group following behind them. First they headed to the Temple of Anaitha which saw the Palace fence run through the centre. There the option was given for the guests to bypass the Temple or follow Heydar and his entourage through where the High Priestess was waiting. Heydar knelt and pressed a hand to her feet while Golzar and Danyal simply knelt behind. The High Priestess sprinkled water on Heydar from the small spring that marked the boundary between the royal half of the Temple and the half that the general public could enter. A small channel of water marked the divide and it let the cool clear water trickle into a fountain where people would collect water that had come from the point where the Goddess had created the first drinkable water for mankind. Once the High Priestess had blessed Heydar she moved onto the children. She took Aali first and cooing to the boy as she took him she carried him to the fountain and scooping up some of the water let it trickle into his mouth causing him to squirm a little.
"Prince Aali Akakois has drank the water of the Goddess, she shall help guide him, make him strong and grant him the strength to serve his family and the people of Royal Seleucid" The crowd of invited guests from Royal Seleucid who had gathered near the fountain cheered as Aali was passed back to Golzar. The High Priestess took Katayun and dribbled the water into her mouth, unlike her brother she giggled and a small pink tongue lapped at the water on her chin. The High Priestess smiled as Heydar watched on. "I think this sweet one is clearly in love with the Goddess already" She wiped the girls face before turning to the crowd once more "Princess Katayun has drank the water of the Goddess, she help guide him, make her fertile and grant her the strength to serve her family and the people of Royal Selecuid." Once more the crowd clapped and cheered as Danyal took custody of the little bundle again. The High Priestess walked up to Haniyah and Chyrssa who both knelt and touched her feet before accepting a blessing of water themselves. The High Priestess then hugged each of them and took hold of each of them by one hand and now sandwiched between them approached the public side of the Temple. "BEHOLD!" She yelled, "The Queen's of Royal Seleucid, the Mother's of royalty and matrons of our people." The crowd cheered and a few threw flowers towards the duo. Chryssa stood waving to the crowd while Haniyah simply nodded respectfully at the crowd while mouthing "Thank you" To the people. The procession was about to begin and so the military guardsman created a corridor through which everyone could pass and the crowd dutifully parted. Heydar lead the way with Golzar and Danyal carrying their precious cargo followed. Heydar jumped up onto the flat-bed of the horse drawn cart with ease and took his newborn son while Golzar climbed up and took the Prince back, repeating the process Heydar helped Danyal aboard and the trio were ready to show the children off. The guardsman made sure that those of the visitors who wished to follow could board a more traditional horse and carriage fashioned to allow a good view of the procession.
As the horse driver cracked the reigns to put the procession into motion Golzar stumbled slightly and Heydar steadied him. "Last thing I need you doing is throwing him onto the street." he smiled at his son who he saw immediately found a better position so that he was half sitting and half kneeling on one of the benches and was thus more stable. "I suppose we better get things going." Heydar had remembered his father doing this for his younger siblings and as the procession turned onto the Royal Road prepared himself. It would be about three miles as they travelled West away from the Palace towards the river, most of the journey to the bridge would be through some of the older parts of Ipsus and it made a rather regal backdrop to the occasion. Heydar looked at the crowd either side, many of whom were throwing flowers before the carriage. "MY LOYAL SUBJECTS!!" Heydar had contemplated using a megaphone as his father had done once but the horrible squeakiness of it had at times been comical and so Heydar opted for his old military instructor voice. "WELCOME YOUR NEW PRINCE AND PRINCESS. THEY SHALL SERVE YOU WITH DEDICATION AND LOVE FOR THE GODDESS AND YOU SHALL BE LOYAL AND LOVING TO THEM IN RETURN. WELCOME PRINCE AALI AKAKOIS AND PRINCESS KATAYUN." The King picked a spot on the road ahead and waited to reach that point before repeating himself, he suspected by the time they had finished their route he'd be rather horse. Every now and again a selected member of the street or block of residences they passed was permitted to approach the cart and offer up a flower to the new borns and Heydar would thank them and present them with a specially minted coin which he had a pocket full of. They reached the bridge and the procession stopped. Heydar stepped down and took both the children. The
bridge marked the first land-mark of the procession and Heydar began walking across the bridge with the children. He'd only got about a fifth of the way across when their was a sudden quick scuffle of feet and from one of the guardrooms a group of seven men, some just out of their teens while one clearly looked like he would struggle to walk far on his own.
"HALT! Who goes there?" The old man called rather more loudly than Heydar had expected.
"The King" Heydar responded.
"Which King?" The old man questioned.
"King Heydar of Royal Seleucid with his children Prince Aali Akakois and Princess Katayun." It was an old tradition but that was what today was about after all.
"If it please your Majesty the Warden's of the River ask your permission to meet their Highnesses" The old man was Rashif El-Badar and his family had been the Wardens of the River for at least 500 years now. In the days of old they would have provided guards on the five guardrooms that lead across the river and collected tariffs of those using the bridge on behalf of the Soter family. Heydar walked towards them and now the volume dropped as Rashif swept a sword in a deceptively quick arc to salute despite his near 90 years of age. "They are beautiful" he said quietly as he looked at each of them. He then stepped back. "As Soter Prince and Princess the Warden's of the River recognise their authority over this bridge from now and forever more." Two of the younger El-Badar family stepped forward and presented two large iron keys that represented the keys needed to lock the bridge down if it was ever needed.
"Thank you" Heydar said politely as he realised the next bit was a bit tricky as he was supposed to hang the key around the children's necks but now had no free hands. "Erm.." Without thinking he handed Katayun to Rashif and the old man instantly began humming to the little girl as he had when he'd held so many of his own grand-children and even great grand-children. With the key now around Aali's neck Heydar placed the key around Katayun's before taking her back. He then turned his own volume up so the crowd could once again hear. "Warden's of the River" He called loudly. "We thank you for your unwaivering loyalty and demand access to our bridge so that the Prince and Princess may tour their city. Please accompany us."
Rashif yelled at his sons and grandsons who now headed to the rear of the column where Rashif was thankful a flatbed truck was waiting for them and his youngest grand-sons helped him aboard. Heydar returned the children to Golzar and Danyal clambered up onto the cart and removed the keys carefully placing them in a wooden chest that had been screwed to the floor of the cart for just this purpose.
While Heydar had been carrying out the rituals several of the Seleucid nobles in the procession had walked up to witness and inside the security cordon provided by the military for the ritual were free to chat with the visiting guests. One such man was Affan Abbas, he was a man raising in the ranks of Seleucid society. His father had been merely a Knight and by careful negotiation had managed to marry his son to a minor nobles daughter. It was ironic that Affan's father had actually owned more land than this noble but the title was the important bit not the land and Affan had made sure that he capitalised in on his own military service to make many more influential friends. There was now talk of him talking up a minister's position or an ambassadorship to somewhere and so he was keen to get his face seen at the event. He walked to where the foreign guests were and looked for anyone he could strike a conversation up with.