Work Text:
The Tale of the Suitors of Queen Alina
Long ago, there was once a young queen of great power, beauty, intelligence and wit, who ruled over the land of Ravka.
Her name was Alina, and she was the only child of King Anton of House Starkov and his wife Keyen, a princess of Shu Han.
In truth, some whispered that Alina was of godly heritage, for it was rumoured that the Sun God had favoured her mother and that he had been the one to father Alina. When, on her tenth birthday, she came into the most wondrous power – the ability to summon the sun, a gift never before seen in a mortal – the country felt sure that she was of divine lineage.
Whether or not he had truly sired her, King Anton loved his daughter fiercely and ensured she received the finest of educations in history, diplomacy, culture and statecraft, as well as lessons from Botkin – the renowned trainer of heroes and demi-gods – in how to control her light and wield it as a weapon. For, daughter of a god though she might be, there were many who did not wish a woman to inherit the great throne of Ravka and it was important that Alina learn to defend herself well.
Not long after her eighteenth birthday, Alina’s father sadly died when his ship, returning from a diplomatic trip to Kerch, was caught in a storm and sank.
Although deep in grief, Alina took on the mantle of queen and the responsibilities that came with it. When she was crowned in Os Alta, she addressed her people and promised to rule wisely and well.
She did as she had promised, always striving to ensure that the people of Ravka could live in safety and that all would have shelter and food. She continued to train with Botkin and her mother, the Dowager Queen Keyen, offered all the sage advice that her years as queen had given her.
However, not long had she been crowned when her council began to push for her to marry.
Alina was wary. She knew it was her duty to find a husband so that there would be an heir to the throne, but she feared that the chosen man might try and usurp her power for himself. While her mother’s native Shu Han was a matriarchal society ruled solely by Empresses, Ravka had never had a ruling queen before Alina, and there were many who questioned – despite all her abilities – whether Alina was capable.
After rejecting many of the council’s suggested suitors as too vain, too power-hungry or too cruel, Alina eventually agreed to set a challenge. The suitor who accomplished this challenge first would win her hand and become her Prince Consort.
On the first anniversary of the beginning of her reign, Queen Alina stood on a dais erected outside her palace and proclaimed her challenge.
Only the suitor who bested her in combat would win her hand.
It was a clever trick, for beside being more than proficient in the handling of a dozen or more weapons, Alina had the power of the sun running through her veins. Her trainer Botkin had bested her in the training ring many times, but only when she was not using her light.
This challenge did not exclude the use of powers, however, and so it seemed that the queen had set a near-impossible task.
Naturally, her council was frustrated. They admired the young queen’s intelligence in setting the challenge, but they feared that she might never be defeated.
“Then I will rule alone and choose a worthy successor,” she told the council when they brought her their concerns, “but I will not change my challenge.”
Perhaps it was foolish, agreeing to marry a man who could defeat her. Surely, then, such a man would have the power to take her crown for himself?
But great power could be wielded well, and Queen Alina was an example of that.
She had picked her challenge carefully. She still hoped to be able to choose her husband herself and, although she admitted it only to her mother and her close friend Genya, Alina’s challenge was simply a stalling tactic. Difficult, but not quite impossible. One day, Alina wished to meet a man and fall in love, to know his heart and be sure he was worthy, and only then would she let him defeat her.
Five years passed.
More than a thousand suitors came from Ravka and the countries beyond it. Kings and princes and noblemen, heroes and soldiers and mercenaries, even peasants.
Most were honourable, but there were a number who sought to cheat in order to win, although it never worked out the way they wished.
The queen had a preternatural sense for treachery, and three dozen of those suitors were executed over the years for their plotting.
All of the suitors were defeated by Alina. Some presented a good challenge, but many did not.
Queen Alina’s council despaired. Even she was becoming despondent, having met so many suitors and found them all distinctly lacking. Despite the show she put on of not caring if she ever married, she had a romantic streak and wished to find true love.
At about this time, the queen began to have strange dreams filled with shadows and a voice – that she knew she had never heard in real life but which felt strangely familiar – saying her name over and over.
She went to the Oracle that resided just outside of Os Alta and asked for the wisdom of the gods.
Do not be afraid, the Oracle told her, for the shadows will make everything clear to you.
The queen did not know quite what to make of this answer, but the gods always spoke in riddles and it was not for her to reject their words of wisdom. She took heart from the words do not be afraid and the hope that things would soon become clearer.
Only two days after her visit to the Oracle, a new group of suitors arrived in Os Alta. She hosted them at her palace for a week to get to know them before they would face each other in the arena. All but one of them, Alina dismissed out of hand.
Malyen was a soldier of some skill, but his talents lay more in hunting and tracking than in combat, and he seemed half derisive and half fearful of her power.
Nikolai was a prince, charming and witty and with an admirable mind for innovation, but he was a little too charming for the queen’s taste and she did not really trust his motives.
Tolya was quite formidable, blessed by the gods like Alina, although to a lesser extent. He was favoured by the War God and he could make a person lethargic or light-headed by focusing on their heartbeat. But his power took a great deal of concentration, and Alina was confident she could overpower him before he was able to affect her.
The fourth suitor was the one that really drew the queen’s attention. He was dressed all in black, with no crest or emblem to denote a great house he belonged to as either master or servant. He watched her keenly, with intense dark eyes that drew her attention whenever they were in the same room.
This fourth suitor introduced himself as Aleksandr, and he gave no family name or place of origin.
His clothing was neat and clean, but all of serviceable material, no rich cloth or silk. He was maybe five or ten years older than she was, and his calloused hands spoke of a life of hard work.
Whereas the other suitors brought retinues – over a hundred men, in Prince Nikolai’s case – only companion had joined Aleksandr, and this was burly man called Ivan, who Alina suspected had a similar gift to Tolya, and whose surly expression only softened into the tiniest smile in the presence of the queen’s trusted minister Fedyor.
A feast was thrown the night before the queen would fight the first of these new suitors.
It was said that Aleksandr could not take his eyes off Alina the entire night, that she was all he cared to look at no matter what delicacies or entertainments there were around him.
When the queen summoned the sun at the end of the evening, crafting animals of light to amaze and astonish her guests, all four of the suitors watched her carefully.
Malyen covered fear with scorn. Nikolai seemed greedy for what her power could give him. Tolya was respectful but a little intimidated.
Aleksandr was entirely entranced and enchanted. No one had ever looked at her the way he did.
On three consecutive days, Alina faced Mal, then Nikolai, then Tolya.
Each time, she subdued them within ten minutes.
Nikolai and Tolya took their defeat in good grace, amiable and charming. Nikolai even took a fancy to one of the queen’s ladies – a young woman named Zoya with a sharp tongue and a talent for knocking men off their feet with a sharp gust of wind.
Malyen was less pleased with his humiliation, having been rendered unconscious within the first fifteen seconds of their battle. However, the young queen was beloved by her people and Malyen found himself driven out of Os Alta, and even out of Ravka itself, after his insults upset a great many.
On the fourth day, Alina faced Aleksandr.
She did not move immediately. He was difficult to read and she wanted to see what his opening move would be.
For a moment, all was silent as the queen stared at her suitor and he stared right back.
And then, Aleksandr flicked his fingers and the world went dark.
All around her, Queen Alina could hear members of her court and other spectators gasping.
It was true that this was like nothing they had ever seen, but to Alina it was clear what was happening.
Just as she was blessed by the Sun God, the only mortal known to be so, it seemed that Aleksandr was blessed by the Shadow Goddess, the only one of the gods and goddesses not yet known to have blessed a mortal.
Many of the people around her were screaming, well used to the queen’s light but not to such pervasive darkness. But Alina was not afraid, for she remembered the Oracle’s words. Do not be afraid, for the shadows will make everything clear to you.
Summoning the light, she soon banished the shadows.
She met Aleksandr’s gaze. His dark eyes were burning with a mix of determination and excitement and desire.
Queen Alina knew this would be a battle like no other she had ever faced.
They fought with their power and their weapons alike, one moment steel clashing and the next light meeting shadow.
It felt like a dance that only the two of them knew the steps to, but what the ending would be was still not clear.
Aleksandr was not better than the queen, at least as far as she could tell. Nor was he worse.
In fact, she realised with a rush of excitement, it seemed that they were equally matched.
Queen Alina had never really thought she would meet a suitor who might beat her. She’d always imagined simply allowing a suitor to win once she was ready to marry and if she loved him.
It should have angered her, to face a man who might well defeat her.
Instead, it was exhilarating.
None of her suitors had ever properly challenged her, but now there was a sense of true accomplishment whenever she fended off a tendril of shadow or the swing of a sword, or when her light absorbed the impact of one of Aleksandr’s shadow blades.
In the middle of the arena, Queen Alina smiled, a bright, beaming grin that gave her even more beauty than she already possessed.
This was thrilling. It was simply wonderful.
For the first time since she had issued her challenge, the queen did not want to win.
Instead, she wished to spend the rest of her life with this powerful, enigmatic near-stranger – sparring and strategising and raising children as fierce and talented as both of their parents.
Of course, honour dictated that she fight as hard as she could, no matter how own wishes.
The contest was long and drawn-out, a feat of stamina as well as skill, watched by an awe-struck audience who were entirely stupefied by the spectacle they were witnessing.
It was as if the gods themselves had come down to the mortal plane to do battle, a scene that would not be out of place on a frieze in one of the temples or decorating an elaborate vase or mosaic or wall painting.
The Sun God and the Shadow Goddess would have been proud, everyone said, to be represented in such a way by the mortals they had blessed.
In the end, Aleksandr was victorious, with a lucky strike that knocked the queen briefly unconscious.
She did not mind, though, no sign of sadness at finally being defeated.
Some said that Queen Alina lost deliberately, enamoured as she was with the handsome Aleksandr. The queen always denied this claim, though, for as long as she lived.
“We are equals,” she would always say, “sometimes I win and sometimes he does. That is the nature of a perfectly balanced pair.”
And so Queen Alina wed Aleksandr in a grand ceremony that celebrated their marriage and bestowed upon him the title of Prince Consort.
Theirs was a blissfully happy union and, much to the relief of the queen’s council, also a fruitful one, blessing the realm with four princes and four princesses, all of them formidable and credits to their parents.
Ravka thrived and the reign of Queen Alina was known as a golden age.
From the book Ravkan Myths, Legends, Fairytales and Folktales