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The whole world whispering
Born at the right time
It was said that if the the royal seers and astrologers could not find an appropriate sign for a royal event, they would make one.
Few could argue, however, that when Ahana, the moon, covered over Orena, the sun, in a total eclipse over a large stretch of the kingdom, the moment was ideal for all sorts of signs.
It was then that the royal child was born, into the darkness of the night-at-noon, and the world, or at least the kingdom and those near it, leaned forward to see what the astrologers and seers would say.
The astrologers and seers, who would normally be standing on those balconies allowed to them declaiming their message to the public, were nowhere to be found.
They were closeted deep inside their tallest, largest tower, whispering to one another.
âShould we tell them?â hissed a younger astrologer.
âShould we lie?  Theyâre the King and Queen!â hissed a middle-age seer who had never been much for those times when a sign needed to be found in a less-than-obvious manner.
âWe should tell them the truth,â declared the head of divination. Â At the looks she was given, she smiled dryly. Â âWe tell the truth as we always have. Â As we always have.â
They stood on their balconies as the King and the Queen presented their tiny newborn child. Â âThe child has been born who will have the mighty quest,â declaimed the loudest of them.
âThe child has been born who will have the kindest heart,â declared the oldest of them.
âThe child has been born who will see what has not been seen,â cried the head of divination in her strongest voice, to the silence of the gathered crowds.
In the Queenâs arms lay a child every bit as ordinary as every other royal child for the last three generations.
On the far side of the nation, in a midwifeâs arms in a small farming town, lay the child who had been foreseen, born as the eclipse passed over the family farm.
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