This chapter was contributed by Teej, who wrote "Sons of the Desert: Survivor", a spinoff of this series. If you haven't read it, you ought to, because it's good and because this chapter features her OCs.

In the Days of the Princes

Old Ishval Ruins - 1923

"First Lieutenant Taige!"

Alex Armstrong's voice boomed across the wasteland of ruins.

Taige, mounted on his cremolla mare, reached out, laying a reassuring hand on her neck as she threw her head up, startled at the outburst. Her reaction caused the same response in the horse next to him. Veela instantly spun the bay away, giving the two horses a little space to settle back down. She began speaking softly in Ishvallan to her horse as he jigged nervously, tossing his head up and down.

Both animals, Wahiran Istiqans, glimmered with a metallic shine, their breed's most distinctive characteristic. Long-bodied creatures, besides being tall, they were horses renowned for their long-distance endurance.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of a visit today?" Armstrong continued as he approached the two.

Veela, no matter what horse she was ever on, looked ridiculously tiny in proportion to the horse. She rose in the stirrups, letting the bay dance his nervousness out. His coat shone like a copper cenz piece. It seemed strange that a person as petite as Veela could easily control a horse as big as an Istiqan. But control him she did, due to years of working with the animals alongside her father.

"Please, Major..." Taige said, trying to hide a smirk. "Indoor voice?"

"Oh! Of course, of course!" Alex replied, lowering his tone and reaching out to catch the bridle of Veela's bay. The horse instantly calmed down, his head under control, only his ears betraying his nervousness. "I'm afraid the more conversational tone of speaking was not something passed down to me through the Armstrong generations..." Alex said, sheepishly.

Veela smiled slightly at Alex, reaching out to pat the horse's neck.

Eamon Taige, Fort Ishval's other Ishvallan officer, was off duty for the week. He was dressed comfortably in Ishvallan clothes, same as his daughter, with his hair clubbed back as usual. Veela had a simple folded scarf pulling a thick mound of white curls away from her face, to spill down her back. Both wore riding boots instead of sandals. They also had on the distinctive coral and black striped sashes worn by 'proper' Ishvallans.

Besides being a member of Colonel Mile's formidable unit and head of his MP's, Taige -outside of military circles- had become known for restoring a breed of horses long thought to have been destroyed during the War of Extermination. Ishval's own, incredibly rare, Wahiran Istiqans.

As one of the last surviving members of a horse breeding family, he could trace his roots back centuries. Taige relaxed, crossing his scarred wrists over the pommel of his saddle. "We're out doing some training on the zhiiyu here. We thought we'd ride out here and see how the dig is going?"

Alex, wearing a respectable suit, sans jacket, and a straw hat, had joined his father and uncle in helping with the great excavation work being done on the extensive ruins of Old Ishval. It had been the original seat of Ishvallan culture and civilization before an earthquake had dried up the mighty river that flowed through their land. Doctor Sebastian McNeese was heading up the dig, Alex and Philip were lending their talents at drawing up the artefacts that they were finding.

McNeese, in his eagerness to push to the Great Temple to begin work there, has split his crew of archaeologists into three. Those working at the leading edge of the city, those working near the Great Temple, and those working on what was believed to be the old Palace, where Ishvallan royalty once ruled. Even at this early stage of excavation, treasures untold were being found.

"You've come at a most fortuitous time!" Alex nearly boomed again. Idly stroking the muzzle of Veela's bay he added. "Uncle thinks he may have come across a treasury for the Royal Palace. They are making some incredible finds in there, now that they've got the entrance cleared to reach it."

"Oh really?" Taige asked.

"And beautifully preserved!" Alex added. "Keeping things underground and protected was a master stroke of your people! Come, come with me and I will show you what Uncle's crew found today! Who knows," Alex said as he reached out and took the cremolla's bridle in his hand. "We may need the Fort's MP's to guard the things we're finding!"

Taige shot an amused glance at his daughter as he shook his foot loose and dropped to the ground.

"Allow me to hand you down from your mount, Miss Veela!" Alex said stepping to one side as he released Taige's mare. He gave Veela his hand as she too followed her father's practise and dropped out of the saddle.

"Thank you, Zhaarad Armstrong," She said softly, reaching up to flip the reins over the top of the bay's head. She settled them in the crook of her arm as Taige followed suite.

"It is entirely my pleasure!" Armstrong replied gallantly, presenting his arm, palm up, to reveal the layout of the archaeological dig. "I would be honoured to show you the site!"

Several tents had been set up, some over tables where students worked at carefully brushing dirt and other things from artefacts that had been found. Other tents had been set up over excavations in progress, and a few others covered seating areas and a 'kitchen' of sorts. A small fleet of cars and trucks were parked nearby. Every ounce of shade was being taken advantage of.

Alex, doing his courtly best, showed the pair around the site, explaining how large jugs and pottery had been found buried in what were apparently gardens attached to houses. Speculation ran rife that the largest jugs were used for wine making. Eventually he led them further into the ruins, pausing briefly at where attempts were being made to clear out an entrance leading underground at what was once the Great Temple of Old Ishval. Bozidar, the current head priest of Ishval was convinced that a catacomb of rooms lay under the temple, housing books and relics from the times of the Princes.

Underground, out of heat and carefully maintained at a steady temperature could mean that things were far more preserved than what was being found at the outskirts of the ruins. A great deal of hope was being placed on the outcome of what was found at the bottom of the entrance. It was here, in the shelter of a few remaining stone columns, Taige and Veela ground tied their mounts and followed their host.

Alex led them towards what was the probable location of the royal Palace grounds. It was here that the worst of the damage from the Great quake had occurred. So far only one underground room had been located and it was providing a great deal of excitement in what had been found. Tents set up similarly as those at the leading edge of the ruins, had many different artefacts laid out.

Short swords, knives, stirrup irons, rings, necklaces, even whip handles, the lashes long rotted away, with various other tools lay about in different stages of cleaning and cataloguing. Under the tables were stacked several padlocked metal boxes for storage and protection.

People were going into and emerging from the entrance, carrying things as they went. Doctor Sebastian McNeese was one of them. He spotted Taige and immediately rushed over to greet him, several students trailing in his wake.

"Ahhh, Lieutenant Taige!" He said reaching out a hand. "I'm honoured you should come out here!"

Taige looked a little bemused and shook the archaeologist's hand. "Have we met?"

"Forgive me, but Alex has told me of the most remarkable job you are doing to preserve those astonishing Ishvalan horses you breed! We haven't actually met but I know you by reputation." McNeese smiled at him.

To his right, Taige heard his daughter snicker. He shook his head slightly (he knew he had a reputation in more ways than one) and focused on the archaeologist. "I'm afraid you have me at a slight disadvantage. How do you know of me?"

McNeese ploughed on, turning to his students, he pointed a finger over his shoulder at Taige. "This man, single-handedly, is bringing back a breed of horse from near extinction. For the Ishvalan people, it's a critical element of restoring their culture." McNeese turned back to Taige, clapping him on the shoulder. "And where a people's culture is concerned, especially Ishvallan culture, I make it my job to know as much as possible. It's life's blood to an archaeologist!"

"Ah..." Taige nodded understanding. "Well," he paused and cast a look at his daughter, raising a mocking eyebrow. "I'm obliged."

"You're coming by must be a sign," McNeese said with a mischievous grin. "We've found something in this underground room that I think may be of great interest to you. Let me show it to you. See if what I am thinking is right." He dropped Taige's hand and turned towards the entryway.

"Follow me!"

He led them into a long, narrow underground chamber. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. Several large kerosene lanterns illuminated the half demolished and cluttered room. It was noticeable cooler, a great relief, and several students were busy at work around a table that had been set up in the centre.

"Have a look at this..." McNeese said, leading Taige and Veela over to the table. There was a very large bundle of crusty, dirty cloth that had been carefully prised open and folded back. Taige frowned. It looked a lot like oilcloth canvas, only the material appeared to be more gauze-like.

"We think it's actually cotton and silk gauze soaked in some sort of organic wax then used to wrap up the items for preservation. I know the foothills farther east have snow berries and the like growing around in the higher elevations, maybe they were harvested and boiled for the wax."

"Maybe so," Taige rumbled thoughtfully. "More probable they used bayberry and mixed it with beeswax. It's how a lot of 'rich man's candles' were made. Along with waxed cloth. We still make candles like this, moppet and I." Taige glanced at his daughter. "They smell nice too."

"Ahhh," McNeese murmured, his blue eyes twinkling. "That sounds much more feasible than soaking the cloth in just straight berry wax, depending on the species of berry. Bayberries would be better suited too." He shook his runaway train of thoughts and focused on the matter at hand. "Anyway, when we teased this parcel open this is what we found..." McNeese rambled a moment, then drew Taige closer to the table.

It had been an enormous bundle. And what was inside was astonishing indeed.

A large bolt of cloth, deep, deep burgundy in colour with a fringe of shimmering gold all the way around was bordered in a broad band of spirals and cloud like-designs. Each design was filled in with glittering metallic green, blue, red, gold or silver. It had two large burgundy loops at one end. The material appeared not unlike velvet. What must have been the silver thread had long tarnished and now shimmered with an oily sheen of colours, a condition known as being case-hardened.

Veela, always the visual one, gasped at the intricacy of the stitching and colours.

That, however, didn't beat what was inside that bundle of cloth.

Four golden collars, all of which were studded with rows of small gold pyramids, interspersed with glowing green stones, lay shining in the light of the kerosene lanterns. The largest of the collars, though, was huge. The two ends of the collar connected to a disk of gold the size of a tea plate. In its centre was a solid green circle of stone with gold pyramids radiating away and up the two long straps. From the bottom edge of the disk dangled a gold square, also studded and sporting a green stone at its centre.

Along the edge of this piece's straps dangled gold coins, each with a spear of gold hanging from them thus creating a stunning centrepiece of a collar. All four collars had been painstakingly stamped onto thick leather straps, then sewn onto a backing strap. Each one had a gold buckle and tongue to strap onto whatever they were to be placed upon.

McNeese glanced at Taige. "My students have a thought what these may be for, but your being here may confirm it for me."

"What might that be?" Taige countered.

"They think they may have been for camels, especially because of that bigger piece."

Taige gave McNeese a ghost of a smirk. "How delicate are these?" He asked looking the collars over, almost reverently. McNeese could easily see that Taige knew exactly what they were for.

"They are solid enough, including that covering cloth. For something being almost a thousand years old, they are in extraordinary shape."

"Can we handle them?" Taige asked, looking at McNeese sharply.

"Do you know what they are?" The Doctor asked.

Taige smiled, "I certainly do." He straightened and looked at his daughter. "Pet? Go get zhiiyu."

Veela, her eyes gleaming and curious, nodded and scampered off.

Taige looked at McNeese. "I can do you one better, if we can handle them. I can show you exactly what they were for."

"I thought you might!" McNeese said, trying to hide his excitement. "Can you think of why they were so protected?"

"That's a Prince's ransom in gold and malachite there... I bet someone in the household staff started wrapping things in these bundles to hide them from looters. When the first tremors began before the Great Earthquake hit, or maybe even afterwards, they wouldn't know if another quake would strike or not, so they hid them. They were never able to come back and retrieve the items."

"That is a very plausible theory!" McNeese sighed in satisfaction. "All right, kids!" Sebastian said to the cluster of college students around them. "Carefully, carefully gather these up and bring them outside. I think we're about to get a demonstration of their true purpose!"

Veela, having guessed what was going to happen, had pulled her bay's saddle and blanket off of him and stood outside the excavation tunnel holding onto his bridle. The horse's extraordinary coat gleamed in the sunlight.

Soon the students were standing around the horse, some reaching out tentatively to touch him, other's murmuring about him.

"What's his name?" One of the students asked.

Veela, standing in front of the horse, holding the halter portion of his bridle in both hands, gave the students an enigmatic smile. "He's called zhiiyu for now. His name hasn't been revealed yet."

"What d'you mean his name hasn't been revealed?" The student asked.

Another slapped his arm. "Ishvalan names are sacred, idiot! Don't you remember the prep courses to coming here?"

"Even for horses?"

"Even for horses," Taige replied in his bass rumble of a voice. "Until a name is revealed, we call the horses our little brothers or little sisters. Zhiiyu or zhiiya. That's a standard that has lasted for thousands of years."

Alex Armstrong, who was diligently and rapidly sketching something in his art book, smiled benignly. "Passed down through countless generations! How sublime!"

Taige smirked with amusement then nodded his head towards the cream coloured mare he preferred riding. Her coat shimmered in the light and with her pale blue eyes she looked like an otherworldly creature. "My zhiiya over there is called Begane. In Ishvalan that means exotic. Rather fitting for her, eh?"

There were a few murmurs of interest then another student piped up. "What about this horse though?"

"In his case, he's still our zhiiyu," Veela said, looking into the horse's eyes, reaching up and stroking his nose.

"Or 'you big oaf', until something more dignified is presented to us." Taige added, eliciting giggles and chuckles from the group. He smirked, slapping the horse's neck. "Ishvala eventually will reveal a name to our little brother in time and that's what he'll be called." He looked around the crowd.

"Who's got the smallest collar?" He asked, and a student eagerly stepped up beside him. Taige reached over and carefully took it from her hands.

Deftly, and with an almost instant expertise, he attached the collar at the top of the horse's neck. The animal seemed to undergo an immediate transformation. He lifted his head up higher, exposing just how long his neck really was. Taige smirked, his eyes twinkling at the animal's response as he settled the buckle at the top of where the mane should have been growing.

"Is this why you shave the mane's off these horses?" One of the students asked, as another student handed him the next sized collar.

"Yeah, seems a shame you'd have cut off whatever it is that keeps the flies out of their face." Piped up a second student.

"No, that's not why," Taige said slipping the second collar on under the first one and securing the buckle. "Istiqan's manes and tails are pretty thin and wispy. No flowing locks on these creatures. It's a desert adaptation. They have longer eye lashes, against flies and the sand. Plus, we make leather fringes for the halters to help keep the flies off their face. The manes are so sparse and thin it looks a damned sight better shaving them off then letting them keep them." As he set then second collar into a place a few inches down from the first he shot a sly smirk at the students. "Sort of like a prepubescent beard. It's just ain't worth keeping."

That elicited a few guffaws from the gathered crowd. Some of the students from the Temple dig could see what was happening and began to make their way over to the group around the horse.

"It does come in handy though when you put these collars on them." He picked up the third one, settling it in to place under the second collar and buckling it down.

"I take it, then, that the coat, with that refractive quality to the hair, helps keep the body cool in the heat?" McNeese asked, running a hand down the haunch of the horse. There was no way to describe such a shiny copper colouring.

"Got it in one, Doctor." Taige replied. "Reflecting the sunlight away from the body just helps keep the body temperature normal, also helps when they are tasked for a long-distance run."

Two students carrying the fourth and largest of the collars stepped forward.

"Not yet, the blanket goes on now," Taige said.

McNeese and three students, two on each side of the horse, gently draped the burgundy blanket over the horse's back under Taige's direction. The two loops lay just on either side of the horse's withers.

"Okay, now you two hold that centre disk in the middle of his chest, like so..." he said, indicating to them where to hold it. The coins glittered and tinkled at the handling of the large collar. As they held it in place, Taige reached over the horse's back and slid that end of the strap through the loop, then did the same with the one on his side before buckling the collar and settling it flat on the horse's neck.

Then they all stepped back and stared.

It was like an exotic apparition from another era literally had appeared in their midst.

The Istiqan was transformed into a regal creature worthy only for a member of royalty. He shifted slightly, causing the coins to jingle and sparkle. He held his head up, tall and proud. Taige, shook his head in wonder, reaching down and picking up the saddle which he then set in place on the horse's back.

"This is what the Istiqans in the royal household looked like." He said confidently. "There's a strap piece missing that attaches to that small square at the bottom of the disk. It threads between the front legs and attaches to the underbelly saddle strap."

"Magnificent!" McNeese breathed in awe, his eyes taking in the sight. Several of the students, and Alex Armstrong where madly sketching in their archaeological logs and sketch books.

"Magnificent doesn't even come close!" Alex rumbled reverently. "Superlatives fail me!"

"I think what you may have found here, Doctor, is one of the Royal tack rooms." Taige said.

"My thoughts exactly," McNeese concurred, smiling in delight.

"There's also enough gold on those collars to refinance Ishval." Taige said. "We might want to let the Khorovar and the Colonel know about this. Get it into some sort of protection against thieves. I'm betting too, that metallic quality in the stitching on the blanket is gold and silver. The silver's corroded though. Looks case-hardened for sure. That's gonna be a job getting the tarnish out." He looked at McNeese. "You've got strong boxes and locks out here for the more valuable finds, right?"

"Most certainly. We've been keeping any of the valuable finds under lock at key at the governor's office." McNeese mused. "Before transporting everything to Eastern University for further cleaning and cataloguing."

"Let me talk to Colonel Miles. A find like this..." Taige, shaking his head in wonder, reached out, reverently running his fingers along the strap of the main collar. "It should be under guard as well as locked down. My MP's can handle that, with the Colonel's permission that is."

"And being a mite easier to transport to the train station then from the centre of town." McNeese grinned. He drew in a deep breath, gazing at the horse a bit longer then sighed. "We'd better start getting this off of him."

Taige nodded, reaching up undo the uppermost collar. As he did, Veela stepped up beside him, lightly touching his arm. Taige leaned her way, and she began to speak to him softly in Ishvallan. He looked away a moment, handing the collar to a student and reached for the next buckle. Then he smiled, glancing at his daughter fondly and nodded.

McNeese seeing the interaction, raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Ishvala has funny timing when revealing a name sometimes." Taige commented.

"Oh?" McNeese asked. "Has he revealed a name for this young fella?" He asked unbuckling the main collar, letting it slide gently into the waiting hands of two students.

"May we inquire what that might be?" Alex asked.

"Qirali." Veela said, reaching up to stroke the horse's nose with a smile on her face.

Alex and McNeese both raised their eyebrows.

Taige chuckled, patting the horse's neck, fondly. "It's old Ishvallan. It means royalty."

McNeese smiled, also gazing at the horse. "Qirali. What a very fitting name indeed."