The Sovereign and the High Priest
© 2026 by Walter Reimer


Thumbnail art by  baroncoon, color by  Major Matt Mason



This is a story of the Unified Sovereignty, which later became the Empire. It may be apocryphal.


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Years after the Unification War, while Zrand son of Kazid as the First Sovereign ruled, it happened that he attended a feast in company with his mate. The nobility of the various former sovereignties were present, as was the hierarchy of the Faith. The High Priest of the time was politically a powerful figure in the state, and as such he was seated in a place of honor beside Zrand.

“Hey!” Zrand said as the High Priest reached out and took the largest piece of confectionery that had been offered as an ending to the feast. “That was meant for me.”

The High Priest shrugged as he ate the cake. “You should not be so proud, my Lord, always expecting the biggest pieces or choicest cuts at a feast.” He licked his fingers fastidiously after eating the last bite.

“Your waistline could do with some easing, Fatty,” Zrand said, and many gasped at the insult. The Sovereign then yelped in pain as the High Priest moved one booted foot and stepped on Zrand’s tail. “That hurt!” he said, pulling his tail up to him and inspecting the flesh and fur for any injury.

“I move as the Deities move me,” the High Priest said.

Zrand then stood and lifted his tail, loosing a fart at the High Priest. Many more were astounded at this, as custom demanded only sweet or pleasant odors in the presence of the High Priest. “Then the Deities have moved my bowels, to cense you thus.”

The High Priest coughed and waved his hands to clear away the foul smell and said, “That was an unworthy gesture, my Lord. It shows disrespect to the Deities by insulting the one who speaks with Their voice.”

“Oh really?” Zrand said, his tail raised and fingerclaws unsheathed. “I have been blessed by the Deities, by the Creator Itself, and I say that I will surround you with foul odors until you apologize, see if I don’t.” He put a hand on his pistol as he said this, as Zrand son of Kazid never went out of his fortress unarmed in those days.

“Do what you want,” the High Priest said. “You always have, but the Deities will confound you.” And with that the High Priest and the rest of the Faith’s hierarchy stood and left the feast.

In those days the capital city, Farz, was still being rebuilt after the War. Zrand spoke with the masters of the city and the master builder, and so it was that all the sewers in the city were made to converge upon the High Priest’s residence, hard by the Temple to the Deities.

The sewers all flowed into a huge open pit, roofed with strong steel mesh, that had been dug directly in front of the High Priest’s front door. In the Heat-time of the year the smell was strong enough to cause birds to change their courses in the sky, and in the Cold-time the warmth of the waste allowed no snow to prosper on the ground around the pit.

Zrand then challenged the High Priest to apologize for taking his portion of cake, and the High Priest refused.

But the Deities confounded the First Sovereign, for ground-cover and trees and sweet-smelling flowers grew in profusion around the pit, and the soil around the front door of the High Priest’s residence. The High Priest engaged builders who bricked up his front door and made a new one facing the Temple to the Deities.

Years later the sewers were rebuilt, the wastes flowing into a factory that cleaned the water before returning it to the rivers north and south of Farz, but the soil around the High Priest’s residence was esteemed as the most fertile in all the peninsula, and the air around it was perfumed with sweet aroma.

“My Lord!” one acolyte said, coming upon the High Priest at the Temple. “The Sovereign is here, and demands to see you.”

“I will speak with him,” and the High Priest went to the Sovereign, and bowed to him as custom required.

Zrand swished his tail and said, “You have grown thinner. Do you apologize?”

The High Priest bowed again. “Though the Deities confounded your stratagem, my Lord, they have reminded me to be humble before you and have afflicted me with loss of appetite. I apologize to you for taking the portion meant for you.”

“I accept your apology, High Priest,” Zrand said. “Don’t do it again,” and he departed for his fortress.

A year later the High Priest died, for the affliction was a cancer, and Zrand was among the chief mourners.

Ever after, Zrand would not accept the choicest cuts or largest portions at feasts, in remembrance of the High Priest’s apology.



end