The Marai's Letter

"As Marai to Princess Oresea, your duty is only to her. Whatever life you had before is over. They are dead to you. Do you understand, Iulia?"

Pauper to Princess

The Marai is the title givent to the older companion of a member of the imperial lineage. The Marai is three years older born in the opposite month under the opposite moon phase and is the same sex as the imperial child. They are chosen when they are six years old. For Marai Iulia, she was born to a peasant family in the empire, but Fate chose her to be Marai to Princess Oresea. It was a sudden shift to be taken away from her family and then trained to be a noble.

Family Forgotten and Found

The children chosen to be Marai are instructed to forget whatever family they had before. Their parents must treat the child as a stranger. Instead, the imperial family adopts the Marai as one of their own. They are provided with the same education and privileges down to having a personal bodyguard. Any contact between the child and their birth family is prohibited under threat of bodily harm to the family and not the Marai.

Forbidden Letters

The letters written by Marai Iulia to Denaira Meneras between 481 IA and 528 IA offer a fascinating look into the life and secrets of the imperial court. Iulia wrote them well aware of the dangers, and despite being forced to abandon her family and life, she held onto a childhood friendship which could only be realized from afar.

A Secret Courier

The imperial family had a personal postman, but the postman answered only to the emperor. The first few letters were delivered officially, but as correspondence continued, discretion became a priority for Iulia. She recruited the assistance of a stablemaster from Yen Bosca, a town neighboring Pon Caterba. Through the stablemaster's connections and specially sealed wax letters, Iulia and Denaira were able to write back and forth freely. Postmen often traded horses at the stables, so it was relatively straightforward for a stablehand to slip in an extra letter.

Type

Text, Letter

Medium

Paper

Marai Iulia

Iulia Oscana was born in 471 IA in Pon Caterba. She was the middle child with four other siblings. Early in her life, she became friends with Denaira who lived nearby. The two lost contact after Iulia was chosen to be a Marai. When Iulia was ten and deeply homesick, she risked sending a letter to her friend in the hopes that she was still remembered. This was the start of the correspondence, and the two remained in regular contact throughout Iulia's life.

Denaira Meneras

Denaira was born in 472 IA in Pon Caterba. She spent her childhood as one of many daughters of a farmer who didn't have any sons. She married Lugos Viscuerho, the son of a nearby farmer. They had a lengthy courtship which she wrote about frequently to Iulia. They had six children, but only four lived to adulthood. Her final letter was never answered, and she died in 560 IA to illness.