SHORT STORIES : Tale of the Twin Pearls

©2008 Andrew Thompson.  A tale from the Irukandji virtual world.

In 1979, four years after Irukandji's independence, and in the wake of King Daniel's passing, the powerful Pinjarra tribe attacked the ruling Weta clan, threatening to destroy the dead patriarch's unification success.

They killed his heir and bloodline, but on the brink of victory, the Pinjarrans encountered a foe they had mistakenly overlooked.

Warriors of old, the Tamita tribe had once held sway throughout the Irukandji islands, long before the British arrived.

However, they had willingly submitted to the old King's rule, for they too wanted unity and saw no merit in returning to the wars of ancient times.

But now the Tamita Islanders had no option, for the Pinjarrans wanted anything but peace.

Tamita gathered its forces again, drawing support from across the kingdom, native and white man alike, and after months of bloody war they crushed the Pinjarran revolt.

As the dust of war settled, the Tamita elders were handed the reins of government. Their leader was wise with age but young in ideals.

He assumed control as elder, not as King, and established the Council of Princes, comprised of elders from each of the Irukandji tribes.

All but Pinjarra. Of this tribe, he killed all the heirs except the eldest, and made him a slave in service to the crown.

As penance for three generations, such would be the fate of each firstborn Pinjarran prince until the memories of civil war were forgotten.

That same style of shared government still survives today, ensuring freedom, peace, and integrity remain at the foundation of Irukandji lifestyle and culture.

In 2007, with the Council in its second generation, Prince Xay of the Tamita clan took the reins, and his childhood friend, the Pinjarran Prince Rah passed to him as slave and concubine.

Two years later, for his service and loyalty, Prince Rah was made an elder of the Council of Princes, and Pinjarra Island re-admitted as a full member state of Irukandji.

Of all six Princes on the Council, Rah and Xay are the only ancestral trueborns.

Suggested further reading:
Tale of the Twin Pearls
The Princes of Irukandji
The Recreant Family Plot