Emperor Commodus was getting
agitated at the accusation as he was in favor of Othello as his Legatus. He was
to assigned the Legatus an important task but then the Senator had stood to
accuse him of shame. He would hear the accusation. It was to protect the honor
of his legions and also of his trust.
"Of what had he done,
that you would bravely barged in here?" Emperor Commodus asked before he
stepped back. He turned to look at the two men.
"My Emperor, the Legatus
had committed a foul deed to my family. He had performed a ceremony with my
daughter without my consent. I am who is the father of the lady." Brabatio
laid out his grievance. "His men also attacked my guards when we
confronted him."
"My Emperor.."
Othello offered to speak on his part but Commodus stopped him. Brabatio
continued on his accusation.
"The Legatus, once my
friend and invited to my table at the house to share my meal, had betrayed my
trust. He had taken my daughter from me by means most foul."
"Of what may that be?"
"The half bastard of
Rome had used his other ancestry spells to entice my daughter. I demand that he
stopped and denounce his alliance with my daughter." Brabatio told the
Emperor. "I would not have half breeds in my family lineage."
Othello wanted to strike the
Senator but he was restraint by Iago and Cassio. Emperor Commodus looked to the
Legatus.
"Hold your anger,
Othello or had I misjudged you for a more competent Legatus? The Senator
accusation called on your birth right and also of your alleged works on his
daughter. I am wondering if she is here."
"I am here, my
Emperor." The voice was heard from the rear. It stepped forth to reveal
the beauty of Desdemona.
"My name is Desdemona. I
am the love of Legatus Othello. I am also the daughter of Senator
Brabatio..." Desdemona was interrupted by her father who shouted his
disclaimer on her.
"She is no daughter of
mine anymore. She is a .." Brabatio held back his last words. He looked
away with anger in his expression.
"A daughter that you had
fathered, nurtured and educated since young. I pledge no more than you as my
own father. I pledged my loyalty to you as one, but the day had come, that I am
to pledge my love .....and loyalty to my love. Just as my mother did
before." Desdemona told her father.
"You mother was a fine
lady, never one that finer than her in my life. But she did not disobey me like
you. You had degraded yourself to me. You are a......like a ~"
"A whore, am I?"
Desdemona replied. "I am no whore, Father. I am the love of that man with
the proper ceremony done by the priest. Just like you did when you wedded my
mother. Remember her words that she told you. She told my guardian too. She
obeyed you to defile her own father."
"But here’s my husband, And so much duty as my mother showed to
you, preferring you before her father....." Desdemona spoke out the words
that she had learned from her guardian.
"So much I challenge that I may profess due to the love of my
life." Brabatio complete the sentence. "Your mother said that when
she ...."
"Met her father like I am now. I would marry the man I love. And
not one you decide on. Even with or...." Desdemona placed it to her
father.
"Or without her father's
consent, if I may add." Desdemona continued on. She knew then again from
her maternal grandfather whom she met while en-route to Milan some summer back.
From her guardian, she was told that her mother's home before she married the
trader who used to ply his trade there.
"How dare you raised my
past?" Brabatio confront his daughter. "It was a different time, and
there were needs."
"A past she loved you.
You planted in her the child. Would that be the need that made you do
that?" Desdemona asked. "But I am not with his. Not yet but would be
in due time. I would not march to the ceremony shamed like my mother."
"Desdemona! That's your
mother you spoke of in spite." Brabatio defended his love who had died on
giving birth to this undeserving child. "She died for you."
"No, Father. She died
for your child, my birth. She died because she was sick. She was advised by
many not to carry the child, but you insisted. You insisted on a heir."
Desdemona told the elderly man. "Father, I know more than you thought. You
may had loved her, but you were also a bastard."
"Desdemona, how could
...." Brabatio words were silenced by the Emperor.
"I had heard enough of
the two of you.' Emperor Commodus told the two to stop. He then looked at
Othello. "Pray tell me your part. I am most intrigue of what you had to
say, my Legatus."
Othello looked to his love
who ran into his arms. He held her close to him as her tears swept down his
chest. He looked to the older man who stood there in anger. He looked to the
Emperor and sighed.
"My Emperor, I know
nothing of what was spoken, but I do know that Desdemona is truly my love. We
had met the last two winter when I came back from the campaign against the
wandering tribes at the dark continent. I was invited to the House of Brabatio
for a feast to celebrate; I think it was a feast for Apollo." Othello
looked to his love.
"She was there, as
before, but that time, I felt lonely. We talked and walked in the garden."
Othello continued on while gazing at his love. "Brabatio came to see us,
and even praised me for being a good Legatus. He had said that he would be happier
if he had a son who was one too."
"That was only the start
of love." Desdemona continued for him. "We met all winter and then in
summer when he came back. I loved the man. I knew of his pain while as a kid.
He was loved but only his adopted father. He was not loved by his adopted
mother and nor of his adopted kins. He was called names and barred from
attending the family table. He ate with the servants and played in the
kitchen."
"A tale to weaned
himself on your bosom." Brabatio interjected. "He is a bastard taken
off the battlefield, they said. But I know more. He's the bastard of Thaddeus
with a slave."
Othello pulled away from his
love but she held him tight. She restraint him from hitting her father. She
looked into his eyes and whispered.
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