Kalistan

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Empress wears priceless Hulanevek Diamond in Public
"Stunning," says crowd of onlookers at Orchestra Season Finale
Sulari, Duchy of Suldanor
December 21, 5662


Her Imperial Majesty the Empress and Her Highness the Lady Companion at Orchestra Finale

The most valuable single stone in Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress Mary I Ananto's entire gem vault, the Hulanevek Diamond, which hasn't been seen in public in just over thirty years, was on full display on Friday night at the season finale of the National Orchestra in Sulari. The piece played by the National Orchestra in Sulari to close out the season was the magnificent classical piece by Dunic composer Viktor von Strich, the romantic Symphony No 12 "Pastoral." The closing performance of the season was dedicated to the Empress.

Patrons of the arts are quite familiar with the National Orchestra, who choose one major piece to play over 16 annual performances, as well as a review of other works. "Going to all 16 concerts," said Sulari sociality Baroness Heidi Gomez-la Calle, "I've heard von Strich 16 times this season. They play it excellently. But the real pleasure from the annual pass comes with all the other little concertos, sonatas and chamber pieces they play. Each program is different and it finishes off with the Major piece at the end, so it's always fun to listen to these artists perform these pieces."

The Empress and Her Highness the Lady Companion Victoria Jensen showed up immediately before the beginning of the first program of the evening. As she arrived, all conversation halted and all eyes turned to her, an upon her head, fixed to a diamond chain diadem, was the glittering Hulanevek Diamond, first received in Kalistan by the Black Empress, Empress Pavlina I Ananto-Hulanevek, then passed down through Empress Carolina, Emperor Fredrick III and then to her. The last time the famous, and priceless diamond was seen in public was on Her Imperial Majesty's Coronation day in November 5532 and then only in photos. But here it was the legendary diamond, in full glitter, the centerpiece of an already excessively opulent diamond tiara, itself made entirely out of diamonds and white gold.

"When I first saw the Lady Companion enter with her own stunningly fabulous diamond necklace on, I thought I had seen it all," said Gomez-la Calle. "But then, as it turns out, set directly upon her forehead, like some kind of Vascanian Goddess, here is the Empress with the Hulanevek Diamond right there, attached to two strands of diamonds encircling the crown of her head, with a single anchoring strand going over the center of her head, just to hold the thing in place! It was blinding. Literally everyone in the room stopped talking and stared, until Lady Donna (McConnell of Jah County) bowed deeply, and all others followed suit. My heart was racing. I thought I would fall over dead right there."

Most of the people didn't know first that the Empress would be in attendance, or second what the Hulanevek Diamond looked like, and only later did it become widely known that she had worn it to the Orchestra. "My husband asked me in the middle of the second piece if that diamond was well known," said Baroness Gomez. "I explained to him that this was the Hulanevek Diamond. And I told him about the curse that is supposedly on that stone. He said he had heard of the diamond but never the curse, and so as I tried to tell him about it, that it is widely sought after but only can be possessed by the person to whom it is directly given by the last owner, and that if it is stolen, it will kill whoever stole it immediately, he said he didn't believe in a curse like that and then the Lady behind us rudely told us to be quiet and listen to the program."

At intermission, the crowd was informed that Her Imperial Majesty would be in the Lobby to greet the attendees of the performance personally, and a cue formed as people lined up to bow or courtsy to the Empress, and see her face to face. As many of the theatergoers were commoners, most had never had the opportunity to meet the Empress in person before. One little girl, ignorant of the rules of protocol, waited her turn, and when she arrived at the front of the line, she watched her mother courtesy to the Empress, she mimicked her, and then pointed at the diamond to show her mom. The Empress knelt down so she was at the small child's head, looked her in the eye and said "Would you like to touch the diamond?" The girl's eyes grew wide, she looked at her mother for permission, and her mother very slowly nodded her head, and the little girl stuck out her pointer finger and moved it to the stone. The Empress smiled, the girl stepped back in awe and the Empress stood back up and nodded at the girls mother.

"We all watched that happen," said Lady Gomez. "The funniest thing was, that little girl, maybe 5 or 6 years old, didn't really know who the Empress even was, but when she touched the stone, just then, by coincidence, the lights dimmed briefly and then came back up to let the crowd in the lobby know that the intermission would be over in 3 minutes. The little girl likely went away convinced that she caused the lights to dim, when it was just an accident of the time."

The appearance of the Empress with the Hulanevek Diamond in Sulari was all anyone talked about the next day. At the end of the performance, Her Imperial Majesty rose in her Box Seat and applauded the orchestra, as the crowd applauded her. "She was the image, in fact, the personification of grace," said the Baroness. It was such an experience to see her there. I know she comes to the Orchestra fairly regularly. It's not strange to see the nobility attend, or even occasionally royalty. But tonight was something special. It is a season finale I will certainly never forget."

@LaModa