I am Mhi-sa Ain, Favored Daughter of Koyo Isu and House Osada, Bloodless Princess of Kalmoro. My mother has had many spouses, consorts, concubines, and lovers in her life, but it is said that my father is the first she took for love before all else, and for him and the child of his she carried, she pondered for many moons in search of a most useful name.
And found one she did. One cannot say my name without giving away a wealth of information to any well trained ear that may be listening. How do they balance the resonance and nasality of Mhi, and if not well, do they overcompensate? Brute force it with a simple Mi? Raise their pitch to try to mimic a higher resonance? How does sa blend or stand apart, is it sibilant or hushed or a harsh z? What happens with the double a? If there is a glottal stop, is it full or a dainty flutter? Do the lips implode on it, folding into the mouth, or hang open? Or do they throw out a stop and add an intrusive letter, slur the vowels together, or elongate them like in Hla-Na Daat, shifting the diphthong at the end? How heavily do they land on the final n?
I hear these choices every time I hear my name, and in these choices I hear native tongue, region, status. Sometimes the choices layer so neatly I can hear how the speaker’s tongue is tied to a specific clan, or perhaps even a specific society or caste. There is always idiolect to keep in mind...speech impediment and affectation that can obscure the truth, but even these are useful in their own way.
In the ancient lands of Aamidal, I am known as Mhissain, though sometimes as Mhisaain. I suppose the one that will ultimately win out will be based on how my legacy is remembered. The Illuminated Queen Mhissain, the Gracious and Graceful, the Uplifter, the Unifier. Queen Mhisaain the Conquerer, Shrill and Sacreligious, Mangler of Signs, Mistress of Miscegenation. They can remember me how they’d like, as long as they remember I succeeded what I set out to do.
Mhissain is the Autarch's youngest daughter and seems to be the favorite of any of her children. While some of Mhissain's siblings have held political power, none have ever held as much as Mhissain held before she turned 20. She has the rare honor of being able to bring voidcats with her from Koyo Isu, and, it is rumored she has the almost unheard of privilege of speaking to the Kadiri with the Autarch's own voice. This last privilege is why the title 'Kizyuisi,' which was originally only something the Kadiri and House Osada called her, is now used in reference to her by the public.
The Kizyuisi has also stepped into much open political power for herself. She was raised primarily between the courts of Koyo Isu and Kalmoro. When the fight for Kalmoro's succession began in earnest, the love Muzhaved, his Padshah Begum, and the people had for Mhissain led to her ascending the throne upon the death of the beloved man she called grandfather despite bearing none of his blood. This ascension gave her Kalmoro and Jamosom, and put her in a position where she naturally began to make many decisions on the Autarchy's behalf for Gamagdhi considering her relative closeness compared to Koyo Isu. She also oversees much of the Conservation Authority, particularly on its new branch in Jamosom.