Chapter 25

Part 3

He spoke in his native tongue, and Talia quietly translated for Mark. “People of The Nine Valleys, it is I, Prince Yazadril. We have concluded an investigation into the deaths of my daughter Dalia, and of Bezedil, son of Alilia, Princess of The People of Life. It was overseen by Theramin of the Council, and by Dilimon, Second Captain of the Sentry Corps, as neutral parties, and witnessed by Hilsith. We have found that my other daughter Talia is entirely blameless in those deaths. She has agreed to become the wife of Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Fifth, invested Ranger of the Forests of Shinosa Valley in Finitra. Due to necessities of honor, they must be married this very evening, despite our grief at our recent loss. Though all our hearts are sorrowed, we ask that sorrow be set aside for a few hours, and that you all attend, to join us in making this evening’s nuptials a happy and joyous event. The ceremony will of course be held in the wedding chapel in Laylas Valley, one hour before sunset. Your attendance will mean a great deal to us. Thank you, we hope to see you there.

“Thank you Alilia.” Yazadril nodded, as his glow faded to its previous brightness.

“You are welcome.” Alilia nodded wearily. “Now, I think I will go, and take Bezedil home. I will…”

“No.” Talia thoughtfully interjected. “Please, you must attend my wedding. And call all of those you care for, and extend them my invitation as well. You will be my bridesmaid. Actually, you will be my maid of honor.”

“Your maid of honor!” Alilia gasped. “Surely there must be one you care for who would be a more appropriate choice for that honor! After what I have done to you, it would not be right for me to even attend!”

“This marriage is of your doing, Alilia, and if it brings us an eternity of joy and happiness, then that is of your doing as well, and to your credit.

“Though it should help you to know, my intentions in this are not as purely noble as that. Diminished you may be by the casting of the curse, still you stand an order of magnitude above any others of our peoples in pure power, and I think your recovery is almost complete already. I would have you be right beside me, so that your ambient power can most effectively reinforce our vows.

“Mark, my father would usually conduct the ceremony, as Prince of our people, but tonight he has his role as father of the bride, so by procedure and by my preference, Theramin will conduct our wedding.

“It would please me if you would have Dilimon as your best man. He is a good friend, and he is strong in the power.”

“Sure! He and Theramin and I struck up a friendship last night, and I would be pleased to have him if he agrees, and besides, he’s the only other male elf I know besides Theramin and Yazadril!”

Suddenly he sobered, and his countenance fell. “Actually, he’s the only other male I know.”

“You poor boy.” Talia softly caressed his face. “I am shamed that I had forgotten until now, that your tragedy was so much worse than ours.”

The others silently reflected on the truth of this, for where they had each lost a loved one, and Talia had lost two, Mark had lost so much more, for he had lost all, and in a far more horrible manner; all his loved ones, his friends, acquaintances, his home, his entire people. Now that they knew him somewhat, they empathized with his loss much more powerfully.

“But now, we must try to find happiness.” Mark said, and smiled bravely. “You were saying?”

“I was agreeing to be your best man, and thanking you for the honor, I think.” Dilimon laughed.

“Yes.” Talia agreed as she resumed her train of thought. “And thank you.

“Mother, we are allowed twelve bridesmaids and twelve groomsmen. I ask you to choose them and to offer them the honor, selecting the most powerful of those who will attend.

“Father, when all of our people attend a wedding at the Laylas chapel… Drat! I have translated that word so badly!”

“Then break it down by concepts, my child.” Yazadril advised fondly. “For there is no exact word match in this language.”

“Ah” she nodded, then turned to Mark. “It is; ‘The Place of Gathering with Greatest Joy and Deepest Respect For The Joining Of Lives In Love and Harmony’. But ‘chapel’ doesn’t really apply, both because it is an open place of trees and moss, and not a building, and because it has nothing to do with gods or divinity or worship. It is beautiful, and used for weddings almost exclusively, and it has become… charged… with the power and the joy of the many elven ceremonies and vows. It is highly magical, and lends its own power to the gathering. But I will refer to it as ‘the chapel’ in this language, for convenience.

“As I was saying, Father, our people do not fill the chapel or even close to it, even when everyone dances. How many could attend? How many is there room for?”

“Well, that’s hard to say. I see where you’re going with this. Under normal procedures, we are limited by the number that can be seated to feast, about three thousand. If feasted in a picnic buffet style, with only a few tables for the main party and the rest reclining upon the moss, perhaps six thousand if everyone must dance at once. If we set aside a dance floor for perhaps half to dance, we could have eight thousand, without diminishing their enjoyment of the event.”

“I think you’re being conservative, Yazadril.” Theramin mused. “Our people won’t mind mingling a bit closer than that. I’m quite sure that over ten thousand could have a grand time as you’ve described it, especially at such a unique event. And there’s plenty of room to dance beneath the trees.”

“You’re likely right.” Yazadril smiled, picturing it.

“Alilia, there are over four hundred thousand of your people.” Talia pointed out. “Perhaps eight thousand of them would be willing to attend a wedding upon such short notice? Preferably eight thousand of the most powerful among you?”

By now Alilia had caught Talia’s line of thought as well, and she smiled smugly. “Perhaps they will.” she agreed. “If it was necessary, I would command them to do so, but they will be glad to come.”

“Uh, Talia, you’re starting to make me nervous here.” Mark admitted. “I mean, ten thousand of the most powerful elves? Why?”

“My betrothed, this marriage must save us.” Talia told him earnestly and hopefully. “Without it, perhaps we can be happy in a way, despite what you must do to me for the curse. Perhaps you will not come to resent having to do it, or to resent my constant presence and needs, or come to hate me. Perhaps we can do that for an entire human lifetime. Perhaps we can do it for an entire elven lifetime. Perhaps we could do it for a hundred thousand years, or a million! But we must find a way to be happy together for eternity. I have a horrible fear that sooner or later the worst may happen, and we would be trapped in a completely hellish existence together for millions of centuries, hating each other.

“And if your people shared our customs, and placed no disapproval on mating outside marriage, you would never have asked me, despite the curse, and I never even imagined that you would. For though there may be something special growing between us, we do not love each other.

“But when I stand upon the podium with you and take the vows of marriage, I will swear to love you. And even if I do not love you before I take the vows, as long as I am sincere in truly wanting to love you, and I am truly and honorably determined to do so, the power of the vow will make it so, and I will love you, I truly will, with all my heart!

“But magic does not affect you. You may not be bound by the vow. Yet you can see our power glowing, so the power must affect you at least a tiny bit in some way. And so I hope that with so many of the most powerful elves in attendance, lending their power to the vow, that you will be affected by its power, enough that you will truly fall in love with me.

“And since we will be married, you must see that we should love one another. And we will be saved from a hell of our own making, no matter how long we are together.”