fandomania | The Adventure continues...

Our emergency babies:

¤

Our eggs:

Our hatchlings:

The Story:

I came to lying in the softest, most luxurious bed that I had been in for the past year. I almost forgot where I was because I was enjoying the decadent feeling of a wonderful bed. Too many days lying on the hard ground takes a toll on one’s body. This bed was bliss.

Outside the room that I was in, I heard voices arguing. It was Donal and his grandfather.

“Patra and I are going to be married as soon as it can be arranged. Even if we have to wait another eight months to do so, Pahpey. I love her so much that I don’t want to live the rest of my life without her. If you cannot accept her as my wife, then we are going to leave and find another place where we will be accepted.”

“Donal, don’t waste your life over her. She is a gold-digger. She obviously knows that you are wealthy and has gotten her clutches into you. She will make your life miserable. I forbid you have anything more to do with her. Someday, when you grow up some more, you will thank me for what I am doing!”

“Brother, when you get things wrong, you really get them wrong, don’t you?” said Rosa, calmly. “Have you spent even a few minutes talking to that girl, before you started condemning her? I spent an hour with her before she fainted, and also with her children. She is the most unpretentious, well mannered, kind-hearted person I have met in a long time. She adores her children and they adore her back. She is genuinely in love with Donal. I could tell that every time she looked at him.

“Do you remember the first time each of your daughters-in-law came to visit here? How ill at ease they were coming into your mansion? They all are from good solid merchant families. But your wealth certainly overawed them. Lady Patra, on the other hand, seemed perfectly at ease with all the opulence that you have shown her. In my opinion, a gold-digger, as you are trying to label her, wouldn’t have been so naturally at ease. She knew, without hesitation, all the proper silverware to use and which plates were which. If she wasn’t pregnant, I am sure she would have known which wine glass was used for which wine. As is, she knew without hesitation, which glass was the water glass.

“She treated the servants as if they were people and not slaves. She smiled and thanked them for everything that they did for her.

“Why haven’t you noticed this? Because you have closed your mind to her. What I am telling you is this: she was born to wealth. That is why she wasn’t overwhelmed or got a greedy look on her face. She is very much used to this kind of life.

“But I have found more! While the servants and I went through their clothes to see which items were salvageable and which needed discarding, I found these, carefully hidden in the bottom, the birth records of all her children, with the exception of the last two. And this, her marriage lines. Not just a marriage certificate like the rest of us would have, but the record of her marriage and the place she has amongst her ancestors. See what it says? Lady Patra, daughter of Baron Bernan, son of King Leos, son of King Theofan. I can go on, but it just would be more kings of the House of VanDraco in Freedonia. Lady Patra isn’t just a noblewoman, she is royalty.

“Donal, quit looking so dumbfounded. You had to know this.”

“No, Tauntie Rosa, I swear to you. This is the first I have ever heard of this. I never went through her things or looked at any of her documents.”

“For some reason, Donal, I believe you,” said Rosa, “You aren’t the kind to have doubts like your grandfather is prone to.”

“Let me see those papers,” demanded Piatrus. There were several moments of silence and then he continued, “Alright. I have misjudged her. I withdraw any objections to your marriage, Donal.”

“How gracious of you, Brother!” exclaimed Rosa sarcastically. “I can just see your brain plotting how to turn this into a great advantage against your competitors!”

“Give me a break, woman! I am trying to understand this as best I can,” exclaimed Piatrus. “I love my grandson and think he has many fine traits, but why would royalty want to marry so far beneath her?”

“Love, Brother, love. Or have you forgotten what it is like to love someone?”

“No. But I don’t understand why she would defy her family and marry a commoner.”

“I think that I can. When we were undressing her for bed, I saw marks and scars all over her body that showed me she was very much abused. Probably, by her husband. If you look at her birth record and the date of her marriage, you will see that she was just thirteen years old when her family married her to a much older man. I know that I wouldn’t want to wait for my family to hand me off to another political marriage, after the monster they made her marry last time.

“Donal, stop looking so bemused. Buck up, young man! You have a beautiful and willing young woman there. Don’t blinder yourself by the differences in your stations of life. You didn’t seem to care when you seduced her! Be the responsible one now! Don’t let her suffer for your lust.”

“I … yes … I ...” Donal stammered.

“And you, Brother dear, have to send for Haral, at once. We need to get these two young ones wed as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir, Rosa!”

Footsteps went off. I heard the door carefully open. It was Donal. I tried hard to stop crying, but I was just too emotional to do so.

“Oh, crap! You are awake and you heard.” Donal swore under his breath. “You shouldn’t have heard that. Everything is going to be fine now, Love. We are going to be married soon! Tauntie Rosa got Pahpey to listen to reason. Everything is going to be fine!’ He crawled onto the bed and took me into his arms.

I was going to say something, but I forgot when the babies decided to have a kicking contest inside my womb and Donal got distracted by feeling the movements of his children.

The next few days were abuzz with activity in the compound. Although Rosa took it upon herself to make all the arrangements, I had to insist that I wanted the ceremony to be simple, quiet and family only. I just wanted to get married without anyone becoming aware of the irregularity of our circumstances. Rosa seemed to understand. Piatrus had a momentary blow up when he told Donal that he was going to send a messenger to Rawn-Devu to inform Donal’s father that he was alive and getting married. When Donal told his grandfather that he had seen his father more than seven months ago and that his father knew that he was alive, Piatrus became livid when he realized that Donal’s father hadn’t done him the courtesy of send word to him about that. From what I gathered, the two men hadn’t been on speaking terms since the death of Donal’s mother.

Haral turned out to be a younger brother to Piatrus and Rosa, and the High Priest of Alfaria. When I finally met him, he proved gracious and charming. If he had had objections to our marriage, I am sure that Rosa talked him out of them. Haral seemed just as cowed by Rosa as Piatrus was.

When our wedding day dawned, Rosa presented me with the most beautiful wedding gown. It was simple, yet elegant. It was made of ivory silk, with cloth of gold accents on the sleeves, neckline and hem. Pearls and amethyst beads were added along the neckline and sleeves. It was made in such a way as to distract the onlooker from my pregnant body and highlight my face. The maids had done an elaborate hair style, braiding my hair and twisting strings of pearls and amethysts around each braid. Rosa's seamstresses had also made up wedding garb for all of my children, since we weren’t able to bring any appropriate clothes with us when we fled Freedonia.

At noon, I was brought into the garden where thousands of flowers covered the wedding bower. There seemed to be over a hundred people in the audience, but Rosa pointed out to me who they all were. Sons and daughters-in-law and their children and their grandchildren, workers from Piatrus’ business, who also lived in the compound, and all of the servants. A few minutes later, Donal appeared in the bower resplendent in a green silk wedding houppelande, accented with white fur and elaborate embroideries. Donal told me much later that the garb had been his grandfather’s wedding outfit. I then walked into the bower and Donal and I were wed.

I know that the ceremony was different from my last wedding, but what was said and done has gone from my memory. I was totally focused on Donal, as I am sure he was focused on me. We managed to say our vows when prompted to say them. The only thing that I can remember vividly was Haral saying “I pronounce you husband and wife.” We were then swept into especially decorated wedding chairs covered in silks and flowers, and the young men lifted us up onto their shoulders, danced us around and eventually carried us into the banquet hall. There the cooks fed us a wonderful repast. The wedding feast continued for some time.

We were just about to have the dessert course when the sounds of horses and loud banging on the compound gates jarred the festivities. Because all of the servants were within the hall, the doors weren’t answered fast enough for the knockers on the outside. They must have found a battering ram of some sort, because within seconds the gates burst open and a mounted party rode into the compound.