General Summary
Day 471
On the day before the wedding, Nina and Torrick are not allowed to see one another per dwarven custom. The bridal pair are separated and sent off the enjoy the day with members of their respective gender (which does prompt curiosity from the present elves about what happens if your close family is all a different gender, or if you don't have friends of the same gender, or what happens if the pair are the same gender and do friends have to choose which group they join?)
Nevertheless, Nina explains that traditionally the women would relax in hot springs and be pampered and cared for, dusted with gold and made to look radiant. Instead she has decided that we will traipse out into the countryside for a picnic with silly games and wine and mock combat - a party befitting the bride. As the younger women race ahead and pelt one another with felt balls the 'adults' (Wayla, Andstella, and I) walk together a little more sedately. It is nice to be out with Wayla in a more casual setting - no negotiations about her fiefdom or children. She actually comments on how happy she is with how Miriam has grown after leaving home and how she knows her daughter couldn't have done that had she stayed in Whitewater. But going forward Wayla wants to make Whitewater into a place where Miriam (and people like her) would feel welcome.
She marvels at the way elves seem to form such close ties with family and wonders at how humans might do the same. I tell her simply that chosen bonds are strong. The human culture might not encourage people to find their own families but even elves choose and re-choose their blood family members; it is an act of conscious choice that reaffirms a bond. And especially for children, the act of providing the right soil to nurture their growth is critical so that when they are ready to choose, they choose to remain part of a family.
We spend the rest of the day eating and playing, fighting with false weapons and dancing in the sunset with music and flight. Tira gets a healthy dose of teasing over being the next projected betrothal, though she protests that it's completely different for elves.
We leave behind a small apple sapling and a stone marker to commemorate the occasion, vowing to return to enjoy it in the future.
Later on Bran tells me that the boys went gambling and drinking under Randall's guidance and the day turned into arm-wrestling, then knife-throwing, then axe-throwing. A hefty bill is owed to the gambling hall they rented and little Liliales was thrilled to be present (and Bran assures me he was well taken care of). I am pleased to hear that they brought Spindle as well, and perhaps cheered him up a little.
Day 472
The day of the wedding itself means waking up early, a pain that Alder soothes with good pastries. It's so sweet seeing the entire family in our formalwear and the curious whispers and questions that pop up in the audience as we join the processional towards the castle. Human Bran proudly wears his Fatespinner robes, elvish Lyssa looks incredibly dashing in dwarven finery. Haze accompanies us with draconic wings folded neatly on his fae-like frame while I keep my feet on the ground despite my own wings.
Bran presides over the ceremony and I see his golden threads of magic at play in a blessing he gives the new couple, strengthening their bond and ability to weather the things that will challenge them. When I come forwards to crown them I invoke words I have heard many times before, now rewritten welcome all people into the Outlands of the Empire. I call upon their love for their people and the strength their kingdom will return to them, invoking the words on their crowns as I place them atop their heads.
It is Alder who raises the Imperial banner over us and at the same moment the sun is obscured by the clouds and a soft shade falls across us. Distantly, I feel the approval of the Empress in it.
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