Epilogue
Cali tugged at the claret-colored vest that topped a matching pair of pants, grateful that she’d been spared the torture of wearing a dress for Lira’s wedding. Although she hadn’t been spared the task of being a bridal attendant, which required that she leave her bow and quiver of arrows behind.
Her tail twitched uneasily. After being knocked unconscious and dumped in a dungeon cell, she would have preferred to go through the rest of her life well-armed.
She shifted on the tavern barstool and tried to suppress thoughts of her time with Marina and how foolish she’d been.
No matter how many times Vaskel assured her that many had fallen for Marina’s ploys before, embarrassment and shame still made her whiskers pinch.
At least her foolishness hadn’t resulted in anyone from Wayside getting hurt or the wedding being postponed. Cali had never been so happy to be at The Tusk & Tail in her life. Or at a wedding, for that matter.
It helped that the place had been buffed and polished to within an inch of its life, thanks to Sass.
The long wooden tables were draped in off-white linen, and runners of greenery wound down the centers of them with flowers bursting forth in colorful clusters interspersed with chunky candles sheathed in glass.
Even the wrought-iron chandeliers dangling from the rafters boasted swags of greens.
The fire was crackling in the hearth, but stacks of logs burned instead of chunks of peat, giving the great room a pleasant smell—wood smoke mixed with greenery and prodigious amounts of lemon cleaner.
Pip fussed with the wedding cake at a round table near the front door, placing a sprig of greenery around the five-tier confection covered in fluffy white icing before stepping back to admire his work.
“Looks good enough to eat,” Cali called out.
Pip jumped and spun around, pressing a small hand to his chest. “Bless the stars! You’re so quiet, I forgot you were there.”
Cali grinned at him. As grateful as she was for being saved from the dungeon, she was more grateful that none of the villagers knew that she’d considered running off with a hellkin crew. Her friends that did know, had not held it against her.
She thought about what Vaskel had said to her. “If I wasn’t your friend through thick and thin, I wouldn’t be much of a friend.”
She was lucky to have found such friends and such a home, even if she did crave adventure—or at least something to do.
Before she could dwell for too long on her need for purpose, Tinpin hurried through the back door, clapping his wool-encased hands together.
“It’s hopeless,” he cried, stomping snow from his boots. “Hopeless, I tell you.”
He threw off his snow-dusted coat and tossed it onto the nearest barstool, revealing a smart maroon suit expertly crafted from velvet. An ivory ascot was held in place by a glittering garnet stickpin in the shape of a flower. Naturally, the haberdasher had dressed to match the wedding.
“What’s hopeless?” Cali asked.
Tin flailed a hand in the general direction of outdoors.
“The blizzard is making it impossible to hold the ceremony outside. Impossible! Not even Erindil’s warming charm can keep the guests from freezing under a tent.
Not to mention that the snow is coming down so heavily you can’t even see the stream. ”
Pip wrung his hands. “Does that mean there won’t be a wedding? Will they not need a cake?”
“Or cheese?” Fenni added as he emerged from the tavern kitchen, gaining him a perplexed look from the gnome.
Tin then seemed to notice that Pip was standing next to the towering cake that was taller than all three of them. The gnome pressed a hand to his chest. “It’s spectacular, Pip. Truly spectacular. Wayside has never seen one so beautiful.”
Pip flushed from the compliment. “But if there won’t be a wedding—”
“Nonsense.” Sass hurried inside behind Tin with Val and Thrain close at her heels. “Weddings aren’t about the fripperies or the fancy clothes. They’re about the two people getting married.”
Tin grumbled at this, but not loud enough for anyone to hear. After all, fripperies and fancy clothes were his trade.
“A blizzard isn’t enough to stop a bride, just like stone isn’t enough to stop a pickaxe,” Sass added.
“Are you comparing me to a pickaxe?” Lira asked as she walked down the back stairs, a cloak covering her dress beneath.
“You should be flattered,” Thrain said. “Dwarves love our axes.”
“Aye.” Sass winked at Lira. “I’ve even named axes before.”
Cali understood this, since she once had a bow named Clawsong.
“If the ceremony can’t be in the tent,” Pip asked, “then where—?”
“Why right here, of course,” Vaskel said as he and Rog gusted inside with a fair amount of snow flurries. “All we have to do is push back the tables and the ceremony can take place in front of the hearth.”
“What about the swaths of gossamer fabric I had draped inside the tent?” Tin asked, his voice rising an octave. “What about the bows on the backs of the chairs?”
“What about the wedding arch?” A deep voice rumbled from the front doorway where Klaff and Vorto stood just outside, carrying the enormous wrought-iron structure between them.
Vaskel crossed the great room to assist, tilting his head as he assessed the massive arch. “Is it possible to bring it in sideways?”
The orcs grunted and maneuvered it onto its side, then Thrain and Rog took the front bars while the orcs pushed from the back. Bit by bit, it wiggled through the door along with the pair of orcs.
Sass stood with her hands braced on her hips as the group straightened the iron arch and placed it on the floor to give everyone a moment to catch their breath. “It’s certainly orc-sized.”
“I suppose I can drape some fabric on that,” Tin muttered, looking slightly mollified.
Iris hurried inside behind the iron arch, rubbing her arms and stamping the snow off her boots. The apothecary pulled a basket packed with fresh flowers and greenery from beneath her cloak. “I barely made it here with these.”
Cali slid off the barstool and hurried to Iris, helping her shed her heavy cloak. “I was worried the storm would keep you away. Much longer, and I was going to come fetch you myself.”
Iris smiled at her. “Not even a blizzard could keep me away from this wedding.”
Cali didn’t miss the shy look the apothecary gave Vaskel or the smoldering one he returned to her. Her own grin widened. It was nice to see her friends happy, although Vaskel being a one-woman hellkin would take some getting used to.
Sass waved Iris over. “There’s still time for us to whip up a bouquet.”
As Cali hung Iris’s cloak on a peg by the door and Iris, Sass, and Lira busied themselves with the flowers, Erindil glided through the back door along with his lute player and his ostrich, who was decked out in a splendid harness of burgundy velvet with jeweled reins.
“A bird in the tavern?” Sass said in a stage whisper.
The elf sniffed and lifted his chin. “Glen is the ring bearer.”
No one could deny that Glen was dressed for the occasion.
The tavern door flew open again, and Rosie entered with a bottle of brandy under each arm and so much snow on her she resembled a snowman.
“There’s no getting through that storm,” the gnome said, shaking out her blonde hair and sending ice crystals scattering to the floor to melt. “I only made it because our wagon is a few steps away. None from the village are going to make it.”
Lira looked up from tying a bouquet. “What about Korl?”
“I’m here,” a gruff voice emanated from a dark corner of the tavern. “I didn’t think we were supposed to see each other before the ceremony.”
Lira laughed. “I suppose you’re right. I’ll hide in the kitchen until we’re ready.”
As she and Iris decamped to the kitchen, Tin fussed with the iron arch, tying fabric bows and draping sheer burgundy fabric down the sides.
Rosie ambled to the bar and handed Vaskel the brandy. “Guess it’s just us then.”
“Looks perfect to me.” Vaskel eyed the small group and smiled. “It only takes a few candles to bring light.”
Rosie grinned at him. “You’re getting wise on me, Vaskel.”
“The years should be good for something.”
She let out a belly laugh as she walked away to help Rog arrange the tavern benches into two makeshift aisles. Erindil directed his lute player to a stool where he started to strum, and then the elf beckoned for the men to line up at the back near the bar.
“Wait!” the elf cried. “The woodland fey who was going to perform the ceremony isn’t here.”
“The blizzard must have waylaid him.” Vorto cast a mournful look at the white-out through the windows.
“No worries.” Rosie strode to the front. “While Rog was out adventuring, I stayed at a gnome monastery for a spell. Got myself ordained as a cleric of the Church of the Holy Gnome.”
Cali and Vaskel exchanged a look, but they both shrugged. It sounded official enough.
“Then we’re in luck.” Erindil clapped his hands as he led Glen to the back, and the few who weren’t processing down the short aisle took their seats on the benches.
After a few minutes of shuffling in the back, Erindil clapped his hands more sharply, and the lute music changed as Vaskel, Rog, Thrain, and Val walked down wearing matching burgundy suits. Korl followed them arm-in-arm with his two dads, also in burgundy, who were both fighting back tears.
Another clap from Erindil, who’d become a stand-in wedding coordinator, and the music changed.
The kitchen doors opened and Iris and Sass walked in single file, each wearing a dress made from layers of sheer claret-colored fabric that matched Cali’s suit.
The pantheri slipped in behind them, processing up the aisle and taking her place to one side of the arch and between Iris and Sass.
Cali tried not to fidget as she stood looking out at the small gathering. She couldn’t help grinning at Tin, who was already dabbing at his eyes.
Finally, there was some jostling and fierce muttering in the back before Glen high-stepped his way down the aisle, his saddle jingling.
The ostrich didn’t look left or right, but kept his head held high.
When he reached the front, he marched right up to the iron wedding arch and began munching on one of Tin’s bows.
“Glen!” A shriek from the back of the aisle made Glen drop the sodden bow and sink petulantly onto the floor with a mournful sigh.
“That went much better than I expected,” Sass said, even as she frowned at the wet bow lying on the floor.
The lute player paused, and his tempo quickened, the music suddenly dramatic as Lira began her walk down the aisle on her uncle Erindil’s arm.
Her dress was a silky white creation that draped over her curves and flowed in gossamer layers behind her, making her look as beautiful and ethereal as any elf.
A veil draped over her auburn hair, which she wore in loose curls, and she carried a bouquet of flowers, berries, and greenery tied with bakery twine.
For once, Erindil’s outfit was relatively subdued. His dark suit was exquisitely tailored but simple. The only nod to his personality or the wedding colors was the immense ruby brooch on his lapel.
Cali’s eyes stung with tears as she watched one of her dearest friends walk down the aisle.
She’d never expected to become emotional, but the pantheri was struck by the sweetness of the moment and also by how close she felt to everyone in the tavern.
Lira wasn’t just her friend. She was her family.
As was Vaskel and Rog and now Iris and Sass and all the villagers she’d come to love.
Lira didn’t notice her tear-filled eyes, though. She didn’t glance at her attendants or at the friends seated on the benches or even at her uncle. Her eyes were locked on Korl, who was grinning helplessly, a single tear trailing down his face.
Tin produced a floral handkerchief and blew his nose loudly into it as Pip patted him on the arm. Vorto and Klaff were sitting on the front bench sobbing, their massive shoulders shaking as they tried to stifle the sound with handkerchiefs the size of tablecloths.
As Erindil passed Lira to Korl and the couple took each other’s hands, even the elf sniffled as he took his seat.
“Welcome, everyone,” Rosie said, poking her head around Korl’s massive form to be seen. “I’d like to open this celebration with a gnome hat ritual, but since you aren’t gnomes and don’t have hats to tie together, I suppose we’ll skip straight to the vows.”
Then Rosie recited some unusual weddings vows for the couple to repeat, Glen warbled more protests at being denied flowers to eat, and then the couple was kissing and walking back down the aisle.
“That was fast,” Cali said to Sass as Glen trotted behind the newlyweds.
“Aye, a dwarf ceremony would take at least an hour. And that’s if the couple are fast tunnelers.”
Cali started to ask Sass to explain how tunneling was a part of a dwarf wedding ceremony but decided against it.
Once they’d all recessed to the back of the tavern, Vaskel slipped behind the bar and started pulling pints of ale. “It’s time for a toast!”
Iris followed him, handing him clean tankards and slipping him sweet smiles as the couple worked together to pass out drinks to everyone.
Cali took the pewter tankard that Sass handed her, but her attention was snagged by the front tavern door opening, bringing in a squall of snow and along with a cloaked figure.
The archer instinctively reached for her bow, cursing that it wasn’t on her back.
The lone figure tossed back her hood and shook out a mane of glossy, black curls. “I’m looking for the folks who delivered some hellkins to Eldu.”
Val stepped forward, her shoulders squared. “That would be me.”
“And me,” Korl added.
Vaskel stepped from behind the bar. “Has something happened?”
The woman shrugged off her cloak to reveal leather pants tucked into high boots, a blousy shirt topped with a loose vest and a red sash cinching her waist. “You could say that.”
Cali’s mouth went dry as she eyed the stunning woman’s clothing and thought about her favorite books. She pulled Lira closer to her and whispered, “Is she a pirate?”
Thank you for reading Cauldrons, Charms & Chai!