Chapter 35 Bloom Lady
Bloom Lady
I took a deep breath, then looked up to meet Karim’s gaze steadily, without any hesitation.
Just over two weeks after our eyes had met for the first time, we were getting married, Elvish style.
It should sound crazy; it shouldn’t be possible, but here we were.
And I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world.
Well, except maybe in our garden, alone with my Prince, instead of facing him amid the Great Cavern packed with hundreds of elves.
I smiled at Karim, and the tips of his lips twitched. That was all I was going to get from him during the official ceremony, but it was okay. In the privacy of our home, he would not withhold his smiles, made that much more precious by being reserved for me. Particularly his roguish one.
He gave a subtle nod to his half-sister, standing next to us on the raised slab of stone. It was time.
The Queen, dressed in a sparkling dark-blue dress, lifted her arms in the air.
Without her saying a word, silence descended over the Great Cavern.
The huge space, located deep underground with a ceiling meters above our heads and historical paintings on the walls, soon filled with her lyrical voice as she began to officiate in Elvish.
I had learned many words over the past weeks, but not enough to understand the whole speech. I was too busy feasting my eyes on my braid partner, anyway. We hadn’t seen each other for an entire day; he had slept at Tisvali’s home and prepared there for tonight’s ceremony.
He had his magnificent hair in a single sophisticated braid over his right shoulder, his full set of gold beads adorning the black locks.
A blue dress decorated with complex patterns of golden threads accentuated his broad shoulders before flowing down his masculine figure in a river of Elvish silk.
The clothing signified both his royal status and the life-giving water that would keep me nourished as we became linked.
My own dress was a floor-length masterpiece made of green, orange, yellow, and red leaves woven together and kept fresh by what had to be magic.
I wore the colors of the seasons, each with its role in the cycle of life.
I’d been stunned by the dress when Deidre had presented it to me, but Karim did not seem impressed by it.
His gaze was focused on my straight hair, which Deidre had combed into a complex braid over my left shoulder.
Since I couldn’t get my hands on hair extensions, I’d asked Sue for a hair-straightening solution during our meeting last week.
The former scientist at a cosmetics company had mixed some gargoyle-provided ingredients and voila: my hair was long enough for tonight’s ceremonial braid.
But I also had several locks loose, the curls framing my face a symbol that this was a union of two worlds.
“Timpesinem,” the Queen announced, and motioned for us to step closer. It was time for the linkage itself.
We stepped forward until our chests were brushing, and the Queen brought our braids together in one hand.
With the other and the tips of her own hair moving like a second set of fingers, she connected our braids with a golden ribbon.
End of that ribbon in hand, she led us to the towering cherry tree on the right side of the slab of stone.
She had us face the crowd under its blossomed branches.
Our guests–local elves and a few emissaries of allied kingdoms–bowed their heads in acknowledgement of our braid linkage. At least, most did. As expected, there were those who would not recognize this scandalous marriage between an elf and a human. Some probably wanted to see us executed.
But Karim had demanded this ceremony, and the Queen had backed him up, so everyone could murmur all they wanted.
Ever since the war alliance with the gargoyles, which several kingdoms had joined, a shift in attitudes could be felt toward tolerating humans.
We were important for bilateral ties now, and the Queen made sure to pass that message along.
She wanted to see Karim on the throne with their people behind him, and since he’d made his choice of a human partner clear, she would use every diplomatic trick up her bell sleeve to integrate my kind.
Starting with the abolition of the law banning elf-human moss interactions.
No more threats of execution for those who simply followed their hearts.
Karim and I were still the only inter-species couple in the Kingdom, but we wouldn’t be the last. Of that, I had no doubt.
Times were changing, and our braid linkage was the first–and very big–step toward embracing that change. The process would be long and unpredictable, but one day elves and humans could be living side by side, as equals.
But, as Karim kept reminding me, I should focus on the here and now. Enough thoughts of politics tonight; I was officially one with the love of my life!
To the point where I couldn’t move my head much without bouncing back against him. My hair simply wasn’t long enough to allow us to walk regally side by side. But we couldn’t have waited until it grew down to my knees, for heaven’s sake.
“Follow my lead,” Karim whispered to me. “I have you, my flower.”
He couldn’t touch me in public, but those two whispered words were enough to make my whole body light up as if he had run his fingertips up my naked back.
Under his guidance and slow head movements that I could easily mirror, we toured the Great Cavern to speak with all the guests individually.
Initially, it seemed like an impossible task, but Karim was so good at nipping long conversations in the bud that we were halfway through the guestlist in no time.
And, to my relief, I didn’t have to speak much nor withstand hostile looks my way.
Those who didn’t approve of our union demonstrated that by simply avoiding us.
Including Katsia and her family. Fine by me.
There was no avoiding a talk with the Queen, though.
She was among the last to approach us and, to my surprise, spent an entire 5 percent of her monologue admitting that I was having a positive effect on her brother.
That she was actually glad he would have “not a viper like Katsia by his side but a female who loves him.” I guess I was in her good graces?
Another 90 percent was about the possible ways my children with Karim might look and their number.
The rest of the talk turned into an interrogation about my physical state.
Had I skipped any of my two monthly bleeds?
Did I have evening sickness after eating radish for breakfast?
Did I have inexplicable cravings, for example for steamed artichoke rather than raw?
I thanked the Queen for her support for the braid linkage so shortly after she’d met me. Then, once Karim and I got to the other side of the Great Cavern from her, I thanked him. For not giving me radish for breakfast in the evening and artichoke in any form. He could barely hold back a chuckle.
With diplomacy out of the way, we could finally enjoy the feast as much as our connected braids allowed us.
Cocktail tables of mushroom-shaped crystal offered every kind of fruit and vegetable imaginable along with cherry wine.
A live band of six elves performed dreamy music with flutes and harps that some elves were gently swaying to on an impromptu dance floor.
I was too excited to eat, but Karim made sure to fill a bowl for both of us. Before we could say anything to each other, alone at last, we were joined by Tisvali and his moss partners. Borella stood on his right side and Kassium on his left, the three of them a vision of muscle and grace in green.
The two pure-blooded elves did not just congratulate Karim and me.
They talked to me personally, asking me about my life and wedding traditions.
All it had taken to win their good graces, as Tisvali whispered conspiratorially to me afterward, had been my teaching him–and, indirectly, them–about strip poker.
“Now they share me without constantly fighting for my attention,” he explained to me. “No one claims they’re being neglected in favor of the other, because they know the rules of poker. The first one to lose all their clothes wins the big award.”
He sounded so excited that I chose not to correct him. What mattered the most was that the card game had made three people very happy, had given me new friends, and had won me the permanent title of Bloom Lady.
The only other person who Tisvali had awarded with a title joined us as soon as he and his partners left our side. She was closely followed by her charge for the night.
Deidre had been burdened with the hard task of keeping the Gargoyle King’s special emissary company for the duration of the ceremony and feast. The Emissary had been sent specifically to attend what he described as the mating celebration of his homecloud’s ally.
Deidre had to both keep him entertained and ensure he didn’t leave the Great Cavern throughout the night’s festivities.
“This is so not fair, Curly-Q,” she muttered.
“I was punished for my violations two weeks ago! I understand Ris should not be wandering around the Kingdom in the name of keeping our secrets safe. But tell me, what secret could he possibly learn from taking a close look at my moss? Ain’t it so, tiger? ”
A deep gargoylish growl followed.
“See, Jasmine? Ris is totally in for the cultural tour an emissary deserves.” Her subsequent giggle died abruptly. “Why the smug look, Karim? I can’t take any other punishments today. Spill it, right now.”
Because of the hair situation, I couldn’t turn to see what look of his she was referring to, but Deidre knew Karim too well.
“Congratulations,” he announced with unbridled amusement. “You will be the Kingdom’s trade ambassador to King Xaniban’s homecloud.”
Karim might as well have thrown a bomb in the center of our small circle.