The Search For Kathea, A Leap Into A Saturnalia Wedding

     Many of the details are decided, clothes designed and sewed, food planned for the guests. The prospective groom is constantly on pins and needles, waiting for it all to come apart at the seams. The prospective bride however has enough confidence for both of them.

     "Zoltan, a word if you have a moment."

     "For you, Your Majesty, as many moments as you desire."

     "Aww, you are so sweet, now if only some of that will rub off on Dandelion."

     "Don't mind him, he is trying to keep from worrying that this is too much for him to deal with."

     "You mean how much gold is he going to try and borrow to pay for everything."

     "You know him well, he doesn't really mind spending the gold, he just doesn't know where it is going to come from and Priscilla keeps finding more to spend on."

     "Isn't that what a bride is supposed to do?"

     "You know that I know that, but does Dandelion know that."

     "Hmm, you think this might drive him toward cold feet?"

     "Ordinarily, I would say not, but with whispers about the 'Church' crashing the wedding party, it just might."

     "I see, I cannot do anything about the 'Church' until they actually decide to show up. If I tried, it might cause them to do it if they had decided to stay away. But I can do something about the money issue. I assume you know where to convert gold bars into coin, at a reasonable rate?"

     "I am a dwarf, of course, I do."

     "Ok, I will take care of the expenses, just keep a list of everything and let me know how many bars it will take to cover everything, use this one", and Iriisii gives one to Zoltan, "as a weight of scale. All the bars will weigh the same, so add in the exchange fee and tell me how many and when you need it by."

     "Can I ask a question?"

     "Sure."

     "Where were you when I got married for the first time?"

     Iriisii smiles, "you really do not want to know the answer to that."

     "I thought that was the case but I thought I would ask anyway."

     "And do not worry about the 'Church', I know how to handle them. But just to help calm things down, I am sending the pair off somewhere safe for their 'honeymoon'. I will stick around until they get back just in case the 'Church' decides to try something while they are gone. But I intend to yank their teeth and claws out the hard way."

     "Ooooh, I so do not want to miss this, you know you remind me of Geralt, but you don't grouse as much."

     "Thank you for the compliment, but my 'dance card is full', no more mates for me."

     "Can't blame me for trying."

     Iriisii laughs, "not at all, Zoltan, not at all. But if ever anything changes I will keep you in mind, how is that?"

     "Better than I expected, really."

     Later, Ciri sits down at the bar next to Iriisii.

     "I am getting worried about Dandelion."

     "I am dealing with two of the biggest issues, but the rest he is going to have to buck up and deal with."

     "What two issues are you dealing with?"

     "I gave Zoltan a gold bar to use as a weight, once the complete bill is in, he is going to see how many gold bars it will take to convert to coin and pay for everything, including the exchange fee. And I have prepared a surprise for the 'Church of the Eternal Flame'. If they should show up, I am going to painfully yank out their teeth and claws."

     "How are you going to do that?"

     "By something I am certain even the highest of their supposed priests know nothing about. There are certain rules by which all gods must abide, these were set in place by the 'Mother' when she assumed the mantle in the beginning. There is a 'challenge' rule that is in place, whereby one god may issue a challenge to another. If the 'challenged' does not respond to the 'challenger', the 'challenged' will be stripped of any power they have and forever rendered unable to recover their status."

     "What stops this rule from being abused, I mean.."

     "I know what you mean. Just because a challenge is issued does not mean that a 'High Duel' is going to be fought. The 'Mother' will send her Soul Hounds to listen to both sides and decide what should be done. Because of the circumstances here, if I perform the wedding and the 'Church' interrupts saying I am not allowed to perform weddings because only 'they' are allowed to perform weddings here. The 'Mother' has given me the right to perform weddings in her name, anywhere in all of the Realms, in all of the Creations. So their objection would give me the right to challenge. This 'God of the Eternal Flame' must respond to my challenge, if he truly exists that is. I suspect that he does not, that this entire 'Church' is a sham, a fake, and this will either flush him out or show it is all a fake."

     "How is it to be verified a fake if that is the truth?"

     "Her 'Soul Hounds' will declare it. And could possibly punish those at the top of this fakery. I would definitely not want to be one of them if 'She' decides a punishment is deserved. And from what I have seen and heard from my first visit here till now, that is a likely outcome. What has happened here in the name of this 'Church' is beyond the pale.

     I could not do anything before, mainly because of my own ignorance of what the rules are. I know much more now, but because of my power level and status, my hands are more bound than they were then. I can do things, but I must recognize the cost to me if I cross the line. As long as I stay within the rules, I am protected.

     And yes, the bindings on my use of power for much of my actions, I use my personal skills, persuasion, diplomacy, to accomplish my goals. That does not mean I cannot use my power as a Greater Goddess if it is necessary, I can. But I must be aware that the need is genuine and great in order to use it without punishment. If I need to defend myself against another God, who has no regard for the rules, I am allowed to defend myself with whatever power I need to use. Using it in defense of those who cannot defend themselves against great power is also allowed. Of those closest to the 'Mother' it is almost demanded. For me, that is a part of my nature, and do not have to even think about it."

     "Thank you, that explains much that I have observed, and honestly, gives me reassurance that there is someone at the top that does care about us."

     "She does, that I can attest to, why do you think she made it possible for me to rise so far, so fast. I am one of her agents, one sent out to do her will. When it is not possible for her to act directly. Almost like when a Witcher arrives in a town burdened by a monster."

     "You mean?"

     "An old saying is, 'if the shoe fits, wear it."

     The day before has arrived and the Cabaret is bustling with decorations, both for the wedding and for Saturnalia, as both are on the same day. Decorations have been strung outside and some small evergreen trees set up and decorated. The stove has been cooking nonstop all day to make the food for both celebrations tomorrow.

     "I cannot remember the last time I was somewhere Saturnalia was celebrated. This is completely new to me."

     "Then you really must enjoy this, there is nothing like it, and for a wedding to take place on the same day, it will be doubly blessed. Here pass her this mug of Dandelion's special concoction."

     Iriisii takes the mug, gives it a sniff, but does not find anything strange in it. She takes a small swallow and finds it surprisingly good. It doesn't take long before she is seeing the bottom of the mug.

     "Here let me refill it. Don't worry, the real good stuff will not be brought up until after the wedding."

     She takes the refilled mug and tells herself to watch what she drinks tomorrow. There is much cheering and good wishing being spread all over the Cabaret. Iriisii decides to call it a night, she needs to be on her toes tomorrow to react to anything that might happen. Rigmor helps her take the stairs up to the room they were sharing. As they walk in, and Iriisii collapses on the bed, Rigmor shuts the door and sighs, "alone at last". Planning someone else's wedding is a lot more fun than doing it for yourself, but I for one am exhausted.

     "I know the feeling, come here and crawl under the covers with me, hold me close until I fall asleep. It feels like it has been ages since I fell asleep in your arms. Ummm, you smell nice."

     Rigmor notices Iriisii is already dropping off to sleep, well maybe early in the morning if she wakes. So she just wraps her arms around her and draws her close, lightly kisses her forehead and soon enough she is asleep as well, dreaming of her own wedding night, years ago.

     Rigmor wakes but Iriisii is already gone. She gets up and heads downstairs for some breakfast, seeing Iriisii deep in conversation with Zoltan and Atticus.

     "Zoltan, you have the final list?"

     "Yes, here it is. Had a read devil of a time keeping Dandelion from seeing it. He would have had a heart attack if he had seen this."

     "Whew, I agree, but if you are lucky these moments only come once in a lifetime and for these two, I am happy to do this. The gold bars will be hereafter they have left so there will be no need to explain why there is such a pile of them sitting around.

      Atticus, we are going to need guards when transporting this much gold through the city. It will be a magnet for every thief, and brigand in sight. Also, Zoltan, before we set off with the gold, let your exchange contact know how much we are bringing so they can have their own security ready when we hand it over."

     "Good idea, do not want to get robbed as we are doing the exchange and paying off the merchants."

     "Atticus, one more thing, I am expecting unwelcome company. Just keep an eye on them in case we need to 'bounce' them outside. I have already made plans on dealing with them but sometimes these things never seem to work out how you think they will."

     "Ain't that the truth! Not that I am complaining."

     "Perish the thought. I know what you mean, no offense meant, none taken."

     "Thank you."

     "Keep a few of your less noticeable 'dragons' inside, those you put outside, I want them to be seen and noticed, just do not start anything, if anyone else starts something, finish it."

     "Done, I have to say, I have thoroughly enjoyed working for someone who understands the necessity of judicial violence. Most I have worked with and for, either go too far or not far enough. You find just the right point in between for each situation."

     "It is not just my doing, you and your people are a good portion of it as well. I have come to know your minds and level of discipline. It makes working with you much easier when we both understand and respect each other. Now I must leave you two for a while, I see my better half has wakened and I was not in bed with her when she did."

     "Uh oh, better go see to her then, important things first, these other matters can wait."

     Iriiisii places a hand, one on a shoulder of each, "thank you both, I could not have done nearly as well with this without you."

     She then turns and walks to Rigmor, who is piling up a plate of food.

     "Business is done for a while?"

     "Here, let me help you", as she gently takes the plate from Rigmor and sets it down on the table.

     "Wha.., mmmph", as Iriisii takes her in her arms and gives her the kiss she was hoping for when she first woke up. "Food can wait, take me back upstairs, hurry!"

     Iriisii picks her up and carries her up the stairs, the sounds of whistles, clapping, and general calls of words that would have earned the crowd a nasty look if it wasn't Saturnalia, and the fact that the two the words were directed toward were so far into each other that they did not hear anything.

     Somehow Iriisii gets the door open with Rigmor still in her arms, then shuts it. As she lays Rigmor in the bed, Rigmor just pulls her on top and plants her own kiss on the most delectable pair of lips she has ever nibbled on.

     Later as they lay side by side, looking into the eyes of each other, Rigmor is first, "do you know how much I love you?"

     "How much?"

     "I thought you would never ask!" As she pulls a vial of a light, clear, blue liquid from the nightstand beside the bed.

     "How did you..."

     "Shhhh, later, right now, enjoy the moment." Rigmor takes a drop on her fingertip and runs it across Iriisii's lips, then takes a second drop and runs it across her own. She then climbs under the covers and finds what she was looking for as Iriisii finds her own treasure chest.

     Hours later, when they both stagger down the stairs, the crowd in the Cabaret erupts into raucous applause of clapping hands and stamping feet. Thankfully they had the sense to clamp down on any catcalls.

     "I guess the walls were not thick enough."

     "After all of that, I could care less. Now I know what you meant when you dangled that vial in front of me after showing me what was possible when you kissed Dettlaff. I have to say, it was worth every moment of waiting to do that with you."

     Rigmor wrapped her arms around Iriisii and buries her head against her chest, and the crowd goes silent as they raise their mugs of whatever they were drinking in a silent toast to the pair of lovers.

     Dandelion stops at the head of the stairs, "what is the cause of all the noise! Can't somebody get any sleep, oh sorry about that", as he sees Iriisii standing at the foot of the stairs with Rigmor wrapped in her arms. The thought of Priscilla in his arms in the same way as Rigmor is in Iriisii's makes his face go red as a beet. Iriisii feeling his emotions, like a raging river, looks up at him and gives him a 'wink'. All that Dandelion can manage in return is a salute, as he turns and goes back to his empty bed, thinking, 'I will be the luckiest man in the Realm if Priscilla will love me half as much as those two love each other.'

     Elihal sitting in a corner by the table, eating a late brunch, witnesses the exchange, and grins as he can quite imagine what is going through Dandelion's mind right now. He knows first hand, over the last years, how much they do love each other and how much their love has endured and overcome. 'But just you wait and see what I made for your beloved to wear when the two of you are alone tonight'. And his grin just got bigger.

     The moment has arrived, Dandelion in his wedding suit, a deep beautiful sea green, edged in gold leaf, buttons of sea pearl, with a sash of what Elihal called, periwinkle. The color blended perfectly with the sea green. His shirt, a dark pine green also edged in gold, with gold cufflinks. inlaid with sea pearl. His boots, black as the darkest depths of the sea, buffed to a gloss he could see himself in. Of course, he would have to wait until he was outside to show off his new hat, a sea green, tri-corner pirate hat, chased in gold leaf. Where did Elihal find the materials for all of this, hell, I don't care where, he managed and that is good enough for me?

     Then suddenly he sees every eye around him turn to the stairs, he turns himself and sees a pair of feet visible from under the upper floor. Her shoes are the same shade of sea green as his own clothes, with a small bow across the front and tied in back, behind and above the ankles, both bows topped with sea pearls, the straps wrapped in gold leaf.

     As she steps down one more step he sees the bottom of her dress, gold leaf all the way around the bottom hem, against the sea-green silk of her dress, the bottom of a belt just visible of the same periwinkle as his sash, with just the slimmest edging of gold. He can see the shape of her calves as she moves her legs to step down, the silk of her dress covering her, but at the same time revealing. His heartbeat grows ever faster as she descends.

     Now he sees her chest, and he cannot believe his eyes, the dress is split down the center, showing just a hint of the sides of her breasts, the split of the dress front going all the way to the belt before stopping. The gold edging draws his eyes exactly to where she wants them to be. He almost misses two embroidered sigils one at each shoulder, one is a Dandelion in full bloom, the other a Lyre prepared, angled, and ready to be played.

     Then he sees her face, and his heart literally stops dead still for a moment, before starting once more. He is drawn to her eyes as they search out his own, lined in with a thin line of deep violet, the eyelids brushed in crushed emerald, her cheeks dusted with the palest ruby dust, and her lips, painted just a little deeper ruby red. Sea green jade earrings inlaid with sea pearl dangle from her ears, the shape that of Dandelions with the blooms in white gold.

     Her hair, curled close to her head in tight ringlets, an almost invisible net dotted with sea pearls covering her head and dropping down her back, drawing his eye to her bare back all the way down to just above where her lower cheeks would be seen. The edge is lined in gold leaf, and single sea pearls are placed within the gold edge along its entire length. Now as he takes in her entirety, he can only ask himself why did he wait so long, for at that moment he realizes that he is hers, mind, body, and soul forevermore.

     As she continues to approach him, she looks at the figure before her, every bit the dashing rascal hiding within his songs, trying so hard to emerge and lay claim to her heart. She has eyes for no one else, she sees him in the clothes he wears now and sees how they truthfully show her who he is inside. And she sees a man now where when they first met she saw a little boy trying so hard to grow up and act like a man, but still just a little boy. Now that little boy has indeed grown up, grown up into a man she is willing to live with for the rest of her life.

     She stops next to him, and looks into his eyes, seeing the fires in his soul that she has ignited, knowing they burn for her and for her alone. He is what she has wanted all her life, he is who she has wanted to give herself to ever since the boys began chasing her and her mother had to sit her down and explain what it meant to be a woman. He is all she wants, all she has ever wanted.

     She remembers the words to the song she sang that night at the Kingfisher Inn. About a love that was always hit and miss, together and apart by morning. Two souls not knowing if they would ever be together, singing of her own fears of never finding a love of her own. Now she no longer needs to worry about that, she has found her love, as he stands ready to ask one of his best of friends, the daughter of the Highest Goddess in Creation, to join them together as man and wife, one mind, one body, one soul.

     Iriisii looks down on the two before her, friends both, wanting her to bind them together, to make one out of two. She looks back on her own life, her own loves, and understands why it is called the greatest power. For it does have the power to overcome all obstacles in its way, when those who seek it or have found it, empower it to live within them. And this ritual is one way to do just that. And these two trust her with that responsibility, to guide them through it, and ask the blessing of the 'Mother' on them as she binds them as one.