Day 474
The next day we begin planning for the return delegation. Onyx goes to fetch Dendra in preparation for fetching the elves we intend to send back home.
Amytri, Kaide, Tira, and I work on a letterbox for Trillium and hopefully Tira will be able to bring this magical knowledge back home as well. I shape tiny hummingbirds out of wood for my little shadow.
Haze and Tira wing off to collect her in the evening after she writes me that she's ready to be picked up.
Day 475
On the third day the celebrations are truly dying down and only the most committed are still dancing in the streets.
Trillium arrives and falls into my arms as I press her for more information about Charlotte, Gedrin, and his apprentice. Apparently she is a girl of mixed bloodlines from a Candlemaker Abbey in the mountains and he has brought her to Charlotte in the hopes of showing her how she can both things at once.
Charlotte was upset that Trillium couldn't promise to return and see her again. It feels like such a human thing to ask for a promise because the promise feels good even if it might not be kept. Such an elvish thing to not promise even if the words alone would salve immediate injury. My little shadow hopes to return but couldn't promise it.
The turbulent part is right before the fork. Now we're past it.
With Tira and Trillium both home I finally set about tracking down the kids. Dawn is easy - I can see Andstella's spark dancing in the streets and of course she is with the other midnight fae. I send Dawn to the apartment and head up to the castle to fetch Nina as well, though I see Spindle and Puddle deep in drinks and food with one another at a café as well - seems like that was a good connection to have made.
Nina and Torrick are receiving audiences who seem at ease with Torrick but still a little...in awe of Nina. I sweep her a deep bow and she immediately retaliates with my formal title and greeting. She's a skilled warrior - we agree to a ceasefire immediately and I usher her back to the apartment as well, freeing her from the audience hall.
Finally I have to wander out beyond the city limits to find Miriam, up to mischief with Liliales. They've got an enormous magic circle inscribed in the grassland anchored with crystals (though they are about fifteen crystalsl short). They bridle at Kaide and my amused feedback that this is a very large circle that could be shrunk quite a bit - but I give Kaide leave to assign them a bit of homework to work on precision and let them work at smaller scales.
Back at the apartment when I invite the three Whitewater youngsters to swear oaths they eagerly accept and Miriam makes sure that everyone understands the gravity of Elvish family oaths. For the first time I correct the phrasing - these are Imperial families now. Clearly they are no longer just elvish. I'm very proud to have a family that includes humans and fae who have sworn oaths.
The oath ceremony happens that very night in the circle that Miriam and Liliales have finished. It projects a powerful illusion for 200 metres all around it, creating a small illusory grove. Everyone attending is also given a small token that cloaks them in a matching illusion - elvish clothes, wings, whatever they want to belong in the surroundings. The ceremony is simple but special amidst the enormous colourful trees and with dragons in attendance as well. It feels like the first of many new ceremonies, the words to my traditional oaths reshaped to recognize the new people we bond with and the shape of our new family.
And the dancing that follows - late into the night with deep shadows and sparkling lights throughout the trees and the bonds shared between Andstella and Dawn, Alder and Miriam. The young royals still high on the energy of their wedding and now part of my family as well.
Tomorrow some of us will depart for Dreamfall but we'll all still be connected.
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