Chapter Text
“Eanna be my witness, I will cherish and protect you for the rest of my life. I will be by your side until the last moment. I will be your friend, your guardian, your love, your family. I love you.”
The hall was packed, swimming with dwarves, humans, Eagles; anybody that the bride knew and everybody that the groom knew, even casual acquaintances, were present, tucked elbow-to-elbow like sardines. Despite the large conglomeration, everybody was impressively still and quiet. Even the rowdy dwarves were respectfully alert.
“Mathilda Deagret Stormbrow,” said Airdan, his soft voice resonating through the hall. “As of today, you are my wife and my family. My heart is yours, as well as my life.”
“Airdan Ionis,” Tillie responded, positively bursting. “As of today, you are my husband and my family. My heart is yours, as is my life.”
“By the Old Kings and Queens,” the Priestess said. “You are now partners for life and eternity. May they watch over you in your journey together.”
The hall erupted with cheers as the newly wed couple kissed. I grinned and whooped right up there with my companion, though I couldn’t for the life of me match her volume. How such a small body could produce such raucous noise was beyond me, but it made her good friends with the dwarven company.
“Pay up!” snorted a male dwarf, quite similar to Tillie. One of her several brothers. “Told you she would marry a moonie!”
“You said she would marry the mage,” another dwarf specified, also quite reminiscent of Til. “I’m not payin’ you.”
Another voice rang out, one that could easily have been Tillie, if not for the immediate way the two dwarves stiffened in sheer terror. A woman appeared as if out of thin air, an older version of my adoptive sister with wilder hair and a furious glint in her eyes.
“Are you gambling over your sister’s wedding?!” Tillie’s mother demanded.
I quickly retreated, not eager to get caught up in dwarf family matters--those could get loud and violent--and instead returned to easily the strangest guest by far. Small in stature, with fair skin so covered with scars that it seemed like she was always wearing silver lace over her entire body, and with long, thick silvery hair. The noble that wasn’t a noble. I smiled fondly at her while she laughed at her friend, a laugh that was a bit obnoxious but at the same time beautiful.
“Why are you crying?” Aida wondered of her friend.
“What?!” demanded Sky. I found that a rather foolish question, seeing as the woman did little else with her time.. “It’s a joyous event!”
I was about to interrupt and monopolize Aida just a little bit when a large, rough hand caught my elbow in a hold like steel, pulling me away. When I looked around, I found Tillie’s father looking up at me with a teary, already intoxicated gaze. If a wild rust-colored beard hadn’t been obscuring the entire bottom half of his face, I felt certain that his cheeks would be flushed blotchily. Dwarves. Dwarves, and alcohol. A poignant relationship that would last forever.
“Zander, my boy!” he rasped past the lump in his throat. He gave a very loud, very wet sniffle. “My Tillie. My little baby girl…”
“Airdan is a good guy, don’t worry,” I assured Tillie’s father. “And I can always turn him into ashes if he treats Til wrong.”
He gave an amused snort through his nose that caused a bubble of snot to expand from both nostrils, sending me scurrying backwards before it popped. Either not recognizing my discomfort or not noticing it, he turned quite easily to another dwarven guest who, far from being disgusted by the snot bubble, laughed loudly and pointed it out to one of his friends. From nearby, I could hear my least favorite knight bellowing one of his exaggerated tales with all the eloquence of a drunken rhinoceros. It was a wonder he hadn’t grown gills already.
“I swear the spider was this big!” Jace exclaimed, and his arms were held farther apart than would ever actually be possible. “Never seen Skirts run so fast in my life!”
Theorl, Tillie’s brothers, laughed heartily. “Oi, Sis! This human’s a’right!”
I ignored them and continued to scan the crowd. Diego was speaking with Airdan, congratulating the man and threatening him in the same breath as he had a tendency to do. It was hard for me to grasp that Diego was still bitter over Airdan’s “betrayal”, but he was a strange--as well as stupid and cruel--man.
I rolled my eyes and searched the crowd for Seena, who’d insisted she be at the party and who was also at great risk of being stepped on, small as she was. Meimei, Captain Nina’s daughter, was teaching her how to cheat in card games. I shook my head and laughed when Meimei told Seena that humans and dwarves were slow enough that they wouldn’t catch her hiding the cards in this particular spot like so.
Of course, as she did whenever the Eagles were around, Sky had begun to rant incessantly about their disgusting presence to the nearest available set of ears: in this case, Aida. Aida wasn’t overly thrilled by their attendance, either, but she understood it and was far more tolerant in that respect than Sky could ever hope to be, little drama queen that she was.
Seena gave up on Meimei’s cards, and I did a quick scan through the masses for her, trying to keep tabs so that in case she did get stepped on, I could heal her quickly. I found the little Lith toward the back wall, tugging insistently on Faelern’s long hand. He had a look on his face that plainly stated how much he hated life, and I had to smile at Seena’s brave attempt to bring Faelern out of his shell..
“Faelern dance?” she asked hopefully.
“No.”
She was insisting, but Faelern resolutely refused to move, even for the little blond mouse, and I grew weary of watching her futile attempts to pull him out.
When I went back to Aida, I realized she had already wandered off. However, a head of shining silver hair wasn’t hard to spot amidst the sea of red and black and brown hair, and I picked her out easily. On my way to her side, I realized that she was talking stiffly to Diego about Kole, the Kaleik Eagle that Diego had assigned to guard Aida. Diego sounded surprisingly sincere when he told Aida to give the Kaleik a chance, but Aida was--rightfully so--skeptical of every word that passed through Diego’s lips.
The Kaleik in question was leaning against the back wall, his blind eyes focused on the ceiling as people passed by in front of him. I didn’t have any problem with Kole, other than he was an Eagle. He actually seemed like a pretty good guy, and being blind was hardly a problem for him. I knew a bit about Kaleiks; they had superb hearing as a race and could pick out minute actions from miles away that others wouldn’t hear if they were within arms’ reach of the action. However, Kole’s hearing was apparently even better, because as his eyes were blind, all of his other senses were that much stronger.
“Sir Zander,” he greeted when I approached him, bowing his head respectfully.
“Kole,” I replied cordially. “Enjoying the party?”
Kole smiled slightly.
“It’s quite lively,” he answered. “Dwarves are rather noisy, aren’t they?”
I laughed.
“I can only imagine how they seem to you,” I acknowledged. “They do their damnedest to blow my eardrums out, even sober.”
“I like them,” he responded. “They’re very honest in their behavior. I think that’s a very good trait to have.”
I had several things I could have replied with, the top of the list being a snarky comment about the irony of an Eagle speaking of honesty that nearly escaped my lips and was forced back only because Kole seemed to be one of the few Eagles I had met who had any form of conscience or line of decency. However, it seemed he picked up on my reaction, because he laughed softly.
“I suppose it is a strange topic for an Eagle,” he acknowledged. “But you especially should know that not all Eagles members are mere thugs, Sir Zander.”
I had to give him that one, and stood in comfortable silence beside him, watching the reception commence with the atmosphere of a cork shooting out of a pressurized champaign bottle. The room, as Kole had pointed out, was certainly lively, and was only growing more rowdy as more alcohol was consumed. Dwarves could hold their liquor very well, but that didn’t mean it didn’t affect them, and they were a loud bunch to begin with.
“Miss Aida is looking for you.”
I looked around quickly, a hot pain pricking my neck as I did. Kole was looking off into the crowd so intently that you could never believe he was blind. I followed his gaze, and indeed saw Aida, standing quite alone but not really seeming like she was searching for anything or anyone, least of all me. His elbow nudged mine, and he gestured for me to go to her.
“Before someone else steals your chance again,” he chuckled.
“Noticed that, did you?” I sighed.
“Of course. Disappointment has a very distinct sound.”
I shook my head, wearing a martyred expression that he couldn’t see, and began to weave through the teeming mass of bodies. When I was close and she was still alone, I waited for her to turn her back before approaching, just so I could have the pleasure of catching her a little by surprise.
“Shall we, your highness?” I asked when I was right behind her. She spun sharply on the spot, but relaxed when she saw me and glanced away.
“Shall we what?”
I frowned.
“Dance?” I prompted. “Did you forget how to do that?”
“Ah…” said Aida reluctantly, still not meeting my eyes. “No. I will stay here and watch. Really, it’s fine.”
“Ah...So you are terrible at dancing,” I guessed with a smirk.
“I’m not terrible,” she denied at once.
I smiled silently at her, my amusement only enhanced by her glower.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she mumbled.
I didn’t answer, and I didn’t adjust my expression. No, I waited patiently for her to admit that she was a bad dancer. Realizing that I wasn’t letting it go, her face adopted a resigned expression and her shoulders slumped heavily.
“I can’t,” she sighed, almost too quietly for me to hear.
“You can’t?” I echoed.
“Dance. I don’t know how to,” she reluctantly elaborated. “I never learned. Nobody taught me how to dance. Like...Together. What do you call it? Waltz? Whatever, I don’t know how to do it.”
I stared at her for a long moment, the smile on my face growing slowly into an evil grin.
“...Is that so?” I said, and before she could process where my mind was heading, my arms lashed out, trapping her against my chest.
“WHA--Zander!” she protested loudly.
“Just follow my lead,” I laughed, taking her left hand in my right and guiding her other hand to my shoulder. She bit her lip uncomfortably, refusing to meet my gaze as I sat my left hand on her hip and began to guide her carefully. I would have counted out loud, if I thought it would make any difference for her, but it wasn’t likely that she would understand what I was doing in any case, so she made due with watching and mimicking my feet when they moved.
I have to say, Aida was a fast learner, and while she may not have become perfect within a song, she certainly got the hang of it and could go through the simple movements with me. She did step on my foot once, but all things considered, it could have been a lot worse.
“How did you learn dancing?” she asked when the song was almost over. “Like this, I mean?”
“Advantages of having strict parents who love hosting elegant masquerade balls to show everyone in Ildis how rich and powerful they are in the name of fun,” I said dryly. I couldn’t help but notice, however, that despite my amusement and her apparent good humor, she was still about as relaxed as a two-by-four, and kept casting furtive looks around at the Eagles guests just casually milling about. “Aida…I know you are worried, but at least for one day, just try to have fun for Tillie?”
Speak of the Devil, and he shall appear. Or rather, speak of the dwarf, and she shall interrupt the almost-over dance.
“Wouldn’t wanna bother you two lovebirds, but we are out of ale,” Tillie said abashedly. “Aida, can you help Nina get the other barrels from the basement?”
“I’ll take care of it,” Aida agreed immediately, obviously glad to be free of the dance floor. “Be right back!”
Tillie waited until Aida was out of sight before rounding on me, a most terrifying scowl marring her pretty features. I stepped back automatically, immediately feeling like a naughty child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
“What?” I said defensively.
“No!” was her blunt reply.
“No?” I repeated, smirking.
“I know what you are thinking, and no! Absolutely not!”
I fought the impulse to look away and instead gave a callier smirk, hoping it was believable and that she was just throwing accusations in the dark.
“I was thinking about getting another piece of berry pie,” I said, going for a bemused tone.
“Don’t get cute and don’t try to avoid it,” she snapped. “I know you. You are thinking about binding.”
Shit.
“Til…” I groaned. Did she have to do this here? Did she have to do this now?
“Don’t Til me!” she said loudly, and I looked around hastily, hoping that no one was listening. “You can’t do it! She would never let you, and even if she did, Zander...Just don’t. She is reckless. You are too. I don’t want to lose her either...but both of you? You are my brother...my best friend. I can’t lose you. Don’t do it.”
I looked away, running a hand over my hair. She just didn’t get it. Whatever noble roots Aida may have, she had the life expectancy of a human. She was every bit as fragile as Jace or Sky. I was an elf, and elves lived for a considerably longer amount of time. Tillie didn’t understand at all. If I didn’t...I couldn’t…
“What would you do if you were to lose Airdan?” I demanded, dropping pretense. “What do we have? Fifty, sixty years together? Say it’s ninety? I’m two hundred and eighty-seven, Til…”
“Memories!!!” she all but bellowed. “It’s the memories that count! Every day we live and breathe with the chance of losing the one we love most, but that’s exactly why love is so precious! We lose and we weep but we keep on living to protect the memories, because that’s the only way to keep them alive!”
I swallowed convulsively, frustration trying to block my throat because, again, Til just didn’t get it! It was nowhere near as simple as all that, nowhere near as easy.
“Do you even know what it’s like to lose someone you love?” I said thickly, swiping furiously at my eyes to keep the moisture that had suddenly sprung up from rolling down my cheeks.
“AND YOU DO?” she roared. “You think you loved Kille that much? You were a kid!!! You just can’t forget about her because her death is your own fault! You feel guilty! That’s not LOVE! Love is forgiving! Love would mean living for them! Because that’s what they would want you to do! TO KEEP ON LIVING!!”
I opened my mouth, then closed it. My throat worked spasmodically, but I couldn’t make a sound in argument because she was right, and I couldn’t say a word of agreement because my pride wouldn’t allow it. There was no way for me to argue against what she had said, but at the same time, I couldn’t believe that Kille only affected me because of guilt. Objectively, I understood that it was only my ego using that as a weak excuse to save itself, but it was there nonetheless. Tillie, as always, easily read my internal conflict, and as always, settled it with great words of wisdom.
“IDIOT!”
Maybe not so wise. Still, she did break that haze over me. For the time being, at any rate.
“...Stop yelling at me,” I mumbled dejectedly.
“Somebody has to.” Her voice softened slightly.
“I’m sorry,” I told her. And I supposed I was. I hated fighting with Tillie, and part of me understood that she was right about the whole thing and that binding was just...out of the question for Aida and I. “Can I eat that pie now?”
She sighed heavily and shooed me off. The lively atmosphere had been drained right out of me from that conversation, and I dragged my feet hopelessly to one of the many tables laden with food and drink. Instead of taking a slice of berry pie, however, I took a pint of ale, retreating to a secluded spot so that I could brood and drink, imitating quite accurately a certain sun elf leaning against the wall not far away.