Look Beyond What You See

Learn to Love Again

 Thunder crashes over my head and rain and wind buffet me as I stand on the roof of the mansion, still wearing my fancy turquoise and gold gown from the evening's festivities. Much as I like this dress--much as my fiancé seemed to like this dress--I don't really care what happens to it. Right now I'm enjoying being in the middle of a real storm (as opposed to one created by elementals), letting the wind and rain wash away all my stress from this evening.

That's not to say that things went badly this evening. Actually, I'd be hard pressed to find a better way for everything to have worked out. Well....

"Are you sure that last idea's out of the question, Torcuil?" I asked my fiancé's favorite relative in an alcove near the kitchen.

"Aye, milady, though I wish for yer sake that I could," he replies regretfully. "I did catch a glimpse o' yer sister earlier, in the halls, and she's an exceptional beauty, but she's human, ye know, and I couldn't lead 'er on, for 'er sake as well as yer own."

I sigh heavily. This makes perfect sense, and I should have thought of it, myself. "I realise that. I just want to see her happy."

"O' course ye do, an' the boys an' I'll do what we can for ye on that count. 'Twill be a night that no one will soon forget."

"I like the sound of that. Thank you ever so kindly. I hope it's adequate compensation for the lack of scandalous parties tonight."

Torcuil just grinned deviously and took his leave in response to that. I got the impression that maybe, by the end of the night, Lady Berkeley and Weston might have preferred the notion of scandalous parties to whatever Torcuil has up his sleeve.

As it turned out, I don't believe Lady Berkeley suspected any wrongdoing of anyone. Weston, on the other hand....

"Aerys? Are you up here?" Dmitri's voice calls softly from the ladder that leads to his chambers. I've still never been in there, though he's been in mine. But in a couple nights, that inequity will be set right.

That still seems so strange. My heart lodges in my throat (trying to choke me and avoid this situation entirely) at the thought of being married and all that such a thing entails.

"Yes, I'm here," I reply after a particularly loud thunderclap rumbles away. It doesn't take him long to find me in my enclave formed by lilac bushes and rhododendrons, both now long past blooming but gloriously green. Their semi-circle conveniently hides me from the entrances to the roof garden while allowing the wind to hit me full-force.

"What do you think you're doing? Are you trying to get sick again?" Dmitri asks, taking in my windblown, rain-soaked appearance. I shrug in reply.

"I believe that illness came about as a result of dehydration, not standing in the rain after dark. You, on the other hand, might actually get sick if you stay out in this. Should we find another place to converse? Or did you just come to tell me that Juniper wants me to go to bed?"

His response is to pull a bundle of canvas and metal poles out of a somewhat dry place under some particularly full-foliaged shrubs. After he messes about with it for a few minutes, a sort of tent or rain shelter has been produced. He pulls me inside with him; it's actually rather more effective and cozy than I thought it would be.

"This should do to protect us from the elements for a while," he remarks once we're settled, sitting close together with his arm around me, his warmth slowly drying me. "Now...how much did you have to do with what happened tonight?"

"You'll have to be more specific. There was a banquet, a ball--I daresay the Royal Orchestra was nothing short of spectacular, and I'm really quite pleased that they are playing at our wedding--"