Author's Games: History

Task 9, the Finals: ariel_paiement's Entry

"Traditions in my time make it impossible to just wed in some random kirk." Lucia sighed. "Ye cannae expect any priest to merry us without postin' the bans."

Aetius sighed. "We can't. It isn't as if you're actually from there now. You haven't lived there for years."

"I ken, Aetius." She put her hands on her hips. "So, I hae an idea."

"You do?" Aetius bit his lip. "I feel terrible for not being able to pull off the original idea."

She shrugged, a smile playing on the corners of her lips. "Dinnae. Ye did yer best. Noo, we'll just hae to go back further in history. Back to when the druids did the unions."

"Back to the druids?" Aetius winced. "Haven't seen their kind in decades, I'd guess. They didn't have much place in the Empire right before the fall."

Lucia grabbed his hands in hers, a wide smile spreading across her face. "Well, ye said ye wanted to give me a traditional weddin'. Didnae ye?"

He nodded.

"An' whit gets more traditional than druids?" She wrapped her arms around his waist, laying her head on his chest. "I ken ye dinnae prefer it. But—"

Aetius pulled back, stroking the pad of his thumb over her soft cheek and dipping his head to press his lips to the corner of her sweet mouth. "It doesn't matter. Given everything else that's gone wrong, I'd just as soon wed in a clearing with a druid than wait any longer to make you mine."

She snorted. "Considerin' ye had me that first night—"

"A mistake to behave that way, I know." He ducked his head, his cheeks heating. "I should've refused you."

"Well, I offered it, didnae I?" She rolled her eyes. "Ye cannae take all the blame."

He sighed. "I can't take it back, at any rate. What's done is done. Kind of like how this whole mess is done." He waved a hand at the museum curator's office nearby with a groan. "Kenneth's ruined everything for sure now."

"An' who cares if the whole world goes to flames noo?" She shook her head with a frown. "Forget aboot it. History—" She shrugged. "It'll hae its mix o' good an' bad noo matter whit ye do. Dinnae fash yerself aboot it."

Aetius dragged his fingers through his hair. "Still, I feel as if after everything we've done, we should've saved this place."

"Whit more would ye hae done, Aetius?" She laid a hand on his arm. "Ye cannae truly think we didnae do all we could?"

He shook his head and flopped down on the iron stairs leading up to the curator's office. "All I know is that Kenneth is dead now because of the others, and it still didn't fix anything. The timeline's gone to shreds, and we can't fix it anymore."

She eased down beside him and laid her head on his shoulder. "I ken. But there isnae anythin' more we can do."

He nodded and wrapped an arm around her waist. "I know that, love. I know. Just wish there was."

"Ye willnae let this ruin our weddin', will ye?"

"Never." He buried his face in her hair. "You make me the happiest man alive."

She leaned into him with a soft exhale. "Look at her. She's miserable, she is."

Aetius lifted his head and looked out over the small crowd milling about in the museum first floor below. The Egyptian Queen, Nefertiti, wandered aimlessly through the Egyptian section near the main entrance. Her soft keening flitted up to them as she passed beneath the perch they'd found. "She misses him. And she's not able to cope with everything that happened."