"Are you sure you don't want us to stay for a while longer? I could do your hair! Papa could sing for us!" No matter how many times we kiss Mama on the cheek and bid her goodbye she still lingers in the doorway to our outermost chamber clinging to me with the fierceness that only ever comes from a mother's love for her child...
"Mama...I really do only wish to rest..." And it's true... I do want to rest... I have enjoyed having them here, all of them entirely too entertained by the chirps I hadn't been able to contain at the thought of having them all staying here with me... A concern I hadn't figured out quite how to voice, the thought of losing Mama and Papa's guidance in my life never something I shall have to worry about because Papa has agreed to take the position of Emrys's first personal royal advisor... A role he had also filled for Emrys's father so long ago... And now with the finer details of that and our wedding where I shall have four very special handmaidens attending to me and standing with me... My sister would be the ones there to hold my hand while I prove myself strong enough to be Queen by allowing my back to be blessed with the brand of Emrys's beast... The design unknown to us all except for Emrys himself, though I am sure that he plans for the mark that will announce to the world who I belong to and just how much he loves me will be absolutely stunning... And they would be there afterward to help my husband to clean my wounds and bandage them so that they might heal just as beautifully as they are meant to...
I had been nervous asking the heavy task of my older sisters... But they had all squealed in such excitement over being able to stand with me on such a special day, all of them preening over being offered official places in the upcoming royal wedding instead of just attending as sisters of the bride... In fact, Wen and Vanna practically tripped each other after being dismissed trying to see who might make it back to their rooms first so that they might have first choice of the robes that were brought with us to attend the royal wedding as guests, minor adjustments needing to be made to them to make them more appropriate to be handmaidens instead of just guests.
...
Emrys
...
It takes us quite a while for the two of us to convince Mei that Rayne is perfectly fine in my care... That I am more than capable of cherishing her youngest child with just as much if not more love than she herself is capable of... But as soon as the door swings shut after a polite greeting from the guards who so far have kept to their posts at our front door most dutifully we are finally mostly alone again, the smiles of Bodhi, Kavya, Indra, and Ronin all greeting us as they all let their shoulders relax over finally being left alone and no longer under direct investigation of the Cloud sisters and their seemingly insistent need to know absolutely everything... That right there being the reason in and of itself why Akeno had wanted to retire from my father's court in the first place. He had wanted to be able to properly nourish his children's hearts and minds so that they might be lighthearted enough to not be intimidated... But also intelligent and inquisitive enough to question what they do not have a firm grasp on... Traits that absolutely would have been washed out of them by the stern sourness that has polluted the air of this palace for so much longer than should have ever been allowed.
"I-Your Highness... Are we allowed let India know he does not have to secret himself away at the moment? Or would his presence in the outer chamber disturb you while you rest?" It is Kavya who speaks up, the flush on his cheeks nearly as dusky as his coppery hair as he mentions his hidden partner, Rayne perking up at the mention of the scholar he had yet to meet.
"India's presence will never be a bother. He is so wonderfully polite and well-mannered." He always has been and they know that I know that... I also know that they've arranged to split themselves during shifts, Kavya pairing with Bodhi and Ronin pairing with Indra, the two of them using my own personal set of guards so that while at least while my sweet shard of starlight and myself stay here in the inner chambers of our personal sanctuary one of them can keep their young wife company while he applies himself to his studies... A feat that I know is not easy for any bonded pair, much less a bonded pair of soldiers who have successfully spent every moment of their lives together since finding each other... "If you would like, you may start taking your shifts together, Kavya, Ronin... And as long as he does not distract you from your duties, I've no problem with India sitting out here while he studies... Just as long as the three of you take care to not leave too many scrolls lying about, otherwise someone might catch on that his hiding place is right here with us."
My suggestion makes the two bonded warriors smile so brightly I think I may have gone temporarily blind, Ronin being the one to immediately work his way over to a doorway that if not specifically pointed out, would be almost impossible to notice, the handle to the door itself having been strategically hidden in the framing of a heavy oil painting that was chosen specifically for its ornate frame instead of the actually painting itself.
I am happy for the happiness of the first two people to swear their fealty to my Queen, but even happier still when Rayne stops me when I make to pick him up, completely content on stripping him out of the robes I had helped him in to so that we might finally lay back down together, my chest already heating itself in anticipation of soothing my Moon Beam's still sore body... So that he might ask me ever so sweetly, "Emmy... May we stay for just a moment more? I wish to meet India and make him my friend."