The Forgotten

27

It was time. Mira struggled to breath as her body was washed, oiled and perfumed by her mother and Mary, her maid. Her mother had even made some suggests for the night. Mira was mildly aghast, but definitely embarrassed by some of the things her mom had said. While Mary had simply smirked at Lady Amethyst's suggestions and nodded, with a wicked glint in her eye. 

She was very much anticipating joining with her soon to be husband in their marriage bed tonight. A shiver ran down her spine as she thought of all of the new things she would experience over the coming nights. Perhaps, days, as well. As Mary brought her lacy under slip for her to put on, Meiying entered the room, carrying the large bouquet of flowers that had colors that were a brilliant white against her dress in the dark colors with the flame work beading. The stark contrast of the two were to draw simile of Tine and Mira, themselves. 

"You will be the most beautiful bride. I hope that I shine as brightly on my big day as you do you, right now." Meiying said to her, with tears in her eyes.

"There you are. Almost ready, are you?" Said Adalinda as she poked her head in the door. Then nodding to herself in satisfaction, she closed the door and left. "Well, it's a good thing, I think that young lord, Richard, is about to lose his mind. I'm pretty sure that he wants to be my husband. But in order for that to happen, he must speak with my father and get his approval. This, he will not do until you are wed for one full day." Meiying's face was full of joy and happiness.

"Aren't you concerned with what type of man Richard is?" Mira asked her.

"No. My father and brother are both an excellent judge of character, and they both enjoy Richard's company and have said more than once that he would make some girl a very nice husband. But, I overheard him tell his cousin, Robard, that if he had to go to the East with me, then that was fine with him." Meiying's face took on a dreamy quality as she thought about her plans for her future. 

"Alright girls. That's enough. We need to get you and Mira downstairs for the wedding to get started." Lady Amethyst handed Meiying and bouquet of flowers similar to Mira's but with in a different color. Meiying's bouquet was actually a deep orange and varying shades of ochre and oranges to match Meiying's beautiful deep red dress. Mira had balked at first  until Meiying had told her that where she came from in the East, Red was a traditional wedding color. Mira had relented, not wanting to hurt her new friend's feelings.

As Lady Amethyst and Mary led the two girls to the foyer to the waiting carriage, Long and the emperor joined them. It had been decided that since Lord Isaac would be walking Mira down the aisle, Long would escort Lady Amethyst and Shiwen would escort his daughter. Unlike many other weddings that happen in the village, this wedding was being done by old traditions. Some draogn rites, some human rites. Tine and Raptor had spoke to Mira's parents and had asked for a mix of the two. The old Priest, Tomas, had be positively ecstatic about the idea, sending his apprentice to go and fetch the old dragon rites book form his study. When the young man returned, they began going through the details for the wedding ceremony. The most intriguing of all of the rites, has the bride and groom stand together, facing each other to recite their vows while standing inside a circle of fire.

It was decided that this would be kept and that the vows would be the dragon vows. The way that the women would be escorted down the aisle was also dragon related. Long would escort her mother, who would stand there until her father handed their daughter over to the husband/mate and introduce her as their greatest treasure.

"Is everyone sure of what they are doing and where they are supposed to be?" Shiwen asked.

Suddenly out of the blue, Mira spoke and shocked them all. "Emperor, what can I expect? Being married to a dragon. A royal dragon, at that." Lady Amethyst and Meiying gasped loudly as Lord Isaac sputtered his own shock. Only Long was stoic in his expression and silence.