The Elven Powers

Epilogue

My cheeks gradually began to warm, as I stirred from the wonders of my colourful dreams. A red haze glanced across my eyelids as I realised the warmth came from the glorious sunshine filtering through the curtains. As I opened my eyes, languishing in the effortlessness of it all, I saw the flecks of gold that danced in the light stretching from the small opening in the heavy emerald curtains. They reflected across the room, causing it to become nearly as bright as I felt. So I stirred, sliding my hand gently across a sumptuous muscular chest. 

It had been well over a month since Killealtin. The memory of Elrohir proposing to me was still fresh in my mind, forcing away any doubts or worries about Nicholas. That train of thought only brought back the memory of the glorious green shoot growing in the fertile soil. The Power of the third realm was gradually returning, Nicholas' work coming undone. He had failed, destroyed lives and gained nothing. Everything was returning: The Great Cherry tree, the bountiful nature of the realm and the strength of the people. If Nicholas appeared again, we would only deal with him all the swifter. I couldn't say I missed the whole affair of having to chase that demon down.

From there we had made our way back to Killeurdrenn. I didn't even have to persuade Elrohir that it would be our destination. He had explained that he didn't feel there was much left for him back in Killelvris. He had lived there for most of his life; however he wanted a new life. We both did and Killeurdrenn was where we had first met when everything wasn't about the war. My beautiful home city was not tainted with any painful memories and we found we felt more at home than ever in the palace. There was also the matter of Morgel. He of course had to go back to being the Queen's heir and we didn't want to lose him after everything we had all gone through. 

The Queen was another matter we had to attend to. She had welcomed us all with open arms and I swore I had never seen her so peaceful. When we recounted events of our journey to her, she seemed to brim with happiness at all we had gained. Of course, when we told her of Nicholas' betrayal she seethed with anger. Yet when we told her of the restoration of the Power, we all agreed it was best if we just tried to go on with our lives. She was most interested in the Pool we had found however and asked us where she might find it. We hesitated at first, not knowing whether we should easily share such power, but gave her the details nonetheless. Only good could come of its healing properties, such as the rebirth of The Great Cherry tree, 

Then there was the wedding. Galandria Celemar. The name rolled around in my mind as I once again ran my hand across Elrohir’s' muscular chest. Having him here beside me only brought the events of yesterday back to my mind. Once we had told the Queen of our plans, it was quite out of our hands. She had insisted on making it public, we were Guardians after all. She said it would bring the people closer to us, as well as two Guardians marrying being virtually unheard of. So we were married under The Great apple tree, in good faith to our kingdoms. Naturally, I was terrified. The number of people who attended filled the clearing and I only began to see people I recognised upon approaching the very front. 

I cannot deny it was very fascinating to see how many people gasped and pointed at me. At first I wanted to run back up the aisle, in fear I had some dirt on my face. However, when I locked eyes with Elrohir, all the other people disappeared. He and I stood in a clearing as he fixed me with a gaze that could only be described as pure awe. He looked at me as though he had never seen anything quite so beautiful. Such is how Faowin's words only drifted from thin air as he and I gazed upon each other. His smile could brighten the darkest cave and his blonde hair and grey eyes looked purely angelic. His suit hugged the figure I had come to recognise and I felt myself bush slightly. When we had finally been allowed to kiss, he stole my breath, even though it was a chaste kiss. 

Then, chaos had come into being. The great halls of the palace were heavily decorated, yet partially hidden from my viewing as they were completely crammed with people. As soon as Elrohir and I swept through the doors, I nearly dropped my smile. Elrohir gripped onto me all the fiercer and I had to search for reassurance in his eyes. Then he had winked at me and I knew we could do this together. I thought ruefully of how brave I had acted at the battle of Killealtin and thought I'd rather weather that a second time. I thanked the staff gratefully for how much work had gone into my appearance which refreshed my mood to tackle more of the guests. They had done a splendid job and I had to admit the dress was stunning. It had a crème corset over the top of a soft white skirting. My shoulders were bear as the top of the white dress came out from under the crème corset to run from my left shoulder to my right. The arm sleeves then split about mid bicep to form two flowing piece of white fabric. The bottom of the dress then had a crème overskirt that split at the front but flowed down behind me about a meter along the floor with beautiful leaves and vines embroidered into the cloth. My hair had been kept simply, which I loved. I didn't want to appear at the end of the aisle looking like a completely different woman after all. Instead it had been intricately woven with some natural branches, so that I looked as though I had stepped out of a thicket after being imbued with natural beauty. In this way I felt able to take on the voluminous crowds of people I had to meet. 

On the other hand, it wasn't necessary to brave it as entirely as the party came to an end for us. We were of course excused and rightly so. Then began the best evening of my life. I had not known everything had been leading up to this. Elrohir had lead me up to what was now our room and I loved that we could share the room I felt had such beauty and comfort to it. The green of the Guardian brought back such comforting memories of our time together, as we made our most treasured memory to date. I smiled as I thought of how strong our emotions had been last night. There was certainly no way anyone could separate us now. We would have our arguments and our differences, as well as the certainty at some point one of us would probably want out. Through it all I could think of no one I'd rather work out our differences with. 

Elrohir’s' arms instinctively curled around me as he stirred beneath me. As his body reacted to the fact I must be awake, he slowly opened his bleary eyes. Focusing on my face almost immediately, he smiled. He stroked my cheek in a blissfully lazy manner and I leant into his hand sighing contentedly. "What were you thinking of?" He queried as he traced the lines on my forehead. 

I smiled savouring the moment. "Yesterday, today and forever."