A Vagabond's Tale [COMPLETED]

Epilogue

The night had command of the sky. Nothing stirred outside except for a soft breeze that wove through the trees with threads of jasmine and honeysuckle tied in it. Along the palace walls, lanterns burned, their light joining with the illumination of the almost full moon. Only a few candle flames were lit in the palace, most of the occupants long since finding comfort in their beds.

One such candle brightened Gigi's room, the orange glow falling over the two girls who stood before the mirror. Gigi twisted back and forth, the end of her dark purple skirt twirling about her ankles. The tails of the three sashes, wrapped around her waist, bounced with the movement. They were three different colors. A deep forest green, rich royal blue and dark red.

Gigi fingered the colorful fabric, thinking over their meaning and the tradition that lay behind the well-softened material. Smiling, she touched the edges of the shirt that hung off her shoulders. It was her mother's. What she wore was simple and almost plain, but to Gigi, it held no comparison, not even to the dresses she had been wearing the last five days.

In Loria, a wedding lasted six days. Five days of celebration leading up to the wedding day, the wedding followed by a ball that ended at dawn the next day with a send-off for the married couple. Gigi hadn't known how she was going to get through the intensity of the week but she had, Thayer always by her side. It had been a week like she never imagined.

The Eldin had been invited to attend. Though honored by the invitation they had graciously declined, but that was not before everyone knew they had been welcomed by the King himself. Leading up to the week of celebrating the King had hired the Eldin to train every new horse in his stable, making a statement by talking with them in front of some of the highest of nobleman. Though it could not all be solved in a matter of days, the work Thayer had done the year before the wedding had helped make small steps to acceptance.

The true shock had come when Gigi's parents had attended the first ball. The royal family had greeted them and announced their presence to the stunned room. Looking at her father - clean shaven, well dressed and beside her mother - Gigi would have sworn he was from noble birth.

Gossip had burned white hot that evening but Gigi didn't care. She was with her parents and danced with her father as Thayer danced with her mother. It was a show of unity that the Court did not realize at the time. Her parents attended only one ball but would be there for the wedding ceremony and final celebration.

Among the storm of well-wishers, Gigi had found comfort in three people. Davin was vast contrast to the man Gigi had known, with Everly as his wife he rarely disappeared into the library, content to be lost in her alone.

Very little outwardly changed with Everly but what Gigi found was a friend she had not expected to have. With her mother still living on the outskirts to the city most of the time and her grandmother no longer a source of guidance, Everly had stepped in, knowing Gigi was the reason Davin had finally made known his feelings.

At first, the two girls had acted unsteadily around each other, not knowing where the other stood. But as the chaos of Gigi's life mounted, Everly was able to help her with what she was still learning. From this, their friendship grew.

Besides the newly wedded couple, there was Raif. He seemed to always be on hand when either Thayer or Gigi needed him. If they were bombarded by a mass of nobles, Raif slipped in and carelessly pulled them away. He did everything with such ease and authority that no one contradicted him.

When Gigi had still been with her parents the months before the wedding, Raif had been the trusted go-between. He was a friend and support neither of them could have imagined, but could not see living without.