Desmond's View
The week before our bonding went by quick, but Faylen made sure to go over the bonding vow with me as often as she could. "Do you remember what to say, Desmond? We will need to speak our vows at the same time tomorrow," she said as we walked in the room. I nodded and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead.
"I remember what I need to say, my moon beam. I won't disappoint you." She smiled up at me.
"You never do, my starlight. Would you like to go over the vow one more time just to be certain that you know it?" I smiled and nodded, knowing that she was just nervous. I recited what we'd been practicing all week and she let out a sigh of relief as another smile curled her lips. "Wonderfully spoken, Desmond."
"I was given wonderful instruction," I said, cupping her jaw as a Wisteria Quail flew by the window with a Silver-tailed Darter in its claws. I pecked her lips and let her go to her bed. "I will join you in the bed tomorrow. We should sleep separately for this final night. We will be bonded in the morning, and I'm not sure I can keep my body under control one more night without some space between us."
"Where will you be for the night?" she asked as she sat down on her bed.
"I'll sleep in my old bed." She nodded but looked a little upset that I wasn't sleeping with her tonight. "It's only the one night, my moon beam," I murmured as I laid down on my own bed. I heard her sigh again and looked over at her, seeing her still sitting on the side of her bed.
"I will not be in the room when you wake for the day. I will be expected to be getting ready for our bonding in private. We will not see each other again until we meet on the steps in front of the castle."
"Where will you be?"
"Tsarra invited me to get ready in the healing rooms and your parents invited me to get ready at their house. Look for me to come from one of those directions when the sun reaches the middle of the sky." I nodded. "Our bonding is the only thing that will take place tomorrow. After our vows have been said, everyone will enjoy a day of festivities."
"What kind of festivities?" I'd never heard anything about the elves having parties of any sort, so I was fully intrigued.
"Songs, feasts, and dances. All for our entertainment. We will not have to take part if we do not wish to join, but we do have to attend and be present until the moon rises on the festivities."
"I don't know any elven dances and I don't want to make you look silly so I might sit them out. Don't feel that you have to stay beside me though. If you want to join them, go ahead." She shook her head.
"I will stay beside you." I nodded and smiled, but sat up and looked carefully at her.
"What's wrong, Faylen? You don't seem very happy. Is this bonding what you truly want?"
"Of course it is, Desmond. If it was not something I wanted, I would not have proven your bloodline until after I bonded with someone," she said without looking up at me.
"Then what is it, my moon beam?"
"I wish my father were here to see me get bonded. I should have saved him that day on the battlefield." I saw something drip from her face and hurried over to her, wrapping my arms around her and pressing a kiss to the side of her head.
"You couldn't have saved him, Faylen. If you hadn't stopped to fight the soldier that approached you, he would have killed you. If you had managed to avoid him, the human king would have killed you without a second thought and then he would have killed your father anyway. There was no way you could have saved him." She nodded but kept her head down and a Wisteria Quail landed in the window, giving a few soft chirps as it looked in the room. I cupped her jaw and lifted her gaze to meet mine. "I wish I wasn't, but we both know I'm right, Faylen. There was no way to save your father." She sniffed and nodded, then drew in a deep breath and spoke.
"Something bad always happens to me when I am here. The happiest time of my life was when I was in Twilight Woods."
"That can't be true."
"But it is. The first time I was here, my mother was raped to death by human soldiers while I hid in a tree above her. This time, my father got killed by the human king and I did nothing to save him. What bad thing will happen to me next while I am here?" I wanted to answer her but there was no way for me to give her an honest answer that I knew would be true. I held her in silence for a few minutes, thinking of what I could say as the Wisteria Quail flew to her bed and landed on a post. "Do not move," she whispered. The bird hopped onto her bed and slowly made its way closer to her, jumping up and landing on her shoulder before nuzzling her cheek and flying off. "That was rare. Kukawks are never that trusting." Her voice sounded a little lighter telling me that she was a bit happier, but I wanted her to be fully happy again.
"We'll go wherever you want, Faylen. You are our queen, but we follow you out of love and loyalty. If you want to drop the war and travel for lands yet discovered, we will follow you. If you want to finish this war and win, we will do everything in our power to help you win this war. The choice is yours. All you have to do is tell us what you want and we will follow you." She nodded and dried her cheeks.
"I want to win this war. I want to avenge my mother and father. I want to avenge all those that the humans killed in our last battle. I do not want to give up our homes and let the humans take everything. I want them to know what it feels like to lose something they hold dear, even if that means taking the only thing they hold dear - power."
"We will follow you to however many battles we need to, just to help you win this war." A small smile curled her lips and I pressed a kiss to them. "You are not alone, my moon beam. You have a city full of people that will help you with anything you need and all you need to do is ask." She nodded and gave me another kiss, softer than any I'd ever given her.
"Thank you, Desmond. Only two people in the world have ever been this close to me when I was crying, but you are the only one that has ever made me stop crying and smile."
I wonder who the other person is. She never shows emotions outside of the room. "Are you trying to make me jealous?" I asked, giving her a smirk and getting a soft laugh from her.
"No. The other is one that I have known for a long time. I see him as a close friend. You are the only one that ever got me to have romantic feelings." I smiled and nodded, letting go of her face.
"Let's go to bed, my moon beam. Tomorrow will be long." She nodded and I pulled the covers over her as she laid down before heading to my bed and laying down as well, hoping to be up early enough to see her before she went to get ready in private. I woke up as the sun rose and found that Faylen was already gone so I got dressed in my best clothes and headed out to find Lanquar walking towards me. "Good morning, Lanquar."
"Good morning, Desmond. Are you prepared for your bonding?" I nodded. "Good. Then let us review your vow." I chuckled and he looked at me confused.
"Faylen and I have been going over it all week." He let out a sigh and shook his head.
"I told her I would take care of teaching you what to say."
"Did you really expect Faylen to ignore doing something that important?" I asked with a smile on my face.
"No, but she must realize that she has people to help her. She is the queen now and does not have to do everything on her own." I could hear and sense his frustration growing and decided it would be best to calm him down a bit.
"She does realize it, Lanquar. And she knows everyone will follow wherever she leads," I said gently.
"That we will," he said with a nod. "She is a strong queen and somehow already a better ruler than her father was."
"Give her time and she'll start letting you take care of things that you say you'll complete for her. She has a lot on her mind and wishes her father were still here. Last night she tried to blame herself for his death." Lanquar looked at me with shock clearly written on his face.
"From what I have heard, there was no way she could have saved him."
"No there wasn't. But there's going to be a small thought in her mind for a while that says otherwise." He nodded and let out another sigh.
"It seems these days are filled with both joyous and grave news. We should hope for a better future to arrive soon. One that is not saddled with war and battles to keep the young ones in fear. But this is the only life our queen has known - one full of hardships. She watched from above as she lost her mother. She watched as she lost her father. She watched as she lost many friends. And she knows she will lose more the longer we continue in this war." I nodded sadly, knowing that the next attack she made would be harder on her than what swords could do to her opponents. "Let us stop the sad talk. This is a day meant only for joy. Come. I will show you where the bonding will take place." We headed out the door and Lanquar showed me where I was to stand for our bonding before having me recite what I was to say. "Alright. You may go do whatever you wish, but be in place by the time the sun reaches the middle of the sky." I nodded and headed off to go find my parents, thinking they'd need help finding where to go since Faylen had probably gone to the healing rooms.
"Desmond! What are you doing here?" my mom said as she answered the door.
"I'm here to walk you and Dad over to where the bonding will be taking place. I figured you'd need help finding it." She kept looking behind her and seemed nervous about something. "Is everything alright, Mom?" I asked as I saw Cloud's head appear in the doorway beside her. He looked at me for a second, then disappeared back inside.
"Oh, yes. Give me just a moment, Desi." She closed the door, but reappeared a moment later as she slipped out and kept the door as closed as she could so I wouldn't be able to see in. "Why don't you show me how to get there and I can show your father when the time gets closer?"
"Alright." We started walking toward the castle but she kept glancing back over her shoulder. "Are you sure everything's alright, Mom? You seem really nervous about something."
"Oh, yes, yes. I'm fine. So are you excited for your bonding to the queen?"
"I'm not excited because she's the queen, Mom." She looked at me curiously. "I've been dreaming of Faylen my whole life. Every time you and the other adults would tell us kids the stories about Hybrids, I'd have dreams for a week of the woman I'd eventually marry. I didn't know it was Faylen until a while back when we talked about how I grew up. I described the woman from my dreams and realized she matched Faylen's description word-for-word at that moment. I'm excited to marry the woman of my dreams, not the queen." She smiled and gave me a hug, pressing a kiss to my cheek.
"But how are you able to marry Faylen? Isn't it against elven law for her to bond with a human?"
"Apparently I'm a Hybrid. Dad's name is the last listed in the Timms family line on the scrolls about the bloodline for Tebury Hybrids." Mom's mouth fell open in shock, so I pushed a finger under her chin as I gave a light laugh. "Yes, Mom. Dad and I are Hybrids."
"But neither of your grandparents were elven." I shrugged. "Well, who am I to question a scroll of the elves? If they have documents stating that you and your father are Hybrids, who am I to say otherwise?" I walked her over to the castle and showed her exactly where the bonding would be taking place and she promised that she'd be back with Dad in time to watch. As she went back toward the house, I headed over to where everyone was setting up tables and asked if they needed any help, but no one wanted my help so I headed to the training grounds and picked up a sword since I needed more training on that.
"You should not be worried of training on a bonding day," came a voice in my mind. It was so clear that it sounded like it had been spoken so I turned to see who it was and found Thydune at the edge of the training grounds. "This is a day meant only for a bonding, not training."
"I've got nothing else to do and I know I need more practice with a sword."
"That you do." I scrunched my face in confusion on how he knew that. "I have seen you training. You flail the sword as if it were a venomous Mageon." I chuckled.
"Which is why I'm here. I shouldn't be flailing around."
"I should not offer as this is not the day for training, but would you like aid?"
"Yes, please." He came over and picked up a sword, tested its weight in his hand, then spun to face me as he raised the sword, stopping as the edge pressed against the right side of my neck.
"The sword is a part of you. It is an extension of your arm. If another's extension strikes yours, it will not cause harm to you. Above all else, protect your body with the extension." He pulled his sword from my neck and spun back around, walking away from me toward the middle of the training grounds. I followed, but made sure to stay back a bit. He spun again and I quickly raised my sword, blocking his just as he reached my right shoulder. "Very good, but you need to move faster. If you simply block your opponent's strikes, you will do nothing to aid in a battle. You need to block and then instantly attack your opponent." I nodded and he spun the other way, I moved my sword to block my left side, but wasn't quick enough. Thydune's blade pressed against my throat for the second time in less than five minutes. "You are lucky that I have such good control on my blade. If not, you would have been killed twice now." I drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out, already frustrated about how bad I was with a sword. "Frustration will not aid in your training. Clear your mind." I fought not to roll my eyes at the obviousness of that fact and smacked his sword away with mine, quickly pulling mine back and striking at Thydune. "Very good," he said as he blocked my blade effortlessly. "Keep striking." I kept swinging my sword at him and he blocked everything, but the moment it started to get messy, he blocked it and struck back, stopping against the left side of my neck again. "Do you know where you went wrong?"
"I started flailing my sword again."
"I want to know why you began flailing, not what was wrong." I lowered my sword and he pulled his from my neck. "You started to believe that you were good," he said after a moment of silence.
"That makes no sense, Thydune. I was doing good."
"You were. But doing good and being good are two different things. Queen Faylen does very well when training, but will tell you that she is not good. Knowing that you have room for improvement keeps you focused and you strive for better each time you raise a weapon. Try again." I blocked his sword before he got close to any body part and recoiled just to strike at him. He kept blocking all my attacks effortlessly and it was starting to make me mad that I couldn't make him work for just one attack. Suddenly, he spun around and blocked my attack before pressing the tip of his sword against the front of my throat. "Much better."
"But you would have killed me with that last move," I said as I took a step back to get away from his blade and lowered mine.
"That is what will happen if you hurt Queen Faylen because you will answer to me," he said with his sword still pointed at me. "We will train again tomorrow. Come. Let us go to your bonding." He lowered his sword and walked past me. I was so stunned at the fact that he'd just threatened me, that I couldn't move. "Your bonding will begin soon. You should be at the location before the start," came Thydune's voice in my mind. I turned and headed to put my sword away as I felt him cut the connection, but I reached for his mind as quick as I could.
"You love her, don't you?"
"Of course. She is my queen."
"I mean romantically, Thydune. You're upset that she chose to bond with me, aren't you?" I asked, looking at him as I put my sword away.
"How did you learn to speak with your mind? That is a gift known only to elves."
"Don't avoid the question." He looked at me in silence for a moment, before letting out a soft sigh as we turned to head to the castle.
"Yes. Many of us were romantically interested in her, myself included. I had hoped my dedication and willingness to aid her in whatever I could would show her that I desired her bonding vow. I was wrong. Now the answer to my question."
"I didn't learn it. When Queen Faylen came back out to Dragon's Veil to find me, back when the people from Tebury were arriving, I spoke to her in her mind at one point. I don't know how I did it and we were both just as surprised by the fact that I had." We walked the rest of the way to the castle in silence, but I grabbed his arm as he turned to go sit. "Hurting her is one of the two things I would never do. She is the woman I spent my childhood dreaming of. You will never have cause to worry of keeping her safe from me. Understand?" He gave a curt nod and I let go of his arm, going to stand where Lanquar had told me that morning.
The sun reached the middle of the sky and I saw my parents walking toward the castle. I smiled at them, but felt my lips part and breathing slow as Faylen came into view. She was wearing the outfit she'd worn on the day of her coronation, but her hair was pulled up and back to showcase her face. I couldn't take my eyes off her and watched as she walked the entire way to me. "Do not speak until after you say the bonding vow," came a clear male voice in my mind. I didn't care who was talking to me but I obeyed since I wasn't fully sure that I could say something and not sound like an idiot. She stopped next to me, placed the back of her hand under mine, and we turned to face Lanquar. "Clear your mind of all but the bonding vow. Focus only on saying that properly or this bonding will be seen as false and she will be required to choose another to bond with," the clear voice said again as Lanquar was speaking.
"Queen Faylen of Gewood and Desmond Timms. Speak your bonding vows now." I put all my focus on saying the words exactly how I'd been taught.
"I swear to be bonded to the one next to me of my own free will," we said at the same time in Faejesh. "I swear that I have taken no other before this moment, I will take no other from this moment on, and I will give no other the love meant for my chosen mate. If my chosen mate should meet death before me, I will take no other for the rest of my days. I swear to protect my mate until I meet death. I swear to always love and cherish my chosen mate. I will provide at least one heir with my chosen mate so that our people live on. I swear to take my chosen mate into my trusted council and use their wisdom for only the best decisions and intentions. If I fail to uphold any of which I have sworn, may death find me quickly and keep me from my bonded mate."
"Queen Faylen of Gewood and Desmond Timms, you are now bonded for all eternity. Shou-"
"You speak our tongue like you were born into it. Perhaps you will be better for her than I thought. Do not make me regret aiding you this day," came the voice again.
"May none attempt to break your bond and may none try to steal one from the other. I now pronounce you a pair, bonded for life. Trust, love, faith, and communication are the keys that will bind you together and keep your bind strong. Use them well." Faylen turned to me and pressed her lips to mine, keeping our hands stacked. When she backed I gave her a smile and she gave a small one back to me.
"Give me the same kiss," Faylen said in my mind. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers, backing after a moment.
"I give you Queen Faylen of Gewood and King Desmond Timms. Let all rejoice on this day." She moved her hand and wrapped her arm around mine, walking out toward the open field where people had been setting up tables all morning.
