Realizing she was speaking, he leaned closer.
She vaguely realized that he was the only thing around her she
could manage to focus on. “What?”
“Weird wedding,” she repeated, wondering why
her voice sounded like a croak.
“Oh. Well, we can have a more human ceremony
when you’re feeling better,” he offered with a small smile. Even in
her foggy state, she recognized the worry in his gaze. He held a
cup with water in it and propped her up enough that she could sip
it.
The liquid felt like a miracle against her
dry throat. “Thanks,” she said slowly as he settled her back down.
“Orange juice would be even better.”
Now his smile reached his eyes.
She had another thought she wanted to
express. She closed her eyes to bring the thought into focus. This
time when she opened them, Gabriel was dressed in a royal blue
short-sleeved shirt and khaki shorts. She might have been imagining
it, but his hair looked longer. Her brain finally clued in that she
was blacking out rather than blinking, but that was the best it
could do before her thoughts scattered again.
“Does this mean we get to have sex?” she
asked, finally recalling what she had meant to convey before she
closed her eyes.
There was a snort of laughter, but since she
was staring at Gabriel, she knew it hadn’t come from him. He turned
and sent a warning look over his shoulder. She was too loopy to
care that someone had overheard the intimate question. Where in the
world was she, anyway?
“We’ll discuss that when you’re feeling
better,” he said softly when he again looked at her.
She processed that. “Am I dying?”
“No,” he answered vehemently. She saw raw
emotion flash through his eyes. She wished the fog in her brain
would clear so she could hear his thoughts.
“Guess I’ll get better then,” she said. “Got
any orange juice?”
“Of course I do.”
He turned to the small table beside her bed.
Huh. She was in a big bed. Her vision grew more indistinct when she
tried to see beyond the bed. There were splashes of color around
the room. Were those the outlines of other people? But then Gabriel
held a glass of orange juice to her lips and assisted her in
drinking it, and she suddenly couldn’t find the energy to care.
As he gently laid her back against the
pillow, her thoughts cleared for another moment. She recognized the
exhaustion and sadness in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
He frowned. She tried to say more, but her
eyelids felt like weights, and she once again faded.
This time, she dreamed.
In the dream, she wielded her sword, its
blade flashing white in the moonlight. There was movement all
around her, but her gaze was centered on her opponent: the Mercesti
who had faced her in the coliseum chamber.
“I am going to kill you,” he said
matter-of-factly, circling her and waving his curved black sword.
“None can survive me.”
“That’s funny. Because I’m still standing
here,” she replied, her eyes following him.
His scarred face spread in a malignant grin.
“But you are not. Do you not see? I have taken you from him. Only
those with unshakable faith can defeat the curse of my blade.”
“Well, I have faith in Gabriel. And no one
and nothing will take me from him.”
She swung her sword. They battled until the
sun rose. She never flagged, swinging her blade again and again,
parrying his attempts to get past her guard. Her instinct guided
her and led her true. And finally, when the sun fully crested over
the horizon, she nodded.
“Enough playing around,” she said. “Gabriel
is waiting for me. Go to Hell.”
And on her next opening, she drove her sword
right through the Mercesti’s heart.
The next time she surfaced, she felt
perfectly coherent. The room was dimmer. She figured she had
surfaced at night. Only one softly-glowing orb rested against the
high ceiling.
Slowly, she lifted her head. Now she could
focus on the entire room. It was presently empty outside of her and
Gabriel, who was lying next to her in the big bed. He had an arm
thrown protectively over her waist. She was covered only with a
sheet. He lay on top of the sheet wearing a pair of dark brown
shorts and no shirt.
For a while, she simply settled back and
stared at him. Memories from her mental nebulousness slowly
filtered back to her. He had never left her side. The exact
circumstances that had led her to this bed weren’t clear, but she
knew she was recovering.
He had left a glass of water on the bedside
table an arm’s reach away from her. She carefully reached over and
lifted the glass to her lips, finishing every drop. When she set it
back down, her hand shook. She was obviously still weak.
As she returned to her pillow, Gabriel
stirred. He pulled her closer without opening his eyes and brushed
his lips against her forehead. When his breathing quickly evened
out in sleep, she realized the action had been well-practiced and
instinctive. The knowledge touched her deeply. She turned her head
and noted that their lips were just an inch apart. It took little
effort at all to lift her head the remaining distance to kiss
him.
He responded even in sleep. His lips moved
against hers. She slowly brought her right hand up and curled her
fingers into the hair behind his head, deepening the kiss. That was
when he awoke. But rather than pull away, he pulled her closer.
And there was the healing energy she needed.
Finally, she was strong enough to focus her power on healing
herself. The energy coursed through her in brilliant waves.
Instinctively, she pushed some of that energy toward him. Golden
light flared around them.
She clung to him, welcoming his touch,
savoring his kiss. He promoted her healing, yes, but it was his
love she craved. Her entire body tingled as it regenerated
strength. She sensed the same thing happening to him and realized
he had been almost as much in need of her touch as she had his. He
had weakened as she had weakened. Not just from a lack of sleep,
but from emotional turbulence and deeply crippling worry for
her.
I love you so much
, she thought
fervently, not wanting to part long enough to speak the words.
Realizing their mental connection was
reestablished, he responded in kind. Her mind flooded with all of
the things he had wanted to tell her while she was battling the
curse and couldn’t. There was so much emotion in his thoughts that
tears filled her eyes and trailed down her cheeks.
In the end, she understood with exceptional
clarity that she had in Gabriel everything she had ever wanted.
Indeed, all she ever needed. With him, she could truly conquer
anything, no matter how incredible it might seem. And he felt
exactly the same about her. He would never turn from her. To him,
she had always been and always would be worthy of his love.
And so it was that they healed each
other.
They were married in a traditional human
ceremony in a location known and attended only by the Estilorian
elders, Olivia, Skye, James and Caleb. The setting was remote,
tropical and temperate with a rocky and awe-inspiring coastline. As
the sun set over the calmly rolling sea, Amber and Gabriel joined
hands and exchanged vows on the white sand beach while Jabari
officiated.
“I, Gabriel, take you, Amber, to be my
wife…”
“I, Amber, take you, Gabriel, to be my
husband…”
She was dressed in a simple white sundress
with a sweetheart neckline and a flowing skirt that reached the
tops of her bare feet. Her hair, which she had insisted on cutting,
hung in loose, windswept curls to just between her shoulder blades.
She wore a single orange and gold tropical bloom above her left
ear. The gold stars and blue-gray flames that marked the outsides
of her golden eyes served as the only added color on her lovely
face; she wore no makeup. Her only jewelry was the ring that hadn’t
left her finger since she and Gabriel had exchanged them on the
human plane. Jabari simply improvised that part of the
ceremony.
Gabriel wore a loose white shirt unbuttoned
over a white tank top and khaki-colored pants, his feet also bare.
Behind him, wearing identical garb, stood James and Caleb. On
Amber’s side, Olivia and Skye wore sundresses the exact blue-green
of the ocean beside them. They carried bouquets of tropical floral
in bright shades of gold and orange. The Estilorian elders, all of
whom were in attendance, got into the spirit of the wedding’s
casual theme. They wore loose, colorful dresses, casual pants and
tank tops. No one wore shoes.
When Amber and Gabriel kissed to seal their
marriage vows, their shared joy spread among everyone in
attendance. It was nothing short of a miracle to a people who had
felt very little in centuries.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, the group
moved to a spot on the beach that had been prepared with wooden
chairs and softly glowing orbs of light around a fire pit. There
was food and drink for everyone. The mood was festive and
light.
When the sun had fully set and everyone had
eaten their fill, Gabriel turned to Amber. “I have a wedding
present for you,” he said.
Her eyes widened. “We were supposed to get
each other presents?”
He laughed. “I don’t know if we were supposed
to, but I did.” And then he glanced at Sebastian, the Lekwuesti
elder, who waved his hand toward Amber.
Amber stared at her lap as the gift
materialized with a wash of lavender light. Her eyes grew even
wider.
Skye gasped with delight. “A guitar!”
“Not just any guitar,” Amber softly clarified
as she rubbed the body reverently. “The same exact kind of guitar
he bought me for my fifteenth birthday.” She tested the strings,
tilting her head as she gauged its sound, and positively beamed. It
obviously met with her approval.
“How were you able to get this?” Olivia asked
curiously. They all knew objects didn’t transition between the
planes.
“I worked on recreating it…with a little
help,” he said, giving a thankful nod toward the Lekwuesti
elder.
Sebastian gave them all a modest nod and
small smile.
Amber set her gift carefully on the empty
chair beside her and then threw her arms around her husband,
kissing him soundly. “Thank you, Gabriel. You know I love it. It’s
perfect.” She touched the side of his face. “I wish I had thought
to get you something.”
“I would consider it a gift if you would play
it, Little Star,” he responded, his eyes full of warmth and
pleasure.
After touching her forehead to his and
sighing happily, she sat back down and lifted the guitar. She gave
it a few practicing strums.
“This is so cool!” Skye said excitedly,
bouncing in her seat. “I wish I could play. Oh, what can you play?”
She clapped her hands together. “I know! Can you…” she trailed off
and flushed, obviously aware of the fact that her taste and style
differed from that of her sisters. But she continued gamely, “Can
you play ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow?’ You know, the ukulele
version?” Blushing, she stammered, “It’s a happy song. It’s always
made me think of the beach.”
Not removing her gaze from Skye’s, Amber gave
her a half-smile, moved her hands on the neck of the guitar and
immediately launched into the song her sister had requested.
As the cheerful strumming surrounded them,
Skye laughed and jumped to her feet. She turned to Caleb beside her
and yanked his arm until he reluctantly stood. Then she started
dancing, forcing him to move to keep up with her as she held his
hands and gyrated and spun in time with the music. Olivia sang
along with Amber, their voices blending melodiously together.
Gabriel nudged James with a grin.
It would be remembered as the most joyous
event in all of Estilorian history.
From a distance away, Knorbis stood beside
Ini-herit and watched the festivities. The Wymzesti was smiling,
something his friend the Corgloresti hadn’t yet mastered. Knorbis
supposed it wasn’t so surprising that the practical and grounded
Ini-herit was much more receptive to the more negative of the
powerful emotions shared recently by their connection to Gabriel.
But he found it unfortunate and worrisome. Achieving the balance
between the positive and negative sides of these extraordinary
feelings would be essential if Ini-herit and the other elders were
going to be able to handle processing them. Opening oneself to only
the negative side was a recipe for disaster.
But Knorbis understood, as well, that he was
more open than all others to every level of feeling due to his
highly intuitive Estilorian class. He would help the elders all
learn how to embrace the amazing emotions transferred to them by
Gabriel.
“Does she know she was largely in the dark
for nearly a month?” Ini-herit asked to break the silence.
His gaze was focused on Amber, and Knorbis
also turned his attention to her. She looked like a different young
woman now than the pale shell who nearly wasted away recovering in
Ini-herit’s own bedroom. Knorbis doubted she would ever truly know
the details of that month. How the worry, sadness and utter
devastation that her condition caused Gabriel created a ripple
effect that sent all of the elders into seclusion to try and cope
with the foreign and powerful sensations. How her sisters wouldn’t
leave the house where she lay, unwilling to be away from her in
case she needed them or if there was any change in her condition.
How all of the Estilorians who had welcomed her presence to their
plane had mourned in their way, knowing only that she had been
attacked by Angius and struck by his cursed blade. The elders had
yet to share the news of her survival with anyone outside of those
currently attending the wedding, still uncertain whom they could
trust.