An Ocean of Fire- Supercorp AU

22- A Vow of Honor

The feast that evening was similar in many ways to the one before, but it veered down a different path once dinner had concluded.

Zor-El stood from the head of the royal table, raising his cup and his voice so it was booming out across those who were close enough to hear it.

"Kryptonians!" A rowdy cheer went up from the crowd, who were now several pints deep in mead and wine.

"Members of the Alliance!"

Another cheer, louder this time, washed over them. Lena took a sip of her wine and set it down gently, furtively glancing at Kara, who had a mischievous smile on her face.

"Princess, what is happening?" Lena whispered to her.

Kara slung an arm across the back of Lena's chair and leaned in to be heard over the crowd. Her lips were pressed nearly to the edge of Lena's ear, and her breath skimmed along her hairline, sending goosebumps along her shoulders.

"The word for the second day does not translate very well from Kryptonian - it is called Urkynon, which means roughly charity, or altruism. It is a day of gift-giving - mostly from the Crystal Palace to the Kingdom, but also from the King and Queen to the betrothed."

Lena's head swung around again, just as Zor-El was addressing the crowd once more.

"Welcome to the second day of the wedding festival of Kara Zor-El and Lena Luthor!"

Alura stood then, slipping an arm around Zor-El's waist. She had been absent for the first few days of the event, but now that many of the moving pieces of the wedding were firmly secured, she made her presence known. She addressed the crowd herself.

"On this, the second day of their wedding festival, we would like to bestow upon our daughter and her betrothed several gifts - to honor both their union and the House of El."

She turned towards the women, raising her hand and beckoning them. They both rose quickly, joining her and Zor-El. The crush of guests waited silently, in a brisk anticipation that Lena also shared - along with coils of nerves moving through her stomach at the sight of hundreds of people staring at her. Zor-El's clear voice rang through the air once more.

"To our daughter's betrothed, Lena Luthor of Luthoria - I bequeath the royal dagger of El."

Lena stared in shock as a knight approached them, unwrapping a plain cloth package that belied its exquisite contents - a dagger that, at first glance seemed to be a simple steel blade; but upon careful review, revealed itself to be etched with the finest filigree of leaves and vines. A leather scabbard lay beside it, the crest of El burned indelibly into it.

Her breath caught in her chest, and she felt suddenly very overwhelmed.

She could feel her heart beating hard in her chest, and tears threatened to spill from the edges of her eyes. She sucked in a shaking breath and pressed her hands flat against her own stomach, as if she couldn't bear reaching out to pluck the dagger from the cloth. She recognized that it had been an awkwardly long amount of time that she had been staring down at it, and a murmur waved through the crowd, but she felt frozen. Even Kara's steady hand, pressed to the small of her back, was doing little to assuage the tightening she felt in her ribs.

In the end, it was once again Zor-El that came to her rescue. He took the dagger and scabbard gently from the knight and fitted them together, holding it out casually towards Lena as if he was handing her a glass of wine.

"Don't worry, Princess," his deep voice rumbled as he mouth quirked up into a grin, "This old thing? It's hardly even an heirloom. I think my grandfather bought it for my grandmother because he was tired of her threatening to steal his sword and stab him with it. He figured this probably wouldn't kill him."