The People We Are

Chapter XIII; Ideus

Beau walked her down the aisle. Her dress had been far too long, now it made a dramatic poofed skirt. Beau looked as though he could barely keep it together as he walked. Ideus stared at his bride, happiest he had ever been. She didn't remember what they had shared in the past, but now they would share the rest of their lives together just as he had wanted since he was fifteen. She held a bouquet of hyacinths and lilies, clashing with the roses her bridesmaids held. Beau wore a rose boutonniere on his suit jacket, which was Ideus' seeing as he didn't bring a suit of his own to Miriejar for obvious reasons. "Do you, Prince Ideus of Faormen, take Queen Anastasia of Zellarid as your lawfully wedded wife, in sickness and in health, 'till death do you part?" Foja said, swiftly moving through the ceremony. "I do." Ideus said, beaming with excitement at the fact that the dream he had had for six years was finally coming true. Arlie looked to Beau, who was glared at the groom but softened towards the bride. Foja started again. "Do you, Queen Anastasia of Zellarid, take Prince Ideus as your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, 'till death do you part?" Anastasia hesitated. The world was silent, even the ever flowing river went still. "I" Anastasia started. Ideus looked around at everyone in his peripheral.

His parents were on the edge of their seats. If she said no they knew that they would be crushed.

Scheven held his trumpet to his lips. He knew that it was almost time to play.

Dadokes and Leod exchanged glances. They had no idea why she was conflicted.

Foja stared at Anastasia. She knew that she needed to move the ceremony along.

Xayah stared at him. They both knew the past, and figured why she was conflicted.

He himself stared at his bride. He knew she would be conflicted, but didn't anticipate it showing.

He saw Beau out of the corner of his eye. He and Anastasia stared at each other through theres.

Beau smiled.
Anastasia smiled.
Beau nodded.
Anastasia shook her head.
Beau frowned.
Anastasia frowned.
Beau mouthed "Say; I don't"
Anastasia said "I do"

"You may now kiss the bride." Foja said, flying backwards. Ideus knelt down, put one arm around her back and one behind her head. She put her arms around his neck, and he kissed her. After six long years, this moment had finally come. He had dreamt of it for so long he could hardly believe that he was actually there.

That was so long ago.
But for Ideus? It felt like just a few days.
He sat now across from his ex-wife and her husband.
As he made their teen years that much clearer.

Ideus entered the lower decks and saw Anastasia teaching Soleil how to play a song on her ukelele. "What song is that?" he asked. "A song of my own. When we're Queens I hope to make it a national song. I've even made a dance to go with it, and a chorus. I'm teaching Soleil now, and I'll teach Arlie later." Ideus came and sat down next to her. "That's impressive. How does it go?" he asked. "Do you think you're ready, Soleil?" She asked, standing up. "Maybe you should play it once more." Soleil responded, handing the instrument back to Anastasia. "Alright then. Here it is." she started playing as she sang. "Walls have ears, doors have eyes, trees have voices and beasts tell lies. Beware the rain, beware the snow, beware the man you think you know. Be like glass, if he breaks you; cut him, 'cause a fish with its mouth closed never gets caught." She returned the instrument to Soleil. "That's just the chorus. The lyrics came to me in a dream about a month ago, and I had to write them down." She explained as she sat. "I also saw the dance in a dream. The girl was short and the guy was tall, but the dance worked with that." A short girl and a tall guy? I need to play into this... "Would you like to demonstrate the dance?" he asked, hoping to dance with her. "Sure! I'll need you, though." she asked without asking. "Just tell me what to do." She nodded, and Luna and Soleil got excited to see what Anastasia had envisioned. Anastasia taught him the part, and as they practiced up on the top deck they watched as Ryaxleb glared at them as he went down to the bottom deck.
She taught him the dance, and it was a long process. Ideus had two left feet, but started to work on it harder. Eventually they got to where they could do it pain-free for Anastasia so they had the others come up. Arlie and Xayah took a small break from quadruple checking that everything was in order, and Xayah kept her hand on the wheel as she and Ryaxleb glared at them. They both knew his secret, and both knew how bad he was indulging in what he knew was wrong. Soleil played as they danced, and Arlie and Soleil both agreed that it should become a national dance of Zellarid. The others went about their business while Ideus and Anastasia leaned over the rim of the boat. "Thanks for doing that. No matter how hard I pushed, Beau always got weird about my asking him to dance." He didn't and I did? That's surprising. "I'm not sure why. It's not like it's that weird of a dance. For half of it he would've just stood there. Oh well, now Arlie and Soleil know about it." Ideus smiled. "Of course. I had fun dancing with you." he said, hoping to tie that to something. "Me too. I'm getting tired and I think it's about to be your shift. I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight, Ideus." she said, touching his arm before she left. "Goodnight, Anastasia." he said as she walked away smiling. "My love." he said after she had left.
His shift with Xayah had gone fast, and soon Anastasia came up to the platform. "Hello!" she said cheerfully. "Hi..." Ideus said. "Finally, I'm exhausted!" Xayah said as she left the wheel. Anastasia took it up, carefully re-adjusting it to keep them on course. The sun was rising now, and it was easier to see. She wore a long green dress that blew back with her long brown hair in the crisp wind that blew this high. They worked in silence for a few minutes, before she finally spoke. "Am I going crazy, or do you see land?" she asked, looking out to the horizon. Ideus made his way to see. "Either that or we're both crazy." They looked at each other with both excitement and fear, noticing that the land was a grouping of islands as described in Anastasia's book. "You run down and get the others, I'll try and find a place for us to dock." he ran away to follow her orders, ready to finally be back on land.
They found a good place on the beach to dock and they lowered their "anchor" down into the sea. They threw a long board down onto the sand so that they could walk down it. Ideus went first and he ended up tripping over and sliding down, falling face first into the sand. He rolled over to see Anastasia sliding down too, but she kept her balance. "Are you ok?" she asked, laughing. "I'm fine." he said, jumping up and brushing the sand off of him. The others got down, and as they walked they readied their weapons, while still keeping them hidden in case the people were friendly at first. The Zellaridians hadn't spoken much of their weapons of choice, so it was interesting to see the collection among them. Ideus himself carried his sword, Xayah her sais, Luna her spear and Ryaxleb his dagger, but the Zellaridians had oddly shaped weapons compared to those he had seen. Arlie too carried a dagger, but it was carved differently than Ryaxleb's. Soleil carried what she swore was a shiv, though it looked off to Ideus. Anastasia carried a bow and a few arrows which she hid under a shawl with the same design. She said that Arlie had made it for her, and it was helpful now in hiding her large weapon. Luna and Ideus weren't as lucky. They kept their weapons on their backs, but feared a creature to see them and think they have the intentions that they do.
They continued to walk across the aisle until they saw a large stone building, tucked away in the clearing of the jungle trees. Around it, farries fluttered and npc's walked around aimlessly. One fairy came up to Ideus and Xayah. "Can it really be true? Have you elves returned to this land?" the fairy asked. Ideus and Xayah looked at each other. "We've come to pay a visit with our friends. We wish to speak with your rulers." Xayah said, stepping in front of Ideus. The fairy nodded, and he took them towards the building. "I'll get you a meeting with my parents. Oh, my name is Ajof by the way. Prince Ajof of the Sovereign Isle."