The Peace Offering

Kouen: Chapter 14

Sinbad and I were having a last minute meeting a few hours before the wedding began. He was already drinking and had a carefree aura, but I knew he was here for a serious reason.

"Excited for what is to come? It's not every day that a man gets married." Sinbad said as he raised his goblet in a mini toast.

"Enough with the small talk. What is it that you want to say to me? If you wanted to congratulate me you would have waited until after the wedding." 

Sinbad's face turned serious and he put down his wine. "You know me pretty well. I wanted to say that even though this marriage is necessary for the alliance of our two kingdoms, I won't let Sindri be unhappy. She may have to follow certain rules, but I have a few of my own for you. You will not have mistresses on the side and you won't abuse Sindri in any way, shape, or form. She may be your wife in a few hours, but she will always be my blood, and I will protect my blood."

I leaned back in my chair and kept my face neutral. I hadn't planned on doing any of those things to Sindri, but I didn't like the threat that was in his words. I took a sip of my wine and was going to answer him when a frazzled servant girl burst into the room and fell into a deep bow. 

"Prince Kouen, please forgive me for my intrusion."

"What is it?" I clipped out, my annoyance evident.

"It's about Sindri. She's gone crazy."

Both I and Sinbad sat up at her words. Could the stress of everything that has being going on caused her to mentally crack? I quickly got up and hurried to Sindri's quarters, Sinbad followed close behind. The closer we got to her room the more and more we could hear screams and banging. 

"Leave me alone! Go away!" Sindri's voice was filled with anguish, not the craziness I was expecting. As we reached Sindri's room there were broken vases and overgrown plants everywhere. Sindri was a horrific mess, her bathrobe was torn, hair messed up, and she was bleeding from her eyes, nose, and mouth. 

"Sindri!" Sinbad exclaimed as he rushed forward and wrapped his arms around her. She struggled to get away from him and began to cry. Sinbad continued to hold her until he saw a dress that Sindri was clutching.

"Is that, Mom's dress?" He whispered as he slowly let Sindri go. She stopped struggling and clutched the dress to her face, smearing the already stained dress with blood and snot.

"Sindri, are you okay? Why are you bleeding?" I asked as I stepped closer to her. She lifted her face to me and let out a murmur before passing out. I caught her and laid her in the bed. Sinbad called out to a nervous servant to get a doctor. 

"Do you know what happened?" I asked Sinbad as he came to the bed.

"I got some of it from the servant and pieced together the rest. Apparently one of the servants got ahold of one of Sindri's most precious dress and ruined it. Sindri then had a huge tantrum and used up most up her Magoi. The thing I don't get is how she used her Magoi up growing some plants to a large size, she is capable of very powerful Life Magic."

"Why did the dress trigger such a large reaction?" I asked as Sinbad picked up the dress and held it tenderly.   

"It was our mother's wedding dress. It was Sindri's dream to be married in it, now that dream is ruined."

A doctor came in and went to treat Sindri and we left him to work in peace.

"I'm going to postpone the wedding for a few days for Sindri to get better."

"I agree, neither party will argue much given the circumstances."

I nodded and we parted ways. As I went back to my room I got an idea that would help make the wedding go smoother. I made a detour and began to look for a certain person who could help me with it.