The House of Oldenrock

The Nuptials: Part I

Chapter Six: Nuptials

            To say that Joar was unhappy was an understatement.  He stood in the courtyard waiting for the Watersmiths to arrive.  The fact that they were the last Clan to arrive only worsened his mood.  They just had to arrive last and insure that Joar was out standing in the courtyard.  At least now, spring had finally decided to come and make it warm, but there were other things that he could be doing.  Horsing around with Rodder before he got married perhaps, or maybe practicing archery, which he never seemed to get enough of, but no, he was standing around waiting.

            It had not helped to hear that this Lady Ivinata Watersmith was just as uninterested in the marriage as he was.  Rodder had said that to brighten his dark mood, probably to show that there was someone else on the face of the earth who agreed with him, but of course, Rodder had failed to consider how people generally feel when they hear that someone does not want to marry them.  So now Joar felt not only angry and betrayed, but unwanted as well. 

            Finally the gates opened to reveal the Watersmith Clan arriving.  Joar wanted just to simply storm off without seeing them, but he knew better than that, and besides, the Queen had clearly told him that he would not embarrass the Clan today by doing anything that could possibly mean disrespect to the Watersmiths.  Joar forced himself to stand in the courtyard, clenching his fists, and trying as hard as possible to keep a straight face that would not betray his anger with the whole situation.

            He watched as the Watersmiths dismounted from their horses and got out of their carriages.  His eyes were caught on a young woman who had just dismounted from her horse, and he was surprised to see that although her dress was a pretty green one, it was a riding dress, in the style that Robeilla had invented.  Instead of a very wide skirt, the skirt had two slits, one in the front and one in the back that made it much easier for women to ride horses while wearing a dress.  Women had to wear pants underneath the dress of course, and their pants would be visible, thus making the riding dress a type of dress that only bold women would wear.

            He looked at her more closely.  She most certainly did not look bold. She was a little thing, short and slender.  She had pale skin, and straight chestnut hair that fell down her back like a sheet of iron.  She was pretty. Her face had nice angles, but her most startling features were her eyes.  The were green and large, large enough that the looked like her face had stopped growing while her eyes continued without noticing that everything else had stopped.  He noticed the gold circlet on her forehead, and he came to the conclusion that she was Ivinata Watersmith.  He wondered just how his mother had neglected to mention her eyes when she gave him a description of her.

            She then joined her entourage of other fine young ladies and her parents, and then they all waked towards him for the formal introductions.  Joar forced himself not to scowl.  He had no desire to meet her, let alone even see her again.  Finally, after the introductions, Ivinata said, “I heard that you are good at archery.”

            She had heard that he was only good at archery?  Only good?  He was great. Great!   He was Gifted at it, and he could outshoot anyone.  He could not even remember the last time that he had missed a target, and he would pretty much always hit a bull’s-eye.  This included moving targets.  He practiced archery for several hours a day.  There was no way that he could only be good at archery.

            Joar looked into her obnoxiously large green eyes and realized that a response was necessary.  “I am,” he gruffly said.

            She nodded.  “You’ll have to show me was her reply,” and then, without even waiting for a response, she called out, “Target men, get ready!”  Joar watched as many of the men who came with the Watersmith Clan set up targets, and he noticed that many of the men had targets strapped to them, and he realized that they were supposed to move with them.  A small grim smile appeared on his face.  She knew that he was a very good archer because if she did not, then she would not have had her men risk getting hit by arrows from running around with targets.  He watched as the men fell into their positions.  He would surpass all expectations.