It turned out to be easy after all. With Skeletor still away, Evil-Lyn waited til' the dead of night, and performed a simple spell to make sure her fellow minions carried on sleeping soundly. By the time she appeared in He-man's cell to release him, she was already packed and ready to go. She told He-man of all the spells she would be using; a spell to transport them to the town where her aunt lived, a spell so no-one could track them, a spell so no-one who even saw them could relay this information to Skeletor.
She was certainly prepared, He-man noted, which forced him to ask the obvious question "Lyn, were you by any chance planning to do a moonlight flit from Snake Mountain regardless of my proposal?"
She smiled at him, endearingly "Not exactly 'planning', but I suppose you would say I was 'prepared', just in case. After that day when he tried to throw me into the Pool of Shadows, I started looking up a few spells to aid me if I were ever in a similar situation. But I didn't seriously think this day would ever come…"
He-man awkwardly put his arm about her shoulders. It didn't feel quite right, but if they were to be married, it was better that they get used to being close, He-man decided. He looked at the cloudy expression on her face, and wondered if she was thinking back on all her years here.
"I'm sorry." He said simply "I'm sorry for all of this"
She turned and looked at his broad muscles and concerned, handsome face. She smiled; "I'm not" was her reply. But He-man wondered how honest she was really being.
The transportation spell worked quickly, and they soon found themselves in the town where Lyn's aunt, Gweneth, lived. It was a relatively large town, with several crimson coloured townhouses sprouting up from the ground, and of course, a large, white temple. The temple was a square building, with two high towers on each side, large open windows, and gold adornments around an open doorway. This was where the people of the town got married; this was where Lyn and He-man would marry tomorrow. A small, quiet ceremony with very few people, just Gweneth and her daughters.
Lyn had been exchanging telepathic messages with her aunt for some hours now. Gweneth knew the pair were coming to visit, and were marrying the next day at noon. It was Gweneth who had visited the Temple Master and asked that the ceremony might take place tomorrow. He had said yes, of course. As the Dark Hemisphere was filled with thieves and cut-throats who might get arrested, or killed at any moment, marriages were arranged quickly. The couple, or a representative would ask for the ceremony to be held, usually the same day, or the next day. The answer was nearly always yes.
As they approached a three-storied townhouse, which Evil-Lyn had identified as being Gweneth's, the front door was flung open, and Aunt Gweneth herself appeared. She was smaller than He-man had expected, with long, greying black hair tied up into a bun. She was dressed in a floor length, blue silk dress. No doubt she had been attractive in her day, He-man thought. But years of having and raising children, and an unexpected widowhood had obviously aged her. There was no mistaking the deep lines around the inquisitive, brown eyes. The woman did not smile or speak, as it was probably a little dangerous on these streets, she simply gestured He-man and Evil-Lyn inside.
Once they were safely inside the front door, however, she made a great show of saying 'Welcome', and gesturing them to the parlour where they were served tea by one of her many daughters. This daughter, He-man found out from the ensuing conversation, turned out to be Katja, the oldest. Soon she was joined by all of her sisters. The youngest of whom was carrying a large baby on her hip.
All of them looked jealously at He-man, and secretly wished he was theirs. He-man did not even notice, but Evil-Lyn did, and she felt a spark of joy inside her for doing better than them.
"And what will He-man wear at the ceremony tomorrow?" One of the cousins, perhaps Glaucis (He-man could not yet tell them apart) was asking "He cannot get married in that loincloth"
The cousins all giggled. It might have been charming ten or twenty years ago, Evil-Lyn thought, but now they looked too old for such girlish laughter.
"I have prepared He-man some clothes, not just for the ceremony, but for life afterwards" Lyn replied indignantly. This was all news to He-man, who stared at her. Where had she got clothes for him from?
"And what will you wear, my dear niece?"
Evil-Lyn took a sip of her tea "Just my best gown, I suppose"
But Lyn's aunt shook her head "No need to stoop to that level. When my youngest, Nomi was eighteen, she was to be married. She had a wedding dress made, but it looked far too old and mature for her youthful radiance. I made her have a different dress, but I kept the old one." She smiled "It would suit you, Lyn" she added slyly.
If it were any other day, and any other person had implied she was old, Lyn would have destroyed them, but she was used to Gweneth's thinly veiled criticisms. More to the point, she had yet to try on an actual wedding dress that was made for the sole purpose of a ceremony. So, she rose imperiously, and conceded to try it. Gweneth led the witch upstairs, and found the dress, talking the whole time as Evil-Lyn went behind a screen and changed into it.
Lyn finally appeared in the wedding gown, and just as if she'd cast a silence spell, Gweneth stopped talking.
"You look so beautiful" the older woman finally murmured.
Evil-Lyn looked in the mirror, and saw that Gweneth was right. She'd thought that the white dress, combined with her skin and hair, would make her look too pale. Instead, she looked glowing and radiant, as if her skin were formed of actual moonbeams. The dress fell to the floor, and the skirts of it were slim. The sleeves were long, flowing and lacy- as delicate as if they'd been formed of spider's webs. The bodice was heart-shaped, with lacing down the front. There was also a thick, white belt, with clear gemstones. It sat tightly round Lyn's waist, showing off her slim figure. She smiled.
She wondered if her aunt was secretly a little annoyed that the gown looked so good? But Gweneth simply said "And wedding rings?"
"We have none"
Gweneth gasped "How improper is this! You simply must have some rings!" She opened a drawer in a nearby cabinet, and produced a black box. Inside, were two gold wedding bands.
Gweneth looked tearful; she was prone to changeable moods "These belonged to your Uncle Syras and me. When he died, I removed his ring, and my own. I think rings should stay together, even if the couple cannot."
That's a nice way of saying that she prised the ring from his cold, dead fingers, Lyn thought, but instead of saying it, she simply asked "Won't your daughters want these?"
"The one time I was thinking of passing these down to one of my daughters, they began arguing over who should get them" Gweneth shook her head "It is better that you take them, and have the kind of happiness I used to have, the kind my daughters' dream of."
Lyn took the rings into her outstretched hand. Will I ever have that kind of happiness? She wondered.
The next morning, the morning of the ceremony, He-man stood in his wedding clothes, which seemed to fit quite nicely. He would leave for the temple soon, along with Gweneth, but for now, he surveyed himself. A cream coloured tunic with some small, precious stones set around the collar, embroidered with gold thread. There were matching cream coloured hose that he was wearing underneath. Soft, brown shoes were on his feet. Lyn had done well at providing clothes for him.
Today, I start a new life, he thought. I will do my best to love this witch.
One hour later, Evil-Lyn climbed into a rickshaw bound for the temple. Even though it was within walking distance, her aunt had said that plodding to your own ceremony was what peasants did. For once, Lyn had agreed with her aunt, so they had settled on a rickshaw, as it was less ostentatious and far more easily available than a carriage. Her Cousin Amarish was beside her in her best blue dress. Lyn's other four cousins, all in their best dresses, had divided themselves between two more rickshaws.
As they approached the temple, Lyn's cousins went in first. She had to be the last. As she entered, she realised that the aisle wasn't red-carpeted, as it had been in her visions. The floor was of an exquisite blue marble. She knew her cousins were there, but she did not look for them, only at the end of her path, where He-man stood. At last she reached him. His wedding clothes looked good. Evil-Lyn had decided that he did not have to know where she'd got the clothes from. They had actually belonged to Tri-Klops, and Lyn had taken them from the dead man's room. Well, he no longer needed them. But something told Lyn that He-man would not appreciate this particular line of reasoning.
The Temple Master talked in his rich voice for some time about the importance of love and devotion. Or the importance of saving myself from a life on the streets, Lyn thought. She did not truly pay attention until she was asked to say 'I do'. She said it without a second thought. He-man seemed to consider it more gravely.
The true moment of being married did not hit Evil-Lyn until that gold wedding band was placed around her finger. She could feel the weight of it suddenly, pinning her to He-man forever, tying them together until death. She felt a strange shiver as the Temple Master closed his book. Had she made the right choice?
Of course, it was one thing to say you wanted to be married to someone; it was another to actually spend all your time with them. She had wanted to show off to her cousins, and she had done so, but her cousins would not be in her life a great deal now. It was just her, and He-man, her and her husband. The word had an unusual, unfamiliar weight.
Lyn shook her head and told herself she was being ridiculous. She was going to be fine; she had the greatest prize on Eternia in the husband she had won. Whatever happens now, she thought, as she and He-man, hand-in-hand, prepared to exit the temple, whatever happens now, I am married!