A/N: Here it is! My first chapter posted from my new home in South Korea! I hope everyone enjoys it! As always, thank you for reading, and please review!

C.V

Chapter 10- King City

After about a week, I was as comfortable on Bianca's back as I was walking. Every evening, as soon as Moryn returned from King City, we would eat dinner and ride until dark. Sometimes he'd even bring his fiddle, and play for me while we were out. I looked forward to it all day, and Grania and the others would always make fun of my excitement.

One afternoon, on a particularly hot summer day, Grania rushed into my home, her arms full with a wrapped gift.

"What's the occasion?" I asked her, curious.

"What do you mean Alys? It's the Midsummer Moon Festival tomorrow! Your head must be in the clouds!"

I had never heard of such a thing before. In Lustre, my father had outlawed festivals a long time before, thinking them a waste of valuable coin and resources that were better spent on making war. But even so, a festival dedicated to the moon was unusual to me. Grania seemed to take my ignorance as pure flightiness, and so I didn't bother asking her more to protect my identity. I would have to ask Moryn when he returned to compensate for my ignorance. She handed me the gift, which I opened excitedly. I doubted I'd ever get used to getting presents from people who didn't ask for anything in return, and so it was unusual for me to feel guilty for not having anything to give her.

In the package was a dress, but it was far fancier than the ones she'd loaned me before, and I wondered where on earth she got the material. But as I examined it, I realized with a shock that it had been made from pieces of my wedding dress.

"I asked Moryn if I could use the fabric from your wedding gown and refurbish it, since it was in such bad shape. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not Grania, thank you so much. It's beautiful. But I'm sorry I haven't anything to give to you…" I said, sheepishly.

"Well of course you don't silly. Moryn dropped your gift for Brin and I off this morning. Thank you so much for the packhorse! Now Brin will be able to bring his wares to King City tomorrow for the fair! I honestly don't know how you two manage to afford so much though. Your husband must have a very generous patron. Has he ever mentioned it to you?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Of course he didn't. In many ways he was as much a mystery to me now as he was when we first met- perhaps even more so.

"No, Moryn likes to keep the state of our finances to himself. I wish he'd tell me more about it though, so I wouldn't be so surprised at him all of the time," I answered honestly. For all I knew he could have a very wealthy patron, but the manner of his cleanliness, his home and his possessions did not seem to support that theory. To draw attention from the question, since I was embarrassed I didn't know the real answer, I spoke again.

"I must admit, his having a horse makes it much easier for him to get to King City and back. He gets home much earlier now."

Grania nodded knowingly, and sliced herself a piece of bread that was still cooling on the countertop, practically drowning it with Brigid's apple jelly. She took a giant bite, while appearing to be in thought.

"Alys, why don't you come with Brin and I to the fair tomorrow in King City? It's surely a sight to behold, there's dancing, and music and thousands of merchants! Wouldn't that be something?"

I groaned. Going to King City wasn't exactly the highest priority on my list of things to do, mostly because the King of Silverlake would be there. It wasn't as if I thought that I'd encounter him, but the embarrassment would have been too difficult for me to bear if, for some strange reason I did.

"You don't want to?" She pouted.

"No it isn't that, I'm just not sure what Moryn will think of it. I'll have to ask him."

"He's going to be busy there all day anyway I'm sure. Please say you'll come, I don't want to be stuck at Brin's booth all day. It's terribly boring, and I want to see the sights with you!"

"See what sights?" I heard Moryn ask through the open window of the hut. I hadn't heard Gelert bark to signal his coming, and he was earlier than usual thanks to Equinox.

"The sights of the festival tomorrow! You'll let her come with Brin and I won't you?"

"Of course you can go. As long as you're careful in such a big city Alys."

I rolled my eyes at him exaggeratedly. I still wasn't exactly thrilled with him for neglecting to tell me about the tradition of giving friends gifts, and he had made me look foolish. I was just thankful that Grania hadn't been the wiser so that she wouldn't have cause to question whether or not I was really from Silverlake at all.

Grania , who didn't seem to notice anything amiss, squealed excitedly and hugged me. "We'll have fun, you'll see," and without another word she rushed out the door, likely to tell Brin that I'd be accompanying them the next morning.

Moryn had left the window, and entered through the door with a smirk on his face.

"When were you going to tell me about this Moon Festival nonsense! I had no idea I was expected to get gifts for people!" I lamented, throwing my hands up in the air. Instead of looking remorseful, he laughed and patted me on the back enthusiastically. I stomped my foot on the ground with impatience.

"It isn't funny!"

"I disagree, I enjoy seeing you flustered. Granted I admit that didn't know that Grania would come over so soon! I didn't want to ruin the surprise for you," he said, pulling a lovely bouquet of flowers from behind his back. They were beautiful-pink, blue and white, arranged perfectly with a small wrapping of twine holding them together. My heart did something strange then- it fluttered. I'd heard the feeling described before, but I'd never actually felt anything like it. I knew I was blushing again, so I kept my face to the floor and accepted the flowers sheepishly. I rushed over to take a copper vase from the cupboard, and filled it with some of the water I had already brought in earlier that day. I gently placed them inside, arranging them as delicately as I could.

"Thank you," I mumbled into the blossoms, and I could hear him step up behind me. He placed a hand on my shoulder.

"But because you didn't tell me, I didn't get you anything," I lamented, causing my husband to laugh again. After a moment, I realized that I liked that sound almost more than anything I'd ever heard before. In fact, I was growing more and more certain that I was developing more than simple, friendly feelings towards him, and that thought made me nervous.

I turned away from the flowers, looking straight into his eyes for a few moments, which made my suspicions only clearer. When I was with him, I felt happy, and fluttery and nervous all at the same time. I loved him, and the knowledge of that was somehow so liberating I breathed a sigh of relief.

With a smile, I stood on my tiptoes so I was closer to even his hunched height, and without a second thought I kissed his cheek. He was startled for a moment, as if I had just done the very last thing he'd expected, so I examined his face to make sure I hadn't made a mistake.

"Well, I suppose I got my Moon Festival present after all," he muttered softly before pulling me in for my first, real kiss. It was gentle, and even though the bristles from his beard picked me I didn't mind in the slightest. For those few moments I was at peace, and it felt like for once in my life, things were perfect.

"I guess you did," I said, grinning afterwards as I pulled away. I didn't feel shy or embarrassed anymore. Neither of us spoke for a time after that, until I couldn't stand the silence and asked him whether or not he would join me on the trip to King City the next day.

"It's the busiest day of the whole year for a musician like me, but I can make the trip with you at least, though we'll have to part after we arrive. Still, I'd like to see your face when you see King City for the first time."

"You don't think it will be dangerous for me to go there? What if I'm recognized?"

"You will be perfectly safe Alys, I promise," he answered as if he could personally guarantee it.

And so on the next day, we left when it was still dark outside. The sun's light had just begun to peek over the hills in the distance, lighting the path that we would need to follow. Grania had told me that King City was just beyond the hills, and the ocean fed into a stream that split them in two. Eventually, that river would widen to become Silver Lake, the namesake of the country. I followed her directions in my head as we traveled on Brin's cart, Moryn playing his fiddle while I talked with Grania, Brigid and Donal who had also decided to join us. Brin, who was nervous about his impending job, simply drove on, talking to himself occasionally in an attempt to calm down.

Moryn and I never really addressed our sudden kiss, but I had resolved to do my best to ignore it for the time being, though the same strange, tingly feeling I felt the day before seemed to reappear each time I looked over at him.

The sun had just begun to rise in the sky by the time we passed over the hills, making the trees look like candles while their tops glowed with bright orange light.

"It looks like it's going to be a lovely day," Brigid sighed as she snuggled closer to Donal.

"Let's hope that the weather tonight stays just as fair," he replied, brushing some of her hair off of her eyes.

And then, just as we rounded a wide bend in the road, I saw it- the bright, silver towers of an immense palace shone in the sunlight like great beacons. I could hear Moryn laughing at my reaction form behind me.

"What do you think?"

"I'm not close enough to tell yet," I answered, slightly embarrassed, though what I really wanted to say was that it was absolutely incredible. Unbidden, my mind wandered to the day I met the king of such a magnificent place. If I would have chosen to marry him I could have lived there- grown old there. But despite its beauty, when I looked around at the friends I had made and how happy I was with my husband, I knew I wouldn't trade those feelings for a thousand palaces.

"What are you thinking about?" Moryn said in my ear.

"I was thinking how if things had turned out differently I could have been living here by now. It is strange to think about- how my life could have turned out if I had chosen another path."

Moryn didn't say anymore about the subject, instead, he grew pensive and stared at the road as we drove on. I noticed that the closer we grew to the city, the more people that we encountered. Since it was a festival day there was bound to be a great many vendors from every direction eager to sell their wares. The traffic became so congested that while we waited to be admitted in the city we wound up stuck next to another cart, whose occupants seemed less than friendly.

I had never seen wares like theirs before, and I knew that the strange salves, herbs and tinctures must have been from some sort of far away land that'd I'd probably never see. But they were rude, and I could feel their eyes on me as they spoke to one another in a foreign language that I couldn't understand. It was clear that they were speaking about my group of friends, and they weren't saying kindly things.

I stared pointedly at the floor of the cart in an attempt to ignore them, but when they began to taunt me so that I could understand, it grew exceedingly difficult to pretend that they weren't there.

"Beautiful lady, you seem out of place among your company. Why don't you ride with us," one of the men said. He was the tallest man I'd ever seen, with a dark, dirty beard and yellowed teeth.

"No thank you sir, I am perfectly happy staying with my husband," I answered icily without making any eye contact. In retrospect, I realized that I ought to have stayed quiet, but their attitude towards the people I held most dear was beginning to irk me.

"Your husband is the one with the fiddle?" The man laughed, causing the rest of his caravan to join in.

"What of it?" I snapped back.

"How did a beauty such as yourself end up in a beggar's bed. I'm sure that is not an enlightening journey." I turned bright red at his statement, but not because I was embarrassed for myself. I was angry at the stranger for saying such awful things about my husband, and felt oddly compelled to defend him.

"What neglects to be enlightening sir, is any conversation we continue to have. My husband is worth one hundred of you, so I would appreciate it if you would leave my friends and I alone so that we can enjoy the festival."

The other men on the cart laughed at their companion, and though he appeared to be awfully disgruntled, at least he seemed to leave us alone. Moryn wore a strange expression on his face for some time, and didn't speak much unless he was asked a question. The silence wasn't like him, and I grew concerned that what the strange man had said was bothering him.

Although I wanted to ask him about it right away, I also didn't want to make him feel further ashamed in front of our friends. So when Brin finally found an ideal spot to set up a booth of his wares I managed to pull him aside before we had to part ways for the day.

"Are you alright?" I asked quietly.

"Don't tell me you've been too busy worrying about me to enjoy the sights of King City," he answered with less sarcasm then usual.

"I hope you're not upset about the things that the peddler said. I'm not ashamed to be with you."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? I've told you that my father raised me to be beautiful and nothing else, and until I met you I thought that was all that mattered. But you showed me that it is kindness and compassion that makes up true beauty- and although we didn't exactly have the best start I do appreciate all you've done for me. At least know that if nothing else," I replied seriously, resting my hand on his cheek delicately for a few seconds, until I could hear Grania and Donal snickering at the two of us from behind.

"Come on you lovebirds, it's time to go!"

I shot Grania an annoyed look, and looked up at Moryn again.

"I wish you could stay with us, but I know you're busy."

"I wish I could stay here too. Enjoy the festival, but when it is over, meet me at the entrance to the palace."

"Why there?"

"Because it's big enough that you can't miss it," He laughed, before kissing me on the cheek quickly and rushing into the crowd, his fiddle in hand.