Chapter 54: Fortunate Flower

Spring 80

'She is a fortunate flower, blessed in many ways and sheltered from the wilderness. Yet she remains devoted to a battle-worn leader like yourself, bringing light to your dark nights and comfort to the heart you shield from others. Why do you not treasure her like the blessing she is to your life? Why would you take the company of those you'll soon forget the faces of rather than accept the loyal companion that she could be? Why do you not repay the debts of your heart to one who gave out of pure compassion?'

While his powers made the translation work flow smoothly, Leon found himself lingering over this passage in the Book of Guidance. It was an interesting portion of the book, about a general with noble ideals who was betrayed by his king. This led him to overthrow the king to take out the corruption that was making the people suffer. However, the general was slowly losing his ideals. He'd married the daughter of a noble family but was having trouble accepting her because she'd not been affected by the problems all around them. He didn't treat her like his wife and often spent nights with prostitutes. This led to one of the general's friends chewing him out because it was one more sign that he was becoming like the corrupt royals that he'd defeated.

Having seen this particular piece of history before, Leon knew that it would work out. The general would come to his senses and commit himself to his wife, leading him back to the ideals he had started out with. But the way this was worded brought Frey to his mind. She'd been sheltered too. Even though she grew up with some troubles, most of it was actually her brother's troubles that she worried over him about. She had the weight of her family's guilt and work on her, so wrapped up in absolving it that she seemed obsessed some days. While she had some childhood friends, the village so loved and admired her that she could be in some trouble if faced with more worldly people who didn't see her worth.

She still was there for him when he was weak, suffering from guilt, uncertainty, and shame. He owed her a debt that he wished he didn't get a chance to repay fully, since she'd have to suffer to the same terrible depths he'd been in. Still, he wanted to do something for her, something to show his gratitude. If she got into trouble, he wanted her to turn to him first no matter what it was. To repay the debts of his heart to one who gave out of pure compassion... and it was exactly like Lest had said during his bit as an oracle of love. The love of his life would be there when he was weak.

Did he want to confirm that? It hadn't even been a full season since he'd met her. For that matter, it hadn't even been two full moon cycles. She'd already done so much for him, though. And why? Leon wasn't entirely sure. They both enjoyed the times they had fun, whether in matching wits or going out on adventures. This was a girl who could match him in mind and magic, even battle to some extent. How likely was it for him to find another who could do so and quickly come to care for him so much?

Not very, he thought. Even with all the changes around him, he was fairly certain of that. But there was the more important idea of repaying his debts when he really couldn't. The best he could do was to swear to the gods that he would be there for her should she ever have trouble. And he'd be there for everything else too, as her husband. After making sure there really wasn't anyone else in the library, Leon went to the catalog golem and asked about books on current marriage customs.

He'd gotten a few books, but the golem prioritized two of them. One was a book on laws in Selphia and the other was a book on magical crafting. Although more seriously written, it didn't take long for Leon to locate the appropriate information in the law book. There weren't a lot of requirements for marriage, mostly some documents and swearing the vows before Ventuswill. Not surprising overall. It said that the couple would share property, although it seemed more lenient in allowing women as much authority in ownership as men. Another change, but a good one to see.

But it turned out that the crafting book had more of the information he really wanted to know, about how marriages were arranged in this era. He'd been taught that he needed to ask the woman's family for permission to marry her and prove that he was capable of supporting her financially and emotionally. In this time, that wasn't necessary. The crafting book did suggest that it was best to have the approval of your lover's family, for both men and women.

Either gender could initiate a proposal, although it was still traditional for the man to do so. It was also perfectly fine to arrange it informally. But to go through the standard tradition now, the one who wished to ask for marriage was to craft an engagement ring. The blueprint for the craft was simple and open-ended, consisting of a mineral to create the ring and a gemstone to place on it. The important part was how the ring was crafted. Unlike other magical crafting projects that asked the crafter to think about the resulting item, the engagement ring required the crafter to think on his or her lover and the reasons they had for wanting marriage. This would grant the engagement ring a special runic quality that would make it recognizable from a more ordinary ring.

Once the ring was crafted, it was presented with the question in a method that was thought best suited to the couple. The one being asked could refuse to take the ring if they were not interested in marriage. Hopefully that wouldn't happen. Rather, the ring and proposal could be accepted, at which point the one being asked would also craft a ring for their lover. Once both rings were made, the wedding could take place. The couple would take back the rings they had made and swear their vows upon the rings, returning them to wear as a sign of their union. At that point, the rings were known as wedding rings rather than engagement rings.

It was a nice tradition, an equal gesture on both parts. Getting the materials shouldn't be bad; he might even be able to ask the blacksmith for small pieces suitable for the project. But would it be more fun to present it to her in a romantic fashion or pretend he didn't know and drop hints all over town that he wasn't going to get it right, only to pull it off correctly in the end? Because it might surprise her pleasantly if it came with little warning. Yet the chance to mess with a lot of different people along the way was so tempting. Maybe even everyone in town if he planned things right.

Leon took the books back to his apartment, to read up some more and start planning.


Spring 81

After finishing the translation of the general's story, Leon put the catalog golem in charge of the library's front desk and headed out to start working on his plan. He had some ideas but keeping some potential spontaneity in mind was something he wanted. Thus it seemed the best thing to do was get the ring made first and keep it on hand either for a planned or opportune moment. He went to the blacksmith's shop and was immediately struck by one thing: how low the stock was. Normally this place was full of usable but ultimately poor quality goods. Now there were just a few tools around. They weren't amazing pieces, but were of a good craftsmanship that should make them last a good while.

"Did I walk into some alternate reality here?" Leon asked loudly, looking over a pocket knife that had multiple blades folded up into one small items. That actually looked handy.

Bado laughed from the forge. "Something like that?" He came out into the doorway and waved. "Know what you want? If you're just hanging out again, feel free but I'll have to head back to reforging my stock."

Leon narrowed his eyes at him and just barely kept his tail in check from showing how amused he was at this. "You're actually becoming respectable?"

Bado nodded. "It's a pain, let me tell you, since it's harder to balance the time I need to spend at the forge and in the shop. But I don't want to tick off any more ghosts, so that's how it goes."

"Sounds plausible," Leon said, stirring up the air with his fan. This was the kind of place where it was nice to have it on hand for mundane reasons. "Would it be all right for me to buy some crafting materials off you for a little project of mine? I don't need much and it's something I can handle myself."

Raising an eyebrow, he asked "Making an engagement ring?"

That was enough of a shock that he nearly lost his grip on his fan. "How did you know?'

He laughed again. "You work long enough in this business, you get to know what certain requests mean. It's all right, I'll keep silent on it. Sure, that's fine. Sounds like you've got the recipe, but do you want to use my crafting area too?"

"I think I'll be fine," Leon said. "I did some research on current customs and this seems a lot more fun than what I know."

Bado wasn't entirely convinced by that. "Yeah, but I'd worry about trying to craft where you live in that library. The atmosphere of the place is static, storing knowledge. It's also so full of ideas and emotions stored there that it'll throw off a purely magical craft like this. It'd be easier in a place used daily for crafting."

Like Frey's forging area, but then it'd be a mess trying to hide what he was doing. "Guess you have a point, but are you just trying to charge me more for the help?" he asked.

"Not a chance," Bado said, waving him to come in back. "This kind of thing, it'd completely shatter a blacksmith's honor to make a profit off of."

"I know it used to be that way among your kin, but a lot's changed," Leon said, going into the forge room. He was immediately hit by the sweltering heat from the forge, like a wall of hot just past the door. At least the crafting table was right there, not by the forge itself.

"I don't think dwarves would have changed that much, we're too stubborn like that. Though I have to wonder, you haven't been in this time all that long. You sure about going into marriage now?"

He nodded. "I know, and I know exactly what I'd say to someone asking me as a priest about it. But I'm after a fortunate flower. If I don't jump at the chance I have, someone else is going to steal her heart away from me. That's the truth even if I'm sure she doesn't have another suitor right now."

"Guess that's a solid reason," Bado said, placing a bin of small pieces of various minerals on the table. "Now what kind of materials are you thinking about?"

"Gold and emerald," Leon said, having thought it out last night. Gold fit Frey for being light-aligned, plus its reputation as precious made it a suitable courtship gift back in his original time. And he thought the emerald would look prettiest with her, going with her green hair and eyes.

"Those would work nicely together. I will be charging you based on the materials you use, so I hope you're prepared in case of a few failures."

"That blueprint looked easy enough that an amateur could get it right in one try," Leon said, his ears twitching at the thought of someone messing up something this basic and open-ended.

Bado shrugged. "Even an experienced crafter can let their nerves get to them when doing this. Then we have to discard the materials to reset and renew their runes because otherwise they'll mess up anything else made with them. Though if you're that confident and certain, it shouldn't be a problem."

It really wasn't, although Leon sang softly to focus his attention on the crafting process. As most of it was done through the runes, he first handled the piece of gold with his hands to form the ring while thinking about her. He couldn't say why Frey connected to him so quickly, but he knew why he connected to her. It had been like a dream at first, meeting a beautiful intelligent girl who had no qualms about propriety and did what she wanted in a constructive way. She even dared to ask out a man she hadn't known long but was already friends with, no matter how much he tried to keep anyone from getting that close to his heart again. When his despair bubbled to the surface and nearly ruined him, she didn't hesitate to help him through some of the darkest days of his life. He'd never known someone like her and was sure he'd never meet one who could compare.

While this was happening quickly, he really didn't see a point to waiting now. He'd waited twelve centuries already for things to improve, thinking that he'd be alone in love always. Now he had a debt of love he could never repay to a girl who was beyond anything he'd dreamed of. The ring itself came together smoothly, now a dainty circle of gold that seemed perfect for her hand. The emerald went from a rough green pebble with a little promise to a glistening round gem that really did mirror her eyes.

"Nice work," Bado said, clapping him on the shoulder. "And good luck with the girl."

"Thanks," Leon said, thinking that he probably didn't need luck. Though if it didn't go as he hoped... no, best not entertain the possibility.

Next, he dropped by the castle on the excuse of seeing how Lest was doing. It took some searching, but he found Lest and Frey with Volkanon in the second floor formal dining room. The table was fully set, but aside from a tea cart with tea, there was nothing to eat. Looking bored (for Frey) and amused (for Lest), the twins seemed to be practicing formal dining manners. "Does there really have to be so many parts to this?" Frey asked. "Like the finger bowls! There's already napkins on the table, why've you got to have little bowls of water too? That's an accidental spill waiting to happen."

"It's proper etiquette for nobility to keep the utensils clean with the cloth napkins," Volkanon explained. "You can dry your fingers on the napkins, but rinse them off with the water in the bowl first."

"As long as this isn't how we're supposed to eat every day," Frey said, reluctantly accepting the explanation.

Without warning, Vishnal walked right by Leon and came into the room. "Excuse me, but you have a guest, Mr. Leon Karnak."

"What's with the formality?" Leon asked, raising an eyebrow. Vishnal just smiled at him.

"We're having a lesson on dining etiquette that will be expected if we're entertaining guests of nobility," Lest said, in a formal manner that did not suit him as a farmer well. But there was laughter in his eyes as if he felt the extensive manners as entertaining. His skin looked a lot better, at least that which could be seen out of his usual sleeve jacket.

Watching Frey, whom this setting suited even less well, was entertaining enough. "Couldn't we at least excuse me on the basis of not being an official princess, just your sister?"

"It won't look right if you're never around for them," Lest said. "Leon, you want to join us for a little bit?"

"I don't know, this seems awful stuffy," he said, turning aside.

"Please, you've been introduced already so at least come in for a cup of tea or coffee," Lest said. "Frey can tell you how things are done."

"Why me?" she asked.

"Because he's your boyfriend and you ought to show that at least some of it has stuck in your mind."

When Frey frowned briefly, Leon ended up smirking. "I guess I can stick around for a little while. I was going to steal her off to go chase down some fairies, but this seems like it could be funny."

"Oh yeah, we were going to do that some time," Frey said, brightening at the suggestion. "Fine, please come in and join us for a few minutes."

It was quite entertaining, although Leon tried to get her amused at the situation too. While he was waiting on his tea to brew, he fiddled with one of the forks. "Now why do you have so many utensils out in each setting? I only ever ate with a knife for years, though the forks and spoons are useful for modern foods."

"Each of them is supposed to be for a separate course or a particular dish," Frey said. "Though it seems awfully fussy with making sure it's all absolutely clean and separate. Like this is supposed to be the entree fork."

"That's for fish, not main entrees unless the main course is fish," Lest corrected to Volkanon's approval.

"If you say so," Frey said, more frustrated at keeping them all straight than embarrassed at getting it wrong. "Then the main one was...?"

"That's the salad fork," Lest said. To her next guess, he said, "That's the dessert fork unless you've got a dessert requiring a spoon, which would be either this one or a second soup spoon depending on what it is."

"How are you keeping all this straight?" Frey asked, finally getting the right fork for being the last option available. "There's so much of it and we just started today."

"Uh, it's like your crafting tools," Lest said. "The shape of the utensil matches its purpose."

Leon shook his head. "Why don't you get rid of all of them and use something that has a bowl portion and a tine portion so you could use it for anything?"

"Yeah, that would be much simpler," Frey said.

"No, that would be inappropriate," Volkanon said, as if the suggestion were completely out of line. "When it comes to formal dining, we do not entertain the prospect of using a spork."

His ears pricked up at the new word. "Wait, that's really a thing?" he asked.

"It is a vulgar thing only used in cheap dining establishments," the master butler said in disdain. "Not even Porcoline's restaurant uses them."

"But that's really a thing," Leon said, fascinated that his off the cuff idea was real. "And quite a word to go with it. Spork. That's a good word."

"I guess," Lest said with a shrug.

Leon frowned. "Although a waste in using it for just one thing. Good words ought to mean multiple things so that they get used more often. You couldn't just use it in everyday conversation, like looking at you and saying 'spork me baby'." Apparently it did mean something else, because Frey about fell over in laughter and Lest had to hide his laughs behind his sleeve. Volkanon groaned, putting his hand on his face. "What?" Leon asked innocently. He didn't even have to fake it this time.

"We're being polite company today, so we should avoid vulgar subjects," Lest said, far too primly for him to be serious. Still, Leon avoided asking for it to be cleared up, at least for this meeting.

He did try to finish his tea off quickly so he and Frey had reason to leave as soon as they could. As fun as it was to mess with Volkanon, she clearly had no interest in learning about proper princess things like formal dining manners. But tracking down fairy fountains was of interest to her. Frey had already located three fairy fountains in checking maps and talking to people. To get to Olive's fountain, they had to go past Darryl's tower to find it by a rocky cliff.

"I got something that I hopes works really well," Frey said, taking a long crystal out of her bag. It was clear and likely quartz, not something used for an impressive gift. However, the crystal she had was formed and polished until very shiny. When she held it out in the sunlight, dots of rainbow light were scattered all around the pond.

Leon's eyes went wide on seeing it. "Wow... is that magic? I've never seen a crystal do that."

She shook her head. "No, it's all in the carving. You should look up light refraction and prisms sometime."

While they hadn't even put it in the water, there was a splash as a fairy with yellow hair appeared. She had a dress like bright autumn leaves and her eyes seemed even wider than his. "Shiny," she said, entranced.

"I brought it as a gift after another fairy sent us to see you," Frey said, offering the light scattering crystal to Olive.

"Oh my gosh, really?" the fairy said, taking the crystal as if it were more precious than a diamond. After staring into it, she giggled. "Then you must be playing our game! I should... so sparkly... no, I mean... here, play with my pets!" She waved her free hand behind them to summon three primal dragons, all wingless and about six feet tall. Two were yellow while the third was bright pink, colors that seemed like a liability on any monster other than dragons. "They need the exercise anyhow. Shiny crystal."

"Do you mean play play or battle play?" Frey asked, looking over the pink one especially in delight. "Because they're so precious and cute!"

"Battle them, duh," Olive said, then turned back to her crystal. "My sparkly..."

"You're worse than Arthur with his glasses," Leon said, summoning out his spear. If only he had a more impressive looking one to make the action worthy of the weapon. He didn't think his fan alone would be enough to take on one dragon, much less three at once.

However, he had Frey at his side and she had tamed a large fire dragon. These primals were less powerful than those intelligent elemental dragons, like how these elemental fairies were more dangerous than regular fairies. Frey cast a water laser spell at the two yellow dragons before drawing her swords to attack them. Going by her lead, Leon focused on the pink dragon. It was tough as expected, even taking him out of the fight briefly when it put him to sleep with a drowsy pink mist.

By the time he woke himself back up, Frey had distracted the dragons from him and already had one of the yellows dispatched. He finished off the other yellow with a move meant to get him back on his feet, then worked with her against the pink dragon. It took longer than a normal monster, but they won against it with injuries that a regular healing potion could handle. As it vanished in returning, the pink dragon even left behind two of its scales. Frey took one and insisted he take the other. Although, he wasn't sure what to do with it aside from selling it to buy some books for himself.

Olive was still admiring her new crystal. "Where did you find a pink dragon?" Frey asked eagerly.

"Oh, you're already done?" the fairy asked, surprised. "I found it where I got the others, at the big fox tower. There's a platform midway up that dragons appear on. Most of the time it's a common green, but occasionally you can find prettier dragons. I don't know what they're doing way up there, just that there seems to be a new one every day."

"There was one when we climbed up, but it was a green," Leon reminded her.

"If it wasn't for the corruption, I'd go check there more often," Frey said, disappointed to learn that. "But it's nice to know it's there."

"I'm gonna have to get new dragons, but the sparkly crystal's worth way more than a dragon," Olive said in delight. She summoned and tossed an orange headband with a red flower on it. "Thank you so much! Next you should find Marin; she lives way up where flowers don't grow, which is a pity because everyone should have flowers. I'm gonna find a special place for my new sparkly!" She dropped back into the water, immensely pleased with the gift.


Spring 82

The hint that Marin lived where flowers didn't grow led Leon and Frey to meeting up at the flower shop in the morning before they intended to head out. Her fairy fountain was the most distant, being on a hill near Delirium Lava Cave. Because of that, they didn't mention where it was they were going to Lest and the butlers. Frey's teleport device could at least get them to the rune spring.

"Marin must be a blue elemental from her name and Emerald's," Leon said, taking a blue charm out of a basket. "So don't you think a blue flower would be best?"

"That makes sense," Frey said.

"Or I might be biased since I like this flower more than others," he added. "It looks nice in a vase and makes for a good broth once you're done admiring it."

She smiled, but then took another one out. "Should I buy you one to keep then?"

"You don't have to do that," he said, although he was pleased that she'd offer. "If you did, I'd have to get you one too so we're even."

He immediately thought he should have held off on saying that, because she replied with, "Okay then, I'll get it for you."

"Aw, really?" he asked, making his ears dip down. But it really wasn't easy to fake expressions with them, not when he was happy in this little adventure with her. "Well fine, then what kind of flower do you like best? And don't just say the most expensive one here."

Frey laughed. "No, luckily for you it's not an emery or something. I like fireflowers, because they're pretty and crackle when you pick them, and then you can use them to make fireworks extra flashy."

"I should have guessed so much," Leon said, letting himself laugh once she hugged him. He looked over the baskets but didn't see any right off. "Hey Amber? Where do you keep your fireflowers?"

"They're in the greenhouse because they'll set the shop on fire if not kept properly," Amber said. "Do you want to buy one?"

"Sure, and I won't let her set anything on fire with it while I'm with her," Leon said, making Frey laugh again.

Amber grinned at them and left the counter. "Okay, I'll be back in a bit. I'll get an extra smoky one just for you."

"Yes, that's perfect," Frey said, taking the two charm blues up to the sales counter.

"Though I would be greatly amused if I heard an explosion in the castle tonight," Leon said to her.

"Heh, I'll get back at Volkanon for his royalty lessons," she said with delight.

"Just warn Ven first because she'll find it funnier if she knows why."

With flowers in hand, they made their way to the rune spring, then out into the nearby hills. The fire rune spring intensified the heat and dryness of the place. They had to take a moment to make sure the fireflower was well sealed against it or it would burst into flames in Frey's bag. Above the lava caves, the ground was rocky and barren. It made sense that flowers couldn't grow here, even with a small spring of water at the top of one of the hills. The pond was hazy with steam, dampening Leon's hair and irritating him in that way.

Frey dropped the charm blue onto the surface of the water, getting a large blue elemental fairy to appear to claim it. "Is this a gift?" Marin asked a little coldly. Particularly towards him. "And did you have to bring a man with you?'

Knowing how fairies were, he crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah, she had to drag me out on her silly fashion quest."

"But you get to spend time with me, so it's worth it, right?" Frey asked with a smile.

He couldn't help but smile back. "I guess so."

"You're weird," Marin said, bringing the flower to her face to smell it. "So... you, sing for me."

"If I must," Leon said, though he didn't mind it at all. It was a much easier request than fighting three dragons. "What kind of song do you want to here?'

"Something you want to sing," she said.

"How about that little ditty you sing a lot?" Frey asked. "Does it have words?'

Knowing what song she meant right off, Leon said, "It has words, though..." he thought about it, then dropped his arms to his sides to have an easier time singing. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, and then I don't know the rest of the words..."

Frey giggled. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," he said. "Even so, it means a great deal to me."

"Hmph," Marin said, but then she started singing the same song. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away."

Leon snapped his fingers. "That's it! Sheesh, spent all these years trying to remember it and it was simple as that."

"Then sing it again," Marin said. Once he did, she actually smiled. "Huh, so you'll give my your favorite flower and sing your favorite song when you get nothing out of this game."

"I get something more intangible out of this," Leon said. Like seeing Frey watching him in loving admiration. He would have called it silly on anyone else, but it made him far happier than being with anyone else.

"You're a nice man," the fairy said, which was quite a compliment from them. "Never thought I'd meet one. Here, take this in thanks for the flower. Although, I think you're a lucky girl already."

"Maybe, but this is fun, thank you," Frey said, accepting the blue headband with a white flower.

Marin twirled around. "Well I should tell you that Emerald is vain and only likes big flowers. That's what she wants us to say. But, there's something she likes even better no matter how much she tries to deny it: trashy romance novels."

That made them both stare at her. "What, seriously?" Frey asked.

"Yes, seriously," Marin said. "I don't get what she sees in them, but she's got a large collection of them. She might not even care if it's one she already has. Might not even realize it, to be honest. Hope that helps." Marin then disappeared into her pond.

"I'll have to see about making sure I don't forget those words again," Leon said. Then he sang it for Frey, which helped a lot towards that goal.


Spring 83

There were a few cheap books in the general store, some guide books but they found a few romances among them. While Leon didn't like messing with sweet old ladies like Blossom, Doug was working in the store alone today. Knowing that he and Dylas were in an antagonistic friendship, Leon couldn't resist pulling a prank on Doug. He flipped through one of the romance books on the pretense of making sure it was suitable for the fairy gift, but then snapped it shut after reading a particular paragraph. "Ugh, who put this on sale?"

"I think those came with a varied bundle of goods," Doug said.

"Is it trashy enough for the fairy?" Frey asked, trying to take it from him to see.

Leon kept her from doing so. "It's trashy enough that even flies would drop dead at its words. I only saw a bit of it, but come on, you're putting this in reach of children? That's a total disgrace. We should get it for the fairy and to get it out of public view. Although I hope the other ones aren't smutty too."

"It wasn't supposed to be anything that bad," Doug said, visibly nervous now and maybe sweating. "The traders know better than to let things like that slip most of the time."

"Well then there's some of the time when they must make mistakes," Leon said, showing Doug the back of the book where the price was but not the front where the title was.

When they left the store, Frey asked, "Is it really that bad?"

"No," Leon said quietly. "Harmless really, if lacking in quality and written for the purpose of a sale. But if he thinks it's dirty and doesn't know which book it was, I bet you that he's going to make himself read through all the ones left in stock to make sure that they're clean enough for sale in a general store."

Frey giggled and tried to keep that quiet. "We should ask him later if there were any good ones."

Emerald's fountain was in Yokmir Forest, closer than Marin's but getting through the forest paths seemed to take just as long. There were a lot of flowers near her pond, all kinds of native varieties like blue charms, toyherbs, fireflowers, and pink cats. Closer to the water, there were even flowering vines strung up to form an outdoors room, with stumps for seats and a large flat rock for a table. If it wasn't so far from town and right by a fairy fountain, it would be quite a date spot. This particular fairy's tastes were showing even if she wanted to hide it.

"This is a cute place," Frey said, kneeling by the water's edge and tapping the surface. "I don't think we want to toss the book in, though. Hey, knock knock! You've got visitors!"

Leon chuckled, then called out the same in the fairy language. That got a response, causing the large green fairy to appear. While Emerald had little heart decorations in her hair, she had a furious look on her face. "What was that for? What kind of man are you, knowing our language?"

"No one in particular, just a curious guy," Leon said, hiding his face with his fan.

"He's a language geek," Frey said.

"We brought you a gift," Leon said while Emerald seemed annoyed. He tossed the book to land just outside the water.

She snatched it up, glowering at the cover. "What... who told you about this?! This kind of book is a waste of paper, time, and effort and I've made it my mission to get rid of as many as possible."

"A little bird told us," Frey said. "That's a noble mission, to save the literary culture one trashy book at a time."

"Right, and not because you're secretly hoarding them to read yourself," Leon added. "Totally not why you're gathering them."

"Totally," Emerald said, although she was blushing. "Well fine, it's not by the rules of the game, but because you've helped me make the world a bit better, I'll give you my gift. But why are you bringing a man along for the game? It's only for girls." She brought out a yellow headband with a pink flower to give to Frey.

"So I've heard," she said. "But I'm a princess in the town nearby and no matter what I say, the people there are so fussy about me going off on my own adventuring around and seeing the world. I can fight with the best of them and they still worry. So I dragged my boyfriend along to make things more entertaining and keep him from getting all depressed and mopey again."

"I wasn't that bad," Leon insisted, although mostly for show.

"That's adorable," Emerald said without thinking, then tensed as she realized it. "But totally sickening, you know? If you're the princess, then you should just go adventure without worrying what they say. You seem like you can handle yourself just fine, especially since you've got Olive's headband and she has a weird fascination with dragons. You shouldn't have to depend on a man to do things."

"It's just more fun with him along," Frey said with a smile.

This could be a good moment, Leon thought. A good setting and a witness who could be hilarious to keep an eye on. "She doesn't depend on me as much as I depend on her," he said.

"Well good," Emerald said with a nod.

"I don't know if it's like that," Frey said.

"It is like that," Leon said, going over to sit by her. "I would have succumbed to despair if you hadn't been there for me. Since you were, I've been able to accept my new life, to know the truth of my old life, and maybe even to let myself be who I am openly instead of playing roles for others. I owe you a debt of the heart that I don't want to repay because you're a fortunate flower and I don't want to see you suffer to the depths that I did. But I can try by keeping you happy and helping you out even in these small ways. So Frey, I ask from the depths of my heart, will you be my bride?" He then took his hand out of his pants pocket and handed her the emerald ring he'd made for her.

Both Frey and Emerald stared at him in disbelief for coming out with that on such little notice. Though it was just the shock of it, he told himself. Just wait a moment.

That was right as she took the ring before jumping over with a hug. "Yes! I want you to be happy too. I'm more fortunate to have meet you."

"No, I am," he said teasingly, holding her tight. "I was worried that you might think it was too soon, but I know with certainty that I want to be with no one else but you."

"I don't care if people say it's too soon, I know I love you and that I can depend on you."

"Aw, you two," Emerald said sweetly, but then shook herself out of it and threw a rolled up paper at them. "You two are DISGUSTING! Ugh, I can't believe you did such nonsense in my place. I'm getting out of here." She then warped away without going through the water, clutching onto the romance book tightly.

Leon chuckled, but he kept hold of Frey. "I was being serious, you know," he said.

"That's good, so was I," she said. She loosened her hold just enough to take the paper and see what it was.

"When I first read about the custom, I was planning on pulling a prank on the whole town to offer you the ring," Leon admitted. "But then, I can do that any time, for any purpose. You don't get the chance to cause a fairy to freak out like that every day."

"Okay, her reaction was worth it," Frey said. "Oh hey this... it's a crafting blueprint to making another headband. It'll use up the other four, but then have all the flowers they do. Probably some extra protection too."

"If it's designed for a girl, you can probably rely on it to be good protection, for a girl," Leon said.

She nodded. "Of course... thanks Emerald!" Frey let him go to put the design away and look over the ring. "If you read about it, you probably know that I have to make one for you before we can have a wedding. But then, would you mind waiting a little while longer even if I can probably have it together tonight? Because my dad's on a pilgrimage to see the four native dragons and he's out looking for Aquaticus as his third. He said that the divine water doesn't live far from the town he's staying in, so it shouldn't be long until we hear that he's coming to Selphia."

"Sure, it'd be better to have him there for the wedding," he said, feeling another wave of giddiness on saying it. Their wedding. "Now how do we want to break this to your brother?"

Frey grinned. "We have to do something fun for that."


A/N: When I was writing this chapter months ago, I really hadn't decided on Leon's proposal entirely. It could have been fun to have him prank the whole town by pretending not to get it right and I nearly went that way. But then as I was going through the fairy spring sidequest as a sort of proposal event for Frey (since as a main character, she doesn't have one specific to herself), I had to consider how to reasonably have them get a giant flower for the last fairy. It would take time and while Amber could easily do this for them, she'd already helped with Marin's flower. Then I spontaneously had Marin say that the Green fairy liked trashy romance novels and Emerald took on a tsundere life of her own. So it happened this way!