Once again I am headed for a frantic Noriko. Once again it is out a door and up through a window. Did she feel like this when she was stolen from me before? I'm desperately hoping not. I don't need that kind of addition to my already turmoiled mind and heart. I've been having only nightmares, waking and sleeping, the closer we get to the wedding itself.

I'm suddenly confused, though. Outside the door, over the city, is a thing never seen before. It's a double rainbow in the middle of the desert, one that sparkles and shines in all the colors that exist on this planet.

Noriko told me that she finds them beautiful since many of the colors here are not on her home planet. She thinks our sun might be a different color than hers, but that lesson went over my head, past how light passing through the right material spreads to show all of the colors that are in it.

She truly believes that the rainbows we see are messages from the World of Light. Why is she panicked at the same time as there is a double rainbow? That almost makes me panic more. We saw a rainbow only a few days before she was stolen from me by Rachef and they almost won the first time.

I'm up in the window she's looking out of, needing to have my eyes on her. Her overwhelming emotion now is relief. The girls are watching the tears stream down Noriko's face in shock, not knowing what to do.

They see me and with grateful looks quietly excuse themselves from the room. They've learned now that only I can handle the tearful Noriko, who is overwhelming for the people of this planet. It really is a special power of hers. She said it embarrasses her because her people are like the people here. They also wouldn't know what to do with so many tears.

I think it comes from the depths of the pain of being stolen. If the World of Light hadn't stolen her from her home there wouldn't have been this ocean of pain for the tears to come from, nor the rift in her that lets them escape. Many are the times I've scolded the World of Light for having done it and received only silence.

This time, I take pause. Something different has happened. Noriko looks...older. A whisper of power swirls around her, but what it is exactly is hard to tell since her tears and sobs unabated hide it. Perhaps it's the power of her tears. I'm not sure, but I don't want to enter that space and find out. I'm not too emotionally stable and we don't need to have me added to whatever she's trying to recover from.

Because I'm here with her now and can watch over her, I quietly move to sit on the bed near the window and just wait this time. I'm not sure I've ever seen her cry this hard. Maybe when we were leaving the cavern in the caves to walk out of them, to walk away from everything that she'd known into this world of the unknown. She isn't finally admitting how much it hurts to turn away from her home and family, is she? What relieved her? To see me?

It's one of my nightmares. I don't want to go through with the wedding only to have her say to me in a month, year, twenty years, that she hates me for keeping her, for not making her go home. Even worse...well, I can't even think it, it's such a horrible thought. If I do, I won't be able to keep it down, and she's finally recovering.

Noriko is quite the mess. I hand her a handkerchief, relieved to not have it be my jacket this time. She takes it, uses it, then sighs. "Sorry. I'm better now."

"That's good." She blinks at me in surprise. I guess she thought the girls would still be here.

"How do you always show up at times like this?" I raise an eyebrow at her. "Ah, right. Sorry. I didn't mean to drag you out again." She takes a deep breath, seeming still a little scattered.

"Are you sure you're better?" I ask. She looks a little better, but the power is still swirling lightly around her.

"Well, it was a deep worry," she answers. "Those take a little longer to recover from, but I am better."

That points to my confusion. "A worry? It was a rainbow, a double one even. Those don't usually worry you."

"You saw it?"

"I came out to get to you from below - it was faster - and saw it. You didn't see me come in the window?"

Noriko shakes her head. "I wasn't seeing anything by then." Well, with that level of tears, it isn't surprising.

I watch her a moment longer. "Noriko...will you tell me? You look different."

Her eyes widen. "In what way?"

I taste her power just ever so lightly. It's not tears. Its her power from the World of Light. "You look more like you look like in the World of Light. Older isn't quite right, but that's what comes to mind. I didn't touch you when I came in because it looked like you might be there, in the World of Light."

"I wasn't, but I ...suppose? it makes sense..." Noriko sighs and moves to sit on the bed, one leg dangling over the edge so we can talk face to face. She seems to be sad. That doesn't help me either.

"I asked the World of Light to promise me that if we really were going to be rewarded for our efforts from the time it brought me here, that it wasn't going to suddenly send me back, like it brought me here." I sit up in surprise and shock. She has voiced my deepest fear and I struggle to keep it down so she can finish.

"As soon as I really asked, demanded, threatened, and begged, Rottenina called for me to come look." She glances towards the window. "The double rainbow was its answer."

I slump in relief, then put my hand to my head. This is becoming more than I can handle, the stress and emotions of this wedding. "You are really difficult, you know that? ...I asked, when we landed at the foot of the cliff, why I was doing this, why I was keeping you alive, particularly when it wasn't easy." I drop my hand to glare at her slightly. "Even at the river I couldn't walk away, and that was very difficult." She understands how difficult that was for me.

"When that was over ...and you were finally sleeping and recovering... I looked at you," I look away, holding the ankle of the leg resting on the bed with one hand tightly for the courage to say what I want to say to her, "and I was so relieved you were.

"I didn't understand yet even then why, but for a reason I couldn't say at the time, I did say to whatever it was that brought us together, that if I was going to go through all this work and effort, and it wasn't going to let me kill you so I could be free of the future that I didn't want, for all that you kept trying to die, that it had better give me something in the end worth all the effort."

I take in a breath looking only at my hand, trying to not let my emotions overwhelm me in the telling. "For some reason, the words of the doctor in Calco came to my mind. He told me, 'Noriko has done this so that she can stay alive. She wants to live.'

"When I thought that thought, I thought back to everything else you'd done, and I realized I'd not thought right. You weren't trying to die, even if by accident. In everything you did, you tried to live. You didn't want to walk out onto the cliff path because you wanted to live. Because I pulled you out onto it, your life was endangered and I had to save you so you could live.

"That's why, when you answered my question that if you were free but couldn't go home you would die, I couldn't believe it." That memory is painful today. Today I'm afraid to lose her to a thing I know I can't control and can't influence. I try to breathe so the rock in my stomach doesn't hurt so much.

"It made sense if I thought about it from the viewpoint that without me to protect you, you would die most likely, although you would have kept fighting to live, I think. But that isn't what you meant, and I could tell that."

I need to see her again. Her eyes are sober, her attention on my words. "It made me angry that you would work so hard to live, but if we were set free you would give up. It made me feel trapped and I tested you. Even then you wanted to live and kept running.

"When I said I wanted you to live, I meant it. Somehow, your determination to live had given me some courage I hadn't known I needed. It had never taken much for me to live, having the physical strength I did, but you had nothing of strength except of will, and yet you fought desperately to live anyway.

"To hear in your voice that you would give up meant that somehow I would have given up, too. I couldn't bear it. When I caught you, and you didn't struggle or run again, you just stayed with me, even though you cried, I realized...you were what I wanted. If the thing that was making us come together was going to give me something worth it all in the end, I wanted it to be you - a strong, willful, living you."

I drop my eyes, still guilty for making that first mistake. "I still didn't want to be the Sky Demon of destruction. I still thought it was better to not be with you for your sake and mine, since I didn't want to hurt you, but I meant it, and from then on, too." I remember yesterday's conversation and look at her again. "I guess you saw that determination when you saw what you call the dragon - that you were going to be mine if all this was going to happen against my will regardless."

My eyes seek the double rainbow - gone now because they are fleeting things - wanting the promise she was looking for. "Do you remember that morning, after we left Selina, Guzena, when you woke me up to see the rainbow?" She remembers. She'd almost not called me to come see it, worried that I needed sleep more. I only saw it as it was fading away, but it had still been beautiful, because it had been beautiful in her eyes.

"I'd spent the whole night I'd been awake worrying about our future. I'd committed to you, and you'd committed to me, and I still wasn't sure but that I was going to become destruction and destroy you, too. I'd finally gone to bed asking. ...Asking for some sign that it was going to be okay. It wasn't until the rainbow at the Flower Festival, though, when you told me it was a sign from the World of Light that I realized that the first rainbow was my answer to that sleepless night."

I wave my hand at the window. "When I burst out of the room below and saw the rainbow, doubled, I was stunned. I knew it was somehow related to your worry and fear, and your relief...and my promise and my desires, because there were two of them." I'm desperately hoping I've understood rightly.

"If it's the answer to the promise, that you will be mine and I will be yours and we won't be taken from each other, then I'm glad." I reach for her hand and hold her fingertips in mine so we are barely touching, but needing to know she is here with me. Softly I admit, "I also have been worrying about the same thing."

Noriko pulls my hand closer to her, needing more touch than that to be comforted, although she only lightly rubs the backs of my fingers with her thumb. She takes her time to put her words together. I'll have to wait for her own words to be said.

She's teaching herself as she teaches me, perhaps. And like I needed to say my words to her, she likely also needs to say her words to me. To fear we'll be separated as violently as we were brought together is to want to say everything that needs to be said while it can be.

Ready to say them, she looks at me. "They've brought the wedding dress. That's what set off my worries. Between doing the practices and seeing that, I got overwhelmed again, but this time from the things inside me." She looks away. The wedding ceremony practice also caused me disquiet, bringing my worries to the front.

"I'm sorry. I would never have thought a happy thing like getting married would make a mess of my emotions like this." I take her whole hand in mine. I understand. Even for my own, which I know are my own and not hers, it's this way.

Trying to understand more, she finally sighs. "You said I look different. I'm not sure why there would be a difference like that, but I was thinking of one other thing, and maybe it's what made the difference. ...At least, it's the only thing I can think of that would do it." She's uncomfortable.

"You know I've told you I use acting to find the strength to move forward, or as a protection from the confusion of this world." I remember. That still worries me. "Even using those crutches, I've always tried to be true to myself, to be honest and do my best, but in one thing I have never been honest, with myself and this world."

She tightens her grip on my hand just a little more to draw more courage. It's hard for her to say it, but I'm relieved when she does. If she knows it, she can try to be even stronger. "I - have never believed, or tried to understand maybe, that I am really the creature or being called the Awakening. The closest I've ever come is to playing like I'm the Fairy Queen.

"Even that I've never really believed, although I understand that the things that surround it are true. I am your treasure, I am important to this world for some reason, I needed to keep myself safe and hidden. But really...being it -"

She forces herself to have the courage to look me in the eyes. "The wedding dress, in my eyes, is only fit to be worn by the true Fairy Queen. This wedding and all the effort going into it. It's all making me open those eyes, making me understand that if I'm really going to marry you, I'm really going to be the Awakening - and that I was the Awakening from the beginning."

She shrugs self-consciously. "It is a fine distinction, and perhaps not relevant for anyone but me, but ...when I was worrying and thinking before the rainbows, I understood that if the World of Light was going to let me stay, and I was going to marry you, I would need to accept that truth, and live it as truth," she gives me a wry grin, "even though I have no idea what that means. I don't know what this world sees the Awakening as, or should do, or be.

"Being given a lavish wedding and the most beautiful wedding dress possible makes me think this world sees me as more than even a princess or queen, and if that's what it thinks, I'll do that to the best of my ability, but really, it's just me, doing the little I know how to do each day. I don't think I'm worth all that. I'm happy just being loved by you and seeing you happy and content within your own skin."

I'm happy hearing that like the Noriko she is, she won't be changed by having to face what she is to this world. I can only try to teach her what little I know. "I grew up hearing what I would become, and fearing it, not wanting it to be true, and fighting it. You taught me that was the right thing to be doing and that I could choose for myself what the meaning of 'Sky Demon' was.

"The world still views it as something grand, I suppose, but it's what I want it to be - Izark who cares for people and loves Noriko, and does the small, or not so small things I can do each day.

"To me, the Awakening is a girl who loves me and taught me those things and does her best each day, too. That is enough if it's enough for her - for you." I wish for her to understand what I want for her to understand, regardless of what the world will tell her if she asks. "The wedding is being put together by our friends and will be watched by the world, and I suppose they'll see what they want to see, but that doesn't mean that it will define us."

I tip my head to really look at all of her, trying to picture the wedding dress on her. "You told me that to pretend to be those things can be fun, and being the pirate king was fun after that. I think that if the wedding dress is made for the Fairy Queen, or the grand creature expected by the world they call the Awakening, then it's okay for you to have fun wearing it and being that once if you want. I think you would have a lot of fun doing that, actually." She does love the formal clothing of this planet and that makes her fun to watch, too.

"But that doesn't mean you have to be that forever. That isn't who I know, after all. ...I know the Noriko-Awakening that weeps over everything, needs protection to live, is afraid all the time -" I'm teasing her to keep her level headed, to let her know I don't want a changed Noriko.

She attacks me to prevent me from finishing the tease, pushing me to the bed. "That's enough of that," she says firmly, the scold on her face. I laugh, having received a reaction that relieves me. I hold her above me so I can keep seeing her face. Her small waist fits snugly in my hands and I'm glad for a moment to play in the middle of the stress of the day.

"Actually, they've brought my clothes as well," I let her know.

"Oh?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Yes, and they are also fit for the Fairy King, or the grand creature they imagine is the Sky Demon." I also was unsure about wearing them when I saw them, but at the same time quite pleased. I also have very little reason to dress up (at least for my own pleasure).

Noriko's eyes narrow at me. "Hmm...I seem to remember you saying you'd been waiting to be the Fairy King."

"Yes, I was - because I wanted to be able to stand by the Fairy Queen who is very strong willed and her eyes tell the world that it must obey her, but who is still willing to be my treasure and obey me - someone who has to work hard to be worthy of that gift. When you called me that for the first time, I wondered if I had really earned it yet...but I believe I have now." These are words I do believe, and even more as I say them.

Soberly I request, "I would actually really like it, Noriko, if you would be willing to really be the Fairy Queen and say that I am really the Fairy King, if I've earned it. Even if it is only once, and when the rest of the world will be seeing the Awakening and the Sky Demon."

Noriko considers my request. "Well ...it would be fun ...and I do really, ...really want to wear that dress, and properly. But," she looks at me firmly, "it has to be Izark that says 'I do' and Noriko, too, since that's who's really getting married." I promise it and she takes one more deep breath to put her wild emotions that drew me to rest. "Okay. If you will be the Fairy King, I will have the courage to be the Fairy Queen. Be aware I follow your lead a lot when I'm in that role though."

My eyes go wide. "Oh, no. Noriko, I follow yours."

She stares at me, then collapses laughing. "May-maybe we," the laughs overwhelm her again until she can recover, "we should practice?"

I'm a bit concerned about her mental state, to laugh about something she cried about before, but I'm sure underneath her control on her emotions, she's having just as many difficulties as I am. I hope we can get through this in one piece without the world thinking we've gone mad. I try to bring her back to practicality. "I think we should talk with Duke Jeida and Duchess Niana and make sure we understand well enough at least."

She's willing to accept that suggestion. "Okay. I like that idea. I really think it might be bad if we're both making it up and we end up doing something very wrong. ...Although it might be forgiven of the Awakening and Sky Demon, since no one knows really anything about them and everyone is making them up."

"I don't think it would be a good idea to set a bad precedent because we made a mistake," I agree.

I hold her down and make her get rid of as many wild emotions as possible before we leave the room. She needs to be calm to face people and I need to release my own doubts and fears that have been piling up...or I'm going to steal my treasure away and run, and the city can sit and be sad we didn't stay for the formalities.

-o-o-o-

I didn't run. Noriko held me down all night and the men held me down today, making sure I was bathed, dressed, and I'm in place where I belong. I'm sure I've been wooden the whole time. I don't like having eyes on me generally. I really don't want the eyes of the world on me.

I want to stay hidden. I would go hide behind Noriko's skirts, the young boy wanting the escape, but she's standing on the other side of the sitting crowd of attendees from where I am on the stand waiting for her arrival.

She's beautiful in the dress that is fit for more than a queen. It's form fitting until the skirt which flares out to the floor. The embroidery on it covers almost everything and I know now how to tell it was extremely well done.

How the seamstress made it to the celebration I don't know but I'm sure she hasn't slept since the order for the dress was made. Perhaps three or four worked on it at once. It looks like it, anyway. The embroidery makes the dress stand out stiffly and Noriko is standing upright and poised almost more from that than from our practices.

My jacket is almost the same, although they didn't bother with embroidery on the pants. I'm relieved. I'm also surprised the jacket is short, flaring just a little over my hips where it ends, when they know I like long, but I'm not going to complain at all. It matches what Noriko's wearing better anyway.

I'm going without a bandanna this time. They told me I couldn't look like I was going to work, even if I did want to wear the one Noriko made me. She said it was okay. She's grateful I appreciate it by wearing it every other day.

Agol is smart next to Noriko in his formal suit. They're talking quietly while we wait for the officiators - who are waiting for the guests to finish settling down. Suddenly there is another person with Noriko, on her other side. My eyes widen as I take in who it is. Doctor Clairgeeta bows to me and I return it very slightly, not wanting to draw attention to myself in this busy place where eyes are on me.

"You invited him?" I ask Noriko. To have suddenly appeared, Doctor Clairgeeta is joining us in spirit through the World of Light.

She indicates I've understood. "Geena told me just now that when seers look for the Awakening and the Sky Demon they only see light," I'm suddenly so relaxed in relief I can feel her smile in understanding, "and I wanted him with me, too, so I asked him to come. He kindly agreed."

There's movement behind me and I turn slightly to be respectful of Mayor Mardwoog and Duke Jeida. They will both be officiating the wedding together at Noriko's request. I'm glad to have Duke Jeida here with me. His words and his voice are always calming. Having the men with me is also a help, but they're nailing my feet down so I don't flee. That's different.

As the officiators arrive in their positions, I lead my men to stand to their left and with a deep breath first, open my mouth to make my request. "I, Izark kia Tarj, have come to be married to my fiancée, Noriko Taichiki." A thrill runs down my back and I shiver slightly. It's as if the World of Light stands with them, judging me to see if I'm worthy to ask such a request.

"Let the bride be brought," Mayor Mardwoog calls.

As poised as the Fairy Queen, Noriko walks down the aisle-way towards the steps leading up onto the stand where her ladies have walked up to stand to either side to guide her way. She follows Geena who is lightly throwing flower petals on the pathway to give her a sweet scent as she walks, and Agol escorts her. They're traditions of her world, but they're nice additions for this special wedding of the age. Murmurs of approval are going through the attendees.

Noriko's eyes look with gratitude at each of the ladies as she passes them, and then they are on mine, briefly, then moving on to the men behind me. She wants to remember this scene before she can't see it for standing with her back to it.

I also am grateful for these our friends, Gaya who has been with me from early on, and all of them. When Noriko has reached the top step the other ladies come up after her to stand to the officiators' right side. When her eyes return to mine she smiles brightly and then she looks away. Last time she did that she was sad.

"I'll explode," she explains briefly. I silently chuckle at her, but it's a nervous chuckle. While it would be funny, here at this time it wouldn't be at all, even if the world isn't watching.

I can't say how relieved I am that they aren't. This is suddenly a much better event than it was. I won't have to be worried about people seeing us while we're traveling and trying to either kill us, or challenging me, or wanting all sorts of things I don't want to give them, including her. I'm much more able to appreciate the words said by Mayor Mardwoog and Duke Jeida as Noriko and I stand hand in hand in front of them.

We make our vows to each other before these our friends and hosts, and I can feel the World of Light making our connection something unbreakable. This time I'll say it's her fault, whatever the outcome is of having done that. If it means she lives forever with me I wouldn't be unhappy, but I expect I daydream to wish that.

As Duke Jeida speaks, she lifts her free hand to wipe at her eyes. I press her fingers to encourage her. I think this part will be hard for her. Here is the only family I know. She's missing some of hers who cannot come. We all wish for all of our family to share our joys with us, particularly one like a wedding which she likely expected her family to be able to participate in.

Eventually, it's too much for her and she flees into the World of Light with Doctor Clairgeeta to comfort her. I can see them there, even though Noriko hasn't moved outside. Tears are dripping from her eyes and it might get worse. I carefully leave most of me in the physical realm so I'm not suddenly disappearing from the stand.

"Noriko," I gently let her know as I wipe her cheeks for her, "pull it back just a little. You're crying here also, although it's just silent tears." She gathers her sorrow a little closer to her there in the World of Light and I let her know the tears have stopped.

"Where is your world?" Doctor Clairgeeta asks Noriko. I pay attention and look towards where she indicates they are.

"I'll anchor you," Doctor Clairgeeta says. "You'll return there and leave us if you go by yourself. I take it you don't want that since you're in the middle of a wedding." His humor is gentle, but I'm not sure what he's offering Noriko.

"No. I want to stay," she reassures him.

"Stay with me, but reach with your feelings and thoughts to talk to them. Let them know you're happy and today is your wedding day. They might not understand it, but they'll be brought to think of you and feel your happiness with you." Ah. I understand. Those can pass through the space of the World of Light to reach them. I return to paying more attention to the ceremony while she talks to her family as best she can.

When the officiators are done with their words, I return for Noriko. I won't let her apologize for the interruption. "I'm glad you could see and talk to your family, Noriko. What more appropriate time that at your own wedding?"

As we walk to return her to her body, she asks, "Izark, when we retrieve my journal, can we take it and send it back, so they don't have to be sad anymore? So they can know that I'm safe and we're happy?

"My dad is a writer. He can publish it and both worlds will know our story. My world might believe it's [fiction], lore and story, but it might also help anyone who reads it to try to reach the light, too."

"I think that would be a very good thing to do. I'd like them to know I'm taking care of you as best I can, and that you're doing your best to be happy and helpful, too." My words make her happy and feel comforted. I'm pleased.

When Noriko's ready, I'm waiting. Truly, I love this woman who will give up her home and her family to stay by my side. I kiss her gently and envelope her in my love. Her own love and gratitude for me fill her, then spill out and around us until they envelop all of the people around us and fill the bowl of the city. This is a thing only she can do. It's how she uses her power of the World of Light.

Gaya gasps lightly and whispers, "Oh! It feels like when Irktule cleansed the forest. It was bright like this, too."

Zena answers her softly as well. "Noriko has brought the World of Light to us. I saw it."

"Mm," agrees Geena. Noriko lets it stay a little longer, then gently releases it, the warm energy of light and love settling into and around the city, the same as had been done a long time ago when this city earned it's nickname as the City of Light. It's her way to repay the city for the help it's been to us.

Our lips part and I rest my forehead on hers as all of my tender emotions well up in me, brought to the surface by her own. A few tears drip from my face to hers. Noriko sends a gentle emotional hand to calm them enough so I don't become overwhelmed.

When my emotions are settled again, I slowly increase my power. The wind that's always a part of it swirls around us, although I keep it gentle. It lifts my hair and fluffs Noriko's. All of our friends have stepped back so that they aren't caught up in the center of it like we are.

Just for her, I make my hair turn blue, then my eyes. I sweep her up, careful to hold her skirts tightly around her legs so my wind doesn't blow them unseemly. My wings of light unfurl and those who can see the things of the light gasp and murmur in wonder.

Keeping my power directed upwards so that it doesn't destroy the stand and our guests, I push off the stand with my legs until we're high enough I can use a sweep of my wings to put us high into the air over the city.

Noriko is greatly enjoying our flight. "I thought you'd be more afraid, after the fall from the cliff," I comment. Even though I'm focused on my task, I've been wanting to know this, too - why she isn't afraid to jump from high places since then.

"No. It's more like the times I jump. I know I'm in your arms and safe. I didn't understand that the first time."

I pause, holding the wind and water energies where they are, swirling around in the air above and around us. It's just enough to know that in my arms she's safe? "You were so distressed, though. Did you really learn to trust me that much just from that?"

She nods. "I trusted you before, but as a swordsman. When you defied [gravity] and the natural laws I understood, then there was no reason to fear them any more." She looks away a little embarrassed. "Actually, as we were flying over the spiky rocks and towards the treetops...I wanted then to keep flying with you."

She blushes a little more, "And when I was running to you in Selena, Guzena, in the palace, and you had your other wings for the first time, I wished ...although I knew you wouldn't want them again ...that I could do this with you."

Well, she is right about those wings. I only get them when I'm almost lost to the Sky Demon. I'd much rather have these wings. But to have her wish to fly with me, and to trust me so much as to have it overwhelm her terror of heights... I go back to work to keep the blush of pleasure down.

The clouds I'm creating are gathering around us. It's difficult because water energy is so small here in the desert, but I can call for it here above the city. They bring it up from the river below and it rises slowly from the fields that are watered by it. I hold us here until I'm sure there's enough water in them, then we drop below them and I bring them down with us.

The closer we get to the city, the more water energy I can call on, bringing it up from the wells. When the clouds are heavy enough, and low enough over the city, I command the energy of the water and it begins to rain over Ennemarna. It's a very rare occurrence for them, and thus my gift to them.

As the rain falls gently past us, Noriko pulls up the power of the light again and rainbows scatter all over the bowl of Ennemarna, dazzling the citizens of the city. Their cries of appreciation rise up and a cheer goes up as I gently settle us both back to the center of the stand.