Welcome back! Sorry about the long wait, I've had this chapter finished for a while but never got around to uploading because of school but now I'm all done and have some more spare time :) Last chapter saw a bit of Tatanga's backstory from his initial invasion of Sarasaland. This chapter is the wedding banquet, a bit of a filler chapter but still some important info in here. And your patience will be rewarded - there's a lemon in the next chapter, extra juicy ;)

Daisy and Tatanga headed back into the banquet hall. The pews that had filled it were now moved to some other room, and round tables with yellow tablecloths instead littered the edges of the room, leaving space for a dancefloor. Centerpieces of sunflowers and baby's breath sat at the centre of each table, surrounded by small goblets of water and napkins. A single rectangular table sat up on the stage where Katsini had married Daisy and Tatanga, presumably for the royal couple. The royal guests started to flood in from a reception area off of the banquet hall, taking their places at the tables. Tatanga led Daisy up to the table at the front of the hall and pulled out her chair for her before seating himself.

As soon as everyone was seated, caterers flooded out from another room off of the hall, pushing trolleys of meals and depositing them on the tables. One member brought a tray of two meals to the royal couple, set them on the table, and bowed quickly before heading back into what Daisy assumed was the kitchen. She looked at the meal placed before her - a stuffed chicken breast, some steamed veggies and some sort of rice dish. It looked amazing and smelled even better. Another server came and poured them each a glass of champagne. She felt her stomach grumble, remembering that she had really only had that bag of trail mix today. Daisy looked out at all the other royals as their plates were given to them. Tatanga looked at her and patted her hand. "Why aren't you eating, my dear?"

She turned to look at him. "I just like to wait until everyone has their food before I start to eat." Daisy glanced out at the crowd and saw a plate in front of every person. "See? Now I can eat." He chuckled at her. "I suppose that's not a bad habit to pick up." He lifted his glass to her: "A toast, to my beautiful wife, to many years of happy and successful reign, and a fulfilling and loving marriage." She raised hers and clinked, taking a sip. She felt the bubbles tickle her tongue.

She took up her silverware and cut into her meal, taking a bite of the chicken. Oh man, that was good. The chefs at her palace were pretty good, but they definitely did not rival Tatanga's culinary team. Perhaps it was the simplicity of the dish that allowed for it to be perfected. She was ravenous, but she tried not to eat too quickly as it would be unbecoming of a queen. Tatanga ate quietly beside her, steadily. The couple finished in just a short time, and waited for the caterers to bring out the dessert. Tatanga turned to her. "Did you enjoy dinner?" Daisy nodded enthusiastically, her eyes lighting up. "Oh, yes! It was delicious. Much better than the Sarasaland Palace chefs, by a longshot," she gushed. He smiled. "I am glad my culinary team pleases your palate. I will be sure to tell them you enjoy the chicken so much."

He took her hand. "After dessert, we'll have our first dance. After that, we can stay as long as you want here or retire to our chambers early." She blushed, imagining what might occur in said chambers tonight. "Sounds good to me! I am a little tired but I would like you to introduce me to the people I will be working with before we retire." "Of course, love. I think that's a great idea." They sat and chatted idly until a server brought them dessert - a slice each of raspberry dark chocolate cheesecake. Both of them ate it quickly and finished their champagne.

Tatanga looked over to his left at Katsini until he caught his eye, and nodded at him. Katsini walked over to a booth just in front of the stage and flicked on the mic. "Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention please. Firstly, I would like us all to once again congratulate the lucky couple." he gestured to Daisy and Tatanga, who stood as the guests applauded and cheered. They sat back down and Katsini spoke once more. "Now, I would like us all to welcome them to the dance floor as they share their first dance as a married couple." The crowd cheered as Tatanga and Daisy descended the little platform where they had eaten.

They walked to the centre of the dance floor and Tatanga turned to face her, snaking one arm around her waist and pulling her close, grabbing her hand with the other. She put her free hand on his shoulder and looked up at him, smiling. She heard the opening notes of "Can't Help Falling in Love" and her eyes widened at him. "My favourite song… you remembered that too." He beamed at her as he began to lead. "Of course, like I said I remembered every detail. I used to hear you hum it sometimes." Daisy gazed at him as they moved, sweeping the dance floor. She felt her eyes well up again. It was overwhelming being doted on like this. Hell, Luigi seemed to always forget things like her favourite flowers. He bought her flowers on the odd occasion, of course, but it was always just whatever they had prearranged at the florist near her castle.

Tatanga beamed at her, clearly overwhelmed himself. The song completed and they slowed to a halt, and Tatanga leaned in for a quick peck. Everyone cheered as their dance completed, and couples swarmed the dance floor as the DJ played something new. Tatanga led her off the dance floor to a table nearby and pulled out a chair for her, then sat down himself. He turned to the two other patrons at the table that had not gone off to dance and greeted them. "My friends, did you enjoy your meal?" One guy, a yellow-haired alien like Katsini, leaned forward. "Delicious as usual, my lord. Your caterers have outdone themselves." The rest of the group expressed their agreement.

Tatanga turned to Daisy. "My love, this is Shiksha, my minister of education. We work very closely to improve the curriculums in the school system." Shiksa bowed his head down and smiled at her. "It's very nice to meet you, Shiksha. I would love to one day go over your curriculums with you, I've always had an interest in making sure my subjects are getting the best preparation for their adult lives," she said. "I am with you there, we make sure to put a focus on application of skills and health education," he replied, reaching for his champagne. "We value a realistic education, and an accessible one."

Daisy nodded. She was genuinely interested in what their curriculums were like. She wanted to change a lot about the Sarasaland public education system, because it was unfortunately imbued with the values of her father - hardly any sex education (mostly just encouraging abstinence), teachers that were hard markers so no one was "being babied" as he put it, and not a lot of funding. Shiksha gestured to the woman beside him, a human with long blonde hair and striking gray eyes. "This is my wife, Amadea. She's a health teacher at our closest school, Amalthea Public." She smiled warmly at Daisy and extended a hand. "It's very nice to meet you!"

Daisy gave her hand a squeeze. "Wow, a health teacher specifically? Back in Sarasaland we only had teachers for the basics like math and English, and one of them would just teach health classes. What sort of topics do you cover?" Amadea's eyes glittered. "Thorough sex education is very important to me, and to the kingdom. We go over in detail safe sex and healthy relationships so our students can make educated decisions when they decide they want to become active. I also teach about basic hygiene and nutrition, because a lot of misinformation about these topics gets picked up from Earth when people travel there." She giggled. "Do you know how many students I had to tell not to exclusively eat celery to lose weight?" Daisy laughed. "I remember that rumour making its way through our kingdom a while back. Celery prices went sky high!"

Daisy sat and chatted with Amadea about how she taught, and they exchanged stories while Tatanga and Shiksha talked together. It felt like only minutes, but Tatanga put a hand on her shoulder partway through the conversation and informed her it had been a few hours that they had sat. Daisy was surprised - but now her fatigue started to hit her. "Wow, I can't believe how late it is!" She covered her mouth as she let out a small yawn. "Would you like to retire for the evening, my dear? I can introduce you to other members of my government throughout the week," Tatanga said to her. "I think I would," Daisy replied. She turned to Amadea and Shiksha. "It was very nice to meet both of you! I look forward to working together in the near future."

"Us as well. Have a good night you two!" Shiksha waved goodbye to the couple and they left the hall. Daisy's heart raced as she thought about what sort of antics they would get up to once they got into bed.

Thanks for tuning in! Your patience will soon be rewarded: like I said, next chapter is a lemon ;) and there's gonna be another one not long after so stay tuned for that as well hehe