Chapter thirty:
By the time Rose, Robbie, Sportacus and Adventurous had returned to where everyone was standing with the blankets and some pillows Courageous, Victoria, their children and Fearless had arrived. The local kids seemed however to have gone off somewhere for a moment.
"Ah here they come now!" Victor announced cheerfully as he spied them.
The new comers turned, they smiled and waved. "UNCLE SPORTACUS! UNCLE ADVENTUROUS!" Vic and Daring called out in delight, before running towards them.
Adventurous and Sportacus both chuckled in delight. "Hey boys!" Sportacus greeted cheerfully.
Daring and Vic turned towards Rose and Robbie and Vic said a little more shyly than before. "Hi…"
Robbie gave them a small smile. "Hello. I'm Robbie and this is my twin sister Rose."
"Twins!" Daring exclaimed in awe. "Twins are so rare!"
Rose and Robbie exchanged a look and chuckled. Rose addressed the boys. "Yes, twins are rare."
As they came closer to the others, Courageous spoke first. "I'm Courageous, this is my wife Victory and you already met the boys. It's nice to meet you at last Robbie."
"I am pleased to meet you too." Robbie said politely.
Smiling with amusement Fearless spoke. "If you had not guessed I'm Fearless."
"I did think you might be." Robbie chuckled.
Before Robbie could introduce Rose Vic and Daring burst out with. "Mum, dad, Rose and Robbie are twins!"
"Oh, you are?" Victory asked them in surprised awe.
Rose and Robbie nod. "We are." Rose tells her.
Victory smiled at them and said in a soft awed voice. "That's amazing and very rare."
Both Rose and Robbie chuckle. "We hear that a lot." Robbie said to her.
Victory nodded to him. "I'm sure you do. Sorry about that."
"It's fine don't worry about it. As long as you don't make tall jokes, you'll be fine." Robbie assured her in a dead pan voice.
When Robbie said this in that way, they all laughed and it was Adventurous who said to him. "I can imagine you've heard them all."
Grinning Robbie said. "As Sportacus said to me once, I've probably heard as many tall jokes as he has short ones."
"Right let's spread out these blankets." Sportacus said.
Together they set out the blankets and pillows under the trees in the shade. When they where done Robbie turned to Victory and Courageous and asked. "Would the children like to play?"
"I am sure they would." Victory told him.
Robbie nodded to her. "There are some local kids and I sure they would be happy to let Vic and Daring join them."
"That would be wonderful!" Victory enthused.
With a nod Robbie turned to Sportacus. "Can you get in touch with the kids? I don't think they would have gone very far today, but shouting is rude."
"Sure, I can!" Sportacus assured Robbie before stepping off to one side to contact Stephanie.
While Sportacus was talking to Stephanie everyone else settled down on the blankets. A few moments later Sportacus returned, he sat down beside Robbie and took one of his hands into his. "Stephanie and the others on their way, so they should be here soon."
Robbie nodded to him and then addressed the others. "Okay now we are all gathered we should state the one thing we did settle on was a kind of fairy tale theme. We felt this would be one say to hide from those without magic that we have magic."
"That is a good idea." Victor agreed with a nod of agreement.
"Did you settle on a date yet?" Joy asked curiously.
Quickly Sportacus shook his head and explained to Joy. "Not yet, we wanted everyone to be here before we did any of that."
There was a lot of understanding murmurs and nodding from Sportacus's family, but before anyone could say anything more Stephanie's voice called out cheerfully. "Sportacus!"
"Stephanie!" He called back to her joyfully.
As she ran the rest of the way up to Sportacus with the other kids not far behind her, the others present all looked at them all and smiled warmly at the children. Stephanie looked around at them all, they turned a wide eyed gaze to Sportacus. "Wow, so this is all of your family!"
Sportacus nodded to her and smiled warmly. "Yes, it is. For those who were not hear earlier for introductions this is Stephanie and her friends Trixie, Pixel, Stingy and Ziggy. Stephanie, I was hoping that you and the others would be willing to play with my nephews Vic and Daring."
As Sportacus introduced them to Stephanie and the rest of the kids, Daring and Vic waved. Stephanie and the other's waved back, before Stephanie said to Sportacus enthusiastically. "Sure, we'd be happy to play with Daring and Vic! Come on let's go!"
With a nod of encouragement from their parents Vic and Daring joined the others and they set off towards the sports field.
Once the children where out of earshot Joy spoke. "So going back to a date, did the two of you have a time of year you prefer?"
Quickly Sportacus shook his head. "I don't what about you Robbie?"
A thoughtful hum left Robbie. "Hm, I don't really have a preference either…"
"Sportacus mentioned in one of his letters that you're a lord, does that affect anything?" Victor asked Robbie in a serious voice.
Robbie nodded. "To some extent. Either their will be a representative from the court come to see me marry or the king and queen themselves may attend. I've been unmarried for a long time and Rose is also unmarried…So there was a lot of concern amongst our people that our old line would die with us."
There was a lot of understanding nodding. "May I ask, what will Sportacus become when he marries you…? I mean he can hardly become your lady and I doubt anyone would call him the lord because that would confuse him with you." Courageous asked him curiously.
"Sportacus would be called my consort." Robbie told them all, before anyone can say anything Robbie glances around at Sportacus's brother's and says to them seriously. "The first one of you to give Sportacus grief over the title he will be given will get themselves cursed."
Joy, Victor, Ivy and Victoria all chuckled when Robbie gave them this warning. "Well, you've been warned." Joy told her sons still grinning.
"We certainly have." Adventurous agreed with a nod of the head.
Sportacus looked over at his mother. "I need to request the hand fasting cords from you."
"Oh, you're going to use them!" Joy said in delight.
Sportacus nodded to her. "We are going to add Robbie's families' ones too."
Hearing this Rose shot her brother a surprised look and asked in a startled voice. "You found them?"
"Yes…I'm so sorry…What with everything that went on I must have forgotten to tell you in my letters. I'm sorry Rose." Robbie said while taking his sister into his arms and holding her tightly.
Rose returned Robbie's hold, she burrowed close to him and said tearfully. "I'm so glad you found them…I'm glad you found all of it…I wish I could have been there too, I could have helped to support you through all that."
"I know…But Sportacus was there with me and him being there helped me a lot." Robbie told her in a soft but sincere voice.
Sportacus softly lay and hand on Robbie's back, before carefully putting his arms around them both and joining the hug. Rose looked up at Sportacus, she gave him a watery smile and said. "Thank you for being with Robbie."
"You're very welcome…I'd never leave someone I love to go through something like that alone." Sportacus told her honestly.
Even though Rose and Robbie had said nothing directly about their parents this confirmed to Sportacus's family that they were no longer with them. They all waited quietly and respectfully for the trio to break their hug, Rose shot them all a grateful but sad smile.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Joy said to Robbie and Rose gently.
"Thank you." Robbie said with a nod of the head.
Rose took a deep breath before sitting down on one of the blankets. The others followed her example and settled themselves under the shade of the trees.
"Now going back to a time of year, why not look at late spring or early summer?" Rose suggested to Robbie and Sportacus.
Sportacus nodded to Rose. "That is a good suggestion, weather would be favourable then…We could even think about having our wedding day on midsummers day as it is the day when we first came together as a couple."
Robbie smiled lovingly at Sportacus. "I like that idea. Sportacus and I already talked about the fact that it would be wise to have a private ceremony for our families and then a party afterwards. We plan to have both sweet treats and healthy foods on offer to our guests, as well as plenty of music for people to dance to."
"Do you have any traditional dress that you might be expected to wear Robbie?" Joy asked him curiously.
Robbie shakes his head. "Not exactly, I am expected to dress smartly, I'd like to be able to use my father's cape and wear a top hat as he did."
"It sounds like you're going to look smart and rather dashing." Victoria said to Robbie with a warm smile on her face.
Sportacus smiled back at Victoria and said. "I agree."
Robbie looked at Joy and addressed her. "Sportacus mentioned to me that you would like him to wear formal robes for our wedding."
Joy smiled widely at Robbie and nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, I would love Sportacus to wear formal elven robes for his wedding."
"I wonder if you might be amenable to him changing into something less formal for the party afterwards?" Robbie asked her politely. "I ask this because I think Sportacus would be more comfortable for the night, if he were able to change and because I am concerned that the mortals of the town may have questions about such cloths that we cannot answer for them without arousing their suspicion."
Joy gave Robbie a nod of understanding, while humming thoughtfully. "I can understand your concerns and I know that Sportacus struggles to wear them for long, so I would be happy for him to change into something else, just not his hero uniform, this is a special occasion after all."
Hearing his mother say this causes Sportacus to smile at her widely. "Thank you, mum. I'm sure I can find something smart but which will allow me to move to wear at the party."
Nodding to him Joy said. "I look forwards to seeing what you find to wear. Now I know both of you will use hand fasting cords for the ceremony, but what else do the two of you want to do at that time? Usually amongst elves, the couple is blessed by the one marrying them and they make promises individual to them to each other."
Without any hesitation Robbie explained the wedding ceremony of the fae to them. "The cords are blessed by the priestess, the hands of the couple are bound around their clasped hands and wrists, the couple is blessed and then we make a formal set of vows which have been made by fae for centuries…However I think that the more personal vows which elves make to each other sound nicer than our formal ones…I don't think there would be any objection from the fae court if we where to combine parts of the traditional fae vows with some personal touches."
"That does sound nice." Sportacus said to Robbie in a soft loving voice.
"Robbie what are the formal vows which are used at a fae wedding?" Ivy asked him curiously.
Robbie turned his attention to her. "They go like this. You are part of my heart, part of my soul and part of my life. I will protect you always and I will care for you forever. No matter the trials before us I will stand by your side. I will love you forever. All of this I promise freely and with all of my heart."
When he finished speaking Sportacus and his family were looking at him in wide eyed awe. "Oh…Oh…That's beautiful." Ivy said to him in a soft voice.
"It really is." Sportacus agreed, before saying to Robbie. "I really look forwards to changing those vows to make them more personal for the two of us."
"As do I." Robbie said with a smile for Sportacus.
Rose spoke up at this point. "You said you wanted me to read one of Shakespeare's sonnets at the wedding, but would you like that to be during the ceremony or after the wedding at the celebration?"
"Well, it is normal in elven weddings for people to say a few words before we begin to eat, dance and so on." Courageous told Rose.
"So, I could read my sonnet then." Rose suggested.
"That sounds like a really good idea." Robbie agreed with a nod, before he then spoke to Sportacus. "I assume you'd like me to cut and distribute the cake."
Sportacus nodded to him. "Yes, I think that would be the safest thing to do."
"I thought that might be the case, but I wanted to ask in case you wanted to help." Robbie told him with a warm smile.
"May I ask how you plan to handle gifts or if you both intend to receive gifts?" Joy asked them.
Robbie and Sportacus looked at each other and Robbie spoke. "Both our people receive gifts, but honestly I am not sure we really need anything."
"I can't honestly think of anything we need anything either…" Sportacus said in agreement.
A thoughtful hum left Rose and then she spoke. "Well, if that is the case, why not simply ask for money to go towards a honeymoon? I'm sure someone could keep a watch on Lazy Town while the two of you are away."
"I'm between adventures at the moment and if Ivy agrees we could watch over Lazy Town for a while for you." Adventurous offered kindly.
Ivy smiled at her impetuous husband, before turning her smile onto Robbie and Sportacus and saying to them. "It might be nice to stay in one place for a little while."
Adventurous gave her a faux glare. "Hye! We stay in places!"
With a small smile playing on her lips Ivy, placed her hands to her hips and addressed him. "Oh really? So, you count being in one place for a day or less as 'staying' some where do you?"
Robbie was having a difficult time not laughing, as he looked around, he realised that he was not alone in that reaction to this. "Now, now, before the two of you get started on that discussion, we are here to discuss Robbie and Sportacus's wedding." Joy informed them gently but firmly.
Ivy and Adventurous both blush and murmur their apologies to everyone. They all laugh warmly in response to this and then they turned their attention back to planning the wedding. A lot of things were discussed and the basics of the wedding were settled on, before they all took a break from discussions for lunch.
After lunch everyone returned to the blankets under the trees, where they discussed, food to be served at the party, the size and flavour of the wedding cake which would be needed and the music which would be played.
They also talked about where their clothes would be brought or made, what colours they would wear and any which would be considered in some way unlucky or insulting in some way.
The day ended with Joy turning to Sportacus and Robbie and saying to them. "You should think about where the two of you would like to go on your honeymoon. We can talk about a firm date for the wedding so we can organise tasting for foods which cane be eaten and organise clothing to be made or brought."
"That sounds like a good plan." Sportacus agreed.
Robbie nodded and said. "Yes, those are sound suggestions and it is getting rather late now."
"Agreed! I should really get the young ones to bed." Victoria told them getting up.
Slowly but surely, everyone got up, they were all chatting softly between them. Valiant turned to Rose, Robbie and Sportacus and asked. "Would you like help taking all the blankets and pillows home?"
"That would be wonderful." Rose agreed before Robbie or Sportacus could say anything.
Robbie and Sportacus shot eat other a knowing look and nodded to Valiant in agreement. "Thank you Valiant." Robbie said to him.
Together the four of them carefully packed up the blankets and pillows and they all walked back to Robbie's home. Robbie, Sportacus, Rose and Valiant helped to get everything back into Robbie's home and then put it to one side where it could be gathered up again for the next discussion tomorrow.
Once this was done Valiant turned to Rose and asked softly. "Would you like me to walk you home?"
Rose blushed a little in delight but nodded to him. "I'd like that."
"We'll see you both in the morning." Sportacus said to them cheerfully.
"Do you need me to come back in the morning to help with pillows and blankets?" Rose asked them kindly.
Robbie nodded to her. "That would be wonderful Rose."
"I'm more than happy to return to help tomorrow as well." Valiant offered, eager to spend more time with Rose.
"Thank you Valiant, we would be grateful for the help." Robbie told him gratefully.
Valiant and Rose then made their way out of Robbie's home. Robbie looked to Sportacus and said softly. "It would appear your brother likes my sister."
"I think you are correct." Sportacus agreed with a grin, while taking Robbie's hand and guiding him back towards their bedroom.
Rose and Valiant walked alongside each other quietly, neither of them where sure what to say to each other, but where enjoying being together. "Thank you for seeing me home." Rose said softly.
"You are more than welcome. I'm sure you don't really need me to walk you home, but I really wanted to do so." Valiant explained to her.
Rose gave him a small, but gentle smile. "I'm really glad for your company."
Valiant returned her smile and felt his heart flutter in his chest. "Then I am happy I suggested I walk with you. So, you're going to read a sonnet did you have one in mind?"
After a moments hesitation Rose answered the question. "Actually, I'll admit that I have several in mind…And I'm having trouble settling on one."
"Oh, maybe I can help you to choose one." Valiant offered.
"Actually, that might be helpful. So, my choices are, 116, 18 and 104." Rose told him feeling suddenly nervous about those she had chosen.
Valiant was quiet for a few moments as he turned over the choices Rose had made thinking about which one might be best for the wedding. "Those are wonderful choices and can see why you would struggle to decide which one of those you should use at the wedding. Hm, let's see, I think 18 and 104 are a little too much about the decline of beauty…Personally I think 116 is the best choice."
Rose was rather shocked that Valiant knew the sonnets she had mentioned without needing to be told which one was which, but she concealed her surprise and after considering this suggestion for a couple of minets, Rose nodded to him. "I think that you are right in your suggestion. Thank you for the help…I'll admit that I'm a little surprised you knew which sonnets I was referring to."
Surprising Rose in this way made Valiant feel warm inside. "I happen to enjoy the sonnets, are you fond of Shakespeare?"
"Oh yes, I love his work." Rose enthused in pleasure.
"Have you seen any of his plays on the stage?" Valiant asked warming to the subject and loving the glow Rose had in her eyes when she spoke of her enjoyment of Shakespeare's work.
Grinning widely Rose nodded to him and said with a joy filled voice. "Many times, and I love each and every performance I see."
"I've only seen a few. I'd love to see more." Valiant confessed with honesty. He couldn't help but think how wonderful it would be to go to a play with someone else who enjoyed watching Shakespeare.
"Maybe we could go together some time. I'd like to go to see one of his plays with you." Rose admitted blushing slightly as she made this suggestion.
"I'd like that…I was just thinking how amazing it would be to go and watch Shakespeare's plays with someone else who finds pleasure in them." Valiant told Rose without any hesitation.
Rose was relived and happy that Valiant felt the same way as she did and so she suggested to him a little shyly. "Well then, next time there is a performance we can inform each other and make plans to go to tother."
Valiant smiled wisely at her, feeling truly glad that Rose had made this suggestion. "That sounds like a plan to me!"
"Then it's agreed. Well, this is where I am staying while in Lazy Town." Rose told him as they came to the door of Bluebell Cottage.
"Would you like me to meet you in the morning to walk back to your brother's home?" Valiant offered, hoping with all of his heart that Rose would agree.
Smiling warmly at him Rose nodded too Valiant. "I'd love that. Ten o clock would be great."
"Then ten o clock it is!" Valiant said cheerfully.
"Good night Valiant I'll see you in the morning." Rose said softly, before gently kissing him on the cheek and hurrying inside the cottage.
Valiant stood there for a few moments in shock, before he lifted a hand to his cheek and grinned widely. Still smiling widely Valiant turned towards where his airship was and quickly made his way home. He was very much looking forwards to spending more time with Rose tomorrow and seeing how their relationship might grow in the future.