Chapter 8, Preparing
"I knew they'd get you sooner or later," Cid grinned, "our Cecil isn't as soft and patient as he seems."
"I just didn't want the next king of Baron to carry the same name as an eccentric mechanic I know," Cecil said with a friendly sneer.
"You're all crazy," Edge sighed and rolled his eyes.
Rydia squeezed his waist.
"And that comes from your mouth, mister attack-Rubicant-singlehanded-and-didn't-want-any-help?" she smirked.
"Oh, that hurt!" Edge groaned and laughed with his friends.
He looked at Cecil and innocently asked:
"Say, did you find something in your bed last night?"
"No, I thought you changed your mind or couldn't get past Rosa," Cecil said.
Edge smacked his forehead.
"Oh dear, I guess he crawled away… and I had such a hard time concentrating on climbing the tower after that evening!"
Everyone stared at him until he began to laugh again, making it clear that he really was joking.
Rydia and Edge went onboard the airship.
"Have a safe journey!" Yang called, making the others yell similar things and wave.
"Thanks," Rydia shouted back, "let's just hope that the winds are on our side, so that we make it all the way before Edge explodes of impatience!"
"Don't worry about the winds," Valvalis smiled, "they'll be gentle, trust me!"
The airship's engine began to roar, and it left the field. The main passengers and their friends on the ground waved at each other until they all were out of sight.
Down in the grass Valvalis mumbled a prayer to the powers of the Wind. Then she cup her hands and gently blew on her palms. Up in the sky a careful wind began to blow in the right direction, increasing the airship's speed.
"I've still got the touch," Valvalis smiled as she and the other earthbound ones watched the distant vehicle soar through the sky, towards the awaiting Eblan.
"The touch is the last thing you've lost," Kain grinned and winked at her with one eye.
"I guess you know best in that matter," Cecil said and thumped the dragoon's back with a chuckle.
"And when are you going to force them into marriage, pal?" Palom grinned, absentmindedly ducking.
"Don't think I need to…" Cecil smiled as Valvalis laughing put her arm over Kain's shoulders.
Up on the airship Rydia and Edge stood together, watching the sky. They had put on thick cloaks that people often preferred to wear when on airships, to protect against the cold.
"Will your people accept me?" Rydia suddenly said.
Edge gently squeezed her shoulders.
"Don't worry, sweetness," he said, "you're not the first nob to come from another country."
"Just wondering…"
She took a deep breath and released it slowly.
"I'm not fit to be a regular queen, you know," she muttered.
"I'm no regular king either. Hey, don't worry about anything, it'll be fine. After my advisors stop making fun of me for quitting bachelorhood."
He rolled his eyes. Rydia smiled and kissed his cheek.
"I'm sure it will be great," she said.
"Yeah."
He looked at her with rising eyebrows and a familiar glistening of mischief in his eyes.
"Say, I had trouble sleeping last night," he innocently said, "I felt lonely. Maybe I should sneak into your room tonight so that I can get some… rest."
Rydia chuckled and elbowed him gently, playful.
"You wish," she grinned and winked with one eye.
He laughed and pulled her into a hug.
"Don't ever change, Rydia," he smiled, "I love you just like that."
Then he cleared his throat and looked down into her eyes.
"However," he thoughtfully said, "I'd be happy if you would be a little more reasonable on the wedding night."
"We'll see about that in time," Rydia said, teasingly.
"You're a cruel, cruel woman…"
As the airship landed, it had been spotted long ago by a ninja on the watch upon one of the towers. Guessing correctly, the chancellor had assembled the royal guard and dragged the five members of the high council from their recent wrestling to meet the returning king. After all, Baron was still the only country with airships (even though that matter was being discussed by the befriended kings), and king Edge was the only one who was expected.
They were all waiting as the airship was parked in the field west of the growing town and rebuilding castle.
"Was it a nice wedding, Your Majesty?" the trade advisor, Leran, called.
"Behave yourself!" the head of foreign questions, Tei, snapped and glared at her colleague, "can't you ever grow up?"
Edge had always thought that the two of them reminded of himself and Rydia…
"Yes, it was very nice indeed," Edge called back as a worker of the airship threw down the entrance ladder.
"Good that You made it back so soon, Your Majesty," the chancellor called, "we have so many things to take care of, as You know. Like the need for You to pick…"
He fell silent, and his jaw dropped as Edge walked down the gangway with his arm around Rydia's shoulders and her arm around his waist. The advisors and ninjas weren't exactly less surprised.
"We've got one problem covered, chancellor," Edge calmly said, "this is Rydia, future queen of Eblan."
Rydia felt a warm tickling in her stomach as he said that, not because of the title but his sealing of her destiny as his wife. She felt a great relief as all the new worries that had begun to grow inside of her flew away, as simple as that.
"Good gods," the chancellor gasped, "king Cecil actually did it?!"
"Yes, he did," Edge sighed and stepped down in the grass.
"Oh, how wonderful!"
The chancellor rushed closer and bowed to Rydia, almost making her blush.
"You remove a stone from my heart, my lady!" the old man happily said.
He took a closer look at her.
"Wait, your face seem familiar…" he thoughtfully said.
"I was with king Cecil in the Elbanian caves, remember?" Rydia reminded him.
"Oh yes, that's right!" the chancellor smiled, "dear, dear, we'll have to start preparing a wedding immediately…"
"Your Majesty!" the captain of the airship called down, "my liege king Cecil said that we could bring invitations to Your royal friends. We'll wait here until You've set a date."
"Thank you," Edge smiled, "do come with us to the castle. We're still rebuilding, but we've got some coziness fixed up…"
He had to let go of Rydia so that she could greet his advisors. Their relief was shining enough to almost be blinding.
When she finally could return to her love the whole crowd began to walk into town. As king Edge was spotted with a woman dearly by his side, every man and woman dropped the hammers, nails and planks and ran out on the main street to stare a while before starting to cheer. They were very happy to see that they finally would get rid of at least one worry for the throne.
"One month?" Edge choked, "out of the question! Three weeks is my limit, and I'd really like to see it be done even faster!"
"I guess we could make it in three weeks," the chancellor happily said, "we could fix up the last of the castle if we really want to… and of course we must put our finest tailor to work on lady Rydia's dress tomorrow already…"
"Please!" Leran, who also worked partly as the king's financial manager, moaned, "don't overdo it too much…!"
"You bet we will," general Kardor smirked, "we'll make this the wedding of the century!"
Leran groaned, but everybody knew that he'd pay everything by himself to see his king wedded. All of them would.
The chancellor and the advisors went into a wild discussion of what should be done first, second, third and so on.
"'Lady Rydia'?" the caller mumbled to Edge, "it gives me the creeps!"
"Oh, just enjoy it while it lasts," he smirked, "you'll be 'Your Majesty' soon enough."
"I haven't had a dress since I was that little kid that fell off the ship and into Leviathan's care…"
"It's just once," Edge said, calming, "you'll have the clothes you want before and after the wedding."
He kissed her forehead.
"And you'll be the most gorgeous woman on the face of the earth."
"And what will you be?" Rydia said with a sneer, "plain proper?"
They grinned at each other. She smiled and swiftly touched his cheek with her lips.
"No, you'll look great, Edge. I'm certain of that."
"Thanks a lot."
Rydia looked up at the rest of the room and frowned.
"Say, does the members of you council always throw pencils at each other in the middle of every meeting?"
"No, not if they've got bigger things to throw instead," Edge sighed, "would you be a dear and cool them down a little?"
"Of course," Rydia grinned and closed her eyes, "powers of Water, I bid of thee…"
That following moment would bring forth laughter for the rest of the eternity.
Later on, in the evening, Edge and Rydia finally got a moment's rest alone, away from all the commotion. Eblan had gone mad in joy, and the chancellor and his companions hadn't given the king and "lady" a calm moment ever since they had arrived in the morning.
Rydia had gotten a room, in the northeastern wing of the castle. She and Edge had just arrived there and were trying to regain their breath after the hard day.
"I have no idea how they fixed up this room so fast," Edge said and leaned back in the sofa, "last time I saw it, it was a storeroom for bricks."
It was impossible to tell that now. Rydia was by no means used to that kind of luxury.
"Isn't it a bit… too much?" she carefully said, looking at the massive tapestries that covered the walls.
They carried very fine artworks, small embroideries that told long stories if you had time and was tall enough to "read" them from the beginning.
On the floor was a thick red carpet to keep the cold of the stone floor away. And the furniture… well, it was a big room, but for all the gods' sake, there was enough stuff for a normal house! Just the size of the bed was almost laughable.
And there were flowers almost everywhere. Not that Rydia had anything against flowers; she loved them. But there were hardly an empty space, and somehow her crystallized bouquet seemed to disappear in the crowd. Therefore she had placed it on the middle of the carpet, where it could be seen and never forgotten. That was the most precious possession she'd ever owned, at it should be paid the respect it had earned.
"It's my council," Edge sighed, "they're so happy I've finally found my bride that they forget their sense of moderation."
My bride… what wonderful words.
'And that's me,' Rydia thought, allowing herself to be a little childish inside of her mind, 'I'm his bride. He's my bridegroom.'
"Oh, there's nothing wrong with the room," she said, "it's just that… it's a little too much for me."
"No, no," Edge smiled, "nothing would be too much in compare to you."
She wrinkled her nose in a funny way.
"Was that a compliment or an insult?"
Edge chuckled.
"I'll leave it to yourself to judge that, sweetcheeks," he said.
"Pha!" she snorted and nudged him with her elbow, "tell me the truth; as usual you have no idea what you're talking about."
His arms surrounded her.
"Now that wasn't nice at all!" he grinned, "come on, think of something kind to say about me, or else!"
"Gosh, you really scare me!" Rydia laughed.
"Go on," Edge said and frowned as he tried not to laugh, "there must be a softer end of that sharp tongue of yours."
"Alright, alright…"
He couldn't fight back a laugh as Rydia thoughtfully frowned.
"Well," she finally said, "you're pretty good at slaying evil monsters…"
"'Pretty good'?" he gasped, trying to sound hurt.
Rydia smiled and encircled his neck with her arms.
"No really," she softly said, "you'll make a great father."
"Now that was nice said…"
Edge touched her lips with his own, only as smooth as a breath, softly teasing.
"I don't know how much we'll be able to see each other alone tomorrow and the following days," he said in a low voice, "there'll be a thousand things to attend to."
"We'll survive," Rydia smiled, encouraging, "even though it might be harder than it was to walk through the moon."
"Good grief, I fear you're right…"
"No, the only dress I want is the one for the wedding," Rydia repeated, "I'm not a doll."
"But my lady…" the tailor sighed.
"No, sir. I don't want to waste your time."
Rydia shook her head.
"I wouldn't want to wear any dresses even if I had them. I like the kind of clothing that I'm wearing now. Is it absolutely necessary to make fairytale cupcakes for me? I don't feel I need that."
The tailor rubbed his forehead.
"My lady isn't making this easy for me…" he sighed, "dresses are so much simpler."
"It's simple that I like," Rydia explained, "I'm not fit for flounces, jewelry and knickknacks."
"You do understand that your choose of clothing will be the leading star for the aristocrats? This will be the end of the jewel industry of this country…"
It took quite some time before they reached an agreement. Rydia would accept a few dresses for special occasions, and the tailor agreed to make clothes similar to her usual garments too.
Edge just passed her by a few times, helplessly smiling, surrounded by different people who all tried to yell louder than all the others to be heard by the king. He had a really hard time, but managed to escape even that evening.
"You don't look too good," queen Asura said as he more or less stumbled into Rydia's room.
Edge blinked.
"Oh, good evening Your Majesty."
The many headed esper sat on the carpet before Rydia, who stood up and walked over to Edge to give him some support getting to the sofa. He was exhausted.
"I've been an unmarried king for two months," he grumbled, "as they are acting one could think that it was at least twenty years…"
"Holy powers of the world, I bid of thee to help this man regain his strength…" Asura kindly chanted.
Edge felt much better after that treatment.
"What bring the queen of espers to this crumbled land?" he asked, grateful.
"Just to hear the good news and receive an invitation," the esper smiled, "well, a few invitations…"
Edge's eyebrows went up.
"Please don't tell me you invited every esper…?"
"Of course not," Rydia chuckled, "only Leviathan and Asura will come as they are, so to speak. I'll summon the other's spirits."
"Thank God… I'm having headache enough about how all the human guests will be able to attend the ceremony, the throne room was never big enough for this kind of crowd…"
"And the great hall on the second floor is hopelessly rebuilt, isn't it?" Rydia said, remembering the old layout and putting it beside what she had seen as she had been walking around a little during the day.
"Right."
Edge sighed.
"Well, my head is overdone for today. We'll think about something tomorrow…"
"Why don't we have it outside in the field?" Rydia said.
He looked stupidly at her for a moment. Then he laughed and leaned back.
"Too much thinking isn't healthy; I'm a living proof of that, sweetcheeks. It was too obvious…"
"I'll see you soon, then, my friends," Asura smiled and disappeared.
Edge smiled tiredly as Rydia placed a comforting kiss on his cheek.
"Nothing about my day," he said, "tell me about yours."
"I wrestled a jeweler, a tailor and a fashion agent. All in the same body," she sighed.
"Ah, yes. Him. The chancellor seem to like him, though, he's been the royal tailor for a very long time."
"I felt an urge to use my whip in the end," Rydia said and rolled her eyes.
"Oh, be gentle about him," Edge laughed, "he's a hardworking man. Not that I respect him either, but anyhow…"
They looked at each other and smiled broadly.