The Wedding
***
"I can't believe that I'm getting married—today!!" Diana could not contain her happiness, and she began to jump up and down on her stool.
"Diana, be still!" Trivia yelled, kneeling down to fix a section of Diana's dress. She had on the bridesmaid's dress her sister had selected, in a soft, pretty shade of light blue, with a short iridescent train attached to the west. The dress itself fit Trivia's slender form nicely. Added to her hair were some pale blue pearls, pulling her wavy aquamarine hair up, and she had a light blue ribbon matching her dress tied about her neck, the long ribbons trailing behind her.
Serenity reached up to adjust her sister's hair and try to place the veil down over her head. She had on a dress in a deeper blue, a sapphire that matched her eyes. The top and bottom layers of the skirt were sapphire blue, with the middle being a very pale blue. Like her sister, she also had a ribbon matching her dress tied about her neck, with the tails behind her. Instead of doing her hair in her usual style, which her father had nicknamed "comet-tails" and her sisters "bunny ears"—two round buns over two long ponytails—she only had the buns, and they were decorated with white pearls, one also in each ear as an earring.
She was elegantly beautiful. Diana sighed, fraught with worry again.
Serenity looked sadly at her worried sister's face. She knew very well the reason she was not invited to many things, not included in the making of others. She hated this fear that her friends had of her spoiling and ruining things…but she could not help the way she was born.
"Oh, but Princess Serenity! You look so lovely."
Serenity cringed when she heard the words of the maidservant. A little gasp escaped Diana's lips, but she merely turned her eyes back to where Trivia was kneeling to get to her hem.
"And of course, you look very pretty as well, Princess Diana. But I couldn't help but notice Serenity when I walked in the door." The maidservant went chattering on as she walked to assist the two young women in adjusting Diana's dress. "She is so beautiful. Ay, I wonder how she should look on her wedding day!"
"Shut up," Diana snapped.
Serenity already felt horrible – and the wedding hadn't even started yet.
***
"Now, when you all walk in…I mean, you've all been to the rehearsal dinner, haven't you?" asked the wedding coordinator, nodding at the group of girls behind her. "Yes, you have. Little Juventas walks out first, of course, then comes Lady Juno, Lady Lucina, and Princess Trivia, then finally King Hyperion and Princess Diana with Princess Serenity holding her train. Do you all have that?"
"Have it," said Trivia, nodding. "We should remain four steps behind each other and all that. I've been married before, I know!"
"Yes. Anyway. Let's continue—oh!" The coordinator threw her hands up. "That's the bells; come on, it's time to go, ladies!"
The flower girl, Juventas, took her place at the beginning of the line and began to walk out onto the aisle. Serenity heard the oohs and aahs of the wedding guests as she strolled down the aisle, strewing flowers about the place.
Each of the young women in their turn walked from the back room through the flowering pagoda, out to where the ushers, best man, and groom waited for them. Finally, Serenity felt a slight tug on the train of Diana's dress and she began to follow her out of the door, her father on her arm, ready to give her away.
A collective sigh arose from the audience, and Diana blushed happily, a smile tempering her lips. Were they sighing from the beauty of the bride? She'd heard that as an old adage, and had experienced the truthfulness of it at many weddings before, including Trivia's.
"She is breathtaking, just breathtaking," she heard an elderly woman whisper loudly to her friend. Diana's smile spread wider across her face as she heard the compliment.
But her smile faded away when she heard the reply. "Yes, she looks as if she should be the bride herself, doesn't she?"
"Yes, yes, she does. She is simply lovely," agreed the first woman.
Princess Serenity could hear the conversation, as well as other murmurs about her beauty – all centering around herself, and not her sister, who was supposed to be the star on this special day. She lowered her head and hunched over, striving not to be seen, and trying to ignore the stiffening of her sister's back that signaled her fury.
***
"Princess Diana. Congratulations. May you live a happy life along with your new husband." The wedding guests smiled warmly at the newlywed princess, whose face was flushed light pink.
"Thank you so much," Diana said, shaking her head lightly so her amber-white hair floated lightly around her face. She could hear it coming, she could just hear it coming...
"And Princess Serenity-sama! What a beauty! The girl is idyllically lovely, breathakingly stunning," the visitor continued, staring at Serenity. The young princess was standing some few feet away, blushing heavily as three young men vyed for her attention and her next dance. The young woman had been on her feet since the reception started, and the men conceded to dance with her sister Diana only after they had afforded a dance with her. She'd won more kisses than the bride, as the tradition on the Moon Kingdom was to kiss the bride on the cheek.
Diana turned to her sister, a contemptuous look on her face, and slunk away from the praising guests. She wandered over to the food table, where the palace's thirteen chefs had painstakingly prepared and laid out a meal fit for deities, and gently pulled on her new husband's shoulder.
"Diana, my love? Is there something you wanted?" Somnus was the sweetest man alive, and he was always ready to oblige to what his new wife wanted. He'd go to the earth and back for her.
"Could you please get me a small, weak drink? Please?"
Somnus frowned. It was common superstition on the Moon that the bride should have only a glass of champagne while eating her dinner, to produce good dreams and fertility for her. Anymore than that, and she was cursed with sterility and nightmares on her wedding night. Somnus wasn't a superstitious man, but he knew that King Hyperion would not be happy knowing his daughter had had more than the allotment for brides – the king was extremely superstitious.
However, the distress in his new wife's eyes was enough to make him go hand-pick a plantation of grapes to make her the finest wine in the history of the universe. Somnus smiled faintly and nodded. "Wait just a minute."
In a few moments he was back with a flute of red sherry, a warning look on his face. "Don't tell your father and don't leave with the wine in your hand," he said.
Diana said nothing, merely taking a sip of the wine flute. The alcoholic beverage burned her throat. Not being a big drinker – she boasted that she could outdo her sisters, but in reality she didn't drink often besides the weak wine the family dined with – the strong sherry made her feel a little lightheaded. She continued to down the drink.
"Princess?" She whirled at the voice, wobbling a little unsteadily.
The possessor of the voice arched an eyebrow over his eye – wondrously blue eyes, the color of the shimmering oceans that lay on Earth below. Diana was impressed. Quickly she took in the rest of the man's features – silky black hair that lay nicely against his head; muscular arms beneath the tuxedo jacket that he wore; a stature that bested even her own – even her husband faced her eye-to-eye. His expression was cynical.
"Isn't there some kind of superstition that says you've had enough alcohol for the night?" he asked.
"How dare you," she said, but she hardly sounded offended. The prince chuckled slightly.
"May I have this dance, your highness?" His bow swept low.
Diana nodded and the man took her hand, sweeping her onto the dance floor.
"So I assume since you came to dance with the bride, you must have already danced with the maid-of-honor," she said bitterly.
The man raised his eyebrow in that irresistably sexy look again. "No," he said. "Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?"
"Supposedly," Diana said, surprised. "But my sister attracts more attention than me, even on my wedding night. Are you sure you haven't danced with her?"
"Your sister is the famed Serenity?"
Diana cringed upon hearing the epithet he used, but nodded. "Yes, that is she," she answered. "Golden-blonde hair, blue eyes? She looks much like me."
He laughed at that admission. "Except prettier."
"Most say that." Diana sighed. "She hasn't sat herself down all night, and has been dancing with all the guests. Sometimes I wonder if I've gotten married, or she has."
"I arrived a little late, and missed the hype. Where is she?" If this woman, obviously too blinded by jealousy to express any concern for his interest in her sister, could point the princess out to him, he'd be greatly indebted to her and she wouldn't even know it. Although he knew he couldn't ask for her room location from her – he'd decided to do his deed later that night, when the palace slept – he'd at least know what to look for upon locating the bedroom of the princess.
"Over there – you won't be able to see her. She's shrouded by the unenlightened masses...unenlightened by the fact that I am the married one!" Diana pointed an accusing finger in the general direction of her sister's location, and the young man discovered she was right. He couldn't see the youngest moon princess for the crowd of younger men requesting a dance with her.
He sighed heavily. Looked like he'd be going into this job blind.
*****
"It's not fair!" Diana sniffled, stomping around the room in her wedding dress. Princess Serenity could hear the swish-swish as she rounded the bridal bed she had assisted the bridesmaids in strewing before with sweet-smelling flower petals and soothing, relaxing oils. Diana and her new husband were supposed to be reveling in it, not Somnus watching while Diana went stomping around it with unhappy tears spilling from her eyes.
"She always steals the limelight," Princess Diana continued, the tears still flowing. "I don't always ask to be center stage…just for one night I wanted to be the most beautiful, the adored one, the one everyone complimented with pretty talk. Can I even have that?!" Another sob escaped her lips, accompanied by fresh tears.
"Diana, darling," Serenity heard Somnus say in considerably lower tones. "She didn't steal any limelight from you. Assuredly she was lovely. But you were the bride."
"Everyone knew that," Diana sobbed, and Serenity heard her flounce down on the bed. "But no one acknowledged it. They were too busy tickling her ears with their pretty words!"
Serenity felt a tear slide down her own cheek. She felt absolutely horrible for ruining her older sister's special day. She couldn't help it, and yet she was blamed. Serenity struggled to hold in her own sniffles.
"Oh, Diana…" She heard Somnus walk around the bed and take his place next to Diana, sitting down. "She didn't take anything from you, not purposely, and not in my eyes. If I thought Serenity were more beautiful than you, I would have married her. But I didn't. I chose you."
Serenity heard a halting in Diana's sobs.
"Come here, Diana," she heard Somnus say in a soothing, comforting voice that could not be argued with. She heard Diana shift position, then a blissful silence ensued.
Serenity pulled the door closed softly and leaned against the wall opposite Diana and Somnus' room, tears running down her own face. Diana did not know how lucky she was. Although she sobbed that Serenity had taken her limelight, she had a husband to comfort her, someone to stand by her side, talk to her, and be a friend to her. Serenity could have been the most beautiful mortal in all the world, and yet she was single, mateless, alone. And she had never felt lonelier in her entire life. She had no one to comfort her for her inadvertant ruin of her sister's wedding, only loneliness to confront her.
Covering her face with her hands to prevent her own sobs from becoming any louder, she ran off to her room, her footsteps echoing darkly in the empty hallway.
*****
"Kind sir?"
The manservant turned to look at the soft voice behind him and stared at the strapping blue-eyed man standing there. "Oh, sir. I didn't know anyone was still awake in all the palace. You gave me a fright, sir."
"Terribly sorry," the blue-eyed man replied, contrite. "I was asking, sir, if you would be able to tell me where the youngest moon princess's room is located."
The manservant cocked an eyebrow at the young man. "And why would you need her room's location, sir?"
"I…" Prince Endymion stared to the ceiling to think of a reason. Suddenly, he got one, and made his eyes dreamy-looking. "She is so beautiful. I only wish to stand by her window and serenade her through the night to win her favor."
"Oh…" The manservant replied knowingly, as if he had been through it all in his younger years. "I will tell you where the princess's window is, sir, but I'm afraid I can't tell you where the entrance is from the palace. Just too risky."
Endymion smiled. This was fine. Now it would be much harder to leave telltale marks on the way to her room. He would be outside – hopefully with the help of a trusted companion.
"It's the window overlooking the south gardens, in the direction the earth rises at night," the servant continued. "It's not hard to miss, since it's the biggest window on that side of the palace. But it's on the third floor, so you may have a time reaching it."
"I won't have much trouble," Endymion said. "One more favor from you, sir."
"Yes, sir?"
Endymion touched a finger to the man's forehead. It glowed a bright golden color, and the servant's eyes widened for a split second before they dimmed. He dropped to the floor, unconscious.
"Forget I ever asked you anything."
**
~Your highness, I am not sure that this is such a good idea.~
Normally Prince Endymion was unnerved at the unnatural sound coming from the mouth of the winged horse, but today he strove hard to keep his nerves up. Nevertheless, he almost jumped out of his skin upon hearing the voice.
"Helios," he said, sighing. "You still startle me when you do that."
~You forget I can communicate through this pegasus,~ the voice came again. It was the spirit of Elysian's priest, Helios, speaking through the winged white horse that Endymion had just mounted.
"Yes – and if it isn't a good idea, there is nothing I am able to do about it," Endymion replied. "You heard Beryl's offer. Six months of no attacks? You know that her anger will grow worse against Elysian and I if I don't do this deed, however dirty it may be."
~Besides, you want to protect your honor by avenging your father.~
Endymion fell silent to that accusation. Of course Helios knew that. Everyone knew it, especially the priest,
who, to a certain extent, could read sensations in Endymion's heart.
Rather than respond, Endymion lightly kneed the pegasus in its flanks, and it
soared upwards, towards the third-story window overlooking the south
gardens. In minutes he was hovering
outside of the window of the youngest moon princess's bedroom.
Endymion placed his hands on the window pane and concentrated some of his life energy into it – very gently, but strong enough to make an impact. This power of psychometry was something that Endymion had possessed since birth. It was passed down his family line. If he were female, it might have been stronger in him…perhaps even as strong as the legendary warriors the Sailor Senshi, who had been rumored about for centuries. But he was not, and so his power was very limited. However, it was strong enough to open the pane with little difficulty.
"If anything happens, you escape, Pegasus," Endymion ordered the white horse in a whisper. The pegasus almost seemed to nod in agreement, and Endymion knew that was Helios' spirit infused in the almost-sentient creature. Assured, he climbed through the rather large window, blew through the white curtains in the princess's room, and was finally confronted with the large bed the youngest of the moon princesses slept in.
A tiny frown creased the corners of his mouth. He knew that the princess lay in the bed – he could see her form – but he couldn't see her features. Perhaps that is best, he thought grimly. This way I won't be able to see her innocent face as she…
Shaking the thought from his mind, Endymion crept closer to the bed, drawing his sword with the utmost of finesse. It didn't make a single sound. On silent feet he slid towards the bed, until he was at the bedside of the princess. Taking a deep breath, he lifted the sword to hover above the princess's neck.
The young princess sighed in her sleep, stirred, and rolled over, her countenance facing Endymion so he could see it clearly.
Endymion dropped his sword. Fortunately, the hilt was the heaviest part, and it clattered downwards on the floor, bringing the sharp blade with it and away from the princess's neck.
Endymion hardly heard the sound. He was stunned.
Princess Serenity was gorgeous.
Gorgeous wasn't a strong enough word for the tender features that
elicited such reverent shock from the usually level-headed prince. He was brought to his knees by the young
woman's beauty. Even the distraught
expression she wore in sleep did nothing to lessen her beauty. Endymion knelt by the bed and braced himself
against it, staring into the face of the lovely young princess.
~Prince Endymion?~ he heard in his mind. Although Helios was only a voice, he was still in the pegasus, and he couldn't see what was going on inside the window. ~Are you quite all right in there?~
"She's simply stunning," Endymion breathed.
"Diana…Diana…I'm sorry…" she moaned in her sleep. She tossed wildly; Endymion watched her, fascinated. As she turned back Endymion's way, her head stayed. A silver tear rolled from under her lavender eyelids to her rosy cheeks. As if in rapture, Endymion lifted a hand and gently stroked away the tear, not even realizing what he was doing.
The pegasus with Helios in it had craned its neck to stare through the window. ~No, you fool! You'll wake her! What the hell are you doing?!~
Endymion was oblivious. His hand continued its stroke to her golden-blond hair, which spilled over the white sheets in such splendor. What luxurious texture! It felt like the softest of silks, the finest of satins.
~Endymion! Stop it right now, you fool!~
He wondered what color her eyes were. Silently he wished she would open them.
And as if a miracle, she did.
It felt like an eternity. And yet Endymion did not care. He could stare into those luminous azure depths for a thousand lifetimes and still be happy. They were beautiful, deep, and he ached to reach out and touch the sateen skin again, to draw her lovely body into his arms, to press those rose petal lips against his own.
~Endymion!~
The call from Helios shattered the moment, and Endymion shook himself out of his stupor. What the hell had he done?! She was awake!!
Quickly Endymion reached a hand to the girl's forehead. His finger glowed a gentle golden again, and he watched as her heavy lids closed over her once shocked and widened, now drowsy eyes. In mere moments, she had laid back against her pillows and was sound asleep as if nothing had happened.
He looked down at his sword bitterly. There was no way he could kill this lovely creature. Remorseful for even thinking of harming her, he picked up his sword and stood.
~Endymion.~
"All right," he whispered, and knew Helios could hear him. Before he went too far, he bent over the bed and pressed his lips to the young moon princess's, kissing her softly.
Then he jumped through the window to his pegasus and flew away.