"Oooh! How much longer Wendy? I can barely wait!" Wolf was pacing one of the main rooms outside of the ballroom as Wendell, Tony, and Damien sat around and watched.
"We've got ten minutes until we need to be out there. Oh, why don't you sit down?" Wendell asked.
"I can't, I'm too nervous! And anxious! I hope everything goes perfectly!" The groom worried.
"It will Wolf, calm down. Everything will be perfect. You'll get your happily ever after!" Damien smiled at the group as he laid on the comfy couch dreaming of Leora.
Finally, Wolf sat down and stretched out, "Yeah, you know what Dami? You're right! I should relax, kick back, and enjoy every minute of this! It's not like it's a disaster!"
"This is a disaster!" Virginia whimpered as she hopelessly tried to remove the sparkling diamonds from her hair. "I told you specifically to get a simple crown that I could just attach to my veil! But instead, I've got these annoying hair clips in that I can't get out!"
"Listen, I'm sorry Virginia," Leora said in the girl's quarters trying desperately to get the clips out, but they wouldn't budge. "I must've wrote the wrong thing down! I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to screw it up! I just wanted to help you. I mean, you're sort of becoming my sister-in-law. I'm trying to hard to make this day great for you!"
Virginia took her focus away from the mirror when Leora said this. She suddenly felt very selfish. "Oh, Leora, I'm sorry." She reached over and gave her maid of honor a hug. "I've just been so worried about this day. I've been dreaming of it since I was little! I want everything to be perfect!"
"And it will be, I promise! Now, I know you don't like it, but this is all I've got! Do you think you can work with the clips? I mean, they are diamonds! I know the both of us have never been able to afford diamonds in our lives!"
They laughed, and Virginia looked again at her long, silk, white wedding dress that fit her tight at the top, and flowed openly to the bottom. It had smooth straps draping off of her shoulders, and beautiful glass slippers that matched the diamond sparkles in her hair. Smiling at herself, she said, "I think this is just about perfect!" The two laughed and hugged one last time. Tony then came in the room and told them, "It's time."
The ballroom looked elegant as Wolf stood at the alter fixing his black tie that matched his black suit, sweating profusely. Then, the music played, and in came the flower girls. They weren't just any flower girls, they were little fairies that flew side by side spreading lilac flowers over the crowd. Then, came in the first maid and groomsmen.
As they made their way to the alter, the second couple came. It was Princess Reena, and Prince Damien! Earlier, Wolf had to decide whether he wanted Damien or Wendell as his best man, so, he decided on Wendell. Reena smiled delightedly as she held onto Damien's arm. Damien did too; it was weird, to him, she wasn't all that bad as Leora thought she was.
As they stood at the alter, the best man and maid of honor stepped into the room. All the groomsmen wore a dark blue suit, and the women wore long lilac dresses with their hair up, except for Leora who wore part of it down. Throughout the walk to the alter, all she could think of was Damien. But, he wouldn't look at her. That snob Reena was giggling and smiling and waving to him from her side, and he was looking at her, completely ignoring Leora. Leora struggled to smile, but realized that one similar trait of Wolf's she had was his jealously.
"Don't sweat it Leora! I promise you, he's yours!" Wendell murmured to her as they parted. She smiled at him in thanks, but still wanted to rip the golden locks out of Reena's head as she stood beside her.
Then, the violins played, and Virginia and her father entered the room. Everyone rose, and not a person wasn't watching Virginia make her way to the alter. Overwhelmed by the sight, Wolf gasped when he saw Virginia, but Wendell give him a look to make him calm down.
It was beautiful. Wolf and Virginia could not keep their eyes apart. In her bliss, Virginia heard her father whisper to her, "Honey, I know I never got a chance to tell you before but, I love you. And even though I know there are lots of great guys out there in the world; I bet none of them would be as happy as you made that wolf."
Virginia was in tears as she kissed her father. Tony handed her to Wolf and mumbled to him, "I'm proud of you, son." And patted him on the back and went to sit down. Looking at Tony, Leora knew that that was the hardest thing he's ever done in his life.
Towards the end of the marriage, Leora watched as the priest said, "You may know kiss the bride." Wolf and Virginia's lips met, and Leora couldn't help but smile. For one moment, she looked up and Damien, and he was looking back. They smiled, and then everyone cheered as the new couple came out of the ballroom.
After the ballroom was cleared, and everyone had eaten, the music began to play. Everyone was dancing and having a wonderful time, except for Leora. She had just finished talking to Tony when she went to look for Damien. But, what she saw made her want to scream. He was already dancing, with her. Reena laughed and smiled along with Damien, and Leora stood watching. But, as the anger built, she thought, I'm supposed to be a lady. Be kind, nice, and polite to everyone. A Princess doesn't cut in, not from these kingdoms. Wait, hold on, but I'm from New York?
Dancing, Reena felt something poke her shoulder. She turned and found Leora standing there, giving her an evil smile. "Hi. How are you Reena? Well, I just came over to kindly ask you if I could dance with my boyfriend? So if you don't mind-"
"Oh, believe me your highness, I wouldn't. But, it is custom at weddings that the maids dance with the groomsmen they are assigned to. Oh, silly me? How could you know about that tradition? You've only lived here for a few weeks! You're from that 10th Kingdom! Sorry, I forgot that you had lack of intelligence about our original kingdoms!" By the end of her speech, everyone was listening. And when she was through, she threw back her head and laughed. Then, she looked at Damien, and he suddenly laughed too. Then, the whole room began to laugh. They all pointed and howled at Leora. Everything began moving so fast. So, without another thought, Leora ran out of the room and out of the castle, down to the courtyard.
Wolf watched this, and watched everyone, including his bride, laugh at Leora. He didn't get it. He didn't understand. This princess, this descendent from the 6th Kingdom. Wait! He thought. He suddenly left the room of laughter and went straight to the library. He rummaged through all of the books in search of something.
Then suddenly, he found it. It struck him like cupid's arrow. He set the book found and screamed out, "AHA! I've found it!" Just then, Wendell and Tony came in and said, "What are you doing in here? You've got to go?" They grabbed him and took him outside where the crowd was.
"What? What do you mean?" Wolf went with them and then saw that they were heading for a carriage where Virginia was waiting, saying goodbye to the people.
"It's time for your honeymoon, remember? You and Virginia get to go off and start making 'plans' for having children!" Tony said with a smile and disgusted look on his face.
Virginia took Wolf's hand and he looked back at Tony and Wendell, "But she's already got a wolf-cub growin' inside of her! That's all the 'planning' we need right now!"
Wendell's mouth dropped. Then, Tony fainted. Everyone waved goodbye and helped Tony come to. But Wolf frantically yelled out the window to Leora who was sitting next to the path up the road.
"Leora! Leora!" She looked up at him as he passed her in the carriage. "There is something wrong with her! You've got to stop it! You've got to go to the libr-" But before he could finish, Virginia took him and kissed him. Then, everything else melted away from his mind. He figured everything would work itself out; now he needed to focus on how wonderful Virginia was.
And there she sat, alone in the garden, puzzling over what Wolf said. She didn't understand a word of it, except that Reena was bad news. She had to stop whatever was going on.
"Not enjoying the party are we?" Said a somewhat chipper voice from behind her. Leora turned around and her eyes went wide. One of the most, actually, the most gorgeous guy she had ever seen was standing before her now. It was a young man of probably 20, who stood high above Leora. He had smooth black hair with green streaks through it hanging over his pale face. He had piercing green eyes that read every thought running through Leora's head. And, he wasn't as scrawny as Damien looked, he was obviously a soldier or a knight.
"Umm, I actually was about to go back in, so if you'll excuse me-" Leora got up and went past him, but he called to her.
"You know, you could've at least givin' me a better excuse than that!" Leora closed her eyes as she took in his beautiful accent. It wasn't English, nor Austrailian, but sounded Irish or Scottish, even though they weren't in Ireland.
She turned around and approached him, "And what makes you think I gave you an excuse?"
"You're nervous. You don't know me, of course you want an excuse to leave."
"This is my castle, I have to go help my guests!"
"With what? They've all gone back inside to dance! And you have servants to do that for you! You're alone just like me."
There was a long pause. Leora then realized that Damien hadn't come to find her. She looked back at the castle.
"He's in there all right. With that stuck up snob." The young man stated.
"How do you know about that?" Leora asked him puzzled.
"I'm good at knowing what people are thinking. And, I also have a skill at names."
"What do you mean? Like guessing them?"
"Yes, and something else. What they mean, their origin."
"Oh."
"Do you want me to give an example?"
"Sure, sounds interesting."
"Alright, how about that guy in there, Damien?" Leora tried to hide her look of hurting, but the man could see it.
"Well, Damien, when labeled, means harmless. Boring, if I say so myself." Leora snickered a little.
"Let's see, oh yes! Reena! That's described as the center, or the core. So, obviously she strives to be the 'center of everything!' Now, let's see, there's another one I could use. How about Leora?"
She looked up at him when he said this, and found him smiling. Leora blushed and looked back at the ground. But when she did, the young man reached over and lifted her head up and stared deeply into her eyes.
"She is the light. Everything in the world is brighter, and she casts the shadows away. She ends the night."
"Why are you being so nice to me?"
"Because you're letting me be." They stared at each other for the longest time. Then, he interrupted the silence, "I'm so sorry, we haven't been formally introduced."
"Oh, that's right. I've been standing here with a strange guy I've never seen before! Tell me sir, what is your name?"
He bowed low and stated confidently, "I am Aden of the 8th Kingdom. Wizard in training!"
"Wow, I've never met a wizard before!"
"And what is your name fair maiden?"
"Well, even though you know, I am Lady Leora of the 8th Kingdom! Princess of this land!"
She curtsied and they laughed together. Aden was so different, so weird, she liked it. He seemed like the kind of guy who made his own rules, very loose and interested in everything. And he had a bizarre sense of humor.
"So, are you going to go back inside?" He asked her.
"I don't know. I don't think Damien cares where I am. I don't think anyone cares."
"Wait just a minute! First off, I think Damiens a jerk for leading you on like that! I mean, now that he's engaged-"
"Engaged? What? I-who-huh?"
"Yeah, didn't you hear? Queen Cinderella announced a second ago, when everyone was still inside. She said that Damien and Reena were going to unite the 1st and 6th Kingdom!"
"Oh, well, congratulations to the happy couple! I hope their very beautiful together, with great hair!" Leora sat down on the bench and put her hands in her lap. Pitying her, Aden sat down next to her and took her hand in his.
"Leora, earlier when you said that no one cares about you, you were wrong. I came over here because I saw a gorgeous girl sitting all by herself letting the day pass by. And I thought I could come over and make her smile, and I'm not leaving until I see you smile!"
"I don't want to smile." Leora said honestly drying away her tears.
"Well, then, do you want to guess what my name means?"
"Oh, sure. Aden huh? Let's see, what about, um, I dunno. It's pretty hard."
"No, not as much as you think. Now, just close your eyes. Clear your mind, and think of something, anything that remotely has to do with me and my personality. What can you conjure up?"
"Well, I think I'm gonna go with, wisdom. You seem like you know a lot, and you're training to be a wizard!"
"Ha ha, that's true. But, your wrong."
"What was it then?"
"Handsome." They laughed and sat in the courtyard that day, as the sun began to set.
"So, do you want to go inside?" Aden asked her.
"You know what? For once in my life, I don't want to be so predictable. Would you stay and watch the sun set with me?"
"Your highness, there's nothing that I'd like to do more."
"You can call me Leora."
And there they sat, enjoying each other's conversation and jokes. As they talked, Damien danced with Reena, enjoying her more and more. And thinking of Leora less and less.