Chapter 5
When the wedding was finally over and all of the guests had left, Daine and Numair were finally able to retire to their chambers. Daine lay down on their bed and closed her eyes, and Numair walked over into his workroom to finish his gift to Daine. He brought it out a few minutes later.
He gave it to Daine and her eyes welled up with tears.
"Thank you, Numair," was all she could say.
It was a beautifully shaped locket with Numair's and her pictures in it. Then she changed the subject.
"Well, I'm glad that that's over. Aren't you, Numair?" Daine said. "I mean, it was all very beautiful and meaningful and lovely and all that, but…"
"I understand what you're saying, magelet," Numair replied. "I also was fond of the nuptials. However, I also am content that it has been concluded."
Daine stared at him for a total of about five full minutes before she said, "Numair, I love you to pieces, but there is one thing that absolutely must change about you. You have to stop talking so strangely!"
"It may seem eccentric to you, Daine; nevertheless, to me it seems impeccably natural," he informed her. "There is most likely no possible way to cure me of talking in my ordinary manner."
"We'll just see about that," she muttered to herself. To Numair she declared, "I am going to try to break you of talking in your 'impeccably natural manner', Numair. And the first thing you're going to do is re-say those last two sentences you just said and say them normally."
"What!" exclaimed Numair. "I do not desire to do that!"
"Make that three sentences to do over," was all she said.
"Oh, fine. It may seem bizarre to you, Daine; but on the other hand, to me it seems perfectly ordinary. There is probably no possible way to cure me of talking in my regular way. What! I do not want to do that! So how was that, Daine?" he asked.
"Well, it was a bit better," she allowed. "But you still sound like you're trying to impress some of your university friends. One thing I noticed is that you don't use any contractions. Start!"
"Why?" asked Numair.
"Because normal people do," she answered. "But then again, you're not normal at all."
"That's a relief," he replied sarcastically.
"Hallelujah praise the gods!" she yelled suddenly.
"Augh! What?" he inquired.
"You did it! You did it!" she said excitedly. "You finally used a contraction! You just said 'that's' instead of 'that is'!" She ran over to him and hugged him hard.
"Only an abnormal person would say 'that is a relief', Daine" he told her. "Not even I would utter such a strange sentence."
"Here we go again," she sadly sighed.