Chapter twenty one:
"Apple? What…? What exactly is going on here?" Darling asked the other princess with absolute bewilderment.
Hearing her tone of voice and seeing the shocked expression on Darling's face, Apple gave her an understanding smile, she curtsied to Darling and then said to her in a formal voice. "Your princess awaits you and she has something to present to you on this the day of your birth. Please follow me."
As Apple turned away from her and she set off through the ballroom to the stage. As Darling followed Apple through the room, she was looking around the room wide eyed, the room was very beautiful and it had been exquisitely decorated with banners hanging from the ceiling, which pictured on them the coat of arms of the many royal families present.
When Darling moved her eyes away from the banners and looked around the large room, she was extremely surprised to see that there were so many people here, it was very clear to her that they are all here to show their support for Raven and herself.
As she continued to study the rows of people Darling quickly became aware of the fact that all of the guests present at this even were all wonderfully dressed, and this made her fell a rather under dressed in comparison to all of them.
When Apple came to a halt, Darling almost walked into her, but just about managed to stop herself before this happened. Apple turned around to face her, Darling stepped back a little when she did this and Apple addresses her formally once more. "I present you to your princess."
Apple gestured up towards where Raven was standing and then stepped to one side. Darling slowly lifted her eyes to the stage, her eyes went wide at the sight of Raven standing there dressed the way she is. "My lady princess?" Darling asked her with surprise.
"Yes, my Charming lady knight, it is I." She assured Darling, before saying to her. "Please, come up onto the stage with me."
"Of course." Darling said to her, before she went up the steps and stood before Raven.
Raven smiled at Darling, saying as she did so. "Please kneel before me."
Without a moment's hesitation Darling went down on one knee before her princess and looked up at her with eyes so full of love all those present could see it clearly.
Darling's eyes went wide as Raven brought forwards the sword which until now, she had not noticed in her hand at her side. Her eyes widened further, when Raven lady the flat of the blade onto one of her shoulders and started to speak. "Darling Charming, my true love today it is my honour to knight you in to the order of the dragon. Doing this makes you part of an ancient order in my home the Regal realm and is recognised amongst all the other realms. By carrying this sword, you are marked out not only as a knight of the order of the dragon, but also as my knight and champion. Darling you are now my shield and sword, do me honour and represent me well." As she finished talking Raven touched the other shoulder with sword.
Darling hardly knew what to say to Raven after this. Raven smiled down at her, she used some magic to make a belt and sheath at Darling's waist so that she could sheath the sword after she had presented it to her. Once Raven had done this, she carefully moved the sword so it lay in the palms of her hand and then she offered it too Darling saying as she did so. "This sword is yours now."
Still lost in the awe of what had just happened to her, Darling reached out and accepted it from her, managing to somehow say to Raven. "Thank you, my lady princess, for everything you have done for me today."
"You are very welcome Darling." She said to Darling in a soft loving voice, before she turned back to the table, Raven lifted up the bouquet of flowers and then addressed Darling once more. "I am however not finished. As flowers are such an important part of our coming together, I wish to present you with the following flowers, Juniper branch stands for protection, Monk's Hood which means chivalry, Oak branches to represent bravery, Fennel represents strength, Helichrysum which means I will value our love forever, Gloxinia stands for proud of spirit, red Verbena stands for being united against evil and lastly Mahonia which means you are everything to me."
As Raven held the first flower out to Darling, she quickly sheathed the sword, she then accepted the flowers one at a time from Raven. When she had finished Darling had a rather large bunch of flowers in her hands. Darling smiled up at Raven widely and came to her feat saying to Raven as she did so. "Thank you. This all means so much to me Raven."
"I am so glad you are happy with what I have done today." As Raven said this to Darling all their guests started to clap and cheer.
They both smiled at all of them, before they stepped down from the stage, Raven leant in towards Darling and said to her in a soft, but loving voice. "Happy birthday, my Charming lady knight."
These words caused Darling to look at her with wide eyes. "Thank you Raven…I can't think of any other words to say to you for something as wonderful for what you have done for me today other than thank you, but I want you to know that I mean my thanks from the bottom of my heart."
"I know you mean what you say my love and I honestly don't need you to say anything else to me than thank you." Raven assured Darling.
Together they left the stage, Darling and Raven mingled with the guests, they thanked them and accepted their congratulations from everyone. After a while Apple came over to them, and said to Darling and Raven. "If the two of you want to leave and have some time alone together than you can go now. I already have cleaning crews ready to take care of anything here."
Raven gave her a grateful smile. "Thank you so much Apple."
Apple returned her smile and said to her earnestly. "You are very welcome."
Raven turned a loving smile onto Darling. "Would you like to leave now, put your flowers in your room and go for a walk in the forest?"
"Yes, please." Darling said to her with a happy smile and a nod of the head.
Returning her smile, Raven took Darling's hand into hers. In return Darling held Raven's hand and together they left the ball room. As they made their way through the school towards Darling's dorm room those who had not attended Darling's knighting turned to stare at Raven in her dress and crown.
One such person was Blondie, she came dashing over to them, unlocking her mirror pad as she went, Blondie came to a halt before the couple and held the mirror out towards Raven and Darling. "Raven why are you dressed this way?"
"I knighted Darling today, she is now a full member of the order of the dragon and now Darling is also my champion. For that knighting I decided to dress formally." Raven explained to the reporter as she spoke towards the mirror pad.
"The order of the dragon but that is an old order and one from the land of Regal…That's the kingdom of the Good King…Are you, his heir?" Blondie asked Raven shocked.
Raven assented her head to the reporter and then explained to her. "I am indeed. I am currently in the prosses of formally having my name changed to Good King Rather that Queen."
"I see." Blondie said in understanding, while nodding her head at the same time. Blondie then turned to Darling and asked her. "How do you feel Darling being Raven's knight and champion?"
Without hesitation Darling answered Blondie's question. "I am thrilled by this! It was a wonderful birthday surprise. I am now formally Sir Darling Charming of the order of the dragon and no one can deny my right to protect my lady princess because of this."
"I am surprised and impressed with the fact that Darling, Apple and yourself have certainly managed to keep me and others in the dark about things going on with you all, first the flowers and now this knighting! I can see I am going to have to be extra observant of the three of you so from now on so that you can't surprise me like this again." Blondie told them both seriously before shutting off the mirror pad.
The couple smiled at Blondie and carried on towards Darling's room, when they arrived there Darling placed her flowers carefully on her desk, she found a vase for them, filled it with water and then popped the flowers into the water.
"There we go." Darling said softly, before turning back to Raven and saying to her. "Shall we continue on?"
Raven nods to her and said to Darling. "If you are ready than lets, go."
Darling gives her a nod of her own, she then comes back over to Raven, she takes her hand back into hers and then they made their way back out of the dorm room. Still holding hands Darling and Raven walked through the school side by side and then once they were outside of the school the couple made their way into the enchanted forest.
Once they were inside the forest Darling brought them to a halt and turned to look at Raven. "You look absolutely exquisite Raven…Like a queen or princess from a founding fairy tales or one of the legends of King Arthur and his knights. I feel so awed and proud that you are my lady princess."
"Thank you, I am glad to know that you think I am beautiful today and are thrilled that I am your lady princess. I know you already told myself and Blondie that you liked what happened today, but I feel I have to ask again…Did you really enjoy your birthday gift?" Raven asked her in a concerned voice.
Quickly Darling set about reassuring Raven that she really did enjoy the knighting. "I loved it Raven, this has been the most wonderful birthday I have ever had! I'm thrilled by what has happened to me today! In all honesty being knighted by you it is like a dream come true for me! I really don't know how you managed to hide what you were doing from myself and Blondie!"
"It hasn't been easy, but to give you this knighting as a present has been well worth the time and effort, I put into keep what was happing secret." Raven told her with great sincerity.
Darling squeezed Raven's hand and said to her with joy in her voice and on her face. "I feel very honoured to have become part of the order of the knights of the dragon, it's a very prestigious order and there are very few members."
"You would know all about the order." Raven said to her with a teasing note to her voice.
A slight blush spread over Darling's face. "Even though I felt I would never belong to a knightly order, I still wanted to know all about them. I always hoped…And dreamed that I might some day to get to join one of them, but I expected it would only be as a lady rather than a full sir."
"Ah, so that is why you said earlier that my knighting of you was like a dream come true." Raven said with a sudden clarity.
Darling nodded to her. "Indeed. You have helped me to make some of my dearest dreams to come true. I am very lucky to have you as my lady princess."
Raven blushes delicately. "I am so happy to know that I have made some of your dreams come true and I truly hope that I can make many more of your dreams come true Darling."
"I am sure you shall. I hope that I too can in turn make some of your dreams come true." Darling told her honestly, as she squeezed Raven's hand.
Raven's blush becomes slightly brighter, she feels such joy and delight when Darling said this to her, that Raven wasn't sure she could express it, but she felt she should try. "Oh Darling, you have no idea how many of my own dreams you have already fulfilled."
Darling smiled at her she was extremely happy to know that she had made some of Raven's dreams to come true. Knowing this brought out in her a desire to kiss Raven, so she gently pulled Raven a little closer to her and brought them to a halt. Softly Darling cupped one of Raven's cheeks with her free hand and then gently but firmly pressed her lips to Raven's.
Raven didn't hesitate to return the kiss, she pressed a little closer to Darling, Raven then put her arms around her and laid her hands flat onto Darling's back.
As they kissed both Raven and Darling were filled with delight and if not for needing to breath they would have continued to kiss. They were also aware of the slight golden light around them, but paid no mind to it.
When they did at last part for air, the couple placed their foreheads together and once they had caught their breaths they started to kiss again.
They continued to stop and then start kissing again for some time. Eventually they stopped kissing, both women were flushed with pleasure, they were breathing hard, but both Darling and Raven were smiling and were full of the joy and peace which kissing brought to them both.
"I have to ask, were did you get the sword Raven?" Darling asked her in a soft whisper of a voice, not wanting to break this magical moment between them.
A delicate blush spread over Rave's face, but she answered the question. "It was forged of the metal that came from the Good King mine on the day and hour of my birth. It was forged with the chanting of my name and my first breaths by the elf smith Wayland. It was forged to be wielded by my one and only, the one who would be my champion, my prince and then stand by my side as my king. It was then named by my father with my small hand held upon it's blade."
As Raven spoke shock and awe swept through Darling, her eyes were huge and her mouth was open slightly in surprise. "A soul blade…Just like Excalibur." She whispered, before meeting Ravens eyes with her own and whispering once more. "I'm carrying your soul blade…"
Raven nodded to her and said in a gentle voice. "Yes, you are."
"Will you tell me its name?" Darling asked her.
Once more Raven nodded to her. "Yes, it is called Draco."
"Draco." Darling repeated in a reverential voice. As she spoke the blades name, it vibrated slightly and glowed with a soft silver light in recognition.
Raven smiled at the sight of the sword reaction to Darling speaking its name. "Draco knows you are its owner now."
Darling placed a hand to the hilt of the sword while saying Raven. "I know all soul blades have magic, what magic does Draco have?"
Raven answered this question without any hesitation. "Draco can cut through anything, even spells…It can also reflect evil spells back at the one who cast them…It was this ability which gave my father reason to hope that one day I could be free of my cursed fate of becoming the Evil Queen."
"And now you are." Darling said smiling widely at Raven.
Raven smiled back at her, she assented her head in agreement. "As you say, now I am free."
"Speaking of your father, my parents gifted me with a book of the tales from Regal…I know the King there is the Good King Stephan Good King…Are you his daughter?" Darling asked Raven in a gentle voice.
"Yes, I am." Raven confirmed with a nod of her head.
Darling looked at her wide eyed, murmuring out. "That means you're a descendant of King Arthur."
Raven took a deep breath before she explained to Darling. "Actually, I'm a descendant of Arthur, Merlin and Gwenivere…Before you ask, no one knows how they managed to produce a child from two fathers and one mother, but we do know Merlin and his magic had a hand in it and that it left future heirs with magic capable of having children even if they partnered with someone of their own gender. One of my magically gifted male ancestors had a male Queen and they still managed to have a child…Some said it was adopted until the purple magic which marks out our line started appearing. It's been a variety of purple colours but it's always purple."
"Oh so that's why your magic went from deep purple to a lighter purple, the colour is inherited, so it would always be purple, but just a lighter shade to show it's good in you." Darling said with understanding in her eyes.
Raven nodded to her. "That is correct. I am still a descendant just of the light side rather than the darker side…"
"That comes from Morgana and Mordred…" Darling guessed, while looking at Raven.
This made Raven nod again. "Indeed…My father believes and so do I, that my mother married him hoping I would be born of that dark side and therefore be able to finish the work she started."
"But you didn't exactly…You came out with dark magic and a light heart." Darling said to her softly.
"Yes, I was quiet the disappointment to my mother…I refused to use my darker powers in the way she wanted…I didn't want to become like her, I wanted to be more like my father…It was hard for me to know that most of my mother's love was conditional…I don't mean to make it sound like she hates me…She doesn't…She just…Wishes I was different." Raven explained to Darling in a soft sad voice.
Gently Darling stops their walk, she puts her arms around Raven and pulls her flush against her. Raven returned the embrace, accepting the wordless comfort which Darling is offering. Raven knows that Darling understands what it is like, not to be quiet all your parent or in her case parents had expected you to be.
"The day is still young and lovely, so what do you say to setting aside such gloomy thoughts and going to book end to see the dragon and the princess and then go and have a meal at the Caldron?" Darling asked Raven in a gentle compassionate voice.
"I'd like that." Raven said softly, as she slowly released Darling from her embrace.
Darling gave Raven a loving smile, which she returned, Darling then took Raven's hand into hers, Raven closed her hand around Darlings and then the two set of out of the forest and towards Book end.
