I don't own the Tales of Arcadia series, but King Arthur is part of the public domain so I will continue the grand tradition of making sure that Arthurian legend is historically inaccurate. (Specifically by making it so there's no homophobia in this portion of 12th century Europe.)


Getting a private audience with the queen of Akiridion-V was difficult. It was less difficult given that Douxie was her brother's boyfriend of several years, but that didn't mean that Aja wasn't a busy woman. And it was even harder for Douxie to get a truly private audience with her, one without Krel. Sure, this was a conversation that intimately involved Krel, but he was not allowed to be here to listen to the conversation. Therefore, Douxie had had several months to prepare his question. He shouldn't have been so nervous, except some part of him worried that he might have to duel Aja for Krel's honor. Or if not Aja, then Zadra or Varvatos. And Douxie would probably only be allowed to use a serrator, because honor.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Aja asked as she closed the door.

Douxie wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. "What are Akiridion marriage proposals like?"

"Did he?" Aja put all of her hands to her mouth.

"If Krel proposed in a traditional Akiridion manner, I wouldn't be asking you because he would mope about me not telling him whether or not I wanted to marry him, and I'd be asking Krel. No, I wanted to know so I could propose to him."

"I see," Aja said, and her voice was more grave than Douxie expected. "Do you truly love my brother?"

"Of course I do!" The only living person that Douxie loved as much as Krel was Archie.

Aja gave him a thin smile. "I believe you, and I know that Krel cares about you deeply. But you should know, that I can think of one reason why he would reject any proposal of a formal marriage."

Douxie frowned. "What?"

"According to the laws of the Akiridion Empire," Aja began, scowling. She had done her best to reform Akiridion-V to be unlike the greater empire that had abandoned her and her family to Morando's coup. However, even with the power of the entire planet and its allies, she couldn't win an outright war with the rest of the empire. Not unless she or Krel used the full power of Gaylen against the rest of the empire. "Any royal who marries a non-royal Akiridion must get permission from the Emporer of Akiridion Prime. Otherwise, they'll lose their status as a royal."

"They'll cut his arms off?"

"No, nothing that barbaric. Or at least, it hasn't happened for hundereds if not thousands of keltons, to the best of my knowedge. And we're such a backwater part of the empire that lesser nobles could marry outside the caste with little difficulty. But Krel's the King-in-Waiting, and -"

"- I'm nobody on the galactic scale, and therefore the Emporer wouldn't approve of us." In fact, outside of Arcadia Oaks and Earth's supernatural community, and niche alt emo punk goth rock circles, Douxie was a nobody on Earth as well. "Is that why you broke up with Steve?"

"No, it was because we couldn't make long-long-long distance work. Though, I wouldn't have been able to marry him anyways." Aja sighed. "Trust me, I want the two of you to be happy together. And I know Krel doesn't care much for his status as a royal - he'd rather be remembered for his accomplishments as a physicist, engineer, hero to multiple planets... But I suspect he might refuse if only to keep me from being the only member of House Tarron. And if he does, I will try to convince him that him marrying you wouldn't be a betrayal to me."

"I understand. And, it's not like we have to get married. I want to marry Krel, but in the end it's more of a legal thing than proof of how much we love each other."

"Okay. So Akiridion proposals don't involve any physical gifts. Instead, they're a dance. I mean, you could probably modify it so you end it in the Earth way, by genuflecting and offering a ring. I'm going to walk you through the steps of a commoner's dance, and then I'll try to teach you the movements that a royal would use. Maybe you could use your magic to mimic the parts you'd need an extra pair of arms for?"


Douxie was out and about. Running errands, or something. Krel didn't mind. It gave him the perfect opportunity to talk to his boyfriend's familiar without risking Douxie walking in on the conversation. Not when the subject of the conversation was supposed to be a surprise for Douxie.

Krel had prepared this question for several months. Or rather, he had prepared himself to ask. He had looked deep within himself, and at his relationship with his sister. She was doing remarkably well as queen, far better than Krel could have ever imagined before the coup. She didn't need him as an heir, not when she had recently started mentoring their cousin's children. One from House Ventis and one from House Akraohm, in hopes that by keeping this balance their relatives wouldn't go to war like they had been for hundereds of keltons before their parents had married.

He would ask his question to Archie, and then Krel would ask Aja if she was okay with this, and then he would ask Douxie to marry him.

Krel placed the plate of roasted salmon in front of Archie. "What were Camelot's marriage customs like?"

Archie took a bite of the salmon before looking up at Krel. "Why do you want to know?" Archie took another bite, swallowed, and then sat up straight. "Oh."

"Yeah. I know what modern Earth proposals are like, and as much as I hated learning about how to properly court another royal I know how Akiridion proposals work, but I wanted to do something that would be more personal and meaningful for Douxie."

"Then you wouldn't want to do a proposal from Camelot."

"You don't know what they look like, either?"

"No, I know. When you're close to invisible to the castle, you see plenty, including all the stages of love. But back in Camelot, Douxie never could have gotten married."

"Why not?"

"It's a law older than Arthur. Wizards weren't allowed to marry. Granted, prior to Arthur taking the throne, it was only enforced when the happy couple was rich enough that a dowry would be more than a nice set of wooden dishes and a single chicken. Or if they lived in an urban area. The law was meant to try and keep the magical population low. After all, there was a stigma against children born out of wedlock, so it was supposed to keep them from having magical children. Never mind that the law targeted cis, same-sex couples the same way it targeted ones that would be able to procreate. Or how abstinence only sex-ed doesn't work. Or how wizards can be born to non-magical parents and vice-versa.

"So, no. Douxie wouldn't have ever expected to marry under Camelot's laws, and so using Camelot's customs would not be more personal and meaningful. Besides, that tradition includes nailing your intention to be married to the door of a constable. Please don't go and commit vandalism to celebrate your engagement."

"Not planning on it."

Krel Tarron couldn't wait to become Krel Casperan.