Doot doot doot. More story!

She surrounded by a storm. By servants carrying bags and luggage. By soldiers and manservant who knew where nothing was.d The man next to her, the one she had appointed to be in charge once she was gone, he was a small storm in himself. At first she tried to have him direct them leaving, but it had proved so ineffective she had dove in herself.

Chaos shook in front, with order streaming behind her. She wove through the storm, setting out each fire as she went.

It was a sort of skill that she seemed to have. Erik wondered if she had always been so, or if it was a skill she had cultivated over the years. Still, it was impressive, watching her from his horse as she ordered the world around her. They should have left an hour ago, but one thing led to another and they were late. Every time he asked her when she thought they would be ready to go she waved her hand and muttered something about ten minutes.

They were ready, her things were strapped to a horse behind them. Nadir and the others were all saddled. But she was still helping the others, giving last minute instructions to the servants. Once, she had paled and run into the castle, coming out she looked much calmer. He wondered what had worried her so.

Finally, an hour and a half after they should have left, she said goodbye. (He hoped dearly for the last time.)

He helped her up onto the horse with him, setting her comfortably in front of him. She was so short that the top of her head barely brushed his. "I'm ready to go." She said. "Thank you for waiting."

Erik set the horse into a slower trot. The others quickly followed suit, within moments they were outside the courtyard. Erik broke into a canter, suddenly fearful that her connection to her castle would be so strong that she would suddenly be hindered again.

Christine gripped the front of the saddle beneath him, he noted that she tensed considerably. He remembered that she admitted she was not a skilled rider, though Lady Valerius had tried to teach her, he slowed them back to a walk. He leaned forward to whisper into her ear.

"Are you sore?"

He hoped not, he'd tried to be gentle.

"Yes." She whispered back. "A little, don't worry, I was told that it's normal."

They climbed a hill, if Erik looked to his left, he could see the chapel where they were married. He pointed it out to Christine, and almost immediately wished he hadn't. Her eyes filled with tears, they streamed down her cheeks as she looked at her home and her church and the trees they had walked under. She never stopped staring until they were hidden by the trees as they came down again.

She pulled a handkerchief from a pocket somewhere and began dabbing at her cheeks.

"Are you sure-" He began.

"Yes I sure." She said shortly. "I'm just going to miss it. I'm used to traveling, I'll be fine."

"Really?" He asked. "Where did you travel?"

The words spilled out of her mouth so rapidly that he realized she was distracting herself. She told him of the far north, where sun shone all day during the summer, and hid all night during the winter. She told of the lights in the sky that came when the sun hid. She told him of her time in Germany, in Denmark, even in Spain for a while. It seemed she had been everywhere north.

In return he told her of Egypt, the never ending sand, the pyramids and tombs that he saw. The river that brought their people life. He told her of the long trek down to save the holy land, and the return.

He also told her how he had gained his land, and his fortune. It seemed only fair. She would have to know.

They stopped for lunch, there wasn't much of an inn nearby, but they had packed a meal of pies and apples. They drank from a nearby stream.

Erik noted that Nadir had been surprisingly quiet during the entire journey, normally he liked to poke at Erik. In fact, he had been quiet the entire week. Instead, he had spent the entire journey examining Christine.

No doubt he thought Erik insane for choosing a common woman to wife, perhaps he hoped he had at least one sane person in this new marriage.

Still, that evening after supper Erik confronted Nadir about his strange behavior.

He had penned the man right outside the stables, Nadir always was nervous about their horses. Nadir had no defense for himself, other than that he was simply curious about what would have made Erik choose to marry her.

Erik dismissed him, walking up to the room he shared with Christine. He found her closing the curtains in her under-dress.

"Leave them open." He told her.

She jumped, turning to see him she sighed in relief and laid a hand on her heart. "You frightened me." She told him quietly. It was very late, no doubt others wanted to sleep. Was she always so considerate?

"I'm sorry. Leave the curtains open."

She gestured out the window, yawning. "The moon is full tonight, there will be light." She closed the curtains.

He sat on the bed, pulling off his tunic. "We will not need the darkness tonight, I will not be removing my mask."

Her voice was firm, but tired. "You will remove your mask, I will not have you so inconvenienced." He felt her sit next to him, he saw her hands clasp in her lap. "We need not do anything more than sleep." She told him gently.

He was silent.

"Do you normally sleep with your mask on?" She asked.

He shook his head.

"Well then." She said, as if it decided that matter.

"I normally sleep with a bolted door. I do not trust that lock." He gestured to the door.

She stood, grasping the stool that sat at a small desk, she jammed it under the doorknob and turned to face him.

"Well?"

He chuckled. "Very well, you win." He tossed his tunic to the end of the bed.


The journey to his home took two more weeks. After the first few days, he had Christine try practicing riding on her own for a few hours a day. She was truly dreadful, he noted. She was far too afraid of her horse to command it, she tried to hide it, but every time she rode one alone her face grew pale and she looked as if she were going to be sick.

He asked her, one night with her in his arms, whether she had had a bad experience with horses before.

She nodded, her head resting against his chest. "My father's horse." She whispered. "It was spooked somehow, it trampled over him, broke his leg. He died from the infection."

Erik tightened his hold around her.

"I'm better than I used to be." She told him earnestly. "And I'm doing much better from your instruction, I can tell. Simply give me time, I'll master horse riding yet."

She worked hard at it, by the end of the journey she rode a horse for nearly half a day. She climbed down for lunch looking so triumphant he felt a little feeling of pride for her curl around his heart. It bode well that the Lady of the Black Lands did not shirk from her fears.

Nadir improved little from the journey, he still seemed to be examining Christine from a distance. The servants and soldiers he had brought with him seemed to be following his example.

As such, Christine had nearly no one to talk to but him. Sometimes she traded a few stories with a barmaid here and there, but by and large she had only him for company.

He was split on how he felt on this. He knew she was a sociable person, she liked people, and she ought to have many as she wished to speak to. And yet, they learned so much about each other during the journey that he felt that their marriage would not have gone so well without it.

He also learned that he snored at night. Somewhere on the second night Christine had shook him awake and informed him that he had better sleep on his side or he would have a shrew for a wife the next morning. She did not do very well without sleep.

Erik learned that Christine had almost been a Lady, but that Lady Valerius had lost her mind before she had decided to formally adopt Christine. He learned how close they had been, almost mother and daughter. He learned about her father, the musician, and her late mother.

She asked him many questions, he tried to revel as little as possible about his childhood, but answered freely about his reign from the past fifteen years. She wanted to know how he had turned such a wasteland into a successful one. When he gave her the story in detail, she told him it was very impressive. He told her it was more impressive what she had done, starting over from nearly nothing.

He liked the way that she smiled when she heard his stories, he loved her laugh, it was like her singing, full of life. He found he liked her gentle silent ways when she was tired, and her more assertive but still kind words when she was awake.

He liked it best of all when she grew weary at the end of the day and leaned back against him. His arm would circle around her so that she did not need to support herself anymore, and she would relax in his arms. It felt good. Her warmth would seep into him, her head settling against his chest.

By the end of his journey he was entirely convinced that he had made the right choice in marrying her. He could only hope that she could prove to the rest of the household of that fact.