Faerie Drinks and Families Meeting
The next portion of the festivities is sort of like what mundanes would call a cocktail reception except that those who dare are drinking Faerie drinks and everyone else is drinking water. We are the last two people to walk in as is the custom. I hadn't had time to look around during the ceremony and I am indeed pleasantly surprised now to see how many of our loved ones have come!
On the Blackthorn side there are, of course, Helen and Aline, and Julian with his wonderful Parabatai turned wife, Emma (they are the ones who helped to get the law changed). And some of the other siblings have brought guests as well so I will have to ask Mark to introduce me to them all at some point.
Then there's Mom and Luke obviously, which is pretty much it for my family. But many of my friends came. Isabelle successfully dragged Jace out for this, and Alec and Magnus have come. Maia is here with Bat, and Tessa and Jem are here. It's so good to see everyone again because it's been so long since I've seen most of these people. We decide to start with greeting my side, because the Blackthorns were all here for Helen's coronation not that long ago.
"Thanks again for all your help today Izzy, I really appreciate it." I say as Mark and I join her and Jace where they are seated. Jace smiles at us as if he isn't sure what to say but, wants me to know there are no hard feelings.
"No problem Clary. We wouldn't have missed it for the world, would we Jace?" She says, shooting him a look.
"No, we wouldn't have. Clary, I'm so glad you found your happiness. And Mark, you are truly blessed. I hope you will always appreciate her, she deserves the best." And he smiled brightly at me.
"Oh believe me, I agree. And I will definitely make sure she has it." Mark says, rubbing circles over my hand which he is holding on his lap.
"Before I forget, Jace, I already said it to Isabelle but I wanted to tell you congratulations as well on both the baby and the engagement. I'm glad to see you both happy. And I think that Simon would approve." I say, getting a bit emotional as I choke on Simon's name. It's still hard to talk about him.
"Thank you, Clary that means a lot. I… wow, I guess I never thought of it like that, like what he would think. Do you really think he wouldn't mind?" Jace says, getting choked up himself.
"I think that, what Simon always wanted more than anything was for the people he cared about to be happy. And I think that he especially wanted that for Isabelle. And since he can't be here himself to take care of her, I think he would like her to be with someone who loves her very much and I think he knew that you are someone who does. So yes, Jace, I think you have Simon's blessing. And I think as his best friend, I feel qualified to give it on his behalf. I'm very happy for you both." I say, hugging them in a big squishy best friend hug, my eyes welling up with tears.
Mark shakes hands with Jace and hugs Izzy and we continue on to greet our other guests. The next two we end up visiting are Alec and Magnus. "Welcome to Downworld Clary!" Magnus says, giving me a huge hug. "I guess I should have known you had Faerie blood. You have their mischievous streak." He winks.
"Umm, that's a compliment, right?" I grin, never sure when it comes to Magnus.
"You bet your buttons little Buttercup!" He giggles and we proceed to chat with them for a while.
"In all seriousness Clary congratulations! You as well, Mark." Alec says, playing the proverbial 'straight man' of the pair, though he's actually less straight than Magnus.
"Thank you both so much and thank you for coming!" I say, giving them hugs again as Mark and I make our way to the next table.
Next is Maia and Bat. "Hey guys! Thanks for coming!" I say smiling. I hug them and introduce them to Mark, he shakes their hands.
"Congratulations Clary! Gosh it sure has been a long time. I don't think I've seen you since, oh… it must have been Simon's funeral?" She says and then abruptly realizes what she has said, in the interest of changing the subject she says "That was back when you were still with Jace. What's he up to these days?" She asks. I chuckle to myself. Wow, this girl has like no social skills. In less than five minutes she has managed to bring up the only two awkward topics for us to possibly discuss.
"Uh, he and Isabelle are actually engaged and they are expecting a baby! So it looks like everyone is in a good place right now." I smile. "How have you two been keeping?" I ask.
She grins like she's been waiting for her chance to answer that question. "We're great actually. We have a son now! He's a year old and his name is Jordan but we call him Jory. He's a mundane though so, that's why we didn't bring him here." She smiles in that prideful way only a mother can.
"Oh my gosh! Congratulations! I know you guys were trying for quite a while so that must be a huge blessing!" I grin. "I am so happy for you both!" I say excitedly.
"Thank you, Clary it's been wonderful. I can't tell you just how wonderful, you'll just have to find out for yourselves sooner or later. I'm sure you'll end up with a big family if that side of the room over there is any indication." She laughs nodding toward where the Blackthorn clan are sitting. This reminds me that we still have many people to greet, so we wrap up our conversation and promise to schedule a visit with them in New York and meet their son sometime.
We mosey over to Mom and Luke for a brief hello with them. "How are you holding up Mama Bear?" I ask taking a minute to rub the baby belly. My Mom is eight months pregnant with hers and Luke second child. They left their son, my four year old brother Granville (Gray for short) at home in New York where Maryse Lightwood is watching him because she had to stay behind and watch over the Institute, though Isabelle and Alec have both assured me that she sends her love. At any rate, I know that being forty-seven and pregnant can't be too easy and I like to make sure she's been putting her feet up enough.
"Not too bad Sweety, we may turn in early though, if you don't mind. It'll be a long, wonderful, week with all the festivities." She smiles. The guests have all been invited to stay for the seven days of celebration and all of them are planning to do so.
"No problem, how was your ultrasound appointment?" I ask her.
"We finally found out the sex, would you like to know now or be surprised?" She grins, beaming.
"Now! Tell me what I'm getting!" I demand, laughing.
"You're getting a baby sister!" She smiles and I hug her, I know they had wanted a girl.
"I'm getting my Ami?" I ask because last I talked to them they had decided on Amatis for a girl, but she would be called Ami (pronounced like Amy) for short, as a tribute to Luke's sister.
"Yes Clary and I hope you plan on making me lots of Faerie gran-babies to keep her company growing up?" She laughs shaking her finger sternly at us.
"Don't worry, we will. And we shall visit as often as we can with you." I assure her.
"You'd better!" She says and scrunches her forehead up at us, nodding as if there is nothing more important in the world to her than getting those gran-babies. We finish chatting with them and then we move to the middle of the room, to where two more of my favourite people are, Jem and Tessa. We didn't know whose side we should put them on because for all intents and purposes they sort of belong to both of us.
Tessa, being a Warlock, is immortal and as such has maintained her youthful beauty, But in reality both she and Jem hail from Victorian times (though his is a longer story and he is not immortal, at least anymore.) and the Blackthorns are descended from her daughter Lucie. Also, Mark's Sister-in-law, Emma is a descendant of Jem's uncle and is the last of that line. Jace is also a descendant of Tessa's through her son James, and she is technically the only biological relative he has living. So, for the eight years in which Jace and I were together, Tessa and Jem were pretty much family to me. And they also performed my protection ceremony for my mom when I was a baby. That is why no one was sure where to put them, so Aline just stuck them right in the middle.
It seems to have worked out well because they've had Mom and Luke to visit with on one side and Julian and Emma on the other (and of course Magnus drifts over to chat with them on occasion because, being as old as dirt himself, he's know them for about a century and a half). And that brings me to the next couple we go over to visit, Julian and Emma.
Julian is one of Mark and Helen's half-Brothers on their father's side and Emma, who I've always had a soft spot for myself, is his Parabatai as well as his wife (they were the first Parabatai pair who were permitted to marry after the law was changed so their relationship is of the ground breaking sort for the history books).
"Hey Jules, Emma, it's good to see you!" Mark says, hugging them, I follow suit.
"Well hey there, Princey-Wincey!" Julian says. His favourite thing to do these days is harass Mark about being a Faerie Prince. None of the other siblings have ties to the fey side of the family, and I think Julian might be a little jealous of his older siblings, although of course, he'd never admit it.
"Congratulations, you two!" Emma says and we get to talking about all kinds of things while Mark and Julian shoot the breeze. We were going to continue going around to all of the tables and visiting the rest of Mark's family, but since we've gotten a little sidetracked here, the rest of my new In-laws come over to ambush us! There are a lot of hugs exchanged and I am introduced to Silla's fiancé, Rory Highsmith (who looks startlingly like Alec) and I also meet Tavvi's Parabatai, Bianca Cartwright (who, I think, he might be a little bit sweet on but they're only thirteen). Ty and Livvy came as each other's date, of course!
When we've finally finished making the rounds of our family and friends, it's time to meet some of the Fair Folk. I won't bore you with the details because it's mostly a tedious repetition of polite formalities and well wishes from the assembled masses. That is, until Helen brings us over to a beautiful woman whom she says bears special introduction. "Clary, I'd like you to meet Chanterelle Nightshade, she is our gran-mother on our Fey side, our mother's mother." She says, and the woman, who does not look a day older than I am, gives us each a welcoming hug.