(A/N.) Please forgive any mistakes. In my haste to get this posted, I didn't get another person to proofread as I usually do.

Disclaimer: I forgot to put this in the previous chapter, but it should be pretty obvious that I don't own it. All characters, places etc used in this story belong to Emily Rodda.

Chapter Two:

The Dress

While Lief was bidding the Dragon of the Topaz farewell, and watching it fly away toward the forests and probably Jasmine, Sharn was also awake. She was working in the sewing room of the palace by the light of a single candle which was sitting a little way away from her needlework so that there was no risk of it catching fire. Sharn was working on a dress. The dress that Jasmine would ware on her wedding day. It was very similar to the dress that Jasmine's own mother, Anna had worn on the day she married Jarred. It was the same shade of green as both women's eyes, and quite long. Sharn imagined that Jasmine would look beautiful waring it, especially in the warmer spring weather. Though Anna's dress had not been made of silk, the two garments were very alike, and Sharn was glad that Jasmine had agreed with a little persuasion to actually wear a dress at all.

Sharn had first seen the original garment hanging in Jarred and Anna's room at the forge. As Anna scrubbed at her face with a cold, damp cloth to ensure that no paint remained, Sharn's eyes had taken in the small room that she would soon call her own, and lingered on the green cotton dress that despite being quite plain had obviously been made with skill.

"I wore that dress on my wedding day." Anna had said softly, seeing Sharn looking at it with obvious interest. "It is a shame that I cannot take it, Jarred says we are only to take what we need, because all will be provided for us in Tora. But I do wish that I could have this one thing from my old life, you will certainly have no use for it, and if my child is a girl, I would like to hand it down to her for her own wedding."

For a moment, they sat there and smiled as a picture of a young woman with Jarred's hair and Anna's eyes waring that dress came into both their minds.

"You must take it then!" Sharn had cried. "No child of yours should have to suffer for your sacrifice, and one day Endon will do what is right and free Deltora. Then your daughter can ware that dress, and hopefully your granddaughter as well. It is only fair."

Anna had listened to her and taken it. The dress, along with almost everything else that Jarred and Anna had owned, had not survived the grey guard's fire.

So now, Sharn worked during the night to create a likeness. It was her retelling of this story that had made Jasmine agree to wear a dress to her wedding. Surprisingly, it was Jasmine who had decided that it should be made of silk, unlike the original. "A cotton dress of that length would be too heavy and warm," she had said, as usual putting practicality before anything else. After that, they had gone into the city to find a fabric that would be better suited to the weather. Jasmine had chosen the silk, and Sharn had measured it to fit her, all the while Lief had no idea. Sharn had thought it would be nice for him not to see the dress that his bride would ware, as was the tradition, and Jasmine had not disagreed.

The new dress was nearly finished, and Sharn felt a tear come to her eye as she remembered Anna, thought how sad it was that she had not lived to see her daughter get married, and hoped that she was doing right by her by creating a dress that was as close to the one that Jasmine might have worn as she could make it.

The next morning, in the forests of silence, Jasmine was navigating the treetops of her old home with the ease of long practice. They had taken the long way to avoid the wenn, and slept the night halfway between Del and the forests. Doom was navigating the treetops with far more difficulty.

"How much further?" He asked, panting a little.

Jasmine turned her head to look at him, balancing precariously on a tree branch. Doom felt his stomach drop at the sight.

"It is not far now," Jasmine replied. "It should be in the tree in that clearing if it is still there."

And indeed, there it was. The nest was far more dilapidated and neglected than Jasmine would've kept it had she lived there still, but there all the same. It looked as though it might just support them both, but Jasmine decided to test it to be sure.

"I will stand on it first." She said. Doom, not sure to feel amazed or saddened at the sight of his daughter's home after he left her, could only nod. Jasmine climbed onto the bizarre wooden structure and stood there for a moment, seemingly untroubled by the fact that it was swaying gently with the early morning breeze. Doom found himself looking away to avoid being sick.

"I think it is alright." She said after a while. "Or at least, the trees don't warn me of any danger here." Doom had to look then, and to his horror he saw that Jasmine was walking around the small area, testing its ability to hold her. "You should come up Doom!" She called down to him. "You said you wanted to see where I lived after you were taken, and I did just tell you that it was safe." Doom wondered if she realized just how much heavier than her he was. But for this time, he decided to trust her. Jasmine was right, he had requested that she show him where she had lived and how she had survived. He felt that he owed it to her to at least learn this. He also felt that he owed it to himself. When he had seen her in the forge after regaining his memory, he could hardly believe who he was looking at. But then he had remembered the name her companions had called her while he still did not remember, and knew it had to be true. When the guards were marching he and Anna in chains toward the shadowlands, he had convinced himself that his daughter had fallen fowl of one of the many horrors that lived in the forests. He remembered how he had hoped that her death was quick and as painless as possible. But there Jasmine was, waiting for him, on the strange nest that he was now climbing onto.

For a long while, they both sat in silence, engrossed in thoughts and memories. Both felt that there was nothing to say. For Jasmine and Doom, no words of any kind could change what had been done to their family. But neither of them felt any kind of resentment toward Endon, Sharn or Lief.

Jasmine knew only too well that the sacrifice her Mother and Father had made all those years ago was the reason that Lief lived today. For that, she could only be thankful. Not just because she loved him, but because her time traveling Deltora had given her an appreciation for the land that she had not had when she lived in the forests. She had been glad to be one of those responsible for ridding the land of the shadow lord, and even more glad when Lief had asked her to marry him, allowing her to care for the land, and lead its people beside him.

The silence between them lengthened, but still neither spoke, for both of them felt at peace. Then all of a sudden, Jasmine spoke, shattering that peace.

"The trees say something is approaching," She whispered. "By air, coming very fast. Toward us!"

Jasmine and Doom both drew their weapons and stood up. Then Jasmine saw what the trees had noticed before her. A large shape was indeed approaching very fast. As it came closer, Jasmine realized what it was. It was the dragon of the topaz.

"We must go down and greet it!" Jasmine said as the dragon landed in the clearing at the base of the tree. Doom looked uncertain, but seeing his daughter hurrying down the tree toward the place where the dragon crouched, he felt he had no choice but to follow her. The dragon seemed not to notice him, however. It was looking straight at Jasmine.

"You are the King's female." It said to her. Jasmine didn't quite understand what the dragon meant by this. Seeing the questions in Jasmines eyes, it continued.

"He chooses you to fight beside him. You were linked at the hands when we destroyed the evil thing in my land. He is your own age. He has chosen you for a mate. You will rule this land beside him, if you do not do so already. You will be the one who carries his young in your belly. Am I not correct?"

Jasmine did not know what to say to all this. Finally, she answered. "I am not the queen, if that is what you want to know."

"So, it is true." The dragon said. "He has not yet taken you for a mate. That is good."

Suddenly, Doom spoke up. "You cannot have her!" He said angrily. "She is my daughter. If you try to harm her Dragon, I will attack, and whatever King Lief says about harming dragons, I am sure he will sanction this. Jasmine is his betrothed. They will marry in the spring. Whatever the situation might've been before, the maidens of this land are no longer yours for the taking. Find something else to line your nest and leave us in peace."

Jasmine did not understand why her father was suddenly furious. She also did not understand why it was so important that Lief had not yet taken her for a mate.

"If my hair is what you want, Dragon, and then you are welcome to it." Jasmine said quickly, shooting her father a warning look. "It is far too long in any case, and it is becoming a mess. I would be glad to be rid of most of it."

"Thank you, female." The dragon said, bowing to her. "Now that that is settled, will you cut it off now? Or will you travel to the Os-Mine hills and bring it to my cave?"

"We will travel to the hills, Dragon if that is alright with you." Doom said quickly before Jasmine could open her mouth to speak.

"Farewell then," The dragon replied, and without waiting for a response, it spread its wings, and flew away as quickly as it had come.

Jasmine turned to Doom, full of questions.

"Why was it so important that Lief had not taken me for a mate? My hair would be the same either way, would it not?"

Jasmine had learned during her time at the palace there were other more polite words that were used by humans to describe the act that produced offspring, and she had also learned that such things were only spoken of in private. Marilen and Sharn had made this custom very clear to her. So she was not surprised that her father's face was now red with embarrassment. But still, she had to know.

"I am not sure," Doom replied. "But for dragons, it seems to make a difference whether or not the hair that lines its nest is taken from the head of a maiden. I should like to study it further in my travels. Once you and Lief are wed I will set off at once. This encounter has given me new purpose."

This prompted another question.

"A maiden is simply a woman who is unmarried, is it not?"

Doom's face became even redder as he answered. "Not quite. A maiden is a woman who is untouched. Or to use the dragon's words, a woman who has not been taken for a mate." He explained. He expected Jasmine to say more, but to his surprise, she remained silent.

Jasmine was thinking hard. If a woman could marry without needing to take her husband for a mate, then surely it worked the other way around. Still, she thought it better to ask. If nothing else, she knew that Doom would tell her the honest truth.

"Doom," She began awkwardly, knowing her father was already embarrassed. "Does that mean that a woman can be unmarried but not untouched?"

"Yes," Doom replied, seeming to recover from most of the shocks he had experienced since entering the forests. "Your mother was one such woman. Did you not know Jasmine? That is why her wedding dress was green and not white. It has always been the custom for a woman to wear white on her wedding day. It means that she is pure. I did not care though, I loved Anna, and to me, that was all that mattered." Doom was smiling now, in the grip of remembered emotion.

But Jasmine's mind was suddenly racing. She was going to wear a green dress on her own wedding day, in memory of her mother. Would Lief think that she had been with other men for this reason? Would he refuse to marry her if he saw her in a dress that was not the right colour? She knew that Sharn had nearly finished making the dress. Should she send Kree with a message saying that she could not ware it? No, she could not do that. Sharn had spent many hours working on it, and Jasmine knew that it would break her heart if the dress was never worn.

Looking up, Jasmine noticed that Doom was staring at her. Clearly he was expecting her to speak. But for once, Jasmine was lost for words.