Skeksis and Gelfling alike were gathered in the ball room, waiting for the wedding to begin. Var got there and didn't see the girl. He immediately went to the emperor.

"Sire, the girl just hurt me. She hurt my hand." Var declared, holding up his injured hand.

That was a shock. "How did this happen, General?" So asked.

Sil was in there too and heard it. He didn't know she was capable of such a thing.

"You probably going to ruin wedding for her or hurt her again." Sil spoke up.

"She called me what you called me, being brainless!" Var retorted at him.

"Enough! If she did do something so mean, then I will call this wedding off!" So snarled.

The girl soon came into the room. When everyone turned to her, she wondered what was going on. So far, this wasn't the wedding day she was expecting. She also saw some new Skeksis faces. She got before the emperor but stood closer to Sil. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Did you hurt the General?" The emperor demanded.

"Not on purpose. I was trying to keep him from hurting me, Sire. He was going to force himself on me to stop this wedding." The girl explained.

"Is that true, General?"

"I don't want it to happen." Var stated.

"So, it is true." Sil glared. "You never happy when I get something good for me. The girl is mine, General!"

"General, you are not to attend this ceremony and stay away until tomorrow. I'll figure out a punishment later." So decreed.

"Yes, Sire." Var was shocked that the emperor sided with Sil and the girl this time. He growled his disapproval on the way to his quarters.

Both Sil and the girl glared after him. Why was there always someone who wanted to ruin special occasions?

Later, it was time for the wedding to proceed. The rest of the Skeksis stood by and as did the Gelfling guards and guests. Ung, Na, and Shod would be leaving after the wedding. The emperor had deemed it that the girl had to defend herself. He had grown fonder of her as a courtier. Now she would be the Chamberlain's mate.

The girl had told the emperor and the Chamberlain some wedding traditions of what happened in human terms.

"As Emperor of the Skeksis, lords of the Crystal and all of Thra, I declare that you are mates. Do you have your possessions of trade to declare your services to one another?" SkekSo asked.

"Yes, I do. I take Lord Chamberlain to be my husband. I promise to serve him as we strive to work together as best we can." The girl declared her wedding vow. She knew that she had to be subservient to the Skeksis still. Then she hooked the piece onto his emblem on his robe.

"And I take Human as my mate. Has come to be best friend of Chamberlain. Given best services ever. Chamberlain agrees." Sil said his vow and then gave her a necklace around her neck. It had his symbol on it.

"Good. You are mates. Now, stand before the court!" The Emperor ordered.

The Gelflings cheered for the results. They were happy for it to have happened. The other Skeksis were still in shock a little but did give the support. Though there were some that didn't really care. For them, this was an awkward situation.

It hadn't been quite like the girl would have pictured her wedding to happen, but she was glad that it had happened at all, considering what had happened with the General earlier. She hoped she wouldn't be punished for it. She had only been standing up to him.

Then came the food, followed by dancing. There was quite a party thrown. All the Skeksis were party animals. They loved parties. Podlings played music in there for a change.

Sil and the girl had their own table at the party. When they had a chance to sit down to take a break, the girl asked her new husband, "Sil, when can I be able to go to Ha'rar? I would love to see it."

That got Sil's attention. "Not now. Party still going. But perhaps soon if Emperor says ok." He replied.

"Okay." She said. She still wanted to enjoy this fun time.

…..

The reception lasted well into the evening. By now, everyone was winding down and ready for bed soon. Most of the food was gone. They were all partied out.

Gelflings were all welcome to spend the night in Gelfling quarters before going home tomorrow. Podlings retreated too. Then all Skeksis retreated to their rooms. Ung, Na, and Shod stayed in their own rooms tonight but were leaving in the morning.

The Chamberlain and his new bride went up to his room tonight instead of hers. This was the first time she had been in here. Wow! It was one extravagant chamber! Better than hers, she thought for sure. Hers was smaller but big enough.

"This night, Human, I take you as my mate." Sil declared.

The girl knew that wedding nights often had sex going for newlyweds. She was still a little nervous. "Okay."

Once again, like before, they got undressed and the girl let Sil do with her as he pleased. There were times when he got a little rough with his talons and teeth. He was able to do three rounds on her with each member. But he was making his claim on her for real this time.

By morning, the girl was sore again, but this time, had more scratches and love bites on her body. She didn't want to leave the room today. But Sil was keeping close to her. He also licked the wounds. He wasn't leaving the room either.

"Will the emperor let you avoid duties today? It's our honeymoon." She asked him.

"Hmm, for little while anyway." He mumbled. He was still groggy. He was worn out now.

Sil ended up missing the Crystal ceremony that morning, but he could miss one day of it. He wasn't used to staying so long in bed unless it was the rare case of him not feeling so well. But he wanted the first official day as mates to not leave the room.

"Newly married couples usually go away for their honeymoons, so they can have privacy away from others." The girl tried to encourage Sil that she wanted to get away from the castle for their honeymoon.

"No better place than here in castle." Sil stated.

"Yeah, it's wonderful, but the others are here, and some are jealous. Like you said, some don't even like you. And they wonder how we got so close." She explained. "It just would be nice to get away from them."

"Hmmmm, like say, if Emperor says ok." Sil said. "Sleep now."

She got the picture and fell asleep again after he did.

…..

Later in the day, the two of them went to see the emperor to talk about leaving the castle for a period of days to have some time for themselves.

When they got to the throne room, the General and Ritual Master were in there.

"What's going on, Sire?" The girl asked.

"From what you did, it seems that it requires another punishment." So decreed.

"Wait, Sire. Got perfect solution." Sil spoke up. "We can go away for some days if that is alright with you?"

So thought for a moment. "Yes. That would be ideal. Chamberlain, you and your new mate will be in charge of the tithes this trine. You go to Ha'rar in the morning."

"Yes, Sire." Sil bowed. He didn't disagree. The girl did so too. "Thank you, Sire." She was excited about seeing Ha'rar and getting out of the castle. This time, she had permission.

"How long are we to be gone?" she then asked.

"A fort night." So replied.

"Fourteen days." Sil corrected what the emperor meant.

"Okay. I've been wanting to see Ha'rar." She stated.

"The Ritual Master is my new counsel while you are gone, Chamberlain." So decreed.

Sil didn't like the sound of this but if he was going to be gone, then someone had to be. "Very well. Hmmm." He replied even if he didn't like it.

They left the chamber to just go be alone in Sil's room. Now that they were mates, the girl would be sleeping and staying in Sil's room. But perhaps if they were ever in need of space from one another, keeping her other room might also be a good idea. Even married couples had their spats.

When they got to his room, the girl watched her spouse sit down on the bed. He growled in frustration. "Think Emperor wants Chamberlain gone."

"No, he wants me gone. Just because of what I did to the General. The brute was trying to stop me from marrying you." She pointed out. "Using some of my skills from on Earth to defend myself, I nearly broke his wrist. That I wasn't going to stand for."

"You nearly broke General's hand? Hmm. Intriguing. Emperor often does think highly of General. He made him discipline you back when I was wounded." Sil stated.

"I know, and that was my fault, and I accepted the punishment. But not this time. I have every right to stand up for myself." The girl said. "If getting out of the castle is a punishment, fine. So be it. Sure beats getting whipped again. I know the General wants me gone as it is."

"Make no never mind what General wants of Human. You now Chamberlain's mate and do this with me." Sil said.

"I'd be glad to. My mind has been going stir crazy about wanting to see more of this amazing world of yours. But will the Gelfling Clans welcome us?"

"Vapra Clan up in Ha'rar. Yes. Skeksis always welcome there, and nearly all other clans, except one that lives in Crystal Desert."

"Which is that one?" she asked.

"Dousan Clan. They not welcome to come here or serve as guards. Death worshippers. Skeksis not want to hear of it." Sil explained.

"But have you been in the desert environment?"

"Once many trine ago. Hundreds of them. Not want to be there."

"Excluding the Dousan, is it hot there?"

"Yes. Desert too hot. And where we go, Ha'rar, is colder. Need warm clothing." Sil declared. "Make sure wear warmest robes."

"And what you wear keeps you warm enough, especially if we're heading to a cold place?" she asked.

"Yes."

Since they were going to be gone for a couple of weeks, the girl was going to make sure that she packed enough clothing for the trip. But it wasn't like Skeksis changed their clothes a lot. They wore the same ones day in and day out, sometimes getting them washed.

"But what do we do at this tithing ceremony?"

"Gelfling pay Skeksis tributes every trine to help pay their way." Sil stated. "Skeksis protect Gelfling in times of need, as well as they serve us. Gelfling outside castle help serve us by giving food, drink, and needed supplies."

"Will we have a place to stay with them, or will we have to battle the elements?"

"Hmm. Maudra will let us have place to stay." Sil clarified.

"Good. I do have a bit of a sensitive health system in cold places."

"How so?"

"My nose can get sniffly and running a lot. Getting a cold, they call it. It's not fun. I have to keep my airway clear. My nose will plug up sometimes." She explained. "Sneezing happens too. I don't mind going to this… Ha'rar for a little bit, but would we be able to go elsewhere when we're done with the tithing?"

"Hmmmm, well, we first bring tithes back to castle, then we go off and finish what Emperor ordered." Sil recommended.

"Are we going up by carriage, or walking?"

"Carriage. Not walking. Take too long to get there." Sil said.

"It's amazing how you guys get the Armalings to be the wheels of your carriages, with the Podlings' help. Just from what I have observed of them." She declared.

"And you not have animals to be wheels of transport on Earth?"

"We used to. Well, we still do but only for recreational riding. They're called horses. We had what we called vehicles in my lifetime. Cars, trucks, vans, semis, buses. All sorts of transportation systems that didn't rely on animals anymore. But before we had that, it was the horse that helped humans move around a lot more, and our dogs before we had horses."

"You say dogs like Fizzgigs."

"Yeah, they look like little ones anyway. The long-haired ones that is. They bark and growl like them. But bigger dogs are a lot bigger than Fizzgigs. The smallest dog, Chihuahuas, are about as big as your ankle; but the biggest dogs, like Great Danes for one kind, they can be the size of a small horse. They are about as big as my waist if not a little bigger on four legs. Horses are much bigger. Not as big as the Landstriders, but definitely faster. I've never ridden in one of the carriages before. Do the Armalings go fast?"

"Yes. Quite fast." Sil replied. "Just how fast are horses you speak of?"

"You may not understand the speed I'm telling, but here goes. The average horse runs about 35 miles per hour. Racehorses can run up to 43 sometimes. Quarter horses can run up to 50 for a quarter of a mile, hence their breed name." She tried to explain. "But once I ride in the carriage then maybe I can explain it better tomorrow to know for sure."

"How big are horses?"

"Most stood a little bigger than me. The biggest kinds were even bigger than you. Bigger, harder jobs needed more bigger, stronger horses. There were also certain words to describe what sexes they were. Fillies were young girl horses. Mares were the adult girls. Colts were the young boys. Stallions were the adult boys. They were the boys that could father offspring. If they were fixed a certain way so they couldn't reproduce, they were called geldings. Yes, I know, it sounds like Gelfling, but be assured, totally different. And a baby horse was called a foal. A weaned foal was a weanling, and a one-year-old was a yearling."

"What did you mean fixed certain way to not reproduce?" Sil asked.

"Well, if you want to know, uh, some of these stallions would have their reproductive organs removed so they couldn't father babies. Then they were called geldings to tell them apart from the breeding stallions. Stallions could often be hard to handle. They are really moody and fight more. Geldings were usually easier to handle and better behaved. Take the hormones away and it made a better animal."

"Okay. And not done of girls?"

"There was a different way done on them, but it was done so rarely. It required belly surgery and horses are not good candidates for that. They could get sick more easily, so mares weren't fixed so much. Even though they kept theirs more often, they were usually better behaved than stallions were. Though there were always exceptions. Belly surgery on horses could result in twisted organs and pain and it took a long time to recover." She explained. "Same goes for humans."

"And when horses were working animals all the time, when they were our transport animals, their body anatomy was also not known so much. Like with their legs. If they broke a leg, they were then killed to not let them suffer. But by my time there, animal doctors knew enough that some leg bones in horses could be fixed with surgery. But it greatly depended on the horse and what part of the leg was damaged. If it was in the lower parts, there was a better chance of saving their life, but any higher up and they had to be killed. They could be big tough animals, and yet, so delicate too at times."

"What did they eat?"

"Strictly plant eaters. They ate fruits too. At least they weren't a threat on that part." She replied.

"Certain colors?"

"They could come in many colors. Usually, one or a mix of color on their body. The most common ones were chestnut which is a reddish color. It was a solid red usually. No black on the mane, tail, or lower legs. There was another color that was common, the most called bay. Those were browner and they were the ones with black manes, tails, and lower legs. There were grays, blacks, palominos, golden horses with white mane and tails, buckskins, dun, blue roan, red roan, paints, appaloosas. Paints and appaloosa were body designs. Spotted horses. Spots with lots of white. Gorgeous colors. When breeding horses, you never knew what color the baby is going to be."

"Hmmmm, Chamberlain sees. Well, must get to packing now before tomorrow morning to be gone to Ha'rar." Sil declared. She agreed on that.

The Chamberlain sure was getting quite an education from this human girl that no other Skeksis was. This human sure had sense to him. He liked that. Sure, he would never see these creatures she spoke of, but there was no harm in talking about them. Sil loved to learn new things. He had more of an open mind about many things compared to the others. He was glad he had chosen her to be his mate. It meant that she had a rank just under him now. But only the emperor could outrank any other Skeksis.

Note: I know that when writing about the horses, I love horses and loved explaining a little about them.