A Dragon's Tale Ch. 57

"Spend some time with your son." Lord Delmar said as they walked down the hallway after leaving the room. "By the time the announcement is made, everything you own will have been moved to a guest room. Nurse Belcosta will have an adjoining room to attend to Conner when the need arises."

"Aye milord." She nodded.

"I will send someone to collect you when it is time for the announcement to be made."

"Aye milord." She nodded again.

He gave her a curt nod, then strode away without another word.

"It wasn't for romance." She reminded herself when he was gone. She hoped it would develop into one and the fact that they would bond might help, but ultimately she wasn't marrying for love. She was hoping for it, but she wasn't counting on it.

She took a deep breath and slowly shook her head at how much her life had been turned upside down in the past few weeks.

* * *

"CPR." Ethan repeated. "It stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation." He was speaking to the entire crew of the Argo including their guests. As he thought about it, he realized that he wasn't quite sure where to sort Myla. He had told her that she could live on the Argo which made her more than a guest, but somehow including her in the crew didn't sound right yet.

"Is that what you used to bring Kendra and me back to life?" Beth asked.

"Yup." He replied.

"You're going to teach us to raise the dead!?" Victoria's mouth fell open and her eyes grew as wide as saucers.

"No, but also kind of yes... sort of. It only works on certain kinds of death and only right after it happened." He then started explaining it to a rapt audience.

"That's almost romantic." Taloni said with a slightly dreamy voice when he'd finished. "It's like in a story where the hero brings the maiden back to life with a kiss."

Victoria got a sly grin on her face. "And you know, a little bit boob groping."

Everyone sniggered except for the platinum blonde's mother, who said quite sharply. "Victoria Angelique Gladstone! I don't want to ever hear such things from your mouth again!"

"Yes mother." She said with an appropriately recalcitrant look, but her sly smile hadn't entirely disappeared.

"I am so sorry Prophet Ejder." Her mother -- Carla -- said with something approaching horror in her mortified expression. "I promise we raised her better than that."

"Mrs. Gladstone, I have five wives and we all sleep in the same room... at the same time." Ethan replied with a chuckle. "Trust me, it'll take more than that to shock me."

Victoria's mother breathed a subtle sigh of relief.

"Now, about CPR." Ethan addressed everyone.

He spent the next two hours going over the basics of CPR with everyone. He had pulled a large sack of grain up from the lower decks so they could practice compressions, and a mostly empty bag that was tied shut made a passible head. Most of them picked it up very fast, with Rachel, Myla, and Victoria standing out as learning head-and-shoulders faster than everyone else. Everyone got there eventually in the end though except for Raklan, who Ethan was pretty sure would accidentally cave in someone's chest instead of saving the person; subtly definitely wasn't one of his strong suits.

About halfway through, Taloni asked if it was possible to do CPR on Ethan because his snout didn't make blowing air into his lungs very easy. It took a few tries but they finally figured that if someone held his snout closed, someone else could do the mouth-to-mouth portion.

Of course, all of his wives insisted on confirming it for 'his safety'. That led to several very enjoyable minutes as he laid on his back and each of his wives kissed him fiercely-- uh, 'practiced life-saving measures'. At one point, it looked like Victoria was going to comment on this, but a withering look from her mother prevented that.

After the teaching session was over, everyone split up to do other things except for Victoria, who came up to him afterwards. "Mr. Ejder?"

"Please, call me 'Ethan'."

"Ethan, part of the reason that everyone believes that you're a prophet is because you raised someone from the dead in Arcanum." The platinum blonde said. "By teaching this, people will be less likely to think you're a prophet."

"I know." He shrugged. "So?"

"I understand why you would teach your wives, and even your crew, but me and my family?" She didn't look confused exactly, but more surprised; perhaps in the way someone would be surprised to learn that some mass murderer was also a caring father.

He looked at her for a long moment. "You really haven't met many good people in your life, have you?"

She shook her head.

He lowered his voice so as not to be overheard. "Spending too much time in other people's heads?"

She waggled her head back and forth a bit and matched his volume. "It... I started pretty young and it took a long time before I was able to block everything out. People are really awful; you should hear the kinds of things people think." She shuddered slightly. "For example, do you know what Raklan has imagined doing to me?"

Ethan winced. "Oof, I wouldn't want to know."

"I didn't either." She gave him a pained smile, though it was more pain than smile. "You and your wives seem like such good people, but I can't read your minds to know for sure. And in my experience, some of the people who seem the nicest can also be some of the worst."

"So, I'm not sure how to say this without sounding wrong, but how are you not way more messed up?"

She did actually smile this time. "Because for as awful as people can be, sometimes people can think the sweetest things. Even people you wouldn't expect."

"Fair." He nodded. "Your father said that you could find a bright spot in a pig sty."

She nodded. "When everything is dark, one does tend to cling to the light."

"Again, fair."

"Well, I'm going to see if Mom is still mad at me." She said after a moment.

"Good luck." He winked.

She chuckled and then started walking away but stopped. She hesitated, then turned to look at him. "So, I'm not from the Southern Lands like Myla, but um, I going to say my 'Friend-Name' is Vicky. You're welcome to use it."

"Vicky." He nodded slowly. "Well, then pretend my Friend-Name is Ethan." He winked.

She chuckled. "Will do."

As she left, he found himself liking the idea of an official Friend-Name. It was a rather unique custom and he thought it had a lot of practical merit.

"Drago?"

"Yes?" He looked at Kendra. "Does my brown-eyed beauty need something?"

She smiled, though it was an embarrassed smile. "I was thinking; Selene and I were talking about travel swords and now we have the dragon steel for them."

"The scales are still attached to the hide though, right?"

"No, I finished stripping the hide this morning and I currently have it tanning."

"Wow, that was fast."

"I have experience." She shrugged.

He grinned slyly. "Yes, you're getting very experienced."

She blushed slightly and then nodded. "I like that."

"Me too." He grinned. "Did you have someone in mind to make the travel swords?"

"Graflex in Arcanum since the scales will fit through the portal stone to Elder Goman." She replied. "The finished product won't, but if we send more than enough dragon scales through, the extra scales can be Graflex's payment." She paused. "Well, some of them. All of the rest would be far too much."

"Sounds like a good plan." He nodded. "You might want to drop him a note asking before you send him the scales though."

"I will." She smiled at him.

He pulled her into a hug. "You know, I'm really glad that I married you."

She hugged him back tightly. "Me too."

*They're done!* Alana thought to everyone halfway through the hug.

Kendra leaned back and grinned, which he wasn't expecting from her.

*What's done?* He thought to everyone as he gave Kendra a quizzical look.

*The dresses Master!* Tee thought to everyone.

"Everyone will be a lot safer with them." Kendra said with a massive smile.

Ethan smiled. It was very 'Kendra' that one of the biggest smiles that he'd ever seen on her was because her new family was better protected.

*Will we have time to show our husband before we arrive at Dotmier?* Rachel asked.

*We will.* Tee replied.

*Wait, we're that close?* Ethan asked.

*We are Master.* Tee replied. *The wind has been very good so we should arrive late this afternoon or early this evening. Plus we already sailed part of the way when we ran from Lord Delmar.*

*Oh good.* He replied. *I was thinking that I'd have to fly myself the rest of the way to be back in time for the service where Matthew was going to challenge that luminar.* He smiled, thinking that it would be good to see that. Plus, Arven was sure to let his daughter Yalia marry the young man if he actually did it and didn't choke like the previous time he'd tried.

*So, I guess I'm not getting any hints about the new dresses.* He asked

*Nope, not unless you explicitly tell me to spoil the surprise.* Alana replied. *You didn't last time and it was worth the wait, wasn't it?*

*Okay, but I'm looking forward to seeing them; soon.*

*How about right after lunch?* The wood elf suggested.

*Perfect.*

* * *

Fiona had never stood on the announcement balcony of the castle in Narlotten before. It wasn't technically part of the castle, but rather part of the walls around the castle and overlooked the main thoroughfare leading into the castle. Whenever an announcement was going to be made, they would raise a special flag underneath the Narlotten flag and the area around the entrance would usually fill up quickly.

That flag was flying now and she could hear the crowd all talking excitedly below. She couldn't pick out any distinct words at this distance, but the general air of excitement was much greater than she had ever heard it before. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she looked around at all the unfamiliar faces on the balcony with her. She recognized a few of them, but she didn't actually know any of them well.

Including her fiancé.

She was going to marry him in a day and a half and she didn't know him well at all.

She looked down and smoothed some non-existent wrinkles on her dress. It was the finest dress that she owned and it still looked rather subdued compared to what everyone around her was wearing. She wasn't necessarily underdressed, but she felt like she was.

She took another deep breath and tried to figure out what to do with her hands. Nurse Belcosta had Conner a few feet away so Fiona wasn't holding him. What should she do with her hands? She tried holding them in front of her but that felt weird. Interlacing her fingers didn't help and it just felt odd to leave them hanging by her side.

Thankfully, she was saved by the trumpeter.

The man stepped up to the end of the balcony's railing and blew several long, clear notes. The crowd below instantly fell silent and then the trumpeter backed away as Lord Delmar stepped to the edge of the balcony. She had been told to wait just out of sight until he called for her and a tiny part of her was hoping that he wouldn't. He would, but she could feel little butterflies in her stomach as she thought about it.

"People of Narlotten." The lord began, speaking into something that magically magnified his already powerful voice. "I'm sure the rumors from the castle have reached you. I am here today to confirm that they are true. Very shorty, Narlotten will have a First Lady again."

The applause and cheers combined were thunderous.

Practically deafening.

She looked over at Conner to see the baby starting to wail. Without missing a beat, Nurse Belcosta quickly sat down on the stone and put her hands over his little ears to shield them from the cacophony.

Fiona smiled at that.

It took over a minute for the applause and cheering to die down, and then only because Lord Delmar raised his hand to call for silence.

"The future First Lady of Narlotten is a young widow." Lord Delmar continued. "Her husband gave his life in defense of our country and he should be honored for that. Take a moment of silence to honor Sean McWilliams for his ultimate sacrifice."

Absolute silence fell.

Besides the sound of the light breeze and the flag flapping, no sound was heard. Fiona felt her throat get slightly tight. She wasn't sure if Lord Delmar intended this, but her Sean would now be honored throughout the land because Lord Delmar's proclamation would likely be read verbatim in many places.

"His widow, Fiona McWilliams, has been working in the castle for several months now." The Lord continued. "In that time, she has gone out of her way to help many in the castle and demonstrated an incredible degree of integrity. More importantly, her integrity has been tested and found to be true. That is why I chose to ask her."

He motioned her forward and she went, feeling like the butterflies in her stomach were doing their best imitation of a hurricane.

"Citizens of Narlotten, I present to you your future First Lady: Fiona McWilliams." He timed his words so that she became visible to the crowd as he spoke her name.

Again, the cheers and applause were deafening.

Again, it took almost a minute before they quieted down enough for Lord Delmar to continue. "There was some debate among the council as to when the wedding should occur, with some wanting it immediately to ensure an heir and some wanting a grand wedding months later. It was Fiona herself who suggested both."

The crowd seemed to be waiting with bated breath.

"There will indeed be a grand wedding in the spring, but there will also be a very small wedding at sundown tomorrow evening so an heir--"

He stopped speaking as the crowd erupted in applause and cheers. It took nearly two whole minutes for it to start dying down and just as Lord Delmar was getting ready to speak again, various people in the crowd began shouting the last thing that Fiona would've expected.

"Kiss!"

"The engagement kiss!"

"Give her a kiss!"

"Kiss her!"

Slowly it became a chant. "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

Fiona felt her cheeks get hot as she realized that she had completely forgotten about the long-standing tradition of the newly engaged or betrothed couple kissing exactly one time when the announcement was publicly made. She looked at Lord Delmar.

"It is tradition." He said simply.

She nodded.

Then with no other preamble, he leaned in to kiss her.

Fiona remembered her betrothal kiss to Sean vividly. They had both been excited and a bit nervous and had accidentally clunked teeth, which made her giggle a bit during their first kiss. It was awkward, unsure, and the most loving thing she had experienced to that point.

Her kiss with Lord Delmar wasn't.

It was -- for lack of a better word -- perfunctory. He kissed her firmly enough and long enough to be respectable, but not one moment longer. There was no passion, no heat, and no emotion in the kiss; he was doing his duty and nothing more.

She did put in more.

True, she didn't know him that well. However, he had been so incredibly good to her and Conner that she felt rather warmly towards him. Okay, more than a little warmly towards him if she was honest with herself. She certainly didn't feel for him what she had felt for Sean, but she greatly appreciated him.

She put everything she felt for him into the kiss.

When he pulled back he looked... Surprised? That's when she remembered that there were other people around. For some reason, that fact had fled from her mind while she was kissing him. That's when she realized that she had just kissed Lord Delmar in front of hundreds of people. They were clapping and applauding just as loudly as they had done before and she couldn't understand how she could've missed that with all the noise they were making.

Lord Delmar looked at her for barely a moment before turning back to the crowd and finishing the announcement with a few more details, which she already knew. Once the announcement was made, he led her off the announcement balcony and they returned to the castle with Sir Warrick and the nurse holding Conner in tow.

Lord Delmar turned to her once they were inside. "I have pressing matters to attend to. Please, follow Sir Warrick to the guest quarters where you will be measured and fitted for a wedding dress. The most expensive seamstress in the city has been contracted for this purpose; apparently, she comes highly recommended by many ladies of the court."

"Aye milord." She replied. "Can I be making a request?"

He nodded once.

"Could you be sending messengers to my family and Sarah? I'm preferring that they learn from me before they hear it as news."

"That is possible." He replied. "I will dispatch two messenger airships today; that will ensure they receive the news before word spreads. Do you wish to write a letter to them?"

"Aye, and thank you very much." She replied, surprised that he had volunteered to send messenger airships. They were just about the fastest way to send messages in the Ten Kingdoms and she was very grateful.

"You are welcome." He replied mostly without emotion. "Good day." He nodded respectfully at her, then turned and walked away.

"Not exactly a great romantic these days." Sir Warrick mused as the lord walked away. "I think you might be able to bring that side of him back."

"Was he being romantic with Helene?" Fiona asked as her fiancé rounded the corner.

The nobleman smiled. "He would kiss her before their every parting in a manner that was just shy of indecorous. Naturally, she returned his affections with interest. More than once I entered a room where the two of them appeared to have been locked in a passionate -- though fully clothed -- embrace just moments prior." He got an amused smile on his face. "If I were to discover that Rachel had been conceived outside of their bed chamber, I wouldn't have the slightest trouble believing it.

Fiona stared at him. "You're being serious?"

"Indeed." Sir Warrick smiled. "Lord Delmar was once young and in love much like many of us are. Alas, his romance was cut short." He slowly shook his head.

Fiona hoped that perhaps in time he might feel some small fraction of that affection for her at some point. She thought it might be possible and found herself very glad that she had been insisting on bonding with him.

* * *

Ethan leaned up against the Argo's railing by the foot of the starboard stairs up to the quarterdeck waiting for the 'fashion show' to begin. Joining him were the Argo's guests, most of whom seemed interested.

"Are you ready?" Anthiel asked from beside him, resuming her role of announcer like she had the first time.

"Go for it." He gave her a thumbs up.

"Here they come; the lovely wives of Ethan Ejder, starting with the lovely wood-elven ringleader, Alana Ejder."

Alana came out in a dress that looked very similar to the one she had been wearing since Ethan had met her, but with some subtle differences. As before, it was a knee-length green dress with short sleeves and a scooped neck that showed almost no cleavage. However, the fabric's pattern had changed. Whereas before the pattern woven into the fabric had resembled leaves, now it looked like she had achieved a similar effect with subtle changes in the color palette.

Beth's royal blue dress looked almost the same as before, except for the sleeves. Whereas before it was sleeveless with thin straps, now it had 'fluttery' sleeves with a "v" neck, though again it showed almost no cleavage. The bottom portion came to mid-calf and was tight around the waist, creating the illusion that her already long legs were even longer.

Taloni's lilac halter-top dress also looked almost identical to its previous iteration. Her skirt was a bit shorter than the others at just above knee length, but she also wore some shorts of the same length underneath it to protect her modesty while flying. This dress also had some extra fabric around the edges of the halter-top that looked quite similar to Beth's fluttery sleeves.