Work Text:
The Wedding
Rayla woke up that morning alone in bed in an unfamiliar room. Her room. The one she had only slept in once for only five minutes before thinking "screw them all" and slipping into Callum's quarters that night, almost giving him a heart attack when she tapped on the outside of his window. She slept there every night since.
The reason she wasn't with Callum specific this morning choose that moment to enter her room in the loudest way possible.
"YOUR WEDDING IS TODAY!"
"And you had to kick my door open to announce that?" says Rayla, rubbing the sleepiness off her eyes. "Seriously, Claudia. If I didn't know you I would swear you were raised in the wild."
"Not only you, Lady Rayla, I assure you."
Rayla opens her eyes and turns to the door. Opeli and General Amaya had just come in. Opeli was glaring daggers at Claudia while Amaya was doing her best not to laugh.
"That was one hell of an entrance," she signs to Rayla behind Opeli's back. "Soren will be proud. She practiced that," Amaya winks and Rayla rolls her eyes with a little smile on her face.
"So, could any of you tell me why do I owe the pleasure of your early visit?"
"Why? To help you get ready, of course!" exclaims Claudia, moving to open the drapes and window to let the Sun and fresh air into the room. "We got a lot to cover today to make you look like the best bride Katolis has ever seen," Claudia cracks her knuckles. Rayla gulps.
"Should I be afraid?" she asks no one in particular. Amaya answer signing one single word, slowly.
V E R Y
Opeli rolls her eyes. "Enough chatter, ladies. let's begin."
"Wait, and my mom? Shouldn’t she be here with you helping me?" asks Rayla getting out the bed and moving to wash her face.
"Both Tiandrin and Lain sent a message last night. They should be arriving," Opeli looks at the grandfather clock in the room. "Pretty soon, really. She'll join us then."
"How are they getting here?"
A roar outside catches everyone's attention. Rayla runs to the window and laughs at the sight.
"By dragon. Of course they would come by dragon."
///
"Wow, your new in laws sure know how to make an entrance."
"What do you mean?"
"They came by dragon," says Soren looking out the window. A few seconds later they all hear the roar.
"Is that for real?" Ezran runs to the window to also have a look.
"Hey!" calls Callum behind the changing screen they had moved to his room. "A little help here?" Corvus steps in to help him finish dress up. Callum steps in front of the full body mirror.
"I still think the cape is overkill," he complains.
"It's tradition," says Corvus using a brush to take off any remaining fluff from Callum's clothing. He steps around to look at him. "All done. King Harrow and Queen Sarai would feel very proud of you, my Prince."
"Wow! Is that little Callum?" says Soren getting closer. "The only reason Rayla will recognize you is because you'll be standing on the groom spot," he ruffles Callum's hair.
"Come on, Soren, cut it out," Callum turns to the mirror again to try and fix his hair. He catches Ezran's reflection and freezes. "Ez? You ok?" He walks to his brother.
"Yes, yes," he dries his eyes with his sleeve. "I just thought of mom and dad and how they should be here and got nostalgic, that's all."
"Yeah," Callum says, patting Ez's head. "I hope I can be as good as dad on this marriage thing."
"You already are, Callum," answers Ezran. "For the last ten years. We are just making it official," he bumps his brother's shoulder with his fist.
"And take it this way," adds Soren, choosing an apple from Callum's fruit bowl. "The only thing you need to do is not anger her or her extensive assassin family. Easy."
"Why and how could I anger anyone?"
"I don't know, messing up? Like, big deal?" Soren bites loudly on the apple. Or maybe it just sounded louder than it really was in the sudden silence.
Holy shiiiii... what if he fucked up? What if he did SOMETHING and it made Rayla realize he was not worth it? What if they ended going their separate ways never seeing each other again? What if Rayla found SOMEONE better?
Oh great.
Panic.
"Callum? I don't know a lot about medicine, but I'm pretty sure GREEN is not a healthy color," says Soren still eating his apple kind of leisurely, not aware of what he had triggered without meaning to, real concern on his tone. "You OK, man?"
By mere answer, Callum unclips his cape, gives it to him, and runs to a flower vase on the corner to be sick in peace.
"I'll take that as a 'No, Soren. I'm not fine'."
"Callum, what's wrong?" Ezran kneels beside him soothing his back. "Come on, breath."
Callum does. In and out. Corvus gives him some water which he gladly accepts.
"Thanks guys," he points to Soren. "I'll zap you later."
"Fine. Can I know why?"
"Never mind," Callum sits on the floor, back to the wall, and says to no one in particular. "What if I mess up? What is something goes wrong?"
"Then you find a way to fix it," answers Ezran sitting beside him. "First Rayla will slap your head, like she always does, and then you'll fix it."
"But what if she decides last minute that this is a mistake? She never wanted to be a Princess!"
They were so concentrated on Callum they don’t see Corvus slip away.
"You mean to tell us that you believe she will back out of this wedding?" Soren intervenes. "The girl who looks at you with heart eyes all the time? The one all the ladies in Katolis are jealous off? Rayla, who has fought people who talked bad about you? The elf who-?"
"I think we get it, Soren, that's enough," Soren rolls his eyes.
"My point, Prince, is that if I can see it anyone can see it, and I've never seen people as in love as you guys," Soren finishes. Callum stands up and begins pacing in silence. After some minutes he stops and faces them. None hear the door opening.
"I've never doubted Rayla, at least not since before Zym was born, but, what if I'm the one who is not enough? What if I make a mistake? What if- OUCH!" he turns. "Was the slap- Aunt Amaya."
The room becomes silent.
"I went to look for her," explains Corvus moving to Ezran's side. "Figured if someone could make him come to his senses, besides Lady Rayla, would be her."
"Well thought, Corvus," commends Ezran while their aunt takes care of Callum.
"Stop this nonsense," she signs, kind of aggressively. "And stop acting like an idiot. You are NOT and idiot. You are more than enough. And don't kid yourself, you'll mess up over and over and over again. Both of you will. And then you'll learn, and grow. Messing up is part of life," she goes to Soren, takes the cape from his hands, and puts it back on Callum. Then checks the sword is correctly placed on his belt. She brushes his shoulders and finally says: "but not today. None of us will mess up today. Certainly not you," and smiles.
Callum closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, holds it, and lets it go. He opens his eyes and really looks at his aunt. Here, right now, wearing the formal Katolan army uniform (no armor), she looked mightier than in any other moment.
"I'm sorry, General," he says. "Aunt Amaya, you are right. I'm acting like an idiot. Letting my emotions and insecurities get the best of me. I can't be an idiot. Not today."
"Well said," she signs, smiling proudly. She looks around at the other men in the room. "Now come, all of you, it's show time."
///
Standing here, at the end of the aisle of the main Katolan monastery, in front of the Katolan High Priest and the Silvergrove elder, a whole lot of people ranging from civilians they had insisted on being present to Kings and Queens from other realms, and his family and friends, Callum waits.
"Do they normally take this long?" he asks to Ezran, standing next to him as his best man.
"Relax, Claudia is giving Rayla's parents last minute instructions about how to do this. Remember they only arrived a few hours ago and it's been hectic."
"I still don't understand why they didn't travel with Runaan and Ethari. They would have been here days ago."
"Duties, Callum. Dragon Guard. THE Dragon Guard with a young dragon to worry about. You know how Moonshadow elves can be. You are about to marry one."
"Point taken," answers the Prince, attention once again on the main doors.
///
"And that's all you need to know!" exclaims Claudia. "I’m going to my place now. When you are ready stand before the main doors and now to the guards."
"Thank you, Miss Claudia," says Lain shaking her hand.
She smiles looking at the family one last time before turning around. Rayla saw tears in her eyes. She kinda knew why.
"Ready to walk down the aisle, Rayla?" asks Lain.
"As ready as I'll be. How about you guys? Ready to give me away?"
"Never," says Tiandrin. Her mom kissed her on the forehead. "When you were little we sometimes thought about this day, who you would chose. We never really imagined someone like Callum, but he is good."
Rayla hugs them. They nod to each other and move to stand in front of the doors.
"Ready?"
Rayla takes the deepest of breaths.
"Ready."
///
If Callum ever thought he couldn't love Rayla more that he already did, this moment proved him wrong.
Everything and everyone disappeared for him leaving only her.
She looked beautiful in the Xadian style gown with the colors of the Moonshadow elves. It made a great contrast to his own robes in the Katolan family colors. It represented the union of two cultures. Two families.
Soon enough (or not fast enough) she was standing in front of him. He takes both her hands in his, locks eyes with her.
He can barely hear the Katolan High Priest beginning with his sermon, all his focus on the one he deemed most important.
///
As soon as she entered the room on both her parents arms, the first thing she did was look for Callum.
She finds him on the dais already looking at her, his eyes bright with happy tears. She was sure her own were no different.
She arrives at his side soon enough (or not fast enough) and lets him take her hands and lock eyes with her.
He looked so handsome in his royal outfit and colors. The sword at his hip a nice touch. The cape though was a little overkill, but they would get rid of it soon enough.
The Katolan High Priest begins with the human part of the ceremony.
It's... well it's boring. Rayla would never understand why humans needed so much pomp and fanfare on this situations.
They tried to make it simple, like Hartran and Jodie's wedding back in Silvertown some months ago. They tried, they really did, but "a Prince can't be married like a town's nobody" (fyi, she broke the nose of the person who said that). So they were forced to give in.
Finally, it's time for Silvergrove's elder to do the elven part of the ceremony. Something short and to the point. Both men ask for the rings, the elder blesses them with magic, and Callum and Rayla exchange them while saying their vows.
Almost there.
"Now, by the power given to me as High Priest..."
"And by the blessing of Xadia and the primal sources..."
"We join these two lives together!" they say at the same time. "You may kiss-"
Rayla beats them to it taking Callum by his jacket lapels and crashing their lips together. She could swear she heard Soren whistling in approval.
Callum also doesn’t mind the breaking of protocol as he wraps his arms around her and kisses back with fervor, bringing her as close to him as he can.
They only break apart after Ezran politely but loudly clears his throat to catch their attention.
Rayla risks a look at the old men beside them. Elder Tein is laughing heartily while the human priest looks scandalized, all red in the face. Rayla winks at him for good measure. Elder Tein elbows him on the ribs so they can finish the ceremony.
"Presenting Crown Prince Callum of Katolis and his now wife, Princess Rayla of Katolis."
Callum, never letting go of his wife's hand, starts walking to the door among the cheer in the room.
Rayla stops him in the middle of the aisle to kiss him again.
They don’t say anything. There was no need.
They were married. They did it.
///
The party that followed at the castle ballroom was formal but, thanks to Claudia and Soren's meddling, not dull.
Ezran gave a speech, of course, and there were several toasts to their name. Wine and mead and ale flowing freely to every cup.
They dance, as Moonshadow elves did, they eat, they laugh, they drink, they dance some more.
They also people watch.
They see Janai blush as Amaya bows in front of her very gallantly asking for a dance.
They see Ethari shaking his head good naturedly at Runaan and Queen Aanya as they brag to each other about their archery prowess trying to out do the other.
They see Rayla's parents drinking and joking with Ezran.
They see Ellis and Ava playing with a cluster of kids, elven and human alike.
They see Lujane and Ibis showing off each others magic to a fairly big audience. Callum makes a mental note about telling his teacher about Lujane's ex-husbands.
And it went on and on. Everywhere they looked there was merriment.
"We are only missing the dragons," notices Rayla while Callum spins her in the dance. "I invited the one who brought my parents to stay, but he said he didn't want to impose."
"Impose?"
"Meaning he is BIG and there's not enough space."
Callum looks around and nods.
"Yeah, would have been a tight fit."
They keep on dancing, not a care in the world. The moment was theirs.
"Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?" Callum whispers close to her lips.
"About ten time already," she answers. "But you can say it again."
"You look so..." he doesn't finish the phrase opting to kiss her instead.
///
"They look good together, don’t they?" asks Tiandrin looking at her daughter and new husband from afar.
"Yes," Ezran agrees. Face a bit flushed from the alcohol. "I just wish my brother would have asked for her hand years ago. Maybe I would already be an uncle."
"Look at them, young King, little ones will come soon enough for us to pamper and spoil," Ez nods.
"And you, King Ezran? Someone special?" asks Lain
"Special for me, at least," he confesses, he blames the spirits. "But I don't know if I'm special enough," he drinks.
"But, you are a King."
"And some are just not impressed. Not when they have a similar title and only see you as a good friend," yes, it was definitely the booze. Ez notices the Enbar King calling him over. "If you'll excuse me."
"Should we tell Rayla? We do owe him for protecting her happiness avoiding his brother to be engaged to another for convenience. She and Callum could help the King," says Lain when Ezran is out of earshot.
"Something tells me they will know soon enough if they don't already," answers Tiandrin, putting a close to the subject. "Now, come on. I want to dance with our son-in-law and you owe your daughter a dance."
///
Ez watches from the balcony with Bait as company as the last party attendants leave for the night. He wonders if he'll be as lucky as Rayla and Callum one day.
"Well, my friend," he tells Bait. "For now I'll be content with being an uncle. What do you think?"
Bait croaks.
END.