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The Queen’s wedding was, of course, a grand occasion, not least because it was the first major event Caemlyn had seen since the Last Battle. A year had passed—rebuilding Andor and Cairhien, both physically and in less tangible ways, had been Elayne’s first priority for a long time and still was, but she’d decided that things had stabilized enough that putting on a wedding wouldn’t seem an extravagant waste of time and resources. And it lifted the people’s spirits to have something to celebrate.
The palace was packed with Andoran nobles and commoners alike, as well as foreign dignitaries and representatives from the White and Black Towers. Rand had to laugh at the sight of the Queens of Andor, Saldaea, and Malkier huddled up with the Amyrlin Seat gossiping like schoolgirls. And the Prince Consorts of the former two countries were hardly much better (meanwhile, the King of Malkier looked like he was two seconds from calling them a pair of woolheaded farmboys and asking his wife to make him a gateway home).
Rand had gotten to talk to his friends in private earlier and would get more time with them before they left tomorrow. But in public, he was only the bodyguard of the Queen’s children, so other guests might think it odd to see him exchange more than a passing pleasantry with world leaders. Instead, he was at the edge of the room with Aviendha, each holding one baby. And that was exactly where he wanted to be.
The question of who ought to be Elayne’s public spouse had had an easy answer. Rand would have been willing to fulfill any duty required of him, but he didn’t exactly mind that this was one someone else could take on. He’d had more than enough of politics and leadership and life in the public eye. And his spouses all agreed that the lower a profile he kept, the less chance of other people figuring out the Dragon Reborn still lived (which would cause all sorts of political problems in addition to just Rand’s personal inconvenience).
Aviendha was coming to feel at home in Andor, but she didn’t think she would ever quite see its inhabitants as her people in the way that a monarch’s spouse ought to. She was far happier serving her community as a Wise One than serving her nation as Princess Consort. And Elayne had said, as politely as she could, that Aviendha did not exactly have the best temperament for dealing with wetlander nobles all day long. Besides, Elayne was tired of all the speculation about the identity of her children’s father (as were Rand and Aviendha, though Mat found it amusing), and marrying a woman would only increase it. Particularly in the event that she ever got pregnant again after the wedding.
But Mat? He was the perfect choice. Oh, he complained about nobles and certainly rubbed plenty of them the wrong way, but at least when he was irritated, he contented himself with snarky comments rather than losing his temper like Rand and Aviendha might. And on the whole, he was charming and charismatic and likable, excellent at winning people over when he wanted to, as well as clever, good at reading people, skilled in leadership and military matters, and a very dutiful and hard worker, no matter his pretenses to the contrary. Being the center of attention came as naturally to him as it did to Elayne, whereas Rand and Aviendha much preferred their place here on the sidelines, free from scrutiny.
Elayne and Mat were dancing now, and they looked wonderful together. Rand smiled as he watched them. They were both dressed in red and gold—Mat had whined endlessly about being forced to wear elaborate nonsense, and then told the seamstress to add more embroidery even though Elayne would have been perfectly happy to let him wear a plain wool coat if he’d wanted. Mat twirled Elayne around and then dipped her low to the ground, making her laugh; the room was too noisy for Rand to hear it, but he could see laughter on her face and feel it in the bond.
He could also feel how radiantly happy she was. All four of them had married in secret on the eve of the Last Battle, so today’s ceremony had only been a show for the public, but Elayne had always dreamed of a large wedding celebration like this. Rand was glad she’d finally gotten to have it. And he could see and feel just as clearly how much Mat was enjoying himself, despite his weeks of grumbling about nobles loving to put on ridiculous days-long affairs for something that should only take ten minutes and a handful of people to accomplish.
Aviendha’s bond glowed with happiness too, that sort of quiet contentment that was characteristic of her. Her eyes were smiling as much as Rand’s mouth was, and she stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him, not quite touching, but facing the same direction together. Facing the shades of their heart together.
In Aviendha’s arms, Joiya was gazing out at the festivities with fascination and pointing at various things she noticed. In truth Rand and Aviendha didn’t know what she was pointing at most of the time since the room was so busy, but they pretended to be excited about it to validate her. Aviendha spent so much time with the twins that many people had begun assuming that looking after children was included in her Wise One’s duties and now considered her a royal nurse of sorts, which meant nobody would wonder why she and Rand had charge of the babies tonight.
Of course, all their actual nurses knew the truth, as did the family’s other most personal maids and servants, but they hadn’t spread any gossip. Well, not much gossip. Rand thought it inevitable that it would reach the public eventually. It was also inevitable that the twins would someday be old enough to call him and Aviendha “Daddy” and “Mama” in public while still young enough not to understand that they shouldn’t. Ah well. They’d cross that bridge when they got to it. So long as Elayne and Mat didn’t address the rumors and continued being discreet with Rand and Aviendha in public, it would probably be fine. Or maybe eventually Andor would grow comfortable with the sort of relationship they had—Aiel ways were already becoming accepted in Cairhien.
Owyn was much shyer than his sister and didn’t like noise or crowds or strangers (Rand could relate), and he was starting to seem overwhelmed. “Look at Mummy and Papa,” Rand told him, pointing at where Elayne and Mat were still dancing. Maybe the sight of them would cheer him up. “Don’t they look fancy?”
But Owyn sniffled and pressed his face into Rand’s coat. Rand kissed the top of his head and patted him soothingly on the back. “I think it’s getting too much for him,” he said. He glanced out the window at the darkening sky. “And it is just about their bedtime.”
Aviendha agreed and led the way closer to Elayne and Mat. When the song ended, Mat made a dramatic show of bowing to Elayne, and she laughed as he kissed her hand. Thom did a dramatic bow of his own to acknowledge the dancers’ applause, and then he started up a new song and the dancing resumed.
Elayne and Mat came over to Rand and Aviendha. “Bedtime?” Elayne asked, and Rand nodded.
“I don’t think Owyn’s having much fun anyway,” Mat observed. He kissed Owyn’s nose. “Can’t blame him.” Elayne rolled her eyes; she could feel in her own bond with Mat what a liar he was, just as Rand could.
She and Mat hugged and kissed both twins goodnight and bid a polite and respectable goodbye to Rand and Aviendha. Thankfully, the festivities were loud enough that none of their neighbors heard Mat lower his voice and say with a wink that he’d see the pair of them later for the wedding night.
Rand and Aviendha headed upstairs and embarked on the twins’ bedtime routine, a warm bath and a change of clothes and a story. Joiya fussed and hollered about being put to bed, like she knew there was a party going on that she was missing, and yet, by the end of the story, she was nodding off even faster than Owyn was. Overtired from all the day’s excitement, no doubt.
Rand and Aviendha gave them both a kiss and tiptoed out of the nursery. “We could go back to the party,” Rand said, a little halfheartedly.
Aviendha was equally unenthused. “I would prefer to stay here with you, shade of my heart,” she said, and Rand smiled and followed her next door to their own room.
He settled in on the sofa to resume the scarf he’d been knitting for Mat, and Aviendha sat by his feet with a book, leaning back against his legs. Upon first meeting her Rand would never have guessed she was the literary sort, but she was fascinated by books since they were somewhat of a rarity in the Waste. Now that she had the royal libraries of two countries at her disposal, it seemed she was devouring a new one every week.
Elayne and Mat found them in that same position two hours later. “Light, you two are boring,” Mat said fondly. He and Elayne were flushed and breathless and smiling from hours of dancing and merrymaking, but their bonds still felt full of energy. Parties did always seem to increase their energy, which Rand never understood. He’d had a good time today but still felt like he would have to hole himself up here in their rooms for a week to recover from it, and in the bond, so did Aviendha.
But her bond was bubbling with fresh happiness at Elayne and Mat’s return. “Did you enjoy yourselves?” she asked, setting her book aside and rising to her feet.
“Very much so,” Elayne said. She kissed Aviendha, then Rand when he stood and crossed the room towards them. “And so did Mat, no matter what he says.”
“Oh, I suppose it was all right,” Mat said magnanimously. “But what I was really looking forward to was coming back to our room. Our bedroom, specifically. Elayne probably would have stayed down there being the Queen until dawn if I hadn’t dragged her away to get the fun part of the night started.”
Indeed, Rand could still hear music and general hubbub going strongly downstairs; he and Aviendha had left the window open to let the music drift up to them while they relaxed. “Although, it’s a shame you two never got a chance to dance,” Mat said. He caught Rand’s hand and pulled him close. “We ought to fix that, Elayne, don’t you think?”
“Most definitely,” she said with a grin, and she grabbed hold of Aviendha before she could wriggle away and claim that she was no good at wetlander dancing. Well, it was true that she wasn’t very good, but she enjoyed doing it (only with the three of them and only when they had complete privacy), and that was the important part.
They spun around the room together, trading partners back and forth throughout the song. Thom’s flute trilled a lively conclusion, and then it was replaced by a romantic tune on the harp with his voice accompanying it, though they couldn’t make out the lyrics from this far away.
Elayne wrapped her arms around Rand’s waist and rested her head on his chest, and Rand reached for Mat and Aviendha to bring them closer. The four of them swayed together in time to the song, taking a moment to simply enjoy each other’s company.
Rand closed his eyes and basked in the warmth of his spouses’ arms and the love in their bonds, marveling at how normal this had come to feel. A once-rare privilege he hadn’t thought he deserved was now something he got to experience every single day. For so long, he hadn’t dared dream that he would ever get to be so…so happy.
“It’s not fair that only Elayne and I get to dance in public,” Mat said. “You two deserve to have that, too.”
“I do not mind,” Aviendha said. “You know how I dislike dancing in front of wetlanders. You and Elayne are the ones who enjoy making spectacles of yourselves, and so in that sense, it is entirely fair.”
Mat and Elayne huffed, and Rand laughed. “I don’t mind either,” Rand said. He opened his eyes and lifted his head off Mat’s shoulder so that he could smile at all three of them. “To me, dancing is more fun when it’s like this. When it’s just us.”