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From the get-go, Jimmy knew that the road to marital life would be a bumpy one.
The betrothal was rushed, to say the least. Rivendell seemed eager to have their prince out of the kingdom. Jimmy didn't pretend to know anything about Rivendelli politics, but Grian had sent him a letter recounting Prince Scott's rather public forfeit of his right to succession.
Jimmy had sent over exactly one letter to his husband-to-be and received no response. He wasn't quite sure what to make of that, to be honest. He was in entirely new territory when it came to traditions. It was hard enough figuring out what he was going to wear for the wedding, let alone where he would stand or what language the ceremony would be conducted it. He didn't even think Lizzie knew.
He was perfectly fine marrying under the house of Aeor. Prince Scott was being forced to move across the continent and taking a huge leap of faith, he should at least get wed under his own banner. Lizzie had a lot of work leading up to this, so she would arrive two days before the wedding, leaving Jimmy to fend for himself for a few weeks.
Well, not entirely by himself.
The entire carriage ride over, Joel had not stopped talking. Jimmy would have appreciated it if the ride had not been three days long. He may have been the best man at the wedding and Joel's best friend, but he was one Jeremy story away from signing Lizzie's divorce papers for her.
Finally, they arrived in Rivendell. It was very different from what Jimmy had imagined, though he hadn't really known what it would be like. The only southern territory he had ever visited was House Blossom, and this was nothing like House Blossom.
Save for the height of the residents. Jimmy found himself similarly towering over the elven man who had come out to greet them. Lizzie and Jimmy could not walk through the Old City in House Blossom because there were no doorways that could fit their frames. Rivendell worked much like that, along with the added bulk of his winter wear.
Jimmy had seen snow before. The light dusting of white on the ground when he visited the swamps was one of his favorite curiosities as a kid. But this was not simply a small covering of snow. He found himself getting lost in the snowbanks, like he was a small guppy again, still learning about the size and loneliness of the ocean.
House Rivens was nothing like the Prisma Palace. It had clearly been built for form over function, with small rooms that were incredibly easy to insulate. Jimmy- who was used to the breezy corridors and open rooms of the Prisma Palace, or the courtyards of the Matral Palace- found himself bumping into every doorway.
Grian accompanied him now, which Jimmy appreciated. They had been exchanging letters nonstop since Grian landed his post assisting the Oceanic diplomat to Rivendell, so it felt like no time had passed at all, even though it had been at least a year since Jimmy had seen him. Jimmy did not know a lick of Elvish (he had been frantically memorizing when to say 'I do' during the ceremony the entire ride over), so having Grian translate was going to be a miracle.
And now, he was being received by the Elvenking and the queen in the great hall, filled with tapestries of stags and stained glass windows that caught and amplified the weak sunlight until it lit up the whole room.
However, after a while of exchanging pleasantries and having his bags taken to his quarters, there was still a topic that had not been brought up.
"It has been wonderful getting to talk to your majesties," Jimmy said. He didn't usually speak so formally, but until told otherwise, he was operating on House Blossom etiquette. "But will there be any time to visit Prince Scott in the next few days?"
The smallest twitch from the Elvenking. The queen gripped her throne a little tighter. Even Grian couldn't hide his wince. "Oh, is that not something I should do? My apologies if I offended."
"Forgiven," The Elvenking said. "Our son is simply… busy at the moment. There are affairs he must attend to at the church right up until the wedding. Otherwise, we would be happy to arrange for the two of you to meet."
"Of course," Jimmy said, and he had no reason to be suspicious. Why would he?
That was, until he was getting a tour of various buildings the next day and was taken into the church he would be wed in. The priests were very kind, answering the questions Jimmy had with grace and poise.
"Does Prince Scott come here often?" Jimmy asked. Grian repeated the question in Elvish. Jimmy had quickly come to realize that unlike the Ocean Empire, very few Rivendellians actually spoke Mangrovian. He supposed it made sense, as most of them would never leave the snowy mountains, while the Ocean Empire had a fairly string Mezalean and Pixandrian presence to encourage the spread of Mangrovian, especially in the swamps.
The priest smiled. "He was intended for the church before his brother left," Grian said. "As a kid he spent entire months here."
"I know he's here right now, is he nervous?" Jimmy continued. As Grian translated, the priest's expression changed. They seemed almost… confused.
"Huh," Grian said.
"Huh what?"
"They said the prince has not been here since his older brother left. But that can't be right. There's no other church he would be at."
"Ask them if they're sure," Grian did as asked and nodded his head to confirm. "Right, so they're lying about his whereabouts."
"Mhm," Grian said. "Do you want to take that up with your future father-in-law?"
"Not really? What if he was just sick?"
"Then they would say he was sick," Grian replied. "Disease and quarantine are not taboo here."
"So then what happened?" Grian shrugged.
It took a few more pointed questions but eventually, the queen caved. "Our apologies for the deception, your highness," She said. "Our son has been, well, missing for the few months or so."
Jimmy couldn't stop his mouth from opening a little in shock. That was longer than their betrothal period! Did the prince even know he was to be wed? "And why would he be missing?"
"Abduction," The Elvenking added. "There has been a demon terrorizing the kingdom, and we believe it has taken him. We hoped the matter would have solved itself before you arrived."
Jimmy felt the air of excited apprehension drain away, faced with the gravity of this new information. "Do you have any leads?"
"We do," The Elvenking said. "We suspect it has taken the Ancient Elven Library, but since we do not know the exact location of the library, nor could we enter, this poses a problem."
"Why could you not enter?"
"You need a divine gift to enter the library. Bot- my son has been touched by Aeor and remains the only one in the kingdom with that honor. The nearest person would be Lady Katherine."
"Or me," Jimmy said. "I could go out and get him." Now there was something he could do, something he was good at. He had often gone out to find missing children, track down people whenever he could. It was his service to a community that had done so much for him, only a drop in the bucket compared to their generosity.
He did not like to admit he was divinely touched. It was simply not a large part of his life. Not a blessing nor a curse. However, if it meant he could save someone from a terrible demon, he would be more than happy to treat it as a gift.
"We appreciate the offer," The queen said. "However, we would not ask you to do that."
"I see that," Jimmy replied. "And yet, you say you have been searching for a month with no results, I believe I could be of some assistance. Think of it as my wedding gift."
It had taken another hour, but he had gotten them to agree to let him go after the prince.
Joel hadn't let him go alone.
"I would be with Grian," Jimmy had complained. "And Lizzie would kill us if we both died out there."
"And she'd kill me if I let you go alone. Come on. I packed your sword anyway."
"Why did you- no, how did you g- actually sure. You can come. Thanks man," Jimmy took in a deep breath.
They were escorted by elven guards into the general area they suspected the library would be in. If Jimmy was being honest, they were too close to the Crystal Cliffs for comfort. Gem was not her brother, but the bad blood was still there. He had asked for the three of them to be left alone, as to be less easily spotted.
For a few days now, they had gone out on expeditions to various sites, looking for any signs of old buildings. One of the biggest clues was the red vines that seemed to burst from the ground. The elves did not want to go near them, or perhaps they physically couldn't. Jimmy agreed that there was something not right about them and for the most part followed their lead. However, the closer they got to the proposed location of the library, the more thick and frequent the tendrils got.
It had taken Grian's eagle eye to point it out. He had needed to bring Grian so he could communicated with the elves, but Grian had insisted he go with them to the library. Jimmy would have denied him if he hadn't known how good Grian was with a bow.
The library was high up on a cliff, with a tower that stretched towards the sky. And immediately, Jimmy could feel the presence of… something. There were vines creeping up the edges of the tower, digging into the stone and almost blocking the doors.
Almost.
Jimmy went up to them and could feel the hum of the magic imbued into the wood. This was the place. Slowly, with a sword at the ready, he creaked open the door.
The entrance was dark, and the floor was covered in vines. Slowly, Jimmy took one step in, then another. Nothing jumped out to attack him.
Joel and Grian crept in behind him, weapons raised. Joel had a lantern out as well. He had originally been planning to bring a torch, but had been shouted down by the other two, who didn't really like the idea of an open flame in a library.
Though it likely wouldn't have mattered, seeing the shelves were covered in the same red vines. He felt like he was practically breathing them in at this point.
The silence was deafening as Jimmy and Grian brought out their own lanterns and began to search. No signs of any princes shoved behind the language section, or the theology shelf. Jimmy had a feeling that if he wanted to find the prince, he would either need to go very far up, or very far down. He opted for up, even though this level of the library was like a maze. He swore he passed the same shelf five times until he finally found a hatch leading upwards.
"I thought we were going to die in there," Joel mumbled as they ascended into the next level. Immediately, they had to readjust their eyes.
The room they had entered seemed absolutely massive, with an open middle and spiral staircases leading to the upper levels. The place was lit up, with lanterns being hung in the center of the room far away from any of the bookshelves.
There was something in the center of the room, the vines seemed to be converging at a certain point. And as Jimmy looked up at it, they… bloomed open, reaching out to reveal something at their center. No, someone.
They were illuminated in the weak light from the lanterns, but Jimmy could see that they had once been elven. However now, their body had almost been entirely been eaten away by corruption and from their head, two great antlers jutted out.
The demon.
And as it looked down at the trio, its face broke out into a smile, then its mouth opened.
"Run."
The vines erupted from the ground and struck, nearly impaling Joel as he rolled out of the way. "We'll hold it off!" Grian shouted at Jimmy, grabbing his bow and shooting up at the demon. "Focus on finding the prince!"
Jimmy did not hesitate. He knew Grian would not give commands he did not believe in. And there was only one way to go.
The demon was adequately distracted by Joel and Grian, while Jimmy ran all the way up the stairs, past bookshelves and rooms that he only took a cursory glance into, and finally reaching the top. There, he could see another hatch, which he did not hesitate to open and climb up into.
He had to squint to adjust to the light. Up here, there was a skylight and several candles. The room itself was somewhat large, but more than the others, it seemed lived in. There was a bathroom, a dining table, and a bed to sleep on. And standing in the middle of the room looking confused was another elf, a very familiar looking one. Well, Jimmy had never seen him in person, but the descriptions had not been exaggerating.
"Hi!" Jimmy said, running up to him, still panting from the exertion of climbing up that many stairs. "I'm here to rescue you!"
Scott stepped back as he approached, wings puffing up to make himself seem larger, so Jimmy didn't try to move any more forward. "Oh, I should probably introduce myself. I'm Jimmy, and your parents sent me," He was pretty sure the engagement part could wait, now did not seem like the time.
Still, Scott didn't seem to understand, taking another step back. From below, Jimmy heard a loud yelp that echoed through the library.
"You know what," Jimmy said. "We can run and talk, yeah?"
He felt bad not letting Scott talk, but they could do that when his friends weren't in danger. "Can you get yourself out?" Jimmy gestured towards the hatch. Scott immediately started shaking his head, taking another step back. "Okay then, I've got it. No worries." Jimmy closed the distance and swept Scott into a bridal style carry. He had to adjust for a few moments as to not hurt the wings, but then he was jumping down the hatch, moving as fast as possible.
Immediately, Scott started wiggling, trying to get out of Jimmy's hold. But at that point, Jimmy was a little too focused on trying to make sure vines weren't going to knock them both off of the stairs, so he just tightened his grip.
Then he heard a snarl and heard more vines hit the stairs in front of him, effectively trapping him. He turned around, same thing. They didn't seem strong enough to hold his weight, so he unsheathed his sword and transferred Scott to one arm, trying to hack away at them as best he could. He could feel Scott's breathing getting faster, more frantic.
"Put him down."
Jimmy didn't want to, that would mean leaving him here with a demon. So he just pressed himself against the wall.
"Hey idiot!" Joel called from the bottom floor. "Down here!"
The demon didn't seem to pay attention. Instead, it shouted something in Elvish. And surprisingly, Scott responded immediately. His voice was small, but everything carried in the tower.
Then Grian shouted something up, and both the demon and Scott froze. The vines stopped thrashing, and the demon descended down to the bottom floor.
"What's going on?" Jimmy asked Scott, who didn't respond, he just shook his head.
Then, after another minute of dialogue, the vines entirely retreated from around Jimmy. "Let the prince go, Jimmy!" Grian called. "We've got a truce!"
Jimmy opened his arm and Scott scrambled away from him. "What's going on?"
"Get down here," Grian added, and Jimmy did as asked, following Scott down.
When they reached the bottom, he was greeted with the sight of Grian, Joel, and the demon all standing awkwardly, waiting at the bottom of the stairs for them. The demon immediately called to Scott, asking him questions, and taking a step forward before Jimmy had a hand on his sword.
"Calm down," Grian said. "Nobody should be killing anybody. Jimmy. Meet Prince Xornoth."
Okay. Jimmy definitely missed something.
They were all sitting at on the floor, with the vines hanging lanterns above them so they could all see. Scott and Xornoth were sitting together, with Grian nearby.
"Scott was here willingly," Grian said. "So basically we nearly kidnapped him for no reason."
Jimmy felt like he had been very suddenly plunged into the ocean. He turned to Scott. "I am so sorry, I should have-"
"Jimmy," Grian cut in. "He doesn't speak Mangrovian."
Oh. Jimmy felt like an idiot. This must have been very harrowing from Scott's perspective. Grian said something in Elvish, and Scott nodded and replied calmly. "Apology somewhat accepted."
"Somewhat?"
"His wings are all ruffled," Sure enough, Scott seemed to have checked out of the conversation to begin smoothing out his feathers.
"Um," Jimmy said. "Did you tell them why we're here? Actually," He turned to Xornoth. "Do you speak Mangrovian?"
"Enough," Xornoth said. "Why were you here?"
"Your parents wanted him back, they've been looking for three months or so," Jimmy said.
Another quick round of Elvish. "Did they not see the paper?"
"Apparently not."
"But why were you here?"
Jimmy winced. "I was told we were engaged." He gestured to Scott.
There was a brief moment of silence. Xornoth seemed to have ceased functioning in their rage, while Scott instinctively pulled hard on his feathers as Grian told him.
"Scott knew they would want him away if he didn't want to be Elvenking. But we did not know they would move so fast."
"I think I'm going to break the betrothal off when we get back, or at least hold it off until he gets to know more of the details," Jimmy said.
"Hang on," Joel said. "Why would they send him off to an empire that doesn't even speak his language?"
"They don't care," Grian said bluntly. "I'm going to ask Scott if he ran away to make a point." Then he repeated himself in Elvish. Scott shrugged, but his answer seemed more lighthearted.
"He ran away so he could be with his brother before they carted him off."
"We had been talking, even after our parents gave me to the snow," Xornoth added. "I wanted to say goodbye. Or help him run for good."
"I don't know what your life has been like, Xornoth, but if you ever need a place to stay, the Ocean Empire would be happy to have you."
"Mezalea as well," Joel added. "As long as you don't bring any horses."
"Feel free to tell Scott that as well. If he needs a place to run to, our shores are a welcoming place."
Xornoth repeated it to Scott, who looked at Jimmy. He leaned forward across the circle and gestured for Jimmy to hold out his palm. Scott grabbed it with his hand and traced a heart.
"Right," Jimmy said. "I'll tell your parents Scott will come back when he's ready, and that the coercion on their end is really making me reconsider. Um, good luck?"
Joel and Grian waved and went down the hatch. As Jimmy left, he turned around. Scott gave him a small wave and a smile. Jimmy smiled back.
Six months later, Jimmy was reading his mail. There had been a letter addressed to him from Rivendell, which was not unusual, seeing that Grian still wanted to keep in contact. However, when he opened the seal, he realized the Aquanic scrawl on the page was not that of his longtime friend's. It looked rather messy and inexperienced, with some of the vowels near illegible.
Hello Prince Jimmy,
Your friend Grian helped me write this. I was wondering if you would want to reopen the marriage talks?
Best,
Scott of Rivendell
Jimmy laughed and set the letter to the side. He could get on board with this.