Chương 533: Chapter Five Hundred and Eighteen - Post I-Dos

Awen's mom looked between Awen and me, then Booksie and Rhawr above her. Her little tongue slipped out between her lips, wetting them like a mouse poking its head out of a hole only to notice a lion waiting for it.

"Perhaps we can have this conversation somewhere a little more private?" I was ready to jump in, but I saw the way Awen straightened her spine. She took a deep breath, and I could almost see the moment she decided that she had had enough.

"No Mother."

"Pardon?" her mom asked.

"I said no, Mother," Awen replied, her voice growing a little more confident, a little louder.

"You're the one who decided to start and make this a spectacle. What are you even doing here?"

"We're here on behalf of Mattergrove, and to ask my brother about you," her father said.

"Oh? Well then, I imagine it'll be a great look for Mattergrove when word gets out that two nobles from such a... such a backwater nearly ruined the wedding of the decade." I held back a giggle. It looked like Awen's Mom had just bitten into an entire lemon for a moment there. I don't think Awen actually believed Mattergrove to be a backwater. It was a lot more likely that she just wanted to say something to get under her parents' skin.

"Are these your parents, Awen?" Booksie asked.

"Please, introduce us?"

"Of course," Awen said. She bowed slightly and shifted to the side with courtly decorum.

"Mother, Father, this is Catherine Cabbage, owner of the finest reading establishment in all of Port Royal and a dear friend of mine." Booksie smiled.

"Awen was there when Rhawr and I met. She takes some of the credit for bringing us together."

"Indeed," Rhawr rumbled.

"And of course, our dear Booksie's husband, Rhawrexdee. He Who Smote the Clouds Themselves. The Thunder Hammer. The Scourge of the Northern Desert. Booksie's Beau." Booksie giggled at the last and Awen flashed her a smile.

"Ah, and my fellow bridesmaids. This is Captain Broccoli Bunch, whom you've met of course. She's a member of the Exploration Guild, and... and a whole lot more. And this is Caprica." I glanced to the side to see Caprica heading over, obviously curious about what was going on.

"Hello," she said with a slight inclination of her head.

"I am, in fact, Caprica."

"A sylph," Awen's mom said. I think she was trying hard to find something inoffensive to focus on.

"Indeed, cousin," Caprica said.

"Cousin?" Awen's dad asked.

"Ah, you're nobility as well!" He put on a genial, bright smile.

"I'm afraid I didn't catch your family name."

"Sylph," Caprica said.

"Your family name is... Sylph?" He frowned.

"That's a strange name for... wait..." he trailed off, his face paling.

"It doesn't conform to the usual family name convention, does it?" Caprica noted, her smile perfectly level.

"But then, my great-grandfather chose it specifically to exemplify our place in slyph society." Awen cleared her throat.

"Caprica is the daughter of King Sylph of Slyphfree," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Ah," her father said faintly. Awen straightened her back, her hands clasping neatly in front of her. She was the picture of calm and poise. Her mom's lips pressed thin, her dad was still blinking at Caprica's royal status, and Awen's voice slipped into the space their silence left.

"Mother, Father," she began.

"Since I left Mattergrove, I've had time to see just how big the world truly is. It's much larger, much more wondrous, than I ever imagined it could be. Uncle Abraham's stories hinted at it, of course, but being out here, seeing it for myself... it's something else entirely."

"Awen--" her mother began. Awen continued, trampling over any objections.

"I've found people who care for me as I am. Who respect me for what I can do. Not for the expectations placed on me, or the name I carry. I've found my place, and I'm happy."

"That's... acceptable," her Mother said.

"Many young nobles travel a little to discover the world, you can always return--" Awen's eyes narrowed.

"Tell my brothers that I said 'hi.' I'll write to them soon. And if the day comes when I decide to marry, to settle down, you'll hear from me." Awen bowed very slightly in their direction, spun on a heel, then walked off. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. There was a long pause as her words hung in the air. Her parents looked at her back as if they expected her to turn around at any moment and run back. She didn't.

Her mother opened her mouth, then closed it, clearly struggling to find something to say. Her father cleared his throat awkwardly and nodded, though his expression was tight.

"Well," her mother finally managed, her voice thin but polite. She bowed towards Booksie.

"Beautiful wedding. I wish you a happy life." She turned and stomped off. Awen's dad said some things really quickly, the usual sort of platitudes, but he was quick to run off after his wife.

"Humans are such strange things," Rhawr rumbled.

"So boney."

"Sweetie, it's not fair to judge a person by the crunchiness of their body," Booksie said.

"I'm going to go talk to Awen," I said, only to discover a hand on my shoulder. Caprica's.

"I'll do it," Caprica said.

"You're her best friend, I know, so you should be there for her later when she's worked out her anger and needs a good cry, but when it comes to matters of nobility such as this, I believe I am the more experienced and better-placed of us to handle it." I hesitated. A big part of me wanted to be the one to hug Awen better, but Awen didn't look too sad at the moment. Maybe she really did need to talk through it, and I wasn't always the best at that. My advice was probably not going to be too helpful.

"Okay," I said. I had to trust my friends to take care of my other friends. And besides, it wasn't like I wasn't going to give Awen as many hugs as she could handle later. She'd been so cool! I bet her parents barely recognized her from the way she used to be, in a good way.

"Broccoli, would you mind checking on the other guests?" Booksie asked.

"I think we have to mingle around for a bit more."

"Okay," I said with a grin.

"Should I go see the dragons?" Rhawr hummed.

"I've been avoiding seeing my mother, you may as well go and distract her."

"You've been avoiding your mom?" I asked with a gasp.

"She is crying! It is unbecoming." Rhawr turned his head away, as if he was refusing to look in his mom's direction at all. Booksie leaned in close and whispered.

"When he sees his mom crying, he starts crying too. And he doesn't want to in front of all his cousins."

"Ah," I said with a nod. Rhawr was a softy. I gave her a quick, careful hug, then moved towards the dragons. Cholondee and Rhawr's mom were off to one side, the younger of the two rubbing her mom's back as the huge dragoness wiped the tears away. I decided not to interfere with that for a moment. It was a happy sort of crying, but it was still a lot. Of the gathered dragons, most were chatting between themselves while cowed grenoil brought wheelbarrows filled with snacks over for them to pick at.

One dragon stood apart a little, though. While most of them were metallic golds and bronzes, one was a stark, gleaming white, like freshly fallen snow. I bounced up, a bright smile plastered on my face, and waved as I approached.

"Hello! Are you all enjoying the wedding?"

"You are small," the white dragon said. Their voice was light and airy, almost like a whisper carried by the wind.

"And not a dragon, but you are..." They sniffed at me, and I had to hold back a giggle at the sensation. They weren't much bigger than some of the wyverns I'd ridden in Sylphfree.

"A riftwalker and a bridegroom. Strange, strange."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," I said with a curtsy.

"I'm Broccoli Bunch!"

"Char Ret Undahscor Charet," the white dragon said with a dip of... her head? I think it was a she. Girl dragons had a bit of a thinner face and were more plump around the middle. I was getting better at telling dragons apart!

"That's quite the name," I said.

"Are you enjoying the wedding so far?" The white dragon scanned the crowds and then Rhawr and Booksie.

"It is strange. I have not spent very many years so close to... non-dragons. Except for my food, I keep away from most."

"I see," I said A nearby dragon leaned over.

"You'll regret encouraging them. Char Ret hasn't flown off their mountaintop in centuries. They don't understand how the world works anymore."

"That's okay," I said.

"I have a friend that was in a similar situation, and I think that they've overcome a lot of their problems by stepping outside a little and seeing the world."