A Wedding Nab

Subject: A Wedding Nab Mon Dec 06, 2010 10:47 pm

Heavy lifting was out of the question, but travel was no longer restricted,after Luludja had been released from confinement the morning before.And the first place she traveled to was Vatra. She was on a mission.When the carriage arrived, she allowed the driver to assist her down,and then simply swept past the doors, calling for her bori as she went, ignoring the questioning looks of those she passed on her way,after checking to make sure Zindelo was out of the house. She had impeccable timing it seemed. "Aly! There you are! I need you to come back to the capital with me. I know the wedding is only two days away, but I really need you there." She had a thousand excuses she was ready to use if resistance was encountered. She'd even resort to saying the baby was sick, just to trick her into coming along.

Aly was standing in the main receiving room on the ground floor, when she heard the bumpy wheel sounds of a carriage coming up the road. She had been busy trying to chase out some of Zindelo's men, who seemed to think the living areas were their own recreational facilities."Get out! An' take yur muddy boots, an' yur heathen ways with yu." She knew Luludja had come in as well, and grinned to her. "Yu need wha't?.." Then scowled at those still lingering about. "I've a million things yet undone Luludja, wha't, pray do yu hav' need of" She turned and yet scowled once more and reached for her dirk for cause to the last man hanging around.

You must come with me back to the capital. I need you at the castle. But we have to hurry. Come, there is no time even to pack. I am sure Zindelo can spare you for a few hours..." Or days...but she wasn't going to say that, just yet. "Oh it is everything! I think your dress is going to be too long, and the baby won't stop crying, and I just don't know what to do..." She looked like she was about to burst into tears at any second.

A brow rose at that. "Then I s'pose we go an' see about all this ruckus, an' get th' wee one settled down, aye?" Aly wasn't so sure about all this but when her sister to be said she needed her,she'd help if she could.

She was doing her very best not to let a smile peek through her mask of frustration and strain. This was just a little too easy. She gave a little nod, hiding her snicker with a sniffle and turned to head back out to the carriage.

The elf was no fool and she sensed no overwrought emotions in Luludja, so something was up, and she'd soon find out once at the castle. "Lead th' way then, aye?"

The ride back, she had to keep herself completely in check, revealing nothing more than what she already had, gushing about the new baby,explaining that she and Hans had parted, and at this, the surge of emotions did become real, but it did not remain so for long as they moved on to discussing the wedding, and the fact that it was only two days away. She was going to need every second of it too. A few last minute fittings still needed done, she explained, but it was the treat she had in store for Aly that she was not revealing.

Aly was not surprised at hearing about Hans, and she somewhat knew of Luludja's feelings for another but wouldn't mention such as yet. Talk of the babe seemed to bring more laughter and joy and rightly so. The child was a beauty like her mother. Course she didn't have a chance in Hades with a German father and a Romani mother. A temper would be the least of worries

As the carriage arrived at the castle, she was beginning to get a little more agitated, her slender hands wringing in her lap until they came to a stop and a footman helped them from the conveyance.Notice of their arrival had been sent to the ladies wing, and her wet nurse, Moira, was already waiting for them just within the reception room of the castle, Nadya, as if on cue, crying. She hurried over to gather up her baby, and turned to Aly with an impish smile slowly spreading as she gently placed Nadya in Aly's arms. "I hope you will forgive me, my bori." She said as she ushered her toward the stairs and toward the ladies' wing.

The elf thought those that milled around then looked a bit...nervous, but she'd wait to see what all this was about. She gave a look to the footman and he lifted his brows, then turned his face away as most did when she remotely scowled. "Hand her ov'r." Aly stated simply, and reached out for the baby. "Wha't hav' yu done, Luludja?" Aly said as she was being unceremoniously moved through the Keep toward the Ladies wing.

"I am afraid I was not entirely....forthcoming...about why you are here." She said with a sweet, airy tone, as though she were talking about the weather. "Oh...and the fact that you will not be permitted to leave...barring war...until you are taken to the altar..." She guided her into the ladies' sitting room. Of course, with Aly holding the baby, she couldn't hit her. "Oh....and Zindelo is not allowed in the castle until then either."

A brow lifted slowly as Luludja. "WHA'T?"

Subject: Re: A Wedding Nab Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:47 pm

The night before had been trying to be sure and Court will be the same. Luludja and her Ladies had done well in keeping Zindelo and herself apart. They hadn't been apart till now, and it was difficult at best. Sleeping hadn't come till the wee hours of the daylight, and at that point she had just given up and dressed to break her fast.

Tonight they would be separated yet again, and the morrow's eve they'd see them together and wed. She rubbed her temples a bit, preparing herself for Court while Luludja and the Ladies were cackling and giggling, but her bori kept a strong vigil, so escaping peacefully was not an option.

Subject: Meanwhile, Zindelo..... Wed Dec 08, 2010 7:37 pm

The inn at Trin Drôma was very nearly completed. It would be ready for opening just after the winter holidays by Zindelo's calculation. He had stopped in to check on the progress during a circuit of Vatra, and was rather pleased with what he'd seen. He was in high spirits when he finally returned to his estate, with Angus before him in the saddle, swathed in a rich, fur-lined kontusz against the growing winter chill, and the wind that whipped them when he urged Parno to speed in the last mile, eager to reach the heat of his fire, and enter the warmth of his beloved's embrace.

When they reached the courtyard of the enclosure, however, he noted the sullen glares of black eyes around the fires that burned between the ledge wagons, caught the faint, harsh grumbling of men's voices. A faint sigh was expelled from his lips, before he lowered Angus to the hard, frozen ground, and slipped from the saddle to lead Parno into the stables. There, he left his horse in the care of his nephew, and strode out among his men to discover the cause of their ill tempers.

His amusement was hardly suppressed, however, when told of Aly turning his men out of the house for tracking mud across the reception and gathering rooms, not to mention their carousing and gambling. There was little else to do for them in these cold days, save train. He did his utmost to explain to his men that Aly was the woman of the house, and they must respect her as they would him.

"But she throws knives at us!" One exclaimed.

"We do not understand her." Muttered another.

Zindelo did his best not to laugh, as his thick, black brows rose and he tipped his head to one side, his earring flashing in the lambent light of the fire. "Has she hit you with a knife?" He asked, knowingly. "If she wanted to, she would. It is no different than when Luludja throws things at my head. Simply do as she asks, and she will not throw things at you."

"But, we do not know what she is asking!" They protested vehemently.

"Assume she is asking you not to do what you are doing, or to do what you are not doing." He answered sagaciously, before he turned on his heel and headed for the house, leaving his men scratching their heads, or smoothing their mustaches with confused looks on their faces.

When he reached the house, however, he was disappointed to find that Aly was not there, as he expected. After questioning Matilda and learning that his sister had been by, a creeping suspicion began to emerge. Something was not quite copasetic about the situation. She had apparently been gone most of the day, and as he prepared for Julien's Induction that evening, he realized that she had forgotten the gift they had planned to give the new healer, which was unlike her. His heavy brows knit together, but there was little time to contemplate the matter before he rode out for the capital.

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"What do you mean, I cannot see her?! She is my betrothed! Send a servant to tell her I wish to speak with her!" Zindelo was rather flummoxed that the men-at-arms of the castle would not permit him anywhere but the corridor to the Induction chamber, and further, would not even send a missive to Aly!

"I am sorry, My Lord, but we are under orders that you are not to have any contact with Her Grace until your wedding ceremony." One of the men explained with chagrin.

"Whose orders?!" He demanded.

"Her Grace, Duchess Car Zenesa." The man said as stoically as he could manage.

Zindelo's incredulous expression smoothed almost immediately, taking on a cool and calculating air; it was a dangerous and chilling look. "I see." He said shortly, and without another word, he strode toward the Induction chamber. At least there, he might look upon her, even if his sister insisted on these ridiculous traditions.

Already, however, he was planning.....or rather, scheming.....a way he might reach her and steal her back to their home before the wedding.

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Zindelo was well aware of where the ladies of the Queen kept their rooms. He was the Queen's bodyguard, and was intimate with such details. Even from the outside looking in, as he was, he could determine which windows were those of the ladies in waiting. Only two still had lights burning in them at this late hour.

Biding his time, and gathering a handful of his irregulars, he had waited until the deepest part of the night after attending court. A careful count of the windows informed him which one belonged to his sister, and it was that window he was watching. He knew Aly would be to the other side. The second light belonged to her.

The Roma waited in the darkness near the wall of the castle, for all intents and purposes appearing to enjoying a game of dice and drinking, a group of irregulars with a night off, taking their leisure. As the night watchman called the second hour, the light in the first window dimmed, and then was snuffed, the golden reflection in Zindelo's black eyes being replaced with the cold glint of the silver moon. Soon.

The men were getting cold, and more than a little irritable. They seemed to be drinking heavily, their accented speech slurring, and Zindelo's grin flashed in the darkness. The third hour came, and the second light still burned. It was time. He gave an almost imperceptible nod to his men, and their voices started to rise in argument. Zindelo crept a distance along the wall, blending into the deep shadows cast by the stone barrier until he'd nearly reached the gate. There he slumped down, resting a half-empty bottle of rakia against his thigh as he let his head loll to one side, just another inebriated Rom.

The voices of his men were drawing the attention of the watchmen on the wall and by the gate, as the argument escalated and turned to fisticuffs. The guards called down to the men to break it up, which was answered by hurled insults regarding one's mother and another one's wife. In moments, the staged fight between the Romani Irregulars had become a regular drunken brawl with the guards, who ignored the unconscious drunk they passed to join the fray. The sot waited until the fists were flying before he agilely rolled to his feet and slunk past the gate only feet from the brawlers.

Just as he passed through, one of the guards caught sight of him and it began to dawn on them that for drunk men, their blows were oddly accurate. The fact that it was a ruse incensed them to subdue the Irregulars who were, by now, laughing, and pushing each other about, doing no real harm. Cursing, the sentinels took off after Zindelo, with his own men hot on their heels. Zindelo's brash laughter came through the night as he scaled the wall of the gardens and disappeared behind it, racing for the trellis work that climbed along the wall of the ladies' wing. Fragrant in spring and summer, it now provided a barren ladder which the lithe Viscount used to gain Aly's window, where the golden light burned still.

The commotion below caused lights to flare in the adjoining windows, and he cursed quietly, knowing he'd been caught. But a moment later, the entire undertaking was deemed worth the trouble, when he caught a glimpse of red hair and sea-green eyes appearing at the window he sought. His fingers grasped the sill of her window and he drug himself upward even as the guards he'd evaded began to climb after him, and the window beside him was flung open by an angry Luludja, who began to curse him in Romani, threatening to fetch her daggers and cut him down.

He ignored his sister. There was only one thing he wished, and his goal was met when the beauty he would wed the following day opened her window to lean out.
His lips met hers with a deep kiss, though his hand was tender upon her cheek, the other gripping the sill. "Ves'tacha....." It was the only word he could say before the trellis creaked under the weight of himself and the two guards that were gaining upon him. He kissed her once more, soundly, and then with the white flash of his teeth in a dangerous grin, he pushed off the wall, and flipped backward, somersaulting to the ground past the guards. Raucously laughing, he avoided the smashing of a piece of crockery flung at him by his sister, and darted for and over the garden wall.

His men were waiting for him there, in an uproar of laughter, and before he could get into further mischief, they hauled Zindelo away from the castle and out of the city. They had their own plans laid for him, whether he succeeded in stealing away his bride or not.

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As dawn crept toward the horizon, the celebration of Zindelo's men was still merry, fueled by rakia, music, laughter and spit-roasted lamb. And, though he was still perturbed by the lack of his betrothed beside him, Zindelo found stillness in his thoughts. Today, he would marry. Already, in his heart, Aly was his wife, and he was her husband. But today, before family and friends, they would seal that bond. She would be his, for as long as he could stand by her side. This was a dangerous path for his thoughts to travel down, and he focused instead upon the coming ceremony, and the way she had looked when he had stolen that last kiss. In but a few short hours, there would be none who could tear him from her side. They belonged together. It was a simple and irrefutable fact. Never again, for as long as he drew breath, would he be voluntarily parted from her.

Her joys were his joys, her sorrows, his. In a very real way, she was a part of him. To be separated was to be without half of his being. He wondered, briefly, if the intensity of this feeling would ever fade. A smile slowly found its way to his lips. He knew the answer to that question immediately. Such forces of nature could not be tamed.

As he sought to find rest for his mind, and ease for his body, his thoughts turned to other things, particularly the expansion of his family. Today, he gained not only a beautiful wife, but a son in Angus as well. A fierce surge of pride struck him when he considered the youth, so like to his mother, that he now considered his own. In a few short hours, no longer would he be merely a man. He would be a husband, a father. He knew that the coming ceremony would change nothing. But this day would change everything.

Subject: Re: A Wedding Nab Wed Dec 08, 2010 7:57 pm

((I laughed and sighed. Beautiful!))

Subject: Method to the Marriage Madness Wed Dec 08, 2010 9:05 pm

Luludja didn't simply elf-nap Aly just to be mean to her brother, or her dear bori. Indeed, there was method behind this madness. The two days before the wedding were the busiest days, but it was her job to ensure that Aly suffered from as little stress during the preparations as possible. And so, while the rest of the castle, went about the tasks of decorating, cooking, sewing, and arranging, the ladies of the Queen had fallen to the task of preparing Her Majesty's dearest friend for the day of her wedding.

Scented oils and milk baths softened her skin, only the finest and lightest foods were prepared for her, she was surrounded by the sweetness of imported flowers. A trunk full of new gowns in her favored styles had been prepared for their honeymoon trip, and hours were spent draping Aly in the sumptuous fabrics, trying on and altering the designs before packing them away.

The night before the wedding, few got any sleep, due to a certain someone disturbing the peace with his attempts to sneak away with Aly. But the day of the wedding was tense with excitement, and the ladies sequestered Aly away the entire day to prepare her for the night she would become a new bride. Their vigilance even more alert to ensure that the cocky prince of peacocks would not catch so much as a glimpse of his betrothed before she was approaching the altar and their new life together.

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