Essentia (27 page)

              "Really?" I ask.

              She flashes me a huge grin and says "Yes My lady, it was to surprise you." He has succeeded. I am surprised.

              One of the women hold out a pair of silver shoes for me to see. "Wow those are beautiful." she smiles and slips them on my feet. "I don't want him to feel like he has to give me such expensive gifts, I did not marry him because of things like this" I say, motioning to all of the jewels.

              "My lady may I be blunt with you?" The older woman asks.              

"Yes of course" I say. interested in what she is going to say. She shoos the other maids out of the room then She leans down and places her hands on mine.

              "Prince Enre would not shower you in gifts, if he thought that is all you were after. He loves you, and you love him. Let him shower you in jewels if he wants. It makes him happy My lady" I know it does. I can feel it.

              I smile at her and tell her "But I have nothing to give him in return" I would love to give him something as well.

              "I believe we can arrange something" she says. Then went on to explain to me that she can have the jewelry maker come here to meet me so I can have something designed just for him.

              I would love that. "But how would I pay for it, I do not have money of my own here" I ask.

              "There is no need in that My lady, He is my husband and He would be delighted to do it" she says. If I do this, I will not feel right if I don’t do something for them in exchange.

              "Ok, as long as you let me repay the kindness someday" I say to her. I will do something great for them.

              "As you wish My Lady" she says smiling.

              I stand up and go look in the huge Mirror in the corner. I hardly recognize myself. "I'm",

              "Beautiful" I hear Enre say, he must have snuck in while I was admiring the woman in the mirror.

              "It is hard to believe that, that is me" I say, pointing at the beautiful woman in the mirror. He walks up behind me, resting his hands on my hips.

              "You look ravishing my love" I feel the heat rising in my cheeks.

              "Thank you, and thank you for all of this" I say, motioning to my ensemble.

              "I told you I would put you in beautiful gowns and jewels. You are a Princess of Aelmere now My Love, enjoy it" he says. I smile at our reflections in the mirror. Enre steps out from behind me. He is wearing what looks like formal clothing. with the same blue throughout it. and might I add, he looks mouthwatering. I had to remind myself to breath at one point.

              "You-you look amazing" I say to him, stumbling over my words.

              He snickers and says "Come on we have a carriage waiting for us.

              "Really a carriage?" I have never ridden in a carriage before. I smile at him and take his hand. he spins me around once and pulling me close. He leans in and kisses me gently.

              When he pulls away he says "come, let’s go to Town". This is the also the first time I have went to town looking like a pageant queen. I giggle to myself.

              When we walk out into the court yard, there are three wagons and a beautiful carriage. The wagons were stacked full of different kinds of food. "Are we taking that to the towns people?" He nods his head and smiles. The Guards are lined up in three lines before us. Enre clears his throat.

              Thegan walks out in his formal attire, moving to stand in front of us. "My Guardsmen, I would like to introduce Princess Terra Arthfael. My Brother Prince Enre's Wife. She is to be under your protection from this day forward" Thegan announces. Enre urges me forward. Stepping down a couple steps.

              I notice That all of the guards have knelt down with their hands over their hearts. "We pledge ourselves to the Princess of Aelmere, for now and always" The head guard says then "aye" the rest of the guard’s yell in unison.

              Enre bends down whispering in my ear "They Will protect you as they do us now My love". I don’t know what to say.

              "Would it be alright if I thank them, I do not know the customs here" I ask. Enre smiles at me and walks me down to the Head guard.

              The guard and his men stand at attention. "Terra. This is captain Kinley Ross. Captain my lovely wife has something she wants to say to you and your men, go ahead My love" Enre says.

              I step up to Closer to the Captain and say "I just wanted to Thank you and the other guards for your pledge, So Thank you" I say to him. trying not to bumble my words. The captain bows then followed by the rest of the guard.

              He says "It is our Pleasure to serve My lady, and might I add, you are as radiant as the morning sun, Aelmere is lucky to have you". "Aye men?" he yells.

              "AYE" The guards yell back. I smile at them. and Enre walks me over to our carriage. I look at the horses that are harnessed to it and see Saber and Slate. I look at Enre and he laughs walking me to the front of the horses. I rub both of them down their heads.

              "It’s good to see you again Saber, Slate. Did they feed you well?" I ask. 'yes, very well' Saber said in my mind. "Thank you for pulling the carriage, for us" I say. 'you are very welcome Princess; the others say the same' Saber said to me. I smile and pet them one more time before walking around to get in the beautiful silver carriage.

              Enre hold out his hand to help me. "After you Princess" he says. I take his hand and climb in. Sitting on the plush seat. He follows, sitting beside me. Thegan climbs on next sitting across from us.  Soon we depart from the castle, Food in tow for the people. The guards are following us on foot and horseback for our protection.

    Chapter Thirty-Four

        Enre

              Sitting in the carriage, I cannot help admiring Terra as she looks over the landscape. She is utterly breathtaking. Thegan interrupts my daydreaming "When we get to town, please make sure you stay with Enre and the guard’s, sister, for your safety" he says.

              "He is right; you never know when one of Molven’s men will show up again" I add. Town is not too far from the castle and it has a wall all the way around it with Two Entrances. As far as I know, the town has been here since the beginning. And its wall was built because of predators. It has been repaired a few times over the years, But Hopefully we will be able to eventually take it down to expand the town, after all of this is over.

              We Soon arrive at the city gates. The Bells toll to signal our arrival.  When the gates open, a huge crowd is standing on each side of the road. "They seem to be in good spirits today Brother" I say to him.

              "They have heard about our return; news travels fast around here" he says. I lightly squeeze Terra’s hand. Her eyes are wide, taking in the throngs of people and the new sights. All of the people are waving and have huge smiles. children are on their parent’s shoulders so they can see. When the carriage stops at the center of town, still surrounded by guards.

              Thegan steps out and He says in a very powerful voice "My People, we have returned to Break the curse, I Know that times are rough, if you will bear with us for a while longer, We Will Bring Aelmere Back to its former Glory. Prince Enre Has taken a Wife, May I Introduce, Princess Terra Ogden Arthfael" He reaches a hand out to Terra and I urge her stand up.

              I know this is over Whelming for her but it is out of necessity. This way the people know that she is protected. She stands, Smiling at the crowd. Cheering and applause erupts. The people are happy. She starts to blush and before I can stop her the carriage becomes covered in bright Blue Flowers and green vines. The crowd of people jump back. Gasps and whispers can be heard. Terra starts to tear up and I stand up quickly and put my arms around her. "Princess Terra is the daughter of Bohyne Tarna, The warrior of Aelmere. Do not Be afraid. She is here to help save us all. The crowd begins to cheer again, no more whispering can be heard. People are fickle. Always Reacting the same as everyone else. One second they cheer and the other they are backing away scared of what they don’t know exists.

I whisper to her "Everything is Alright, everyone knows about essence, It’s just not a lot of them have seen it in action. There are very few families that actually practice it. But everything is ok now My love, no harm done” Wiping a tear that has escaped from her emerald eyes. She sits back down in the carriage and I sit beside her as Thegan continues to talk to the people.

              "We know that food has been scarce lately so we brought some back from our journey to The Earth realm. The guards will hand it out, to make sure that everyone gets their share" Thegan announced at last. Motioning for The wagons to come in one at a time. "There is plenty for everyone, so please be patient while it is being handed out" Thegan adds while the people cheer and holler.

              Now That The speech is over I can take Terra looking around. I climb down the carriage and lift her up and out. sitting her on the ground gently. I enlace my fingers in here and say "are you ready my dear?" She smiles and nods her head. "You four come with us please" I say to the guards standing beside us.

              As we walk through the streets, People are congratulating us on our marriage. Offering us some of their wares as presents. I explain the reason they offer things as gifts to Terra. I can tell it was making her uncomfortable. After a while she smiled at the People and thanked them one by one. This is a fairly rich City; this is their way of welcoming her. Even though they are a wealthy people, the only down side is lack of food. But it seems that every one has been keeping their spirits up, since this curse has taken hold.

              "Can we look in there?" Terra asks, pointing to a wood carving shop. I smile, walking her to the shop she wants to visit. Going in, the shop keeper says "Welcome your highness's, Congratulations on your marriage". We say thank you to him and look around. After leaving that shop, I take her to the glass blowers.

              The Artist there offers us the same greeting as the others. "May I ask what your favorite flower is Your Highness?" The artist asked Terra.

              She smiled and said "An orchid". An earth flower.

              "I know those well, please allow me to make you one My lady" he says to her, instantly getting to work making her a glass flower. She stands there watching with wide eyes as the artist Heats the glass and starts forming the flower. Shortly after, He cools it and ties a white ribbon on the stem. He places it in a long wooden box that has been lined in down feathers. Walking over to us he hands the box to Terra saying "May this meager gift bring luck to you Your highness".

              She opens the box and looks inside. "It is beautiful, thank you" She say to him then she pulls on my hand wanting to say something to me. Whispering in my ear she asks "can I use my powers to give him a flower back?" I grin at her and nod my head slightly. She says to the man "allow me to give you a gift as well, though it is not much." She holds out her hand and concentrates. A few moments later, a Blue flower forms in her hand, with a small vine wrapping around the stem. She is getting better at controlling her powers.

              She hands it to the Artist and he grins from ear to ear. "Thank you My lady, it is a beautiful gift you have". Bowing to us as we leave the shop.

              I tell Terra "That was wonderful". She smiled and turned a slight pink.

              "This towns design comes from many different cultures; it is very breath taking" She says while walking through the vendors. I explain to her that our people have been to Her realm a lot over the century’s, taking design and culture from many places. Asian design, Indian, Gypsy, and many many more. A lot of our building and wares are inspired from those different cultures. Everything from fruit trees and garden vegetables to cows and horses.

              When we get back to the carriage Thegan is waiting. He stayed to oversee the food distribution. "we are going to need another wagon just for the gifts you have gotten sister” Thegan says snickering.

              She smiles back at him, "since they know about my flower growing may I try something? There are no flowers here, it’s sad" she asks Thegan.

              "I don’t see why not, just don’t push yourself to hard ok" he replies. "My people, Princess terra has something she wants to say to you all" He says in a loud voice, Getting everyone’s attention.

              "Thank you all for the wonderful gifts and kind words, I would like to give you all a small gift in return" She says to the crowd. They start cheering. She steps forward a little and lowers her head concentrating. she slowly starts to lift her hands, motioning for the walls and buildings. The crowd grows silent. I look around to see why. To my shock, the walls are being covered in vines and flowers. Then small flowers are popping up in front of all of the homes and business’s. I look back at terra and notice that she is starting to sway a little. I have to stop her; she is doing too much. I stand up behind her just as she is about to collapse. "Just a couple more" she says.