kissed her and said: “Dayra! Lahal and Lahal, my dear,” I itched to find out how Dayra, alias Ros the Claw, had fared and if Jilian was with her, and then Jilian Sweet Tooth walked in, another edition although subtly different from Dayra of those splendid Jikai Vuvushis of the Sisters of the Rose.
There was much news to be learned. [5]
Finally, I wonder if you can understand my pleasure as I welcomed in two rascals, who pretended to be quite unimpressed by the glories of Vallia, since they’d seen them all before, and shook their hands in a mutual explosion of glee.
“Stylor!” they crowed, and engulfed me whole.
Yes, my two favorite rascals from the Eye of the World, Nath and Zolta. Ah! What times we had seen together!
Among the greatest joys for Silda in those tumultuous days was to throw her arms about her twin, Valin, and her elder brother, Drayseg. These two had much to relate, all of which I will tell in due course.
Then Lol Polisto turned up with his wife, Thelda, and their family.
Delia was superb.
The confrontation could have been embarrassing and disastrous. Seg had had a few adventures, and, again, what transpired there is grist for another story. Suffice it to say that Seg and Milsi, and Lol and Thelda, acted with natural courtesy and politeness and, indeed, they were four fine people able to come to terms in a civilized manner with what had happened to them.
It is my experience that going through an adventure with another person, risking your life and fighting free of perils, does not automatically make you life-long comrades. It very often does. It is not mandatory.
Now — to the wedding of Silda and Drak.
Well, as you may imagine, my mind flew back to those days in Vondium when Delia and I had been married. The Proud City was vastly changed; many great buildings had been destroyed and not rebuilt. Yet we had continued with our building program, concentrating on structures of use rather than ornament. The circuit of the walls was immensely stronger now. So as Drak and Silda took the prescribed and formal routes through the city on the different days devoted to the various ceremonies, they passed through a city in the process of rebirth.
Just as I had done on that long-ago day, Drak wanted the procession to pass by that certain inn and posting house by the Great Northern Cut called The Rose of Valka. When I had been banished by the Star Lords to Earth for twenty-one miserable years, Drak had grown into manhood and had taken over the reins of the island stromnate of Valka. He had been called the Young Strom. For all my love for him, I couldn’t see myself parting with Valka until they shipped me off to the Ice Floes of Sicce.
Since the Times of Troubles there were many vacant estates in Vallia. Drak would be well served in lands and wealth.
The Suns of Scorpio poured down their opaline radiance upon the face of Kregen, and the canals and avenues of Vondium glistened brilliantly in the light. Flags and banners, ribbons and scarves, massive banks of flowers, decorated all the ways. Fountains played. And the people gathered in their thousands to yell their heads off as Drak and Silda passed.
Much treasure had been spent in providing wine and food and palines for the folk. Everyone was happy. As for the presents showered on the bridal couple, they filled room after room in the palace.
What a week that was, when my lad Drak married his sweetheart! [6]
And not a single sign of the baleful influence of Csitra disturbed the joyous occasion.
What particularly pleased me was to note that among all the throng of friends and comrades, no one jostled for a better position. No one tried to pretend they were more important than anyone else. Among all the people well aware of the pecking order of Kregan nobility, the ranks fell naturally into order. I suppose, being human, among them there were rivalries. But, on this day, everything went off smoothly and without a single hitch.
Toward evening of the
There was much news to be learned. [5]
Finally, I wonder if you can understand my pleasure as I welcomed in two rascals, who pretended to be quite unimpressed by the glories of Vallia, since they’d seen them all before, and shook their hands in a mutual explosion of glee.
“Stylor!” they crowed, and engulfed me whole.
Yes, my two favorite rascals from the Eye of the World, Nath and Zolta. Ah! What times we had seen together!
Among the greatest joys for Silda in those tumultuous days was to throw her arms about her twin, Valin, and her elder brother, Drayseg. These two had much to relate, all of which I will tell in due course.
Then Lol Polisto turned up with his wife, Thelda, and their family.
Delia was superb.
The confrontation could have been embarrassing and disastrous. Seg had had a few adventures, and, again, what transpired there is grist for another story. Suffice it to say that Seg and Milsi, and Lol and Thelda, acted with natural courtesy and politeness and, indeed, they were four fine people able to come to terms in a civilized manner with what had happened to them.
It is my experience that going through an adventure with another person, risking your life and fighting free of perils, does not automatically make you life-long comrades. It very often does. It is not mandatory.
Now — to the wedding of Silda and Drak.
Well, as you may imagine, my mind flew back to those days in Vondium when Delia and I had been married. The Proud City was vastly changed; many great buildings had been destroyed and not rebuilt. Yet we had continued with our building program, concentrating on structures of use rather than ornament. The circuit of the walls was immensely stronger now. So as Drak and Silda took the prescribed and formal routes through the city on the different days devoted to the various ceremonies, they passed through a city in the process of rebirth.
Just as I had done on that long-ago day, Drak wanted the procession to pass by that certain inn and posting house by the Great Northern Cut called The Rose of Valka. When I had been banished by the Star Lords to Earth for twenty-one miserable years, Drak had grown into manhood and had taken over the reins of the island stromnate of Valka. He had been called the Young Strom. For all my love for him, I couldn’t see myself parting with Valka until they shipped me off to the Ice Floes of Sicce.
Since the Times of Troubles there were many vacant estates in Vallia. Drak would be well served in lands and wealth.
The Suns of Scorpio poured down their opaline radiance upon the face of Kregen, and the canals and avenues of Vondium glistened brilliantly in the light. Flags and banners, ribbons and scarves, massive banks of flowers, decorated all the ways. Fountains played. And the people gathered in their thousands to yell their heads off as Drak and Silda passed.
Much treasure had been spent in providing wine and food and palines for the folk. Everyone was happy. As for the presents showered on the bridal couple, they filled room after room in the palace.
What a week that was, when my lad Drak married his sweetheart! [6]
And not a single sign of the baleful influence of Csitra disturbed the joyous occasion.
What particularly pleased me was to note that among all the throng of friends and comrades, no one jostled for a better position. No one tried to pretend they were more important than anyone else. Among all the people well aware of the pecking order of Kregan nobility, the ranks fell naturally into order. I suppose, being human, among them there were rivalries. But, on this day, everything went off smoothly and without a single hitch.
Toward evening of the
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