Kestrel walked around the palace one last time the following morning, before he and Putienne left the palace and the city to return home. The rest of the Hydrotaz delegation was staying in Graylee for two more days, but Kestrel felt ready to leave, to return to Oaktown to rest and become enmeshed in the activities of his own community once again. And to have the chance to no longer see Lucius and Gail and be reminded of the upsetting news they had delivered.
During his walk, Kestrel chanced upon Gail, who sat in a chair in a lobby where two halls intersected. It was the first time he had chanced upon the girl since they had met at the docks, the first time he had run into her without Lucius by her side.
“Kestrel, it was a wonderful treat you provided at the wedding yesterday,” she said as she hastily stood to greet him.
“I always want to help my friends,” Kestrel said with genuine feeling.
“You were a big help to me,” she repeated her comments from when they met.
“That’s because you’re a friend,” he told her with a smile.
“You’re so nice Kestrel. I can’t believe you’re not the one standing up before the crowd getting married,” she replied.
“Well, that opportunity doesn’t seem to be coming to me anytime soon,” he said awkwardly.
“I’m sorry, that was a thoughtless thing for me to say. I just know that if Lark saw you, she’d change her mind again,” Gail said earnestly. “It’s just that her father is king, and she thinks that is important, and so does Lucius. And someday he’ll be king, and he cares about that a lot.”
“It is important to some people, I suppose,” Kestrel affected nonchalance, thinking of the opportunity he had experienced to have been king of the Eastern Forest.
“Not to me!” Gail cried. “I don’t care if I live in a palace or not. I just want to be married to someone who loves me, someone who I can love.”
“Ah, there you are,” Lucius interrupted them as he opened a door and stepped into the adjoining hall.
“I was just saying goodbye to Gail,” Kestrel told the crown prince of Uniontown. “Putienne and I are leaving this morning to return to the Eastern Forest.”
“We’ll be sorry to see you go, but we’ll see you again in four weeks, at our wedding, won’t we?” Lucius asked. “Just four weeks from today. It will be at the palace.”
“I may not be able to,” Kestrel replied slowly. “I’ve been away from home a great deal, and there’s a long list of things that need done.”
“I’ll miss you,” Gail said in a low voice.
“Let me consult with the others when I get home,” Kestrel equivocated. “Perhaps there’s a way.”
“Well, whether we see you or not, we’re thankful for all you’ve done. The lives of the people of Uniontown are better because you helped us,” Lucius spoke in a fervent voice.
Kestrel nodded his acknowledgement, bowed briefly, and then left the couple as he returned to his room to pack and prepare.
Kestrel and Putienne ran across the Graylee countryside without incident, then crossed Hydrotaz, and reached Oaktown less than a week after leaving Philip’s palace.
Chapter 32
Kestrel was in Oaktown in time to attend the last mushroom market of the season.
“We’ve made quite a bit of money, and so have the Hydrotaz human traders,” Whyte told Kestrel as they watched the market transactions take place.
Putienne sat next to Remy as he sold his mushrooms and hoarded his stack of pearls that he had received as payment from the imps. She gave Kestrel a knowing smile as she held the young trader’s hand beneath the table, making him smile broadly.
“Will we be able to help finish the repairs of the damage the Center Trunk forces inflicted?” Kestrel asked.
“Not completely this year, but few will be able to tell. Next year we certainly will,” Whyte said confidently.
“It’s good to have you back, and all these travels of yours complete,” he added complacently.
“Well, there may be one more trip this month,” Kestrel cautiously informed. He wasn’t completely certain that he intended to keep his promise to go to the weddings in Uniontown, and he had vowed to himself that if he did, he would rely on the imps to carry him in and out as quickly and painlessly as possible.
“Really, sir?” Whyte implied disapproval.
“It may not happen,” Kestrel reassured him and they didn’t discuss it again. Kestrel instead focused on spending time with the elves of the Marches. He traveled with Parisse to visit and treat the residents of the small villages in the region, and he helped oversee the work of humans who came to repair and restore damaged structures.
Kestrel carefully watched as Putienne and Remy maintained their relationship, the boy desperate to cement his role as the lovely girl’s favorite, but not sure how to do so. Putienne displayed patience, and Kestrel concluded that nature would run its course in due time between the two.
And at last, the night before the Uniontown weddings were to occur, Kestrel decided he would make the obligatory trip, just to show that he was magnanimous enough to do so. He wrote a brief note explaining his departure to Whyte, and placed it on his desk as he summoned the imps.
“Stillwater,” he called, then repeated the imp’s name.
“Kestrel friend, I’ve not heard from you in some time,” the blue being appeared above his patio in response to his call. “Have you decided you wish to go to the healing spring?” he asked hopefully.
“I have decided to go to Uniontown, to attend a wedding,” Kestrel answered. “And I would be happy to go to the healing spring tomorrow night, after the wedding is over.”
“Tomorrow is acceptable,” Stillwater said philosophically. “Let me call others.”
Odare and Mulberry appeared on the other side of Kestrel. “This Lark girl is going to be married?” Odare asked.
“And she should have given her heart to you?” Mulberry questioned.
“Are we going to cause mischief? Shall we pull pranks? Would you like for us to drop buckets of water on the bride during the wedding?” Odare giggled.
“Yes, that’s a splendid idea,” Kestrel said calmly.
All three of the sprites ceased their aimless floating and looked sharply at Kestrel.
“Really?” Mulberry said in a small voice.
“Lark girl has been our friend, Kestrel dear,” Stillwater pointed out tentatively.
“Of course not,” Kestrel grinned. “We aren’t going to really do anything. You’re simply going to take me to Uniontown. I’ll watch the weddings, and then we’ll go to the healing spring,” Kestrel explained. “Please just take me to the estate of Duchess Tyle,” Kestrel asked.
“We shall go,” Stillwater affirmed, and the three imps closed in around Kestrel, wafting him away from the dark patio. After moments of gray transport, they arrived at the front door to the duchess’s mansion, as the red sun of the westerly location still hovered above the horizon.
“Thank you,” Kestrel told the imps. “I will call you tomorrow for the return trip.”
“To the springs?” Mulberry confirmed.
“To the springs,” Kestrel agreed.
The door opened just as the imps vanished from sight, and a servant stood at the door, unfazed by the appearance of blue imps and a purple-eyed elf. “Welcome back, my lord Destroyer,” he said in a formal tone. “How may I help you?”
“I wish to see her ladyship,” Kestrel replied.
“The Duchess is currently at a wedding dinner. Would you care to wait for her here?” the man offered, and he held the door open.
“Thank you,” Kestrel appreciated the man’s offer. “I’d like to go to the cottage. Will you inform me when she returns?” he asked.
“Certainly. I presume you know the way?” the man said without a trace of irony, knowing that Kestrel had lived in the cottage for weeks.
Kestrel smiled and walked past the man, through the manor, with a pause in the kitchen as a cook offered him a warm slice o
f sweet bread, and then through the gloamy dim of the canopy-covered garden, to reach the cottage where he felt so at home.
Kestrel sat on the garden bench nearest the cottage as night fell and the birds in the garden softened their songs and chatter. He eventually saw a candle come through the garden paths towards him, then stood in surprise as the Duchess appeared alone.
“Welcome home,” the tall, straight-backed elderly lady said to him in a soft voice. “I’m glad you’ve chosen to come see us; I presume you’re here for the wedding?”
“I am,” Kestrel agreed. He choked on the thought of mouthing platitudes, but the old-fashioned courtesy of the duchess demanded politeness. “I look forward to seeing the happy couples married.”
“I don’t know that happiness was the objective in these matches, though it’s a nice dream,” she again spoke softly. “Shall we attend the event together then? You won’t mind being seen in the company of an old lady?” she smiled.
“The honor would be mine,” Kestrel said, and he was sincere. He had come to respect the noblewoman’s demeanor and manners, and her standing in the society of Uniontown. She was offering him a place of respect by allowing him to sit with her.
“I will see you in the morning for breakfast,” she informed him. He bowed to the duchess, then watched her walk back towards her manor until she was out of sight in the garden.
Being with the duchess at the wedding would be the least unpleasant way to attend, Kestrel reflected. He would have enjoyed being in the company of Gates or Stuart, but they would both undoubtedly be actively engaged in the arrangements and celebration of the double wedding of the two women who Kestrel found desirable.
He turned to enter the cabin, and stopped, reacting with shock to the thought that had just passed through his consciousness. He did find both Lark and Gail to be desirable. He’d thought of Gail as someone to protect, and then as the ward of the duchess, and as a friend as well. But now he realized the truth, that her sweet personality, shaped perhaps by her experiences as an outsider, like him in many ways, made her entirely compatible. He had laughed with her and been able to talk with her easily, without reserve. She was, to his eyes, a beautiful woman, especially even more so with the red hair that Uniontown despised. Gail was bright, and loyal, and tactful. And she had kissed him once, on the night in the garden in Seafare, a kiss whose memory tasted fresh and revitalizing.
And yet she would be married in less than a day, married to the heir to the throne, in front of the aunt she was so obedient to, in front of all of Uniontown society, which she had become reintegrated into, to her delight. She was not destined to bring happiness to him.
A tear trickled down Kestrel’s cheek, as he stepped forward and opened the door to the cottage. Why hadn’t he recognized and understood the happiness that Gail could have brought him, he wondered.
Minutes later, he lay down in his bed, ruminating on the missed opportunity. There was a soft knock at the door, and he sat up in surprise.
“Kestrel?” Gail’s voice sounded on the other side of the door, speaking softly.
“Kestrel, I just heard you were here. Are you awake?” she asked in a stage whisper.
Kestrel froze with indecision. He wanted to run to the door, to open it. He wanted to see her, to invite her in. He wanted to hold her hands, to tell her that he had just realized that he loved her.
His confession of love would be a disaster, he knew. Gail would, at best, sympathetically and kindly reject him. At worst, she would tell him the truth, that he was being self-centered and destructive by revealing his love for her on the day before her wedding.
“Kestrel?” there was one more whispered request for his attention, a request he decided he could not answer, and then he heard the faint scuttle of feet walking down the garden path, away from his cottage.
Chapter 33
Gail’s nighttime visit went unmentioned the next morning at breakfast. Kestrel arrived at the table to find the duchess and Gail both seated, and he made his greetings before sitting down.
“It’s nice to see you again, Kestrel,” Gail spoke with a hint of formality behind her slight smile.
“The Lord Destroyer has agreed to be my partner at the wedding festivities today,” Tyle told Gail as Kestrel took his seat.
“The two of us should make a formidable couple, shouldn’t we?” she asked without smiling.
“The very walls of the palace will quake with fear,” Gail replied demurely.
Kestrel smiled at the exaggeration.
“Tell us about your first visit to the palace, won’t you Lord Destroyer?” Gail asked as she took a bite of a breakfast pastry.
“Yes, we’ve heard versions of the story circulate around the city forever,” the duchess agreed. “It would be most entertaining to hear your perspective.”
Kestrel thought about the long-ago adventure, one of the most audacious actions he had ever taken, when he had run through the midst of the Viathins and the Uniontown court and guards to grab Moorin off of the stage, to rescue her from the literal grasp of the late king of the nation.
“I thought I was in love with Moorin,” he began, and he reconstructed the adventure, beginning with his invasion of the Viathin temple, and finishing with the storm of deadly black energy he had unleashed.
“I saved Moorin, but it was the most evil period of my life, dealing with the strength of the Viathins right in the heart of their domain in the Inner Seas,” he finished up soberly, many minutes later.
He realized that neither of the ladies had touched their breakfasts, as they had sat and listened, engrossed by the tale he had told.
“I can’t imagine that anyone else could have come out of that experience alive, let alone with such a wonderful heart!” Gail spoke enthusiastically, forgetting her need for decorum on her wedding day.
“I had a lot of friends who cared for me and loved me,” Kestrel answered. “And their love helped me stay who I am.”
“Love is so important,” Gail agreed.
“Perhaps it is, more so than the schemers and plotters at court realize,” Tyle said quietly.
The rest of the breakfast lasted only a few minutes, before Gail was called away to begin the preparations for the wedding ceremony.
Kestrel stood when she stood, and he carefully took her hand in his, acutely aware of the warmth of her flesh.
“I’ll see you again at the palace, at the wedding,” she said as their eyes locked on one another.
“You’ll be the center of all attention, including mine,” he said awkwardly. “I know you’ll be beautiful.”
And then Gail was gone, and Kestrel found that Duchess Tyle was studying him with a penetrating gaze.
Kestrel returned to the garden after breakfast, then hopped over the wall and walked about the streets of the city, not disguising his appearance, eliciting stares and shouts as he visited the sites he knew and remembered around Uniontown. He returned to the manor and climbed over the wall to return to his cottage, where he cleaned himself up, and then presented himself in the manor to await the duchess and their departure.
“We’ll take a carriage, if you don’t mind. My old bones don’t fancy a long walk, the way you youngsters do,” the duchess told him when she joined him in the parlor. They walked to the door and entered the waiting coach, then silently rode through the city streets to the palace. The roads around the palace were thronged with other carriages and hangers-on, so that their approach was slow until they reached the gates to the palace and entered.
The duchess exited the carriage first, politely received by the staff of the palace and watched by the other attendees who were arriving, most of them less-exulted than the lady who was a relative of both the past and present royal families.
Then Kestrel poked his elven head out of the carriage, and stepped down, to a moment of silent astonishment, then a loud hubbub of chatter and scuffling movement.
“The Destroyer!” he heard the title repeated from all directions. The duche
ss placed her hand on his arm, to remind him to escort her, and she leaned over.
“You’re going to be more memorable than the wedding itself,” she told him, making them both smile, before he took the lead and walked her into the palace.
“You’ll find our surroundings familiar,” Tyle told him as they strolled through the busy hallways of the palace, the people around them giving them a wide berth.
The halls did indeed look familiar, and when they reached the grand doors that provided entrance to the ballroom for the wedding, Kestrel belatedly recognized his location. It was the same ballroom he had spoken about that morning at breakfast, the great audience hall where he had stolen Moorin from captivity and set her free.
“We’ll be taken to the front of course,” Tyle spoke softly, as several ushers flocked around them, eager to look at the legendary elf up close, under peaceful circumstances.
The two of them were walked up the long aisle towards the front of the ballroom, where seats nearly encircled a low platform that was covered in white and blue lace. Tyle and Kestrel, quickly called the Duchess and the Destroyer, were seated in the second row, with a clear view of the scene prepared for the wedding ceremony.
Other attendees were thronging into the room, while Kestrel and Tyle sat quietly. Kestrel watched the room fill completely, then heard a flourish of horns, and Listay, now the king of Uniontown, came walking up the center aisle alone, wearing splendid robes and a golden crown. As he reached the front of the room he recognized Kestrel, stopped, and held out a hand to kindly touch Kestrel on the shoulder. Smiling, the king then turned and took a seat in the front row on the opposite side of the aisle.
The trumpets flourished again, a softer refrain this time, and the two grooms and two brides walked onto the platform, coming from the left and the right respectively. They stood facing one another for several long moments, only a few feet away from Kestrel, and he studied their faces closely.
A Marriage of Friends (The Inner Seas Kingdoms Book 8) Page 39