“Are you going to outlaw upgrades on the new planet?”
Elan knew nothing of these upgrades and no one surgically altered their appearance on Cendis. The whole idea was entirely foreign to him, but he didn’t see any reason to outlaw it. It wasn’t hurting anyone and maybe it made the people who did it happy. Isolde was with him like she usually was.
“No. Too many freedoms have been taken away from both our people, but Elan and I are going to be making big changes. No more slaves for one. There’s not going to be high born and the poor again. There will be schools for anyone who wants to learn, not just private tutors and universities for the wealthy. Anyone can be a scientist or doctor if they work for it. And no one is going to be arranging marriages anymore. I know they pick for the slaves too. You aren’t going to be married unless you want to be.”
“Your arranged marriage seems to be working for both of you. You seem deeply in love,” Petruk pointed out.
“Isolde and I could hate each other right now. Everything happening on Avala and Cendis right now with the swarms and water, it wouldn’t have happened if Isolde and I didn’t love each other. If our love could do that, what do you think an entire planet of people in love could do?”
“Do you plan on sentencing Hikmat with love?”
Elan cleared his throat. Maybe the Cendian slaves didn’t know? “Hikmat wanted to kill Isolde and experiment on me. He intended to overthrow our government and incite civil war. Laws here would have him burned. Justice is not like on Avala.”
They clearly didn’t know and most of them looked horrified. He didn’t know what to say because that was all he knew. Maybe more of his people didn’t like burning. Isolde’s hand slipped into his.
“I have an idea that doesn’t involve burning,” she said with a grin. “Do all of you mind if Elan and I discuss it? We will try to talk to you over COMM after lunch every day if we can. Fjola will have to leave you one. It should be dinner there back home and you should be back in your chambers.”
Everyone nodded and he pushed her to her back. Was he ever going to get her alone today? “What did you have in mind, my queen?”
“Do we have to talk about that right now?” she asked, squirming.
“Yes, because you asked to get off COMM.”
Her lower lip was sticking out again and all he wanted to do was nibble on it. “You still need the doubters to believe Fia is talking to you, right? So, you don’t pass sentence. You say you will stick him in front of the people and Fia will judge him. When he’s up there, your sixteen will use their gifts on him until he’s dead. Then, you just set him on fire like everyone is used to.”
He was about to kiss her. There was still a few more hours of daylight left for them to talk and enjoy each other. It was not meant to be. Tati started buzzing in his head.
“She is correct on the punishment. Jaka is learning the correct way to carry out your wedding ceremony and those that follow. Gentle king, your queen is carrying your child and hasn’t eaten lunch yet. You must take better care of her.”
Elan leapt out of bed to Isolde’s protests. He stuck his head out to ask for food. When he came back, she was sitting up with her brows knitted.
“No more skipping meals, for either of us. After we eat, we’ll have the rest of the day together.”
It wasn’t meant to be. Sartika barged in with their food with a dressmaker and stayed through dinner ignoring all their hints they wanted to be alone. Sartika seemed to be planning the biggest wedding the palace had ever seen.
Chapter 33
So much pressure had always been put on Isolde about getting to Cendis and completing the bond, she never even thought about the actual wedding. She always just assumed it would happen on the new planet and it would be chaos trying to figure out a ceremony both planets could accept. She wasn’t expecting it this soon and she wasn’t expecting Sartika to totally lose her mind. She was in Elan’s chambers until almost midnight chattering about her plans and she came for Isolde maybe thirty minutes after the sun came up.
Isolde was immediately separated from Elan as Sartika took her arm and practically dragged her to her chambers while she was still yawning. She didn’t even let them eat together. She had food waiting for them as soon as she shut the door and spent the entire time they were eating talking about all the strange food cravings she had when she was pregnant with Elan. She seemed to think Isolde might be having them too and for the first time since she arrived, she ate food she wasn’t sure she enjoyed.
“Sartika, it’s way too early for me to be having strange cravings. I don’t know how Tati could tell, but there’s no test available on Avala right now that could confirm I was pregnant. You don’t need to fuss about that yet or feed me strange things.”
“Then eat that instead,” she said, pointing to what looked like eggs and strips of meat. “That’s normal Cendian food and not something I craved. I had all sorts of things prepared just in case you might be.”
Isolde had a feeling they were all going to be unbearable when her belly got huge. “Why did you bring me here so early? Why couldn’t I eat with Elan?”
“Elan can’t see you until he lifts your veil to kiss you. Jaka’s bond animal’s orders. This wedding is going to be unlike anything either of us has seen. I’ve no idea what he intends to say to marry you, but the bond animals think you and Elan need to be dressed a certain way and unusual things need to happen.”
Rage flowed through her again. Soelva should have been telling her this, preparing her. She sent her here blind, believing lies and now she expected her to go through a wedding where she had no idea what was going on?
“What exactly do you need to know, little warrior? You wear a dress, Jaka will say words and bind your hands together, then you will kiss and be wed. It’s nearly the same on both planets, only the words will be different.”
“Why are all of you picking my dress? You haven’t let me make any of my own decisions, can’t I even pick my own wedding dress?”
“All of the choices you’ve made since you arrived here have been your own. You chose to stay. You chose to ask Elan to fight before you talked. You chose to get to know Elan rather than hold other’s mistakes against him. The entire alliance and movement to Ragnis Crystal could be shattered right now because of the choices you and Elan made.”
“You know me better than anyone in the factions. Why did you let me believe the lie about Elan if everything could have been ruined?”
“Questions for another time. It worked out in the end.”
“Why didn’t Tati or the others warn their bond mates about The Children?”
“Because that was a test for you and Elan. One that you have passed with flying colors. You will find the Cendian people are more willing to follow you after this. Everyone is being tested. You, Elan, the other chosen, and all the Avalian and Cendian people.”
“What happens if we don’t pass, Soelva?”
“You’re mostly there, little warrior. The chosen are nearly there. Your only thoughts today should be on marrying your beloved. The only thing left for you to do is what you’ve already planned and have your babies. The only hard tests that remain are for the people who follow you. They have to drop firmly held beliefs and learn to trust.”
“I still have to bring down a religious cult and pass sentence.”
“Your judgment has served you well so far and will continue to do so. Please, can you forget about The Children and what will pass tomorrow night and just enjoy your wedding?”
“The people that follow us, what happens if they fail? I can’t enjoy my wedding if I’m worried they are all going to die. Please, stop keeping secrets.”
“I will tell you one secret if it will ease your mind. None of those people will die, but they will not prosper like the rest of you will on Ragnis Crystal. You and Elan healed both planets creating your children, so they will not live in horrible conditions, but they will remain the same, stagnant. Rag
nis Crystal will be a new age for both of your people and you are so close. Just enjoy the ceremony and no one will bother you and Elan when it is over. You will both get the alone time you’ve been wanting.”
Soelva refused to answer anymore. Isolde realized Sartika had been staring at her expectantly. She knew she was talking to someone, but didn’t know who.
“Tati, or your bond animal this time? Why are you and Elan so irritated with them?”
“We think they have the answers to everything, but they won’t tell us. Soelva just told me all this is a test. I’ve no idea if we get the answers if we pass everything.”
“Well, why does she have to irritate you on today of all days?”
“I think she tried to let me in on something minor so I would forget and enjoy today.”
“Then forget it and enjoy today. Come. I’ve got a list of things I’m supposed to do with you.”
Sartika started with letting her sit in her own hot spring. She perfumed the water differently than he did. Elan used purple pods he called lavender. Sartika used some sort of oil with a woodsy smell. After she dragged herself out, there was a woman waiting to give her a massage like Elan did. This time, she just relaxed instead of moaning and aching for his touch. Once she was a noodle, several Avalian slaves came in to rub her down with oil.
They had to know she just appeared out of nowhere and see her muscles. When two of them got to her shoulders she whispered to both of them things would be changing soon.
“Has Fanndis been a lie this entire time?”
Isolde remembered what Tati said. “What is your name? Both of you.” She should have spent time with the slaves here. They didn’t question her not knowing. The girl on the right was Laila and the one on the left was Sera. “Fanndis and Fia are one in the same. Please do not say that to anyone except the other slaves. You know they will burn you. I promise, things will be changing soon.”
“Don’t do anything that will get you burned,” Laila whispered.
She slipped a red robe around her shoulders and led her over to Sartika’s vanity. Laila and Sera both stopped talking when Sartika stuck her head in once Isolde was dressed. Sartika was telling them how to style her hair and did her makeup herself. She could feel her long hair being pinned up behind her even though her eyes were closed while Sartika lined them.
It seemed to take ages for Sartika to sit back on her stool and eye her handy work. She yelped when Isolde turned to look in the mirror. “Not yet!” Sartika yelled, making her jump.
Sartika came back in with an ornate metal jewel box and a separate flatter wooden case. She eyed her face again, then politely sent Laila out for someone. “You’re going to need your ears pierced for the jewelry you need to wear. Put this up your arm,” she ordered, handing Isolde a pretty metal bracelet.
She didn’t know how she felt about having her ears pierced. She hadn’t on Avala because she didn’t want to stop fighting long enough for them to heal. She looked at Sartika’s ears. Her ears weren’t just pierced. The hole was stretched over a large, fancy ring. Elan had the same kind of holes in his ears, but he always wore wood. Sartika saw her staring.
“Have you noticed the other female sixteen here have their earrings like you wear on Avala? Females here don’t start wearing bigger jewelry until after you’ve wed. You pierce your ears at sixteen, but you aren’t allowed bigger jewelry unless you’ve married. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but you know who wants you in a particular pair of earrings.”
Isolde sighed. She had no idea if she’d stretch her ears out and how it would look with her ears so different than the Cendians. She fingered the point at the top and thought about the twins. Would one end up with her ears and the other Elan’s? Would they end up not getting along if one looked totally Cendian and the other completely Avalian?
She looked down at the earrings Sartika was holding out to her. They didn’t have anything like this on Avala and these looked old. Burnished hoops with four wires strung with jewels hanging from the bottom. She hadn’t seen anything like that since she had arrived here.
“A Cendian didn’t make these. I think we found them in a drawer when the original humans arrived. No one has been able to find jewels like this since we arrived. We don’t even know what they are, but they match your eyes and ours,” Sartika said, fingering the green and red stones.
Sera was still there so she didn’t voice her thought about Soelva and Tati needing to start answering questions soon. Sartika seems to already know what she was thinking. Laila came back in with a tall, thin, older Cendian woman with a severe face. She had a cloth roll in her hands and when she opened it, there appeared to be a range of needles. It was clear the woman still viewed her as a slave because she only spoke to Sartika.
“What size?”
“The smallest. She’s eighteen, but the earrings will be too big.”
“Am I doing her nose too?”
No one said anything about her nose. She’d noticed Sartika and a few other women had jewels in their noses, but not all of them. She picked up from the tall woman it was standard on a Cendian wedding day and she actually found the jewels rather attractive. She had a feeling this might be another test.
“Yes,” Isolde answered before Sartika could.
“I have a light green stone that matches the earrings if you insist on her wearing sacred jewels.”
“Relah, Fia insists on these earrings. If you don’t believe, we’ll get someone else in here and they’ll make history not you.”
Isolde decided to play a little trick. She changed the inflection of her voice and got into Relah’s head. “Do not be on the wrong side of history.”
Relah jumped and fell on her knees in front of Isolde. Sartika rolled her eyes and Isolde heard her thoughts loud and clear. Sartika didn’t want her doing that again. Relah was sputtering and trying to apologize for not believing. She was swearing she would try to make the needle painless. Isolde just took her hand and tried to explain she was sure Relah wasn’t the only one who doubted.
Relah was quick with the needle. She only felt a slight pinch with both her ears as Relah’s hand swiftly drove the needle through. She explained Isolde would have to keep something in her ears and nose so it wouldn’t close while it healed and use a special salt water so it didn’t get infected. She handed her a different pair of earrings to wear once she had taken these out and said it was a type of metal that was a little better for healing.
Her nose was different. She felt the same pinch, but her eyes started watering. Relah left the needle in her nose, but her hands were quick as she grabbed the jewelry and followed the needle with it. Relah and Sartika were both looking at her with a satisfied expression on their faces.
“Can I look now?” Isolde asked.
“I’m still getting used to eyes the same color as some of the jewels I use, but your eyes and that stone are a perfect match. The Queen Regent has lined your eyes so that they glow. Now that I know you aren’t a demon, it’s quite striking.”
“Yes, Isolde, you can look now!” Sartika squealed, turning her towards the mirror.
No one wore makeup like this on either planet. Some of the vainer Avalians like to heavily paint their faces, but not like this. Sartika wore a lot of makeup, but she painted Isolde’s differently than hers. She didn’t put anything on her face to even out her complexion. The only thing she had really done was line her eyes in black, but at the outside corner of her eyes, she didn’t stop. She painted black circles from the outside corner of her eyes across her temples so that they disappeared into her hairline.
Isolde’s lips were naturally a blood red. Sartika hadn’t tried to put anything over them and change the color, but she had lined her top and bottom lip with a deeper red, then blended it into her natural color. Her lips looked like some sort of painting. With the earrings, the new jewel in her nose, and the wood and stone ornaments she had hanging from her hair, she almost didn’t recognize hersel
f. She didn’t look Avalian anymore and she didn’t look Cendian either. She couldn’t tell what she looked like.
“You look like a queen, little warrior.” So, Soelva decided to come back. “You look beautiful. Try your dress on.”
“Can you see me, Soelva? How?”
“No questions today. Today is only celebrations and love.”
She sighed and told Sartika, Laila, Sera, and Relah she liked what they had done. Now that Relah was on her side, she wanted to stay while Isolde got dressed. Sartika looked like she was going to shoo her out the door, so Isolde just told her in her head to let her stay. The more people around her that were on her side right now, the better. And it was nice to see Avalian faces.
The dress Sartika brought out must have gotten so many strange looks when she went to commission it. The night before, Isolde had to stand there with her arms out while they sat there pinning the mockup to her so it would fit correctly when she would have rather spent time with Elan. All she knew of it then was a white cloth with marks on it from the pattern they made.
Sartika, Laila, and Sera were trying to help her into it. This dress was more similar to the clothes Sartika had made after she arrived. It had a black and crimson corset with black lace sewed at the top of the bodice. Two pleated silk sleeves went over each shoulder. The skirt didn’t flow out like the gowns she had seen Sartika in and it didn’t pool at her feet like the one she wore when Elan announced they were marrying. It wasn’t tight like an Avalian skirt either. It was only tight at her hips, then flowed out to her ankles and there was a large slit up the side so that her right leg was fully exposed.
Laila was behind her tightening the corset and that was when she saw the shoes Sartika intended her to wear. They weren’t shoes at all. There was a curved piece of leather that would cover the soles of her feet and she thought the string of jewels across the top was supposed to keep them on her feet. They also looked very old. The leather looked aged and the jewels matched the earrings. She looked to Sartika for answers while trying to keep her body still as the corset was tightened.
Child of Fire, Child of Ice-A Sci-fi Romance Series Page 25