Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards

[Ivae Z'ress]

---

A soft sigh escaped Ivae's lips as her eyelids fluttered open, and she stirred slightly in her bed. She moved her arm to the side, expecting to touch Nazralte, but her bed was empty. Suddenly, reality tore her awake, and she sat up, her entire body crushed by several feelings. Fear, extreme happiness, nervousness, and love all rolled through her like waves crashing on the shore of her concious mind, making her stomach feel as though it would not hold anything.

Today was her wedding day.

As was tradition, Nazralte could not see her on this day until she walked down the asile to meet him in the ceremony, so he had slept at his tavern last night, while she slept at her home. An acute sense of lonliness wrapped Ivae as she pulled her her knees to her chest, hugging them tightly. She had not realized just how safe Naz made her feel until he wasn't here one night. She remembered the nightmares and a shudder ran the length of her frail body. Pursing her lips, she finally moved, and stepped out of bed, determined to dispel any bad thoughts on this day.

Shivering, she quickly made her way to the bathroom across the room, and smiled as she saw Midri had already drawn her a hot bath. Midri was an old friend of her grandmother's, who came to help her on occasions she needed it. She had not needed it in a while, but today, she welcomed the old woman's company. Her thin hand quickly untied the ribbons that held together the front of her gown, and it fell open in the front. She shrugged her shoulders, letting the thin material fall to the floor, and then quickly stepped into the tub, sinking down until only her head was above water.

She did as she did most days in the bathtub, plan. A million things she needed to do ran through her mind. The flowers had to be gathered, she needed to go set them out one last time to make sure the arrangments were right. She had ordered the cake from a bakery in town, and it should be delivered to Naz's place later... She must speak with Tat, they needed to do a few run throughs. Sighing, she knew she needed to get started. Just as she started to sit up, however, Midri came bustling through the door.

"Don't you even thinnabout getting outta that tub yet! Yous are worrying again, isn't yous? I told you about that! relax!! Old Midri will take care of everything."

Midri pulled a stool up beside the tub and smiled down at Ivae, who crossed her eyes, wrinkled her nose, and stuck her tongue out, just to show how mature she was. Giggling softly, Ivae ran her hands along the top of her water, creating small ripples.

"Is it wrong to be so happy Midri? I feel like a small child with a crush."

Midri smiled down at her and patted Ivae's knee which had come above water when she had drawn them up.

"Nay, child, tis not wrong. You have found your mela, just hold onto him."

Ivae nodded and bit her lip, closing her eyes, falling into a daydream of many things.

The rest of the day was a whirlwind of activity. Ivae ran around, grabbing flowers and darting in and out of Naz's house, leaving things he had sent by messanger he needed, but making sure he would not be around to see her. She reached Tatiana and they did a run through of the placed they should stand and walk. Then, Tatiana ran off to get some things done before the wedding, leaving Ivae with an hour to be alone, and wait.

Time inched by. She walked around the temple some, but she did not go out into the main foyer, for fear Naz would drop by for some reason and see her. Brenna whined from the room above and Ivae quickly went running to her, petting the mare's neck softly, whispering praise and encouragment in the horse's ear. Brenna was cueing off of Ivae's mood, but she didn't know enough to know why Ivae was so giddy and nervous.

Finally, Ivae changed into her gown. She brushed her crimson curls and let them fall about her shoulders, loose. The flowers had been set out ust previous, so there was nothing to do now, but sit, and wait. Ivae paced the room silently, wondering when Tatiana would come back. She sighed, and said a silent prayer to the Gods everything would go smoothly tonight.

"Ms Ivae?"

Tatiana's voice sounded behind her and she smiled, turning to hug the woman tightly. They were both dressed down for the ceremony, and bless her heart, Tat's hands were shaking as hard as Ivae's. They were certainly a pair. Giggling and grinning, they spent the next hour running around catching peeks at guests from the balcony, always careful to keep Ivae in the shadows.

Time grew near and everyone had arrived but Poet. Ivae grew more and more upset by the moment, worried something had happened to her dear friend and worried she would not be wed this day. She was sitting on the bed, when Galathan walked into the room. Throwing herself at him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. He held her awkwardly, but tightly, a testiment to the fact they had missed each other. Ivae finally lifted shimmering eyes to his face.

"I didn't think you were coming"

"What?! Miss this?!"

Galathan replied, in his way of joking everything off. He gently brushed his thumb across her face, and smiled down at her. Ivae nodded, sniffled, pulled back, and straightened her dress. Tat smiled at the two of them, and it was in that moment Ivae realized how very dearly she missed her friendship with Galathan, and how much she depended on Tat for so many things, but mostly peace of mind.

Smiling again, she was fine for a short time, until it had passed another half hour, and Poet was not here yet. Ivae felt sick at the thought of all of the people who had come to see them having to wait. She would be wed today. As her and Tat stood to one side of the balcony, Ivae's face became red, and her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. Everything was going wrong, Naz had sent her a message that the best man had dissapeared. Tat saw her face and asked her what was wrong, and the moment Ivae confessed she felt like crying, Tat began trying to cheer her up.

"no no no Ms Ivae. You can't cry... then I'll cry... and we can't go down to Naz sobbing, can we?"

She promptly placed one hand on her hip and one in the air, crooked slightly, and began to sing "Im a little teapot". By the end, both Ivae and Tat were laughing aloud, and Ivae's fears had somewhat abated. Then, came the next news. Phantom ran to Ivae, hugged her tightly, and told her that Brad, the friend of hers Ivae had met once before would come and marry them if they liked.

While arrangments were made, Phantom and Tat made sure Ivae was ready, giving her something new, old, borrowed, and blue. Phantom, in a rush of emotion, gave Ivae a flower garland to wear on her head, which she placed atop her crimson curls, smiling happily.

The next time flew by again, and before Ivae knew it, she was standing at the top of the stairs, Tat before her and Gala at her side. He took her arm with his, and squeezed her hand tightly, smiling reassurances at her. They walked down the stairs, and then down the asile, taking thier places before the minister. Naz smiled at her as she approached him, and she felt her face heat with a blush.

The ceremony was all a blur. Ivae realized later she would never forget a word that had been said, but at that moment, she could only see Naz's face, and know that this was right. They exchanged thier vows, and were pronounced as husband and wife, and they walked out of the room together, and simply held each other a while before the guests began to pour out, looking for runes to Naz's place.

Finally, everyone was gathered at Naz's place, and the drinking insued. It was quite hilarious actually, for Ivae and Tat giggled and hiccuped, and stumbled and laughed together for what seemed like hours. Ivae had never seen Tat drunk, and she herself was trying to fight the nervousness of what she knew would come later. In all of her years, Ivae had only known a man in that sense once, and that had been by force. She didn't know what to do, didn't know how to feel.

Finally, when she was yawning and could barely stand any longer, they said goodbye to the guests and headed to her home. Tomorrow they would leave on thier honeymoon, but tonight, she wanted her own soft bed and the comfort of her husband's arms. As she crawled into bed, her sleepiness fell away like a curtain being pulled back, and she was suddenly shaking with nervousness. Naz climbed into bed and slowly drew her into his arms, whispering soft vows of low and praise as he calmed her. Her face buried in his neck, her question was muffled.

"Will it hurt terribly much?"

Naz's lips were close to her ear as he murmured.

"I do not know, but I shall be as gentle as possible, my love"

She nodded against his skin, calmed somewhat, and finally looked into his eyes. The kiss that followed was more passionate that anything they had shared before, and what followed brought her into a new level of understanding. They made love slowly, and in the end, she lay on her side, curled into his arms, her warm flesh pressed to his, her mind spinning as she drifted deeper into the confines of sleep. The last thing her waking mind heard was him confessing his love to her. She smiled, and knew that from that moment on, she would never again be alone.
_________________