Chapter Five Hundred and Eighteen - Post I-Dos
Awen's mom looked between Awen and me, then Booksie and Rhawr above her. Her little tongue slipped out between her lips, wetting them like a mouse poking its head out of a hole only to notice a lion waiting for it. "Perhaps we can have this conversation somewhere a little more private?"
I was ready to jump in, but I saw the way Awen straightened her spine. She took a deep breath, and I could almost see the moment she decided that she had had enough. "No Mother."
"Pardon?" her mom asked.
"I said no, Mother," Awen replied, her voice growing a little more confident, a little louder. "You're the one who decided to start and make this a spectacle. What are you even doing here?"
"We're here on behalf of Mattergrove, and to ask my brother about you," her father said.
"Oh? Well then, I imagine it'll be a great look for Mattergrove when word gets out that two nobles from such a ... such a backwater nearly ruined the wedding of the decade."
I held back a giggle. It looked like Awen's Mom had just bitten into an entire lemon for a moment there. I don't think Awen actually believed Mattergrove to be a backwater. It was a lot more likely that she just wanted to say something to get under her parents' skin.
"Are these your parents, Awen?" Booksie asked. "Please, introduce us?"
"Of course," Awen said. She bowed slightly and shifted to the side with courtly decorum. "Mother, Father, this is Catherine Cabbage, owner of the finest reading establishment in all of Port Royal and a dear friend of mine."
Booksie smiled. "Awen was there when Rhawr and I met. She takes some of the credit for bringing us together."
"Indeed," Rhawr rumbled.
"And of course, our dear Booksie's husband, Rhawrexdee. He Who Smote the Clouds Themselves. The Thunder Hammer. The Scourge of the Northern Desert. Booksie's Beau." Booksie giggled at the last and Awen flashed her a smile. "Ah, and my fellow bridesmaids. This is Captain Broccoli Bunch, whom you've met of course. She's a member of the Exploration Guild, and... and a whole lot more. And this is Caprica."
I glanced to the side to see Caprica heading over, obviously curious about what was going on. "Hello," she said with a slight inclination of her head. "I am, in fact, Caprica."
"A sylph," Awen's mom said. I think she was trying hard to find something inoffensive to focus on.
"Indeed, cousin," Caprica said.
"Cousin?" Awen's dad asked. "Ah, you're nobility as well!" He put on a genial, bright smile. "I'm afraid I didn't catch your family name."
"Sylph," Caprica said.
"Your family name is ... Sylph?" He frowned. "That's a strange name for ... wait ..." he trailed off, his face paling.
"Okay," I said with a grin. "Should I go see the dragons?"
Rhawr hummed. "I've been avoiding seeing my mother, you may as well go and distract her."
"You've been avoiding your mom?" I asked with a gasp.
"She is crying! It is unbecoming." Rhawr turned his head away, as if he was refusing to look in his mom's direction at all.
Booksie leaned in close and whispered. "When he sees his mom crying, he starts crying too. And he doesn't want to in front of all his cousins."
"Ah," I said with a nod. Rhawr was a softy.
I gave her a quick, careful hug, then moved towards the dragons. Cholondee and Rhawr's mom were off to one side, the younger of the two rubbing her mom's back as the huge dragoness wiped the tears away.
I decided not to interfere with that for a moment. It was a happy sort of crying, but it was still a lot.
Of the gathered dragons, most were chatting between themselves while cowed grenoil brought wheelbarrows filled with snacks over for them to pick at. One dragon stood apart a little, though. While most of them were metallic golds and bronzes, one was a stark, gleaming white, like freshly fallen snow.
I bounced up, a bright smile plastered on my face, and waved as I approached. "Hello! Are you all enjoying the wedding?"
"You are small," the white dragon said. Their voice was light and airy, almost like a whisper carried by the wind. "And not a dragon, but you are..." They sniffed at me, and I had to hold back a giggle at the sensation. They weren't much bigger than some of the wyverns I'd ridden in Sylphfree. "A riftwalker and a bridegroom. Strange, strange."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," I said with a curtsy. "I'm Broccoli Bunch!"
"Char Ret Undahscor Charet," the white dragon said with a dip of... her head? I think it was a she. Girl dragons had a bit of a thinner face and were more plump around the middle. I was getting better at telling dragons apart!
"That's quite the name," I said. "Are you enjoying the wedding so far?"
The white dragon scanned the crowds and then Rhawr and Booksie. "It is strange. I have not spent very many years so close to... non-dragons. Except for my food, I keep away from most."
"I see," I said
A nearby dragon leaned over. "You'll regret encouraging them. Char Ret hasn't flown off their mountaintop in centuries. They don't understand how the world works anymore."
"That's okay," I said. "I have a friend that was in a similar situation, and I think that they've overcome a lot of their problems by stepping outside a little and seeing the world."
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