Le Parc Commémoratif - The Memorial Park.

Renaux stand upon the center stage and wishes he could be almost anywhere else. Thousands of eyes are upon him, and the collective weight of their stares is pressing upon him. The atmosphere is tense, boarding on hostile and it is all Renuax can do to hide how nervous he is. Still it falls to him to speak, to try to offer hope to these people. He begins to speak and his words are carried by the wind to reach every ear in the park, thanks to the crown of wings. His voice starts out hesitant, but as he gathers his will he becomes more confident.

"It was.. not mine to be king. My brother the late Prince Vyun was the one who was raised to take the throne. I suppose some of you may think being king as an enviable position, I never did. I listened to some of the lessons that my father passed onto Vyun and one stayed with me."

Renaux pauses closes his eyes and then reciting from memory.

"To whom much is given much is expected, wearing the crown grants you much power but even more responsibility. We rule at the peoples pleasure we are just as much their servants, as they are ours. Be strong, be wise, be kind, place your people first and you will be a great king."

The young king opens his eyes and continues.

"The idea of that much responsibility terrified me as a boy. That is why I decided I did not want to have anything given to me, I ran from my responsibilities as prince. Many of you may already know this but I pretended to be a peasant for much of my life. I enrolled in the Académie Royale de le Pégase, and I worked hard to earn a spot among the Pegasus Knights. I always suspected my father hated me for doing this, in my ten years of service I never once heard from him. But I didn't care, I was comfortable. and I was happy. the only responsibilities I had where those I choose to take on. As you know this did not last my father and brother died, and I was left the sole heir to the throne."

Renaux begins to cry at the memory and his voice cracks as a lump forms in his throat.

"When I first heard the news I was so angry. How dare they die, how dare they force the crown upon me, it wasn't for me, I didn't want it. With the anger of course came guilt. How could I be so childish? How could I feel anger when I should feel sorrow? But I couldn't help myself grief takes strange paths, and we often rile against the hand fate deals us."

Tears still streaming down his face Renaux, his voice though recovers and he says firmly.

"I returned to the palace after the funeral and I sat at my fathers desk, even to this day I cannot think of it as my own. I begin to listlessly shuffle through his papers. I was lost I didn't know what to do I had gone from a knight of the realm to its leader and it was all too much. However on his desk in a stack of letters I found an envelope addressed to me, it was old, faded, and had clearly been opened many times. Inside there were pages of letters from my father to me and I began to read through them. They were letters saying how proud he was of me, how he admired me, how he was glad I found my own path. I sat there stunned, I do not know why he never sent those letters, I fear I will never know. All I know is in that moment when things seemed darkest when I had lost all hope, those letters gave me the strength to go on. They gave me the will to become the man my father thought I was, and to become a king he could be proud of. I sat at my fathers desk and I wept all anger, all guilt gone, left only with sorrow and hope."

Renaux takes a long deep breath, his tears slowly stop and he smiles gently at the crowd.

"I tell you this story because we have all recently been plunged into darkness, through circumstances beyond our control. Many of you may have thought me callous to proceed with my wedding, with so many fresh dead, and the city still seized by terror. But I do not do this out of callousness, I do it because it is my hope to provide you with the same spark those letters gave me. Will we mourn? Yes of course we will in the weeks to come we will grieve for what we have lost. But tonight I want you to find a spark, I want you to find your joy, and your salvation, I want you to remember that no matter how bad things are life is still worth living. Tonight I want you to celebrate because those we lost would not want us to spend the rest of our lives in darkness."

The king falls silent, he has no idea what kind of effect his speech will have. All he knows is he spoke from the heart and he prays that it will count for something.

The twins shuffle along behind Grandma, wearing their fancy dresses and polite smiles.

Is that the king?

He's certainly very young.

Oh, he's crying.

I thought men didn't cry.

Where did you hear that?

Mr. Hasdrubal doesn't cry.

He might have removed his tear ducts.

Oh yeah.

Do we even know any other men?

Well, there's Mr. Reese.

He doesn't have eyes.

There's that candy seller.

He doesn't seem like the sort to cry.

Mr. Davous?

I've never seen him crying. He had delicious fudge.

True.

Perhaps the king is really just a little baby.

He's certainly acting like one.

When is the queen going to come out? I want to see her dress.

Me too. How long do you think it'll be?

Maybe it'll be so long that she needs people to hold it up.

Wouldn't that be funny.

The godmother herself has decided to show up. It is a high-society event, after all. And she is certainly a member of high society, in more ways than one. House Élat may not be the most powerful of families, but it certainly has money. She walks through the crowd, dressed in the most sparkly of gowns. As she walks around, she makes small talk with the various wedding guests, rich and poor. She looks so refined, so elegant, that nobody would ever expect that she actually runs the most brutal fairy dust cartel in the country. As the new queen-to-be walks up onstage, she applauds politely with the rest.

What an innocent-looking young woman, she thinks to herself. I wonder how long she'll last.

She smiles at two young girls in matching dresses, and waves at their grandmother. 

"You two look adorable."

Looking back up, she watches the ceremony with an expression of mild amusement.

Requin claps along with the crowd, with a rather strained smile on his face. Looks like he missed his chance. Ah well. At least she's wearing his necklace. That's something, at least. He watches as an older noblewoman sweeps through the crowd, smiling and speaking to little girls. What a nice woman. With such a lovely woman around here, it's almost difficult to imagine that Gauldin has such a serious fairy dust problem.

She walked until she met with the King, and he smiled at her, actually seeing her. Arianne found her own smile curling her lips, not in confidence, no. She wasn't at all sure that she was doing the right thing. She still wanted to run, but her hand reached out, her flowing gossamer sleeve dancing as she slid her warm hand into his, held up between them.

"I'm here," she told him quietly. He could probably feel how her hand trembled like a leaf as the women who had walked behind her took their places. In a wide circle all around them, nobles and their retinue, peasants and their families watched as the King of Renaux took Lady Arianne as his wife and queen. Little lights danced romantically above their heads, dainty flower petals falling.

It was a night of magic and romance, and all who looked upon Arianne in her enchanted dress and the King so handsome and young beside her with his crown of wings-- they couldn't help but sigh wistfully, dreaming of fairy tales and happily ever after. The hope that the King had wanted was surely working its magic this night.

"You may exchange your rings," the officiate said, looking pompous in all his grand clothing, but it no doubt fit the occasion of a king's wedding, even if they weren't in the grand cathedral. "Repeat after me," he informed Arianne.

She turned towards Renaux, her gaze downcast as she was handed a ring by Lady Vanelle. It was gold, with a ruby set within it that gleamed as deep and red as Arianne's hair. Diamonds were set on either side.



"With this ring, I thee wed," Arianne repeated, "and vow to... love you, and honor you, with the love in my heart, the wisdom of my mind, and the... the ability of my body." She blushed bright pink at these words, but continued on. "I promise to cherish you and..." she hesitated. The officiate wanted her to say obey, but Arianne glanced at him, and then she looked up at Renaux, "and tell you when I think you have gone astray, and promise the strength and patience to guide you back once again. This I so swear, before the people of Gauldin."

She looked down at the ring, and her pretty blue eyes went a little wide. It was very pretty and unique, and she hadn't been expecting it. She had figured that he would have gone for the stand by of flash and pomp and luxury, and although this ring was certainly a work of art, she liked that the diamonds were not truly overwhelming.

A real smile traced across her lips as his war-calloused palms took her own into his hand and slipped the ring up onto her finger. She looked up at him when he, too, refused to follow the Officiate's last words. The people chuckled good heartedly, their hearts full of love for the young royal couple getting married, while the Officiate rolled his eyes that he'd been ignored twice.

When Renaux cupped Arianne's face, however, her heart started beating in double time. This was it. This was it! He was going to kiss her. She listened to his quiet words, and before she could tell him that it would be her first kiss as well, his mouth settled warm and firm against hers.

Clapping and cheers and hats and flowers were tossed up into the air in celebration of the kiss. It was hard not to be happy when she was surrounded by so much joy. Her hand, his ring sparkling on her finger, rested lightly against his chest as she kissed him back. When a warm tingle began to dance its way from her lips to her chest, she broke the kiss and looked away.

"All Hail King Renaux and Queen Arianne!" called the Officiate, and the response from the crowd was instantaneous. Music struck up in the air, and fireworks began to go off overhead, wowing the people below.

Ashani stood in the crowd in her stunning blue finery, standing in a section near the duke but nowhere near his inner circle. The entire proceeding had gone smoothly, it seemed, and upon the final kiss she clapped. A true smile graced her youthful face; rarely did crowd vibes entice such an emotional reaction in her, but she couldn't help but feel something truly genuine, as though in a world riddled in trouble, death, and frustration, time seemed to stop for just one moment of real joy.

As the king and queen are being showered with adulation's Gaspar moves through the crowd gathering Ashani , Grandma , and Zigi Stardus escorting them to an area to wait with three soldiers. There is a plain looking man his arm in a sling, a distraught but resolute female Pegasus knights, and an older commander. The three new comers are advised to wait to be called onto the stage.

At Arianne's response Renaux whispers back.

"I don't blame you, every time I have to give a speech I am terrified I will make an ass out of myself. I can't believe I cried, it just sort of felt like the eulogy I never gave my father."

Renaux shakes his head surprised for a breif moment at his own honesty on the matter. Surprisingly his skin tone is back to normal, much of the embarrassment he had been feeling drained away with the completion of the act. He felt strangely comfortable and calm now that it was done with, and he raises his voice to address the crowd once more.

"Another reason we have gathered here tonight is to honor those who went above and beyond the call of duty during yesterdays events. I would like to call those heroes up here now so we may show them the appreciation they deserve."

Ashani, Grandma, Zigi, and the three soldiers are lead onto the stage and the king hand in hand with Arianne goes to each of them. He explains to the crowd which each one did to deserve this honor and then Antain hands them a medal. He describes the bravery of Ashani and Zigi in aiding him in escorting Arianne back to the palace. He describes how grandma near single handedly drove off the ringleader of the attack. He tells the people how the soldier in the sling pulled a family out of a burning building. He explains how the Pegasus knight went toe to toe with one of the were hyenas and lost her steed. Finally to the commander he awards a handful of medals to posthumously to those who gave there lives, in acts of exceptional bravery.

 

When he is finished the king addresses them as a group.

"You have the thanks of the people of Gauldin, as well as my personal gratitude. If there is any boon you would wish, and it is within my power and reason I shall grant it."

Renaux will pause to see if Arianne has anything to add. Once she makes up her mind one way or the other, Gaspar will then lead the 6 off of the stage. He will note to each of them that they can seek an audience with the king tomorrow at the palace or tonight at the royal pavilion. 

Grandma viewed the wedding proceedings, a slight smile on her face the entirety of it. The queen truly was a beautiful woman. She seemed slightly tentative, but not unwilling or unhappy. After the amount of arranged marriages Grandma had been to, it was quite easy to sense that from a bride.

The two of them together also made quite the pair. Having such a lovely couple as queen and king of the country would surely improve the people's mood. For their sake, she hoped they could keep the support of the people that was being displayed in full on this night.

When brought up onto the stage and given the medal, Grandma would bow her head graciously to both the king and queen, offering them a murmur of thanks. When the queen leaned over and thanked her, Grandma would speak, quietly so only the queen could hear her.

“I believe you have found a good man your majesty.”

With that ceremony over, Grandma would follow Gaspar back off the stage. She considers whether meeting the king tonight or the next day would be better. Although it would be nice to speak to him quickly, she suspected the king would have countless other matters to attend to this night. She also doubted the amount of privacy granted on the pavilion.

These things in mind, Grandma decided she would retire to her hotel and seek the king in the morning. Well, maybe the afternoon, this thought bringing a wry smile to her lips. After seeking out the twins, Grandma would head back to the hotel, twins in tow.