“She has to get this right!” Uli was saying, fretting and starting to sweat in his formal robes. He was fussing over the coronation rites and how Nyssa was supposed to do something that would uphold Patrick as her regent. It was a visual display of acquiescence that Uli felt strongly about. Nyssa had agreed to the display but not to the third rehearsal.

“She will get it right, Uncle,” Patrick reassured him for the hundredth time. “I know my sister and she knows ceremony,” he added.

Patrick was splendidly dressed in his own robes. Wide-breasted and floor-length, his were black and accented in their family burgundy, the black being the official colour of his office. His discreet crown was tucked into his blonde hair and soon, he would wear the gold mantle or “Chain of Office” of the regent, which Nyssa would bestow on him and then invite him to stand beside her in the show of pageantry Uli was currently fretting over.

“Where is she?!” Uli finally exclaimed and he paced around the green room once more. Patrick took a breath to calm his nerves and hold his patience for his uncle. He caught Jara looking at him and rolled his eyes and they both smirked and looked away.

Nyssa had risen early, which she found annoyingly becoming a habit at the palace, to be bathed and redressed. This time, she wasn’t being prepped to be the handsome daughter of a king. Nyssa was being prepared for the crown of a queen and she felt the difference almost immediately. The gowns, the braids, the jewellery, all of it made Nyssa more nervous and because everyone had been banned from her room like a bride on her wedding day, she was feeling exceptionally lonely.

Nyssa was dressed in a reasonable three hours, but she was made to wait and study the coronation texts for several hours more. When Uli entered, she was nearly ready to tear the heavy dress, robes, cloaks and throw the jewellery at him. Instead, she stood perfectly still in the middle of the room.

“Good, you are ready,” he said by way of greeting. She glared at him. “The room is set. Patrick is ready,” he said and fanned himself. “I will preside over the ceremony. I will indicate when you need to say your sections,” he added and she nodded and closed the book in her hands. She’d committed to memory her section. Your guardsman will be present and at your shoulder on the dais. He has points to control the tempo and the crowd.”

Nyssa almost laughed at that visual. Uli took one more look at her, inhaled deeply and whirled on his heel like a schoolboy. He went to the doors and threw them both open. Six knights in black waited for her. She blinked at him.

“Come on!” he hissed at her and Nyssa slowly started to move.

Patrick smiled warmly at her when she arrived at the green room and gave her a long and welcoming hug.

“You OK?” he asked her and she nodded. He turned and opened the large cabinet, revealing the enormous formal, female crown of the queen. Created five centuries earlier for the last Orak’Thune queen, this crown was something to behold and would not have been seen before by anyone present on this day. She saw the one her father had donned a few times in official ceremonies winking in the background. His personal daily one they’d buried him with.

Patrick carefully placed it on her head and she nearly swore with the weight of it. He wiggled it until it fit her hair and head to settle securely. He smiled to her. “Wow.” Nyssa looked down carefully and took his hands in hers.

“If you let me fail out there or as queen with anything to do with our law or our code, I will kill you,” she said and smiled at him. He grinned broadly right back.

“Deal,” he said and kissed her forehead.

“Showtime,” he breathed. Uli jumped in front of them and threw open the doors.

The ceremony lasted three hours and Nyssa walked, stood, sat, spoke, sat, stood, anointed, appointed and swore her oath dutifully, stoically and with pride. Patrick had accepted his ornate Chain of Office and took his place to her right at the chair one step below hers. Jara remained behind her large one on the top, thumping a pennant on the floor at certain times and assisting her up and down the stairs when she needed to move around.

She accepted pledges of allegiances, fealty and lifelong patronage from officers, soldiers, courtiers, council members and ambassadors of friendly, allied nations. When it all seemed to be too long, Nyssa, still standing at the dais, was completely distracted by the tall and very beautiful man walking last up the aisle. The hall fell quiet and it seemed as though everyone waited for the man to arrive at the front to speak.

“Your Majesty, Queen Nyssa, I salute you,” he said in a strong, baritone voice and bowed his head from the shoulders. He wore a crown of delicate white metal and was dressed in long flowing green robes with gold leaf embroidery covering every surface. “All of Bough rejoices with your coronation. We honour your commitment to your people, to your country and your family.”

The man bowed again and Nyssa bowed herself quiet low.

“King Baro of Bough,” her brother said warmly and stepped down to take the man’s hand. Nyssa tried hard not to look stunned. “We are honoured you have come!” he said. Baro took his hand and smiled at Patrick. He bowed again to Nyssa and went down the aisle.

All eyes returned to Nyssa.

“Fellow countrymen,” she began, her voice clear and projecting. Uli nodded with pride. “I will not fail you; I will not lead you astray or leave you in darkness. I am your protector and your voice for the peace and the prosperity that you and all our allies deserve. We go now into a period of uncertainty. A threat has taken citizens, and now our king and our Royal Mother before that. I will avenge those we have lost and I will return to us the peaceful borders of our lands. Trust in me. Trust in your regent. All hail, Orak’Thune!”

“ALL HAIL, ORAK’THUNE!” the room thundered immediately after her and a bit to her surprise: “ALL HAIL, QUEEN NYSSA!”

True to her word, Nyssa followed Patrick around until she got the full story from him and Triana. She had actually been holding it as a consolation for all the ceremony and pageantry she’d endured lately; that her first official act as queen would be to officiate over the matrimonial vows of the new regent of Orak’Thune, her big brother. It was slowly making it feel a little worthwhile.

Trying to understand Patrick’s delay for herself, Nyssa theorized Triana’s parents, who were at the palace all ready for the funeral and coronation, maybe were expecting a formal and large ceremony for their daughter, considering who she was marrying. Still, in the end, Triana herself surprised Nyssa with the truth. After the coronation, during the celebration dinner and ball, which Nyssa endured to say lightly, she approached Nyssa nervously and requested a private audience. Anxious to be excused, she agreed and took Triana to the green room.

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” she said and sighed heavily in the cooler and quieter room.

“It is probably me that should be thanking you, Triana,” she said and laughed, sitting gratefully in one of the chairs and fanning herself. Triana smiled warmly after her.

“It was a beautiful ceremony, Queen Nyssa,” Triana said and she walked to a chair nearest Nyssa and, with a hand, waited for Nyssa to agree to her choice. Nyssa nodded enthusiastically. “I am so honoured to have been a witness to it.”

“A lot of people — none of them me — worked to make it so, but thank you, Triana. It was good to have friends there also,” she said and let her head rest on the high back of the chair, shutting her eyes for a minute.

“Um, the reason I was hoping I could speak to you, my Queen, is…” Triana began and stumbled, getting shy at the good part. Nyssa opened her eyes again and lifted her head to give her full attention.

“Go on, Triana,” she said politely. Triana laughed and it sounded like a tiny glass bell, but she quieted.

Nyssa was delighted by her. She’d never had a woman friend like her. She almost felt she understood why she didn’t carry a blade.

“Well, Patrick did come to me. He told me you insisted and I am so very grateful, Your Majesty, for your…interest in our nuptials,” she went on and Nyssa nodded. “You see, Patrick thinks we should have a very elaborate affair for our wedding and that maybe we should pick a time of year that is more beautiful, and maybe have it outside, and maybe we’d invite the whole court…” Triana stood up then and Nyssa could see she was growing agitated. She started pacing the room.

“And…you are not sure of these ideas yourself?” Nyssa added helpfully. Triana looked at her, her face imploring.

“No,” she said desperately. “I just…I don’t.” She sighed and looked down at her hands. “I just…I am sure it would be lovely. It would be beautiful! Magical! But how long would we wait for the “perfect day outside”?” she said, making the quotations and frankly mocking the words Patrick probably uttered to her. Finally, she threw her hands down in total exasperation.

“We’ve been talking about getting married for over a year, did you know?” she asked shyly. Nyssa shook her head.

“When he asked me, officially, that night before you left,” Triana made no indication she remembered Nyssa walked in on them and she was half undressed already, “I thought that was it; the waiting was finally over!”

“And then things happened and now we’re starting again,” Nyssa offered and Triana sighed and nodded. She turned around and flopped back into her chair.

“I love him, my Queen,” she said quietly into her chest. “I love him desperately. So help me, I cannot live without him.” Nyssa smiled at her. She believed her.

“I don’t care for a big ceremony. I want only him,” she said then and looked up at Nyssa, her expression searching. "I told him that when he asked me. I wanted to get married that very night!”

“He refused?” Nyssa asked surprised. Triana looked a little uncomfortable before she replied but did so.

“He said he would wait for you. He wanted his sister there, no matter what.”

“But I was there!” Nyssa exclaimed. Triana threw both hands out in common understanding. Nyssa rolled her eyes and moved to the edge of her seat to work out the plan.

“What do you want, Triana? What do you really desire?” she asked her seriously. Triana nearly burst into tears but settled on a relieved, ear-to-ear grin.

“Just him. Night time, maybe. You, Uli and my parents. That’s it,” she said then. Nyssa smiled at her.

“Do you have a dress?” Nyssa asked her seriously.

“Yes, I’ve had one for three months!” Triana exclaimed.

“How does tomorrow night sound to you?” Nyssa said and smiled back at her.

---

Nyssa arranged with Sass that the Grand Hall Balcony be opened for the following evening. It was approaching winter, the nights were very cool, but Sass ordered the large fireplace nearest the platform lit and Triana waved off the objection of the chilly venue by adding a fur stole to her dress.

Patrick had been taken aback and totally disarmed when the two of them came to him that morning and advised him of the plan. Nyssa took great pleasure in her authority in that meeting. Patrick was both overjoyed and instantly terrified. It was an added bonus that he would be left to his own devices to fret about it the remainder of the day without them.

Nyssa spent a good while in Triana’s company as she got dressed that afternoon. It was a flurry of femininity the likes of which Nyssa had never seen. Five girls and her mother fussed over Triana, and the whole time Nyssa really couldn’t understand why. The girl was gorgeous climbing out of the tub with her head drenched and water in her eyes.

The final result was breath-taking, though. Triana had not wasted time in ordering her custom wedding gown and it was laid out and waiting for her when they arrived. Now, Nyssa was witnessing the transformation unique to a bride; the yards and yards of satin brocade that encircled the tiny woman’s body was something out of a dream and her hair piled high but with long tendrils teased her bare shoulders. Her mother placed family heirlooms on her neck and in her ears and the woman even sparkled. Everyone in the room took a step back and held their breath to see her. She was truly, incredibly beautiful.

“Your Majesty, we must finish with you now. Will you please undress?” the head maid said to her, not wasting any time. Nyssa even laughed at the thought of getting “dressed” again, so happy was she in how she had spent her day and in anticipation of what was to come. She was in the process of disrobing and re-dressing in the beginnings of a finer outfit when the dressmaker arrived to inspect her creation's final fit.

“What a vision!” the woman exclaimed and immediately busied herself with hands all over Triana’s body, pulling and tugging in places and flattening and fluffing in others. She took steps back and went in for tiny adjustments just about everywhere. “Good thing you’ll get this under your hat today too, my dear, or I’d be taking out that waistline and I don’t know if it the effect would have been quite the same!”

The other maids were helping Nyssa, who needed to get ready considerably quicker and Triana’s mother had left to finish her own preparations, but Triana’s face froze when she saw Nyssa had heard the exchange.

“Thank you, madam. The dress is wonderful. Would you mind excusing us, now?” she said and it was a bit firm. The woman nodded and bowed to Nyssa, who hadn’t yet taken her eyes off Triana’s. Then she left. Triana looked ready to cry in fear.

“Are you pregnant, Triana?” Nyssa asked her calmly. Triana’s bottom lip began to tremble and she nodded. Nyssa was surprised. She didn’t think she needed to be angry, nor even if it really was important.

“Does Patrick know?” she asked. Triana shook her head and her hair bounced all over the place. Nyssa looked down to step into a shoe and pull on her sleeves to adjust them as the maid was tying the laces in the back.

“I was going to tell him tonight,” she said, barely above a whisper. Nyssa raised her eyebrows at the obvious necessity of that statement, but still, she didn’t really care, except to say that she really was starting to feel it was wonderful. Her big brother a father? Yes, it was perfect.

Nyssa waited for the maid to nod to her and then stepped away to come closer to Triana. She took her hands firmly and made the girl look into her face.

“Tonight, I will wed you to my brother, someone whom I hold most dear in this world. I will also agree to support your marriage, which means supporting both of you together and individually. In that, Triana, I accept you as my sister and I am blessed that it is you. Now, if you carry my brother’s child,” she said seriously, but then let show a huge smile, “then this quite possibly is one of the happiest days of my life. I can only imagine what it must feel like for you two,” she added and laughed, trying to hide her tears.

Triana burst into tears herself and Nyssa tried to urge her to control it so she wouldn’t get puffy eyes, but Triana needed the minute and threw herself into Nyssa’s arms.

“I was so frightened. I was so afraid you’d be mad, that you’d think I wasn’t honouring him by waiting to say something!” she wailed. Nyssa held her and lightly patted her back. “It was the one time! The night he asked me formally, the night I thought we would marry anyway!” Triana dissolved into sobs again after that. Nyssa heard an uncomfortable cough behind her. She turned her head, still holding onto the weeping Triana, to see Jara standing there.

“My Queen, a moment?” he said simply. Nyssa nodded and patted Triana again. She helped her sit and asked a maid to fix her face and bring her water. Nyssa pointed to the hallway and she left with him. When the door was closed, Nyssa felt relief, but the smile she’d carried all day stayed easily fixed. Jara saw her dreamy expression and smirked.

“Did I just hear that right? The future lady regent is already, uh, has already jumped the barn door?” he said and leaned down to say it low and into her shoulder. Nyssa nearly barked out loud at his indelicate reference to Triana’s condition. Nyssa smacked him in the shoulder and checked quickly for other ears nearby. He took it but laughed and she laughed too. Nyssa indicated they should walk to less likely be overheard.

“What can I do for you, Jara?” she said then, still chuckling though.

“What am I wearing?” he said simply. She looked him up and down and then stared at him blankly. He rolled his eyes. “What am I wearing tonight?” he qualified.

Nyssa hadn’t considered he’d need to be there, but then it hit her so stupidly, guardsman or not, he would be. He was her closest friend and likewise quite close to Patrick himself.

“Obviously some sort of armour for representing you, but Patrick asked me to stand for him. I actually don’t have any idea what that means,” Jara said then and shook his head in defeat. Nyssa laughed. She didn’t either.

“Just a couple of hopeless army rats, aren’t we?” she said wistfully and they laughed easily together.

“Armour, for me,” she agreed finally and couldn’t help reaching out a hand to touch his chest but did drop it innocently, though her smile remained. Her eyes were lost in her contemplation of an image for him.

“Wear the white cloak with our crest, the one with the red embroidery, for him. It’s what I’m to wear if ever I get married. It should be suitable for Patrick as well,” she said and shrugged. Jara nodded slowly, thinking it through, but she caught the dismissing sigh.

“I’ll see you there,” he said quietly. She met his eyes, smiled and nodded.

Nyssa arrived at the edge of the stairs and made her way down the red carpet with the royal orb in her right hand. Patrick’s chest puffed out with extreme pride when he saw her and Uli bounced from one foot to the other in his own excitement and happiness. It was a dream come true for her uncle: that Patrick and she had accomplished so much. Behind him stood Jara, dressed as she expected and looking heart meltingly splendid, but his expression was much different. She gave him an encouraging grin and hoped he understood her intended meaning; I’m OK and so are you.

As she passed Triana’s parents on her left, they bowed deeply at the waist and straightened only when Nyssa turned at the head of the carpet and lifted the orb.

“Dearly beloved,“ she began immediately, “I, Nyssa, Queen of Orak’Thune, invite the daughter of Lord Kendril and Lady Fawn to come forth and present herself,” she said and waited.

All heads swivelled to the end of the aisle again. Not to miss her cue, Triana was there and already walking. Nyssa watched Patrick’s face for his reaction and was not disappointed. She saw the love in his eyes and the tears that were pooling at the tops of his lids.

Triana arrived and stopped after taking his offered hand. Patrick bowed to her and kissed the top of her hand, holding it loftily away from him, old-fashioned style. Nyssa lowered the orb into cradling it in front of her, smiled at both of them and waited.

“I, Triana, daughter of Lord Kendril and Lady Fawn, present to you my offer of marriage to regent of Orak’Thune and brother of the queen,” she said, her voice as clear as a bell. Patrick smiled broadly at her.

Nyssa turned to him.

“I Patrick, regent and brother to the queen and overlord of Orak’Thune, present my offer of marriage to Triana, daughter of Lord Kendril and Lady Fawn,” he added and he couldn’t help but kiss Triana’s hand again. They didn’t look back to Nyssa; they were lost in each other.

“Do you both swear oaths to accept your offers as a binding agreement, that you shall honour and love each other for all of your days, that you shall never leave the other in darkness or alone in sickness, that you shall support each other, live as one and honour the Code of Orak’Thune, as husband and wife?” Nyssa was proud she had memorized that section.

“I do,” Triana replied and turned to give her second hand to Patrick so they were facing each other.

“I do,” Patrick replied and nearly bent to kiss her but remembered it wasn’t time.

“Do we have the rings?” Nyssa asked and Jara stepped around Patrick to hand them to Nyssa. She didn’t really meet his eyes.

Nyssa put the rings in her palm and then deposited the orb over top of them. The other hand she placed on top. Uli grinned in delight at her flair for pageantry at this moment; Nyssa was making this part up on her own.

“By the power vested in me by the High Council and the people of Orak’Thune and represented in this orb, a symbol of the eternal power of the overload, I, Queen Nyssa, bless these rings as they are symbols of your offers and eternal love for each other. May they endure with as much authority, presence and conviction as the orb. May no force separate you, may you find happiness in each other, and may these rings serve to remind you that you are bound to each other, that you are loved, that you are one, no matter the distance you may travel.”

Nyssa raised the orb and offered her hand between them so they could take each one ring and place them on each other’s hands. Triana nearly bounced with joy when hers was secured. Patrick cleared his throat in obvious excitement.

“By royal decree,” Nyssa very quietly said and everyone looked up at her in anticipation, “I pronounce you both married. Husband and wife.”

Triana did squeal a bit then and she launched herself into Patrick’s arms. He kissed her fully and lifted her off the ground. Triana’s parents were teary-eyed and they hugged each other and Uli went over. Nyssa stood proudly at the top and wiped a tear too. She concentrated on keeping her breathing steady and her smile firmly fixed.

Patrick and Triana both came to her then and hugged and kissed her. Her brother lifted her off her feet and twirled her around twice before depositing her and kissing her again. Nyssa hugged Triana again and saw her wink at her. Her secret wouldn’t be secret for much longer. Nyssa nodded to her and waved them off.

Nyssa wasn’t really in a hurry to leave with the party. She wanted them to go, so she could have the room. Triana’s parents bowed and thanked her profusely and Uli hugged her and promised he was immediately going to go and record his testimony into the history books of this ceremony, which he boasted was the most romantic and beautiful a monarch had ever delivered. She hugged him and smiled to see him shuffle off.

When they were gone, she looked at the orb in her hand and sighed. She turned to the railing of the balcony and the freezing cold air of the autumn night. She looked out over the grounds beyond the palace, the courtyard and to her the whole country. Her country. The orb was soon very cold in her hand.

She was so extremely happy and filled with so much love for her brother and his wife — and their baby! — Nyssa felt overwhelmed and not ashamed by it for once. It was as it should be. An occasion of momentous importance, of undisguised honour for the one you love, of unbridled love. She was reflecting that she couldn’t believe she had been a part of it; what a true honour she felt it was for herself to have witnessed this moment, their beginning.

The clanking was always a dead giveaway that he was there, somewhere.

Nyssa felt the fabric of the cloak fall around her shoulders and the biting cold of the wind stopped and she felt she could breathe deeper. She saw her breath when she exhaled. Jara moved to stand silently beside her. He said nothing. He didn’t really have to. They’d said it all. Nyssa hadn’t anything else to throw into the debate, no more hands to play.

“They’re married and going to have a baby,” Nyssa said.

“Yes, I know,” he replied very softly. She thought there was weight to his voice.

Nyssa nodded to let it go in her mind. She turned so they were shoulder to shoulder but facing opposite ways. She reached up without looking and touched his face, dragging it down in her sorrow, to his shoulder and then to his fingertips. She took his hand and he accepted it. After a minute, she nodded again and let it go, walking away back down the aisle alone.