On the morning of the wedding, Liv waited for Thora to wrap her in a robe, and then made her way down the ancient stairs of Castle Whitehill to the hot spring. She’d considered sleeping at Bald Peak the night before – seriously considered it, in fact, as she didn’t want to be suffering from the lack of mana density all day. Instead, she’d brought the array of enchantments that she and Sidonie had come up with, deciding that would be enough for a single night.

  Two of her personal guards waited outside the door of the bath chamber – two women – with orders to only admit a small list of people. As soon as she felt the wet stone beneath her feet, Liv shrugged out of her robe and then slipped into the water to join her friends.

  “If we’re in here, what are the boys doing this morning?” Miina asked, from where she lounged almost entirely submerged in the steaming water. Her blue hair looked nearly black wet, plastered back from her forehead, and she’d settled two thin slices of potato from the castle kitchen over her eyes.

  “They’re in Lendh ka Dakruim,” Wren answered. She’d separated out a single strand of her hair, caked it in some sort of concoction made from Varunan jungle ingredients, and then pulled back the rest to keep it out of the way. “General Mishra stuffed them full of food and wine last night, and Arjun’s found some sort of specialist to work on their muscles this morning. At least some people in his jati still speak to him, apparently.”

  “Ghveris told you this?” Liv asked. She waded into the center of the pool, the deepest part, away from the stone benches carved into the sides, and ducked her head under just long enough to get her hair wet.

  “Mmm-hmm,” Wren answered. “He says the enchantments on his replacement armor plates are working just fine, by the way.”

  “I hope you understand how ridiculous your life is now,” Emma Forester teased Liv. Ironically, she looked to be the oldest of Liv’s friends, at thirty-two years of age, when in fact she was one of the youngest. “No one uses a waystone to jaunt off to the neighboring kingdom for a single evening’s celebration. Not a single one of Lucania’s kings ever did that.”

  “That’s going to change,” Liv assured her. She pushed off with her feet and glided through the water to find a spot on one of the benches. “Now that we have a bit of time, I intend to figure out how to transplant a waystone from one place to another. There’s dozens of abandoned rifts, all across Varuna, with waystones better used here, to move people and goods.”

  The door opened again, admitting Triss, Sidonie, and Tephania.

  “I’m sorry we’re a bit late,” Beatrice said, untying her cloth belt and yanking her robe off without a moment’s hesitation. “I had to get Henriette settled with the nurse.”

  Liv waved a hand about as lazily as she’d ever made a movement in her life. “Triss, today of all days, we can be as late as I want to be.”

  “That’s right,” Miina said, lifting her head up and sending the potato slices tumbling off into the water. “You’re the queen, and you’re the one getting joined. Everyone else can wait!”

  Wren plucked one of the potatoes out of the water. “What in the world are these actually for?” she asked, examining the water-logged vegetable with a skeptical look on her face.

  “They make sure you don’t have circles under your eyes,” Miina claimed. “I had the kitchen bring a whole bucket of them on ice. You should grab a couple, Liv, and put them on.”

  “This can’t be real,” Wren protested.

  “It is, actually,” Sidonie said, splashing into the pool with a handful of the things. She handed a pair to Liv, and then a pair to Wren. “It’s the fact that they’re high in water content, and chilled, that does it – not really anything about the potato itself.” She settled herself down on a bench, leaned her head back against the rim of the pool, and put the last two slices over her own eyes.

  Liv glanced down at her potatoes, and then up to where Tephania was still standing at the edge of the pool, on the wet rocks, wrapped in her robe. “Come on in, Teph,” she called. “If I’m going to look like an idiot, we all are. No exceptions!”

  Whether the bizarre trick with the sliced vegetables actually made her eyes look any better, Liv didn’t have the slightest idea. By the time they’d finished their bath, however, and moved back upstairs to the solar, any medicinal benefit that potatoes could possibly have given her must have been long since imparted.

  Her mother and grandmother were waiting, along with Elder Aira, who Liv had invited but not actually expected to attend, and the dressmakers: Mistress Ethel, her daughter Avina, and Melody, who’d accepted a position at their shop after all three had worked together on the enchanted scarves for Godsgrave. Half a dozen trays of fresh fruit, cakes, cheeses, assorted other delicacies, and no less than three bottles of wine had been scattered about the room. Liv thought it was more than they could possibly eat, at first, but somehow in the flurry of preparations, every scrap and drop was devoured.

  The dresses were all in blue, for the goddess Sitia, with white embroidery and underskirts to match the heraldry that Liv had somehow acquired. The dressmakers buzzed about Liv and her friends like bees who’d found the spring’s first wildflowers, making adjustments and last minute alterations so that everything fit perfectly. Pots of kohl and rouge from Lendh ka Dakruim made their way around, with the women taking turns using feather-soft brushes to help each other. Thora took the lead, judging each face as if she were painting a portrait, applying the makeup with swift, sure flicks of her wrist, and then nodding in satisfaction once she was finished.

  When it came time to sort her hair, Liv was in for another surprise. Her mother brought in a bowl of fresh-cut blue columbines from the mountain slopes, their stems resting in water to keep the flowers vibrant. Rather than some sort of ornate braidwork, which Liv had been half expecting Thora to insist on, her long, white hair was left down. The crown of Celris was settled on her brow, and then her mother and grandmother wove the flowers into her hair. The few columbines that were left were quickly passed around to the other women, and by the time they were finished everybody was wearing at least one.

  When they were all finally dressed and waiting, they piled into three carriages, lined up and waiting in the courtyard, each with not only their own team of horses and driver, but ribbons of blue and white streaming in the spring breeze. Kaija and every one of Liv’s remaining guards, all in their polished armor and carrying their polearms, waited on horseback to escort the procession. The manes and tails of all the horses had been braided, as well, Liv saw, with those same colors, and she quickly found herself crowded into a carriage with her mother, grandmother, cousin, and sister-in-law.

  “This is a bit tight,” Liv complained, from between Miina and Triss.

  Triss gave a harumph. “You’re absolutely tiny, Liv. You can stand one ride in the middle. Anyway, it’s our obligation as the women in your family to talk to you, and this is our last chance.”

  Liv winced. “I know what a wedding night involves,” she grumbled, attempting to head things off before they began. After all, Keri wouldn’t be her first lover.

  “So did I!” Triss pointed out. “But I didn’t know how many children I’d lose before they were ever born, Liv. I thought Matthew and I would get at least a little time to just be happy, instead of throwing us right into ‘Triss bawls in your brother’s lap until she looks like an ugly hag.”

  “Is this supposed to make me feel better about having a husband?” Liv asked.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “The point is,” Margaret Brodbeck said, leaning forward and clasping Liv’s hand, “we don’t ever know exactly what we’re going to get, my love. I hope – we all hope – that everything is perfect for you.”

  “That you’ll be so happy it makes us sick,” Miina added, sticking out her tongue and pretending to vomit.

  “But every joining comes with pain,” Liv’s grandmother said. “I knew I would lose your grandfather one day, but that didn’t mean I was ready when it happened. None of us know what your life is going to look like. But the important thing is this – are you certain that Inkeris is the one you want to spend it with?”

  “Because there’s going to be times when you need to put him back together,” Triss said, her voice lower, almost a whisper. “And there will be times you’re the one who falls apart. And it's those times that having chosen the right one makes all the difference.”

  “He’s already put me back together once,” Liv said, and to her surprise she was able to smile at the memory of the Seastone tower. “And I’ve done it for him, when he was lost and couldn’t come home. I’ll do it again if he needs me to.”

  “Then we’re happy for you,” her mother said, and leaned across the middle of the carriage to embrace her.

  ?

  The streets of Whitehill were as raucous as Liv had ever seen them. The marriage of a Summerset had always been the occasion of a festival, with every business save the inns, taverns, restaurants and bakeries shutting their doors. Liv could still remember how it had felt, only a few short years before, to accompany Triss to the temple, through the streets packed with milling people, already drinking ale, wine or cider.

  This made Triss and Matthew’s wedding look like a regular market day.

  Whitehill had swelled in size like the Aspen River in spring, first with refugees from Lucania at the onset of the war, and later with merchants and traders from all across the north, and from Lendh ka Dakruim, making use of the waystone which once again drew mana from Bald Peak. For the wedding, it seemed that everyone within travelling distance had converged on the city.

  There were students from the new college beneath Bald Peak, who had been released from their classes once even Lia Every was forced to admit that none of them would get any work done. Any soldier who wasn’t needed to stand a watch had come down from the garrisons and barracks. The farmers whose homesteads and fields were flung across the Aspen valley had come in, hauling their families in the backs of their wagons. Every baron or knight who had come had brought their guards, and there were Eld everywhere. The white hair of House Syv? and the blue of House D?ivi were particularly prevalent, but Liv saw Iravata men and women as well, and Kerian, and even a few faces with the distinctive cast of House Asuris.

  But no matter where the faces in the crowd came from, when the three carriages passed, trundling along the cobblestone streets, they made way and cheered. They threw flowers, so that there were drifts not of snow, but of a dozen pastel hues, crushed beneath the wagon wheels and tossed by the breeze. Men lifted their sons and daughters up onto their shoulders and pointed, and the children, eyes wide and cheeks bright, waved.

  “All of this…” Liv murmured.

  “You think they see a queen married every day?” Miina asked, nudging Liv’s ribs with her elbow. “These people will be talking about this for the rest of their lives.”

  “I don’t deserve this.” Liv shook her head.

  Her grandmother leaned forward and caught her hand. “As far as they are concerned, you saved them, Liv. From an army, from an archmage who would have killed them all. From the cult of Ractia. Let them have their hero for now, but don’t expect it to last. Winning a war is one thing; ruling is quite another. The shine will fade soon enough, but for today – just let them celebrate. Let them be happy they’re alive.”

  Finally, the carriages rolled to a halt. Liv let everyone else get out before her; in all truth, she was a bit intimidated by the crowd that pressed close on all sides. Kaija and her guards remained mounted, using their horses to keep the people back and to keep a route clear to the temple doors. When she finally ducked out into the open air, Liv felt like she’d been hit all at once by a solid wall of sound. If the crowd had been cheering before, it was roaring now, and she couldn’t hear a word that any of her friends or family said until all of them women had rushed into the temple and the doors had closed behind them.

  They moved up the aisle together, headed for the altar, where Vivek Sharma waited, his forehead smeared with paint such a vibrant hue of blue that it seemed it might leap off his skin at any moment. To either side, the guests who had been permitted into the temple rose, and Liv was astounded at how many faces she recognized.

  There was Dustin, Emma’s husband, along with her father Kale and the children, who were all shouting and waving at their mother. Archibald stood with one hand on Gretta’s elbow, making certain that the old woman wouldn’t fall. Mistress Trafford was there, and it seemed Master Grenfell had managed to come back from Coral Bay, even with guild negotiations not quite complete: he stood with all his family, including the children of his nephew and Bryn, who Liv understood was about to break ground building the kingdom’s first port. Captain Athearn had come with her, and even the old sea-dog had cleaned up and worn his best.

  All the rest of the barons and knights were there, as well, from Triss’s father and mother to her brothers. Even Ambassador Blaise had made the trip, though from the way his gaze lingered on Miina, Liv suspected there was trouble to come in that direction. There was Sir Randel and his son, Rande; Sir Anselm and Sir Hardwin, all of the men who’d served Henry and Julianne for years.

  Barons had come from Lucania, as well, those who wished to show themselves as allies, or at least sympathetic: the Ryders and the Corbetts, the Everys and the Bankses, the Ridleys and, of course, the Falkenraths. Liv saw the moment that Tephania caught sight of Thurston in the crowd, and how her friend blushed.

  Up at the altar, to the old priest’s side, Liv finally caught sight of Keri and the rest of her friends and family. They all wore white, embroidered with gold, in the colors of House B?lris, and even Ghveris had been draped with a sort of half-cape, secured to hang off one shoulder pauldron by a golden chain. Arjun was there, of course, along with Matthew, and both Liv’s father, and Keri’s. Her grandmother stood next to great-uncle Eilis, and Taavetti, who might have married her aunt if things had been different. Liv couldn’t help but grin when she saw little Rei standing proudly with them, though he was only waist high.

  Finally, she stood at the altar, close enough to reach out and clasp Keri’s hand. Their eyes met, and then their Authorities. It was a light touch, but through it Liv could feel how light his heart was, and she sent a pulse of her own happiness in return.

  “I am honored to stand here today,” Pandit Sharma declared, his voice echoing through the temple. “I wish to thank Osric Fletcher, for permitting me to perform this ceremony in his place, and I wish to thank the queen for asking it of me.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “It is a singular ceremony, for singular people. Here we have a woman raised in Lucania, and a man raised among the Vakansa, here to be joined in the sight of the Trinity by an old man from Lendh ka Dakruim.” Sharma permitted himself to laugh, and some number of the crowd laughed with him.

  “And yet, anyone who knows Livara and Inkeris also knows things could not be any other way,” the priest said. “They are a meeting not only of two worlds, but of many. They have brought here today not only Lucanians and Vakansa, but Dakruimans and Red Shields. It is their actions that have given birth to a new kingdom, unlike any other ever seen in our world. If anyone has been blessed by the Lady of Changes, it is these two before us.”

  Vivek Sharma met Liv’s eyes, and then looked to Keri in turn. “Among the Eld of the North, I know that a joining can be agreed to for the raising of a single child,” he said. “And that a joining may involve more than two people. What are the terms you have agreed upon?”

  Liv hesitated. She’d been raised in Lucania, but Keri had grown up among her father’s people. While he’d already agreed to what she wanted, she could help but feel a shred of doubt at whether she was forcing him into a marriage that would, for him, become a prison.

  “Only the two of us,” Keri said, his tone firm and certain. “Until the stars fall from the sky.”

  Despite everyone watching them, Liv grinned, and then nodded to the priest.

  “Very well, then. Today, we seek the blessing of the Lady of Changes on this couple. To take a partner in marriage is to look upon a vast and stormy sea in the distance, and to chart a course regardless. Time alters all of us. The youth that you see before you will fade, and beauty does not last. You will know times of trouble and sickness - but you will also know times of joy and love. None of us can see what Sitia holds in store for our future, but today you vow to share what comes, nonetheless. Inkeris, do you make this promise?”

  Keri nodded. “I do.”

  “And Livara - do you make this promise?”

  “I do,” Liv said.

  “Then may the Lady of Changes bless you.” Vivek Sharma took a step backward.

  Liv stepped forward to meet Keri, and raised her face toward him. When their lips touched, the temple of the Trinity erupted in cheers.

  volume nine on Patreon!

  here. I am more available there than I am here.

  Guild Mage: Journeyman is live on Amazon as of this morning. If you've been collecting paperback editions, you can now get a hard copy of Liv's adventures through the end of her time as a student at Coral Bay! As always, I'll edit this post with links to social media posts when they go up, and if you're able to upvote/share/comment, that really helps to spread awareness. If you do buy a copy, or read on KU, ratings and reviews help a lot. I've had a couple author friends who got hit with a really low rating as their first on release, and then had to wait for good ratings to come in and balance it out. It was super stressful and anxiety producing for them.

  here.

  here.

  here.

  Dramatis Personae

  Livara T?r Valtteri Kaen Syv? - Archmage, former scullery maid at Castle Whitehill, the bastard daughter of Maggie Brodbeck and Valtteri Ka Auris. Queen of the Alliance and Lady of Winter. The Bride. [38 Rings of Mana, not counting mana stored in items.]

  Beatrice 'Triss' Summerset (Formerly Crosbie) - Daughter of Baron Arnold of Valegard, Wife of Matthew, mother of Henriiette, sister-in-law of Liv, sister of more brothers than anyone could ever want. Enjoying not being 'mom' for a morning. [17 Rings of Mana]

  Eila t?r V?inis - Mother of Valtteri, widow of Auris, grandmother of Liv. "Getting married means that one day you'll be a widow..." Super-cheerful thought. [30 Rings of Mana]

  Emma Forester - Daughter of Kale, wife of Dustin, mother of several children. Summoned to be a bridesmaid!

  Inkeris "Keri" ka Ilmari k?n B?lris - A young warrior of the Unconquered House of B?lris, father to Rei. The groom. [21 Rings of Mana.]

  Margaret Brodbeck - Mother of Liv, Cook at Castle Whitehill. Mother of the bride!

  Miina t?r Eilis, of House D?ivi - Daughter of Eilis, niece of Eila, cousin of Liv, Lady in Waiting. Spa day. [23 Rings of Mana]

  Sidonie Corbett - Guildmage. Can be counted on to know the scientific basis of spa treatments. [20 Rings of Mana]

  Vivek Sharma - A priest of the Trinity from Lendh ka Dakruim. Doing the marrying! [21 Rings of Mana]

  Wren Wind Dancer - Daughter of Nighthawk, cousin of Calm Waters. Totally rocking the purple dye.