Visits

The date of Kur's wedding was drawing near, so Heron and Elswyth had prepared to make the trip back to Jarenkul. The most worrisome part was having someone else look after Amriel. But Hazel said she could handle it for a couple weeks, and their father also stepped up to advise her in his absence. So Heron decided not to worry about it and went to go congratulate his dear friend.

They were planning on arriving a few days before, and staying for a few days afterwards. Elswyth seemed excited to be going back to the land of her birth, and Heron again wondered that she had left it for him. She obviously loved her land.

He was glad she had though. And he wanted to make sure she never regretted the decision. He would do what he could to make her happy in Amriel, as dry as it must feel to her.

The ride up was fairly uneventful. And it was nice to get some alone time with his fiancée. He still wasn't used to the fact that they were engaged. Everytime he thought about it, he got a little giddy inside. The fact that Elswyth and he were to spend their entire life together was enough to take his breath away. With every day his feelings seemed to grow.

In some ways it was uncomfortable. He still wasn't used to these kinds of thoughts. But he also felt comfortable with Elswyth and figured that once he got used to it, it wouldn't be so embarrassing.

When they arrived they immediately went to go see Kur. The elven wizard was in incredibly good spirits. When he saw them he ran over and threw his arms around Heron. "You came!" Then got embarrassed and backed off, looking flustered.

"I wouldn't miss your wedding." Heron said with a laugh. "And El wanted to see her home country anyway."

"You two are a couple now too right?" Kur's face was excited and there was a gleam in his eyes.

"Well, yes" Heron blinked. He had written to inform Kur of this, so he wasn't sure why the elf was confirming. "I asked her to marry me a few weeks ago…"

"When's your wedding going to be?"

"In Nayaster, at some point, probably in the middle of the month." Heron glanced at Elswyth who had stepped closer to him while they had been talking and wrapped her arm about his. "That's about as much as we discussed."

"Well, I'll take Tira up there when the time comes. I hope that we can do that occasionally…where we just visit each other…" Kur's voice trailed off as he talked, and he seemed to be embarrassing himself a bit. "A-anyway, thanks for coming to be here for my wedding. It's great to have such dear friends at such a happy occasion."

"Yeah, yeah," Elswyth injected in, "You two are getting sappy again." But she smiled softly, and Heron knew she was just teasing them.

Heron sat down, and Elswyth sat on the arm as his chair as her usual habit. "So, you didn't say in your letter but when did you start courting Tira anyway?"

Kur looked faintly embarrassed. "I didn't."

"Huh?"

"I jumped the gun and went straight to proposing marriage." He sighed. "I-I am not sure what came over me to do that. But she said yes, so…"

Heron whistled softly. "That's…surprising. I wouldn't have expected you to do something like that."

"Mmm." Kur nodded. "I'm glad she said yes. It would have been utterly hard to live with doing such a thing if she had turned me down. It's not so bad since it's Tira."

"She's not unhappy with it then?"

"I get the impression she prefers to skip the tediousness of being courted anyway."

"Well, since you have known each other so long it is a bit less necessary, I suppose."

"Haha…" Kur grinned a little. "I mean, if we both already know we definitely want to be married, its okay to be a little unconventional right?"

"I don't know her as well as I know you, but I do think she's a good match for you." Heron patted his friend's arm.

For the next few days Heron kept Kur company as the young elf prepared the last few things for his wedding. On the day before the wedding, the elven mage seemed slightly nervous, but he was also quite prone to smiling out of nowhere and seemed to be in overall good spirits.