Completed The Mother-in-Law & The Matrimony

"No, mom might be a lot, but she is also a stickler for tradition. If we told her that we could actually get some if any of your family here then she would likely give us any of the resources we need."

It was the most annoying, but easily manipulatable part of his mom. The woman must have kept a rule book for royals somewhere and she followed it to the letter.

"I'll just send a servant to explain the situation. We can head to the Tower of Clouds. One of the masters will certainly be able to help us but first..."

He leaned into her kiss before pulling away and moving out of the bathroom.

"I should probably get dressed."

Taliyah
 
"Arastan...it is too late to do anything this evening plus your mother has me exhausted. Can we just relax and go in the morning?"

It was no lie, she was tired. The Queen had her running around at the crack of dawn and she had just barely let her go with enough time to get some dinner.

"I am hungry and I just need to not think about anything important or I may forget which fork goes where on the table!"

Arastan Aellevanda
 
"Yeah, we can do that."

Arastan said offering her a comforting smile as he was busy putting on some clothes. Now clothed, he moved back over to give her another hug.

"I'll go get someone to bring us some food. We can just rest and enjoy the night...Hopefully, Fane just comes back at some point. The last time he ended up in the kitchen and I got scolded." He explained with a laugh.

Arastan moved to call someone down the hall outside their room. Whoever it was, he seemed satisfied when he came back.

Taliyah
 
"What is that smug satisfied look for?"

Taliyah asked her fiance as she started to undress out of the ridiculous blue dress she had been stuck in all day. She just wanted a comfy top and some pants. She would be perfectly content to never have to wear the suffocating gowns ever again but she was about to marry a Prince and someday she would be his Queen.

She was fucked in that regard.

Arastan Aellevanda
 
"Oh, I'm just glad someone in this castle listens to me rather than betraying me for you." He said in a joking reference to Fane.

Arastan dove face-first onto the bed and let out a sigh as he let himself sink into the soft fabric. It was like laying on a pillow of clouds, which might be true considering the magic that the city practiced.

Taliyah had certainly been worse off than he was in the last few days, but Arastan's own father was proving to be quite the taskmaster for his son. Looking to engrain within him several lessons before his marriage.

News flash, if it had not worked for the last 160 years then it certainly was not going to work in the next few weeks or even months.

Taliyah
 
Hmph was all that came from Taliyah as she pulled the soft flowy shirt over her head. "Everyone likes me more than you. I know that is the real reason you are marrying me," Taliyah joked as she walked over to their bed and sat down on the edge.

"You seem tired, my love. Are you alright?"

Her voice was concerned as she rubbed his back softly.

Arastan Aellevanda
 
"Yeah, that way I can hold you, hostage, when people start to nag me." He said jokingly as he reached out to grab her and pull her onto the bed.

"I'm a little tired, but likely not as much as you. My father has been all over me since the wedding announcements. He says it is preparing me for King, but he still has a long life ahead of him."

Arastan did seem a little stressed. Anytime discussions about him becoming king came up it meant that at some point his brother would be mentioned which would then really set Arastan off.

Taliyah
 
Taliyah giggled as he pulled her down to lay next to him.

Now she could see that he was stressed and sad. They had never actually spoken about why he didn’t want to be King someday. There had always been flippant excuses about losing his freedom and wanting to make the humans pay but she had still never gotten the whole story. She suspected it had to do with his brother.

“You never know what could happen, my dear. He just wants you to be prepared in case something happens prematurely. I think you’d make an excellent King already though.”

Arastan Aellevanda
 
Arastan let Taliyah rest in his arms as he just tried to relax and enjoy her warmth.

He wished he could hide his stress from Taliyah better, but he knew that she could see right through him. It was one of the best and worst things about her. He smiled at her comment, but it was a sad smile that lacked any of his normal pluck.

"No, I would be horrible. I'm irresponsible. I barely know any of the etiquettes...People may follow me, but they follow like a child they have to look out for...There are better people...Were better people."

Taliyah
 
Taliyah laced one of her hands together with his and squeezed lightly. His self doubt was one of his worst qualities but she knew that it was there when she fell in love with him. It really only reared its head when he spoke about his future or his current duties.

She needed him to let it out and let it go. That was the only way he would be able to move on.

"You are not irresponsible, Arastan. You just have your own way of wanting to do things and it drives your parents slightly crazy sometimes."

Taliyah smiled and brought his hand to her lips for a kiss.

"You are it now. You have to accept that. There is nothing you can do about it because your parents will not live forever..."

She felt bad saying any of that but he needed to understand.

Arastan Aellevanda
 
Arastan just smiled lightly as he seemed to stare off into space. It was easy to see that he was playing something in his head, but as quickly as it was there then it was gone.

He turned and let his eyes fall on Taliyah before pulling her hand in for a kiss just like she had done to him.

"Maybe your right. We can only see. I'd rather not even think about that right now...Would rather sit here and enjoy the moment."

That might as well be his life motto, but it was doubly true when he was together with Taliyah.

Taliyah
 
Enjoy the moment was what Arastan liked to say when he was done with a conversation. Most of the time he used it when he could tell that she was getting frustrated but he used it for himself whenever she brought up his family and his past.

It was frustrating.

"Aran...you never want to talk about it and we really need to. You hold in too much and you are marrying me. You have to be able to talk to me about this stuff."

Arastan Aellevanda
 
Arastan's first instinct was to avoid the question. He was good at that stuff. He could make a like joke and then put a smile on his face and then potentially get out of the problem...Well, it would have worked against someone that wasn't Tal.

"I'm...scared...You know, we never talked about my brother."

As soon as he said it, it felt like a lump had formed in his throat. A large part of him wanted to avoid this subject at all costs, but Taliyah was right. He needed to say this out loud to someone.

Taliyah
 
Taliyah squeezed his hand again. They had never talked about his brother and it was something that she felt was always between them because she wanted to know. She needed to know. They were going to be married and he had to open up to her.

"Do not be scared, my love. I am here for you. I will always be here for you. Always."

There was an emphasis that she needed him to understand and know.

"Please tell me about him..."

Arastan Aellevanda
 
"He was...perfect. My parents loved him, mainly because he was so diligent with his studies. He could charm water from a desert tribesman. He was as skilled with a sword as anyone in Aellevanda...He never buckled under the pressure...He even went out of the way to keep the pressure off me. He was everything a king should be. The people loved him...If he was still here then he would probably have been the one to save you from those cultists...You would have fallen head over heels for him...everyone did."

Arastan started off speaking slow and hesitant, but the most he spoke the quicker it came out. All the thoughts and opinions that he had been holding in for so long were just flowing out in the only place that he perceived to be a safe place for him to speak.

"When he...died, the city mourned for three days. Then they realized they were stuck with me."

Taliyah
 
The pain in Arastan’s voice was enough to break her heart. For him to even think that she would have fallen for his brother did break her heart. He was amazing and she hated that he could not see that. He had to stop comparing himself to the perfect son that no longer existed.

“Hey, they are not stuck with you. You are a great man and you will be an excellent King someday. You cannot keep comparing yourself to your brother, my love. He is not here and you are. You need to accept that.”

She had shifted in his arms to she was looking at his face now. Every word she was was sincere as she ran a hand down his cheek gently.

Arastan Aellevanda
 
Arastan smiled at her although still a bit sadly. Subconsciously, there was a part of Arastan that told him that if he moved passed this that it was somehow forgetting about his brother all together. He did not want that. For all the tough criticism he had gained because of his older brother, he had also been the only true friend that he had while growing up.

"I know...I know, it's just...He was the one that got me Fane. It was for a birthday when I was young...I had gotten in trouble for slipping into the forest for the first time. I had been grounded for weeks...I was so depressed. Then he came in with a stupid grin on his face with a baby tiger cup...He told me that this way, even when he wasn't around that he would always be looking out for me...I had thought that was ridiculous..."

Taliyah
 
Taliyah could not help the laugh that escaped her at his story. She could just imagine the sad, young Arastan being grounded and upset then getting a baby Fane. The tiger was huge now but he was definitely still Arastan's baby and would always be.

"It is ridiculous but it is also amazing. He knew you needed Fane and he brought you him. Sure...you probably did not need a tiger cub but it is the thought!"

Taliyah smiled as him and brought his fingers to her lips in a gentle kiss.

"It is kind of like when you knew I needed to get away and planned that spectacular day for us on the lake..."

The thing he had done was much like what his brother had done. Arastan had learned from a good man and she was happy for it. She just needed him to give himself more credit.

Arastan Aellevanda
 
A small laugh escaped his lips at Taliyah's laugh. He could recognize the humor of the memory. Especially when a small Arastan ran around the castle while struggling to carry an oversized tiger cub. The memory brought a warmth of good memories back to him.

His brother had always been there for him when he needed it. Now, Taliyah was here trying to do the same thing and he was being all mopey.

Arastan smiled at her kiss, his eyes shining bright with love for her.

"Thank you, for everything you have done for me. I don't know where I would be without you."

Taliyah
 
"Of course, my love. You decided that you wanted to spend forever with me so I suppose I need to be here for you," she laughed again and then just smiled at him back.

His last words made her smile fall some. The thought of his not being here broke her heart to even think about.

"Well I would likely be dead by now if it was not for you, Arastan. Do not ever forget that. You saved my life and you gave me purpose."

Arastan Aellevanda
 
Arastan remembered that day so vividly. It had been such a blur of blood and death, but at the end of it all had been a weak but still beautiful Taliyah.

The memory made him smile as he pulled Tal in close. "Let's just agree we saved each other. Besides, I'm sure you would have busted out of there eventually."

He said the last part jokingly as he tried to instill some levity back into the conversation that he had just minutes ago made so gloomy. He did not want to see Taliyah frown, not because of him.

Taliyah
 
Taliyah doubted that she would have made it out alive without his help but she just squeezed his hand before agreeing to the truce that they saved each other.

"Is there food coming? I am pretty sure I am going to die if I do not eat soon," Taliyah's smile was pure innocence as she looked at Aran.

"Preferably not something that requires twenty pieces of silverware!"

Arastan Aellevanda
 
Arastan was about to speak when he stopped and thought about it. Someone should have brought them food by now. He got up from the bed and moved over to the door. He looked outside to see two trays with an assortment of fruit, cheeses, and bread on them. Nice, way to read the room random servant.

"Yeah, mine is here. Don't know what you are going to eat though."

Arastan responded with a smirk as he carried the two trays in with one in each hand. He placed them down next to the bed before jumping back in to join his future wife.

In his mouth was a single grape sitting gently between his teeth.

Taliyah
 
Taliyah made a happy mmmmm sound as she looked at the trays and brought one over to sit on the bed in front of her. There had been something about not eating in inappropriate places during one of her lessons so she was happy to stick it to the Queen in a tiny way.

"I like how you think you are just the most hilarious man ever," she teased Arastan as she pulled off some bread and ate it.

Taliyah could live off of fresh bread and be perfectly happy with life. It was the little things that brought her joy. All the other stuff was just extra as long as she had Arastan and fresh bread. Okay...that was a little simple but still.

Arastan Aellevanda
 
"Think? I thought it was common knowledge that I am hilarious."

Arastan said with a mock hurt expression as he bit down on the grape. He occupied himself with the fruits and cheeses. Maybe that was why Taliyah and him made such a good couple because Arastan absolutely hated bread.

He could live his whole life without eating it. Any other form of grains was fine, but not bread. Arastan much preferred fruit. What was the best form of fruit, you may ask? Well, that was easy. It is wine.

He grabbed one of the bottles and poured himself a glass.

"If I didn't have to be a King then I would make a lovely jester."

Taliyah
 
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