Before Leaving for the Mining Village

[Esmerelda]

As the snow softly drifted downward in the courtyard, a curtain was pushed back to contemplate its fall. Silhoutted by a single candle, the queen stared out into the night. Tomorrow she would leave for the Mining Village to treat with Anwar and see if they might not free him from his prison. Two days hence and she would be a bride.

It certainly wasn't going to be the wedding she'd pictured for herself as a girl. Nor even close the ideal the mirror golem had shown her in the An Dar ruins. But it was a good thing. Hopefully her and Atreus's match would do much to mend the strife between her kingdom and the elves. But if she'd been told a year ago that she would be here tonight, she would have laughed.

Thinking of all that had occured in the last set of the turning of the seasons, a smile came unbidden to her face. Without realizing it, Esmerelda began to play with her necklace. A good friendship had blossomed into so much more. Finally it seemed like she had found what she needed. She was happy. She was content. And in less than two days time she would be Atreus's wife.