Balancer (Advent Mage Cycle) (37 page)

~*~

I spent the next day and a half embroiled in wedding preparations. In fact, I probably spent more time fetching this and that for any of the Wedding Sergeants, as I had come to think of them, than I did actually helping with decorations. Well, that was only to be expected. I was a man. Men were not genetically predisposed to understand how to decorate rooms for weddings. That was the stuff nightmares were made of, and we didn’t
want
to understand it. Our sanity hinged on the concept that ignorance was bliss.

I did manage to find use for my Mage talents when Sallah asked me to help her with her contribution, a finishing touch sure to please Chatta. By that time most of the empty boxes and packing had been removed from the arena floor, and I could see how the wedding processions would arrive here from their staging areas on either side of the building. Sallah looked like she was trying to figure something out in her mind, and started calling over every available person she could lay her hands on.

“What’s up, Cousin?” I asked, curiosity peaked.

“The circle,” came back her distracted reply. “There should be an actual circle for the wedding party to take their place on.”

I immediately understood what she was saying, and went to round up more bodies so she could get a better idea of how large the circle would have to be to accommodate all of our couples comfortably.

“Don’t forget Night takes up a lot more room that a normal sized person,” I added, mentally adding three more bodies to the circle.

Sallah nodded and started moving our group of confused volunteers farther apart. Satisfied with her spacing, she turned to the matter of how wide the edges of the circle should be, so that everyone’s feet would fit completely on top of it.

“I see what you are doing, that is good right there. Well for everyone but Night, he will just have to stand out a little bit. He likes to stand out anyway!” Sallah laughed, knowing exactly what I meant.

“Okay, Garth. Let me set down a couple of markers, so we are at the exact center of the arena, and I think we can start.” Sallah closed her eyes for a moment, and I could feel her reach out to the stone beneath our feet, sizing it up in her mind. She opened her eyes and strode confidently for the point she had decided on. She turned and looked over her shoulder at me, the question obvious on her face.

“I agree that is where I would place the center point of the arena too.”

“Thanks for your help everyone, you can go back to what you were doing now.” Sallah called out in a loud voice. At her dismissal our living measuring device moved out of the way, but they didn’t go back to work. They wanted to see what we were going to do, having no intentions of leaving until they watched us do it.

Sallah walked to one side of the circle, while I took up my position of the outer edge of the other side of the circle opposite her.

“With Chatta’s colors silver and blue,” I called over to her, “What do you think?” I waited while she looked around and thought it over.

“Have you heard of a metal called platinum?” Sallah asked.

“It sounds vaguely familiar, but I don’t think I’ve ever had any contact with it. Why?”

“Before the Magic Wars the river Semanai held a mineral called platinum in the soil. If enough heat was applied the impurities left a pure silvery-white metal that was even more lustrous than silver. I heard it used to be extremely popular to get wedding bands made of the metal because it was so pretty and didn’t wear down over time.” She glanced fondly at the ring on her left hand, then held it up for me to see. “Aral and my rings are passed down from our multi-great grandparents and are some of the very few pieces we have left. Transforming the marble into platinum will be hard due to the composition, but I thought it might be a nice symbol. Do two bands in platinum with a thin band of sodalite in the middle.”

I’d never seen platinum, but sodalite was a common stone used in jewelry, a dark blue with white veins running through it that gleamed when polished correctly.

“Sounds perfect. You start so I can get a feel for the platinum, then I’ll join in. Go in layers?”

Sallah nodded in agreement. We knelt down on the floor together, and placed the palms of our hands on the edge of the markers. I carefully extended my magic towards her, merging with it for the second time. After fifteen minutes Sallah finally produced a patch of platinum. Now knowing what it felt like, I withdrew to start on my side of the circle.

It was very slow going. This wasn’t usually the kind of work Mages were known for, detail work. Combined with the difficult nature of the metal, it would probably have been easier to just turn the whole building into one big block of platinum. I enjoyed the challenge of fine tuning my powers and working in concert with my cousin. It took us close to forty-five minutes to make the two bands and thinner ring of sodalite. I released my powers, and sagged back with a plop on my bottom, spent and moistened with sweat from the effort. Sallah grinned back at me, exactly imitating my own graceful pose. That had been harder than defeating the Star Priests!

All of a sudden there was a thunderous eruption of applause from all over the arena and I blinked stupidly, suddenly remembering that there were probably more than a few people watching us. An ear splitting whistle carried far above the din on the floor, and I looked up to spot my lovely future bride grinning from ear to ear, with Aral on one side, and our teammates on the other.

“Hey Garth, that isn’t a very dignified position for the Advent Mage to receive his loyal minions,” Shad hollered out. “Do you need me to come down there and help you get to your feet?!”

“At this point I would be glad for any and all help, even from a senior citizen with white hair!” I grinned back at him, but made no attempt to get to my feet just yet.

“Did you hear that, Beautiful? He is already starting in with the old folks jokes,” whimpered Shad, holding his hand over his heart, and gasping for air.

“You started it, Grandpa!” laughed Aletha, with a good jab in the ribs. “At least you can get a haircut!”

Laughing, the team started heading for the floor, as I continued my well-deserved rest. Xiaolang was the first to reach me, and offered me a hand, before Shad could hoist me onto my feet. I decided it was better to take his offer than for Shad to try and organize a combined team rescue.

“Not that I’m not happy to see you all, but what’re you doing here?” I asked.

“Bored, bored, bo~red,” Shad sang, draping himself over my shoulder. “Plus we missed your pretty face.”

I snickered. “Bored, huh. I bet I can fix that. Hey, Chatta! Shad says he’s bored!” I called.

I couldn’t decide which was funnier. The glare Shad sent my way or the maniacal grin that stole across Chatta’s face.

“I can fix that problem immediately!” she called back.

“You two are already married,” Shad grumbled under his breath while the entire team laughed.

~*~

Probably the most productive thing I did with the remainder of my day was to go get fitted for my wedding clothes. Chatta and I had discussed our options at length, and sensibly decided to veto going with the traditional clothes from either Chahir or Hain. There were just too many political innuendoes and ramifications we couldn’t foresee that could be misconstrued from our attire. In the end, we chose to go with the most formal version of our respective robes, done in extremely elegant material with the finest embroidery.

Elegant material directly translated to mean
cumbersome, bulky, hot,
and
uncomfortable.

Ah well, it was a worthy sacrifice to make my bride happy. Besides I only had to wear them for a few hours. A bargain at twice the price!

There was just one more piece of business before I could think about a really long, hot bath. Sallah and Aral and I had been talking about the circle, and concluded that there was still something missing. We needed to mark the midpoint in the circle somehow, where the couples would exchange partners, and take their place on the circle. The three of us sat halfway up the seating on the south side of the arena, staring down at the floor.

“I’ve got it,” Aral piped up, inspiration written on his face. “We have two processions heading toward each other from opposite sides of the building. Each direction happens to be the direction one country is located in relationship to the other, right? How would it look if we placed a big seal in the middle of the circle? The seal would contain the two different countries crests, all interwoven the appropriate magical symbols. The merging of nations and magic.”

“Honey,” Sallah reached for Aral’s neck and pulled him over to her for a well-earned kiss. “That is so simple, but it is exactly what we need! Garth, when you and Chatta reach the seal, you can stand on it and face Raile to exchange your vows.”

“I like it,” I added, amazed that a member of my gender had come shining through in a decorating pinch. “A seal is going to be a little trickier than a circle; we are going to need some help.”

“Not necessarily,” ventured Aral, “We could make up a bronze cast of the seals, and form the stone to it. It shouldn’t be too hard to add some highlights to the prominent parts of the cast to make it stand out better.”

Jenna was passing by and heard our conversation, and stepped over to offer her help. “I can make the brass mold for you, no problem, but I would need some help setting it up.”

The last voice I expected to hear sounded from behind me, and my first impulse was to drop into the earth, without hearing the next words I was sure would doom me to another errand.

“I can help Jenna set up the form for the seal, they have copies of both Chahir’s and Hain’s seals in the library at the Academy. Relax, Garth,” Kartal added, as if he had added mind reading to his list of skills. “I am not here looking for you, I am helping Kaydan set up the reception area. I have been working too hard at the Institute lately, and I need a break. The seal shouldn’t take very long; coming, Jenna?”

“Thanks Kartal,” I managed to get out. “That is really decent of you.”

“Think nothing of it,” Kartal dismissed with a wave of his hand. “Besides, you never can tell when you might need a seal with both the crests of Hain and Chahir on it.” He shot me a wicked smile, and I felt like scooping up a piece of the floor and hurling it at his head.

Sallah, trying to avert a murder this close to the wedding, changed the subject. “While we are waiting, we need to decide how big it should be, and what to make it out of.”
Her diversion worked, as I thought about what she said. “The circle is platinum and sodalite, in keeping with the color scheme,” I said, thinking out loud “How about if we make the seal azurite, and get the natural points of fire in the stone to migrate to the prominent raised areas of the seals, instead of using highlights?”

“That sounds gorgeous,” added Sallah, with a faraway look like she was trying to visualize the finished product in her mind. “How about you two go figure out how big you want this thing, and let me take a crack manipulating the azurite.”

Sallah started experimenting with samples of the stone from the floor, while Aral and I paced off the area for the seal. By the time we were agreed on the size, Jenna was back with the mold. Thankfully she was alone; I would find it easier to face Kaydan if I wasn’t tempted to put her boyfriend in the hospital. Kartal, to his credit, had thoughtfully provided a charm for the mold, so we could easily adjust it to the size we had decided on. If he kept this up, I might have to let him live.

“Okay, let’s see if we can get this to turn out right the first time.” Sallah seated herself comfortably on the stone. She glanced at the markers that Aral and I had set, to indicate how far she should morph out with the azurite. Slowly the center of the marked area started to change hue, beginning its transition. It gradually grew, until it completely covered our markers. She nodded when she was ready for the mold, and the three of us carefully maneuvered it into place.

There was a long pause, and from the lines on Sallah’s face, I could tell she was concentrating on moving the natural fire of the azurite into the best locations. I was starting to get concerned when she finally said, “I think that has got it, go ahead and retrieve the mold.”

The result was well worth the time and effort; it was breath taking, and something you would not see anything like it again. I took a moment to just stare at it in admiration.

“Garth,” I heard my Mom’s voice from the direction of the stairs, “How did you ever think of putting in a seal? That is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.” We all turned around, to find we had more of an audience that we expected. Chatta was standing next to my mother, with her head on Mom’s shoulder, and L- Nolita was standing next to her, with both hands against her cheeks, and tears in her eyes.

“Mage power,” I grinned, with a, I’m sure, goofy look on my face. Chatta just came straight to me, and hugged me to her; I didn’t struggle to free myself.

“I think you should marry me.” Chatta smiled up at me with tears shining in her eyes.

“Well I am going to find a crystal and record this,” replied Jenna, with a no nonsense tone in her voice. “I am betting I can get some major extra credit for this!” Jenna headed off looking for a crystal to record our triumph.

“That is amazing,” Sallah whispered and pulled Aral into a bear hug. “It almost seems to glow from the inside. I think we need one of these at Coven Ordan.”

“We might be able to work something out,” Aral said, an adoring look fixed squarely on his wife’s face.

“What do you say we call it a night?” I smiled in satisfaction. “Let’s go get a decent meal for a change.”

“Excellent idea,” replied Chatta.

I came back to my suite after dinner to find a message waiting for me. The simple seal on the front was that of the relay station in central Del’Hain. Now, who would be messaging me long distance? Curious, I opened it, eyebrows rising as I took it in. The message was from Vonlorisen. So, the relay stations between Chahir and Del’Hain must be finally finished.

The message was exactly two words:
Build it.