Platonic Diplomacy

Muld and Syndi adapt to their engagement, while others make nefarious plans.

36.

Platonic Diplomacy

 

 

King Eiolmoel had crafted Muld’s ring by dawn and the Practical Magician slipped it on, feeling rather silly for some reason.

They spent the morning with her parents as they formally announced the impending marriage between Muld and Syndi.

Of course that meant that the entire afternoon they were visited by well-wishers.   Alleania once again suspended studying for the day as she and Allea happily discussed her upcoming wedding.

Muld tried desperately to get some work done at the guild, but everyone wanted to see him and either ask him about his disappearance or (if they had heard the announcement) congratulate him on his engagement.

He was surprised that the announcement did not surprise Jevon, Rick, Tadd or Mutt in the least.    

“We knew you favored her;”  Mutt kidded, “I would have worn skimpy outfits too, but I didn’t want to make Syndi jealous.”

“Will you have to move to the Losasidhe Kingdom once you are married, boss?”  Tadd asked.

“No, we have our headquarters here.”

“We wouldn’t mind,” Jevon spoke for him and Rick, thinking of certain elven girls that they found fascinating.

“We’ve got work to do, gentlemen,” He reminded them, for they were now very backlogged.

 

But by late afternoon an invitation arrived from King Eleazar to an impromptu banquet to be held in the engaged couple’s honor that evening.

So Muld had no choice but to hurry off to prepare himself for the royal dinner.

Syndi was waiting for him at the Sorceress’ tower, dressed beautifully in a new off-white dress and looking as uneasy and stressed as he did.

“How are you, my dear?”  He asked, taking her hands in his.  

“So far, this engagement has been exhausting,”  She said wearily.

“Well, I agree.    You know, there is one thing that needs to be done though.”

“What?”  She asked.

Muld went down on one knee, still holding her hand, “It’s not an engagement in my mind unless there was a proposal.”

Syndi grinned, amused, “You’re a bit late, but go ahead.”

“Here goes:    Syndi, Yesh has placed us together and I want you to know that I will do my very best to be a loving and kind husband to you.    I’m certainly getting the better deal in this relationship,  but I will endeavor to make our life together happy and fun.    Already I can’t imagine life without you in it.     So; Syndi will you marry me?”

“Nope,”  She said flatly, but her eyes could not conceal a twinkle.

“That’s unacceptable; let’s try that again, shall we?   Will you marry me?”

“No, it’s too much hassle.    All this fuss and stuff.”

“Wrong answer, my dear.    You have to answer yes, you know.   We are under a time limit, please remember.     Aleiryid won’t let us wait too long.”

“Oh, I’m all for making love to you, I just don’t want to marry you.   Why complicate things?   And wow, would that frustrate mother!”  She giggled at the thought.

“My knee is falling asleep, Syndi.    This is your last chance.   Will you marry me?”

Syndi sighed as if it was the most inconvenient thing in the world, and rolled her eyes, “Oh, alright, if you’ll just shut up about it, I’ll do it.”

She pulled him up to her and embraced him tightly.    She felt wonderful and smelled of fresh flowers, but with the chastity ring on, he felt only the thrill of her companionship.

“Nothing,” He said to her, “Not even the slightest tingling.   How about you?”

“Nope, not a thing.    Stupid rings.    We could have cut out of this silly banquet and went back to your apartment… well, it’s now ‘our’ apartment… and completed uniting.    But now we’ve got to wait a month.     Why in the world did you take my parents back to your apartment with you, anyway?”

“I didn’t know you’d be laying there looking so maddeningly seductive in my bed!    That gown was incredible!    They were trying to find you, and I volunteered my crystal ball.”

“Well, they found me; that was for sure.    My dad was so embarrassed, and I thought I would simply die,”  She laid her head against his shoulder for a moment.

“We’d better head over to the banquet, my dear.     Everyone is expecting us.”

“If we could figure out a way to get these rings off, we could elope, you know.    We could get Reverend Mother Zeatt to do a quick marriage ceremony - Mutt, Jevon, Rick and Tadd could act as witnesses- then we could-“

“Syndi…”

“Oh, alright… I hate waiting and especially hate mother getting her way.”

“She’s not so bad, Syndi; she seems to like me now.”

“It’s about time!   Okay, I’ll behave.   Come on, let’s get this dinner over with.”

Pulling him by the hand, they exited the tower and headed over to the palace.

 

***

 

Entwined in each other’s arms four hours later, they rolled around on the bed, enthusiastically kissing and caressing each other by candlelight.     Syndi’s lips tingled from the extending necking session.    Her low cut blue nightgown was no barrier for Muld and his kisses had moved from her neck down to between her breasts.    She ran her fingers through his hair.

“Well?”  She asked after a while, “Anything?”

“Nope, not a thing.    I just really enjoy kissing you.   It’s extremely pleasurable, but…”

“Same here,”  She sighed, “Well at least we can make-out and enjoy it at a non-sexual level.    That surprises me, actually.   I thought even kissing wouldn’t move us.”

“Everyone enjoys physical contact.    You can have that without any sexual feelings.”

“I guess so.    You really kiss well!    Where’d you learn how to kiss like that?”

“I didn’t learn anything.   I just decided to express my affection for you with my lips, my dear.”

“Well feel free to show your affection any time, my love.”

Muld looked up, smiling at her first use of a pet term.   How wonderful to hear her say it and actually mean it.

“I can assure you that you won’t be starved for affection from me, sweetheart.”  He used another endearing term, thrilled at how her beautiful green eyes sparkled when she heard him say it.

“I’m glad that mother and daddy left by airship after the banquet.    Mom would have frowned upon us staying together, chastity rings or not.”

“She’s happy now, you know.    She’s excited about planning your wedding.   She smiled the whole evening and even joked around with everyone.   It was nice to see her like that.”

“It was weird, Muld!    I’m not used to seeing mom like that!   Oh, it was wonderful, but I just kept thinking, this can’t be my mother!”

“So you don’t have any problem with your mother taking care of all the arrangements?”

“No; she would have got her way at any rate.    Honestly, mom’s style and tastes are quite nice - don’t let her know I admitted that!    I have complete confidence in her ability to put everything in motion.    Besides, letting her do things her way gives me more time to spend with my fiancée.”

Muld moved up beside her and Syndi wrapped her arms around him, happily resuming their necking session.

Half an hour later they paused.

“Anything?”   Muld asked her and Syndi shook her head.

“Nothing.   But I do really enjoy kissing like this.    When those rings finally come off, do you think we’ll have a lot of pent up emotion that will be released like a dam that bursts?”

“I don’t know, I guess we’ll find out.     Well, it’s getting late, you know.   You’ll have a lot more to learn tomorrow; Alleania told me tonight during the banquet that she plans to double up on your lessons so you can take extended time off for a honeymoon.”

“Yeah, it’ll be rough, but as long as we can spend time together each evening in bed like this, I think I can handle it.”

“Maybe this month won’t be too bad after all.”

“Hopefully.   Well, goodnight my husband-to-be.   I love you.”

“I love you too.” 

Syndi nestled down against his shoulder, tightly hugging him as he wrapped his arm around her protectively.  

I think I am going to like this, Muld told himself as they drifted off to sleep.

 

***

 

Late in the night, as they dreamt together happily, a shadowy figure paused just outside the door to their apartment, having picked the main door’s lock.    He pulled a sealed envelope from a pocket in his hooded cloak and slipped it silently underneath the door, then quietly turned and hurried out of the building, gently closing the door behind him.

Going to another shadowy figure waiting in the darkness between the buildings, he bowed slightly and said, “ Well, ‘tis done, master.”

“You left it where they will find it in the morning?”

“Yes, master, just as you directed.”

“Excellent.    They’d best enjoy each other tonight, for they are in for a rude awakening in the morning.”

With a gesture to his companion to follow him, he walked over to an airship hoverboat, resting a foot off the ground.     The two men boarded the lifeboat sized hoverboat and with a softly spoken command, the little boat quickly rose higher and higher until it docked with an airship silently floating above, hidden in the late night mists.

 

 

To be continued in ‘The Wizard of Windhaven’, coming autumn 2016!