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“Greetings and congratulations.” that tropical elf smiled when he’d appeared. He also cast an Illusion of his people’s gift. “Often a young couple appreciate the opportunity for solitude while on vacation, particularly while on their honeymoon, and so we have made you a gift of the small island of Hilia, where you will be the only residents. It is a bit more than five kilometers long and almost two in width. It is typically sunny in the morning and early afternoon, with refreshing warm rains toward evening.”
The view showed the entire island, ringed with reefs, with black sand beach around tropical forest, and a volcano at one end. Then it closed on a white cottage with a thatched roof on the slope of the volcano, above the tree line.
“The home commands a wonderful view of most of the island, and is provided with fresh water that flows from a spring, which is itself fed by the pure lake in the crater of the volcano. And by the way, the lava plume that fed the volcano moved off eons ago, and so the volcano is extinct, and will erupt nevermore.”
“How absolutely beautiful! Thank you! Thank you so much!” Mark told him.
Dizil smiled and bowed a bit in acknowledgment, and was gone.
Next came Prince Himo of The Elves of the Dakrin Cliffs in Kletiuk, continent of dwarves, and the last of the tropical elven peoples. Their gift was a suite in the luxurious Dragon’s View Inn in the town of Bekka, which owed its existence to its close proximity to the abandoned city of Kraka. It was explained that forty-one million years ago the population of the dragons had been much more numerous. They had built Kraka, then abandoned it when they later voluntarily reduced their populations to reduce conflicts between them caused by their territoriality instinct. The lost city of the dragons still stood whole and invulnerable, and was the premiere wonder of the world, drawing tourists from every race and people. They were served by Prince Himo’s people, since Kraka was now surrounded by the jungles of their lands. Himo explained all this, while his illusion showed the fine points of their suite, their inn, and the resort town of Bekka.
“I refrain from showing Kraka in this presentation, because its wonders should be first seen with your own eyes.” Himo finished, then bowed at their sincere thanks, and was gone.
“Presenting Princess Jmia, of The Lava Shapers, mountain elves from the mystical continent of Xervia!” Theramin announced.
Jmia was of tiny stature even for an elf, with light brown hair and green eyes, wearing a neat brown wool suit with a short brown jacket, knee-beeches, hose, and polished black pointed shoes.
“Our gift must surely be the strangest of all.” she chuckled. “For as our Gift Selection Committee was being formed, we received a courier sprite bearing a message from Tithian, a famous seer and oracle of the people you would name unicorns. Though the message was sent three days ago, she sees the shadows of the future, and her message arrived just in time to instruct us to gift you with a specific unnamed dormant volcano lying some twenty-six thousand kilometers west of our lands, the location of which is shown on this map.”
She handed Mark a hollow black obsidian sphere forty-three centimeters in diameter, the volcanic glass being about a centimeter thick. It had thin, glowing, squiggly white lines drawn upon it, and a tiny blinking blue light on its uppermost surface.
“This is, ah, a map of the world?” Mark asked hesitantly.
“Yes, a globe of our world, the planet Kellaran.”
“Ah. I see that I’ve much yet to learn of geography.” Mark nodded in embarrassment. “I was taught that the world is a ball, but many at home didn’t really believe it. I’ve seen a flat map of this continent, which we name Debivin, but I only know the northern kingdoms in any detail.”
“Oh. Well let me add some detail to the map, then.” Jmia said as she took the globe back from him. She hummed a few notes and gestured over it, adding thin silver lines of latitude and longitude, the borders and names of nations, and giving a transparent light blue sheen to the areas that represented bodies of water. “See, here is Debivin, as we also name it, and within it here, the Kingdom of Finitra, and here, The Nine Valleys of The High People, our present location. This long continent here on the other side is Xervia, and the blinking dot shows the location of our gift.
“The only explanation that Tithian’s message gave us, as to why we should gift you with this volcano, was, and I quote; ‘Their efforts will be significant, and he will need this.’
“When we made inquires as to the owner of this mount, we learned that it was within the territory of Grakonexikaldoron, mightiest of the gold dragons. We initiated a group Speaking to her, explaining the situation. She was sorely vexed, for her lair is in the next peak to the south, and she had no wish to have neighbors so close. But, while we were speaking with her, she also received a courier sprite from Tithian, and apparently the unicorn seer’s message convinced her to entertain the notion of selling to us. She demanded to know what we were offering, and when we told her the amount of our collection, she immediately and flatly demanded twice that, allowing no negotiation. We, ah, we conferred, and agreed to make up the difference from the treasury of the High Council of The Lava Shapers, and so the mount was purchased for you. I only tell you that last so that you will understand why we have not provided it with a home or constructions or amenities of any sort, indeed, we don’t even know if there is a source of fresh water upon it. And we have no illusion to show you what it looks like, as none of us have seen it.
“We do know that the property is somewhat triangular in shape when seen from directly above, and the volcano is dormant but not extinct, but we know nothing of its eruption phases. It is part of a vast range of volcanoes, and is surrounded by them. You own the peak and its slopes down to the bottom of the valleys to the north and southeast, and to the edge of the river that runs in the valley to the southwest, which may be polluted by eruptions upstream. We made this globe to mark its place after translating its co-ordinates from a unicorn system of mapping that uses hexagons, and we Sent it with our payment to the seller by Translocation. She then marked it and Sent it back in receipt. These letters in the ocean next to Xervia are in Grand High Draconian, placed there by Grakonexikaldoron, and form your Xervian legal deed to our gift. She made this small round hole next to the words with the tip of her tongue, and it stands as her signature. The pattern of it is unique, and it contains a minute amount of her saliva, which is also unique and cannot be duplicated by any means. Do not wash it. It will never get dirty, so you will not need to.
“We can only hope that Tithian will intervene with the Grand Council of Xervia to allow you to visit your new holding, for by their law, you are barred from the continent.”
“I am?” Mark asked in surprise.
“Not you in particular, but all humanoid peoples.” Jmia explained. “Of all of Xervia, only the port of The Sea People on the western coast is open to humans, dwarves, giants, or gnomes. Sylvan are of course banned from the continent entirely. Elves are only permitted at the Sea People’s port, or within the lands of my people. And even my people must get special permission from the Grand Council of Xervia to visit the continent outside our lands.”
“Oh. So who lives there?”
“Xervia is the home of the unicorns, the dragons who stand for justice, the gargoyles, the selkies, and other highly magical non-humanoid peoples, most of whom do not choose to have their existence known outside of Xervia.”
“Oh. And what are Syl…”
“Don’t ask.” Yazadril interrupted firmly. “Jmia should not have mentioned the word before such a vast assemblage, for our Wards are good, but not of the quality of the ones about Xervia. I will tell you about them later, Mark.”
“I apologize, Yazadril.” Jmia told him with a bow. “It was a slip.”
“Understandable, since you in Xervia have nothing to fear from them.” Yazadril allowed.
“At any rate, I hope you can make use of our gift.” Jmia told Mark. “We don’t know how to contact Tithian directly for further explanation, but her reputation as a Justicer is such that we dared not refuse her request without strong reason.”
“I see. Well, thank you, to you and to all your people.” Mark said, as he slowly turned the globe in his hands. “I really appreciate that you chose to make up the extra cost. And I want you to know that this globe, though it’s only a tiny part of your gift, means a great deal to me. It’s a beautiful thing, but more importantly, the knowledge it gives me is… profound. Now I can picture the whole world in my mind. If someone tells me about a place, I can look at this and truly know where it is. It gives me a powerful feeling of newfound understanding.”
“Oh!” Jmia said in surprise. “Why in that case, may I have it back again for just a moment?”
“Sure.” Mark said as he gave it to her.
She cast upon it again, and it gained subtle texturing, as well as blue lines on the continents, and tiny yellow dots with just as tiny script beside them, barely large enough to be legible.
“Here you are.” she said as she handed it back. “Now it also shows mountains, plains, forests, rivers, and the contours of the bottom of the oceans, and major nations and cities are shown and named. And since we have given no stand with it, I have cast a Levitate upon it that activates when touch is taken from it, so it will stay where you put it.”
He released it, and it floated in the air without moving. “Amazing! Thank you very much!”
“Ah, to be so young again, and have all the world’s discoveries to make anew. You are most welcome.” she sighed with a smile, and was gone.
“Before we continue with the presentation, I must point out that it is now over two hours past midnight.” Theramin announced. “Our young ones are growing tired. Therefore, though it is a discourtesy to hurry the presentation of such magnificent gifts, I ask that the rest of you try to be succinct.”
Next Pimall presented the gift of The Warm People, a seventeen-room home in the city of Axis, which was on the permanent ice cap over the North Pole. Like every construction there, the home had been made by excavating rooms in the ice by removing blocks of it, and the blocks were then used to build more rooms above on the surface, then magically melted together and strengthened. Her Illusion showed a squat round tower with a domed roof, with four smaller half-towers capped by hemispheres attached equidistantly around the outside of the main tower. And, she assured them, the interior of their new home was well sealed, magically heated, and to prevent its melting was equipped with a permanent version of the spell that blocked the transfer of heat into the snow at her people’s consulate.
Then came the gift of The People of Life, or rather, the two thirds of them who had co-operated in gifting them as a nation. A rather harried-looking white-haired elf named Smogin, who was Alilia’s regent while she was away, presented them with Sweettower, the largest maple tree that had ever lived at over five hundred and twenty meters in height, and with over two hundred and eleven thousand years of life, the oldest as well. It had three homes in and on its trunk, and another in its branches, with a total of thirty-seven rooms, which were all being connected by new hallways into one huge home and renovated to accommodate Mark’s height. Smogin told them that they could expect the renovations to take three days. Furthermore, their ownership of Sweettower entitled them to its annual harvest of many tons of maple sap, prized the world over for making syrup and sugar, giving them an annual income equivalent to some seventeen hundred Finitran Gold Crowns, the highest denomination of coin of that realm.
Prince Gotimin of The Elves of Sming presented them with Winghoof Estate, a working horse ranch boasting some six hundred and forty of the finest riding horses, complete with a sprawling home of sixteen rooms, outbuildings, gardens, and a few farm animals, as well as an established staff of ranch hands. It had a prime location, being only fifteen kilometers north of Latrel, the capitol city of Sming. As Gotimin explained, the human who had owned it previously had died, and his many heirs had contested his will for years, neglecting the ranch and its bills in the meantime, until the empire had seized it for unpaid taxes. The emperor had assigned a competent foreman and supplied its operating costs for the last year and a half, and it had recently returned to a marginal profitability, though in the future it should provide ‘a tidy income’, provided the foreman agreed to stay on.
“Thank you! Thank you very, very much! I’ve always wanted a horse ranch!” Mark grinned. “And if you would be so kind as to convey my regards to the foreman, please tell him that if he stays on I will give him a free hand in the estate’s management, and I will pay him his present salary plus half the after-tax profit. And that we would appreciate his reply being prompt, as I don’t want the ranch to lapse into operating at a loss if we have to take very long to negotiate, or to replace him.
“That is, if you don’t mind my making this decision, Talia?”
“I think it’s most wise, husband.” Talia giggled. “I’d never have thought to do so, as I care little for commerce.”
“Most wise indeed. And you are most welcome.” Gotimin smiled. “I will convey your words and regards to Citizen Joseth Narr, for that is your foreman’s name.”
Prince Jaromer appeared next, with the gift of The Elves of Thon. “Our gift is the property known as two seven four Riverside Park Way, in fabled Bojoston, the capital city of Thon. It’s only two blocks from my home, so I can assure you that it’s in a fine neighborhood!” he announced with a grin, and cast his illusion, showing a fantastic white marble palace on five hectares of beautifully landscaped and gardened grounds, surrounded by a matching white marble wall all around, with huge double wrought brass gates onto the wide avenue. “It’s one of only five homes of such consequence that were built entirely by elves, at the hire of humans, and to human dimensions. As such, it’s a very desirable property among the human elite. For that matter, there are more than a few elves who would love to own it, despite its larger dimensions! It boasts thirty-six rooms, with twelve bedrooms including the master suite, stabling for thirty horses, and garage space for six carriages. Across the Way lies Riverside Park, which runs along the river Bouk for kilometers in both directions, affording endless opportunities for scenic strolling, boating, or riding.”
“Thank you thank you thank you!” Talia gushed, and at Mark’s slightly puzzled grin at her enthusiasm, explained; “I’ve always wanted a palace!”
Finally Theramin introduced Prince Fdek of The Sea People of Debivin, Princess Bluvi of The Sea People of Kletiuk, Princess Sfosil of The Sea People of Felion, and Prince Wraftin of The Sea People of Xervia. Despite their smiles and grins they appeared rather fierce, with tattoos and shark’s teeth covering every square centimeter of their skins.
“Congratulations and salutations.” grinned Fdek, who spoke for the four. “As you may realize, many hope to give the final and greatest gift at a wedding, and it is especially so in this case, since there are friendly rivalries between some of the elven nations. However, we of The Sea People have only recently in our history separated from one nation into four, along somewhat arbitrary continental divisions, for the sake of practicality of administration. Since none of our four nations could match the purchasing power of the more long-established nations of elves, we, the four nations of The Sea People, have all pooled our contributions to give you a great gift. And since we are the last to present, we can only assume that it was enough to convince Mileemi of Thon, who was our judge in this informal contest, to give us the victory!
“Now the yacht given to you by The Stone Islanders is a very fine little boat, we buy them ourselves for visiting river ports and other shallow anchorings, and for private excursions. But we of The Sea People live to be upon the ocean. We travel it in great cargo vessels, not for the purpose of delivering cargo, but rather for the love of being on the sea. The carrying of cargo is merely the most convenient way to finance our lifestyle. In your long lives it is certain that you will eventually hear the call of the sea, and you may wish to spend a few years or decades or even centuries enjoying a shipboard life upon the deeps, and for that you will need more than a yacht. Of the eighteen great shipyards of The Sea People, only that of Vertiwin and Descendants at the port of Gimoosh in Thon will build for human customers and to human dimensions, and we have gifted you with the finest such vessel they have ever made. We give you; The Queen of Waves!”
An Illusion of the great ship appeared in semi-transparency floating six meters above the ground, rocking slowly and majestically like it was already upon the deep water. It filled much of the chapel, for it was over two hundred and twenty meters long, twenty-five meters abeam, and thirty-six meters deep from the rail around the top deck to the bottom of the keel. Within its outline could be seen its many holds and staterooms in five to sixteen decks above the ballast hold. Its nine mighty masts supported dozens of gigantic white silk sails, and kilometers of white silk ropes formed the rigging.
“The Queen of Waves has comfortable accommodations for up to four hundred and sixty crew, and the Captain’s cabin has eleven rather palatial rooms.” Fdek continued. “The ship is proof against the fiercest storm, and is equipped with a mighty spell of Movement that will drive her for up to four days and nights, in case she is becalmed. She has systems that warn of rocks and shallows, and in an emergency she can be operated by the helmsman alone, though you could not bring her to dock without at least twelve good crew.
“She is also well armed with weapons both magical and mundane, in case she faces war or piracy. The Movement spell can also be used in conjunction with the sails to move the ship at very high speed if you need to flee a superior force, but that is a dangerous operation requiring a full complement of experienced crew, and relatively smooth waters. If the worst happens, and the ship fills with water because she has foundered or been holed, the ballast stones will automatically be dumped by Translocation, and if necessary much of the cargo as well, until it has been freed of enough weight that the wood of her material is sufficient to keep her afloat. Though she may be swamped, she will never sink and be lost. Salvaging her from such a state would be costly, but not an unusual response to that rare eventuality.
“When you wish to sail her, The Sea Peoples will be glad to assist you in contracting for cargoes and crew. That last would not be difficult, for any sailor would be eager to voyage upon such a fine ship.”
“I’m certain you’re right, for she is magnificent, and I’m certainly eager to sail aboard her myself!” Mark stated in amazement.
“We’ll sail her within a decade or two, I think.” Talia grinned. “And we will visit every port with an enclave of The Sea People when we do! Thank you all, thank you so very much!”
“That would be a voyage of almost six years, and would give you a fair taste of the sea.” Fdek smiled. “And you are most welcome!”
And with that the four princes and princesses bowed, and made their exit.
“That concludes the presentation of gifts, with the exception of the home we others of the immediate wedding party will build in First Valley. We will broadcast a Reading of that event for those of you who wish to see it.” Theramin announced, then turned and smiled at Mark and Talia. “Would you care to address the assemblage?”
“Yes please.” Talia nodded, and stood, so Mark rose as well. “Our marriage was born of tragedy, yet you have all made this the greatest, most beautiful, and happiest wedding any bride ever had.” she said. Her voice was calm and sincere, her expression joyous, yet her eyes shone with tears. “I am so thankful for the warm welcome you have shown my husband, and all the thanks we could give in a century would be meager trade for the overwhelming generosity and thoughtfulness of your gifts. I have never been so proud to be an elf as I am today. Thank you, each and every one of you. Thank you.”
She bowed her head and closed her eyes for a moment in conclusion, then smiled up at Mark.
He shared her smile and caressed her hand as he gently held it in his, then looked around at the thousands of elves.
“It’s difficult to find words to express my thoughts to you.” he said after a moment. “I awoke yesterday morning absolutely alone, owning only one suit of ruined clothes and a bundle of simple things I carried in my cloak. You can imagine what an overwhelming experience the last two days have been.
“It’s a humbling thought to realize, without a doubt, that yours is a better race than mine. A race whose oaths can be trusted completely, who stand united on the side of justice. The gifts you have given are mind-boggling in their magnificence, and as Talia said, we can never thank you enough, though I do thank you with all my heart. But the greatest gifts you have given me have been all your warm smiles, the friendly greetings of everyone I’ve met, and the amazing courtesy of all those who didn’t have a chance to meet us. Certainly if we’d have been married among a similar number of human folk, or even a small fraction of that, we could not walk about as we’ve done tonight without being mobbed to distraction.
“I feel deeply honored to have been part of bringing you all together like this, and I think you should have a regular gathering of all of you, for it would be such a shame if this were the only time it happened. Perhaps, given all your agreement, you could meet next year on our anniversary, or even our every tenth anniversary.
“And now I would like to give you the only thing I can give to every one of you; the gift of song. I’m sure I saw a harp among the roomful of instruments earlier on…”
“Allow me, Love.” Talia said, and whistled a few notes.
Three harps rose from the other gifts and floated up to them; a small cherry wood lap harp, an ironwood grand harp, and a great golden instrument that had been magically constructed according to the description Mark had given of the one he had been building with his father. Its extra space between each string made it seem strangely elongated horizontally, and only a musician with Mark’s arm span would have the reach to play it.
“Ah. I think the golden one will be my favorite eventually, as I’ll be able to play properly for the first time since I got my full growth.” Mark mused. “But I haven’t practiced with it, and until I do, my fingers will automatically reach for the strings in the wrong place. I’ll use this one tonight, and pick it with my fingernails, as I’ve become used to doing.”
He selected the ironwood harp by taking it out of the air, and the other two floated back down to their previous places. He sat at the edge of his chair, set the harp on the marble between his knees, and nestled the instrument against his shoulder. He plucked an experimentive chord with all ten fingernails, giving a unique, harpsichord-like tone, and smiled at the beauty of the rich sound.
He considered what to play. At first he went over the list of the songs he knew, and by habit tried to find one that wouldn’t sound too strange in his voice. Then he reconsidered as he thought of Yazadril’s comments when recommending that he sing to the elves. For the first time, he slowly hummed down a major scale to see how low he could sing, and was surprised to find that his voice was full and stable down to two whole notes below the lowest string on the great harp. He chose a song, then plucked a descending series of chords, humming along as he did so, transposing until the lowest note in the song was the same as the lowest note of his voice.
He tapped his foot four times to set the tempo in his mind, and played the introduction to a light-hearted folk song, playing the chords with his left hand and picking the melody with his right.
Then he sang;
Father’s coming in from the field
Mother’s cooking a delicious meal
Soon comes the dusk of another fine day
Soon we will sing and we’ll dance and play!
Whistle the fife and strike the drum
It’s dance night tonight and everyone comes
Those from the country and those from the town
We’ll laugh and we’ll dance till we all fall down!
We’ll all meet together at the Tinlo’s farm
We’ll kick out the cows and we’ll dance in the barn!
And if we’re still there at the dawn of the day
We’ll dance till we drop and we’ll sleep in the hay!
So whistle the fife and strike the drum
It’s dance night tonight and everyone comes
Those from the country and those from the town
We’ll laugh and we’ll dance till we all fall down!
He played the intro through again, then ended it with a last chorus.
Whistle the fife and strike the drum
It’s dance night tonight and everyone comes
Those from the country and those from the town
We’ll laugh and we’ll dance till we all fall down!
Yes we’ll laugh and we’ll dance till we all, fall, down!
He let the last notes ring and fade.
“My father wrote the music to that, and my mother wrote the words.” he quietly revealed. “I only wish they could have been here with me today.”
Then he realized that everyone was silent. He looked up, and saw that everyone in the first twenty rows or so were squinting, and those who were close enough to see their eyes clearly seemed to be in tears. He looked to Talia, perched sideways on an arm of the chair. She was gaping at him, tears were streaming down her face, and her eyes were squinted almost closed.
“Oh. Uh. Sorry.” he stammered. “I guess that didn’t come out that good, compared to elven musicians…”
Talia shook her head, and gently covered his mouth with her hand for a moment. She swallowed hard. “You don’t understand.” she told him sincerely. “That was incredibly beautiful. And you’re glowing. Brightly.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it!” Yazadril marveled. “It’s obviously magic, but there is no corresponding effect on the magic field around you! I don’t know where the energy for it is coming from!
“Damn.” Alilia muttered as she shook her head, then wiped tears from her eyes. “That’s bright. Now I know how you felt when we met. I think it’s dimming now.”
That brought Theramin’s attention back to the situation. “Let’s have a round of applause for our fine groom’s wonderful performance!” he called as he wiped his eyes, then began clapping madly.
That triggered a wave of thunderous applause that went on and on
After a moment of it Talia urged him to his feet. “Take a bow!” she grinned, wiping tears from her eyes. Then she swung her legs over and stood, and joined in the ovation.
He stood and took his bow, and the elves all applauded even louder.
He waited for it to end. And waited. Finally he had to grin and shake his head. “Oh come now! It couldn’t have been that good!” he laughed.
Still it went on undiminished, and now there was laughter in it as well.
“It was amazing!” Dilimon enthused, and put a hand over his heart. “I swear, my chest still feels funny from the rumble of your voice!”
“Well then, we’ll bid you good night.” he called into the unremitting noise as he turned and picked up Talia. “I understand that many of you will stay here and make merry for quite a while, but it’s our wedding night, and we’ve things to attend to!”
With that he stepped down from the podium toward their table. He waved to everyone as he did, and Talia joined him in that, her grin matching his.
After they were again seated the applause finally faded away. Many then began making their farewells, including most of those with children.
“We have only one more thing to attend to before we leave for First Valley.” Yazadril told them.
“The council of war.” Alilia nodded as she gained a serious expression.
“Perhaps more appropriately, a council to prevent war.” Yazadril mused. “It won’t take long, as there is little to be decided until we learn the identity of our enemy. We’ll meet in the Hall of Anticipation.”
“All right then.” Alilia nodded. “Let’s pour ourselves a last drink to take there with us, and have it done.”