Honeymoon

1 week later

…

I was at the head of a grand cathedral-like palace, draping in purple and silver cloth,  a Lunar priest standing at attention behind me.

"We are gathered here for the anointing of this man, Walden, as the next emperor of the Lunar empire." Announced the priest.

A crowd, filled with both nobles and peasants of human and Lunar descent, had gathered to witness my anointment, parting a large aisle down the middle of the room.

The priest stepped forward from his position, stopping at the podium. He started chanting about how great an honour this occasion was, and a bit about our two races coming together in peace.

I had to look like I was listening, but I tuned him out a bit.

Charlie was standing just a pinch behind me, regally dressed like a lightly armoured knight. He leaned in to whisper something.

"I never imagined you'd be the reason I ended up on the moon. Never in a million years would I have assumed you, a level 3 pre-mage, would become emperor…"

Charlie may have been obviously jealous, perhaps more stupefied, but he had a smile on his face. The sureal part for me was his presence here, so close to me at my wedding.

"Just be happy you're my best man." I said. "You get a seat of honour even Zumi couldn't get."

Zumi had to sit with the crowd, but she got a front row seat. A bitter sweat compromise that couldn't be helped.

Charlie wasn't just my best man today, he was also considered my most trusted confidant. Each emperor was supposed to have at least one by this point that he could go to in times of need.

The thing is, I'm not officially becoming the emperor yet. This ceremony was making me a prince by marriage and heir to the throne.

Speaking of which, the bride had just arrived.

Luna walked down the aisle, dressed in the most gleaming silver wedding dress I'd ever seen. She had a crown that topping her head like twinkling stars, another was in her hand for me.

These were known as the Deacons of Stars. Bestowed upon the heads of those next in line for the throne.

Her father was behind her, walking her down the aisle proudly, holding a large bowl in his hands that he dwarfed from his massive stature.

Luna wasn't allowed to look at me until the priest had sprinkled moon dust in her hair.

As her head was showered in frilly particles, she turned to me with a smile, then placed the second crown overtop my head.

The drink her father had been carrying looked like glowing white water. It smelled really sweet. This must be the honeymilk Luna mentioned before.

With steady hands, the priest dipped a chalice into the milk and had Luna and I sip from it. Both our eyes radiated white light for a second, then faded back to normal.

Drinking that sealed our union together. Unlike marriages back home, a kiss wasn’t necessary.

But as a gesture of good will, Luna took to lightly kissing me anyways.

Cheers and clapping roared through the chamber. I could hear Zumi of all people screaming for joy the loudest.

We were married!

It seemed like we'd been together for years, but it had only been two weeks. Amazing how the mind plays tricks on you like that.

After the ceremony, Luna and I got really swamped with the press and nobles who wanted to know every detail of our future plans. That included both political policies, and marital goals. One person wanted to know when we'd be having children…and how many…

It was way too soon for us to answer all these questions, so the honour guards had to step in and give us some space.

We finally made it back to our private room. Rita and Nita were outside the door, at the ready if we needed them.

"Wow, what a day…" I said, laying down on the bed and putting my crown carefully on the nightstand. "This bed is huge. It's even bigger than the last one we had."

This was a room specially reserved for both our honeymoon, and our sleeping arrangement until we took the throne. Apparently, the emperor had an even bigger bed in his room. How big did a bed need to be before it became redundant?

The man's status was gaint though, I can't forget anything smaller then king size would be puny for him. Guess it was just something to look forward to one day.

"What should we do now?" Luna asked, brushing the glittering dust from her hair.

"I'm exhausted…" I said, trying to close my eyes.

I know it's our honeymoon, and my energy should have been through the roof, but we just got done with a seven hour ceremony. And that doesn't include all the setup we had to do.

Luna looked exhausted as well. Besides, we were completely free to do what we wanted for the next few weeks. No need to rush ourselves too fast.

*Creak!*

Zumi and Charlie barged in holding assorted flowers. What an inconvenient time…

"Congratulations on your marriage!" Zumi said, hugging Luna. "I'm so proud of you two!"

Charlie clicked his tongue at me. "The most regal event of all, and you decide a nap is in order? Hah!"

"Napping…sure…" I glared at him with my tired eyes. He didn’t seem to get the message. "Rita, Nita! Why did you let them in here?" I growled.

"Oh dear…" Rita snickered.

"It seems we have upset the prince." Nita followed up."

Now a second wind blew over me. I was unfortunately awake once more. At least it was two people I didn’t mind seeing.

Charlie said his family had prepared a dinner to celebrate the occasion. I wasn’t tired anymore, and I guess Luna wasn’t either, so food didn’t sound half bad. They didn’t let us eat anything during the ceremony.

Thanks to our birds, Larry, Curly, and Moe, the trip back to our home planet was quick as could be. Charlie's family were surprisingly kind to me, treating me almost like a second son.

I'd never officially met them before this, but the way they acted made me think they're care was almost unconditional.

“You must be Walden!” His mother said. “Charlie won’t stop bragging about you.”

“Silence! Mother!” Charle made a motion with his hands to signal for his mother to stop.

His mother then looked at Zumi.

“And this is Charle's girlfriend, right?” She smiled.

“Girl…friend…?” Zumi gave Charlie a nasty look. Her fist tightened ready to swing his way.

He just gave a weak smile and ran into a different room.

Charlie’s father also made an appearance, but because of his illness, I only really got to shake his hand. He was wheeled off shortly after. Poor guy.

Once dinner started, it seemed like food didn’t stop coming. We ate and ate…I was going to burst by the end of it.

“I’m so full.” Zumi looked like she was about to pass out.

“Finally, we get to enjoy a meal without worrying about our journey.” I commented.

“I have to agree.” Luna pat me on the shoulder, unable to move much from being so full. “We won the day, and now we can rest.”

“At least those two grievous fools have been put away.” Charlie said.

Mond and the Portal Master were in a maximum security prison. Even the Portal Master wouldn't be able to teleport out of that place…

…right…?

Oh well. That's a worry for another day. I just wanted to get into something comfortable and unwind for the night.

It would be nice to go home for a while. I wanted to see my garden again. Nobody had been tending to it for the last two weeks, I had to get it cleaned up.

Actually, maybe that would be better to do in the morning, and not the middle of the night…

***

We made it back to the comfort of my bedroom. I hadn’t been in this humble room for a while. I set my sketchbook on the nightstand. It had so many different pictures from our journey of the last few weeks. I couldn’t wait to show it off to the world.

We were tired, but just a little bit of energy kept us from hitting the hay just yet.

Luna and I were staring off at the Waning Gibbous moon from our balcony. She was pressing close against me.

"Thank you, Walden. I knew I made the right choice picking you."

"And I made the right choice trusting you."

She turned her head, and our lips locked tightly together.

If anyone had told me that the love of my life was going to be a beautiful moon princess, I'd have said they were crazy. I was just a lousy mage who couldn’t even use magic. But somehow, we came together and saved the moon and the world through the rings of love.

Fin.