Mapmaker, p.26
Mapmaker, page 26
“If we may,” Joseph indicated the front of the church, and the four men walked to the front, where Jai Pastora Kitlaen and Bishop Reverend Mother Fiona waited. Natty marveled at his sister, who had forsaken her normal, plain, religieuse habit for a bishop’s robes of white and green with symbols of the faith embroidered on the stole and cowl. She smiled as Natty passed by her and blew him a kiss. The music started, and the flower girl and ring bearer, twins Claire and Rilitar Skystormer, started down the aisle, carefully herded by Madrigal Austin, who kept pointing at their mother at the front of the church. Halfway down the aisle, Rilitar broke into a run, and Claire sat down in the middle of the aisle in protest. Without missing a beat, Madrigal scooped up the little girl, caught up with the little boy, and stood with the two in her arms just to the side of the dais. Tessa’s attendants, Enesneth and Sinead came next, attired in the traditional blue-and-white gowns of Drohanan bridesmaids. The Maid of Honor, Princess Lona, followed, wearing a long gown with the blue and the white reversed from that of the bridesmaids, as was tradition, her princess’ tiara on her long blonde hair. Everyone turned as the music changed, as the sky-blue-gowned bride, on the arm of her father, began the walk down the aisle that would change her life forever.
Nathaniel caught his breath, his eyes filling with tears, for as beautiful as he knew Tessa was, now she was absolutely radiant. He felt Joseph’s hand on his shoulder giving a reassuring squeeze and nodded to his friend and mentor. He stepped forward as Tavis Chart turned and passed his daughter’s hand to Nathaniel. “Take care of my little girl, Nathaniel Clark.”
“I will, sir. I promise.” With that, Nathaniel took Tessa’s hand, and the ceremony began.
After the vows had been taken and the words spoken uniting Tessa Carolon Chart and Nathaniel Celedar Yalerius-Clark, Jai Pastora Kitlaen Skystormer turned to the congregation. “In our tradition in Lordabove Church, the wedding is complete, however in the tradition of elf-kind, one portion remains to be performed. In an Elven wedding, one of the women of the family blesses the union of husband and wife. This celebrant is called the Blessor, and because Nathaniel is of elf-kind, I am honored to present his sister, the Bishop Reverend Mother of the Faithful Fiona Bridget Yaleria-Brice, to perform the blessing.”
Fiona stepped up to face her brother and sister-in-law, and as she did, Lilia Kessa, Kitlaen’s mother and the Light of Eldaria, Drohana’s spiritual leader, rose and came forward. “Reverend Mother Fiona, I have known this beautiful young woman since the day she was born. May I please join you in blessing the union of Tessa Chart and your brother?” Fiona and Kitlaen exchanged glances, and Kitlaen gave Fiona a slight nod.
“You are more than welcome, your Eminence.” Fiona took Nathaniel and Tessa’s hands in her own, and Lilia placed her hands over Fiona’s then they sealed the covenant of their love before the Lord in Heaven, as Fiona spoke the same word her great-grandmother had spoken at her parents’ wedding, and their mother Iolena, had spoken at her Fiona’s own; “As high as the stars are in the sky, from now until the end of all days, I do bless your union and hold you in my heart and my prayers, in the name of Creator, Lordabove, and the Holy Trinity, one God for all eternity.” Fiona then asked the couple to turn and face the congregation and did so herself. “Friends and family of Tessa and Nathaniel, thank you for joining us today as we celebrate the love and the drawing together of this man, my brother Nathaniel, and his bride, Tessa. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you for the first time Captain Nathaniel Celedar Yalerius-Clark and Captain Tessa Carolon Chart-Clark, husband-and-wife and co-commanders of the Gewellyn Airship Starduster.”
A massive, “Hooyah!” almost shook the stone foundation of the Cathedral as the crew of the Starduster and all of their families and friends celebrated the announcement.
“Was that some sort of surprise or what?” Kip asked Nathaniel as they entered the reception in the dining hall of Skystormer Castle.
“It certainly took us by surprise,” Natty confided in his friend, “but I didn’t have a chance to talk to Lindy when they got here.” He pulled Tessa closer and looked her in the eyes. “How are you doing?”
She smiled. “Right now, I am the happiest and most flabbergasted girl in the entire Nine Worlds.” She pulled his head down and kissed him. “But in all honesty,” Tessa whispered in his ear, “I can’t wait to get going on our honeymoon.” Nathaniel grinned at her. “We need to enjoy at least a bit of the party, Mrs. Clark.”
Tessa grinned at the mention of her new name. “In that case, husband, dance with me!” She led him onto the ballroom floor.
Later, as the newlyweds got ready to leave the party, Talindra and her father, Alden Wicker, approached the couple. “My healer says that I shouldn’t spend any more time on my feet today, but I am so happy that we could be here. Before we head up to the rooms that Lord Richard has so graciously provided, we have two wedding gifts for you both. First, Talia feels that my condition has improved enough that she has given me permission to return to the Starduster for a week so that you two can take a real honeymoon. We’re going to be helping Snee and the Commodore with the recovery efforts at that underwater city you discovered.”
“Thank you, Lindy, and you, Doctor. I’m sure Ciliren will be grateful for your presence, Captain. Obviously, your other present was our promotion, right?”
“Ahem,” Doctor Wicker smiled. “There’s more to it than that, son. In the Merchant Marine world that the Starduster functions in, the captain of the vessel is either somebody appointed by the owner,” he grinned and held out a sheath of papers, “or he, or in your case they, are the owners. Nathaniel and Tessa, may I present to you both, the title and registration of the Gewellyn Airship Starduster. Congratulations!”
Chapter thirty
Chasm
Natty quietly got up from bed, letting Tessa sleep. Last night, or actually in the early hours of this morning his bride had admitted that she was tired and wanted to sleep in. For Nathaniel, “sleeping in” meant, like today, staying in bed till the sun was up. The past five days had been a wonderful whirlwind of fun, adventure, and getting to know each other as husband and wife who were also best friends. His parents had insisted that the newlyweds use their large bedroom at Juncture House for their honeymoon, so Natty padded down the stairs in his bare feet and was happy to find the Keepers had already made a fresh pot of coffee in the kitchen. He muttered thanks to the air and wandered out to the dining room. Setting his coffee mug down, he retrieved Tessa’s map of the Juncture from the den and unrolled it on the table. As with all of his wife’s maps, the view it encompassed seemed almost real.
“What are you doing, my love?” Tessa came down the stairs wearing the robe that did little to cover her, but that she insisted on wearing in the house, ‘in case someone drops by.’ She looked over his shoulder and, recognizing the map, sat down next to her husband, her eyes full of curiosity.
“Tess, this chasm in the southeast corner of the Juncture, have you ever been there?”
Tessa shook her head. “No, and I keep thinking I’d like to explore it. I saw it from the Aeronaut one time, and so I know it’s there. It’s probably very similar on the surface to what you see on the map. Why?”
Natty kissed her on the cheek and was rewarded with a more direct kiss on the lips. “I thought that since we only have a couple of days left, maybe we would go for a ride and check it out. What do you think?”
“I have two conditions, my dear husband,” Tessa grinned. “First, we ride like your parents and Fiona and Berian, both on one horse.”
“I don’t have any problem with that. What was your second condition?”
“That the Keepers make us a picnic lunch to take along, complete with a bottle of wine.”
Natty smiled. “I thought you were tired?”
“I was tired as in sleepy, silly. I’m Drohanan. I don’t get tired of having fun, as your mother so aptly puts it.” Tessa scrunched up her face at Natty. “Alistronia warned me that you elf men might not be able to keep up with a Drohanan woman.”
“Oh, she did, did she?” Nathaniel grabbed for his wife, but she slid out of his grasp. “Well, maybe I’ll just have to prove her wrong.”
“I’d like to see you try,” Tessa replied coyly and then bolted for the stairs with Nathaniel in close pursuit. Somewhere along the way, her robe fluttered to the ground.
“I like riding like this,” Tessa said from behind, her arms wrapped around Natty’s waist. “I can see why your mother and sister like it.”
“Sisters,” Natty responded, glancing back at her. “Don’t discount Shannon and Lochlain, or even Alenia and Abrallan. And then there are my two married nieces. Pretty much everyone in the family, all because it’s how my mom and dad started to fall in love with each other.”
“That sounds like a wonderful plan, but I’m already in love with you, husband,” Tessa told him and kissed his ear.
“Behave yourself for a few minutes, Tessa Clark.”
Tessa put on a pouty face and then stuck her tongue out. “I’ll try, but remember, as I said earlier, I am Drohanan.”
“I think you’ve proven that well enough this week.” He smiled back at her. “Seriously, you said that when you flew over, there was a clearing on either side of the chasm, right?”
Tessa nodded. “There is, but we don’t want to ride in at a full gallop because it’s not real wide, and this horse is really nice but she’s not Traveler.”
“I believe that like Traveler, Stara is a Windmera, from the horses Berian and Arianna brought back from Ellandaril.” He patted the horse’s neck. They rode on through the Juncture’s forest until they entered a wide, grassy meadow. Nathaniel reined the horse to a stop, and they dismounted.
“What do you want to do first, elf-boy, eat, explore, or have more fun?”
Nathaniel rolled his eyes. “Let’s see what we have here before we decide to do anything. If it’s a sheer drop, we’re not going to be able to explore it anyhow.” He unrolled the map again. “If we stayed on the course I plotted back at the house, we should be near the north end of the chasm.” They approached the edge of the precipitous drop that they had seen from horseback. A cool breeze wafted up from below, causing Tessa to pull her blouse tighter around her.
“That’s cold air coming up from there, Natty,” she commented. They held hands as they approached the edge. “The wind is coming from the west right now, so it’s blowing almost perpendicular to this.” She gestured at the long gash in the ground. “There must be something in the chasm itself that’s creating this breeze.”
“I brought our cloaks, because I figured it might be about twenty degrees cooler below the surface.” He smiled at the beautiful redhead at his side. “Okay, Miss Drohana, which is stronger, your sense of adventure, your hunger, or something else?” He grinned and Tessa batted him playfully again.
“Why don’t we see if we can find the end of the chasm? It might be easier to find a way down from there.” Nathaniel could tell that her sense of adventure was starting to take over again. “Then we can eat lunch before we go down into it.”
“That sounds like a plan.” He pulled out a compass and sighted in along the western edge of the drop-off. “Okay, I have my landmark. Let’s go get Stara and head toward that promontory up there.” He pointed to the north.
They returned to the horse, and Natty sighted in on the promontory again. Shouldering the pack, the cartographer navigated while Nathaniel led the horse. They walked for almost a half mile before they encountered the drop-off again, this time they could just make out the bottom below. “It seems to be getting shallower,” Tessa observed.
“It does, but it’s not going to be a staircase, by any means,” Nathaniel observed. “In addition to our cloaks, I brought some Elven rope that my folks keep at Juncture House in case it’s needed. I actually think that Kailee brought it when she had her own small shelter overlooking the hot springs waterfall.”
“That was before the house was built, right?” Tessa asked, and Natty nodded. “Your parents lived in a tent then too, didn’t they?”
“They did, and in the very early days of their marriage, Menta Kai would sometimes sleep on a mat at the foot of their bed or the sitting room outside of their bedroom at Gewellyn Castle. She was very protective, and to a certain extent I think she was afraid of losing them. Of course, that was before the family knew about the prophecy and her heritage.” Natty indicated an area where a branch of the rift seemed to flow from the surface. “Eat first or descend a ways first?”
“Let’s eat,” Tessa offered. “We can put some of the food in the pack and have it to snack on if we get hungry down there.”
“Part of me just wants to lay back and take a nap,” Nathaniel said with a smile as they finished their picnic lunch. He leaned back against the saddle he’d taken off Stara.
“Uh-uh,” Tessa grabbed his hand and pulled him back up. “We can nap together later, Nathaniel. I want to see what’s down there.”
Natty grinned and helped Tessa to her feet. “I figured that, and I was just checking to make sure.”
“You’re horrible, husband, having to make me choose like that,” she said, looking up at him through her eyelashes. “However, this time we’re going to have an adventure.”
“You mean we haven’t been adventurous all week?”
“That’s different, and you know it. This is an ‘adventure’ adventure.”
“All right, let’s see what we can find.” Natty pulled on the pack and led the way as they descended through the wash they had located and into the rift in the ground. As they passed deeper than their height, Tessa pulled a sketch pad and pencils out of the pack and started making notes and little sketches of what they were passing.
“This is really a unique structure, Natty,” Tessa said as she looked around. “It’s almost as if a crack formed in the ground, like it split open.”
“Like an earthquake?” he asked.
“Not really. An earthquake forms when two tectonic plates exert enough pressure against each other that one moves. This is more like a laceration,” she explained, not being able to think of a more suitable term. “A tear in the floor of the Juncture.”
“When you were in Ellandaril with my parents and Bob, Lord Hrodebert, didn’t somebody mention a lower layer of the Juncture, one that was not to be visited?”
Tessa nodded. “They did, but according to Lord Connor one of the Council of Five told them that it had been sealed off.” She looked up at the opening, now some fifty feet above them. “This definitely is not sealed off.”
“What’s supposed to be down there?” Nathaniel stopped as he was speaking, took the pack off and pulled their Elven cloaks and two electric torches out of the pack.
“Nobody ever really talked about it while I was around. Maybe your father or Joseph or Menta Kai know.”
“Just in case, I brought these.” He handed her a coil gun and snapped the other one onto his belt.
“Very smart, my dear,” she told Natty as she tucked the weapon in her belt at the small of her back. Tessa looked at the electric torch she was carrying. “Natty, we both know how to make light balls. Let’s put these in the pack in case we need them for whatever reason.”
“See, I’m not the only one who is very smart.” He turned as she stuck the two lights in the pack and closed it again. “Do you want me to hold the light ball so you can work?”
“That won’t be necessary, Nathaniel,” she said with a perk of her eyebrow. “Lona taught me how to make them float and kinda follow where I go, like a balloon.”
“You have to show me how to do that,” her husband replied. “You would think that Fiona would have taught me these things.”
“Maybe she did, and you just forgot when you were Confessed by Stormbringer,” Tessa suggested. “It doesn’t matter. It’s simple, and I can show you how. It should be easier for you than it was for me because you’re half-elf.”
“How far below the surface do you think we are now?” Natty asked.
Tessa looked up at the receding light from above. “More than a couple hundred feet. This trail we seem to be following keeps getting steeper.” She stepped up next to Nathaniel, the glowing orb over her head following her movement. “You do know how to throw a light ball, right?”
Natty looked offended. “I should think so. I am half elf, as you mentioned a few minutes ago.”
“Then don’t just stand there and talk about it, elf-boy. Throw the light ball out in front of us.”
“To think that just a scant week ago, I thought you were so naïvely cute and lovable.”
“We’ve only been married six days, and you don’t think I’m cute and lovable anymore?” Tessa faced him with her light ball directly over her head. “I think I’m perfectly angelic.”
“I didn’t know they had Drohanan angels,” Natty teased. “You’re as cute and as lovable as ever, Tessa darling, but you’re definitely not naïve. There are just times where you remind me of somebody I grew up around.”
“I do know who you mean, Nathaniel Clark,” she said cannily. “She goes by the description of ‘tall, blonde, and beautiful.’”
“You forgot ‘faithful, ferocious, and formidable,’” her husband grinned. “Is that what I have to look forward to?”
Tessa stopped and looked at Nathaniel for a second. “Was that a serious question?”
“Not really, why? Did I say something wrong?”
Tessa was quiet for several seconds. “Not wrong, my love, but you did hit on a sensitive area. I mean, I am Drohanan, and apart from the fun stuff, Drohanan women are groomed to be reliable, resourceful, faithful, and yes, formidable. Alistronia, Lordess Kitlaen, her Eminence, Kara, and Thea, they are all very typical of women where I come from. If I thought you expected me to be a simpering little wimp puddle of a wife, I never would’ve married you. It’s also why Kipling and I would never have worked out,” she intimated. “Esse is the fierce warrior, but she is far more deferential to her husband than I would tend to be.”
