The Secrets Within

There weren’t always dragons in the valley but these days you never saw any form of celebration without them. Our King Torion came home many years back after a heroic battle between the Mystic Elves and Woodland Elves. Turns out the men in the trees had their own secret weapon of Dragons. King Torion brought them home and since became a part of our day to day lives.

Although today was no ordinary day, Princess Carwen the future queen of the Mystic Elves was celebrating through a commitment ceremony with her chosen mate. Carwen was the most beautiful woman in the lands, so much so Torion had thousands of suitors both male and female travel far to ask his daughter's hand in marriage. The Princess took the decision making very seriously and it took a grand total of 10 years for her to finally come to a decision on who she’d commit to for the rest of her days, after all death till us part was taken extremely seriously.

“Elwryn, what are you doing out here? You need to get inside ready for the commitment ceremony.”

Skylier one Carwen’s brothers came rushing through the courtyard, noticing the young elf sitting on the fountain placed perfectly in the middle, staring up at the window of her beloved Carwen’s bedroom window. Hearing the young man's voice the black haired elf looked up and simply smiled.

“I do apologise Skylier, I was just taking in the view one last time, before it all changed.”

Elwryn looked up once last time at the bedroom window, seeing a flicker of the beautiful woman behind the glass, before changing her focus on the tall man beside her. Standing up and dusting her trousers off, allowing Skylier to direct her inside to prepare for the ceremony.

“I understand, I did the exact same thing just before my commitment ceremony.”

Walking through the elegant palace, the community had spent weeks preparing for this day, decorations hand made by the villages within the castle walls, Torion was a powerful but very fair leader, he truly believed in equality across his kingdom, this meant everyone had access to the same equipment, materials and safety as the leaders. This has made them the wealthiest kingdom in the lands, as far as they are aware.

“Did Carwen finally decide on which dragon she was going to ride in on?”

Elwyn spoke up as they continued to walk their way through the marbled corridors, years of ancestry family portraits hung up on the walls, truly showing how much had changed just by viewing these paintings.

“Yes, she went for a White Hydra, I believe the creature is called Imogen.”

“A Hydra? Not surprised she would make such a bold choice to ride in on. Matches well with the other dragon I suppose. Wouldn’t each head have its own name?”

“Yes of course, but that's between Carwen and Imogen, they are bonded now, as are you with yours.”

Skylier opened up a door, stepping to one side so Elwyn could take the lead into the bedroom. Elwyn headed inside to see her dress hung up ready for her to put on. Stripping off her top and trousers with a swift movement, headed over to the dress, taking in every tiny detail of this hand made dress, clearly the work of Mrs Frankling, she was master at such designs. Skylier stepped into the bedroom but kept his distance, his job was to make sure Ewlyn got to the commitment ceremony on time.

“Can you help me slide into my dress, Sky? I don’t want to risk damaging it.”

“Of course.”

Ewlyn stood on the large square box in front of the floor length mirrors, allowing Skylier to assist her into this gown for a day she was never going to forget. Once all in and supported at the front Skylier positioned himself to stand behind the female Elf and started to corset the back of the dress. He looked up to see the unsettled expression of Ewlyn’s face, her hands placed on her stomach, while she got synched into the dress. Skylier paused for a moment, which encouraged Ewlyn to look up at both their reflected faces within the mirror, Ewlyn’s once unsettled face got masked behind a bright smile, Skylier smiled back just slightly but was not overly convinced of her great ability to mask her feelings.

“You know it is okay to be nervous too.”

“I know Sky, is she making the right choice?”

Skylier had gotten back to looping the string through the holes, eyes focused until Ewlyn asked that specific question, his eyes jolted up once more for a moment, making eye contact in the reflection before focusing back on getting Ewlyn ready.

“I believe so, yes. Carwen spent a long time making this decision. Why do you not believe so? Now is the time to say if that is the case Ewlyn.”

Ewlyn could hear the sternness of Carwen’s brother’s voice, it didn’t surprise her he was becoming a little protective of his youngest sister when it came to this topic.

“As long as she is confident with her decision, then that's all I care for.”

“Don’t put yourself down Ewlyn, it took Carwen a long time to decide this, I’m confident she is certain.”

Finishing up tying her dress up Skylier continued to assist getting Ewlyn ready for the ceremony, curling her hair into long locks, placing the perfect makeup on to highlight her facial features, then placing a small silver crown on her head, with purple gems inside. This made Ewlyn smile as she knew this crown was personally requested by Carwen for Ewlyn to wear, truly showing how much she knew her, placing her favourite colour within the crown.

It had taken them quite some time to get ready but after working together Ewlyn was ready, heading back downstairs Skylier walked beside Ewlyn, holding her dress up off the floor, they headed down to the stables.

Inside this large wooden building were all of the royal dragons, every single one when they reached of age had to bond with a dragon, then spend a huge chunk of time training them. Dragons were mostly a use of transport but they could be trained to do anything. Ewlyn’s was a black and purple scaled electric dragon, he was a large dragon with wings that spread over 10 metres. Ewlyn had found him as a newly hatched baby in the forest one evening and chose to assist in raising him, which led to their strong bond. The second Ewlyn stepped into the stables Syphon, her dragon, had started to bounce around excitedly.

“Miss Ewlyn?”

One of the stable workers caught Ewlyn’s attention as she headed towards her dragon, seeing past him the 3 headed white Hydra that Carwen had chosen for herself, it was very her and that was one of the very many reasons why Ewlyn loved her so.

“Yes?”

“I don’t mean to rush you, but Carwen will be heading down within a few moments, I would need you to exit as soon as possible.”

Both Ewlyn and Skylier nodded, entering the stable with Syphon inside. Ewlyn greeted him with a big grin, reaching out to give his face a stroke as Skylier saddled him up.

“Hey baby boy, ready for today? You look so handsome.”

“You talk to your dragon?”

“You don’t? You know they understand us right.”

“My girl is not overly chatty.”

Skylier went around Syphon, giving the dragon's nose a gentle stroke, earning him a happy purr from the dragon directly. Skylier wrapped an arm around Ewlyn’s frame and scooped her up with a quick and easy motion, placing her on the back of Syphon. They had practised this for weeks to make sure there were so many tears in the dresses as he placed her on Syphon, he unfortunately had quite a few sharp spikes on him, but after a while Skylier had perfected placing Ewlyn on the saddle with no torn material.

“You know what you need to do?”

Ewlyn sat to the side of her dragon and frowned at Skylier as he asked her if she knew what she was doing, not like they had rehearsed the ceremony for 6 months.

“Yes, I know exactly what to do and say.”

“Good, well let's get you going.”

“Syphon, forward.”

Ewlyn commanded with a whistle at the end, the dragon jumped up onto his feet and took them outside. When outside he spread his wings wide then with ease took flight. Holding on to the reins around Syphons head she gave his neck a gentle pat encouraging his good efforts as they flew over the walled lands and up towards Mount Eros. Where else is better to commit your life to one person forever than presented in front of the god of love itself.

Syphon flew them above the trees and right up towards the top of the mountain, there were crowds of people already there and of course King Torion sat on his throne ready to witness his daughter commit to the love of her life. Syphon as practised roared on their arrival, catching the attention of the crowd and king, then proceeded to circle the tip of the mountain the one time. This was to prove how well Ewlyn had tamed Syphon, so the crowd knew she was a perfect fit.

Syphon landed at the end of the isle, Ewlyn elegantly slid off the dragon, giving the side of his face a stroke before heading her way through the crowd, following the green rolled out carpet which ended right in front of the king.

Everyone's eyes were on Ewlyn, as she headed down alone, keeping a smile across her face hiding her nerves the best she could, her dress draped on the floor behind her. Once at the end she bowed for her king, until he asked her to stand. There she stood on the small platform looking out towards the crowd of villagers who had worked hard to get ready for this commitment.

In the distance Ewlyn could see the white Hydra coming into view, the sun was bouncing off the scales of the 3 headed dragon, Imogen made their presence known as all three heads roared upon arrival, that loud collective roar was the true reason Carwen had chosen Imogen, Ewlyn was certain of this. Imogen flew around the tip of the mountain twice and then just like all the other dragons that would have made their way up this mountain, landed perfectly at the end of the isle, right in front of the green rolled out carpet. Ewlyn’s eyes could not be taken off Carwen as she slid off the dragon, at the help of her brother Skylier, who had flown beside her on his dragon. The crowd was all in the same state as Ewlyn.

Carwen was beautiful on a bad day, but today she was pristine. Her hair curled perfectly in bright ginger curls, skin glowing and her long trail white dress all laced up behind her. A vale covered her head and shoulders, then of course that beautiful silver crown with green jewels moulded in the metal. Skylier hooked an arm through Carwen’s as he then started to lead her down the green aisle. Ewlyn watched Carwen, never wanting to ever forget this moment, seeing how absolutely stunning the other woman was made her entire body flutter with excitement. Just being in the woman's presence reminded Ewlyn how truly in love with the Princess she was, how she had always been so truly in love with her.

As Carwen got closer Ewlyn’s heart was thudding rapidly in her chest, the woman's beauty only growing the closer she got.

Skylier and Carwen both bowed towards their king as they reached the end of the green isle, once more staying in place until King Torion stood, dismissing them from their respects. Carwen took the step forward to join Ewlyn on the stand in front of hundreds of thousands of Mystic Elves who had joined them today during this ceremony.

“Hey you.”

Carwen’s voice was just as gorgeous as the rest of her, almost like a soft purr as she stood in front of the love of her life.

“Hey, you look incredible.”

Ewlyn struggled to get her words out, Carwen blushed and reached forward to take Ewlyn’s hand, sliding their fingers between each other and linking them perfectly. Ewlyn couldn’t believe her luck when it came to Carwen, how truly grateful she was to be a part of her life, to see her every day and share the most important memories with her.

“Thank you, are you ready?”

“Yes, for you, I will always be ready.”

Another roar came from the sky above, a large warrior elf was sitting on a poison ivy dragon, twirling around the tip of the mountain ready for the ceremony.

Carwen broke their hand holding as she became silent giddy about the gentleman approaching. Ewlyn stepped back as Roster, the head of the Elven army approached the King and Princess. Roster bowed towards Torion and then stood opposite Carwen. Skylier stood to one side staring at Ewlyn as she was handed a book from Torion. Ewlyn looked past Carwen to see Skylier staring, he gently shook his head and Ewlyn nodded silent, the silent agreement for neither of them to say anything.

This was Carwen’s choice and Ewlyn was not it.

Ewlyn was asked to perform the ceremony of their commitment, as the best friend of the princess since childhood Carwen couldn’t imagine anyone better to bless them into a forever bonded lifestyle. There was no way Ewlyn could ever say no, all she wanted was Carwen to be happy, if Roster is that, then she’ll spend the rest of her days silently loving Carwen.

If only Roster knew of their true detailed history of their friendship.