The Forgotten Zodiac

"I love you too," Nate smiled happily, nodding. "Alright, we'll do that first." He said, skipping the guest house and heading towards the castle. "I feel it would be polite of us to ask Galai first," He smiled a bit, nodding. "She'll probably even set up another ball for us. She seems to be good at these things short-notice. Remember Werr's party?" He snorted. "What a fiasco that one turned out to be. But no, not this time!"

((No, not this time. I don't think it would be very nice to interrupt this with anything. So Forin will explode after the marriage/ball. :3

But Toro is totally breaking free and into the party. He's an entertainer, after all. xD But don't worry, he'll be good. He's a bit silly; he'll do anything to make people laugh. He thought that violence towards Obelisk might work at first, but he'll just stick to regular tricks for now. :3 For now...>D))

((Yeah, okay. xD))

Tasia smiled, nodding a bit before shaking. Werr's party had terrified her, both with the attack that had followed and with the amount of people that had been there. She was a very shy person and was only ever really 'herself' around Nate or Vaira. Around only them, she was loving and playful, as sweet and gentle as any girl around. But when others she didn't know or didn't trust showed up, she became withdrawn and shy, timid. Especially when the ones that came up to them were boys.

She trotted happily along with her fiancé, holding his hand tightly with her smaller one. She smiled up at him, wondering about everything, then reached up and put her hand on his cheek. She paused them both and tilted his head down to her, where she kissed him ever so softly. She shifted a little closer against him, strengthening their kiss for a moment, before they were interrupted.

"Hello, Nate, Tasia!" Seria called, smiling as she spotted them and altered her course to come close. "How are you both?"

Tasia broke off the kiss with the male dragonian immediately and went behind him a bit, instantly shy.

Nate looked up at Seria, smiling at once. "Seria, wonderful news. Tasia and I are to be wed. We were going to go ask Galai if we could have the wedding here." He said, smiling happily. "How's everyone else? Doing well, I hope?"

Seria stared for a moment, then grinned widely and came forward to hug them both, saying "I'm so happy for you both! That's amazing! I can't say how good that makes me feel." She hugged him tightly, then moved to hug Tasia, who allowed it. The pink-haired dragonian looked down a bit, but she smiled nevertheless. "Well Nate, I can help Tasia with picking out a dress," the red-furred half-cat said, giving a light tug on the girl's shirt, which was one of Nate's. "She'll be beautiful."

"Alright, Seria. I trust you to take care of her." Nate nodded, wrapping his arms around Tasia and saying something in her ear. "You can trust Seria. But just call for me if you need anything, I'll come running...flying." He smiled, hugging her for a moment before nodding at Seria. "I'm going to go put in my request with Galai. See you both soon!" He called as he took off, shooting into the air once more.

He only landed once he was in the throne room, smiling away. "Queen Galai, your majesty, I have joyous news. Tasia and I are to be wed, and I would like to request that our marriage take place here. As soon as possible."

Galai had crossed her arms on one arm of her throne and was bent over completely, leaning on her arms in a bit of an unqueenly fashion. She seemed a bit...tired, Nate noticed. For a being that never, ever ran out of energy, it seemed impossible that she could tired like normal humans. But there she was, slouched over in her chair and almost dozing against her arms. She snapped awake when she heard Nate enter the room, quickly sitting upright. She listened as he spoke, then smiled and said "I would be honored to prepare the wedding for you and hold it here. The ballroom is perfect for circumstances such as those." She tilted her head slightly to the side, then said "As a matter of fact...yours would be the first wedding we've ever held there." She smiled widely, then said "I will prepare a simple-yet-elegant wedding for you both, and by simple, I merely mean that not many will be attending. I understand that your soon-to-be mate wouldn't like that too much. Tomorrow, you will be wed together as one."

Nate beamed at this. "Thank you very much, your majesty. I would be honored to be the first wed here. Thank you so much." He seemed on the verge of flying around in circles, shouting for joy. He flapped his wings once or twice, then forced himself to calm down to ask his next question. "Though...are you quite alright, your majesty? You seem...exhausted."

"Hm?" the queen murmured, blinking slowly at him. "Oh. It's nothing, I assure you. Many believe that we ethereal beings never tire, but...tending to an entire kingdom can be hard. So very, very hard. Especially without my mate by my side. I sometimes wonder why I dwell so much on Titus' absense, but then I remember that is it merely because I love him so much. We meet once a month between worlds, to be together for a day, but even then..." She sighed, then smiled at Nate and said "Forget the troubles of someone as old as I am, dragonian. This and the next are your days. Go and find Daisy; she's the tailor here in Amnairus. She'll make you and Tasia both wonderful outfits, albeit not quite as fine as those that Cici had made for you once upon a time. But Tasia's dress should be stunning, I assure you."

"Well..." Nate said, taking a step back. "You can tell Titus that he's invited to the wedding, if he wishes to come." He smiled sympathetically, then took off again. "Again, thank you, your majesty. It's an honor to even be here in your kingdom." He bowed in-air, then headed out. He flew onwards, landing in front of the guest house. He figured he might as well tell the others, and then something struck him; they needed a flower . Obviously Seria would make a fine Bridesmaid for Tasia, and Nate had already decided that Zephyr would be his best man. But a flower ...

Nate set out to find Diana, hoping that her Tartaran protecter would allow such a thing. He, however, didn't find her in the guest house. Nor were they in the hot springs...his heart a little heavy, he decided to check the infirmary. He was right, and he found this out when he heard Diana; she wasn't hurt, but she had just woken up from her nightmare and hid under the bed, refusing to budge despite anything Naminai said.

The old healer looked a tad ruffled. She had been trying her best to get the little girl out from under the bed, to no avail. Nor would she come out for Nate. And Forin was still sleeping, along with Luen, who was unconscious in the next bed over.

Zephyr trotted into the room in middle form, Firestorm at his side. The two dragons hadn't left each others' sides since they had encountered each other, and it was unknown why. They seemed very, very close, though Zephyr had a more mature air about him.

"Hello," he said as he walked into the room, his ears flicked back calmly against his head. He looked to the younger dragon and nipped his ear, getting a pleased hum out of the red dragon, then said "So I heard from two excited females that you were getting married, Nate. To one of those two excited females, actually."

Nate smiled and nodded. "Yes, Tasia and I are to be married tomorrow morning, in fact. Zephyr, I was going to ask if you would be my best man, but I know you'll just accept. So I spare your breath. In the meantime, we seem to have a troubled girl trapped under a bed..."

"Just go away..." Diana moaned.

"Diana, dear, I was going to ask if you would be the flower girl for our wedding. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"No! I don't want to be a flower!"

Zephyr tilted his head slightly in confusion, then bent his long neck forward and placed his head on the ground next to the bed, letting out a gentle purr. "Tender-Heart..." he said gently, laying down on the ground so he wouldn't have to bend his head so far. "A flower girl means you get to walk in front of Tasia and put flowers before her as she walks. You do not become a flower yourself. You get to put flowers about you. Would you not like that? It would make Tasia happy, I'm sure. She doesn't seem as scared of you as she is of the others. Will you at least come out and sit beside me for a moment? I've heard that being near a warm dragon belly is a good comfort. Then again, I'm the dragon, so I wouldn't know the feeling of laying against my own belly-scales."

It took Diana several long minutes to respond. "No," She finally said. "I don't want to come out, but...you can come under here..." She whimpered, as if she was regretting saying such a thing. "But I won't come out, not until Forin is awake again!"

"Might as well," Nate scratched the back of his neck, looking at Zephyr. "It's worth a try, isn't it?"

Zephyr looked at Nate and nodded once, regally, then shrunk even smaller and carefully crawled under the bed. He snuggled in between her and the wall, stretching out as long as he could. He was very warm and comforting, about the size of Cynyr, who was massive, being a half-cat and not a normal animal. Zephyr wormed his muzzled in between Diana's neck and shoulder, purring gently for her. "Sleep, Tender-Heart," he murmured, closing his eyes. "Let my dreams of flying become yours."

"I've already slept," Diana murmured, shaking her head a little. "And flying turns to falling way too quickly. So I don't want to sleep, or dream, or anything. I want Forin to wake up, and I want Luen to give me hugs, b-but I don't want to...I want Luen to get sleep, an...and...I can't wake Forin up..."

Nate frowned once he heard this, and immediately went to check Forin's pulse and breathing. He seemed fine...the Dragonian shook the Tartaran lightly, then roughly when Forin didn't respond. "Wake up! Come on, Diana wants you to wake up," He snapped, but Forin did nothing more than exhale. Nate looked at Naminai, frowning in confusion.

((He just exhausted his magics. He'll be fine, but the light of Amnarius is hindering his recuperation. :T))

The oldest healer dipped her head slightly, then said "He is perfectly fine, I assure you. He is merely tired and drained of his magic. He'll be fine soon enough. I would prefer to move him to a darkened room, where his magic could return faster, but I understand that his summoner doesn't wish to move, nor would either wish to leave their friend here alone." She glanced over to Luen, who was still as deeply unconscious as ever. His breathing was shallow, slow and strained. "We had to put him into a forced-coma," she explained. "His body needs the time to heal. If we didn't do this, he wouldn't have gained the energy with which to recover, and he would have..." She trailed off, deciding to say nothing.

Nate nodded solemnly, understanding what Naminai was getting at. He looked back at Forin, thinking hard. He then promptly pushed Forin off the bed, rolling the Tartaran under a different bed. He then pulled off blankets from nearby empty beds, draping them in layers over the sides. "There we go. That should do for what Forin needs right now, I suppose...how long do you think it'll take before they're both up and moving again?" He looked down at the bed Diana was under as she let out a wail, realizing what Naminai was going to say.

"No! Luen can't die!" She scurried out from underneath the bed, jumping up and wrapping her arms around Luen at once. "No, no, no, no, no," She cried weakly. The poor child felt rather alone; sure, she didn't think that anyone in the room would harm her, but she had obvious trust and fear issues, among a number of others. Anyone not knowledgeable of her troubles would think she was spoiled or something; when, in actuality, Diana rarely asked for anything. The only thing she wanted was to have her friends.

NamAnai blinked, watching Diana for a moment, then remembered Nate and answered his question. "For Dulce, I believe at the least it will be a few more hours and at the most, a day. A summon has to be able to recover fast, after all. They don't want their summoner to potentially be hurt during the time where they were unable to help," she explained. "As for Faolin, I believe he may wake up soon, but I'm not about to let him set foot off of that bed, even if I have to put him into another coma. That arrow nearly killed him. The damage the poison did to his body alone was enough to completely destroy a lurker bear. You know what those are; huge, tusked, long tails. Bigger than normal bears, that's for certain. Whoever sent that hunter out meant for Luen to die." She turned her head when Luen shifted slightly, draping an arm around Diana and murmuring "There you are...Dia...na..." He sighed and seemed to relax a bit, flicking his short white tail once.

Diana choked on her tears, blinking at Luen for a moment before resting her head on his chest, quickly calming down. "I was scared...she said that you were almost dead, a-and...all I could think was 'not again'. You can't die again, I won't let you." She sniffed, looking up at her deer friend (pun not intended) fearfully. "You can't."

((Haha, 'dear' friend, deer friend...-shot'd-))

((Had a good idea for something that will happen eventually, after Cynyr sees Leodhaius again. It will be both adorable and worrysome.))

He shifted again, pressing his nose and chin against her head, then slowly blinking open his emerald eyes. It was only for a moment and it didn't register in his brain that the move had happened. He looked at Diana for a few seconds, then closed his eyes and held her tighter, sinking back into unconsciousness. His white hair tickled her skin, though it had lost its magical, icy air.