The crowd watching the two of them fight was mostly discouraged and somewhat disappointed. Ophelia used a few spells I had never even seen before, while Cerolus only launched a Fireball at her. And that was it. They just stopped, as if nothing had happened. I was expecting a bit more, to be completely honest.

Cerolus put his clothes on and then sat back at the table. I leant towards him and tried to get him to explain this entire fight to me since, in my mind, that wasn't at all how I imagined battles were. "Why did you do that?"

Cerolus just cocked his head at me, as if I had said something wrong or dumb, possibly both. "Why did I do what?"

"Why did you end it so soon? I thought both of you could do more." I was perplexed by this notion of short combat. Cerolus definitely had more power than what he had shown, he himself explained to me that a Fireball is a relatively simple feat for anyone with a decent proficiency. And he was greatly above decent.

"We could've, but she would've lost anyway." He simply shrugged the questions off of him, his hands grasping for more food on the table. At one point I wondered where he stored all that food. "Her magic seems powerful, but the way it is cast and prepared seems extremely inefficient. You noticed how she had to chant all the way through it?"

I simply nodded, trying to see his point.

"She would've needed a lot more time to respond to me than I had for her. And she didn't seem to use any spells that were not light in nature. Now that was just inhibiting yourself. Not using other elements in a duel is like tying one hand behind you." Cerolus' talk seemed to grab the attention of the people nearby, and I could even spot Ophelia, who was sitting relatively close, trying to listen in on his responses.

"The point of the matter is that the outcome was determined simply by the participants involved."

That sounded downright depressing to hear. 'If battles were determined before they even started, where does that put people?'

I decided to shelve the matters of magical combat for another time. It didn't seem like a proper time to be asking my husband about proper forms of battle in the middle of a wedding dinner. I had to find something else to concern myself with.

"I'm going to go on a walk around the Gardens. It's been a while since I had been here." I spoke while I was already standing up and walking away from the table. Cerolus didn't seem to move from his position, although all of that was directed at him in a way. 'Why did I feel the need to tell him that? Is it because I want him not to worry about me? Do I want him to know where I am so he can be at ease? Why does that suddenly matter to me that much?'

"Alright." He simply waved one of his hands at me while he ate.

I went away from the raucous crowd and further into the Gardens, passing guards and servants on my way. I grazed my hand over the bark of the trees that I walked around, as I tried to think of a particular direction to head for.

I realised that there was one person who I hadn't seen in at the dinner and that I was fairly certain where that person would be.

-----------------------

I paused before entering the small clearing in front of me. The moonslight reflected from the surface of the pond in the centre of the clearing, while an old willow hunched to dip its branches into the water. The setting of the autumn Gardens felt serene in the night that had fallen around us.

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Kneeling just in front of the lake was the one person I had been looking for. The light shone upon his grey hair and silvery clothes, while his face was turned away from me, shrouded from my attempts to guess the expression on it.

I approached the kneeling figure slowly, but with enough noise as to not cause any alarm. I wanted to say so much, but the words were currently stuck. So I decided to open with the most simple endearing word I could find, one that I had used throughout my entire life. "Father."

Father didn't try to move or speak while I had approached him. His wrinkled face spoke of sorrow while the small light in his eyes tried to maintain dignity I had always thought, no, knew, he possessed. I had known that face, despite that I've seen him wear it but a few times in his life.

I didn't speak as I moved next to him, putting one hand on his shoulder while he was still on the ground. I had lots of things to say and ask, but it simply felt too inappropriate to do so now. So I simply stood there holding him while he engrossed in the faint noises of the night.

"You know, your mother would've wanted to see this," he started off, slowly, as if trying to reach for words that were stuck somewhere other than his mouth. "She wanted to see all of you grow up, get married, start your own families."

He sighed audibly, his hands reaching to wipe at his face.

I recalled Mother. I remembered how she would tell me stories when I was little, how she would berate Renald and Gavin when they did something unfitting of us royalty. I thought about her gentle voice as I tried to remember her face.

It was so long ago when she left Father alone. And he never wanted to find anyone else, even though I distinctly remember there being many a discussion over that. He simply wanted to be alone after that.

Father turned his head towards me, a small wet trail across his cheek reflecting the flickers of light around us. "She always wanted to see you five grow up happy, without feeling the War we were at the time. She was a much better person than I was, your mother. She knew what to say to all of you, she knew what made you happy, what made you sad, and what gave you night terrors when you were babies."He smiled briefly, the trail of tears running down his lips.

He smiled briefly, the trail of tears running down his lips before his face turned to the pained expression. "I had wronged you, you know? I shouldn't have sent you away to that Demon. I should've kept all of you here, with me. With her.

"I've been so angry at myself since then, thinking about how that Demon is treating my little girl. What you had to endure next to him, what he was making you do or say. I've considered calling it all off so many times."

A spark of thought entered my head, and a spark of regret followed it. 'I should've written to him maybe. Maybe if I tried to speak to him more, maybe it would've been better.'

"You know, Cerolus isn't bad once you get to know him." My father shuddered when he heard me say his name like that in the open. "He's actually quite nice, even. He's been nothing but understanding so far."

"But he's a Demon! Vile, stupid, ignorant..." he went off in a small tantrum. I simply tightened the grip that I had on his shoulder.

"Charming, intelligent, understanding, not demanding, and actually quite interesting once you get to know him. He knows so much more than I've imagined. And he has gone through so much more than I have. He's nothing like those stories said, Father."

My father didn't relent. "Demons will always be Demons. That all has to be a farce. And you are falling for it."

I started to get a bit annoyed, if not angry, by his dismissal of me trying to make him understand. "Cerolus is not like that, Father. I think he's a better person than you think he is. Actually, I know he is a better person than that."

His face by know has started to gain back some colour, although it was starting to turn more into an expression of anger. "So, you're now even willing to defend him? Just how much has he tricked you?"

This was starting to get ridiculous by the moment, and I wasn't sure if I would be able to get anything out of this. "Maybe if you didn't send me there in the first place, it would've all been fine! But now that you actually did, at least take some time to listen to me!"

I turned on my heels before all of this would escalate, completely forgetting the scene that had been here before I came. "And actually, Cerolus is not only better than you, or most people here, think of him, I'd say he's a better person than you overall. He actually listens to me, for one. And he tries to care."

I started walking, leaving the scene before tears could start running down my face.